The Perfect Pantry

Puff pastry (Recipe: puff pastry cups filled with sweet potato, apple and nuts)

If I hadn't watched Julia Child on television all those years ago, smearing the butter and folding and turning and folding and turning again, making it all seem so utterly doable, I never would have had the courage to make puff pastry from scratch.

I did make it, and it was rich and buttery, and it puffed.

And it took all day to make.

Then I discovered frozen puff pastry. Someone else does the smearing and folding and turning for you. Imagine that! Puff pastry any time, without devoting an entire day to making it.

Table salt (Recipe: fresh apple cake)

Nine things I know about table salt (you'll be glad to know them, too):

Dulce de leche (Recipe: dulce de leche milhojas)

Now for a special treat: guest posts by the three food bloggers I've adopted through the Adopt-a-Blogger mentoring program. (Please be sure to visit their terrific blogs.) Today, meet Rebecca of From Argentina With Love, the first blog I adopted. A former teacher, she writes about Argentinean food, wine, and life in and around the small town of Bowen, where her husband's family lives. She's a wonderful cook who teaches classes in the Denver area, and her charming stories of the people and food of Argentina will enchant you.

Guest post and photos by Rebecca of From Argentina With Love

Along with tango and Evita, dulce de leche is one of the first things that comes to mind when people think of Argentina.

The sticky, sweet caramel spread plays so beloved a role in the culinary culture in Argentina that, in 2003, the country declared it a "national product" and lobbied UNESCO for official designation -- much to the chagrin of neighboring Uruguay, who argued that they have been making dulce de leche just as long as Argentina has.

Dulce de leche’s legendary status comes complete with a saga of mythic proportions.

Baking spray (Recipe: Lucia's walnut cake)

Baking spray changed my life.

I don't bake often, or very well, and when I do, I can be a bit of a lazy baker.

Up until a couple of years ago, when a recipe said to "butter and flour the pan", I'd drench my cake pans with cooking spray. Then I'd watch little puddles form in the corners as the spray slid down the sides of the pans.

One day my friend Cindy, an executive pastry chef, introduced me to baking spray -- cooking spray with flour added -- "butter and flour" in a single can.

No sliding, no pooling. You spray, and it stays.

Pecans (Recipe: classic pecan pie)

When Harry met Sally, sparks did not fly.

What did fly were some of the funniest ad libs in movie history.

In one of my favorite scenes, Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Harry decides they will speak only in funny nasal voices, and ad libs the line, "I would be proud to partake of your pecan pie."

Sally tries to repeat it in just the same singsong way, but cannot, and Harry coaches her. Pee can PIIIEEEEE. She tries again. Pee can PIIIEEEEE.

Would the scene have worked as well with if Harry had said pee KAHN? Who knows?