TIP OF THE DAY: Easy Valentine Cake

If time has gotten away from you and you haven’t picked up a special treat for the family, here’s a trick from one of our favorite New York bakeries, BakedNYC. Buy a plain, iced store-bought cake and add your own decorating touch. It combines store-bought with “homemade.” While you can buy a Valentine cake at…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Valentine Toast

Get out your heart-shaped cookie cutter and think about your menu for tomorrow. You can start Valentine’s Day with with heart-shaped toast and red fruit jam. Then, make extra toast hearts: For lunch with soup, spread with herb butter For lunch or dinner as croutons with a salad, spread with goat cheese For cocktails (make…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Watermelon Radish

Roasted mahi-mahi with baby squash, roasted eggplant puree, pistachios and watermelon radish. Photo courtesy Due Forni.   Some vegetables light up any dish; watermelon radishes are one. Thanks to farmers markets, we’re seeing a lot more of them. Watermelon radishes are available year-round, with peak seasons in spring and late fall (meaning they’re more bountiful…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Kitchen Torch

The kitchen torch, culinary torch, cooking torch or [less poetically] butane torch is used by chefs and sophisticated home cooks. Today’s handy culinary torch descends from the heavy duty blowtorches, long used by gold and silversmiths (the first patent dates to 1791). While its most famous kitchen use is to caramelize the sugar on the…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Cherry Jell-O Shots For Valentine’s Day

Shot glasses are elegant, but for a crowd, you need plastic Jell-O shot cups. Photo courtesy GreatPartyRecipes.com.   No Valentine’s Day plans yet? Invite friends over for cherry Jell-O shots made from cherry vodka or liqueur. If you prefer, you can make raspberry or strawberry shots instead, or an assortment of flavors. You can substitute…
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