The stars aligned this weekend and I spent lots of time in the kitchen...


Birthday cake for my friend Dan. This was a bit of a franken-cake... I used this recipe for coconut cake, then iced it with some chocolate buttercream I had in the freezer, which I spiked with a dash of mint extract, then topped it all off with some dark chocolate ganache I also had in the freezer. I was a little worried about the outcome of a coconut-chocolate-mint concoction, but it went over great. I mean, maybe everybody was drunk by the time we served the cake, but still.



Delicious, delicious peach cobbler, which - amazingly - came from this:


Gorgeous, perfect peaches I snagged from my parents' tree during a visit last week. I still can't believe they grow these in their back yard. (Keep in mind, they live in Pennsylvania, not Georgia!) The trees are so full of fruit that the branches are literally touching the ground, and you can smell the peaches from several feet away.


Yummy corn muffins, as requested by the mister for his breakfasts this week.


And finally, gazpacho. Ok, I ran out of steam on Sunday night and didn't quite get to this, but these farmer's market veggies will definitely be transformed into gazpacho after work on Monday. mmm.