Most measuring spoon sets have just four spoons: 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp and 1 tbsp. With these four spoons, you can get done all the measuring you need to do for most recipes. That said, there are plenty of times when you might end up with a measurement that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these sizes. For instance, an old recipe might call for “a pinch” of something, while a big recipe that you’ve cut down for a smaller batch might end up needing 2/3 of a teaspoon. I will divide or estimate as needed to make these sizes work with my existing spoons, but it is much more convenient to have measuring spoons that encompass these unusual sizes. This set of Odd Size Measuring Spoons covers just about all the measuring spoon bases you might need. The set includes a “pinch”, 1/8 tsp, 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 2/3 tsp, 1 tsp, 1 1/2 tsp, 2 tsp and 1 tbsp measures, all clipped together for easy storage. I’ve seen several other off-size spoon sets that don’t include the standard measures along with the unusual ones, so it’s nice that this set will do it all. Each spoon is also marked with milliliter equivalents, which is handy if you use European/international recipes that don’t rely on teaspoons for measurements.

Pomegranates are packed with antioxidants, which means that there are a lot of potential health benefits packed into each fruit. Pomegranates are a bit difficult to eat, since each little seed - although tasty - doesn’t have a lot of juice or flesh surrounding it, so it takes quite a while to consume one. This is where pomegranate juice comes in, making it easy to enjoy the flavor of pomegranate without the work involved in eating a whole fruit. The juice can be used in many different types of dishes, and while I often see it reduced in a sauce, I used some to sweeten up a chocolate bundt cake.

This cake is moist, chocolaty and has a tender, but slightly dense, texture. It’s a great bundt cake because it’s easy to make and each slice is satisfying to eat. I used pomegranate juice as the primary liquid in this cake, where I might use milk, buttermilk or coffee in another chocolate cake. There is a lot of cocoa powder in here, so you can’t directly taste the pomegranate flavor in the cake. You can definitely tell the juice is there, however, because there is a lovely fruity sweetness to the cake that adds some complexity to the flavor. Not wanting to skimp on the chocolate, I incorporated some chocolate chips into this cake, too.

I used POM Wonderful pomegranate juice in this cake, because it is pure pomegranate juice and not simply flavored white grape juice. Definitely take the time to look for pure juice when you make this cake, both for that fruity flavor and for the antioxidants (don’t forget that there are also plenty in the cocoa powder in this cake!). It’s pretty easy to justify having a second piece when you can say you’re doing it for health reasons!
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Some women, it is said, like to cook.
This book is not for them.

This is how The I Hate To Cook Book starts out. The cookbook, first published in 1960 (a 50th anniversary edition of the cookbook is being released in just a few months), has been a hit with home cooks ever since. The cookbook does contain more than 180 recipes, but its biggest selling point is that it is witty and fun to read, with a fantastic tone that will make you want to read every recipe just to hear what author Peg Bracken has to say. It reminds you that it is ok to have realistic goals in the kitchen - such as getting through dinner with a minimum amount of work, or finding to easiest possible dish to bring to a potluck - rather than needing to aspire to be the next Martha Stewart with every dish that you make.

The book has 13 chapters, with the last two covering household and kitchen tips rather than adding too many more recipes. The chapters have titles like “Company’s Coming, or Your Back’s to the Wall” and “Desserts, or People Are Too Fat Anyway.” The recipes are very detailed with the sort of instructions that will make sense to even a non cook, such as “cook until it’s the color of a nice camel’s hair coat” can easily follow. Don’t be fooled by all the joking in the book, however: Peg Bracken was a good cook (whether she wanted to be or not!) and these are good recipes.

Since this is an older cookbook, some of the recipes are a bit outdated, but most are just as current as those you’ll find in any other all purpose cookbook. There are no full-color pictures (at least not in my 1960 edition) to show you want the recipes should look like. It has plenty of lovely pen and ink illustrations by Hillary Knight that will make you smile as you go through the chapters.

Pink’s Hot Dogs is a Los Angeles institution. It has been here in the City of Angeles for more than 70 years - and in the exact same location all that time. It started out as a simple hot dog cart and gradually built up into its current counter-service design.  The place is open late and it is almost always packed, with a line running down the sidewalk of hungry fans looking for a hot dog fix. They have all kinds of toppings for their hot dogs, from simple chili dogs to double dogs (two in a bun) piled with a ridiculous amount of toppings and named after celebrities who are loyal fans. The thing that makes their hot dogs special is not the long line or the toppings, but the dogs themselves. They are custom made for Pink’s, so you won’t find them anywhere else, and are exceptionally tasty as-is.

I stopped in the other night when the line was not too long for a hot dog fix and snapped a few shots of the delicious dogs I tried.  There are a couple of sizes of dogs available at Pink’s, but all are pretty large. These four hot dogs filled up an entire standard lunch tray!

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Chess pie is a dessert that doesn’t give anything away in its name. It’s a Southern classic pie with a custard base made up of eggs, butter and sugar. So far as I can tell, there is no one standard version of the chess pie and I’ve had many variations of it before, some that had a very dense, sweet, eggy filling and some that were more like a classic custard. The flavors have ranged from vanilla to chocolate to citrus. One of my favorites is a lemon chess pie. The way I make it, the pie has a lemon curd-like filling that is similar to that of a lemon bar, with a thin cake-like layer on top.

This pie only requires a few ingredients, so it’s important that you don’t skip out on using fresh lemon juice in your filling. It will definitely give you the best flavor, plus it will provide plenty of zest for making the filling bright and citrusy. There is a little bit of flour in the filling that will help form the sponge cake layer on the top of the cake. This top layer gives the pie a beautiful golden brown finish and adds a little substance to the pie. The filling itself is very light and smooth, with a lovely lemon flavor that is sure to be a hit with citrus-lovers.

I like a graham cracker pie crust for this particular pie. They’re easy and provide a nice crisp contrast to the silky pie filling, as well as adding a little extra flavor to each bite. You could certainly use a regular pie crust as long as you blind-bake it and let it cool before adding the filling (a totally uncooked crust won’t be cooked through with this filling, so the crust must be par-baked if using pie dough).

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When it comes to pie crusts, I am a firm believer in making my own when I can. They’re really not that difficult to make by hand, and you can also blend the dough in a food processor. The more you practice, the better you’ll get - and you also have a great excuse to bake more pies this way. Still, there are plenty of times when a premade pie crust can come in handy. I really like using premade graham cracker crusts for convenience and I’ve had some success with frozen pie dough, although homemade tends to taste better. I decided to give Trader Joe’s Frozen Pie Crusts a try because they’re made with real butter and I hoped that the finished product would have a good flavor.

These pie crusts come two in a package in the frozen foods section. They’re flat, so you’ll need your own pie plate to fit them two. You simply defrost the crusts, transfer them to your pie plate and bake as you would with homemade crust. Do not defrost them all the way to room temperature or they’ll be too soft to handle; aim for a chilled but flexible texture with these crusts. These will definitely not fit in a deep dish pie plate, as they just barely fill a regular 9-inch plate. You can roll them out slightly if you want more of a crust overhang on the edge of your pie, but that kind of defeats the purpose of using a ready-made crust.

After baking, I was really pleased with the flavor of the crust. It was light and had a nice butter flavor to it. I noticed that it was a tiny bit saltier than my usual crusts, but that is not necessarily a bad thing since most pie fillings are nice and sweet to start with. So, I’d have to say that these are a good, flavorful bet as far as ready-made crusts go, although they’re not as easy to use as pie crusts that come already shaped to a pie plate and do require prep time because they must be defrosted before using. The packaging doesn’t take up much room, however, so this might be just the thing to keep in your freezer as a backup when you just don’t want to do it yourself.