Sorry for the lack of new posts. My life is very hectic right now!

If you followed me here from For the Love of Food, thank you – and if we are strangers, welcome, and allow me to introduce myself…

I am Sasha, a 20-year-old fille from Brooklyn, New York.

On this blog, I will be posting recipes, restaurant and product reviews, and tips on cooking and dining. Although food will always be my one and only love, I do have regular liaisons and plan to share those with you as well, so you can expect to see posts on fashion, music, books, Paris, and on my love/hate relationship with New York.

I had a Blogspot blog for almost two years but refused to deal with the damn glitches any more. I did import most of the old posts to Chez Sasha (though did not have the patience to format them all properly), but I really love the idea of starting over.

Make yourself at home and drop me a line.

And don’t forget to follow me with bloglovin!

I hope you all rang in 2011 with sweet kisses, smiling faces and overflowing champagne flutes.
I just got back from a perfectly decadent four-day Montreal getaway so now I have the energy to keep working on a few new things and by next week, I hope to resume blogging regularly.

See you soon!

…from your currently absentee fellow blogger!

When I was younger, I used to think this day was silly and that it was invented by Hallmark to “boost the economy.” I used to think Valentine’s Day was just a way to make single people feel badly about themselves.

Now that I’m a bit older, I no longer feel that way. I believe that Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love. It’s a day to show the person you love how you feel and to appreciate their place in your heart and life (though I think people should do that every day and not just one out of the 365.)

Love is indefinable. It is the strangest and most beautiful thing about being human. It is capable of bringing one to the highest high and the lowest low. Love can be fulfilling yet unfortunately draining as well. Love makes us grow up. True love is rare and it is truly invaluable.

This is one of my favorite quotes from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Here Edward Rochester is addressing Jane. He has a slightly childish yet touching way of expressing his love:

“I sometimes have a queer feeling with regard to you – especially when you are near me, as now: it is as if I had a string somewhere under my left ribs, tightly and inextricably knotted to a similar string situated in the corresponding quarter of your little frame.” (Chapter XXIII)

If you are unsure of what to get your Valentine, just cook for him/her. Duh. It will mean much more than any oversized teddy bear ever could. The best V-Day meal is light, chic and simple… and keep it easy on the garlic, y’know?

Being a food blogger, every meal, cooked at home or eaten out, is a potential post. Most times when I cook or dine out, I know beforehand if I’m going to be writing about it; other times, however, I am unsure but take pictures (and mental notes) anyway. This post is dedicated to those very meals.

This is what I ate at Baton Rouge in Laval, Quebec – pan-seared scallops and shrimp on a bed of linguine in a creamy tomato sauce. This dish was delicious. I don’t usually order seafood at restaurants, simply because besides sushi I’m not a big seafood fan, but that night I was craving scallops and this dish hit the spot.

One day I was in the mood to make custard (this one) and made these crème puffs to have something to use the custard for. They were great but they didn’t hold their shape. This is a common problem when working with pate au choux and since I’m not exactly an expert baker, I have to keep practicing.

These are herb and sun-dried tomato farmer cheese filled profiteroles, which is also choux pastry. These did actually hold their shape but were undersalted, which is something that cannot be salvaged with baked goods. This is a great appetizer idea and my family enjoyed them a lot but I felt that they were lacking in flavor.

This was a cheese and basil chicken roulade. A great concept yet lacking in flavor as well. Basil and chicken go great together and naturally I thought of adding tomatoes in there too but wanted to make it original…does anyone have any suggestions of how to improve this dish without adding tomatoes??

This is a bacon, dill, scallion, cheese and tomato omelet. These was nothing wrong with this omelet, in fact, it was a great flavor combination.

I haven’t been cooking a lot lately, as laziness has gotten the best of me, but hopefully this week I’ll have some goodies to share : )

Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone!

Besides New Year’s, this is my favorite holiday. What could be better than cooking all day and then seeing the faces of the ones you love surround you at the dinner table?

My family doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving traditionally. My parents usually spend it with their friends, leaving me to spend it with mine. It’s just the way we prefer it. This year, my lovely girlfriends volunteered to help me in the kitchen and they did a great job. Every year I try to switch up the menu and this year’s consisted of:

· Roasted turkey breast

· Mashed potatoes

· Grilled vegetables

· Caramelized onion and goat cheese on crostini

· Stuffed tomatoes

· Chocolate fondue

We were too hungry to remember to take pictures of the final products but the ladies got some decent behind-the-scenes shots.

Left: Karina, Right: Sofya

Many thanks to Irina, Karina, Lily, Michelle and Sofya for another yummy Thanksgiving!