Smoked Salt & Pepper

 I have a NYTCooking subscription.  It is one of the many things I have taken pleasure in during the crazy COVID-19 times.  One of the recipes of the week was this Strawberry Gingersnap Icebox Cake and so I made it for my family's reunion a few weeks ago. I love a good icebox cake.  I mean, not baking or turning on our oven when it's 100F outside always is a great thing.  Jellos/jellies, southwestern fruit salads, and slice fruit can only get you so far sometimes.  Sometimes you just want to stick a fork (or spoon) in a dessert and eat something sweet. Strawberry Gingersnap Icebox Cake source: NYT Cooking Ingredients: 14 oz. bag of gingersnap cookies (I used Stauffer's) 1 lb. fresh strawberries 16 oz. mascarpone cheese 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 tsp. zest of lime 1/4 c. powdered sugar 1 tbs. white sugar ~3/4 tsp grated fresh ginger, separated into 1/4 tsp and 1/2 tsp Directions: Wash and sort strawberries, reserving about 5-8 of the prettiest strawberries for decor...

I realized that when my husband of 8 years and partner for 13 years just recently found out that my family owned a Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant in Houston, that there was a lot of service and food history I haven’t shared here on my blog.  Anyone who’s ever spent more than a day with me knows that I flipping love food and drink. That’s kinda why this blog is here. No one wants to hear me yap on and on about some obscure cooking technique in the real world. I start getting that glazed-over look when I start gushing about food. But the Internet is a wonderful (and sometimes terrible) place to just spit out your passion.  This is why I love food and drink.  Here are some of my (and my family’s) past history and work in the food service industry: My parents, along with a few of my dad’s family members owned a Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant called Hong Kong Kitchen in Houston. This was when my mom quit her job in International Business banking after having my older sister. If ...