salmon with pesto on puff pastry

This dish looks much fancier than it actually is. There are only 5 ingredients: puff pastry, pesto, tomato, salmon, and sliced almonds. It takes about 15 minutes to make, and if you line your baking sheet with foil, there's no cleanup. And since it's just a simple layering of ingredients, it's just as easy to make for 1 person as it is for 8.

Click here for the full recipe.

happy birthday to me

And Happy St. Patrick's day to everyone else!

This is my favorite birthday cake—one that my mom has made for me many times over the years. It's a chocolate layer cake split into 4 layers, with mint chocolate chip ice cream between the layers, and Cool Whip on top. It's divine.




And this is my second favorite birthday cake—the red velvet cake from the Buttercup Bake Shop in NYC—973 2nd Avenue, betw. 51st-52nd Streets (they also have an Upper West Side location on 72nd St. betw. Amsterdam & Columbus)



As you can see from the plate, the cake was consumed at Veselka, a wonderful Ukrainian diner in the East Village (2nd Ave & 9th St.)

(The brunch which preceded the cake, a hearty pre-pub-crawl meal):



And it wouldn't be St. Paddy's without Guinness, now would it?

tomatillo guacamole

1 avocado
1 tomatillo
1 jalapeño pepper
1/2 a small red onion
1 minced garlic clove
juice of 1 lime
cilantro
coarse salt

rice krispy treat

(I'm all about the comfort food treats these days, aren't I?)

milk & cookies

(made from the Tollhouse recipe, of course)