If you live in a large city, no doubt cupcake boutiques are sprouting up like wildflowers.

Here’s how you can serve the cupcakes people want to eat, while adding glamorous toppings that make the cupcakes taste even better:

We have three pages of cupcake decorating ideas that use everyday supermarket items (and a few from baking specialty stores).

You can even set out different decorations and let people design their own cupcakes (a fun party concept).

Check out the ideas and plan a special plate of cupcakes for Father’s Day.

Take cupcakes from plain to pizazz with
simple, but elegant toppings like caramel corn.
Photo by Zac Williams | Pink Princess Cupcakes Cookbook.

Porchetta (por-KET-tuh) is an entire pig that has been boned, stuffed and slowly roasted. The skin is very crisp, the garlicky stuffing is very flavorful, a mixture of fennel seed, garlic, lemon zest, rosemary, sage and other seasonings.

And the meat…ah, the meat! If you dream of great pork, it’s the stuff dreams are made of. After the first bite, you’ll be dreaming of it for the rest of your life.

Italians have been enjoying porchetta for some time; mentions in Roman records date back to 400 B.C.E.

It was frequently served at Roman banquets and was a favorite of Emperor Nero (37-68 C.E.). Today, the Italian Agricultural Ministry lists porchetta as a prodotto agroalimentare tradizionale, one of the nation’s culturally significant foods.

Porchetta is pure pork paradise. The products from Porchetta Primata, a Kentucky-based company, are the best pork we’ve ever tasted.

We discovered the company at a major food trade show. Among some 1,300 exhibitors and 80,000 products, it was the best thing we tasted from 1000 or more nibbles.

Even better, the porchetta arrives ready to heat and eat. It can be eaten at room temperature or cold, but the excellent fat tastes better warm.

With crisp skin, moist meat and garlicky seasoning, porchetta is a feast (photo by Foodlovers | Fotolia).

 
 
MORE ABOUT PORCHETTA PRIMATA
A Roman recipe, Italian immigrants brought porchetta to the United States in the early 20th century.

Today you can find imports, but they’re not as good as Porchetta Primata, which began manufacturing the product here in the U.S. in 2008.

The Tronchetto Di Porchetta is made of all-natural loin, tenderloin, rib plate and belly, hand-rubbed with seasonings. The meat is then rolled, sewn together and the exterior roped.

Next, the pork is roasted for hours at temperatures in excess of 500°F. This gives the skin a golden crackling, while the inside meat remains moist.

The pigs are a combination of Yorkshire and Duroc breeds, and Porchetta Primata controls small micro-farms that grow the grain to create the feed for the animals.

It’s a holiday for lobster lovers! This Lobster
Cocktail is an easy way to celebrate (photo © Mackenzie Ltd).

It’s National Lobster Day. Celebrate with a lobster lunch or dinner—even a Lobster Cocktail like the simple-but-elegant presentation in the photo.

We have to guide you to one of our favorite easy lobster recipes, this Lobster Cobb Salad from Wolfgang Puck.

Or, make the easy, elegant Lobster Cocktail in the photo:

1. Toss baby greens (arugula, spinach or mesclun mix) with a fruit-based vinaigrette (we used blood orange oil). Add some small basil leaves or julienned basil leaves to the greens for an extra flavor punch.

2. You can also add diced or julienned mango, pineapple, fennel, cucumber and/or sweet onion.

3. Arrange the dressed greens in a Martini glass and place the lobster meat on top. Serve to enthusiastic celebrants of National Lobster Day.

Find reviews of some of our favorite heat-and-eat lobster products, including lobster stew and lobster pot pie.

To get our Daily Food Holidays, many with recipes, sign up at Twitter.com/TheNibble.

Take everything out of your gadget drawer. Sort the gadgets into three piles: use weekly, use monthly, haven’t used in a long time. If you haven’t used an item in year, give it away to someone who needs it (or to the thrift store or a culinary school).

If you think you might shuck oysters again someday, store the knife and glove in a box in the basement, along with the cherry pitter and other specialty items you haven’t used in a dog’s age. If you have four different types of garlic presses (as we did), even if you cook with garlic daily, it’s time to find a new home for the ones you don’t use.

Organize your gadget drawer with dividers available at any kitchen products store. Silverware organizers also work.

Is it time to give away that space-hogging
cherry pitter? (On the other hand, if you
need one, you can get this one from OXO.)

We used our mango slicer twice. Stop by THE NIBBLE offices if you need one. We used it to make this mango cheesecake recipe and mango guacamole (add small diced mango cubes to your favorite guacamole recipe). We decided we preferred to slice mango with a knife.

Peanut butter and chocolate paradise. Photo
courtesy Jers.com.

If you’ve never tried Jer’s chocolate and peanut butter confections, you can sample them at 20% off—a special NIBBLE discount—through the end of July. Just use the code hrblog to take advantage of this discount.

Jerry Swain started in the bonbon business with his Original Incrediball, a center of peanut butter covered with chocolate. Expanding into other versions—with added pretzels, caramel, toffee and other inclusions—the chocolate peanut butter balls are the peanut butter cup lover’s vision of a box of bonbons.

Based on the success of these treats, Jer’s Handmade Chocolate now offers the award-winning combinations in chocolate bar form, as well as in peanut brittle bites. Our favorites are the peanut butter chocolate combinations with pretzels and caramel, but every PB&C lover will have his or her own faves.

Read our review of Jer’s Handmade Chocolate and use your discount at Jers.com.