After a brief respite, I’m back! I feel much more energized, inspired and yes, have still been cooking away in our kitchen. Let’s start with where I’ve been the past few weeks, and that’s with Mrs. Gwyneth Paltrow. I know she’s been getting a lot of flack due to, I believe almost unconsciously or very naively, flaunting her world of privilege while so many others are just trying to get by. Read for yourself the round up Eater.com made of their favorite quotes from her cookbook – mine is the Japanese monastery line – geez. But, I tried four of her recipes from Bon Appetit and Self magazines and I have to say, the girl can pull a recipe together. Of course, if I were besties with Chef Mario Batali and Mark Bittman I hope I could craft an amazing recipe too. Alas, I am not so let me share with you the ones I loved. Her recipes are simple, quick, short on ingredients yet still bold and delicious in flavor. Our absolute favorites were the pasta dish and the chopped salad…amazing in every way and they are going on heavy rotation in our casa!
Roasted Tomato and Anchovy Oreganta Pasta
Grilled Chicken with Peach BBQ Sauce
Now, for a completely shameless plug (who me?! 
). The Pie Society has been approved to fund our biggest project of the year via Kickstarter.com. We have been selected as a merchant at the Austin Junior League’s 2011 A Christmas Affair – 30,000 people attending and two of us. Mmmmhmmm, yeah, can you hear my dry heaves? We can make it work but could always use support, even if it’s just spreading the news or sending us virtual hugs. Thanks y’all! Here’s the sassy “trailer” we created to quickly tell our story The Pie Society “Trailer” and to donate you can go here.