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Monthly Archives: June 2008
The food blog world simply amazes us. What a wonderful community of fresh raw talent. We have been lucky to be-friend a few people out there in the virtual food world, one of them being Christine, over at HolyBasil. Christine makes wonderful dishes with Vietnamese and French Flair and her photos are drool worthy. Christine writes with a breath of fresh air which transforms into a wonderfully witty personality. Mind you, we have never met in person; but, I feel as if we know her so well, it is comfortable when exchanging emails.
A couple weeks back, Lenny was traveling and I was feeling somewhat “low” as the end to the MEM was just lurking around the corner and I was definitely feeling like there was a pit in my stomach. What a fantastic surprise when I turned the corner and saw a package on the door step. It is not often that one receives letters or packages in the mail, now with what technology is out there. Christine’s care package had perfect timing and brought a smile to my face.
 
Inside she included, her homemade Cherry Vinegar (which is delicious!!!), a special knife for cutting fruit and for our picnic basket (came in so handy for camping), some candied Tangelo (which Lenny never got to try and they were ultra moist compared to other candied citrus peels & very flavorful) and some red and white MOTHER! The Mother (the above is the white mother in wine) basically is the childbirth from the precious vinegar that she made and we are re-birthing it into our own vinegar now – an update on that, later on! Christine’s package was more than generous and so greatly appreciated even more is her “virtual” friendship. You have got to love the food blogging world!
I am so happy that Beth over at Our Sweet Life, chose the Mixed Berry Cobbler for this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie challenge. Why? We needed a simple but summery dessert for our bash.
This recipe, which can be found here, is incredibly easy and everyone should add it to their “go to dessert” during summer berry season. Not only is it bursting with the warm sultry flavors of the berries (I used fresh blackberries, blueberries and raspberries), but it has a nice zang from the zested lemon and fresh ground pepper. The ultra jammy fruit with the pepper reminded me of a very bold zinfindel, hits you right away and then softens and leaves a memorable taste. I wanted to keep the dessert looking rustic so I did drape the biscuit crust (which was not over sweet and came out very flakyy) over the top, trimmed it and let it bake. It came out ……………………………. WAIT! There’s more »
this is what dinner was tonight. As Donna Hay would say, “simple made simple”. Tonight we headed back down under for a warm mushroom salad. Earthy, with a salty aftertaste from the bacon; but, then you are grabbed and pulled in by the citrus in the light lemon juice dressing with creamy feta and lemon thyme. Served with a nice chardonnay and warm crusty bread. Quick and delicious dinner in 25 minutes!
The recipe can be found here, or you can email us.
I am basically behind on life. I can not seem to catch up on working, phone calls (sorry everyone), emails and especially Chez US. Life has become so incredibly busy with switching over to FVM and getting back into the “work” mode instead of fun. Who was I kidding, make a major life changing change during SUMMER FUN!
Anyhow, enough whining! The weather was scorching hot the past few days and one must take advantage when that happens in the city. We were really taking advantage of it … late night dining on the deck, leaving work early for icy cold beers beers at Revolution, scooter rides and now, we decided to invite a couple friends over on Saturday night for a bbq.
While we love to entertain, we both hate the fact that, that means I cook and barely get a chance to really sit down and enjoy everyones company. So, we came up with the idea of grilled pizzas; but, setting up a make your own pizza bar and to have everyone get dirty. Now this “revelation” came to us, during one of these pre-mentioned late night dinners, so when I was setting up everything, it just suddenly hit Lenny in the head like a 2 ton brick! “What?” “Have everyone make their own?” “Have them come in & out, making pizzas?” Did I lose my mind somewhere between, “What a Great Idea” and “WHAT????”. The plan did not CHANGE
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We may be speaking too soon; but, summer may be here or at least it felt like it last night! Nothing beats coming home and finding that it is warm enough to sit on the deck, enjoy a glass of wine and not have to pull on your cable knit sweater. No, we do not live in the North Pole, it is true we live in San Francisco; but, one may not realize that it is usually freezing cold most of the summer and this year it has seemed to last a lot longer than normal.
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Did you know a chicken could be, weird? The first words out of Lenny’s mouth, before he even tasted this dish, was, “What is this weird chicken?” Now, it did not smell, “weird”, nor did it really look “weird”. In fact, it was golden brown, smelled of garlic and lemons; exactly, how could this be classified as “weird”? Maybe he is “weird” or maybe I am “weird” for making it!
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Camping! You will not want to miss this one. Do you remember our trip last year? You can only imagine what we have in mind this year.
Be sure to come dine with us next week to find out what!
Have a great weekend.
I am not sure if I have just been lazy or I am really just, too busy! There is a lot going on this week, with squeezing in as much “summer fun” as I can with the MEM, working with FVM, and trying to get ready for a camping weekend. All I can say is, “I AM BEAT” and I wish I could say that the camp would be relaxing; but, 4 families, 3 dogs and 5 kids later, I don’t think it will be very quiet!
Lenny has been traveling for work this week, so this leaves me not really wanting to cook for myself. So, I squeezed in a dinner at a new little French Bistro, with a friend of mine and have been pretty much slumming it. When Lenny is gone, I have a tendency to really not cook much, with the exception of the other night. Actually, I usually do one of the same things every time he is gone and it is one of the first things I ever learned how to cook, when I was 13ish.
I was given a cookbook on Mexican food and even at the tender naive age of 13, going up in hoe-poke country town, I knew there was better out there and when I saw this recipe for homemade refried beans – YIPPY! Something not out of a can! I remember making it, loving it and resorting to it often during my teens, as well as my 20s and only the last 10 years or so, I have adapted the same memory imprinted recipe to be more of a soup and not refried. The recipe and the ingredients are basically the same with the exception of using black beans and fresh chili peppers, now. Sometimes, I add some cheese on top or sometimes some sour cream, such as today. Regardless, it is simple, tasty and comfortable, for when I am alone!
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