Desserts in a demitasse

Cupcakes, for lack of a better digital-age analogy, are trending—but they aren’t your grandma’s cupcakes!  Long gone are the days of being satisfied by bakery cupcakes covered with neon frosting, heaps of sprinkles and plastic picks of Scooby Doo.  No, the love of these single-serving treats is of a “Cupcake Wars” quality.  It’s all about gourmet cakes and frostings—even unique combinations of the two.  Welcome to the Golden Age of cupcakes! And in an decade when the personalization of homes, cars, smart-phones and internet profiles is commonplace, it's only natural that we apply this "what suits me?" attitude to our food.  Cupcakes are some of the most customizable foods, and, presuming you like cake, delicious mini...

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Posted in: cupcake,dessert

Finding a bit of Southern seafood comfort

When you're looking for a delicious grab-bag of flavor, shellfish is where it's at.  However, while many people will jump at the opportunity to drink a shrimp cocktail, certain crustaceans and bivalves can either be too tough to crack or too slimy to stomach for even the most adventurous of seafood lovers.  Crab legs are (literally) a pain and often the battle with the sea-spider's armor hardly seems worth the amount of booty within.  Oysters are stubborn shuckers, and even if you order them on the half-shell, their flavor and booger-esque texture are usually a taste the person doing the slurping must acquire. But if you're anything like us here at The Giddy Gourmands (who are natives to the fish-filled state of Southern California),...

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Posted in: cornbread,crab,gumbo,oyster,shrimp

Grillin' and gobblin' everything up

Every summer, it's the same old thing: burgers, burgers, burgers up to your buns.  But so many of those flat, beef patties tend to be so dry and tasteless that we cover them with as many condiments as we can manage in order to come out victorious at the dinner table.  Is that diminished hockey puck the best we can do?  Have Americans, the champions of this summertime delight, really forgotten how to make a delicious burger? And while beef may be "what's for dinner" most of the time, what ever happened to turkey burgers?  These delicious white-meat, condiment-carrying alternatives haven't been in style for years it seems.  Where are they now?  Merely on the menu for those people trying to watch their figures?  Are...

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Posted in: Burger,cabbage,condiments,salad,Turkey

Putting the 'East' in Easter

Every Easter, my father and I host our entire extended family. The body count usually ends up being from 16 to 20--the perfect appetizer crowd! This is always an exciting prospect for me, as I usually cook for just one person. But at Easter time, the opportunity of venturing into the world of stuffed mushroom caps and cheesy dips was upon me! Yet, my father insisted for weeks leading up to the gastronomic event that one of our guests would be bringing some sort of appetizer platter. My vacation from the college menu of frozen pizza had been thwarted. I logged off of AllRecipes.com and closed "The Joy of Cooking," muttering curses. Spring break, a.k.a. the time I could have used for planning some delightful dish, came and went, ending...

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Posted in: Almond,Chicken,Curry,Easter,Fig,Pastry,Puff