​If you're on Pinterest you've probably seen the Heart Cake. It's a white four-layer cake with a red heart baked into the center originally found here. I've never been crazy about Valentine's Day. I'm not a girly-girl, I don't care too much for pink or hearts, and yet - there's something about this holiday that makes me want to get my crafty on. In fact, I have a whole Pinterest board called "Crafty Valentine." Why all the Pinterest talk? Well, because I'm addicted. And until this blog, it was a problem. Now, it's research. More >>

​It's that time of year again: Time to navigate the thorny realm of holidays with the relatives. There are many ways to cope with the dread of sitting around the dining room table for hours, but there's nothing quite like a stiff drink to help ease the uncomfortable conversations about work, children, and especially politics.

Some of our favorite drinks include good old fashioned eggnog. If you need a recipe, check out Richie Moe's eggnog.

Then of course there's beer. Who doesn't like beer? And breweries are rolling out all kinds of great holiday editions like SunUp's The Nut Before Christmas.

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Jamie Peachey

​Nothing says Labor Day and the last gasps of summer quite like a good dose of fruit -- and liquor.

In a last-ditch effort to cool off and wholeheartedly prepare for the weekend, we vaguely recalled times spent in the dorms with watermelons, funnels, and spigots ... and decided to smarten up the process (if only a little).

After hours of drilling, pouring, soaking, and tasting, we present a spiked-fruit party recommendation in a three-step, five-item combination that's a guaranteed good time.

Step One: Gathering Materials
First, you need booze. Most fruits (and vegetables) can be successfully paired with cheap vodkas, rums, and tequilas. No sense in splurging on the good stuff -- this alcohol will soak right into the fruit and lose that plastic-bottle flavor in no time.

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Courtesy David Wells

David Wells setting up his beloved solar oven.

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This week we're taking a (hot) look at solar cooking. Today: a conversation with David Wells of the Great Solar Cookout.​

Solar cooking has intrigued Arizona State University political science Professor David Wells for years. He is interested in all things sustainable, going so far as to bike to work whenever possible, even during Arizona's hellish summers.

As he sees it, cooking with the sun is a "natural match" for Arizona and is challenging as it is fun. (Then again, this is a guy who bikes to work in the summer in Phoenix.)

Wells indulged his curiosity when he spotted a 'sport' solar oven on craigslist.

That was a year and a half ago. Since then, Wells has purchased several new cookers, built and experimented with several of his own designs and perhaps most impressively, helped organize the Great Solar Cookout for his birthday. For my birthday I ate at Nobuo; my former professor staged an event to promote sustainable solar cooking. Apparently, he is serious about this solar cooking thing.

So what went wrong with my solar cookies? Find out after the jump.

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Ando Muneno

Sun burned cookies from the dashdboard oven

​ Phoenix might be hurting for a great many things but sunshine is not one of them. To out-of-state friends I describe the heat as, "Like standing in-front of an open oven... forever."

So why not put that oven to good use? My car certainly feels like an oven when I hop into it in the afternoon and I've known people who use oven mitts to drive. After some research and a quick consultation with a local solar cooking enthusiast I came up with a quick supply list for my first foray into solar cooking:

1. Well-loved baking sheet, the darker the better.
2. Cookie dough. I went with store bought for consistency.
3. Plastic wrap.
4. Oven thermometer.
5. Oven mitts.

According to my research, optimal cooking times are from 1 PM until around 5 PM. I parked my car at 12:30 and let it sit for 30 minutes, pre-heating the oven if you will. I took this time to prepare my cookies.

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We came across this dainty and delightful print from artist Amy Borrell of Cake With Giants. Based in Melbourne, her work is whimsical and invites you into her magical world of pastel colored watercolor and pencil illustrations.

Amy Borrell

Left: Borrell's "How to Set a Table." Right: Close-up image of the pencil illustration

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Carol Blonder

house made matzo

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The best matzo we've ever tasted is handmade shmura matzo. We were introduced to it by a friend who orders a shipment from New York each Passover. Comparing it to industrialized matzo from the grocery is like comparing a fresh baked artisan loaf to Wonder bread.

Shmura matzo is made from ingredients and by techniques strictly regulated by the Jewish dietary laws applicable to Passover. The grain, usually wheat, is carefully guarded from the time it is harvested to its use, to ensure no fermentation takes place. Leavened foods are forbidden during Passover.

Matzo represents the unleavened bread the Israelites grabbed as they quickly departed Egypt. To be acceptable for use during Passover, matzo must be made in 18 minutes or less, from the time the water is added to the flour to the time the finished dough is removed from the oven.

The recipe is quite simple, flour, water, and a little salt. The technique to get in right a little more complex. Our first two attempts fell short, even worse than boxed matzo. Using AP flour and filtered water produced a tasteless cracker that made us think of prison food descriptions- thick, doughy, and tasteless.

follow the jump for matzo how to

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As a chef de cuisine at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Scottsdale, Chef John Deflieze can whip up a few dishes some at-home cooks would have trouble pronouncing.

For a recent interview, however, we asked Deflieze to tackle some foods most chefs aren't known for.

Photo courtesy John Deflieze

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"I've served dinners before with caviar and lobster" Deflieze says, "and [customers] start talking about the macaroni and cheese."

From his experience as a chef and from personal experimentation, Deflieze has learned tricks to enhance basic foods that can be done in most home kitchens.

"I think a lot of people want the food we grew up with, but high-end," he says.

We agree, and asked Chef Deflieze to share some advice on how to add some spice to dishes Mom used to make.

Check out tips from Chef Deflieze on how to improve some simple foods after the jump...

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Hannah E Williams

This doesn't just happen... it takes skill.

​Do you ever wonder how that pretty fern finds its way into your specialty coffee? It doesn't just appear there by coincidence. Your barista's probably brushing up on his art skills: Latte art, that is.

From a "glorified latte slinger" at a Starbucks drive-thru to barista to manager to the director of education and training at Cartel Coffee Lab, Jen Macias has learned her way around a cup of joe. Today she shows us step-by-step how to make your latte not only look pretty sweet but also taste really damn good, too.

"Latte art is the really very last stage for a barista, in that the emphasis is really all on the quality of the drink itself - the composition, appropriately steaming milk and appropriately extracting espresso," Macias says. "Essentially what you need is microfoam, and espresso that displays an adequate amount of crema."

Hold up. Quick latte art vocab lesson with Macias:

Get the lesson -- and details about an upcoming competition -- after the jump.

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