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It was the day before Thanksgiving. I was looking for something in the pantry when suddenly I found TWO boxes of Scharffen Berger Bittersweet chocolate.  They practically jumped out of the cabinet, screaming for me to turn them into something magical. At least that's how I remember it. I immediately knew I wanted to make some sort of candy. I watched every episode of Top Chef Desserts this fall and saw them make little chocolate candies a lot. So that's what I wanted to make. But I know me, and I can sometimes bite off more than I can chew, so I thought I would start with something simple like a toffee-type candy. Or a brittle. The kind that has that carmel-butter flavor that just melts in your mouth. It didn't take too long to find a recipe. When I saw the recipe for Chocolate-Almond Toffee in my 2010 Food and Wine Annual Cookbook I knew I had a winner! And lucky for me, these types of recipes don't call for many ingredients, just the basics - butter, sugar, ch...

I have a new tab. Woo hoo!  A whole bunch of my favorite recipes all in one place. >>> FAVORITE RECIPES >>> So check it out. This will be a work in progress. It's kind of taking a while to find them and add them. I know this is incredibly exciting to you. And it would be if you were ever looking for the Blueberry Boy Bait recipe. So just humor me and say "Yeah!" Happy cooking!

Shop, til you drop. Yeah! We're off to Napa. I hope you also will be out and about shopping today. Even if you're just buying a yogurt. You're supporting a small business. Thank you. And HAVE FUN!!!!

So here we are, the day after Thanksgiving. I'm still stuffed. Are you? We started the day yesterday by going on an amazing hike with a ton of people from Elli's school. It was the 7th annual Thanksgiving morning hike. Our first time. It was an amazing way to start the day.  I hope we're in town next year so we can join everyone again. Everyone gathered at the Tennessee Valley Trail parking lot at 9:15am. A pic of the moms! The view from the top. Gorgeous. Look how tiny everyone is! I'm standing 2 feet from a drop off that is SCARY! To my left is the bunker below. "Bunker with a view" is how they sold it to the soldiers! WWII bunker covered in graffiti. Can you believe this is where I live? A-mazing. Time to walk off some of yesterday's dinner so I can eat some more. Ha! Enjoy your day!!

Need a last minute pie recipe? This one is Yum-my. My mother-in-law and Emeril Lagasse have the same recipe. I know this because last year I couldn't find her recipe (mis-filed in the recipe box) so I used Emeril's. I found Rose's this year and wouldn't you know, they are the same. Curious, isn't it? They're both from the south.....hmmmmm.....so credit whomever you want. I'm going to call it "Favorite Coconut Cream Pie." It's easy, delicious, and tastes great as dessert (or for breakfast with a cup of coffee!) The custard is so yummy you won't be able to resist stealing a few spoonfuls. Just make sure you don't eat it all. Save some for the pie shell! Favorite Coconut Cream Pie Pie Ingredients 1 9-inch pastry shell (store bought is fine!) 2 1/4 cups whole milk ¾  cup granulated sugar 3 egg yolks ¼ cup corn starch 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 3/4 cups toasted coconut 1 tablespoon butter Meringue i...

Cooking the turkey on Thanksgiving is the easiest part of the meal. It doesn't take much to season the bird to create a delicious turkey. There are all kinds of ways to season and roast a turkey.  I always use one of these oven bags.  I found this box in the back of the cabinet so I'm all set for this year. Yeah! Your turkey will come out perfect. No muss. No fuss. No basting. No worrying. Just season the bird, stick it in the bag and bake it according to the package instructions. It will be brown and moist and deeeeelicous. I picked up our turkey last weekend at Smart and Final . I was going to buy a fresh bird. But the girl at the checkout sold me on a deal they had. If you spent $25 you got the turkey for 39¢ a pound. I raced back to the turkey section and swapped turkeys. My turkey ended up costing me just $4.43. I had plenty of time to thaw it. And since I got a small bird it doesn't take up that much space in the fridge. (You can check out all the amazing d...

Yes. You read it correctly. Hand whipped cream. I've been watching too much Top Chef. Remember on Top Chef Just Desserts when they split the contestants into two teams and then gave them each a task in one of the Quick Fire challenges? Well I do. And apparently it's been on the back of my mind. Because last Saturday I got the crazy idea to whip some cream by hand to make a topping for a pecan pie Don had bought. There are two words to describe this. OUCH and YUM. Holy schnikes. Whipping cream by hand hurts. My biceps and forearm were like - WOOAH! But if I did this all the time my right arm might just look like this:   Of course if I make whipped cream all the time and then EAT it. I will look like this: Good thing I don't eat desserts that much.  In case you're wondering, I used the side-to-side style whipping motion vs. the circular motion. It was much easier and just as effective. If you don't know what I'm talking about w...

My week started out great. The holiday campaign I did for my client was on the air. We had a nice relaxing weekend. I was energized for the week, and ready to start wrapping things up for my client - all was good in my work world. Then all hell broke loose Monday afternoon and it's been a crazy, messed up stressful week. I'm so glad it's Friday. I don't think I could take much more. Plus I feel like I'm getting a cold - but I'm probably just worn out. Did you know: • Having a breakdown in the office is generally not a good thing, but this week it was. I'm getting more support and understanding from my peers that were giving me SH*&T. • I am not good at billing. • I have the most supportive family and friends ever. • Elli knows who Bobby Flay and Ree Drummond are. (Bobby Flay was on the Spaghetti Taco episode of iCarly. He had a throwdown and lost. And of course Ree Drummond is the Pioneer Woman.) • I still hate 4th grade word problems in math. ...

Check it out. I discovered these lunch boxes on TheKitchn website over the weekend. They are made by a company based in NY called BUILT . Aren't they cute? What girl doesn't like lunch boxes that look like purses in cute patterns and colors. Why didn't I think of this?   They have a lot of different styles, sizes and fabric choices. They're all pretty girly. Although they do have some in solid colors that I think a guy might carry. Maybe. I can't see Don carrying it. It's a little too pursey for him. Not sure that's a word. But he is way too manly to carry a purse. And this looks like a purse. But some dudes out there might like it though. I thought they were super cute. Elli saw them and said "Hey, my friends have those. I don't like them though." I couldn't get her to say any more than that. But I was kind of surprised.  She wouldn't say any more when I tried to prod. So, huh. Not sure what the reasoning is. And she as...

I was at the store a few weeks ago and saw bits and pieces of a job that was in development in our workroom. The fabrics were gorgeous. I couldn't wait to see pictures of how it all came together. Don installed it this week and I just have to show it off. Everything is custom built. The designer, Kathi Wicht, worked with Don to design this for her client. Anything is possible with a little imagination! Pretty cool, huh?

phew. I don't know about you, but I'm really glad it's Friday. Last weekend was busy with Elli's birthday party/slumber party and it's been a really busy, stressful week. I'm ready to try and relax a little! I want to give a big shout out to my friends and my family who are being so supportive of me right now. It means a lot to me. Even at my age, I need to be reminded that everything is going to be ok. So, thank you. If you were here I'd bake you a little treat, or pour you a glass of wine. Have a great weekend! Kris

I've recently spent a lot of time in this room. It's called an edit suite. Suite 4 at One Union Recording in San Francisco Elli has been here. She's been in the area called "the booth" recording commercials. You can see a music stand way in the back. That's "the booth" it's actually a soundproof room where the talent goes to read their lines. We need the window to see them so we can give direction and feedback. Imagine my little Elli in this room! It was awesome. This is where the client and agency sit while the talent is in the booth and the engineer is at the controls. It's here that we make radio commercials and record voiceovers for TV commercials and movies. It's pretty cool and often really challenging. But most of the time it's just really fun. You do have to have a really good ear for the "good" takes and timing is everything when working with sound. But if you have a good team it's no big deal. So what...

They always say when life gives you lemons make lemonade. Yeah! Lemonade. I love lemonade. Well guess what? If this were really true we would have lemons busting out the windows. And we'd have so much lemonade you could put a tap on the front of the house where it would pour freely. "Stop!!!!!!!!" I won't go into all the details. But let's just say things have been a lot better here in the Mulkey household. I'm not sure who we pissed off. But we did something to someone because bad news seems to be following us around and we can't shake it. We have family members that are ill, businesses that are hanging on by a thread and jobs that are going away. It's astonishing how much bad luck we're having. I know we'll get past this and it will all be a distant memory. So can we just fast forward to the good part? Because I'm a basket case of nerves. I'm not sure how much more I can take. And why is it that every show on TV ha...

Last weekend we had six of Elli's friends (all nine year old girls) here for a sleepover birthday party. The plan was to play games, eat dinner, make s'mores, then watch movies. And all went according to plan. (I love when that happens.) Elli planned the menu for dinner. She wanted to have Spaghetti tacos because it's something she's wanted to try "her whole entire life." What are spaghetti tacos you ask? Just what you think. Spaghetti stuffed in a taco shell. Regular spaghetti + regular taco shell = spaghetti tacos. Elli got the idea from a character named Spencer on the show iCarly. Here's where it all started with Carly, Spencer, Sam from t he iCarly show on Nickelodeon. The NY Times has even written about these crazy tacos. Apparently they are becoming quite the phenomenon. Who knew? And the verdict? The girls loved it! I mean really, what's not to love? All I can say is there was a lot of laughter at the table. I do believe a good ti...

Does this ever happen to you? It's Sunday afternoon. Don is napping/watching football. Elli is doing projects. I'm doing a little cleaning, straightening, web surfing, reading, etc. When I decide it's time for lunch. So I go in the kitchen to see what we have. Nuthin. hmmm. We have hot dogs in the freezer. Guess we're having dogs for lunch. "Elli do you want a hot dog for lunch? I ask. "No thanks. May I have mac and cheese, please?" she replies, in an ever so cheerful voice. "Uh. No. We don't have any mac and cheese." I answer. And then she gives me this really, really sad look with those BIG BROWN EYES. And I'm toast. "Can you make some?" she says. "No. We don't have any.................WAIT. I can make homemade mac and cheese. I'll use my mom's cheese sauce recipe and pour it over pasta.  Hold on." I answer smiling. I didn't even try to push the hot dog some more. what a sucker!!!!!!! ...

I have a special post today from my friend Noelle Walker . I met Noelle a long time ago when we were Delta Gamma college sorority sisters back at TCU. We reconnected a few years ago when I moved to San Francisco.  Some of you here in the Bay Area may recognize her from her work as an Emmy award winning TV reporter. In fact, she just interviewed Tom Brokaw before a Governor's debate. And she currently runs her own business called Scoop Media . In her spare time she crochets amazing hats and scarves. So for those of you that just finished reading the article Killing off Supermom . You're in luck. Noelle is here to save us. So ladies (and gents), put down your knitting needles, set aside the beads and please, put down the be-dazzler. It's not "in" anymore anyway.  I have the solution. Hand made gifts. Made with love, from an old college friend. In her own words: My hands are stiff.  Achy.  The joints crack with every bend.  I think of my Gram...