It’s so lovely when you like your neighbors. Granted, sometimes I don’t think I like all of mine, but there are some awesome ones in my building! One in particular, Melissa, is an excellent hostess who ALWAYS manages to have the perfect little plates, utensils, and pretty finishing touches at every event she hosts.


This past week, Melissa made this dessert – she called it lazy cannoli. It was delicious, easy, and downright enlightening. Even a kitchen klutz like me could make it. As someone who thinks about efficiency a lot, is this “lazy” or merely “highly efficient?" Anyway, try it for yourselves! Beware, though, you might not want to share it once you taste it.

Melissa’s “Lazy Cannoli” Recipe

15oz Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Cup Confectioners Powdered Sugar
Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips to taste (around 1/2 cup as well). You can grate a dark chocolate bar instead of using mini chocolate chips.
Optional: some diced Maraschino Cherries to taste

My sisters both went home to Rhode Island this weekend, visiting from NYC and DC, and I was stuck in Boston with work and too much homework. They posted silly pictures to my facebook to let me know they were thinking of me. One was from our favorite coffee shop, The Coffee Depot. I worked there for eight years, and my mom runs the place, so it has naturally become an extension of our kitchen/living room. My dad drops in on his way to work and again on his way home. It's the homework spot, the lazy day spot, the let's meet before we go to dinner spot, and there is a constant stream of New Harvest Coffee available.

Some would argue that the season is over for frozen desserts but I say coffee ice cream all year round! Fresh dairy and quality coffee are always readily available. Also pie season is upon us and à la mode is always à la mode.

Personally, I prefer my ice cream blended into a thick, creamy beverage. To the rest of the world it's a frappe or a milkshake but where I'm from, Rhode Island, we call them cabinets and we specialize in the coffee variety. I grew up drinking this heavenly treat at Delekta's, a mom and pop pharmacy seated on Main Street in Warren's sleepy town center. Delekta's makes their own coffee syrup and serves your beverage half in a classic soda pop glass and half in the malt mixer it was made in. A perfect pick-me-up for a bad day or a...well, actually I think these are perfect for any day, any weather, any mood.

If you're looking to sell some product, you might as well give up right now because Little Baby's Ice Cream has everyone beat with this commercial.

...And by that I mean they've created a disturbing ad that makes Little Baby's Ice Cream look even creepier than it sounds. Check it out.

Sigh.

Sometimes I'm just a victim—the folks at the Kitchn have got my number and are just churning out dessert recipes this week that I must link to. First it was vanilla ice cream affogato with Scotch, and now it's blood-orange syllabub.

Always been a fan of espresso on ice cream (Toscanini's sweet cream w/ a shot, please).

But the folks at Kitchn are mixing it up a little: instead of hot 'spresso on cold vanilla, they advocate a shot of Scotch instead, with the liquor's alcohol softening the ice cream instead of the heat of the coffee.  Sprinke with a little espresso powder, and you're all set.

My whole life, I drank eggnog not even considering what the heck it was. I always assumed the 'egg' in eggnog was the 'egg' in eggcream—no egg at all, and probably no nog either.

I did like it though; Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years (and sometimes Chanukah, too) Mom would truck down to Wilson's Farm out in Lexington and bring back a carton or two. Give it a sprinkle of nutmeg, and later on, a shot of whiskey or Southern Comfort, and I was happy. It was sweet, it was rich, what more could I ask for?

Wasn't until my mid-20's that the possibility of actually creating eggnog even crossed my mind. And the tip wasn't eggnog at all, but it's odd and excellent Southern cousin. It was a New Year's party, with a Texas hostess with Tennessee roots. When I slipped into the kitchen for a drink, she was tending a bubbling kettle of froth.

Hi! I’m Alexandra and I am a new (excited, naive and food-obsessed) intern at Culture. I don’t know a ton about cheese but I love to eat it and I am eager to learn more. Will has asked me to make my first blog post and I immediately thought of ice cream. Get ready for your mind to be blown.

I cannot think of a better way to savor the last few days of warm California weather than with this amazingly delicious and savory ice cream recipe. I would have never thought to pair cheese and ice cream, but I must say that this Honey Goat Cheese and Fig Swirl Ice Cream, via Erin's Food Files, not only sounds fun to make, but even more fun to eat.

This video about artisan chocolateirs Mast Brothers, via The Scout, contains one of the most intense openings for any chocolate-based movie I can remember, Gene Wilder's performance in Willy Wonka excepted.

The Brooklyn-based brothers have gained notoriety not only for their full, silky beards, but also for their utter commitment to hand-manufacture, to the point of commissioning a sailboat to deliver their cocoa beans from the Dominican Republic, New York's first cargo delivery by sail since 1939.

Following hot on the heels of Elaine's post on cheese and cardiac health, here's a dip that probably ain't good for you. Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Dip comes via Slice & Dice, a foodblog that makes no apologies for richness.

The question is, is it good? On the one hand, sugar, butter, cream cheese, chocolate. On the other, too much butter, sugar, cream cheese and chocolate?

It's never going to win a James Beard award, but when I first tasted cookie dough ice-cream, I'd never have guessed that it'd be ubiquitous a decade later. And the inside-out approach has really worked for molecular cuisine. Heck, you don't even need a sous-vide machine.