France, pt. neuf

The Carcasonne medieval cathedral was, of course, closed when we toured the medieval town. We went back to snap some pics that Friday.

France, pt. huit

After Collioure, we just went driving around hunting for castles. Many of these are spectacular ruins, but not enough restored to really look at. They like to charge admission for access, and then you have to walk about a mile straight up a cliff to get to it. Some of the castles had falconers doing their thing at certain times; Carcasonne even had jousting exhibitions, for a fee. Either way, the castles were cool to look at, and interesting to drive to.

Some of these pictured are the castles of Queribus and Peyrepetuse. We also found a delicious winery on this drive (Corbieres) and bought a few bottles for dinner.

France, pt. sept

I confess, this is my "money" shot. Probably the best one I took on the trip.

Collioure is on the Mediterranean coast in an area called the Vermillion Coast. Mom asked to see the Mediterranean sometime during the trip and Collioure is one of the most picturesque in the area. A few drawbacks: a bit of a drive, the heat almost slayed us, and Sean got splooshed by a pigeon at lunchtime. Aside from all that, it was an adorable town. We toured the local toured the local fortress/castle, as well, and I'm including some pictures of that.

France: Fireworks Edition

I saved the fireworks for a separate blog, since we have so many cool shots, courtesy of Dad.

All I'm here to say is, I have seen my preferred fireworks display and can die happy. Move over, Disney! Seriously, I cannot compute how much all those fireworks cost! We walked around the corner of our neighborhood and got a fantastic view along the canal. With the background of the medieval city, our view was spectacular.

I know you always lose something when you video record it, but in person, these fireworks were so amazing I actually teared up frequently during the 20 minute display. Enjoy.

France, pt. six

Due to high traffic predictions, and the coolness of the town where we were staying, we chose to stay put and tour Carcasonne for Tuesday, Bastille Day. Carcasonne boasts the largest fireworks display in all of France. But it also has one of the most restored castles in the area.

All the cool castles charge admission, but we didn't come all that way just to look at the outside. True, we drove to many castles on this trip, and some of them were accessed by a long, uphill climb. We usually drove to those, and then chose whether or not to pay to enter. Even ruins can look cool, but the restored castles were more up Mom's alley. Good thing we chose Carcasonne.

The city of Carcasonne is directly next to the Medieval Cité. I'm a bit rusty on my history, but I think the castle in the Medieval part was built around 1100-1200 in stages, and surrounded by two complete ramparts. The outer ring was built at a different time than the inner walls, and the narrow twisted streets became filled with city amenities like tanners and bakers and such. Currently, it houses shops and museums and restaurants, plus a hotel or two, such as the one pictured here. We wondered how you can drive up to it and park, since the town is entirely pedestrian. At times, the surrounding town (the Carcasonne area) was razed to the ground (almost completely) to rebuild a tighter controlled area.

The other picture is from a confectioner's store, where they had expensive and beautiful piles of cookies. So nice! We were all waiting on Sean to make a purchase across the way, and someone was giving away samples in this shop of these cookies; we were like moths to the flame! I would have bought some but they were super expensive. The free ones tastes great! However, Sean did not get to see or partake, as he did not see me wave to him from the store.

This last random picture was taken by my Dad. We spotted this kid in line for admission to the castle and thought it looked just like Chris circa 1982.

France, pt. cinq

At the very least, one bonus of taking a vacation with your dad is getting to take photographs of Dad taking photographs. Sometimes, we take photographs of each other taking photographs. Usually it worked out really well, as there was too much around us to photograph.

France, pt. quatre: Cordes-sur-Ciel

Just a few minutes past Albi is a small town called Cordes-sur-Ciel, a darling town on the top of a hill. It looks impressive from a distance, and, as we found out, even better when you pass it up and look back upon it. This town came complete with 8ft wide, two lane roads at about 15% grade incline.

Like most of these towns, visitors are encouraged to park just outside the main part and walk into town. These streets are steep enough to make this walk a bit huffy, and, like I mentioned for Albi, it was roaring hot. But the walk was worth it, as you get an eagle eye's view of the surrounding countryside at the top of the town, peering over vineyards and mountains.

This town has a Medieval festival each year on the day after we arrive. I think we were there the day before Bastille Day, so it made sense. They all dress up in medieval costume, even renting costumes to visitors and tourists, and all speak in langue d'oc and just generally cavort. They were setting up for it when we passed through. Shaw and I went to a wine store and had a bit of a taste of some typical area wines. They tend to be soft, but pleasant, and we liked enough to buy one and drank it that night for dinner (plus some food).

France, pt. trois: Albi

Albi is one of the three "red cities" in southern France. Only slightly less famous than Toulouse, it gets its name from the red bricks used in most of the old houses. Albi was about 2 hours away from Carcasonne, following a terribly scenic road through forests and mountains, plus all the quaint small towns beckoning to us like Greek sirens. Most of the small towns were along the Aude River, which snaked itself right through Carcasonne.

Albi taught us a hard lesson: small southern French towns often shut down, hard, after lunch, and don't revive until dinner. I can see why, as it was blazing hot that day. We had a lunch destination in mind that closed earlier than advertised, a backup that also closed just before we arrived, and a secondary backup that was probably out of business. We did stumble on a place in the main square that served delightful salads and ice creams that kept us going until dinner.

After the Salad Revival, we went back to the Cathedral of St. Cecilia to tour. Heavily Gothic, this one had brightly colored gesso paintings all over the ceiling, and a huge depiction all over the front behind the altar of the Judgment. The bottom layer was all the people roasting and skewered, the next level was a procession of penitents, and the upper layer was a congregation of saints with hymn books. I'm guessing it was a serious deterrent to sin in a 14th century congregation. There was no picture of Jesus or mercy anywhere. Then we read the tablet in the back. In the very center, just behind the altar, there were two pulleys which seemed to suspend some sort of tapestry that was missing. The tablet showed the front of the church as it should be, with a huge tapestry of Jesus in the direct center, stretching from the floor to the soaring ceiling. I wish it had been in place. As Cecilia is the patron saint of music, this cathedral had a really impressive choir section that took up the entire back half of the space, but conveniently partitioned off so as to charge for viewing. I bet it was spectacular.

France, pt. deux

No lie. Check out the license plate. And we didn't even specially request it, although I would have if I could.

This trip to France was primarily a driving trip. And I hate driving trips. Each day, we set out for towns about two hours away from Carcasonne, our home base, and while I had planned the destinations, I was dreading all the driving.

I can say now, with all confidence, I do not dread ALL driving trips. This was some of the most beautiful driving country in all creation. It also helps to have an excellent driver along. Shaw, not only fluent at road signs, is a masterful manual transmission interpreter. I will brag on his european driving skills till death do us part and beyond. We went on some pretty snakey, twisty, narrow roads that were interpretively two-way. And many of them were up mountain cliffs! But they were well worth it, as I will post pictorally below.

Some of my favorite moments of the trip were just driving on roads through towns of 10-15 buildings so picturesque you had to examine them all, and then 100 yds later the town was over and another small town began. They were all so inviting and charming, and you just had to pass through them as it was the only road from here to there.

France, and Stuff, pt. un

We just got back from our trip to southern France last weekend. I have to say, the trip can be summed up in the following words:

yummy
gorgeous
quaint
hot

We stumbled upon some wineries in Corbieres and purchased some wine we can't get at home. (However, thank you TEXAS @#%^$##$@ for not letting us ship anything tasty to our door step!^$%^%%&#$^*^%(#%^$) I'm thinking of adding another S to the end of our state. However, when we stopped in wineries in France, you tasted everything you wanted to, free. I'm just used to California wineries, where they want a buck anywhere they can get it.

We tasted and purchased Blanquette from Limoux. This sparkling wine originates there and claims to rival Champagne. It does; and cheaper. We tasted and purchased some others in the area, as well, and found them so enjoyable. I did pass up a Rose in Corbieres that will haunt me for at least a few months; if you ever see a Rose from Trillol, you are hallucinating, as they do not sell it in the States. But if you do, buy it for me!

We ate in a variety of towns, too. Dad, turns out, can be very adventurous in his selections. That was great for me, since I didn't want to actually order a whole main course of weird stuff but could sucker him for a bite.

As for me, my eating goal was to consume as much fresh, hot white bread as possible no matter the consequences. And coffee. I drink coffee on vacation. The bakery was about 7 minutes round trip from the house, with morning and afternoon hours of hot, lucious, caloric, crusty bread and pastries. Heaven!

Baby Pasta

Shaw and I took dinner to Shaw's cousin's family last week before leaving town. A and K just had a new baby boy! and we were seriously delayed in bringing them food to sustain them for this adventure, as this is their third youngun'. They already had two gorgeous and vivacious girls, and new little C just became their first boy. They live across town, and while it is not too far for travelling people, sometimes it is too far for, say, delicate leafy greens. I thought pasta would transport well, so I decided to give Martha Stewart another chance (after her disastrous pound cake recipe) and used a recipe from her site for this pasta.

I didn't think fresh ricotta would mix in well, and didn't want to fuss with it while serving in a remote location, so I grated some ricotta salata instead. It is cheaper and firm enough to keep its grated shape while adding creamy yum factor. I also sauteed some chicken, sliced it up, and tossed it with the pasta.

Gemelli with Tomatoes, Olives and Ricotta

8 oz gemelli or fusilli or penne
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil (use discretion)
10 sun dried tomatoes, in oil or rehydrated
1 T red wine vinegar
2 t capers
2 garlic cloves
pepper, freshly ground of course
1/2 c grape tomatoes, quartered
1/3 c kalamata olives, sliced
1/3 c basil, torn
fresh ricotta, for serving

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Martha's site would ask you to drizzle with enough oil to coat and spread on a baking sheet and refrigerate 10 minutes. I think this is stupid. You don't need extra oil and it will cool on its own while you get everything else ready. Pasta need not always be hot.

Pulse the sun dried tomatoes, vinegar, capers and garlic in a food processor. With machine running, add enough oil until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Toss this vinaigrette with the pasta and add the grape tomatoes, olives and basil. Top each serving with a scoop of fresh ricotta, or grate some ricotta salata. Sprinkle with pepper. Yum!

Marybell Saves the Day

Martha Stewart's Living magazine has some interesting recipes in it, and the July 2009 edition has a beautiful spread on pound cake variations. As alluring as these photos are, don't be beguiled by her basic pound cake recipe. I made the basic recipe with the vanilla bean and ginger syrup variation; it was WAY, WAY too salty. The basic recipe calls for one whole tablespoon of coarse salt. I will forgive Martha's food editor if she writes me directly and says it was a misprint, but that cake was inedible. The variations, however, are lovely. I think they must have used two vanilla beans (pricey!) in the pictured cake, though, and I'm not that rich.

I ended up making Aunt Marybell's recipe for our cousins' dinner delivery, since Martha's was, as I mentioned, PUCKERED Beyond Repair. Marybell saves the day! It is the standard of pound cake from my childhood, and it will remain the Queen of Poundcake for all my adulthood. It can be slightly underbaked if you like somewhat gooey centers, and fully baked for still moist solid cake. Clearly, Aunt Marybell (my dad's mother's aunt) knew what she was doing, and also had a tube pan, which I do not. This recipe can be baked in two loaf pans if you are tubeless, as I am.

Also, I was trying to use up my Greek cheese/sour cream from last week, so I substituted it for the sour cream. Apparently, this recipe is indestructible! Dad says he has even cut back the eggs to 4 instead of 6. One last thing: please try toasting it by the slice, you won't regret it.

If you are going to follow this recipe exactly, and have only one mixing bowl, beat your egg whites first before making the cake recipe.

Aunt Marybell's Pound Cake Recipe
All others cower in fear!

1 c butter (softened to room temperature if you can)
3 c sugar
6 eggs (or 4 if that is all you have)
1/2 pint sour cream
1/2 t baking soda
3 c flour
1 t vanilla
1 t almond flavoring

Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, about 6 minutes. Add yolks one at at time, then flavorings. Sift flour and soda and add sour cream alternately with the flour mixture. Fold in beaten egg whites and pour into a tube pan or two loaf pans. Bake approximately 1 hour, 300-325 degrees.

Vanilla Bean/Ginger Syrup Variation

Swap the vanilla and almond for 1-2 vanilla beans, scraped clean. Once cake has cooled, slice 1/4 c ginger (peeled or not) into 6 T milk. Heat until simmering, then cool. Remove ginger and mix in 2 c confectioner sugar. Drizzle on cooled cakes, top with candied ginger.

Neighborhood Dinner Club

We have had two meetings of our neighborhood Dinner Club with two other couples in our 'hood. Plus kids. One couple has two girls, and one couple has one on the way. I'd consider that three kids total, plus six adults. It makes for a rare evening of a variety of conversation topics, as well as backgrounds and locations. Our most recent meeting was at our house.

As it is 100 degrees regularly now, I made some room-temperature friendly things. One of which was this chickpea salad which I served over greens which was probably redundant. Delicious either way, and we need to eat more beans. My next challenge is to soak my own dried beans, but I'm saving that for another week.

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
(serves 6?)

8 oz, dried chickpeas, soaked, liquid reserved, OR 2 cans drained
1 1/4 t coards salt
1 garlic clove, minced
16 crushed peppercorns (WHAT? I'm just reading this. Just grind as you please.)
3 T sherry vinegar (I used white balsamic)
2 T olive oil
3/4 t dried oregano
2 c yellow or red cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and diced 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 green bell pepper, 1/2 inch dice
2 carrots, thin sliced
3 scallions, sliced (I think you know I left these out)
3 T parsley, chopped
2 T basil, shredded

If not using canned, place dried chickpeas, soaking liquid and 3/4 t salt in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce and simmer gently. Cook, stirring occasionally, until chickpeas are tender, about 40 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a bowl.

Meanwhile, pulverize the garlic cloves with 1/2 t salt to make a paste. Transfer to a bowl and whick in pepper, vinegar, oil and oregano. Pour dressing over chickpeas and let stand, stirring once or twice, for 30 minutes. Add all the chopped vegetables and herbs.

I actually made this one day ahead, and nobody got hurt.

Shaw's Birthday Dinner

Grapefruit Gimlets

Hummus with Baby Carrots

Champagne

Tomato and Shell Peas with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Mini Farfalle, Artichokes and Lemon

Arugula, Grapefruit and Avocado Salad

Dessert: NONE!

We just got back from that cruise and used up our dessert allotment for about 32.8 years each. Shaw asked for no dessert at all. So either he is testing me, and really wanted a dessert and I should have instinctively known that and made his favorite cake, or he truly wants no dessert. I'll find out by tonight. I think I have some leftover icecream in the freezer if I need a cover.

It is 100 degrees here today, and most of this dinner uses no heat. Yeah! And also no animal products, so vegetarian is our theme this week. Wait, I might use some cheese on the pasta, but cheese is essential for physical and mental well-being.

I'll post recipes of those that work well. Hummus is already on the blog somewhere, and we eat it all summer. Tomatoes are at their PRIME right now, in taste as well as price (ouch!), and must be consumed as often as possible. I'll be eating them for lunch as well, stuffed in pita with some Greek cheese called Kefir, which is more like sour cream, and probably some of the leftover beans from tonight. We'll see.

I'm so jet-lagged I just realized I haven't even showered today. I really should splurge, as it is Shaw's birthday and all...

Comic 'Cakes

I'm here to say: there isn't anything wrong with cupcakes. A handful of cakey love fits the bill when you can't trust your willpower to stop with just one slice of regular cake.

For what has now become an annual event, I made cupcakes for my graduating seniors and other students in their respective classes. I was disappointed with the cake texture from last year's cakes, so I went searching.

I have heard of Amy Sedaris's cupcake recipe before and thought I'd give it a try since it kept coming up on all my searches. I tell you what, these were YUMMY! Very thick batter, though.

Since I do not make cupcakes very often, I do not have cupcake paraphernalia, such as cupcake carriers. I use my good old plastic cakebox, and the frosting makes them messy. To alleviate this problem, I had seen a blurb in a Martha Stewart magazine about using parchment paper instead of cupcake liners. I tried it out and it worked great. (Strange side note: I actually WATCHED the Martha Stewart Show this week and she had a cupcake guest show her the technique, and Martha actually looked surprised. Doesn't she read her magazine?)

If you wish to recreate, you take a 5 inch square piece of parchment and shape it to fit the muffin tin cup. I had a glass the perfect size of the tin cup, so I actually squished the paper around the glass first, then popped it in the tin. You will not be able to get the folds completely flattened, but that is ok. You should probably use an ice cream scoop to get the batter in, as the paper extends up quite a ways (you can make bigger 'cakes this way, too, if you wish), and the batter dripped on my parchment. Yep, that batter burned, while the cakes cooked beautifully, but that batter also knocks right off with no evidence since nothing sticks to parchment.

The parchment papers made the cakes have irregular sides (sort of interesting, though) but they ate just fine. I used my Best Chocolate Frosting Evah and piped it right to the edge of the cupcakes, so you have to get into some of the parchment folds to do that.

I'd do it all again.


The recipe is taken from Amy Sedaris's site verbatim. I got about 16 cakes out of this recipe, but I filled them pretty full.

Amy Sedaris' Cupcakes

1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter
1 ¾ cups of sugar

Beat well, then add:

2 large eggs
2 Teaspoons of pure vanilla
½ teaspoon of salt
2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
2 ½ cups of flour
1 ¼ cups of milk

Beat well, fill cups, and bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes. You should get 24. I get 18, 'cause I'm doing something wrong.

Humwich

Yep, I'm still combining words to form new words about food. Like Grecos.



It is the start of Tomato Season here in Texas, which is one of the few redeeming qualities about summer in Texas. For those of you brave enough to eat tomatoes (and I mean that in a mocking tone), and smart enough to eat hummus, these sandwiches are the perfect lunch.

I made a big batch of hummus on Sunday and was wondering how to eat it all myself. Shaw brought home some of that yummy rosemary bread from Central Market, and I've been dipping it in the hummus all week. I went searching for tomatoes yesterday and found some good ones from Marfa, Texas. We needed a speedily prepared dinner one night and came up with this. Toasted rosemary bread spread with hummus topped with tomato slices and chopped basil. I think if I had it, I'd throw on some arugula. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it was SO GOOD. And if you hate to cook in the summer, it is perfect.

KK's Hummus

2 cans chickpeas, ceci beans or garbanzo beans (all the same)
2-3 T tahini (your store has it, you just have to look for it)
juice of 2 lemons, big ones
2-3 large cloves of garlic, pulverized or chopped fine
olive oil
water
salt

In a processor, whir those beans as far as they will go. Mine often just crumble since it is too dry to pulverize. Add the lemon juice and a bit of water, like 2 tablespoons. Chop the garlic as fine as you can and add it in. I probably use about 1 teaspoon of salt. Once it is starting to get smooth, add the oil in a stream until you get it as smooth as you want. I put all this in a bowl and top with ground pepper.

Spread this on some good toasted bread, and add tomato slices and herbs.

Here is my first attempt at using my MiniMe. This Simplicity pattern is a slip-on, and my dress form made that quite a challenge since I gave her "cap sleeves." (see below)

This was really fun, though. I made it twice, since the first attempt was for gorilla shoulders. I reworked it and finished it this morning.

I did finally stuff my dress form this week, as you can see here. She's full of poly-fil and grocery bags and a bit of cardboard, plus I anchored her with a copy of Quicksilver, which I regret reading and won't read again.

Grecos

Sorry. Been travelling around. Just cooking repeats for awhile.

However, tonight we had Greek-ish tacos, or Grecos as I will call them from now on. I think the recipe came from epicurious, but we made a few changes to keep it real.

We are not red onion people, so I omitted that first thing. And I really like the convenience aspect of this one, as I have discovered the rotisserie chickens in our pretentious grocery store. We took the advice of the article and used the carcass for stock. Lots of stock.

The recipe calls for naan which I couldn't remember to pick up in the pretentious grocery, and our humdrum grocery didn't have it. I used some sort of flatbread, wrap like product, which worked fine. I just cut them in half and didn't toast them for too long in the oven.

I think this would work with Greek-ified pork or lamb, too.

Grecos (or Greek Chicken Gyros)

Rotisserie chicken, picked clean of meat, and carcass reserved for stock
1 1/2 c greek yogurt
2 seedless cucumbers
4-5 garlic cloves
lemon juice
1 pint grape tomatoes, quartered
1/4 c mint, minced
1/3 c parsley
diced red onion (or not)
1/3 c olive oil
1 t dried rosemary
1 t dried oregano
naan, unpocketed pita, or flatbread of some sort
iceberg lettuce, shredded

Peel and grate one cucumber. Squeeze out all excess water and place in a medium bowl. Add the yogurt, 1/2 t lemon juice, salt and pepper, and about 1-2 cloves worth of garlic. (You have just made tzaziki.) Set aside.

Dice the other cucumber in 1/4 inch pieces and place in a medium bowl. Add the tomatoes, mint, parsley, red onion if you must, salt and pepper and some more lemon juice. Set aside.

In a small skillet, heat the oil and add the rest of the garlic and the dried herbs. Cook 1-2 minutes, until fragrant. Toss about 3 T of this with the shredded chicken. Use the rest to brush on the bread.

Heat oven broiler. Brush oil on the bread, put the bread on a sheet pan and cover with foil. Heat 3 minutes, then remove foil and let it brown until some dark spots appear.

Assemble the Grecos: Place the chicken on the bread, then top with the tzaziki, salsa and shredded lettuce.

Torture, or Revenge?

I have been learning to sew. Teaching yourself is really hard, but gets easier the more proper tools one acquires. Sewing for yourself is really hard to adjust; somehow pinning things to yourself and standing back from yourself and looking at yourself is all so difficult. You need a dressmaker dummy for that.

I have been researching making a dressmaker dummy online for a few weeks now. Several sites were helpful, but reading them all made it a bit easier. I suckered Shaw into helping me; Shaw is a VERY GOOD HUSBAND/SPORT.

Two rolls of duct tape later, we finished in about two and a half hours. I haven't stuffed it yet, but the form is totally assembled. Here are some entertaining pictures Shaw took of the process.

We started with an old undershirt, cut and taped up to be more form fitting, and added more of another shirt to the bottom for length. The first two layers are in black duct tape. (Did you know they made duct tape in colors?)

The next is my favorite. Just more tape than the last one. The whole top part of me is encased in black duct tape, and although I am holding scissors in a stylish fashion, what you don't know is I can't move my arms up or down and it was my only option.





Hours later, the final layer was white duct tape. I was pretty tired of standing perfectly still at this point in the process, so I used the wall for support.




I've got to name this little thing now and start sewing something. I can't call it a Mini Me since it is the same size. And now that I know the exact size of my backside, we've started exercising in the mornings again. Argh!

Sophie Rags

My first little sewing project for Sophie was a direct order from the blond herself. She requested something pink, with flowers and four leaf clovers, and also a matching dress for Blue Eyed Baby.

Couldn't find four leaf clovers (and boy did she notice that), but I did find this cute print at Joann's and picked out a pattern, Butterick 5019.

This pattern is for freakishly wide-shouldered little girls, and sure enough, Sophie was too narrow for it. I took it back home and put some little pleats in the front and back to make it more narrow. Let's hope it works; I'll try it on her this weekend at the farm. Blue Eyed's dress fit her perfectly the first time. Something about plastic heads make it easier I guess. I'll post a picture when she tries it on.

Another One Got Away

I'm missing a picture of this one, as I began eating it before I remembered. I'd make this one again. Shaw loves one-bowl meals, especially ones that involve pasta. I'm trying to branch out and find winner pastas that don't use tomatoes. I'll never forsake tomatoes, but I don't eat them when they are not good, and they are only good from, say, June through October at best.

Broccoli Rabe, Cannellini and Fontina Pasta (serves 2 too well, or 3-4 normal)

2/3 c fresh breadcrumbs (use your food processor or grater)
8 oz shells or rotini
one bunch broccoli rabe (sweeter than regular broccoli), cut in 1 inch pieces
16 oz can cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
3 cloves garlic
2 T oil
1 can chicken broth
1 T flour
2 T red wine vinegar
2/3 c grated fontina (so good)
salt, pepper

Toast the breadcrumbs in a skillet. You can do this with oil, or without I would think. This goes on at the end and is optional, but really nice.

Boil the shells in plenty of boiling water, but short your timer by about 3 minutes. At that time, add the broccoli rabe to the pasta and continue cooking for about 3 minutes, until pasta is done. Drain in a colander and dry the pot. Put it back on the heat.

Whisk the broth and flour together and chop the garlic finely while the pasta is finishing. In the same pot, add about 2 T olive oil and cook the garlic until fragrant. Add the broth mixture and whisk until it simmers for about 4 minutes.

Add in the beans and pasta/broccoli rabe, toss in the vinegar and 1/2 t salt, plus plenty of ground pepper. Once it is all heated through, remove from heat and stir in the cheese until it melts.

Serve it up and top with the toasted breadcrumbs. Totally vegetarian.

Best Evah Chocolate Frosting

The photograph of the cake I made with this frosting was so pig-dog ugly it would have broken the lens. I actually thought it turned out more like pancakes. In fact, pancakes might have been fluffier. The cake did taste pretty good (classic yellow cake recipe, from the internet, guaranteed to be the best: FAIL), but the frosting was rocket-my-mouth-to-the-moon fantastic.

I actually cut the cakes in half and stacked them on top of each other, making a four layer half moon cake. It allowed for more of the rockin' frosting. And Shaw hates ganache, bless his poor little heart, so he requested a yellow cake with REGULAR chocolate frosting.

Heidi requested it. Here it is. And no mixer required.

Best Evah Chocolate Frosting

1/2 c butter
4 oz bitter chocolate
1 lb 10x sugar (confectioner sugar)
1 t vanilla
3/4 c cream

Melt chocolate and butter over a double boiler, or GENTLY in a microwave. In a large bowl, combine sugar, vanilla and 1/2 c of cream. Blend in chocolate. Add remaining cream until desired consistency is achieved. Let stand until spreadable.

** Note** I had some Bakers chocolate squares in my pantry. I insist on using the darkest possible chocolate, but Shaw gets scared when it goes above 65%. I mixed semi-sweet squares and bittersweet or unsweet squares and achieved a most pleasant outcome.

For Kay

I never knew Kay was so influenced by food preparation. She and Charlie drove all the way over to our old apartment to loan us their Suburban for our move last summer. What a lifesaver! Anyhoo, I was fixing a quick snack for Shaw before he drove them back home. As it turns out, Kay was fairly impressed with my avocado presentation. I have never put it in the blog because it is so easy. And, so many do not like avocado.

This most recent picture is a different angle. It is a lengthwise half of an avocado, sliced and then reassembled slightly spaced out. Avocado is super good for you, and really tasty, another great first course. Just a squirt of lime, crunchy salt and pepper, and sometimes chopped cilantro. If you can find it, pink salt is especially nice.

Kay is supposed to come over for dinner in a few weeks. We'll be starting with avocado.

Ahhhh... Salad!

I like the mood lighting of this picture.



This salad was an attempt at dodging greens. Alas, it is still green, but also yummy. A great first course.





Green Bean Salad with Walnuts

1 lb green beans
1 small onion, finely chopped (shallots are nice)
1 garlic clove, minced and pulverized (and reduced, if you like)
4 T grated parmiggiano
2 T chopped walnuts or almonds, to garnish

For the dressing:
6 T olive oil
2 T white wine vinegar
salt, pepper, chopped tarragon

Trim the beans but leave them whole. Cook for 3-4 minutes in salted boiling water. Drain well and refresh under cold water. Drain again and put in a mixing bowl. Add onion and cheese.

Combine all dressing ingredients and add garlic (if using). Pour over salad and toss gently to coat. Chill at least 30 minutes before serving. Toast nuts in a dry skillet until they begin to brown. Sprinkle nuts and tarragon to garnish before serving.

I truly enjoy most salads at room temperature. This one says to chill it, and that is ok. I just like it made fresh, unchilled.

Hooray!

We gotta prove we got family.

Here is a picture of Li'l Kathryn and Will at their wedding in January 2009. It was such a nice event, and I happened to get this picture from Shaw's sister, Heidi. I highly doubt Li'l Kathryn will check our blog to actually see it, since I haven't updated our blog in AGES. Now I'm back.

Welcome, Will! I hope you know what you're in for!

Unphotogenic Sometimes Equals YUMMY

This little side dish is also from Simply Delicious: Vegetarian. (Heidi, thanks again!)

We needed something sort of filling to go with grilled fish, since it was 80 degrees last weekend. Ugh. Not my idea of January. But nice for grilling.

This is another recipe for tomato lovers, so "Sorry, Ickenham." Next time, I'd slice the potatoes even thinner, and pour over some white wine before baking it.

Potato Bake with tomatoes and oregano

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 1/2 lb potatoes, peeled, cut in half, then thinly sliced on a slicer
salt, pepper
12 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 c fresh bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a large casserole or glass dish.

Heat 2 T oil in a large frying pan and saute onion until soft, 4-5 minutes. Add the potatoes and saute for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to the oiled dish. Arrange the tomatoes in a layer on top. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and oregano, and drizzle with remaining oil.

Bake until tender, about 40 minutes. Serve hot.

Risotto, Non-White

I have posted my favorite Butternut Squash Risotto sometime last year. It was my absolute favorite risotto for quite some time. About a month ago, we made a plain, milanese risotto, and I had high hopes of really preferring the simplest form. Nope. I like 'stuff' in it. Butternut squash is still a fantastic choice.

However, Heidi gave us some Barnes N Noble money, and we went buying cookbooks. I picked out Simply Delicious: Vegetarian mostly for the pictures. I flipped through it and saw this risotto recipe but didn't expect it to really ring my bell.

If you need/want a risotto for red wine, then here you are. This was really, really, really, yummy. In my humble opinion. Shaw liked it too, but he preferred the second time around, when I made it with half arborio, and half quinoa. Experimentation. Before the recipe, let me just say: Tomatoes and butter = GOOD.

Risotto with tomato and fresh basil

1/3 c butter, split different ways, read on
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 c peeled and chopped tomatoes (I used whole canned, as it is winter)
1 3/4 c risotto rice
1/3 c dry white wine
3 c + simmering vegetable stock (or chicken, but veg is really good here)
20 basil leaves, torn at last minute, plus extra for garnish
1/3 c freshly grated Parmiggiano (need I type "freshly" again on this blog?)
salt, and freshly cracked pepper (this is the last time, I swear)

Set your stock to boil, then reduce to simmer. Melt 2 T butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and saute until transparent, about 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, chopping them up as you go, and mix well. Cook until tomatoes have broken down and mixture is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.

Melt 2 more T butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the rice and saute for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and cook until it evaporates. Stir in the tomato mixture and basil. Begin adding the stock, 1/2 c at a time, until each addition has been absorbed and rice is tender, at least 18 minutes.

Stir in the remaining butter, parmiggiano and salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let rest for 1 minute. Garnish with extra basil and serve hot. With wine.