Every mom loves flowers-- except the ones who are allergic. So what's better than getting flowers for mom on Mother's Day? Making her a cake with flowers on it, of course!

I began with two 6-inch round cakes, leveled and stacked with a layer of buttercream between. I then iced the entire thing with white buttercream and let sit for a couple of minutes before smoothing. To get a 'fondant finish' (smooth like fondant but tasty like icing), I used my wooden fondant roller and a Viva paper towel and gently rolled over the surface of the cake.

I found a Wilton tulip and daisy muffin pan and thought it was perfect for baking flowers for the top of a cake. Each flower was leveled so it would sit evenly on top and alternate in a circle. The daisies were iced using tip #220. When I got it, I really thought this tip was going to make a neat drop flower but mostly it just makes pretty fat swirls. I made the centers with small pale yellow fondant circles. For the tulips, I used tip #3 so you could see a basic outline of the petals shape then did a small star tip to fill them in.

It still looked a little plain so I decided to use the flower fondant cutouts and make alternating colors of daisies and tulips for that as well. As an extra touch, I took dark purple fondant and cut out a butterfly shape. I shaped them over a bent piece of cardboard covered in aluminum foil and let them dry overnight. I made four just in case I broke one which was good because I ended up breaking two.

Once I added a little green grass around the edge to finish it off, it was all done. As a mom myself, I think I would much prefer to get these flowers than the kind that come in a vase.

Globe artichokes are in season, their spiky green heads peeking out of produce bins, their petals vaguely purple-tinged. Artichokes have long been one of my favorite foods, the special thing my mother would make when I came home from summer camp or on my birthday. But for years, the reason I really loved the artichoke was for its capacity as spoon for melted butter - when else can you publicly scoop tablespoons of hot, salty fat into your mouth, without anyone blinking an eye?

These days I appreciate the artichoke in a variety of preparations, sometimes even swapping the melted butter for vinaigrette or aioli. Perusing the Internet for new recipes, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of ideas at The Gutsy Gourmet, and thought I'd share. There are recipes for Italian stuffed artichokes, Roman fried artichokes, artichoke and crab dip, prosciutto and artichoke sandwiches with rosemary mayonnaise (I am considering having a picnic this week, just for an excuse to make these), and more. Any favorite artichoke recipes from you guys?

I'd just gotten into my winter vegetable routine - roasting acorn squash halves with mustard and maple syrup, braising cabbage with caraway seeds and a dash of apple cider vinegar, grating endless bags of carrots for sweet-and-sour carrot and raisin salads. And now, here we are, spring again. Lamb's lettuce, tentative chives, delicate asparagus. So why not take advantage of the season with a simple, springtime vegetable recipe?

Here's a recipe for marinated early spring vegetables, adapted from chef Phil West of Range in San Francisco. Lightly cooked asparagus, turnips, artichokes, beets, and carrots are tumbled in a shallot, green garlic, and champagne vinegar vinaigrette. I'd have this for lunch with a hunk of bread and butter, or serve it before a main course of salmon or a simple lamb chop.

Today is the vernal equinox, or the first official day of spring. A lot of people are happy to see the first day of spring, but it's especially important for the people of Iran, or Persians. For them it's the first day of the celebration of Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

Nowruz has many traditions, including lighting fires and banging pots to beat out the unlucky last day of the year, but most importantly they set the table. There is a symbolic setting on the table, with a special cloth called the sofreh-ye haft-sinn (the setting of seven dishes) consisting of seven lucky and symbolic foods each beginning with the Persian letter sinn. The lucky foods include spouts, apples, the fruit of the wild olive, garlic, sumac berries, and vinegar.

There are several traditional dishes served at a Nowruz party. They all have their symbolic meanings about life and rebirth, health and luck among others. One dish is samanu, a wheat sprout pudding representing rebirth. There is also baklava, chickpea cookies and candied almonds to symbolize prosperity.

All of the food mentioned here sounded great. This is the first year I had heard about Nowruz, but I always like finding out about other cultures. I love finding out about food from other cultures, and finding out about Nowruz has really gotten me excited about Persian food. How about you?

I've come to realize something about myself. I'm just not inspired by winter foods. I like the root vegetable family, but there are only so many roasted carrots, beets and parsnips I can take before I find myself backing away from the stove and calling for takeout Chinese again. Winter saps my creativity, especially when I know how wonderful, bright and inspiring food can taste with so little effort (I know that many of you are able to create amazing things with foods available in Winter. For some reason, I seem to be stunted in this area). As we creep closer to spring and farmers market season (my beloved Headhouse Square Market opens May 4th), I am tingling with anticipation.

The salad you see above is how I've gotten through the winter--by buying carbon heavy imported vegetables and wishing for Spring (the environmentalist in me cringes). How have you all managed to fend off the apathy of Winter cooking and keep your food interesting and appealing?

I have a thing for gorgeous, fresh salads (as you'll see later when I post my own dinner salad from last night). Looking through the Slashfood Flickr pool, this one nearly jumped off the screen at me and I knew I had found today's featured image. Especially since Spring is coming. Spring! Fresh, young vegetables! The promise of summer fruit! (I'm more than just a little bit excited about the coming change of season).

This image comes to us from Flickr user Eunnycjang and features a Vietnamese bun-style salad with "romaine, carrots, cabbage, cucumber, rice noodles, tons of mint, basil, cilantro, and Mark Bittman's shortcut caramel pork." It is dressed with nuoc mam.

Most of the United States will be springing an hour early this Sunday morning, and so in honor of this early arrival of spring, I thought I'd post a yummy-looking picture of a salad that seems appropriate for the season. Prepared, photographed and I'm assuming eaten by Flickr user ccharmon, this is a salad I see myself recreating at some point down the line.

If your cooking is taking a turn for the spring-like, why don't you take some pictures and share them with us over on the Slashfood Flickr page. Go on, tempt us with your delicious creations.

Are you a seasonal hot beverage drinker like I am?

I ask this because here we are past the halfway mark of April and I'm still drinking hot tea. This is late for me. I usually stop drinking hot tea around the start of April and start drinking diet soda and iced tea (I don't drink coffee). The weather has been cold and rainy/snowy this month, so my tea drinking has stayed at the same level it was in January. Which I like, of course, but it also worries me because I'd rather switch to drinks like diet soda that won't give me as much daily sugar intake (yeah, I know, I could drink my tea with less sugar or Splenda, but where's the fun in that?). As for hot chocolate, well, that's a fall/winter thing and I stopped that weeks ago.

So readers, are you seasonal hot and cold beverage drinkers too? I remember my mom used to drink hot coffee in the hot summer months too because she read somewhere it was good for you or cooled you down in some way I don't quite understand, but science was never my best subject in school.

Oh, Slashfood friends, I have Spring Fever. Normally, I don't get such a thing because I live in southern California where it is perpetually Springtime -- or at the very worst, a mild autumn. But it's been unusually chilly and gray here in LA and I am ready for sunshine,warmth, frolicking in the garden, and of course, all the delicious foods that come with Spring.

Apparently, Sarah Miller, who blogs over at Food & Paper, has got Spring Fever, too, and made this gorgeous Tagliatelle with Chive Oil, which she adapted from a recipe in the April 2007 issue of Saveur Magazine. It's a simple recipe, really, using dried tagliatelle, crimini mushrooms, and fresh chives, but that's exactly why it's so wonderful -- a simpe recipe that shows off the beautiful simplicity of the ingredients!

[via: TasteSpotting]

Now that spring has officially arrived, just the thought of exotic fruits, vegetables, and crisp, fresh salads is probably enough to get us all running out the door to our local grocery stores or farmers' market.

If you're like me, though, after the initial thrill of spring produce shopping wears off, I tend to fall into the trap of making the same, boring salads night after night. However this chart, which I found on Oprah's site, should come in extremely handy for choosing items that go well with the salad basics that you have on hand, and give you endless ideas for healthy meals.

She has suggestions for which lettuce to choose based on the type of salad you'd like to make, as well as which add-ons would go well, such as beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, cheese and tofu, meats and poultry, and fish and shellfish. By mixing and matching the suggestions, you could probably have a different salad every day between now and September.

Just Born is always expanding their Peeps lineup, as the sugar-coated marshmallows are one of their most popular products. Instead of only offering yellow chick Peeps at Easter, they have chicks, bunnies and egg shapes in a variety of colors and flavors. And for other holidays, they have themed Peeps, with hearts on Valentine's Day and trees at Christmas.

At Halloween, Just Born introduced cocoa-flavored black cat Peeps, which I passed on because I was somewhat put off by the color. I am a huge fan of Peeps, but I like my Peeps in the spring. While shopping this week, however, I came across Cocoa Bunny Peeps and, as they were Eastery-enough to meet my standards, I picked up a package for a taste test.

The important thing to note about these candies is that they are not chocolate marshmallows, despite the promising light chocolate color. They are merely cocoa-flavored and that flavoring is entirely limited to the sugary coating on the outside of the bunny. The subtle chocolate flavor didn't really do anything to enhance the Peep and, although I would eat them again, if I really want chocolate with my Peeps, I'll stick with Milk Chocolate Peep Eggs - or better yet, a dark chocolate Peeps s'more using a regular Peep.

For a closer look at the cocoa bunnies, click past the jump. *warning - the photo after the jump is graphic, and may not be suitable for all viewers*

With the exception of a few bad storms, this has been a fairly mild winter for most of the US and Canada. The warmer temperatures mean fewer snow days, lighter jackets and an early start to maple syrup season.

The season typically begins in early spring when it is still below freezing at night but slightly warmer (40F or higher) during the day. The reason for the time frame is that the sap levels are at the peak at that point in the year and the daytime temperatures allow it to flow more freely from the tapped trees. Mild winters produce the same effects, although the sugars in the sap are not as intensely concentrated as they will be later in the year. One of the primary reasons that a farmer might begin to harvest sap early, relying on a processes to concentrate the sugars in the sap, is to stay in business, although some traditionalists will turn up their noses at the practice.

'Some people say it isn't natural to make a hole in a tree during the winter, but it is also unnatural to tap trees during the spring,' said one Canadian farmer, noting that only a small portion of the sap is taken and that the trees heal rather quickly and that "only producers who've never tried making syrup in winter would criticize the practice."

Sarah mentioned that some studies show that British shoppers are clueless about seasonal produce. I think it's a fair bet that many people, in many countries are similarly unaware of the prime season for at least one fruit or vegetable.  Without getting into the various issues surrounding why it is or is not best to buy seasonal (local) produce, there are two ways to figure out what's in season quickly.

First, you can visit a local farmer's market. You'll be able to find fruits and veggies at the peak of their season without too much problem. Stock up on things that freeze well, like berries, so you don't have to worry about seasonality when you get a craving.

The second way is a little more fun.

As the season goes on, the days are getting longer and barbecues come out of storage in preparation for the grilling season. No matter how late it stays light, sometimes there just isn’t enough time to fix dinner before the sun goes down. This isn’t a problem when cooking indoors, but it can be a problem when you’re grilling. In the dark, it is hard to see what your meats and veggies look like. Timers and guess-work can help, but nothing is better than being able to take a good look at what you’re doing.

Enter the Flashlight Grill Tongs from Red Envelope. The tongs are stainless steel and have a battery powered LED flashlight built into them. With the press of a button, you can easily monitor your foods on the darkest night as they cook up on the grill.

This dish is based on a recipe from one of last summer’s issues of Bon Appetit. I was flipping though it for inspiration when the picture caught my eye. My dish is Grilled Salmon with Pineapple-Jicama Salsa, which uses salmon instead of the halibut called for in the original and eliminates the step of preparing a tostada, though corn tortillas are still a nice accompaniment. The thing that really made me want to try this was the salsa, a combination of pineapple, red onion, jicama and peppers. It sounded fresh and delicious, in addition to being colorful. Since it’s spring, fresh flavors and the chance to fire up the grill are definite pluses when it comes to dinner.