Magic Ball (aka Dragon's Egg) from video tutorial by Jo Nakashima

This sphere (almost) is folded from a single sheet of paper. The design is surprisingly simple. Just a 16 x 32 square grid, pleated in staggered rows, the ends seamed together with a piece of masking tape. The pleats bring out a curve in the paper, so that the finished model takes a spherical shape almost by itself. (Click here for the tutorial.) Choice of paper is crucial. I used a sheet of tant, 35 x 17.5 cm, and it worked wonderfully. I got all the way from start to finish without a hitch.

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches! Scrumptious!

Although I enjoy very much the music of Jacque Brel and never get through the final scene of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg without busting into tears and have read Pride and Prejudice five times and would install a champagne faucet in my kitchen sink to go with the hot and cold if I could, I am not a romantic. Least of all do I believe in such a thing as matches made in heaven. Any fruitful coupling, I have no doubt, is a matter most of all of chemistry. Yet some pairings are uniquely positively charged. Home-made chocolate chip cookies, the recipe from Jacques Torres. Home-made coffee ice cream, the recipe from David Lebovitz. Call it inspired. Love at first bite. Written in the stars. An affair to remember. But most of all call it scrumptious!

En Route, Chicago to Seattle

Fresh Raspberry Tart = The Reason Vanilla Ice Cream Was Ever Invented

This raspberry tart is incredibly simple and even more delicious. The ingredients:  a rectangle of home-made puff pastry; a pint of local organic raspberries; some sugar over the berries, some butter to dot the whole, a very light touch of fleur du sel. Bake at 400 for about 35 minutes.

The heat of the oven brings out the intense tartness of the raspberries. They keep their shape above as their undersides become slightly jammy and fragrant. I coated the berries with about a tablespoon of sugar before before popping the tart in the oven and after baking all they kept saying was, "You want to pucker with me?" It took a scoop of vanilla ice cream to quiet them down and keep their freshness in check.

Another Tree Frog by Lang

From a 9.5" square of medium thickness  O-Gami luster. Got a bit tight at the finish, but still worth sharing I think.