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Back in the Day Cafe in Cuba, Missouri

After the March Race to the Rocker 4-mile run, my mom and I enjoyed lunch at the Back in the Day Cafe with a Cuba native named Jane. Jane had offered to give us a tour of Cuba’s fantastic murals, but first, we needed lunch. Back the Day Cafe sits in one of the Cuba Historic [...]

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: Cranberry Walnut Thumbprints

Cranberry Walnut Thumbprints, photo by smalltowngirl

Let it be state for the record that I am NOT vegan, and that I love cookies. These cookies from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar blew every pre-conceived notion of what a vegan cookie should taste like out of the water.

For those of you who don’t already know this, [...]

Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: Peanut Apple Pretzel Drops

photo by smalltowngirl

Christmas is four days away, and I’m curled up in my pajamas with several inches of show outside. My best friend and I are spending this snowy December day experimenting with vegan cookie recipes at her parent’s home in the Chicago suburbs.

"Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" Cookbook, photo by smalltowngirl

Our cookbook [...]

Corny

MilliGCornilicious is at it again, this time bringing the corny to the kitchen via spice cupcakes with traditional white icing and pumpkin spice candy corn.

I don’t even like candy corn, but I liked this candy corn. I took these cupcakes to work with me, and they were gone almost immediately.

Behold, the tastiest corny creation this side [...]

Peanut Butter Blondies

Peanut Butter Blondies, photo by smalltowngirl

I found miniature peanut butter cups awhile back at the Olde Tyme Pantry in Farmington, but only recently got around to baking with them.

I’d envisioned the miniature peanut butter cups used in blondie bars, but had never baked them before. I found a recipe online for basic blondies, substituted half [...]

Smalltowngirl's Worst Date Ever

Online dating was a brilliant way to meet new people and explore a new city when I moved to New York. For the most part I was successful with it, but nothing in life is 100% wonderful all of the time.

This guy’s online profile talked about his love for music and the arts, but my hopes [...]

Zucchini the Size of My Head

You think I’m kidding, but I’m not. The first zucchini from the garden this summer was pretty nearly as big as my head.

Zucchini the Size of Smalltowngirl's Head, photo by smalltowngirl

What else was there to do with this giant zucchini, then, but bake homemade half white/half wheat flour zucchini bread?

mmmmmm…..

Mmmmm, bread and photo of [...]

Showers of the Rainy and the Baby Varieties

One of my favorite things in the whole world is a good thunderstorm, and since I’ve been back in Missouri, there has been no shortage of good ones. Nearly every day, storms have blown through our area.

Missouri’s spring showers have been a welcome home, of sorts, after ten years away, missing the storms that Missouri is [...]

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake – Part II

Note: In case you missed it, check out my previous blog on St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake to get the backstory here.

Using a recipe I found on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s website, I baked my own Gooey Butter Cake tonight. If I was going to try this St. Louis culinary delight for the first time, I [...]

St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake

When I was living in New York, I occasionally watched Cardinals games with a group of New York-based St. Louisans. On one particular occassion, I brought a friend along who was a Staten Island, NY native. A journalist with a passion for local cultures and cuisines, he asked the St. Louis crew what foods we felt were [...]