Natural Highs

I saw this list of have and have-nots over at Dancing Around the House and it reminded me of a poster of "Natural Highs" that decorated the north facing wall of my bedroom in high school. Funny what triggers memories.

I've boldfaced the things I've experienced, proving that (as Stephanie so eloquently put it) I've lived a pretty amazing forty years and I've still got a fair amount of life left to experience:

If it's bold, I have...

1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said "I love you" and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar (a homeless man handed me a bag of hershey kisses on the breast cancer 3-Day in 2002)
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31 hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke - one video tape exists, and it's very heavily guarded. :)
50. Lounged around in bed all day
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don't
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress person
72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi - Religiously!
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103 Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep
105. Ever dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all fours
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Prepared a dish where four people asked for the recipe
113. Buried a child
114. Gone to a Broadway play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train
123. Brought an old fad back into style
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt
129. Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted
148. Written a fan letter
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox
160. Gotten food poisoning
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous
166. Worn knickers
167. Ridden in a limousine
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Can hula or waltz and polka.
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
175. Saved someone’s life
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hostel
184. Been a cashier
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a campfire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend
199. Helped solve a crime
200. Responded to a NJP newsletter

From the archives...
In 2006 I discovered bitter melon at Bautista Farms.

Lost My Marbles: A TWD tragedy narrowly averted

Well it was bound to happen.

To be honest, I expected it weeks ago, with the pie crust.

But no. I wait until the quick bread, one of the (presumably) *easiest* recipes I've encountered in my tenure with TWD to fail with a Dorie recipe.

It's my fault. I took a short cut, and tried to melt the chocolate in the microwave even though I know that method almost always gives me grief. I didn't want to be bothered with the water bath. As happens about 50% of the time, my chocolate started to seize. I *thought* I'd salvaged it.

But when I tried to free my banana bread from the pan it was pretty clear I hadn't. The chocolate sections separated from the pure banana sections so perfectly you'd have thought I *planned* it that way.

Sigh, not a pretty picture, but it made tasty parfaits with a healthy scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Other people fared far better than I did with Dorie's Black and White Banana Bread, this week's pick from Ashlee over at A Year in the Kitchen. Go check them out!

From the archives...
In 2006 I kicked off National Farmers' Market Week announcing a week long field trip to the bay area's best markets.
In 2007 we found comfort in Sicily with Jamie Oliver's Italy.

Operation: Baking GALS

A week or so ago, fellow Dorista and Daring Baker Susan over at She's Becoming DoughMessTic put out a call to action I couldn't ignore.

A new daddy, her cousin Jason is stationed in Iraq. The problem? In addition to his young family, he's missing the tastes and smells of home. He knows Susan bakes, and he's hoping she'll send a treat or two his way.

Susan did one better. She sent out an email asking a few of her friends to bake up some treats and send them Jason's way. As often happens with brilliant ideas, her email request ballooned quickly into Operation Baking GALS, a growing group of baking bloggers, family and friends hoping to make a small difference in the lives of our service men and women with what we do best: a bit of flour, sugar, butter and eggs.

When I read Susan's request, I knew exactly what I was going to contribute to the cause. These are the cookies I blogged about over on Blake Bakes, my grandmother's icebox cookies. This recipe has a little military history of its own. Several of my uncles served in World War II and later in Korea, and these cookies were a regular feature in the care packages my grandmother sent overseas. I hope Jason and his friends enjoy them as much as my uncles did.

Interested in contributing something of your own to the next shipment? Head on over to Operation Baking GALS... round two is starting soon!

Koji's Back!

If you've been reading a while, you've heard me mention Koji a couple of times. That with an apartment practically on top of his sushi bar, John was one of Koji's first and most regular customers while he was living in San Mateo. That prior to Koji my sushi experience was limited to wedding buffets lined with limp tempura and soggy California rolls, and that I credit him for teaching me how very transcendent *good* sushi can be. That since he closed up shop in San Mateo, we've followed him faithfully around the bay. That whenever we venture in to a new sushi bar, Koji is THE standard by which we measure the freshness of the ingredients, the skill of the chef and the success of the experience.

A little over a year ago Koji left his stint at Hiro's in Brentwood bound for Japan for a bit. We exchanged email addresses and made him promise he'd let us know when he was back slicing sashimi in the bay area. A couple of months ago he let us know he was back and looking for a location to open a sushi bar in the east bay. Huh-zah!

My smart-assed comment that my kitchen counter was available turned out somewhat prophetic. After four years of restless anticipation, last weekend we perched like Norm and Cliff at Koji's sushi bar in eager anticipation of the feast before us. No longer an interpretation of someone else's vision, we once again experienced *Koji's* tamago. His gomae. His miso soup. His saba nigiri. His spicy tuna. And his signature hot dog roll. It was a transporting experience for both of us. For John it was coming home. Oh... the prophetic piece? Koji's new digs are one easy exit up the freeway.

Welcome back Koji; We've missed you.

Koji's | 480 San Ramon Valley Blvd, #E, Danville, CA 94526

Technorati Tags: Food | Sushi | Restaurant

Maybe Mo was right...

"Strawberries..." he used to sigh, "what a waste of perfectly good rhubarb."

I'd scrunch up my face in disgust and assert that my father was out of his mind... rhubarb was nothing more than candy colored celery, and bitter celery at that.

He'd roll his eyes and maintain that was just my "immature taste buds" talking, that when I grew up I'd change my mind.

Well I've managed to avoid rhubarb for most of my adult life, focusing instead on the spring and summer fruits I *know* I love. But when I told my tasters from last week's assignment that it was supposed to include rhubarb but I couldn't find any, our hostess went out to her garden and picked me several stalks. So this week's Summer Fruit Galette (chosen for this Tuesday with Dorie by Michelle in Colorado Springs) became a rhubarb galette.

And I learned that somewhere between 15 and 40, "my taste buds have matured." Because combined with Dorie's no-fail pie crust and a sweet succulent custard, this rhubarb R-O-C-K-E-D.

Somewhere, my father is lounging on a cloud, a martini in one hand and a cigarette in the other, and he's laughing that knowing "I told you so" laugh...

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie | Summer Fruit

In memory of Sher

I know there are people who don't *get* the community we form as food bloggers. That sure, it's disappointing when someone decides to stop blogging, that we feel for people when they're clearly suffering in their personal lives, and that it's certainly sad when someone dies suddenly. But it's not like we *know* these people.

So I ask, when do you really "know" somebody?

While I occasionally commented on something on her blog (and she on mine), I don't believe Sher of What Did You Eat and I ever exchanged an email. I know we never spoke and we never met. But I faithfully followed along on her adventures with the Daring Baker, Bread Baking Babe and Weekend Herb Blogging communities. I admired the love she shared with all creatures great and small, wild and domestic. And over the months, I felt like I was getting to know her. So when last week's news of her sudden death rocked the Internets, like many of my fellow food bloggers I felt like I'd lost a dear friend.

And when Sher's closest friends in the food blogging community announced a virtual potluck in her honor, I knew just the recipe I wanted to contribute. In celebration of Sher's life, I've chosen to make her Eggplant and Goat Cheese Sandwiches with Tomato-Tarragon Sauce. We picked up two flats of cherry tomatoes at Slow Food Yolo County's recent celebration of heirloom tomatoes, so I have a warm summery sauce of sungolds and sweet 100's I know Sher would have loved. I pulled a couple of eggplant out of my CSA box and used up the last of the Cypress Grove Truffle Tremor we picked up a couple of weeks ago in Napa. The result: warm nourishing, soul soothing summer goodness. When I'm looking for comfort food that won't leave me sluggish, I've found my go-to recipe.

Thank you Sherry. We may never have met, but you've filled many afternoons with laughter and many plates with amazing recipes over the months of our internet acquaintance. I will miss your voice.

Technorati Tags: Food | Key Ingredient: Eggplant

Coming soon...

The next week promises to be another busy one personally and professionally. Those of you looking for my contributions to Recipes to Rival, Tuesdays with Dorie and the Daring Bakers please hold tight. We're eating *really* well around here lately, but it's going to take me a few days to get the pictures and the stories up...

One Local Breakfast on the go

Let me start by saying that I wouldn't trade my experience with the Doristas or the Daring Bakers for the world. I've learned that fruit studded desserts are every bit as satisfying as chocolate. Conquered my fear of pie crust. Together we've made cinnamon rolls and scones, cakes, custard and caramel. And I even won an award along the way. My non-blogging friends laugh and call my baking groups a poor man's pastry school. I'm pretty sure I can't put a price tag on the experience I've had and the lessons I've learned along the way.

But with the increased investment in butter, flour, sugar, eggs and cream, your heroine's in a bit of a bind. Since she's a little... um... mature to be outgrowing her clothes every six months, she opted for a membership at the gym -- and two sessions a week with a personal trainer to keep her honest.

I meet with Lizette at seven on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, and I learned very quickly that breakfast beforehand is NOT optional. But anyone who knows me is aware I shouldn't be left alone with sharp objects or fire before the crack of noon, so breakfast's got to be quick, simple and fairly mindless to put together.

My most recent solution: a breakfast burrito constructed largely of leftovers. Tomato and cucumber studded guacamole (veggies chopped and assembled the night before). A generous handful of broccoli sprouts. A soft scrambled egg (ssshhh... I only had the flame going for a couple of minutes). Wrapped in a hearty tortilla. Wrapped in a paper towel and eaten on the drive to the gym. Perfect to fuel twenty minutes on a treadmill and a half hour on the circuit with Lizette.

And since all of the ingredients are products of the farmer's market, my CSA and a generous friend's garden, this grub on the go qualifies as my contribution to One Local Summer this week.

Technorati Tags: Food | One Local Summer | Key Ingredient: Egg

TWD: Life IS a bowl of cherries...

Subtitled Effective Meeting Management 101: Navigating (Square Dance) Politics.

If you've been around a while and paying attention, you know that John and I square dance, and that we have spent the last several years as officers of our regional dancers association. And if you've ever taken a leadership role in a recreational activity, you know that the "politics" involved rival anything going on in the state, local or international arena.

One of the obligations of serving on our executive board is hosting the occasional meeting. And I learned during our April meeting that this hosting obligation comes with some benefits. My living space is fairly open, so I can hang out in the comfort of my kitchen and still keep tabs on what's happening in the living room/dining room area. I learned when hosting the April meeting that I could multi-task, that assembling the Daring Baker Cheesecake Pops gave me a delightful diversion from the discussion at hand. AND the promise of tasty treats after the meeting kept most people on their best behavior.

So when we hosted the July meeting this Sunday, I was grateful that Amanda from Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake added Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler to this week's Tuesdays with Dorie dessert menu. A chance to take out my stress with a cherry pitter! And the baking smells emanating from the oven might have limited debate as people anticipated the lunch and dessert to come. Score!

I stuck pretty close to the recipe this week (which you can find on Amanda's blog) with the exception of the rhubarb. When I couldn't find any in four market stops I decided to substitute the plums that are overrunning my fruit bowl at the moment. They provided a similar tart texture and their juices were perfect for sopping up with the cobbler topping.

Speaking of the topping, the recipe made a LOT more than I needed to cover my 8x8 pan. So I sugared up several pints of blackberries and made some mini cobblers too.

In the end the executive board didn't even get to taste the fruits of my labor. Not to worry; they didn't go dessertless. In addition to the several (store-bought) desserts that people contributed to the pot luck lunch, they polished off the last of my chocolate pudding cups in no time flat.

The cobbler got consumed at last night's dance group (where the hostess gave me two pounds of rhubarb fresh from her garden that I'll be employing this week). The only suggested improvement: *more* than a pound of cherries next time.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie | Summer Fruit

Taste & Create 12 - Plated Summer

Once again this month I find myself paired with Katie of One Little Corner of the World for Taste & Create XII. (Those of you paying attention will recall Katie's yummy Donut Muffins were my contribution to the April event).

This time I was torn; there were a couple of recipes that caught my eye. In the end I selected her delightful Dill Chicken Salad, to which I added a couple of twists of my own.

I started with two boneless skinless chicken breasts, coating them in the Italian seasoning infused olive oil and baking them off as Katie suggests. Yum... I could have stopped right there. But I didn't, though I took a look around my refrigerator and my pantry and I ad libbed a bit. Chicken's packed with protein, so I left the egg out to save a couple of calories. Not a fan of celery, I substituted half a jicama. I made the salad dressing as directed and substituted scallions for the chives, again because that's what I had on hand.

My thoughts? First of all, Katie's chicken would be excellent all on its own, served with steamed vegetables of sliced over green salad. And you could easily make the chicken salad with leftover bits of roasted chicken. The chicken salad would be sensational sandwiched between two slices of whole wheat bread and grilled panini style. But since I've blogged a bit about panini in the recent past and I've got some luscious tomatoes and avocados from my CSA delivery, I decided to plate it Napoleon-style - a slice of tomato, a slice of avocado, a mound of chicken salad, topped with another slice of tomato. The taste? The crunch of the jicama, the dill-studded salad dressing, a couple of sun-sweetened tomatoes and buttery bits of avocado... this *is* summer on a plate my friends.

Technorati Tags: Food | Taste & Create | Key Ingredient: Chicken

TWD - The Proof is in the Pudding

I burn about 400 calories in thirty minutes on an elliptical trainer.

Even with a fraction of the butter in a typical recipe, Dorie's Chocolate Pudding contains 312 calories.

Do we see the problem here?

My solution? Half the serving size. Because this stuff's not your grandmother's pudding out of a box. This is luxurious chocolate love.

Chosen by Melissa of the eponymous It's Melissa's Kitchen, Dorie's pudding recipe employs a handful of raw ingredients - staples in any baker's kitchen. And an industrial 11-cup food processor. Since mine holds a scant 8 cups maximum and I didn't want to make my pudding in batches, I let it sit on the sidelines and put the Kitchen Aid to action. It seemed to work fine; the end result was a rich, creamy lump-less pudding.

I chilled the pudding briefly before piping it into 13 dark chocolate dessert cups and refrigerating for the requisite four hours (time I spent cleaning the kitchen, hitting the elliptical machine, and standing in line at the grocery store). And served the pudding cups sprinkled with toffee bits.

Interested in ditching the little brown box and making pudding from scratch? Melissa's got the recipe posted on her blog; go check it out.

Just remember to renew your gym membership...

Technorati Tags: Food | Tuesdays with Dorie | Key Ingredient: Chocolate

One local salad

THIS is what I love about summers in Northern California. Fresh local ingredients at my fingertips, easily assembled into delicious feasts celebrating the season.

In this case, I took arugula and peaches from my CSA box. Added a delightful hunk of Cypress Grove's "Truffle Tremor" goat cheese that we picked up at a recent visit to Oxbow Public Market in Napa. And took inspiration from this recipe at Adventures in the Kitchen.

Rather than firing up the Weber to serve one, I "grilled" the peaches on the stove while I assembled the spicy peach sauce, which I also heated and drizzled it over the salad like a dressing. The result: simple yet soulfully satisfying.

Technorati Tags: One Local Summer

When it's too HOT to cook...

What's for dinner when it's 90 degrees in the kitchen and turning on the oven's not an option? Mortadella Panini!

God love George Foreman and his magic little grill on nights like this.

Thankfully John and I swung by Oxbow Market on our winding way back from the weekend in Fort Bragg, so I have a half a pound of Fatted Calf mortadella and some luscious local arugula to play with.

Starting there, I foraged around the fridge. Provalone... yeah, that needs using up. And here's a half an avocado. A couple of slices of red onion and a generous teaspoon of champagne shallot mustard will finish it off. A couple minutes on the grill, a handful of Kettle chips and another handful of sungold tomatoes and I'm in business.

Think I can get a job with Tom at one of the 'wichcrafts?

Technorati Tags: Food

And now, the rest of the story...

For some Americans, the Fourth of July is about fireworks. For others it's an excuse to pop open a beer or twelve. And it probably comes as no surprise to the two of you reading this that for us the Fourth of July is about food. (Well food and a couple of days away from the office). Summer food. Red meat (or white meat or fish), cooked over fire. A buffet lined with an overwhelming assortment of salads, sides and desserts.

This year, John and I joined dance friends on a trip to Mendocino county's Fort Bragg for the holiday weekend. We spent Friday evening at a pot luck barbecue where the hosts provided the charred protein and the guests supplied the aforementioned buffet assortment.

What would I make that would withstand a three hour car trip with the air conditioning set to eleven? Tuesdays with Dorie to the rescue: Amy from South in your Mouth selected a great contribution to anyone's barbecue dessert buffet: Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie.

There's only one small problem...

My name is Dolores, and I'm afraid of pie crust. One of my deepest, darkest culinary secrets: I don't bake it, I *buy* it. T'heck with diamonds... Pillsbury is this girl's best friend.

I blame my phobia on my mother. She made the most amazing pie crusts I've ever encountered. She didn't use a recipe... she made it by feel. And I never took the time to learn her technique. Because what the heck, there's always *next* Thanksgiving, right? Yeah, well... All I know is that she used a combination of lard and butter.

Since picking up a Pillsbury wasn't an option for a TWD assignment, I took a deep breath, read the recipe four or five times, shoved a cube of chopped butter and a quarter cup of shortening in the freezer and poured myself a nice glass of wine. And then I pulled the moulinex out of hibernation and dove right in.

The result? It's certainly not pastry perfection, but I think this is a recipe I can work with. I wasn't embarrassed by the end result, and if the picture I posted at the beginning of the day is any indication, it certainly didn't suck.

Thanks Dorie. Thanks Amy. I think my clandestine relationship with Pillsbury's over!

And now you know...

the rest of the story!

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie | Key Ingredient: Blueberry

Another TWD Success

I've got a huge deadline at work in a few hours, so the extended story will have to wait until the end of the day. But for now please excuse the crapulous cell phone photograph and just consider the story it tells. My full sized Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie disappeared from the barbecue dessert buffet in under ten minutes. Now go check out the 200 or so other blueberry pies debuting on the internets today...

Happy Fourth of July!

Wishing you and yours a safe and happy Independence Day.

Introducing Frugal Fridays

The brainchild of Jerry over at Cooking by the Seat of My Pants, Frugal Fridays implores the budget conscious blogger to construct a tasty and (hopefully) nutritious meal for a family of four for $10.00. A timely challenge, given the rising costs of food and fuel.

In week four I'm jumping in with both feet, curious to see if I can be satisfied with a $2.50 lunch. I'm cautiously optimistic, although I typically spend between $4 and $6 on the ultimate cheap meal: fast food and I rarely walk away satisfied with the experience.

Ironically I did no grocery shopping for this week's contribution. We're headed out of town this weekend so I'm all about using up leftovers. My creation: A Chicken Sausage Saute built on a half package of Aidell's I'd picked up on sale last week. I also had about 3/4 pound of red potatoes left from last week's contribution to One Local Summer, a cup of chopped frozen mango, and some zucchini and onion scraps from my recent Rat-Patootie.

I tossed the potatoes in a bit of olive oil, a pinch of kosher salt and a couple of shakes of dried basil and roasted them at 450 for about 30 minutes. Another teaspoon or so of olive oil in my saute pan, on top of which I tossed one clove of garlic (minced with a knife) and the onion shrapnel. I never time anything when I work like this, but I'm guessing they cooked about 10 minutes while I sliced the sausage into bite sized chunks, drained the mango (reserving the juice), etc. I added the sausage next, cooking it until it browned slightly around the edges. Next the zucchini, mango and cooked potato. And what the hell, the mango juice too.

So... was I satisfied? Surprisingly so. Protein, carbohydrate, healthy fat, fruit and vegetables in a single bowl. Leftovers frozen for portable lunches at work next week. Score!

But did I blow the budget. I reviewed a handful of grocery receipts to survey the damage:

2 Aidell's Chicken Mango Sausages - $2.00
Organic Red Potatoes - $2.50
Trader Joe's Frozen Mango - $1.66
Zucchini = $0.40
Onion = $0.40

My 'freebies' from the pantry: olive oil, garlic, kosher salt, dried basil.

Total for 4 lunch-sized servings: $6.96

Damn. I can eat a satisfying lunch for a buck seventy four. With no desire to add fries with that. Who knew?

Thanks Jerry! This has been an eye-opening experience over here, one I look forward to repeating in the weeks to come.

From the archives...
In 2007 we discovered Greek hospitality (and some amazing oven roasted potatoes) in Salt Lake City.

Technorati Tags: Food | Frugal Friday

Rat-patootie, which does not sound delicious...

...but oh my G-A-W-D it IS!

Which is a good thing, since I ended up prepping the damn thing twice.

Yeah, you read that right, twice. That's what I get for multitasking in the kitchen. I was prepping a recipe for next week over at Blake Bakes while I was working on this. And while I sliced and macerated some bananas, I tossed the baking tray with the vegetable medley into the oven to clear some counter space. Then while I put the piperade together here, I preheated the oven for the other recipe. WITHOUT removing my veggie tray. Duh.

'So what's the big deal?' you're thinking, '...it's just sliced vegetables.' Yep. Vegetables sliced a very precise 1/16 of an inch thick. Even with my mandoline, the prep took well over an hour. And while there were a lot of ingredients requiring a ton of preparation, the dish was surprisingly inexpensive. The entire ingredient list cost me a little over $15.00 (partly because the cashier rang my organic zucchinis up as $0.79 pickling cucumbers?!?). Had I not wasted half of the ingredients, that would have come out to about two bucks a serving (assuming you can limit yourself to one serving. Yeah, good luck with that...I couldn't).

So why am I spending two hours slicing vegetables? I've joined Recipes to Rival, the savory answer to the Daring Bakers... a growing group of men and women interested in expanding our skills on the savory side of the kitchen, learning and laughing together along the way. And ratatouille was the inaugural challenge recipe chosen by our founderesses Lori over at Lipsmacking Goodness and Temperance of High on the Hog.

So with my first challenge behind me, what did I learn?

1. Multitasking's not such a good idea, and the oven is not a storage vessel.
2. I'm capable of using my mandoline without losing an appendage.
3. Cooking (and baking) is an exercise in time management.
4. French "vegetable stew" is quite tasty and eminently affordable.

But enough about me... on with the photo-studded recipe:

Remy's Ratatouille or Confit Byaldi
(as published in the New York Times)

For the Piperade:
1/2 red pepper, seeds and ribs removed
1/2 yellow pepper, seeds and ribs removed
1/2 orange pepper, seeds and ribs removed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup finely diced yellow onion
3 tomatoes (about 12 ounces total weight), peeled, seeded, and finely diced, juices reserved
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig flat-leaf parsley
1/2 a bay leaf
Kosher salt to taste

For the Vegetables:
1 zucchini (4 to 5 ounces) sliced in 1/16-inch rounds
1 Japanese eggplant, (4 to 5 ounces) sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
1 yellow squash (4 to 5 ounces) sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
4 Roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/16-inch rounds
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/8teaspoon thyme leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the Vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oi
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Assorted fresh herbs (thyme flowers, chervil, thyme)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. For piperade, heat oven to 450 degrees. Place pepper halves on a foil-lined sheet, cut side down. Roast until skin loosens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest until cool enough to handle. Peel and chop finely.

2. Combine oil, garlic, and onion in medium skillet over low heat until very soft but not browned, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, their juices, thyme, parsley, and bay leaf. Simmer over low heat until very soft and very little liquid remains, about 10 minutes, do not brown; add peppers and simmer to soften them. Season to taste with salt, and discard herbs. Reserve tablespoon of mixture and spread remainder in bottom of an 8-inch skillet.

3. Heat oven to 275 degrees. Down the center of the piperade coated skillet, arrange a strip of 8 alternating slices of vegetables over piperade, overlapping so that 1/4 inch of each slice is exposed. Around the center strip, overlap vegetables in a close spiral that lets slices mound slightly toward center. Repeat until pan is filled; all vegetables may not be needed.

4. Mix garlic, oil, and thyme leaves in bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle over vegetables. Cover pan with foil and crimp edges to seal well. Bake until vegetables are tender when tested with a paring knife, about 2 hours. Uncover and bake for 30 minutes more. (Lightly cover with foil if it starts to brown.) If there is excess liquid in pan, place over medium heat on stove until reduced. (At this point it may be cooled, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days. Serve cold or reheat in 350-degree oven until warm.)

5. For the vinaigrette, combine reserved piperade, oil, vinegar, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste in a bowl.

6. To serve, heat broiler and place byaldi underneath until lightly browned. Slice in quarters and very carefully lift onto plate with offset spatula. Turn spatula 90 degrees, guiding byaldi into fan shape. Drizzle vinaigrette around plate. Serve hot.

Bon appetit!

Technorati Tags: Food

TWD: This week's melodrama: Savory or Sweet?

Yes, I used the base recipe. One of the many things I've learned in my tenure with the ladies and gentlemen of Tuesdays with Dorie is that I LOVE Dorie's basic biscuit recipe. And if recent history's any indication, I'm pretty good at it. Which I would never have known *without* TWD, as biscuits and their various offspring just weren't projects I attempted in my kitchen.

But this week I didn't have dried apple on hand, so I grabbed a package of apricots. They're a yellowish fruit with a similar dried consistency. And since cheddar really doesn't pair with apricot for me, I grated a hunk of Swiss to take the role of "cheese" in this week's drama. And I tossed in a handful of fresh lavender because it called to me from its countertop vase. I considered rosemary but dismissed it. Next time I think I'll use it... it definitely would have added to the tension I've been building between savory and sweet.

So there you have it, my riff on Dorie's Apple & Cheddar Scones, chosen by Karina of The Floured Apron as this week's assignment. That's where you'll find the recipe this week, should you want to try it for yourself.

From the archives:
In 2007, the Leftover Tuesday Roundup revealed...

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie

I'm a Blake Baker...

I've been invited to blog for Blake over at Blake Bakes.

Blake Bakes?

Well you surely know Blake Makes... Blake Bakes is another of *that* Blake's ventures, where he's invited some baking blogging friends to come join him. I'm honored to be keeping some pretty fabulous company over there.

For my debut this morning, I pay tribute to that workhorse in my kitchen: the Kitchen Aid, and share with you my grandmother's tried-and-true recipe for "Icebox Cookies." Go check it out.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Links

Ratted Out!

Sadly my first attempt at Ratatouille, the first challenge recipe assigned for Recipes to Rival, wasn't fit for human consumption. Stay tuned... Take two coming soon.

Something Rotten Sensational from the State of Denmark...

At least if *my* audience reaction is any indication.

I give you the image moments before the gang dove in...


And when they cleared from around the table so that I could take another picture...


But I'm getting ahead of myself here...

It all started early in the month, when Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What's Cookin' (my most recent T&C partner, for those of you paying attention) tossed down the gauntlet to over a thousand Daring Bakers: in the heat of the summer (at least in most of the northern hemisphere) we'd be testing our skills with a yeast based laminate dough as we baked the Danish Braid.

For the pastry, they chose Sherry Yard's Danish Dough from the Secrets of Baking. For the filling we could use Ms. Yard's apple compote or branch out in any direction we wanted, as long as it was of our own creation.

As is typical for me, I spent the majority of the month contemplating what I might wrap my braid around. Prosciutto and parmesan? Apricot in a lavender and honey pastry cream? Cherries jubilee? Strawberries and vanilla cream? Bacon, eggs and potatoes? Chiorizo and egg? Mushrooms, shallots and goat cheese? An endless stream of ideas, all of which sounded promising.

On last Thursday afternoon I pulled out the ingredients for the pastry, no clearer idea of what I'd fill it with than I'd had at the first of the month. I mixed and kneaded and refrigerated and rolled and refrigerated (and caught three back episodes of Good Eats). I was generally quite pleased with the results of my efforts at the end of the fourth turn as I put my dough into its overnight hibernation. I loved the flecks of color provided by the vanilla bean, cardamom and orange zest, and although I have no previous experience working with laminate dough beyond opening the frozen Dafour package, it just *felt* right as I was working with it. Soft, silky, elastic but not rubbery.

Friday evening arrived quickly (though not as quickly as desired in some aspects). I still had no clear direction on how to fill my braid. But it was to be our contribution to a potluck picnic for which we'd need to leave by 9 AM on Saturday. My window for decision-making was narrowing quickly.

After some discussion, John and I decided on a simple smoked salmon and spiced cream cheese filling. Off to the always-open grocery we went. Sorry folks... at T minus less than 12 hours, I wasn't going to be smoking my own salmon. When we got back, John read the recipe (for the first time) while I pulled the dough out of its cryogenic hibernation. There was some discussion and some shared concern about whether the salmon would work with a sweet dough, but at this point we were committed or should have been.

The recipe said the near refrigerated dough should be left to proof for 3 hours before baking. I decided to throw caution to the wind... I covered it with plastic wrap and left it on the counter as we headed to bed shortly after midnight.

I got up at 7 Saturday morning, preheated the oven and surveyed the damage. Lo and behold, what were logs of twisted dough when we retired on Friday actually looked *sort of* like braids in the early morning light. Hallelujah!

I baked off the braids according to the instructions given in the recipe and left them on the counter to cool as we got around and prepared for the day. We tented them loosely with foil as we headed out the door. When we got to the bocce picnic, I shot a couple of pictures in natural light and quickly sliced one of the braids and set it out by the coffee as people hovered, curious. The second picture above is the remnants of the first braid as I prepared to replace the platter with the second.

Hey Mikey, they LIKE this. I'm clearly going to be making these again. As I repeated the story of my month-long quandary with the recipe and the Daring Bakers, I got at least a dozen requests for several different versions, and some tips for slicing and icing sweet Danish pastry from a sweet senior citizen who'd grown up in a bakery in Canada. Marion's not terribly internet savvy, or I suspect Ivonne & Liz would have another new non-blogging Daring Baker in July...

Thank you Kelly. Thank you Ben. This is probably my best Daring Baker experience to date. I tried something new. I learned a ton. My braid looked gorgeous. AND it tasted great. A four star experience.

To see how over a thousand other Daring Bakers fared with this recipe, check out the blog roll.

From the archives...
In 2006 I collected recipes from around the blog world.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Daring Bakers

OLS: From the Ocean and the Earth

A fillet of butterfish caught off of Half Moon Bay. A pint of strawberries, three sun-sweetened peaches and an avocado from my CSA. Some red skinned potatoes, and half onion from a midweek trip to the farmer's market. And a little bit of imagination. There you have the ingredient list for last night's dinner, my second contribution to One Local Summer.

I boned and cut my half pound fillet into four chunks, dredged the pieces in (non-local) seasoned flour, a bit of Strauss cream, and back in the flour mixture to create a coating. While the fish sauteed, I sliced the fruits and tossed them with salt, pepper, and a bit meyer lemon juice.

Including 30 minutes to roast the potato and onion mixture, I had dinner ready in less than an hour, a meal every bit as satisfying as anything I'd seen come out of the Hell's Kitchen I had playing in the background, assembled primarily from ingredients grown less than 100 miles from the kitchen in which I prepared them. It's meals like these that leave me thankful that I live in Northern California with abundant access t to fresh local food.

From the archives...
In 2007 I announced round six of Leftover Tuesdays.

Technorati Tags: Food | Seafood | One Local Summer

Mangia!

Early in us, John discovered that it takes a minor miracle for me to pick Italian when presented with a list of "out to dinner" options.

The reason: it irks me to spend nearly $20 a plate for a dish that I could throw together at home for less than half of that, with a little of whatever I find in the refrigerator and the pantry.

The problem from his perspective: I rarely do. There's always some new recipe I want to try or technique I want to practice.

But occasionally I surprise him. Like this meal from a couple of weeks ago... made entirely of on hand (and mostly of must use soon) ingredients. I started by browning a couple of Italian sausage, then sauteeing a half an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic in some of the sausage drippings while my rigatoni water came to a boil. I'd found a package of deli-made gorgonzola sauce on a freezer mining expedition, so I warmed that with a little bit of milk. Tossed the sausage onion and garlic in my sauce, deglazed the saute pan with a couple of glugs of an open bottle of pinot grigio and tossed that in my sauce as well. Added a small handful of toasted pine nuts and a healthy handful of raisins. Stirred in the cooked rigatoni and the last of a package of sweet 100 tomatoes. I piled the pasta mixture into a casserole dish, crumbled a bit of blue cheese over the top and stuck it in a 350 oven for 30 minutes.

No recipe, no plan and certainly no measurements... just a series of "this will probably taste good" that usually ultimately does. This may not be *your* grandmother's Italian, but it certainly is very much mine.

And it's my contribution to this week's Presto Pasta Night, hosted by Hillary over at Chew on That and founded by Ruth of Once Upon a Feast. To quote grandmas Katherine, Sylvia and Linda... mangia!

Technorati Tags: Food | Italian | Key Ingredient: Pasta

A TWD Two-fer: Cream Puffs & Cobbler

In the spirit of driving Peabody *nuts* I'm a week late for last week's assignment but on time for today's. How'd I manage that? I spent the hottest Sunday of the summer season in the kitchen with the oven on. What can I say Peabody...? I live to serve!

First last week's Peppermint Cream Puff Ring selected for our enjoyment by Caroline of A Consuming Passion. Like many other Doristas, I elected to make individual cream puffs rather than a ring because they're easier to transport and serve that way. And rather than mint, I infused my whipped cream filling with a vanilla bean and a bit of chai-spiced tea. We went out to dinner with friends on Sunday, and it was easy to pass up the dessert menu when we knew these waited for us at home.

Next on the baking to-do list: a delightful biscuit topped Mixed Berry Cobbler offered by Beth of Our Sweet Life. Frozen fruit, tossed with sugar, lemon and cornstarch, topped with a flakey slightly sweetened biscuit crust. I added a half bag of frozen mangoes to my berry medley because it was time to use them in something. Baked them up in individual ramekins, and I've discovered they make an indulgent but not unhealthy breakfast topped with a generous dollop of yogurt.

These two selections prove my longstanding theory that some of the very best things in life and in food are comprised of a handful of simple ingredients thoughtfully combined.

Oh... and Peabody? Hang tight love... I'm eyeballing the Apple Cheddar Scone recipe now... who knows... I might *really* surprise you and come in *early*!

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie

Mushroom Madness

For June's Taste & Create event I've been paired with Ben from What's Cooking. As a result a Mexican meets an Italian in Ireland; I selected his Creamy Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms as the recipe I'd attempt to repeat in my kitchen.

I love it when a recipe inspires me to use what I have on hand... There's a leftover chicken breast and a package of cream cheese in the refrigerator, and there's *always* an open bottle of wine on the counter. This week's CSA delivery included an onion and a handful of summer squash, and a quick trip to the farmers' market produced a couple of hearty looking portabellas and two ears of Brentwood corn.

I started simply, poaching the chicken breast in some lightly seasoned leftover turkey stock. While the chicken cooked I chopped the mushroom stems, onion and the summer squash and cleaned the corn.

From there I followed Ben's lead pretty closely, adding the corn and the corn milk to the butter/cream cheese/wine mixture and tossing the summer squash in with the mushroom stems.

The result: a meal that traverses the seasons, using fresh wholesome ingredients, in not much more time than it would take to dish up a plate of takeout. Thanks Ben... I know I'll be making riffs on this one again!

From the archives...
In 2006 Hannigan's failed to deliver a satisfying salad.

Technorati Tags: Food | Key Ingredient: Mushroom

I'm late... I'm late...

It's been another crazy week in my world...those of you here in search of cream puffs are going to have to give me another day or two to catch my breath. In the mean time, check out nearly two hundred others over at Tuesdays with Dorie.

Fresh flavors

I don't know how people with kids do it. Most evenings it's just me, and after a long day and a longer commute I have a hard enough time putting together a dinner that is both healthy and inspiring. But since one can not subsist on microwave popcorn alone (and one's food blog would certainly suffer if one did), a well-stocked refrigerator, freezer and pantry has become my best friend.

Tonight's dinner started with some pineapple pork sausage I pulled out of the freezer this morning. A couple of handfuls of arugula and some sliced red onion from the CSA box. Another handful of dried cherries leftover from the great brownie experiment. And the last of a bottle of poppyseed salad dressing we picked up during one of our wine tasting adventures last fall.

Fifteen minutes, refrigerator to table with half a strawberry tart for dessert... AND I wasn't embarrassed to admit it to my personal trainer this morning. Score!

Technorati Tags: Food

TWD: My cheatin' tart

So this week's Tuesdays with Dorie assignment comes to us from Marie of A Year from Oak Cottage: La Palette's Strawberry Tart.

I participated. But by some standards I cheated.

You see in the name of economizing and in getting a handle on what I have in "inventory" I'm working my way through the freezer. And way down at the bottom, beneath a hunk of tri tip and two bags of edamame, I found a bag of frozen pastry dough. Leftover from my April contribution to A Taste of Yellow. And thus Thomas Keller's pine nut pate sable became the base for Dorie's strawberry tartlettes.

I baked off the tartlette shells, spread the warm pastry with some strawberry chipotle jam, topped it with a generous handful of Swanton Berry Farm strawberries and a dollop of jam studded goat yogurt. In fifteen minutes from freezer to table we have a sweet light dessert that makes the perfect ending to a warm summer weekend.

I know I'm going to make this again and again this summer and well into the fall (with Dorie's tart recipe as well as Thomas'). It's a great way to showcase whatever fruit flavors are abundant throughout the seasons.

Want to try this in your kitchen? Dorie has the recipe posted here.

From the archives...
In 2007 I refused to be conquered by cupcakes.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie | Key Ingredient: Strawberry

I've been tagged!

Another meme makes the rounds, and this time I've been tagged by Jessica over at My Baking Heart. In the spirit of sharing the love, here's a little bit about me, Q&A style...

But first the rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

And now the Q&A:

What was I doing ten years ago?
Adjusting to life at thirty. The first of what would be many gray hairs. People calling me "ma'am". Far more traumatic an experience than I'd expected... Thankfully forty's been *far* more fun!

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today?
1. Finishing this post.
2. Laundry.
3. Next week's Tuesdays with Dorie assignment
4. Grocery shopping.
5. A quick stop at the library.

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. Kettle chips.
2. Frozen grapes.
3. Marcona almonds.
4. Popcorn.
5. Chocolate.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Quit my job and join Gina in culinary school.
2. Pay off the mortgage.
3. Fund my nephews' college education.
4. Buy a Prius.
5. Donate to end hunger and cure cancer.

Places I have lived:
1. Oakland, CA
2. Eugene, OR
3. San Jose, CA
4. San Ramon, CA

Jobs I have had:
1. Public Relations Intern for the circus
2. Mens & Boys Department manager at Target
3. Office Manager for a mail order business specializing in dog books
4. Inventory Planner for a software company serving the biochemical industry.
5. Finance manager for one of the many companies ultimately acquired by Oracle.

Sharing the love... (Tag, you're it)
1. Brownie at Blondie & Brownie
2. Jenny at Foray into Food
3. Dharm at Dad - Baker & Chef
4. KJ at A Cracking Good Egg
5. anyone else who feels like it

From the archives...
2006 saw us touring the summer food festivals.
In 2007 I borrowed a recipe from Bron.

Technorati Tags: Meme

TWD - Fussy French Brownies

'k people, what I like *best* about brownies is their no-fuss nature. Even from scratch, they typically use one bowl, one spatula, one spoon. Twenty minutes in the oven, and out emerge 16 squares of tasty chocolate goodness...

Not so these fancy French "brownies." Look at the mess they made in my sink! Leave it to the French to add complication where none is necessary...

'k, they're not *really* brownies. According to Dorie's introduction to the recipe, they're a fudgy, fruit filled chocolate cake, a recipe she created for guests while she was in France, and those guests fell in love with her "brownies."

Well the dirty sink be damned, so did I.

I omitted the raisins, opting to flambe cherries for a black forest inspired brownie instead. John wasn't crazy about them... he's a purist when it comes to chocolate: Chocolate. Dark. Lots of it. With nothing to distract from it.

But my coworkers loved them... the entire tray was empty in under seven minutes.

Thanks to Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook for choosing this week's recipe. And check out the blog roll to see what the other Doristas thought.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie | Key Ingredient: Chocolate

TerraMar: Deja Vu all over again?

It's taken us several years to re-cross this particular threshold. For good reason.

Ono Maze was a discovery we made during one of our favorite pastimes. Like many women window shop, John and I menu browse. We pick a neighborhood and stroll the streets studying the menus of its restaurants searching for inspiration.

This was a warm, late summer Friday evening. Sometime in August of 2001. Meandering North Main Street in Walnut Creek we were beginning to see a pattern. Italian... Italian... Italian... Brew Pub... Italian... French Italian... Italian... Wait... What's this? Pan Asian? Hmmm... Lots of seafood. A fair number of shareable appetizer options. With Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese influences. No sign of Italian. We looked at each other... "Let's eat here".

Neither of us could know it at the time, but that evening would ultimately be a tipping point for both of us from a culinary perspective. We walked across the patio and through the door... and Ono Maze drew us in like a magnet. Over the course of four years, we commemorated birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and frantic Fridays. We made friends. First Kelly and then Kevin encouraged us to explore and develop our palates. Their influence has an ongoing impact on how we approach food today, from the way we shop and prepare food at home to the restaurant choices we make and how we evaluate each experience. In many ways although we were well into our thirties when we discovered them, we grew up with Ono Maze. From a food perspective 1616 N. Main Street holds the same mystique as a treasured childhood home.

So when the senior management closed the doors in November 2004 to explore other opportunities we've followed our friends to their new ventures and venues, but we haven't explored the restaurants that occupied the old homestead. Until recently.

I first discovered TerraMar through American Airlines' dining rewards program.

"Terra Mar features casual upscale dining, offering small plates for sharing and a fully stocked bar. They use only the freshest locally grown and harvested California ingredients and strive to provide some uniquely delicious dishes. One of Terra Mar's features is their amazing Oyster and Raw Bar..."

Intrigued, I clicked the link to the menu and started exploring. It was only after I decided this was a must-try that I looked at the address. 1616 North Main. I checked with John and he was agreeable, so off we headed one Friday night. Heck, even if it sucks we'll get some airline miles out of the deal...

Our homecoming experience was a little odd. Three tenants occupied the building between Ono Maze and TerraMar, but very little has changed. The patio and the entrance are identical. So is the bar. The decor. Even the *furniture* is the same. And it was more than a little ironic in an almost squicky kind of way that the hostess -- with no connection whatsoever to us or our long-ago connection with the location -- sat us at *our* table. Where we celebrated the aforementioned milestones. Where we closed the place in November of 2004...

TerraMar, you've got some big shoes to fill...

We decided to make one selection from each section of the TerraMar menu: a raw starter, a garden, a sea and a farm. Because the menu follows a "three ways" theme we selected what would prove to be quite a variety. We started with a "raw trio" that included a tuna tartare John loved, a scallop cerviche I loved, and a beef capaccio we both quite enjoyed. We followed our first course with the house frittes, (served with a cumin-chipotle ketchup we both found intriguing) sliders three ways (barbecued pork, kobe beef, and meatball in marinara), and the duck three ways (confit, duck breast, and foie gras).

I certainly didn't think our experience was this bad. Nor was it without flaw.

The good: The service was friendly and attentive without hovering.

The presentation on *every* dish was stunning. Someone has spent a lot of time, effort and energy picking out the perfect accessories for showcasing the chef's talent. There are no pictures in this particular spotlight because my crappy cell phone camera wouldn't do the presentations justice. Next time I'll take a real camera, I promise!

The menu is very creative, and for the most part well-executed. On a return visit, we wouldn't hesitate to reorder many of the same dishes. The raw trio was excellent. Their ketchup's a far cry from the Heinz or Del Monte of my youth. I'm not a duck lover (well not a *cooked* duck lover... I did spend my college years in Eugene) but I ate my share of the confit and the duck breast.

The not-so-good: For as pretty as the presentations were, most of the dishes were *very* difficult to eat without making a mess. Which is awkward in a white tablecloth, fine dining establishment, even if you're us. (Probably more so if you're the newly dating couple seated next to us, still trying your damndest to impress one another). My inner Len Goodman: "If you want a ten, make the pretty plate easier to eat."

For small plates, the portion's a bit large. John and I are NOT small people. It takes more than a plate of lettuce and a couple of ounces of protein to sustain us. So we were more than a bit surprised when after splitting four "small plates" we weren't sure we'd saved room for dessert. Perhaps our focus on the trios did us a disservice in that regard, but especially with the sliders, if there are three 'burgers' on a plate, they don't need to be fast food sized.

The foie gras. I don't touch the stuff (because the texture and the taste of liver squicks me, not for political or religious reasons). But John loves it. And his assessment is it came to the table unpleasantly cold. More the texture of lard than butter.

Would we go back? Absolutely. There's a lot of the menu that intrigued us that we'd like to explore. And TerraMar's only been open for a couple of months and still finding its footing. If you ever find yourself hungry in Walnut Creek without reservations at Va di Vi, I'd highly recommend you check out TerraMar. Start small and ask for an extra napkin... you'll enjoy the experience.

TerraMar | 1616 North Main Street, Walnut Creek | 925.472.0400

Others who've enjoyed TerraMar...
Julie and Loyd of Artisan Adventures called it "Christmas morning in my mouth"

From the archives...
In 2007 I twisted my pretzels into hangman's nooses.

Technorati Tags: Food | Restaurants | SF Bay Area | Small Plates

Jumping on the bandwagon

No, I'm not a Barefoot Blogger. Not that the idea doesn't appeal, but a girl's got to know her limitations. I'm already chronically late for Tuesdays with Dorie and the Daring Bakers. Between the two, I'm going a long way to keeping the butter and egg industries afloat in the bay area. Ina does some amazing things, but she's no stranger to saturated fat... and if I add two or three of her recipes to my queue each month my trainer and my doctor will have my head. So I'm content to sit on the sidelines and watch. Until images of Herbed Baked Eggs start appearing all over my blog reader.

Reading through the recipe, it occurs to me that I can do this one "locally," making it my first contribution to One Local Summer. Eggs from my brother's chickens. Herbs from my CSA. Cream and butter from the friendly folks at Strauss Family Creamery. And it doesn't take two days to construct.

And so Ina's eggs became the base for a couple of lazy weekend breakfasts, served simply with a couple of Boccalone's Easton Breakfast Sausage links and a wedge of organic bread toasted to sop up the eggy goodness.

From the archives...
In 2006 I went a little local with Halibut Olympia.
In 2007 I channeled my inner Shakespeare.

Technorati Tags: Food | One Local Summer | Key Ingredient: Egg

In sleep you sang to me...

...in dreams you came
that voice which calls to me and speaks my name...

and do I dream again, for now I find
the Phantom of the Opera is there, inside my mind...

In response to the challenge laid down by Ivonne (Cream Puffs in Venice), Lis (La Mia Cucina), Fran (Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie) and Shea (Whiskful), some of you emerged from your kitchens with operatic masterpieces. Divas. Prima Donnas. Leading ladies (and a couple of men). galore.

My experience was a bit different. I went through the same motions. The joconde. The simple syrup, flavored with lavender and honey. A French buttercream laced with calvados. A lavender-infused white chocolate glaze. But what emerged from *my* kitchen at the end of the ordeal was less patisserie and more... rural... rustic. Okay... ugly. More likely to dwell in the depths beneath the opera house than to star on its stage.

But like Larousse's tragic hero, my little cakes are far more than they appear on the surface. There's depth. There's character. There's flavor. My gawd, there's flavor.

A year ago I never would have tried such an elaborate endeavor. And I certainly wouldn't have posted *pictures* of less-than-stellar results. But part of the daring baker code is that participation helps us all learn and grow.

May's Daring Baker Challenge -- a little Light Opera -- is brought to us in honor and celebration of Barbara at Winos & Foodies, whose brave and graceful battle against cancer is an inspiration to all of us. My contribution reminds us to look for the light in even the darkest of days -- it's there.

Want to try this masterpiece on your own? Ivonne has the recipe posted here.
Check out almost a thousand other opera and operetta at the Daring Baker Blog Roll.
And the new Daring Baker Forum.

From the archives...
In 2006 I combed the intranets for recipes to add to my to-try list.
In 2007 I turned a sheet of leftover puff pastry into a satisfying dinner.

Technorati Tags: Food | Daring Bakers

The fat lady's napping

She's had a rough couple of weeks. But here are some images of the dress rehearsal to keep you amused until the final curtain...



Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Daring Bakers

Serving Crazy with Curry...

Devi's decided life's no longer worth living. Her sister Shobha is bored in her arranged marriage and considering an affair. Each of her parents and her brother-in-law harbor their own set of secrets. The Veturi family puts the "fun" in dysfunctional.

Who are these people and what does this have to do with food? There IS a connection...

Meena over at Hooked on Heat claims she was born with a pen in one hand and a book in the other. In my case, I'd modify that to a pen in one hand, a fork in the other, and a book open across my lap. So when she announced a Cook's Book Club where food-focused bibliophiles are encouraged to read a monthly book selection and prepare a meal inspired by its plot or its characters, I knew this was going to be the event for me. The first book club selection: Serving Crazy with Curry.

After her intrusive but well-meaning mother foils her attempt at suicide, Devi goes mute, moves in with her parents and channels her emotions into some wildly creative and elaborate meals as she winds her way through healing toward happiness. A Blueberry Curry. Cajun Prawn Biriyani. Not exactly her grandmother's Indian cuisine.

In Devi's honor, I stared with a published recipe for Tandoori Tilapia with Hearts of Palm Salad. Substituted rock cod for the tilapia because it's seasonally appropriate and on sale this week. Used goat cheese yogurt because that's what I had on hand. And unleashed my creativity in the salad, adding avocado and arugula tossed in a couple tablespoons of the marinade mixture. The end result was a little Indian, a little American... and quite tasty. I think Devi would be proud...

Technorati Tags: Food | Indian Food | Food Blogging Event | Cooks Book Club

A shoe-in for a reservation...

Saw this over at Eater SF and it amused me... perhaps because picture-less reviews of our experiences at several local eateries are coming soon to a blog near you. I like to think I'm an exception to their critique of food blog reviewers... my pictures probably suck but I'm a fair judge of what works and what doesn't... and willing to admit that my experience is just that... *my* experience, which may not be indicative of reality.

From the archives...
In 2006 I indulged in some food blog silliness.

TWD: An exercise in economic stimulus?

Or just an excuse to wander around Sur la Table like the proverbial kid in a candy store?

One of the best parts of the baking groups I belong to is the occasional opportunity to supplement my supply of kitchen equipment. A crepe pan. Six four-inch heart-shaped springforms. A jellyroll pan. And now, thanks to Tara over at Smells Like Home, a Madeleine tin joins my kitchen collection.

Hey... I consider it doing my part to stimulate the economy...

I'd never made Madeleines before and assumed since they were French they had to be ingredient rich, fussy and time consuming to make. I was somewhat surprised when I consulted the recipe and realized that they're none of the above. Ten minutes to mix a handful of ingredients together, a couple of hours in the refrigerator and another ten minutes in the oven and presto: French pastry. I can DO this! (with a step stool, my five year old nephew can do this).

I stayed pretty true to the published recipe for Dorie's Traditional Madeleines, substituting orange for lemon zest rather than running to the grocery store for a single ingredient. Like many of my fellow Doristas, I got a little overzealous in filling my Madeleine forms so the end results are more rustic than patisserie… but I'm proud of them. We're having a heat wave out here in Northern California, so I'm serving them with Ben & Jerry's (Fair Trade) Coffee Ice Cream. Yum!

Curious how other Doristas fared with this one? Check out the blogroll. Got a new Madeleine pan and want to try them out for yourself? Tara's posted the recipe.

From the archives...
In 2006 we enjoyed local food with an Italian flair.

Technorati Tags: Tuesdays with Dorie

Love is in the air...

Pasta enrobed morels. Another batch lightly battered and fried. Caramelized pineapple & blue cheese tartlettes. Roasted grapes. Her mom's simple but sensational taco dip. A yummy sounding salmon puff. Fifteen minutes browsing her blog for ideas and it was pretty clear to me that my partner for May's Taste & Create event was a young woman after my own heart *and* adventurous taste buds.

The hardest part of being paired with Kelly of Sounding my Barbaric Gulp was going to be settling on a single recipe... I want to try almost every link I followed. After much deliberation I selected a celebration of love that's easily adapted to a one person meal. I changed her Lobster Stuffed Avocado into a scrumptious crab and avocado salad.

I started with a half of a buttery smooth Haas avocado. Scooped out a bit of the center as the recipe instructed, carefully removed the peel and and pared off a bit of the bottom to create a stable and edible bowl. Chopped up the avocado 'scraps' with the other half and tossed them in a bit of meyer lemon juice to prevent browning. I browned a bit of Boccalone Guanciale in place of the bacon; wiped out the pan and toasted my pine nuts in the last bits of tasty salted pig part essence. Whisked together the garlic, lemon juice, mustard and olive oil, tossed it with the avocado, guanciale, pine nuts and other residents of the ingredient list, piled the salad high in the avocado cup, poured a glass of Viognier and grabbed a fork.

Oh. My. Gawd. Yum. With Belgian chocolate dipped strawberries and whipped cream for dessert this is going on a menu a deux in the *very* near future. Use caution people... this salad will hijack your tastebuds and steal your heart.

Thank you Kelly. I'm glad we've met. I'm sure I'll be making more from your menu. And if you ever find yourself in Northern California, you have a standing invitation to join me in the kitchen.

Technorati Tags: Food | Taste & Create | Key Ingredient: Crab | Key Ingredient: Avocado

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy (somewhat belated) Mother's Day! Stay tuned for John's dad's recipe for Belgian Waffles... and some fun stories related to it.