A perfect, simple birthday cake. One that effortlessly handled the car ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Flourless and made primarily with almond paste and eggs, it's baked until golden, then flooded with a simple, smudge-proof buttermilk glaze.

Butter a skillet add corn, fresh thyme, red onions, toasted almonds and coconut, and finish with a squeeze of lemon or lime juice...

My favorite tomato salad this year - made with roasted and ripe tomatoes, capers, mozzarella, almonds, and chives.

Nettles in a pasta with feta, sesame, almonds, and onion sprouts & a few pics from the Golden Gate bridge birthday fireworks.

One of the best salads I've made in a long time (mung bean sprouts, avocado, arugula, yogurt, almonds) & a look at the QUITOKEETO packaging.

Big bowl of green - broccolini tossed with big croutons, tons of scallion slices, mozzarella, toasted almonds, and a hit of serrano pepper.

Perfectly portable sesame almond brown rice balls. I packed these for a road trip from SF to Portland last week. They're flecked with green onion, and you can tuck edible surprises (i.e. avocado) in the centers if you like.

New year, new brussels sprouts recipe. This one pan-fried and then finished with a drizzle or oregano deliciousness, and toasted almond slices.

This could very well be my favorite salad recipe from Super Natural Every Day - shaved fennel, arugula, zucchini coins, feta, toasted almonds.

Toasty, nutty sable cookies made with whole wheat flour, sliced almonds, currents and salted butter. And a peek at some of my favorite vintage cookie cutters.

A rustic leek soup topped with an electric green drizzle of dill oil and crunchy toasted almonds.

A limoncello macaroon recipe along with a batch of photos from a cabin weekend in Mendocino. The cookies are golden-crusted, powder-coated, almond-citrus gems spiked with limoncello liqueur my sister made for me.

Coins of zucchini are browned in a pan, but the thing that makes it special is the toasted gold slivers of garlic combined with lots of fresh dill, plus a sprinkling of almonds for a bit of crunch.

This particular salad came together on a whim - slender, barely-cooked asparagus and carrots alongside lots of deeply toasted almond slices, tossed with a jalapeno-cilantro drizzle.

I used my friend Molly Watson's recipe as a jumping off point here, and ended up with a roasted squash salad of sorts. It uses the pretty, scalloped-edged cross-cuts of the delicata squash, a few small potatoes, chopped kale, radishes, Marcona almonds - and a bold miso harissa dressing.

Warm, coin-shaped slices of pan-fried carrots, white alubia beans, and chopped dill tossed with a tangy-sweet lemon shallot dressing. It tastes good the day you make it, even better the day after.

A bit of a twist on the peanut noodle salad - this version features soba noodles with a spicy Thai-curry and almond butter sauce, topped with some sauteed tofu and pea shoots.

A twist on the ubiquitous black bean salad - giant black beans and toasted almonds are tossed with a honey-jalapeno-lime dressing and served with a bit of crumbled feta over a bed of baby arugula.

And orzo salad packed with nutritious ingredients - asparagus, almonds, feta, sprouts, broccoli, cucumber, and a zesty lemon dressing.

Known in some circles as Japanese pizza, this is my take on okonomiyaki. Plenty of egg-battered cabbage is pressed into a skillet and cooked until deeply golden on both sides. It is served cut into wedges and sprinkled with toasted almonds and chives.