Tag: lenas lunchbox
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spring risotto
everyone always laughs when i say i want to be a firefighter. i do, though! i know it’s a super strenuous job (both physically and mentally), but i think it’d be incredibly rewarding. also it would be cool to live with all my firefighter friends. anyway, today is may day! may means REAL spring, not fake cold april…
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london fog cake
edinburgh castle sits swathed in a shroud of cold fog, perched atop a craggy bluff overlooking the scottish capital. while visiting the city in november, my parents and i trekked up edinburgh’s cobbled streets to take a self-led tour of the castle. unfortunately, after five minutes of standing in the wind, my appendages were purple and…
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strawberry cake
i have writer’s block or maybe i should call it a strawberry jam SORRY you’ll need a 6-inch cake ring and a 6×20 strip of acetate cake (recipe from chocolate moosey) 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries 1 tbsp water 2 cups flour, sifted 1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp sugar 1 tbsp baking powder 1 tsp kosher…
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anatomical heart cake
after completing this, i couldn’t decide whether to label it as “anatomically correct heart” or “bloody rotisserie chicken.” that last picture, especially, just screams chicken to me. either way, this cake is striking, and it’s also pretty easy, as sculpted cakes go. i baked two red velvet cakes in oven-proof glass bowls. after letting them…
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roasted sweet potatoes with figs, goat cheese, and balsamic reduction
the middle east has mastered cuisine in a way unparalleled by any other region. most dishes are extremely healthy, consisting of seasonal produce, fresh meat, local cheese, or a combination of the three. middle eastern flavors are vibrant, diverse, and loaded with character. no offense to france, but i would much rather go on a…
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pancake cake
most children’s books depict pancakes in stacks of ten or more, drenched in maple syrup and topped with fat pats of butter. it’s such an unrealistic image. even ihop’s silver dollar stacks fail to meet the standard; lacking in both diameter and height, they only come in piles five high. this cake is how real pancakes SHOULD…
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buttercream roses
decorating a cake with fondant requires its own special skill set: the ability to work with speed and precision (it dries out quickly), a good eye for size, hands that aren’t sweaty, money (it’s expensive!)… and so on. comparing fondant cakes and buttercream cakes is like comparing michelangelo’s david with the ceiling of the sistine chapel. each is a form of…
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dark chocolate clementine cake
clementines offer a brightness matched by few other types of winter produce. beets are earthy and evasive; radishes are spicy and curt; grapefruit packs a punch, but its bitter aftertaste offsets its initial sunniness. january’s gloomy nights, often solely illuminated by dull moonlight on dirty snow, parallel this cake’s dense chocolate sponge and thick, dark ganache. solace arrives in the form…
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billionaire’s shortbread
this is a classic millionaire’s shortbread, but i’m replacing the ‘m’ with a ‘b’ in honor of the $1.5 BILLION POWERBALL JACKPOT! i can’t wrap my head around how much money that is. the winner can literally book a flight with space adventures and take a trip to the moon. that’s probably what i would do.…
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dark chocolate cake with blueberry preserves and liquid cheesecake
nick jr. usually stops showing peppa pig around 3 am, so if i’m still awake, i turn to infomercials to keep me entertained. early one morning, bleary-eyed after enduring a two-hour long ad for hip-hop abs, i was about to switch the tv off, when suddenly…….big letters and boldly colored fruits flashed across the screen! a hallucination? an…
LENA'S LUNCHBOX 