It’s St. John Paul II’s Feast Day!!
Our paper dolls came just in time! So we'll be playing with those in the morning, hopefully while I read aloud Karol from Poland. "Hopefully" because we can't find it right now, though Nino says it's upstairs on his bookshelf. We'll start out in the morning with...
Let’s Talk Chocolate Now
I haven't done a foodie post in a while, and I stumbled upon a link a couple of days ago (I *think* it was Jenn who shared it, sorry, can't remember for sure) -- about chocolate manufacturing practices that are unfair to cocoa farmers, etc. Today I read an article on...
Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Fresh Figs
Was getting a bit tired of our usual veggie salads, and needed more vegetarian ideas, specifically those with more of a Mediterranean bent, so I got me Yotam Ottolenghi's Jerusalem cookbook. I cannot wait to try ALL the recipes. Okay, maybe 99%. I'm not a leg-o-lamb...
Montmorency (Sour) Cherry Lambic Sorbet / Sorbetto alla Ciliegia
I'm in a cherry mood. 🙂 And I've been wanting to make cherry sorbet for a while now, except the recipes I've been running into seem to produce a light rose-colored sorbet, and I wanted to replicate the deep-red cherry sorbet that I tasted in Italy years ago. I didn't...
French Onion Soup / Soupe a l’Oignon GratinĂ©e
Onion soup is a lovely thing to make right after the onion harvest at end of season, when the weather's just starting to cool down. Onion soup is also a lovely thing to start love stories with. Like ours, which certainly didn't begin with onion soup, but has seen its...
Pork Tenderloin Scallopine with Lentil-Vegetable Salad
To make the salad: 1 1/2 cups lentilles de Puy (or use regular lentils)4 tablespoons butter, divided usesalt and freshly ground black pepper to taste3 small carrots, or 1 large, diced1 small zucchini, diced1 medium onion, diced2 ribs celery, diced2 tablespoons extra...
Holiday Baking: Sugar Cookies
These cookies are excellent for rolling, with a few tried-and-true tricks up your sleeve. 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 egg, beaten 1 tablespoon milk Confectioner's sugar,...
Holiday Baking: Rugelach
This recipe is the traditional one. You may find others -- I tried currants one year and didn't like that. Chocolate chips are not traditional but we've also tried that and love it. Cookie Dough: 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature 1 8-oz package cream...
Holiday Baking: Spitzbuebe
Original recipe here. For years I was making the recipe for Drei Augen from Gourmet, which I posted at Baking Delights (now Blisstree) when I was still blogging for b5media (reposting below). This is also similar to Linzer cookies, although Linzers traditionally...
Holiday Baking: Stephanie Schrader’s Walnut Cups
Original recipe here. My adaptation: Makes about 60 cookies Crust: 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened 6 ounces cream cheese, softened 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt Filling: 4 large egg 4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled 3 cups firmly packed...
Chopped Horiatiki Salata / Greek Salad
I make no claims at all about the authenticity of this recipe. I've read in places that romaine lettuce does not play a part at all in traditional horiatiki. All I know is that our Greek foodie friend who married a Greek foodie gal are two of the coolest people...
Gingery Asian Beef and Noodle Soup
Here's another Filipino basic that is great for making use of leftovers, or when in need of a quick no-nonsense meal. I start out here with leftover pieces and gravy from a soy-braised round steak. Store-bought rotisserie chicken, stuffed wontons, fried pork chops,...
Vegetables in Coconut Milk and Shrimp Paste
This is a very basic Filipino recipe. I fell in love with coconut milk stews sometime in high school, and I'm still in love. I remember calling my mom a couple of weeks after I got married and asked her how to prepare this, since I had found some lovely hyacinth beans...
Summer’s End Vegetable Soup
This is a lovely soup to have on hand those beginning autumn days when the air starts getting chilly, but you still have an abundance of veggies from the summer harvest. Of course, you can always change up the vegetables all through the year and use whatever's in...
Stovetop Ratatouille, with Roasted Eggplant
Ratatouille is just one of those dishes that make me happy-happy-happy. Besides having all my favorite veggies, it also has such a fun name to say: rat-a-too-ee. Doesn’t that word just make you smile? I try to make this often because I know my days of enjoying it are...