Double Take: David Lebovitz's Whole Lemon Bars

Are you ready for this?

I think I should rename this post: Not All Lemons Are Created Equal.

About six months after I started my job, one of my coworkers went on a Lemon Bar making binge. He wanted to find the perfect recipe that wasn’t too sweet, and had the right amount of tart. Perhaps binge is the wrong word since he only made two batches before giving up. I’d completely forgotten about it until 8 months later when I read David Lebovitz’s post on Whole Lemon Bars. David did go on a Lemon Bar making binge for us and came up with the perfect recipe. And since Tabitha loves lemon bars too, I knew we had to make this recipe.

Double Take: Rosemary Grilled Chicken Thighs

Rosemary Grilled Chicken with Cheddar Cheese Grits and Spinach

Sometimes a recipe can be surprising. You look at the ingredients and think, “Meh.” While you are making it, you think, “Oh gosh, I hope Bender likes this. I'm beginning to think it might be too heavy on the mustard and rosemary for him. And he's not a fan of honey either. Oh, dear.” Then the kitchen gets smoky because you're using your grill pan and the hood is still broken (see NOTE below recipe). So you open the window in an effort to get rid of some of the smoke. In the process you knock the almost full bottle of olive oil into glass recycling bag. And that's when you realize the olive oil is still open. Annoyed with yourself for wasting all that olive oil and not wanting to think about the mess it created, you set the food on the table. And then you hear, “This chicken is really tasty,” from your picky-eater spouse. So you taste it. And boy, is he right! All is well again. Olive oil be darned.

Double Take: Pioneer Woman's Beef and Snow Peas, sorta

Homemade Beef with Broccoli

Beef and Snow Peas Broccoli has always been one of my favorite Americanized Chinese foods. And well, you just don't get Americanized Chinese food in Germany, so I've been missing it for the past couple years. Well, almost two years. It will be two years in August. Can you believe it? My time here has gone by so quickly.

Daring Cooks June Challenge: Healthy Potato Salad

Roasted Potato Salad, ribs, and green beans

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

What? Potato Salad? Where’s the challenge in that? There’s only one potato salad I like and that’s my mom’s. Needless to say, my reaction to this month’s challenge was a half-hearted, “Meh.” And unfortunately, that’s how I approached this challenge. I’m still surprised at myself for participating. Even more surprising is that my potato salad was actually tasty.

Double Take: Sortachef's Peri Peri Chicken

Give me a whole chicken, and I’ll make your taste buds happy. The first time I roasted a chicken was frightening success. Frightening because my oven did not work at the time. It took many more months for me to discover that my oven cooked hot because the heating element never turned off. Once I figured that out, cooking in it was a breeze: leave the oven on for ten minutes, then turn it off for ten minutes. And so on and so forth until the item in the oven was fully cooked. I’m still in shock that I cooked this way for the better half of a year. But I must say, this method worked perfectly for roasting a chicken.

Double Take: Taste of Germany

We've been a bit quiet lately, and I beg you to forgive us. Tabitha and I actually got to spend some time together here in Germany! Woohoo! We did a tour of Bavaria with a dip into Austria to see Salzburg. So today, we're both going to share with you some photos of our good eats.


Nuremberg is famous for its sausages. And it's asparagus season here in Germany! In fact, Nuremberg was celebrating asparagus week while we were there. Every restaurant we visited had a special "asparagus menu" just for the week (though most likely it will last throughout the entire asparagus season). Most asparagus here in Germany is white, though occasionally I can find green. Most of it is also much thicker than what you find in the US, but once peeled, it can be quite tender, slightly sweet, and oh so tasty. And if the Hollandaise also has lemon in it? I'm in heaven.

White asparagus with Hollandaise and boiled potatoes.