OMG, KB gets a new BBQ

The first meal on my new barbeque. I was really proud that I assembled this thing all by myself. It was not easy, but I am glad I did it.
And I cleaned the balcony off and made it more user-friendly out there...

-- KMB

Guest Chef: Emilia C. - Memorial Day Salads!

Above: Bean salad with pepperoncinis - she served this with chips, like a salsa. DANGER! It was really good!

This was a lovely summer salad with strawberries and almonds. I think she made a poppyseed dressing to go with it!

Thanks for the party, Emilia!!

-- KMB

Memorial Day - Jicama/Avo/Mango salad

My friend Jean-Jacques (not his real name) stole this recipe from Clementine's. It's the jicama, avocado, mango, cilantro, sea salt and lemon juice salad. Now you don't have to say that you stole it from anyone.

-- KMB

Happy Memorial Day: Blondies

Yes, the world's answer to brownies is blondies, and I am bringing them to the Memorial Day cookout in Sherman Oaks today. These have walnuts and three kinds of chips in them. Too bad I am still on this diet. I have no idea what they taste like.

-- KMB

Gues Chef: HD the Bread Babe - Eastern European Rye!

YUMMEH. And below: Honey ham on Eastern European Rye (homemade) with mayo, Dijon, pickle and lettuce. Side of homemade potato salad.

I'd like to dine at the bread babe cafe. Can I get a reservation??

-- KMB

Guest Chef: H. D. Motyl - Four Grain Bread!

So, does this look delicious or what?!?! This is four-grain bread, made by the delightful H.D. Motyl. I may have to start calling him the bread babe. Seriously, please FedEx some over sometime.

-- KMB

Happy Belated Mothers Day, Patty!!

So, due to some logistics mayhem, Mothers Day celebrations for my mom were postponed until this weekend. I took it upon myself to continue the Cinco de Drinko theme, and made those sick organic grapefruit margaritas, homemade guac, lo-fat chips, shrimp succotash, and spicy turkey tostadas with La Hacienda dressing.


Not even an hour later, my mom is passed out cold, a victim of too much good food and drink.



Happy Mothers' Day, Patty!!!

-- KMB

Guest Chef: H.D. Motyl -- Homemade Bread

Quoth H. D. : "My First loaf of bread. Rustic Whole Wheat. Yum."

YAYYYYYY HD Motyl!! You can say that again... YUMMEH!!! Can you FedEx me a loaf next time???

-- KMB

Guest Chef: Josh L.'s Breakfast 5-11-09

Quoth Josh L.: I call it "scrambled eggs with cheddar, toast and avocado"

-- KMB

KB's Lunch, 5-11-09

Okay, so I am on a diet. Today's lunch was an open-faced turkey burger with turkey bacon, goat cheese and a tiny bit of BBQ sauce on Ezekiel bread, and...
Homemade gazpacho. Come on. That' a pretty good diet.

-- KMB

Happy Birthday, E. Marie!!!

This is the birthday cake that I made for my lovely grandma on March 5, 2008. It turned out to be her last birthday. She was 91 years old. I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, and she said, "Red velvet!", so I did two red velvet layers with a vanilla layer in the middle. I was baking at my mom's house, and she didn't have enough red food coloring to do all three layers. Nervous laugh. No pressure.
It was delicious, though, and I was honored to make this cake for her. She was such a cool lady.

-- KMB

Happy Birthday Kelly P.!!

Another Columbia, SC cake - it was Kelly P.'s birthday, and her request, very specifically sent through her agents - yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Okay, done.
I did a chocolate mousse filling on this cake, because the frosting was pretty darned fudgey. She loved it. And yes, those are fondant dots on the cake. I don't like fondant, but I had some extra, so I thought I'd use it. It just tastes like wax, I think.

-- KMB

Happy Birthday, Drew F.!

Yep, another Columbia, SC cake - this time it was Drew F.'s birthday, and he likes to play golf. Don't you know that I dyed that coconut green? It makes really good grass.
He was kind of amused that I placed the golf ball in the brown-sugar sand trap. I thought it was only fitting. The gnomes liked it, too.

-- KMB

Happy Birthday, Jason K.!!

So, this was another Columbia, SC cake - Jason K.'s birthday is Halloween. We served him this cake wearing scary clown masks. It was totally awesome.
And pretty delicious. I don't think he'll soon forget it.

-- KMB

Happy Birthday, Aisha T.!

This was a birthday cake that I made when I was on location in Columbia, SC, for Aisha T. It was dark chocolate cake with cookies and cream filling, topped with Snickers and teddy grahams. Totally Jenny-Craig.

-- KMB

Glogg Party 2006

This was the famous "Feliz Gloggidad" party. Where I passed out from exhaustion, and let me state, for emphasis: exhaustion. Here are some of the things I made for the party: chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, and pumpkin bars.
It was a really beautiful party.
This was an assortment of cheese and stuff. There was a big pot of meatballs to the right of this photo...
And this was a big tray of Povlorones (walnut cookies with powdered sugar) and more cupcakes. My grandma and I built that cupcake stand for the party. It's purple with glitter. It rules.


-- KMB

Llama cake-a-rrama for Erin

Okay, so here's a good story. It was Erin P.'s birthday, and her boyfriend asked me to make her a llama cake. Fine. So I did the melted chocolate Llamas, and made two beautiful 9" pinwheel cakes. I put them on wire racks on the kitchen counter to cool. I took the garbage out, and when I came back, I found my dog, Chachi, in the kitchen, eating one of the layers greedily on the tile floor.
With about one hour to spare before the party, I had to come up with a quick fix. So, I cut out the dog-slobber bits, made the cake into the "alps" (?) and tried to make the mistake into a design. Nobody ever knew about it, and the cake was a big hit.

-- KMB

Happy Birthday, Amy D!

Yes, Ladybug cupcakes for Amy D., when she was working for my agents. Ohhh, the nonpariels involved in this one.
This must have been in 2006, because I lost that keychain on a flight to South Carolina soon after.

-- KMB

Fall Birthday Party 2008

So I have a big family, and we do two birthday parties a year, to consolidate. This past Fall, I made the mother of all Fall birthday cakes - the bottom layer was yellow cake with Heath-bar cream filling, and a light cream cheese frosting. The top layer was a dark chocolate with Heath-bar filling & the light cream cheese frosting. Yeah, sugar overload.
Trying to carry it across the creek was my brother's job. And he did very well!!

-- KMB

Thanksgiving 2007: Miami

Yessssss. This was in Miami. I cooked the entire meal (except for the Turkey) at my rental apartment in Hollywood, and drove it down to my uncle's house. Here it is: Turkey...
Brussel sprouts with shallots, blue cheese and balsamic vinegar, homemade sourdough bread stuffing with pecans, and celery root puree. Holy shnikeys.
Butter lettuce salad with soft cheese and french vinaigrette, butternut squash/pear puree, and homemade cornbread muffins. There was pumpkin pie, too, but I can't find a pic of it. I don't think I ate for like a week after this.

-- KMB

Happy Birthday Lara, Claire's Daughter

So my agent Claire has a daughter named Lara. When she turned five, Claire asked me to make a big ass topsy turvy cake for her. Here is the result:


Before the lettering was put on the top...
This cake also weighed like fifty pounds, and required a plywood board...
But evidently she loved it, and will probably remember it for the rest of her life! YAY!

-- KMB

Trail of the Screaming Forehead Topsy Turvy Cake

Here is the cake I did for the wrap party of "Trail of the Screaming Forehead". It was a so-called topsy-turvy cake. It weighed about five hundred pounds.

I had to put it on a plywood board, and build a skeleton through the cake.
I loaded it into the back of my car, and drove very carefully to the party.

It tasted pretty good, too! I think it fed like 100 people, seriously.

-- KMB

Eggless Cupcakes

My nephew Jay is allergic to eggs. So for his birthday, I made him some carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, no eggs involved.
Let's just say that he liked it.

-- KMB

Sugar Cookies

This is Erica, with a "C", eating a delicious, cake-like sugar cookie with cream cheee frosting. This was Mothers' Day 2006 or so. They were really good.

-- KMB

Deer in Headlights, with Turds

Here's one from the archives for you. This was made for one of my agent's assistants. They wanted to give her a "deer in the headlights" cake, and asked if I could put something together. Well, this is what I came up with.
Please note the pile of turds at screen left.

-- KMB