White cake with strawberries and cream

I was throwing a friend a baby shower a few weeks ago and asked her what kind of cake she wanted - white cake with some kind of fruit was her request. I made this lovely white layer cake (thanks for helping Stephanie!), whipped up some cream, and served it with sliced strawberries and a strawberries and cream filling. I also made a batch of cupcakes too, though they got a little dark on the bottom - apparently I can burn stuff in other ovens besides my electric one at home!

Use whole milk to keep the cake moist, and make sure you beat the butter and sugar really well, as well as each addition of eggs, to keep the cake nice and light.

This recipe is for one 9" round or square pan, or a dozen cupcakes. Double for a layer cake, or triple if you want to add a dozen cupcakes too!

Braised baby artichokes

Trimming artichokes can be a big pain, but baby artichokes are a little less tedious than the big ones I guess. These are first sauteed with some onions and garlic, then braised with a little white wine until tender. Top with some shavings of a good parmigiano reggiano and a grind of pepper. Serve as a simple side dish, or chop up the artichokes into smaller pieces and toss with israeli couscous or quinoa with some fresh herbs, a little olive oil and lemon juice or vingear of your choise, and maybe a little feta cheese for a grain side dish. You can also serve as part of a spread of antipasti.

A vegetarian meal at Kajitsu

Salad of cucumber, fiddlehead ferns and rikyu-fu

My brother was in town and we decided to finally give Kajitsu a try. I had been hearing about it for a while but just hadn't gotten there yet. They serve shojin cuisine, the cuisine of ancient Zen Buddhist monasteries and based on the Buddhist principle of not taking life, shojin cuisine is vegetarian. Kajitsu is a kaiseki restaurant, which means that the menu is all up to the chef based on what is good and seasonal. They offer two menus - the Kaze menu for $50 or the Hana menu for $70 and a few more courses. You can also add a sake pairing for about $30, which was lovely.