Aimee Wimbush Borque from Simple Bites uploaded this amazing recipe along with images for Homemade Blueberry Syrup. Jams and preserves, yes, but I never thought to make syrup! Imagine pancakes and waffles on winter mornings and the familiar summer taste of blueberries to remind you of warm weather past!

Homemade Blueberry Syrup

Makes about 4 cups.

* 5 cups organic blueberries, washed
* 3 cups water
* 1 cup Turbinado sugar, firmly packed (or white sugar)
* 1 organic lemon, whole, washed

1. Using a sharp paring knife, peel three or four strips of lemon peel from the lemon. Skin should be about 1/2 inch wide and not have too much of the bitter pith or white part on it. Then juice the lemon, and set both zest and juice aside.
2. Place blueberries and 1 cup of the water in a medium pot. Don’t worry about stems or leaves; they will be strained out later. Using a potato masher, crush the berries.

3. Over medium-high heat, bring the berries and water to a boil, then lower the temperature to medium-low. Simmer berries for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. They will darken considerably.
4. Remove pot from heat and ladle berries into a fine sieve set over a heat-proof bowl or measuring cup. Using the back of a smaller ladle, press on the berry solids to extract as much juice as possible. Discard solids.

5. Wash out your pot, then add the remaining 2 cups of water, lemon peel (not juice yet), and the sugar. Bring to a boil and boil rapidly for about 15 minutes until the mixture thickens (or reaches 225°F).
6. Add blueberry juice and 2 tablespoons lemon juice and stir to combine. Boil another minute or two. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove lemon zest.
7. Using a funnel, pour syrup into clean jars. Top with lid and store in the refrigerator for up to six months.

Serve the syrup or honey table top with a really chic Honey and Syrup Dispenser.

WMF Kult Honey and Syrup Dispenser.

My husband I gave our kitchen a facelift this year.  We were on a tight budget so we were pretty limited as to what we could do.  We decided to replace the truly ugly black and white swirled vinyl  floor with a beautiful slate grey porcelain tile.  We also replaced the old range with a gorgeous new stainless model from Sears, added a hood that vented outside (the old hood just re-circulated the air into the room), replaced some plastic closet doors with some nice shuttered doors, and generally tried to liven the place up. 

We didn’t replace the cabinets because we couldn’t really afford to.  The only problem is that we still don’t have enough storage space in our kitchen.  So we’ve been shopping for a new kitchen cart that will match our old cabinets but still be able to transition when we eventually do upgrade. 

This is one of my favorites so far:

Kitchen Cart With Granite Top, $499 at Target

I really like this kitchen cart from Target.com.  It has two big cabinets on either side with 2 shelves a piece in them, which are good for storing large items like mixing bowls or your blender.  Plus it has four drawers in the certain for storing smaller items like silverware.  There is also a towel rack on the side and a big granite countertop.  The whole thing is on wheels which makes it perfect if you want to use it sometimes as a kitchen island and other times have against a wall.

I am not certain if we’ll want to go with a dark granite when we replace our countertops, which would be my only hesitation to buying this cart.  However, I think that having a granite top is much nicer if you want to use the cart for prep work.  I’ve seen a lot of kitchen carts with plain wood tops, and I don’t think that’s ideal for food prep.  I am still going to shop around a bit, but I think this cart would make a great addition to any kitchen, and may end up in mine!

I found a recipe for yummy chocolate cake from Grace Langlois’  blog, La Mia Dolce Vita. One kitchen tool that is a must for this recipe is a silicone spatula–just look at all that frosting and all those layers!

Here are some that are well priced silicone spatulas ($27.50) that look great:

Williams-Sonoma Personalized Silicone Spatulas, Clear, Set of 3

And to maintain some semblance of dignity in an already messy kitchen, place any frosting covered spatula on the cutest Le Creuset Stoneware Spoon Rest.

Le Crueset Stoneware Spoon Rest in Kiwi

And without further ado:

Donna Hay’s Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

From Donna Hay, serves 6-8

• 1 cup (250 ml) water
• 125 g unsalted butter, chopped
• 1/3 cup (35 g) cocoa, sifted
• 2 cups (300 g) plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda, sifted
• 2 cups (440 g) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 160° C (325° F).  Lightly grease 2, 18 cm round cake tins and line with parchment paper.
2. Place the water, butter and cocoa in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until the butter has melted; set aside.
3. Using a fine-mesh sieve, sift the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl.  Add sugar and whisk to combine well.
4. Add the cocoa mixture and whisk to combine.  Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and whisk to combine.
5. Divide batter evenly between the 2 cake tins.  Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in centre of cake comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in the tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• 100 g unsalted butter, softened
• 500 g cream cheese
• 2 cups (320 g) icing (confectioner’s) sugar, sifted
• 1/2 cup (50 g) cocoa, sifted

1. Place butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed for 6 to 8 minutes or until pale and creamy.
2. Meanwhile, using a fine-mesh sieve, sift icing sugar and cocoa into a medium bowl. Repeat an additional 2 times.
3. Reduce stand mixer to low speed and gradually add the icing sugar, cocoa mixture.
4. Increase speed to medium-high and continue to beat for a further 6 to 8 minutes or until light and fluffy.

images and recipe via La Mia Dolce Vita

Cook for the Cure KitchenAid Measuring Cup Set

If you are looking for new set of measuring cups for your kitchen, your choices have evolved from the standard white plastic or metal sets of old.  KitchenAid has a whole line of pink kitchen appliances and tools called “Cook for the Cure“.  A portion of the sale of every item goes to Breast Cancer Research.

I think this idea is really cool.  Instead of having a boring measuring cup set and measuring spoon set, you can have a pink collection and support a cause!  This dishwasher safe set has holes in the handles to make it easy to hang, and comes with 5 measuring spoons and 5 measuring cups.  It retails for only $9.99 and 10% of that goes to Breast Cancer Research.

While cookies and milk were the quintessential snacks of our youth, I much more prefer espresso (from my favorite Breville Cafe Modena Espresso Machine) and cookies as an adult. Blogger Buns in My Oven posted this perfectly sweet recipe on her website and I cannot wait to bite into my own homemade oatmeal pie cookie.

Oatmeal Cream Pies
recipe from Honey & Jam

* 1 cup butter, softened
* 3/4 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1/4 tsp cinnamon
* 1 tbsp cocoa powder
* 1 1/2 cups quick oats

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in vanilla and the eggs, one at a time until well incorporated. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, cocoa powder, and oats. Beat into the cream mixture. Refrigerate cookie dough for 15 minutes.

Drop about 1 tbsp of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. The centers should still be slightly underdone when you remove them from the oven. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Spread about 1 tbsp of cream filling (recipe below) on the bottom of one cookie and then top with another cookie.

Cream Filling

* 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I imagine butter would work just fine)
* 1 1/2 cups marshmallow cream
* 2 cups powdered sugar
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 1-2 tbsp milk, as needed

Cream together the shortening and marshmallow cream. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla, beat well. Thin with milk until you get the right consistency. The mixture should be thick and creamy, but easily spreadable.

Here is the Breville ESP6SXL Cafe Modena Espresso Machine. Beauty!

If you really want to make me jealous…(drumroll) presenting, the

Breville BES820XL Espresso Machine!

And fresh ground coffee to go with. I need to try this :

Breville iKON Conical Burr Grinder

Sometimes, people come up with the darndest things. I was looking for some cotton kitchen towels, when lo and behold, I saw this beauty!

Cat Kitchen Towels set of 2

It may be because it’s nearing the end of the week, but I literally burst into a fit of laughter! I love kitties, but the black cat on the cat kitchen towel looks hilariously surprised–I’m giggling as I write this! And Poodle Kitchen Towels–such regal looking animals don’t belong on a towel!

Poodle Kitchen Towel

I didn’t go with those two, but with these Williams and Sonoma Striped Dijon Towels instead, but I wish I would have bought the Cat and Poodle Kitchen towels just for the fun of it.

Williams and Sonoma Set of 4 Striped Dijon Kitchen Towels

Okay, I love corn–so why is it that I had never heard of a Corn Zipper before? I admit this is kind of a wacky idea, but I can see how beneficial this could be for someone like me who would put corn on my salad, and in my soup, and maybe swim in it if I got the chance. OXO makes a nifty Corn Zipper that catches all the kernels so you’re not on your hands and knees cleaning up a corny mess.

OXO Corn Stripper

There are some different Corn Zippers that resemble vegetable peelers. Store your kernels in some sort of food storage set, ’cause you’re going to have a lot of kernels.

OXO® 10-Piece Pop Container Set.

My friend Bobby loves Lo Ro Fan. It’s a dish I never tried until very recently. In this fantastic post, Jessica from Food Mayhem lays out the recipe with step by step picture instructions for a Taiwanese food newbie like myself. It’s a perfect mix of textures (crispy chunks of pork belly, crunchy greens, all atop a bed of fluffy rice), temperatures and sweet and savory flavors.

Here are Jessica’s images and recipe:

Lo Ro Fan

Instructions -

1. Dice pork belly in 1/2″ cubes. Set aside.
2. Make a sachet with ginger, star anise, and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a wok (like this T-Fal 14″ Wok) on medium heat. Add pork belly and stir until just turning color.
4. Stir in soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar. Add the sachet and 2 cups of water (I like to use OXO Steel Measuring Cups). Turn up the heat and bring to a boil.
5. Allow to boil for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with fried shallots and Chinese 5 spice powder. Reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 1 hour, or until meat is tender. Remove sachet. Serve on rice with pickled mustard green relish.

Diced Pork Belly

Ginger, Anise, Cinnamon

Bobby doesn’t use a sachet and instead just picks the ginger, anise and cinnamon out of the simmering pork belly mixture. It’s up to you!

Have you ever used a corkscrew to open a bottle of wine and thought to yourself that there has got to be a better way?

Check out the Waring Pro Cordless Wine Opener.  Made of rubber and stainless steel, this cordless wine opener can remove up to 80 corks in one charge.  A nice feature is that has a removable foil cutter, and also unlike some other wine openers it can open both natural and synthetic corks.  The design is very sleek, although it does remind me a little bit of an electric razor.  However, I think that is outweighed by it being such a cool modern way to open a bottle of wine!

This cordless wine opener would make a great gift as it’s only $39.95 and a neat gadget. For wine lovers, I recommend pairing it with another wine-related gift, like a decanter or a great bottle of wine (I recommend Ultimate Wine Shop for its huge selection).

Have you ever been in someone’s kitchen and seen something that you’ve never seen before?  Check out this item below:

Can you tell what it is?  A silver donut?  A trivet?  An ultra modern light?  A mirror?  Well, it’s actually a WMF Vino Foil Cutter.  Maybe big wine drinkers would have guessed that this item was a Wine Bottle Foil Cutter, but me, not so much! 

If you check out other wine bottle foil Cutters, you’ll see that the WMF is the sexiest in the bunch.  A lot of the others are much bigger and more bulky, and look like you’re using construction tools on your wine bottle .

The WMF is stainless steel with a mirrored finish and has a substantial weight that makes it easy to handle.  According to reviews of it on Amazon.com it sounds like it is super easy to use and looks stylish and sexy on any table or bar.