I have a dark secret.
It usually involves cooking.
And dancing.
And the Mamma Mia Soundtrack.
I have a dark secret.
It usually involves cooking.
And dancing.
And the Mamma Mia Soundtrack.
Some people grew up watching sitcoms with their families. I grew up watching cooking shows on public television. Long before Rachael, Giada, Emeril and Paula had taken over our homes with the Food Network, there were the Jacques; Pepin and Torres (of course Julia was prior to them, but I wasn’t alive when her first show was on tv) I would watch with my family in awe at they created masterpieces (a chocolate oven..really?!).
Another show that has garnered great praise in my family is America’s Test Kitchen. It is fantastic. (I also highly recommend their cookbook). For those unfamiliar with ATK, they do more than just cook. They test and they explain. For example, in the following recipe, the butter is melted. They explained this created a chewier cookie than creaming the butter and then showed the crispy creamed butter cookie. The cook books also provide information such as the preferred brand of peanut butter to use in cookies. It removes a lot of the guesswork and adds some science. I love it. I’m such a nerd.
I’ve moved. Again. The kitchen in the new place is, well…um, cozy.

Cooking this year will be interesting. It is not the best kitchen I’ve had. Actually, it’s the smallest and has the worst appliances. And yet, I love it. I’m living alone for the first time ever and the entire kitchen is MINE. I organized the cabinets and fridge the way I want. If it’s my desires to make french toast at 3 am, I can. Plus, I don’t have to feel guilty about leaving the dishes in the sink until the morning. It’s pure bliss.
Then I thought about all of my apartment kitchens and how they have changed over the years. Some were better than others but I’ve managed with all of them, and this year will be no different. And with that, I bring you: CoSkay’s Kitchen’s throughout the years:
To be honest, I don’t really have a good story behind this post. I was at the Farmer’s Market and the rhubarb was in coming into season, so I bought some.
I’ve never made a rhubarb pie before (considering I’ve only made pie a couple of times in my life) so I thought, why the hell not? I bought some strawberries too and that’s how the pie was born (well…the idea of it at least).

Well I made the pie and I’m proud to say, it was delicious. Although as you can see from the picture, I need to work on my crust making skills. They aren’t quite up to par yet. The decorations on top are a strawberry and a rhubarb leaf (in case you can’t quite make it out).

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
From All Recipes
I have to say, I’ve been pretty lucky this summer.
That last point is key. I’m able to bake up a storm knowing whatever is produced will be gone in less than four days. Unlike living by myself where I can’t blame anyone else for eating the last cookie (or the entire batch), now I can just say it was one of the roommates. Living in denial is fantastic.

So as a final course to the dinner I made last week, I chose peach cobbler. An obvious decision given peaches are in season right now and EVERYWHERE.

Now normally, cobblers and other peach related desserts are made with yellow peaches. They are sweeter and have that traditional peachy goodness. I decided to make this cobbler with a mix of yellow and white. I enjoyed it because each bite produced a slightly different flavor.

Although I will be honest, it received mixed reviews. Some people liked the less sweet peach mix and others wanted more of the familiar peach flavor. Regardless of which peaches you chose, the crust part is delicious. I preferred my cobbler warm served with vanilla ice cream.

Peach Cobbler
Adapted from Martha Stewart