You can use melted butter instead of oil, but your cake may be a little denser.

Meyer lemons are a splurge, but they're so wonderful. You could make a Meyer lemon curd or a jam. You could make a salad with slices of Meyer lemon. You could make a Meyer lemon tart and top the tart with candied slices of the lemons. You could use the lemons in a salsa to go over grilled fish or in a ceviche.

I use color as my chief guide. But I always squeeze an avocado - you want the fruit to feel close to the skin. If you can feel a separation, the avocado is past its prime. The avocado should have a little give, but not much.

Cooking and baking are pleasures and I want everyone to be able to experience and share them.

When I'm developing a recipe with brown butter - I know how much butter I want in the end and I so I start with more butter than I'll need.

Whenever you brown butter, some of it is lost - water evaporates, milk solids fall to the bottom of the pan, that kind of thing. It's possible that in browning the butter you ended up making the dough with too little butter.

Anything you make in a 'normal' sized loaf pan can be made in the longer pan - you just have to increase the recipe proportionately.