Sweet Corn and Bourbon Ice Cream.

When I was growing up, I had a serious sweet tooth. My parents were convinced that I would give myself diabetes. If it was sweet, I loved it. Cookies, cakes, candies, and of course, ice cream. It took until I got to college to get rid of that sweet tooth. While my college was awesome in many ways, the food was uninspiring and the ice cream -- soft serve, mostly -- sub-par. The desserts were likewise somewhat bland. So I fell out of my love affair with all things sweet and never quite got back into it. The nail on my sweet-tooth coffin was the discovery of weird, bizarre, unique ice creams. Sweet corn, creme fraiche, olive oil -- delicious! I rarely eat "regular" ice cream anymore (honey-lavender was the last non-homemade flavor I had), but I will occasionally whip up a batch of something strange and exciting at home. If you too are a fan of unusual ice cream flavors, I strongly recommend that you invest in Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home.

Watermelon Spritzers

Obviously this is an out-of-season post -- when summer comes around next year, I strongly recommend trying out these watermelon spritzers.

Homemade Tortillas

As you know, for several months we did not buy baked goods; I made them all instead. But, there are only so many loaves of bread you can make before starting to get bored. In my quest to find a different starch to bake, I ran into a recipe for what looked like delicious homemade tortillas.

Pizza bread

As a child, visits to my great grandmom always involved a stop-over at a local bakery. We would pick out a coconut cake for her, sweets for my sister and I, and most importantly -- pizza rolls. I lived for those pizza rolls. They were amazing. You could heat them up and eat them for a quick lunch or eat them cold, either way, they were amazing! So, when I saw a recipe for a cheesy pizza bread, I knew I had to try it and reclaim some of those memories.

Lavender Soda

Lavender is not for everybody, but it is definitely for me. I love a delicate floral flavor and can't resist it in anything -- hence my undying love of Traminette. Some days -- rarely, mind you -- I have nothing to do, get bored, and need to distract myself by making something delicious. The result of one such day was lavender soda.

Coyote Beaded Mask

The first function I went to with my now-husband and his friends took place in late 2007. It was a masquerade birthday party for one of his college friends. I was only a week or two out of ACL surgery and still on crutches at the time. By 2011, I was as firm a friend with the same woman as Hubs, and when she hosted another birthday masquerade party, I knew I had to make a very special mask for the occasion. Enter the coyote mask.