Lizz Wright

Rob introduced me to her music many years ago. Her voice is like buttah. Just beautiful and calming and soulful. The first I saw her live was at Schubas Tavern here in Chicago a couple years back. I was stunned that first time. She has an amazing live voice and her stage presence is hauntingly comfortable.

We saw her again just last week. As we were waiting to get into the venue we struck up a conversation with the woman behind us in line. She made a statement that I think is so true. She said something along the lines of, "She's lived many lives to develop a voice like that". Her comment really stuck with me because I think it's true. I think she's an old soul.

I took a few pictures with my point-and-shoot. It was dark and I wasn't really close so I had to do some editing of the photos to clean them up a bit. Here are a few pics followed by a YouTube video of one of my favorite songs by Lizz. Click the pics to enlarge. Enjoy!

 

Like buttah!

Spring (Label) Cleaning

I had an excessive amount of labels on my blog posts. I felt like a lot of recipes were getting lost in the oblivion of older posts, never to be seen again. I decided to simplify my labels to make things easier to find. They are now broken down into simple categories like, ‘scones’, ‘cupcakes’, ‘my artwork’, etc. I positioned the search box above the labels in case there are specific recipes/flavors people are looking for like, ‘pumpkin’ or ‘chocolate’ or whatever.

Since this past autumn I have been creating printable recipe pages for each post. I’ve only done this with recent posts and a few older, popular ones. My plan is to (eventually) make a printable page for each and every recipe. It will happen, soon. Now if someone could clean my windows and scrub my floors…

If at first you don't succeed...

I love the recipe I recently posted for the chocolate cream cheese cupcakes so much so that I decided to experiment. Sometimes with baking and/or cooking, things don't always turn out the way you plan. And that's what happened with this experiment.

I wanted to make a similar recipe but I wanted the cream cheese part to be raspberry cream cheese. I love chocolate and raspberry together. Such a good combination of flavors! I bought raspberries yesterday. To my disgust, I opened them today and the bottom layer of raspberries were covered in black mold. Yack! Of course I was in the middle of baking so it wasn't feasible to run up to the store and take them back. Luckily I had some frozen strawberries in the fridge that I could use as a substitution.

The chocolate part of the cupcake turned out terrific. The strawberry cream cheese part unfortunately did not. It oozed and flattened out:

They kind of look like cookies in that picture. Luckily they taste good regardless of the fact that the cream cheese part oozed. I guess I'll have to keep experimenting until they are perfect. It's a tough job to taste-test but somebody has to do it. Ha! Once I get it perfected I'll post the recipe.

Also, I'm very excited about my new blog look. I designed a new banner and gave my blog a little Spring face-lift. Spring is right around the corner and I can't wait!

Blueberry Pie

I love pies. There’s something comforting about having a pie baking in the oven on a cold winter day. The smell that fills the house is incredible. I decided that I needed to (finally) use up the blueberries I picked last summer. This pie used up all but one cup of my frozen blueberries. I will have to make something special with the last of them and I will definitely have to go blueberry picking again this year.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for the PIE

1 pre-made pie crust
4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

2/3 cup granulated sugar
7 tablespoons corn starch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
A dash of nutmeg
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INGREDIENTS for the TOPPING

1/4 cup butter softened
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Roll the pre-made pie crust onto a 9 inch pie pan. If there is any dough hanging over the sides of the pan, fold it inward so the dough is level with the pie pan. Put all 4 cups of the blueberries in the pie pan.

2. In a medium-sized bowl combine the granulated sugar, corn starch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add the lemon juice, pomegranate juice and the vanilla. Mix until smooth. Pour the mixture evenly over the blueberries in the pie pan.

3. To make the topping, mix together the butter, brown sugar and flour. Mix well until the consistency is crumb-like. Sprinkle evenly over the top of the pie.

4. Bake for 1 hour. The pie should be bubbling. If not, bake another 10 minutes. Allow to cool about 1-2 hours before serving.

Eat and enjoy!

Butterflies and screaming children…oh my.

Rob and I visited Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum this past weekend. It was a sunny but chilly day so we thought it was a good time to check out a museum we haven’t been to. Really, this museum is not for the faint of heart. It is crawling…with children! I like kids, really I do but when there are hundreds of them screaming and yelling and throwing their milk carton thingies at me I tend to lose patience (and some of my hearing). A lot of the museum is geared towards children but there were a couple things Rob and I wanted to see. There is an interesting exhibition of lost panoramas that documented the reversal of the Chicago River back in the late 1800’s. A seemingly impossible feat! It was an interesting exhibition but rather small. I wish there would have been more panoramas.

The most fascinating exhibition was the Butterfly Haven. You’re in a jungle-like room (a very hot room) with butterflies flying all around you. It’s amazing seeing so many in one place. And they are beautiful. I was able to snap a few up-close pictures:

Pssst....these two were mating. I gave them privacy after I took this....

As we were looking around we spotted this really pretty bird right above our heads. I have no idea what kind of bird it was but I'm glad it stayed still long enough for me to snap a picture.

 chirp chirp

I also loved this sculpture outside the museum. It's called Steelroots.

So aside from the screaming kids it was a fun museum trip. I got some great pictures and had a lovely afternoon with Rob so I'd say it was a pretty successful outing. All the bright colors of the butterflies inspired me. I think I should bake something colorful. :)

Healthy Blueberry Loaf

      

This recipe is a work in progress. I still have frozen blueberries from my blueberry picking last summer and I’ve been itching to use them up. Since the holidays are long gone it’s time to start baking a little bit healthier. I decided to do some experimenting. I found a base recipe for a blueberry loaf and changed things to my liking in order to make it healthier. To my surprise it turned out really well. It’s a delicious 100% whole wheat blueberry loaf that you don’t have to feel guilty about. This is the recipe as it stands now. Go out and get the ingredients and give it a try!

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup blanched almonds finely chopped
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
2/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup non-fat blueberry yogurt
1 cup frozen blueberries

Cooking spray

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8 1/2” x 4” loaf pan or use my parchment paper trick shown here. In a small bowl mix together the chopped almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.

2. In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, flaxseed meal, baking powder and salt. Mix well and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together for about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla and yogurt and continue mixing on low for another 2 minutes. Scrape the sides as you mix so everything is well combined. Fold in the frozen blueberries until they are evenly distributed in the batter.

4. Spread the batter in the greased or parchment covered loaf pan. The batter will be very thick. Spread evenly and smoothly. Sprinkle almond topping evenly over the batter.

5. Bake on the middle rack for 60-70 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean with no raw batter. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

You can store this in an air tight container for up to 4 days.

Yum, yum, yum.

Love, love, love

Happy Valentine's Day! The tomato heart is courtesy of Rob. We were making tacos the other day and I guess he was inspired by love to create a tomato masterpiece. Brilliant I say! I'm looking forward to our Valentine's dinner at one of our favorite restaurants....oh, and these. Yum.

Summer Sunshine

On my way into work today the sun was beaming through the train windows. I sat in a seat where the sun was hitting my face. It was so bright and it hurt my eyes but it felt good. It was warm and rejuvenating. I could almost imagine that it was summertime. When it gets to this point in the winter I get really restless. I have aches and pains and I just want warm fresh air and sunshine. I guess it's the mid-winter blues. I long for the days of heat and sun and beaches and flowers and green grass and ice cream cones and hot cement and sweat and shorts and flip flops and Saugatuck and farmer's markets and thunderstorms and the smell of suntan lotion and mojitos on the back porch and outdoor concerts and casual strolls through the neighborhood and....SUNSHINE. Soon, very soon. :)

Wine Time (oh Yeah)

So many wines so little time, right? Well I sure think so. I picked up some new wines to try the other day. I totally hate to admit this but I am drawn to the way a wine bottle looks and sometimes it influences my purchasing decision. Yes it's true! But admitting this is my first step to recovery. I really should ignore the pretty labels and look into the whole wine rating thing-a-ma-jig. Yes, I will do this. I can do this!

I picked the above bottles because they were on serious sale. Yes I buy wines because they are on sale too! Ugh.

The Coppola 2009 Pinot Noir retails for about $20 but I got it for $10. It's a good wine, not real fruity but smooth. I would definitely pay $20 for it if I had to.

The Head Snapper (I really liked the way this bottle looked...shhhh) retails for about the same as the Coppola but I also got it for $10. I haven't tried this one yet but when I do I will update.

And then there's the Flip Flop Cabernet Sauvignon. It retails for $14 and was a lot cheaper when I picked it up. It's really not too bad for an inexpensive wine.

Nothing beats my favorite wine Beso de Vino. Love that wine. It's a delicious blend of 85% Syrah and 15% Garnacha and it's also not expensive, only about $12 per bottle. The Wine Advocate gave it a 90 point rating which I've learned  means it's an "outstanding" wine. I must agree.

All this talk about wine makes me thirsty. Is it 5 o'clock yet?

Snow, I don't like you right now.

Yeah yeah, I know the massive Chicago blizzard of 2011 is old news but this blog is my therapy. I need this moment to complain and carry on about how fed up I am about this white stuff. (Insert 500 exclamation marks here.) I also know that there are a thousand other places that get more snow than Chicago does. I know this because I've been told many times this week but still...I must vent! So here is my moment...

The issues I have with this particular snow storm have a lot to do with the fact that I walk everywhere and take public transportation and have to walk through dirty slush and snow every day. There are numerous people that seem disinterested in shoveling their sidewalks so we all have to walk on their bumpy, uneven snow-piled sidewalks and try not to fall or break our ankles. Now I know there are worse things in the world and tragic things happening all over, but this little venting I'm doing makes me feel better and puts things in perspective. I'm lucky to have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, foods in my belly and many good people in my life. I know these are the important things. So I guess I'll deal with staring at this massive snow mound in front if my house until June when it melts completely...

6-foot tall me, in front of the big snow mound. 

So all my venting aside, I wanted to share some photos I took during and after the storm. The snow can be peaceful and beautiful during and after a storm. I think if I lived in a remote part of the country I would really enjoy seeing the snow. I actually would love to have a house someplace remote. Someplace where my neighbors are a mile away and not two feet away. I can imagine myself sipping tea and staring out my kitchen window watching the snow fall over my ten acres of land while my cookies bake in the oven. Ahhh I shall dream for now.

Unfortunately snow doesn't stay pretty and pristine in a busy city. It gets mixed with salt and dirt and oil and turns a disgusting grey color. I wish it could stay pretty. I love pretty snow... I'm getting sidetracked, so back to my snow photos. Here is a picture looking out my living room window at about 10 PM the night of the storm:

Prior to taking the above photo, Rob and I decided to venture out into the blizzard. Unheard of, I know! We figured that we'd stay close to home but explore just a little. We bundled up and headed out. It was incredibly windy and chaotic. We passed a few other blizzard curious people as we explored the neighborhood but for the most part the city was shutdown. After we headed back home the thundersnow started. Then it really started snowing. So Rob and I sipped some wine and enjoyed the windy chaos outside. Then we went to bed. We woke up to almost two feet of snow and massive snow drifts.

9 am, the day after the blizzard

Here are some 5-foot snow drifts against the garage in our back yard:

Later in the afternoon we decided to walk around the neighborhood a bit to see the damage. Here is a pic of our Green Alley next to our place:

We walked down our street to find numerous cars completely covered with snow. Imagine having to dig your car out of this. I'm glad we park our car in a garage and we don't have to access it until this melts.

Here is my favorite picture from the blizzard. It's the view from our back porch. Normally this building is covered in vines, but after the storm it was covered in snow. I love how it just stuck to the building.

Hopefully this will be the last big snowstorm this year. Spring is right around the corner and I can almost smell the spring flowers. Until then, I'll be happy for the things I have and deal with this snow (and maybe quietly curse it under my breath).

Mom’s Coffee Cake and the BLIZZARD OF THE CENTURY!

Doesn't this coffee cake look delicious?! It's my Mom's recipe so I'm not going to share...sorry! I made it the other day for the first time and it reminds me of all the times she used to make it. It brought back a lot of good memories. It's super moist and filled with a lot of cinnamon. Mmmmmm. This should get me through what the weather forecasters are calling the Blizzard of the Century. Dramatic? Well maybe, maybe not. We are expected to get up to two feet of snow:

Photo courtesy of the weather.com

I'm glad I baked cupcakes and cake and I'm even happier I stocked up on wine. I hope lasts... 

To be continued....

Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

I adapted this recipe from SmittenKitchen.com and they have quickly become a favorite. I enlisted my friend Mark to help out with this fabulous recipe. It's a perfect blend of chocolate and cream cheese. A perfect 'beat the mid-winter blues' kinda recipe. It's just the kind of sweet treat I need to make it through the final winter stretch.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

For the chocolate cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cream cheese filling:

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Combine well. Create a small well in the center of the mixture.

3. In a separate bowl combine water, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla extract. Pour into the the center of the flour mixture. Slowly stir, combining the flour and liquid. Do not over-stir. The batter will look a little bubbly and even just a little lumpy. That's okay as long as the dry and wet ingredients are blended.

4. In a separate bowl with a mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg. Fold in the chopped chocolate.

5. Divide the chocolate cupcake batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups.

Mark, evenly distributing the chocolate batter. What a great job he's doing!

6. Evenly distribute the cream cheese mixture, on top of the chocolate mixture, between the 12 muffin cups.

 Me, distributing the cream cheese batter. I'm also doing a good job. Ha!

7. Bake on the center rack for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

These are really delicious. Print this recipe, go get the ingredients and make them! Yum.

Fenn Valley Winery Tour

I've been meaning to post this blog for months. Back in October Rob and I went to Saugatuck Michigan for my birthday weekend getaway. The entire weekend was picture perfect. The leaves were at their autumn peak and the weather was amazing. Aside from all the miscellaneous wine tastings and good foods my absolute favorite part was the winery tour at Fenn Valley Winery. When we arrived in Saugatuck we stopped for a bite then headed to the bed and breakfast to check in. When we walked into the room there was a bottle of champagne and tickets to the winery tour at Fenn Valley. Rob had set it all up as a surprise...I had no idea! It was the best birthday present.

The tour consisted of a tractor ride through the winery with 12 different samples (some of us snuck a few extra smaples...shhhh) and some frolicking in the vineyard. There were maybe about 18 people on this particular tour and it happened to be the last tour of the season. What luck! We headed over to the Grape Train Station...choo-choo....



All the people on the tour were friendly. I think some of them had been doing some tasting prior to the tour, particularly this group of 3 friends. They were rather loud gals and they were ready to chug some samples. Whoo hoo! We also met a lovely couple that knew the owner of the winery. They had been on the tour like 500 times and knew everything by heart. If there are winery tour trophies I'm sure they have a whole shelf of them. There was also another couple that honed in on us from the moment we stepped into the Grape Train Station. Coincidentally they are from the Chicago area and we found out they were staying at our bed and breakfast. I wish I could remember their names....Heather and Keith maybe...or Brad and Angelina...or...hmmm well anyway she reminded me of Sarah McLaughlan-just the way she looked. She chatted with us the entire tour and had lots of witty remarks. She was quite fun. Later that night they were hanging out at the bed and breakfast when we came back. They were drinking Dom Pérignon and playing some board games. They insisted we share the bottle of Dom. We couldn't pass that up! We had some good conversation and hung out for quite a while. Then off to bed we went and we didn't see them again. I guess we were just two ships that passed in the night...ahhhh...okay back to the tour...

We stopped and checked out some vines. Isn't this thrilling?! Well it is after about 4 samples....

Adjacent to the vineyard was a little pine forrest, also quite thrilling!

The obligatory photo of the Fenn Valley sign:

And, the most amazing part was the sunset! Just as we were leaving and after many samples I couldn't resist snapping photos left and right of the beautiful sunset. An amazing way to end the tour!

Ohhhhh...

Ahhh....

Fenn Valley Winery...we will be back!

So much to blog about!

Wow the holidays are over already. It's really hard to believe. And I have so much blogging to do! I've been somewhat consistently blogging for the past few months and I plan on keeping up the momentum and maybe changing things up a bit in the new year. Oh and speaking of...I thought I'd post a pic of me and Roberto's yummy New Year's Eve spread of delicious foods!

We went to our favorite Italian market a few blocks up the street - Piatto Pronto. We got some mild and hot sopressata, imported prosciutto, artichoke salad, a big chunk of pecorino romano and some bread. Oh I made my bruschetta too. Deelish! I also made a new winterized logo with snowflakes. I'm doing my best to accept that there's still at least two months of hard winter...let it snow! errrr maybe not....

Favorite Cookies

chomp chomp chomp

Since it's the holidays I wanted to compile some my favorite cookie recipes that I've blogged about into one post. Here are some, in no particular order:

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies - This is a favorite. A great combo of chocolate and mint!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies - Ooooh these are delicious. I love peanut butter and chocolate.

Maple Sugar Cookies - A yummy Martha Stewart recipe.

My Mom's Sugar Cookies - The BEST sugar cookies in the world!

Almond Balls - A new favorite!

So when I started writing this post I really felt as though I've blogged about a lot of different cookies. Well apparently not because the 5 cookie recipes above are the only ones I've ever blogged about! So my New Year's resolution is to: Bake more cookies and blog about all of them.

No go make some cookies. :)

Almond Balls

Rob has dubbed these cookies "Angel Balls". I'm not really sure why but I think it's funny and I laugh to myself every time I think about it. I tend to laugh to myself rather frequently but that's beside the point. I recently made something similar at a friend's house but her recipe was secret (shhhhhh) so I got this recipe from my mom. I think they're great for the holidays.

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter (softened)
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup ground almonds - blanched (finely chopped)
2/3 cup oats (chopped)
2 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar for coating

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl cream butter, sugar, salt and vanilla with mixer until well combined. Finely chop almonds in a food processor until they reach a consistency similar to flour. Beat into the butter mixture. Roughly chop oatmeal in a food processor and add to the mixture and stir. Add the flour, one cup at a time and stir by hand until all ingredients are well combined.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Take about a teaspoon of dough and roll into a tight ball. The ball should be just a little smaller than a quarter. Space the cookies one inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Since there is no leavening in these cookies they do not rise, therefore they can be placed close together. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are light brown.

Remove cookie sheet from the oven and let cool for at least 5 minutes before taking the cookies off and moving them to a cooling rack. If you try to remove them from the cookie sheet right away they will fall apart....I know this because I tried.

Once cooled, toss the cookies in powdered sugar and eat. Yum!

Let it Snow!

It’s hard to believe Christmas is in five days. I am now finally feeling festive and inspired to bake (and eat!) lots of Holiday cookies. I am not a fan of snow or cold and there is snow in the forecast almost every day this week…and I’m actually looking forward to it. This is surprising even to me. I love being in my kitchen and watching the snow fall and smelling deliciously delicious cookies baking in the oven. Mmmm yum! I guarantee though once Christmas is over I will be cursing it every chance I get. But for now I shall not be a scrooge and I will enjoy it!

Let it snow!

Candle Addiction

So as some of you may know from previous posts here and here that I love candles. Specifically Illuminations candles but sadly, they are no longer in business. I took a picture last time I reorganized my candle cupboard (see below). I was making room for a new candle love. Yes, I said it...I have a new love. It's hard to let go of Illuminations but I must since I have no choice. Queue the overly dramatic music. Ha! Really, I have moved on. So my new favorite is Slatkin & Co candles. So many great smells. They also burn really evenly (probably because they have three wicks) but burn up rather quickly. I'm just happy to have found candles almost comparable to Illuminations. I think I need another cupboard....

 So many candles!

Apple Cranberry-Orange Pie

Apples, apples, apples...so many apples. I decided to make more pie. I adapted this recipe from the great Martha Stewart and changed it a bit. She calls it Apple Cranberry Pie but I decided it was necessary to throw in the word 'orange' because the orange flavor is quite prominent. In fact, next time I make this recipe I will only use half the zest and juice that this recipe calls for. I suggest doing the same unless you really don’t mind the strong orange flavor.

Just like with the apple turnovers, I used a pre-made pie crust. Martha would probably “poo-poo” me for not making homemade but, c’mon…it’s so easy to buy pre-made!

Apple Cranberry-Orange Pie

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS for FILLING

5 medium-sized apples, peeled cored and sliced
The zest of 1 orange
The juice of 1 orange
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup fresh cranberries roughly chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

INGREDIENTS for TOPPING

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 rounded tablespoons of oats
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

MISC

1 pre-made pie crust
Aluminum foil

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix together all the ingredients for the filling in a large bowl. Be sure to stir well and mix evenly. Pour filling into uncooked pre-made pie crust.

Mix together all the ingredients for the topping until the consistency becomes crumb-like. Sprinkle evenly over the pie.

Before going into the oven

Bake for 1/2 hour then remove from oven. Loosely cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 1/2 hour.

Depending how thick you cut your apples will affect how long it will take to bake your pie. Obviously, the thicker the apples, the longer it will take. To test, I take a sharp knife and stick it into the pie. If the apples are tough, I bake it until they become soft and I can easily stick a knife in the pie.

Once the pie is thoroughly baked, remove from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack and allow to cool.

Once cooled, eat and enjoy!

Fresh cranberries, chopped

mmmm...orange

Caramel Apple Pie...ooh and a New Cutting Board!

About two weeks ago Rob and I went to Michigan. It was a perfect fall weekend. We went to wine tastings, toured Fenn Valley Winery and vineyards, ate lots of yummy food and went leaf peeping. I'll post pictures soon. On the way back to Chicago we stopped at Big Dan's U-Pick Farm to pick more apples. Yes, more apples! I've been doing so much baking with apples that I think I need an extended vacation from them. One of my favorite recipes is my caramel apple pie. I'm really selfish when it comes to this recipe. There are a lot of recipes I make up and I post them on this blog. But there are some I keep to myself, like this one. Call me selfish but I just don't want to release my baby to the world. Here she is before being put into the oven:

I love you, little pie

Of course, I forgot to take a picture after I baked it. Here's a pic from an older post. Yum...

I'm also really excited about my new cutting board. I get ridiculously excited about new kitchen items/utensils. I've been eyeing some here and there but couldn't bring myself to spend a lot of money. I wanted a really big cutting board. The biggest one I had (pictured above with my delicious apple pie) still wasn't big enough and it was starting to crack. So I went to Ikea (I love Ikea) and got this one:

Hello new cutting board!



Only $12.99! What a deal! whooohooo....