Half Hearted Valentine Cookies

The Half Hearted Valentine Cookies have become my most popular cookie outside of the Christmas holiday season. It has been a few year since I have made them and I learn something new each time. For this batch, I made cookies a little thicker. The thinner cookies brown on top too quickly. Enjoy!

Half Hearted Valentine Cookies

Fox Theatre Oakland Grand Opening

| No Comments
Fox Theatre Oakland Grand Opening Gala 08

After 10 years of work and millions of dollars in renovations, the Fox Theatre in downtown Oakland reopened on 2/5. In addition to being a music venue, the Fox Theatre is home to the Oakland School for the Arts.

I did not attend the opening gala last week, but you can click here to see photos from opening night.

For more information:

http://www.foxoakland.org/
http://www.thefoxoakland.com/

Sunday afternoon @ Lake Merritt

| 2 Comments
Lake Merritt

I got a very late start on my weekly walk around Lake Merritt which is about 3.1 miles. If I am without my camera, I can get around the lake in about 45 minutes. I remember seeing Lake Merritt for my first time in 1998 and knew that I wanted to live in Oakland.

A brand new day

| 1 Comment
A Brand New Day

Welcome President Obama!

Festival of Desserts 2008

| No Comments
Festival of Desserts 2008 11

These red velvet cupcakes were an absolute showstopper. They were made by friend, Marvin, for this year's Festival of Desserts. I am hoping to get the recipe for them and I will post it here. This was the first year that we had guest desserts. I made 10 desserts, ranging from sweet potato pie to cranberry oatmeal cookies and chocolate eggnog rum cake. As always, we had ham and chicken. A great time was had by all.

Additional photos from the Festival of Desserts can be seen here. I am already cooking up ideas for Festival of Desserts 2009. :)

Cozy

| No Comments
Cozy

I got a shot of my favorite Samoyeds relaxing at Walden Pond Book's on Grand Avenue in Oakland. I usually stop at the bookstore on Sundays to see them after morning walk. They are adorable and very friendly.

Freshly shaved...

| No Comments
Freshly shaved...

I had just shaved and was inspired to take this photo by one of my flickr friends. I used a 50mm f/1.8 lens and my head is almost touching the keyboard.

Baby, it's cold outside!

| No Comments
Baby, it's cold outside!

Hello everyone! I am in Chicago again this weekend. It is bitterly cold here. I will never complain about it being 50 degrees in Oakland again. That is a heatwave compared to here. I am here visiting my mom who has lung cancer. She is in good spirits and comfortable. She told me last night that I was not was not invincible and that I needed to rest. She is right as our mother's are always right. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Much love to everyone.

My Bakesale Betty Photo in The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition

I am very honored to have my photo of Bakesale Betty Bakery selected for the article "A New Gourmet Ghetto" in The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition for December 29.

See the full article here, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119888290037156475.html .

Dessert Goodness - Part 3

| No Comments


Dessert Goodness, originally uploaded by in2jazz.

 

Once again it is that special time of year when wonderful baked goods come from my oven. The 6th Annual Festival of Desserts was quite fun this year as you see from the photos above. I will come back shortly to share recipes.

Pages

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Archives

Recent Comments

  • mimi: James, Love your passion! I am just beginning to blog...I read more
  • James: Hey Big Brother, it is in Oakland!!! read more
  • KAL: Look up in the sky is it a bird or read more
  • KAL: Where is this place?????????????????????? read more
  • Anonymous: I know that I definitely miss it do but I read more
  • Ben Schultz: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I live in Australia and Diet Coke with Vanilla read more
  • Babs: Love the Blackberry and Robert- just heard he sold the read more
  • Efren: I just made an amaretto cake in the style of read more
  • Efren: Yay! I love these cookies but they did have a read more
  • ronn: Work it!! I always enjoy your photos, almost as much read more
Powered by Movable Type 4.23-en