Ringing in 2011 with a Top 10 list, and a Giveaway!

Happy New Year friends!  2010 has officially come to a close, and what a year it has been.  On the rollercoaster of life, this blog has been a consistent high point, and I get such happiness from sharing my love of food with each of you every day. Throughout this past year, I hope The Cilantropist has given you delicious recipes that helped you experience the simple joys of eating well and sharing good food with friends and family.  I have so many exciting ideas to share with you in 2011, and I can't wait to get started; I hope you will continue to pull up a comfy chair and follow along with me on my adventures.  

But first, lets take a little look back at 2010 and your favorite posts and recipes!  I chose the Top 10 based on pageviews, twitter, reader comments and emails; not surprisingly, many of the top posts were from Project Food Blog, where I made i my mission to put my very best food forward and improve the quality of my blog by leaps and bounds.  So, without further ado, here are the The Cilantropist's Top 10 post of 2011!    

1. The post where I shared my lunch menu for A Presidio Picnic, with Italian Pressed Sandwiches is by far the most viewed post on The Cilantropist.  The post includes a recipe for Sopressata and Provolone Italian Pressed Sandwiches, which I also made for a post-Project Food Blog Celebration, and is the most popular recipe with readers.  For the lunch, we also enjoyed Parmesan and Gruyere Cheese Straws from Barefoot in Paris by Ina Garten, as well as Spiced Pear and Cranberry Pocket Pies.  The Pocket Pies were a huge hit as well, and I can't wait to make them this summer with peaches! 

Homemade Ladyfingers, and a Pomegranate Charlotte

As I may have mentioned already (possibly several times, I am SO excited), I am still in Foodbuzz's Project Food Blog, and this 7th round I am sharing my first ever VIDEO on this blog!  (Yes!  It is finally here!!!)  I definitely wouldn't say that I am camera shy, but I was initially nervous about making a video due to my complete lack of any experience with filming or editing video footage.  Seriously, I had never even opened iMovie previous to last week.  But now that the project is finished and here for your viewing pleasure, I can say that I have had a blast making it and I will definitely be doing it again!  I can't promise how soon you will see more video footage on The Cilantropist, but keep your eyes peeled in future for my smiling face; for now, I would really appreciate your support in this round by voting for my entry on Foodbuzz!  


So, after all this hype, you are probably wondering what my video is about!  Well, Foodbuzz originally asked us to make a recipe from our archives 'come alive' through video, and I knew right away that I wanted to show you how to make ladyfingers.  In my original post from May of this year, I described how I made ladyfingers from scratch, and then I later used them to make a beautiful Lemon Berry White Chocolate Trifle for a good friend's bridal shower.  I got such a great response to both of the posts, and many said they had no idea how easy it was to make these delicate savoiardi at home.  Specific comments from readers about how they enjoy ladyfingers as a simple pleasure with coffee, or how they share them with small children (low sugar, soft texture, and easy to hold with little hands), definitely warmed my heart and made me realize ladyfingers can be used for so much more than just tiramisu.
  

In fact, after my first ladyfinger post, but before I revealed my Lemon Berry Trifle, I asked my readers to guess what dessert they thought I would use the ladyfingers for.  Many suggested tiramisu, one guessed correctly with a trifle, and one reader even thought maybe I should use them as hotdog buns (Joking, of course.  Love you Jill!).  But, more than a few readers thought I was going to use them to make a Charlotte, also known as a Charlotte Russe Cake.  At the risk of embarrassing myself (though I will surely do that anyway with my video below), I will fully admit that I had no idea what a Charlotte was; I knew I couldn't continue living in dessert ignorance, so I did some internet searching and was surprised to find a gorgeous vision unlike anything I had seen before.  I knew I had to make it.

Traditionally, a Charlotte is made by lining a mold with spongecake, biscuits, or ladyfingers, and then filling the mold with fruit puree, custard, mousse, or some combination of several components.  In the case of spongecake, the mold is usually a bowl, which produces a dome shaped dessert when the Charlotte is turned upside down and released from the mold.  For a ladyfinger Charlotte, the look is much different, since the savioardi are commonly placed standing upright around the edge of a ring mold, to form a border that holds the filling inside.  Often, when the dessert is complete, a ribbon is tied in a bow around the charlotte; it seems some say the ribbon gives extra insurance that the dessert holds together, but I think it just amps up the beauty factor (either way, I wasn't skipping the bow). 

And so, with out further ado, let me properly introduce myself and show you how to make your own ladyfingers from scratch, and tell you how you can use them to make a beautiful Pomegranate Charlotte dessert!






I hope you enjoyed my video and that you feel inspired to make your own ladyfingers at home!  You can use the written recipe below, or just follow the instructions from the video.  (And since voting is now open, head on over to Foodbuzz and show my video some love!) 

Making Ladyfingers or Savoiardi

So I have not posted anything in the last week or so, and I am feeling really antsy.  My lack of posting hasn't been due to low level of inspiration or time in the kitchen, but rather because I have practically been living in the kitchen in the last few days or traveling.  I am building up a backlog of photos and recipes because have just not had a spare minute to post anything!  

This weekend, I flew from San Diego back to my hometown, good old Cleveland, Ohio.  I don't know about the rest of you, but it always seems that before a trip I get extra busy trying to organize everything, finish up last minute to-do items, and preparing for travel.  This trip was much of the same, with the added work to plan for both a bridal shower and a bachelorette party; one of my dearest friends from college and my sorority big sister is getting married this summer.  Soooo exciting!  I absolutely cannot wait for the wedding, and after seeing her in her for her dress fitting this past Friday, I know she will be stunning and the wedding will be fantastic.  I also adore our bridesmaid dresses (if you are feeling girly you can check them out here-no sash, sky blue color), and all the other lovely ladies in the wedding party are so much fun and sweet-as-pie.        

We had a gorgeous, sunny Saturday afternoon bridal shower, and the mother of one of the other bridesmaids was generous enough to host it at her beautiful home in Shaker Heights.  The whole thing was just amazing; everything went along without a hitch, all 20+ attendees had a great time, and (most importantly) our beautiful bride enjoyed it the most.  I think it really could not have been more perfect, and I promise, I will post some photos soon! 

When we were organizing everything for the bridal shower and bachelorette party, each of us bridesmaids pitched in something to help.  Is it any surprise that I ended up making a lot of food? :)  When I post about the whole bridal extravaganza later this week, I will divulge the entire delicious menu (just be patient, it is well worth the wait).  For now, I want to quickly share a component of one of the dessert dishes that I made: Ladyfingers!