Potato and Leek Soup with Sausage

I have been reading my new vegetable cookbook again. Well, I didn't really stop, I have just been trying to take my time and savor each recipe and story as I make my way through it. It is so refreshing to read about cooking from the viewpoint of the home gardener, a union that is surprisingly rarely explored. I was reading, determining that I should try a new vegetable every couple of weeks or so, as I really don't use many of the Chinese vegetables, and quite a few roots I don't think I have even tried, when I stumbled upon something

Red Velvet Cake/ Cupcakes

Well, its finally over. The marathon that starts mid-October and stretches through til after Valentine's Day. With birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, parties, and special events, now lengthened by my nephew's February birthday, sometimes I feel like I can't breathe for a few months of the year. Not that I don't enjoy it. I love parties, I love planning for parties and making the food, but I might over-extend myself a tiny bit.

Braided Danish Coffee Cake

So, I was looking through one of my recipe books the other day, and I came across a recipe for braided danish coffee cake. It looked pretty darn good. I paused for a moment, and then continued flipping through the book, trying to focus on the recipe that I was looking for.
I couldn't shake the coffee cake. Totally, honest truth...are you ready for this...I dreamed about it. I know, its sad. But it happened.
If you are like me, you are probably, right now, thinking, blah blah blah, danish, what? Get to it, girl! I hate reading through super long blog posts that recap every random thing that wanders through the blogger's mind, completely irrelevant to the blog post, or any kind of food at all, finally winding back to the recipe, that doesn't actually look as good as it first sounded....am I right? And here I am, doing that very thing right now. Except this is about food. And my journey into pastry-ville.

I have never yet made real pastry. It freaks me out. It intimidates me. I don't have one whole day to set aside to rolling and folding butter blocks into croissant dough. Don't get me wrong, I would love to, but its just not realistic. I have kids. Kids that I am certain take lessons from the minions of the underworld in ways to torment other human beings.
So, needless to say,