Six. Years. Old.

Who could even imagine it?

Won’t you join us for a piece of Salted Halvah Blondie to celebrate Blue Cayenne’s sixth birthday? The birthday cake recipe is  from Claire Saffitz’ Dessert Person cookbook and it is sweet and savory and very very good. (You can buy the cookbook at your local bookstore or on Amazon here.)

Thank you, thank you to the people who have read this blog, encouraged us and cooked with us over the last six years. Thank you, too, to Al Nomura, our ever-patient and much-talented photography mentor.

We’ve met a lot of good people here. We’ve had our highs and our trolls but, in the big picture, this six-year cooking/photography/writing journey has been a joy.

To be honest, a big part of the “we” in Blue Cayenne is Sweet Juliet, Blue Cayenne’s Chief Quality Officer (CQO). Juliet has kept Blue Cayenne’s Editor on the straight and narrow more times than “we” care to mention. Trust me on this; Juliet is one tough cookie–a sort of “Devil Wears Prada” (with a heart of gold) in a doggie suit. Right now, she’s taking a little much-deserved R&R. She’s celebrating Blue Cayenne’s birthday and her favorite couture holiday–Halloween. (Lest you worry, there are extra Pumpkin Treats this weekend for this sweet little girl multi-talented CQO. )

Here’s the recipe.

Brunch.

It’s a portmanteau– a made up word joining two words and two meanings. You know, a blend. List and article: Listicle. Smoke and fog: Smog. Breakfast and lunch: Brunch. 

Actually, Blue Cayenne’s sweet Chief Quality Officer (CQO)  Juliet is probably a portmanteau, too. Juliet is a little rescue and the bets are that she is a cross between a Yorkie and a Pomeranian. We won’t be telling Juliet, but that makes her a Porkie.

But enough vocabulary wanderings. What about the concept of brunch? 

Nineteenth-century British writer Guy Beringer is generally credited with coining the term brunch. He wrote a tongue-in-cheek piece in a British magazine, The Hunter’s Weekly, in 1895 titled “Brunch: A Plea.” In the piece, Beringer argued the merits of a late Sunday morning meal, one that would better suit those Saturday carousers who, in their hung over state, struggled to face the Sunday feed: “Brunch is a hospitable meal; breakfast is not. Eggs and bacon are adapted to solitude; they are consoling, but not exhilarating. They do not stimulate conversation. Brunch, on the contrary, is cheerful, sociable, and inciting. It puts you in a good temper. It makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings. It sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.”

This Blueberry Brunch Cake is perfect for any midday celebration. There is lots of flavor with lemon and blueberries and nutmeg. It’s pretty too. And, who couldn’t use a little cobweb cleanse now and then?

This recipe is adapted from a Marian Burros recipe that appeared in The New York Times. You can find the original recipe here.

I’m having a bit of a pity party about being alone on New Year’s Eve, so I decided to cook today.

Several days ago I discovered this Martha Rose Shulman recipe on the New York Times site. One of my indulgences in life is to subscribe to the NY Times. It is pricey but the writing soars and the food section is wonderful. I don’t know of another newspaper with that dedication to its food section.

This recipe combines warm crepes with a lime zest-infused Greek yogurt filling and sauces the whole thing with a fresh raspberry sauce. What’s not to love here?

A link to the original NY Times/Martha Rose Shulman recipe appears at the end of this post.

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Here is the link to the original NY Times recipe:

Ny Times Recipe for Crepes with Raspberry-Cassis Sauce