For Valentine's Day this year we made individual portions of tiramisu in small coffee cups. Soon after that we used our ragtag collection of espresso cups for 3 to 4 bites of some very dense chocolate mousse. Now we've fallen in love with individual spoonfuls of crème brulée — we just love the idea of desserts made for one delicious bite.

When the weather outside is chilly and you have a lot of people to feed it's nice to have some standby dishes that are easy to make, delicious, and unquestionably comforting. Enter Gratin Dauphinois — a recipe born in the French Alps that combines scalloped potatoes, cream, and garlic all baked to perfection.

This week has been a wet and dreary one in LA. So yesterday, in an effort to cheer up the kitchen and fill the fridge with something we could eat for a couple of days, I broke out Dad's recipe for ratatouille.

Growing up there was one cookbook that stood out among the rest: the bright yellow tattered copy of La Cuisinière Provençale, a classic French cookbook originally published in 1897 that favored simple recipes without superfluous fuss or drama. One of our favorites is a surprisingly simple recipe for the quintessential French cookie: Madeleines.

If you've ever traveled to the South of France or had the good fortune of trying the local confection Nougat de Montélimar you know that once you take a bite of that chewy bar filled with the heady taste of honey and the crunch of roasted pistachios and almonds, you're hooked.

One of the best parts about a road trip are the funky diners and local cafes you run across (along with the characters that run them). They can give you a great sense of the local flavor and an excuse to pull over, they can also be greasy and often offer up guilty pleasures (like a stack of pancakes for every meal). Jump below for some delicious alternatives:

Admittedly we're suckers for any kind of bundt. We love the festive shape and the reaction one will normally garner from a crowd. The problem is that all of our recipes are complicated and rely on a mixer and a lot of eggs. What's great about this one is you don't need a mixer and you can basically throw the ingredients together at the last minute and come out with an impressive and delicious cake.

With all the talk of delicious, refreshing tea concoctions, we wanted to highlight one of our favorite spots for picking up loose leaf and hard to find teas locally in Los Angeles. Bird Pick, named for the birds that in Chinese folklore could pick out only the best tea leaves to feast on, not only imports tons of tea but also offers a tea bar for some pretty amazing tea drinks.

A friend of mine recently started working at a Tea Bar in where they mix up iced tea blends in a Martini shaker and combine unusual ingredients for refreshingly cold tea-based drinks. Jump below for some inspiration to keep summer cool and delicious.

This Memorial Day we spent a lot of time on the beach (we got a sunburn to prove it) and had our usual picnic fare: Tuna salad in pita with heirloom tomatoes and butter lettuce, Vernor's, and cherries. It's what we've eaten for as long as we can remember for long weekends. But it got us to thinking about all the other picnics we want to plan for the summer. Here's a peek!