Where I couldn’t resist buying this:

My new baby! It's a Lodge 10 inch cast-iron skillet

And this:

Jacques Pepin's cookbook: Essential Pepin

I’ve been dying to buy both a Lodge Cast Iron skillet and Jacques Pepin’s cookbook Essential Pepin for ages–but you know how it’s easy to keep putting things off, thinking, “Oh, I’ll do that this weekend…” and suddenly it’s 5 months later and you still haven’t checked it off your to-do list?

Certainly never happens to me. Nope. No procrastination here!

(Cue me putting this blog post on hold for 45 minutes to read excerpts of Bringing Up Bebe on Amazon and to watch my own YouTube videos. It’s a sickness, really.)

Cast iron skillets require a little bit of care, but they’re not as cumbersome or scary as you might think. I’ve been practicing on Boyfriend Jolie’s over the past few months, and last night was the inaugural run chez moi of my OWN skillet – success!

Now let’s see if this thing lasts for the next 3 generations, as everybody promises.

Christmas Eve!

Hey peeps! I hope wherever you are today (and whether or not you celebrate Christmas), you’re having a wonderful, relaxing, fun day with family, friends and good food.

The Christmas eve Beef Wellington as it's about to go in the oven, plus my recipe notebook and some cheap but yummy wine. See my new toy in the background?! So excited to put my new KitchenAid stand mixer to use!

Boyfriend Jolie and I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas together, and last night I made my first Beef Wellington! I made the Wellington off this recipe: Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Christmas Beef Wellington, an update to the classic with roasted chestnuts and parma ham. It was good, but not mind-blowing, which I blame on myself as the duxelles needed to be better drained of water and the puff pastry needed to be rolled tighter. Still, it wasn’t bad for a first ever attempt and you can bet that there will be many more attempts in my future! The rest of last night’s meal included French Onion Soup, roasted asparagus and a strawberry-shortcake-ish dessert, which all turned out yummified. Tonight: turkey!

The finished Beef Wellington. Not bad for a first stab! I added roasted chestnuts and garlic to the duxelles, as per Gordon Ramsay.

Boyfriend Jolie gave me several presents, including the Pearl Jam Twenty DVD and book (eeeee!!) and a Kindle, which was a complete surprise and very exciting. I’ve long resisted going the e-reader route, but now that I have one, I’m beyond jazzed! My presents to him included Kerastase Masquintense Conditioning Mask, which is one of the absolute best intensive conditioners around and excellent for dry or damaged hair. I let him know that this is an incredibly special conditioner, and one which I very reluctantly parted with! (You know I was totally tempted to keep it for myself.)

Like gold: Kerastase Masquintense Conditioner for Dry Hair is AMAZING

The mask was recommended by Jeremy Davies, senior Creative Director at Vidal Sassoon in Beverly Hills, who gave me a fantastic cut a few days ago. I explained to Jeremy that I wanted Kate Middleton hair–yes, really–and so we’re trying to grow my layers out. I also started using Viviscal a few days ago, which warrants its own post. I first heard about it from Amber Katz of Beauty Blogging Junkie, who’s been taking it since September and swears it’s made her hair grow TWO INCHES EACH MONTH. In a nutshell, Viviscal is a hair vitamin that everybody in the beauty, fashion AND modeling industries is raving about, and which is supposed to make your hair grow like weeds. I’ll keep you posted!

My new cut thanks to Jeremy Davies at Vidal Sassoon Beverly Hills. (I had no makeup on, so I'm doing my best Cousin It impression here.)

Speaking of Kate Middleton, this is her first Christmas with the royal family. Unfortunately, Prince Philip is in the hospital after having emergency heart surgery, so hopefully he’ll get better soon! Kate appeared today on the royals’ traditional Church walkabout, looking very elegant in a cranberry-colored coat and hat.

Kate wears a cranberry-colored coat and a hat by Jane Corbett

And lest there’s any doubt about who the star of the show is…

Duchess Kate is mobbed by her people on Christmas at Sandringham

Photo: Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance

As I mentioned a couple months ago, I’ve been learning to cook recently with the help of my trusty Alice Waters cookbook The Art of Simple Food and have thrown myself into it with gusto. I have chicken down and have recently moved onto various preparations of salmon and tuna–as well as a disastrous but well-intentioned attempt at Eggs Benedict. (Hollandaise sauce, I rue you!!)

Anyhow, I’ve been scouring food and wine websites and magazines and have noticed an area of California 3 hours north of LA and 3 hours south of San Francisco mentioned again and again, called Paso Robles. As an avowed red wine drinker, I’d heard about Paso before, but only because I spend hours in the wine aisles at Whole Foods and Trader Joes. (Totally kidding! Okay, sort of kidding: my friend Robin traveled there for a wine tasting last year and raved about it.) Apparently, it’s the fastest growing wine area in California–sooo, basically, it’s the new Sonoma/Napa.

Last year's Paso Glow dinner in downtown Paso Robles

Thanks to the miracle of publicists, I’ve since learned that Paso is supposed to be an amazing destination not only for wine tasting but also for a variety of culinary experiences, like olive festivals (yum!) and cheese festivals (bleh!). I’m traveling there myself for the first time in 2 weekends–just before my birthday–to visit the aforementioned Olive Festival and am seriously excited to finally check out this new wine mecca in person.

In the meantime, you can enter to win your own trip to Paso! The city is holding their 2nd annual gourmet food and wine dinner on October 1st called “Paso Glow.” It features a “fire and ice” theme, is hosted by celebrity chef Cat Cora, and treats guests to a five-course meal paired with local wines outside in Paso’s downtown park. (It’s part of Sunset Magazine’s Savor the Central Coast, a huge four day, local food and wine extravaganza throughout San Luis Obispo County from Sept. 29-Oct. 2.)

Decanting wine at the 2010 Paso Robles "Paso Glow" dinner

Check out the Travel Paso Facebook page before August 25th to enter the contest and win your own 2-night stay in Paso, plus tickets to Paso Glow. More details on the prize and rules here. Good luck!

Brace yourselves: I’m learning to cook! (Have I mentioned this yet? Well…now you know.)

As I explain in this little video after giving you a tour of my new bedroom, I never really learned–and I’ve also been surrounded by some pretty good, intimidating cooks in my day, so I never really wanted to learn.

But things happen, Lean Cuisines lose their appeal, Jolies grow up, you know how it goes.

My first purchases: Just Married and Cooking (by my friend the lovely and talented Brooke Parkhurst and her awesome husband James Briscione; buy it, buy it!); Alice Waters‘ The Art of Simple Food; Cookwise; and My Father’s Daughter by Gwyneth Paltrow.

And here’s my first official post-cookbook dish: a sauteed summer squash/zucchini/tomato/garlic concoction with balsamic-glazed brussel sprouts and pancetta that actually tasted really good.

I’ve been reading the books every night and have been playing around in the kitchen each day, so I’ll keep you posted here and there on my progress!