Saturday, February 11, 2012



All you loyal readers,
I have
A Favor to Ask!
I am asking each of you to vote for
a wonderful local chef!
 Kansas City’s Pastry Chef of Lidia’s Italy

DANICA POLLARD

has been nominated by Food and Wine Magazine as a candidate for

The People’s Best New Pastry Chef

Voting is easy and you have until February 14th at Midnight!

2. on the map click on CENTRAL
3. Scroll down and in the voting box on the lower right side click on DANICA POLLARD
4. In the voting box, click on SUBMIT
Let’s make it a sweet victory for our favorite pastry chef on Valentine’s Day!
Thank you for supporting Lidia’s Italy Kansas City!
and, thank you for reading my blog!

Congratulations, Danica!

According to fellow blogger, Debra of www.bagnidilucca.wordpress.com, It is only 2 degrees in Rome right now. I’m thinking our 21 degrees sounds pretty balmy. However, I would jump on a plane right now for Italy, no matter what the temperature is!


With the freezing temperatures here in Kansas City, and apparently most of the planet above the equator, I am thinking the pastries of Kansas City’s own
DANICA POLLARD
would be pretty darned good right now with a nice warm cup of cappuccino, or in my case, a beautiful cup of hot tea. So, for those of you not fortunate enough to have a Lidia’s near by, here is a recipe for one of my favorite pastries.


Lemon Ricotta Tart
72 vanilla wafers (from a 12-ounce box)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick) melted
2 cups ricotta cheese
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons), plus 3 tablespoons lemon juice

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)


1. Preheat oven 375 degrees. In a food processor, pulse vanilla wafers until finely ground (to yield 2 cups). Add butter and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened.
2. Transfer crumb mixture to a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press firmly into the bottom and up the sides. Place pan on a baking sheet; bake crust until lightly browned and set, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven.
3. In clean food processor, blend ricotta, cream cheese, eggs, granulated sugar, and lemon zest until smooth. Pour into hot crust in pan; bake until filling is set and browned in spots, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Just before serving, dust top of tart with confectioners' sugar, if desired.


Okay now, don’t forget to vote for DANICA POLLARD
by going to www.foodandwine.com/the-peoples-pastry


Thank You!


Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy

Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy
oil painting by Kay Tucker

Somerset Autumn on Wea Creek

Somerset Autumn on Wea Creek
Oil Painting by Kay Tucker, Private Collection

Floral

Floral
oil painting by Kay Tucker

Kansas Storm

Kansas Storm
oil painting by Kay Tucker, Private Collection

Watercolor Collage

Watercolor Collage

Tempo al Tempo....All in Good Time

Tempo al Tempo....All in Good Time
48"x36" sculptural painting by Kay Tucker