One of the side effects of blogging about food is that you start to want to play around with platings and presentation a lot more than you would if you were not photographing your meals. Joe, from Culinary in the Country, for example, augmented his already attractive Chocolate Crème Caramel with some extra caramel rounds along the outside of the plate and a little freeform sugar sculpture on top. The overall effect is great and really brings the look of the dessert up to restaurant-quality - and probably an expensive restaurant, at that.

The crème caramel itself is actually quite easy to make. The most difficult part for someone attempting their first one is to not burn the caramel before you pour it into the empty ramekins, as it can be sensitive. The "crème" part of this dessert is made with soy milk and bittersweet chocolate, held together with eggs, just like the traditional versions are. The chocolate will cover the soy taste, for anyone sensitive to it, but using soy milk will make the dessert a lot lighter than if it were made with cream.

And if you have somehow managed to overdose on chocolate from Valentine's Day, you might want to check out Elise's recipe for Rose Petal Flan instead!

Asparagus is a vegetable, which is actually a member of the Lily family, and one that has been grown for more than 2,000 years. It is very high in antioxidants and was valued for its perceived medicinal purposes in ancient Rome, where it was used to treat everything from cuts to toothaches. They also thought of it as a aphrodisiac.

It takes about 3 years after a "crown" is planted that an asparagus plant will begin to produce stalks. Once they get started, the plants grow fast - very fast. Under optimal conditions, such as mild, warm weather, the spears may have to be harvested every 24 hours during their season, which begins in late spring and lasts for about three months. White asparagus comes from the same plant as green, but is grown underground. Lack of exposure to the light prevents chlorophyll from developing and keeps the stalks white. Almost 80% of the country's asparagus is grown in California, and while many states have small crops, the balance of the commercial product is grown in Washington and Michigan.

It's no secret amongst my friends and family and even fellow blog-friends that I am not a fan of custard desserts. I've never liked pudding (i mean the creamy Bill Cosby kind, not what some countries call cakes), I never ever understood the fascination with creme brulee, and even desserts that sounded new and fancy to me like panna cotta and creme caramel were, well, still custards. I don't know what it is - I guess I just don't find the soft, slimy texture all that appealing. I like something I can bite into.

But I have to say that of all the custard-y desserts out there, the worst one in flan. I know that flan is supposed to be chilled after it is made, but I find that it's almost always too cold, too slimy, sometimes weirdly grainy, and whatever caramelization that has occurred on the top and/or bottom has congealed into a gummy layer of something reminiscent of the cartilage between oxtail bones. 

Maybe I'm just bitter that too many Mexican and Latin cuisine restaurants serve only flan for dessert. Is it that much harder to make pastel de tres leches?