Lesa

I love baking - and Parker House Rolls are simple and easy! 🍽️

The Bordeaux in the middle!

Mind officially blown at today’s blind tasting group. Brunello and Amarone in the lineup, both with more than 30 years of age!

🥰🥰🥰

Aw! Thanks!

Lot of deliciousness in today’s lineup!

It’s pizza night! 🍽️ Tonight’s theme - no red sauce!

Valentine’s Day is not a big deal in my house, but that doesn’t mean I won’t use it as an excuse to open a nice bottle. Specifically, a 26-yr old Syrah. Olives, soy sauce, and a core of berries enveloped by integrated tannins and lively acid. This is what drinking aged wine is all about.

I really need to blog my recipe - I basically took dough learnings from The Pizza Bible and applied it to that King Arthur recipe (ie adding the diastatic malt powder) to get to my go-to recipe today. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Neapolitan-Style Pizza Crust A light, airy pizza crust, equal parts chewy and air.

The King Arthur Neopolitan dough is a great base recipe to start with - www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/neap...

I use a pizza steel on the bottom and put cast iron on the top rack to radiate more heat from above as well as below. I also added a tsp of diastatic malt to the pizza dough to get the browning/char and good oven spring for the dough

Making pretzels for the big game:) 🍽️ I’m not really a football fan, but excited to see Bad Bunny!

Wine time - drinking a gorgeous bottle and comparing different glass shapes!

Not here in DC. I had an ooni in FL, but didn’t feel safe on a rowhouse balcony🤣 So I’m using my regular oven and pizza steel.

Homemade pizza for dinner last night! 🍽️

One must have wine..

Looks delish

When I first started making bread, I was amazed at the magic of it all. 🍽️

Years later, I still marvel at the magic, but have gained the confidence to play. Tonight’s loaf, enriched with sharp cheddar and thyme, was heavenly with a generous slather of good and salty cultured butter.

OMG - I made these for the first time last weekend with leftover starter discard:) So delicious!

Looks delish!

2026 has begun and already the news cycle is overwhelming and insane. I’m finding my zen by balancing the news with my New Year’s resolution to make more seafood. Just a couple of my recent creations 🍽️ So tell me, friends, what are your fave seafood dishes? Bonus points for including recipe links!

Playful time in the kitchen 🍽️. I’m enamored with these garlic and herb palmiers, a perfect salty bite with a glass of wine, and I made shortbread for the first time tonight - earl gray shortbread, half of it with lemon icing drizzle. Simple pleasures for a roast chicken dinner with friends:)

I fully agree!

Aw! Thanks!

I fully believe that baking/cooking is my love language:) Hosted a dear friend’s birthday party and thoroughly enjoyed making everything from scratch. 🍽️ From lemon drizzle cake to homemade paté and a braided bread wreath, there’s joy in making delicious food for people I love.

Shrimp bowls with black beans and rice. 🍽️ A delicious dinner, yes, but not a pairing with Freisa from Piedmonte. So dinner was first, wine was after:)

Dinner tonight - soy roasted salmon with simple fried rice and dry Riesling to finish it off! 🍽️

Farmers market finds turns into a gorgeous dinner! 🍽️

Dreams do come true - I was craving tomato and peach salad and some sort of seafood for dinner. Both tomatoes and peaches were chefs kiss at the farmers market and I scored some gorgeous black cod at the fish market! 🍽️ Dinner is served:)

You know it!