Now if this isn’t the spring-iest thing that has ever sprung from my kitchen, I don’t know what is.
A few weeks ago we started easing into bright, fresh spring-y greens with some, uh, mac n’ cheese. With peas though!! And it was marvelous and cozy and the perfect season-straddling dish. But now? It’s May, yo! It’s full-on spring up in here. And my cravings are aligning with the spring in the air and the promise of long summer days (and eek, bathing suits?!?!) on the horizon.
I’m slowly re-learning that the weird thing about living in a place with no real seasons is that my food cravings are ALL OVER THE PLACE.
When I lived in Chicago, I very much craved seasonal dishes – warm roast-y vegetables and apple everything in the fall; hearty soups and chili and creamy pasta in the winter; fresh, green, and satisfyingly light dishes in the spring; tons of fresh fruit and BBQ staples in the summer. Here in California, not only is there basically none of the temperature changes that typically accompany changing seasons, but there is also incredible produce available literally all year around. Here, there’s no OMG factor when you see the strawberries or avocados you’ve been waiting all year for. Not to sound ungrateful – most of the time, it’s AWESOME – but without these typical signals, my body is craving all sorts of random things all the time. And let’s be real – I’m pretty much always craving macaroni and cheese.
We finally made it to the locally famous Cheese Board Collective in Berk for their looooong-line worthy daily pizza. Two thumbs up!!
Hey, everyone! Happy Tax Day! (Not.) Does anyone actually do their taxes on Tax Day? That sounds like the worst thing in the world to me…one time I accidentally went to the post office on Tax Day and let’s just say I majorly regretted that decision. I may not be celebrating finishing my taxes today, but I’ll take the excuse to eat and drink and celebrate, anyways. Let’s eye-indulge! Here are this week’s Foodie Favorites.
This springtime pizza with chipotle romesco and eggs is the perfect seasonal pizza for this time of year – I love how fresh and colorful (and runny egg-y) it looks!
I am totally craving these spicy shrimp tacos right now. Spicy sautéed shrimp in a corn tortilla with crispy slaw? I’m allllll over it.
Making good use of all the incredible California avocados ’round here! My fave way to eat them: smashed on whole-wheat bread, topped with liberal kosher salt, fresh cracked black pepper, and red chili flakes. YUM.
Happy April! I have to say, I am pretty pumped to see March go. A lot of exciting things happened, but moving, starting a new job, and dealing with a super fun and timely ant invasion in the same month has been…taxing. I’m ready for Spring, new beginnings, and a figurative breath of fresh air. I hope you’ll join me in a cheers to that! Here are this week’s Foodie Favorites…let’s just say I’ve got your Easter back covered, yo.
My #1 carrot cake find this week (besides, ya know, these): carrot graham layer cake. I must try this graham flour!!
Also, drooling over these carrot cake scones. Let’s carrot cake everything, okay?