Ricotta and Spelt Crepe Brunch for Six

Like most 20-somethings I know, I've had roommates since my freshman year of college. Sometimes they were great, sometimes not so great, but I think you can't escape living with somebody without learning a few things from them. For example, my freshman year roommate taught me that Peanut Butter M&Ms are delicious and that there is a genre of movies called Good Bad Movies which you should watch while packing (Euro Trip, She's the Man). Another roommate tried to teach me how to read a book without cracking the spine, which I never mastered and now part of my brain always feels guilty when I make that first crease. But no roommate had ever influenced my cooking style until I moved in with Daniel and Marshall.

This brunch was heavily influenced by the boys. They're both excellent cooks and homebrewers extraordinaire. Daniel has an obsession with cooking with whole grains. Marshall believes you shouldn't buy things you can easily make yourself. By their powers combined, we came up with the centerpiece for this brunch: ricotta spelt crepes, from this book which my mother got for Daniel last winter. They only have spelt flour, which makes Daniel do a little dance, and delicious fresh ricotta, which Marshall had never made before but which came out perfectly. They were complemented beautifully by sauteed spinach and mushrooms and by fresh tomatoes with basil. Add some tasty fruit and an even tastier chocolate raspberry tart and you have a lovely summer brunch. 

Greek-Inspired Brunch for Eight

Our new apartment is not air conditioned. It's okay, air conditioning is for wimps. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't spend most days draped over an arm chair unable to summon up the will to move, but still, who needs it? Besides, my lack of air conditioning has a distinct advantage: the windows on either side of my long narrow kitchen are kept open, and when there's a breeze, it blows through our potted herbs, making the whole kitchen smell like rosemary. 

I'd like to say it was the rosemary, or the chives or the oregano, that inspired this first brunch, but alas, the reason is much more mundane. My menu planning went like this: I like greek salad. I will make a greek salad brunch! With cake! And so a brunch was born. And, as luck would have it, it did use a lot of the herbs we have growing in the windows.