Normally I'm not that jazzed about fruit-based desserts. I'm more of a chocolate fan. However, our market has had great fruit and I have run into a couple of tempting recipes that have changed my tune somewhat. I have a strawberry buttermilk cake in the oven and wow does it smell great. The lemon zest! It looks more like a pie, but whatever. I think I'll just fix jalapenos stuffed with cheese for dinner so we can fast-forward to dessert. For breakfast Sunday I made this cherry almond dutch baby (no actual babies were involved) and it was fab. I couldn't finish my slice but it kept well for dessert the next day.

My Pinterest collection of recipes is here. At the very least check out this recipe for macaroni and cheese - it's my go-to when feeding a crowd.

A group out in Atenveldt recently held a feast in the manner of an English nobleman from the late 1500s. They had appropriate garb for the servers, made the plates and drinking vessels and knives...really impressive. They even built benches for the feasters and a brick oven for the cooking. I wish they had been able to use candlelight for even more period effect. I'm curious to know how much attendees had to pay! If you are a foodie it would be worth the extra cost. I would love to put on or even just attend a similar Italian Ren feast.The group putting on the event has a LiveJournal, so you can visit sundragon_cooks  for more details. Also, you can visit this link for many photos, mostly of garb.

The Bacon of the Month Club, for the friend who has everything but clogged arteries.

"Artisan bacon"? And here I thought the only choices were regular, Canadian, and turkey.