I am in the midst of buckle-down time for a number of real-life work projects. My stress level has peaked and I need to let something sit for a bit while I get stuff done. Not Crocker has been doing wonderfully the last few weeks and I hate to stall progress, but I really need to wrap up some other projects so I can back to a normal level of stress. But, don’t fret, I am just going to take the rest of this week and will be back with a couple of glorious posts. What to look forward to? Flourless chocolate cake with praline and cayenne, inspired by a favourite restaurant; pasta sauce made with mascarpone (seriously, I still have a ton); a new and exciting braided and stuffed bread; at least one new dip; something blueberry (blueberries are out and about!).

To tide you over, photograph-style, here are a couple photos from the summer.

I am crazy about radishes and happily my parents always have a bowl of them in the fridge.

My husband and mom being sassy.

Coming back from my beer lunch, I casually clicked over to this site to see how traffic was doing, as I do every day (the website checking… not the beer lunching… well, maybe), and BOOM my traffic was exploding!

Now, I regularly have pretty good traffic for a food blog that is run as a hobby. Those tiny little blips up there represent daily traffic of about 50-100 visits, which I am happy enough with. The second biggest blip, the first one on the left is about 200 people. So you can only imagine my excitement seeing this tower of awesome coming directly from The Kraken’s Facebook page. Thanks guys! Those rum cupcakes were amazing and were enhanced, no, MADE by the addition of The Kraken’s rum.

If you just love to put alcohol in things, other than drinks… cause… who doesn’t?!, check out these other alcohol based recipes!

Rum Cupkrakes (with Kraken Rum)

Guinness Cupcakes with Bailey’s Irish Cream Buttercream (I will be remaking the Guinness chocolate cake this week, so keep an eye out for that!)

Tequila Lime Chicken (also awesome with shrimp)

Beer Bread (so easy and soooo frigging delicious)

Gordon Ramsay’s Shepherd’s Pie (… there is red wine in there… that counts!)

Alright, well I think that’s it. But there will be more!

Huzzah!

This time I am in the Yukon! Genesis and I flew home on the 8th to stay with my parents for a week. It’s been wonderful so far, in fact, I almost got a sunburn on the first day! We are busy as ever and are excited for Jon and Kellie and the kids to get here in the next few days. There has been a lot of great cooking and some baking (with much more to come) so I promise a flurry of posts when I get the chance to sit down and create them! In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of my parents’ amazing house that I would be crushed if they sold! Hear that mom and dad? Crushed!

The newest party area, with a fire pit, next to my dad’s Man Shed.

They’ve put in an above-ground pool and waterslide.

While this walkway was being built we called it “the dock”… maybe just me.

Keep an eye out for some new cakes, a great soup, biscuits, and other Sellars-family/ my mom’s recipes!

I am in Toronto.

Apparently I consider this evidence that I am in Toronto!

I came to Toronto on Wednesday morning (think waking up at 4am for a 7am flight). Six of us MPubbers decided to go to Book Summit 2012 (which you might have gleaned from my extensive #bksummit12 tweeting). The conference was yesterday, Thursday, but we are here until Sunday morning. I’ve been having a great time cruising this fun city, though the heat Wednesday and Thursday was a tough sell. After some rain last night it’s nicely cooled off to, oh, 32° or so.

We are going to relax on Toronto Island tomorrow after some tasty brunch, and then an earlyish night before we head home.

Anyway, all of this just so I can apologize for the lack posts this week. I have one queued up, but it isn’t finished and it is nothing particularly special. I mean, it’s tasty, but it’s also super simple.

I hope you’ve all been enjoying cruising the recipes on here! Let me make some recommendations of stuff to try out as you wait for the next recipe!

• If it is cool where you are (ugh, I wish!) make yourself some shepherd’s pie! There are two kinds: Beef and Lentil OR Gordon Ramsay’s.
• Have a farmer’s market near by? Buy a box of strawberries and make these Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes (forgo the icing and totally top them with some lightly-sweetened whipped cream for an awesome summer treat!)
• Need some spice in your life? Amazing Curry is just that, amazing!
• Want to make something that will make your breakfasts a touch sweeter? These Coffee Cake Muffins are lightly sweet and so good! OR make my mom’s Brown Sugar Scones, which are so good, I am making them the minute I get home from Toronto.

Anyway, thanks for coming back and being awesome despite my mysterious absence! Awesome recipes to come! OOOOOOHHHH I bought the Flavor Thesaurus, so you can imagine that I am going to have some killer ideas from reading that baby! I hope your summers are going well!