What Did You Eat?

Linguine With Chickpeas And Arugula

Well, life is funny.  The weather cooled down to 88 degrees, and I woke up with a very sore throat this weekend.  Yes, I have a summer cold, which is always delightful.  I'm going to look on the bright side and reflect on how much worse it would be having a cold when the weather temperature is 117 degrees.  Besides having a cold, my pantry was almost empty. Bob was off kayaking, and that meant I would be the one running to the grocery store to get provisions.  Instead, I decided to stay home and make something with the few things available to me.  I always have some type of pasta, refuse to run out of that. I also had canned chickpeas and arugula, and other odds and ends.  The result was an adaption of a Deborah Madison recipe.   I know that some people find the thought of pasta and legumes rather odd.  I was 8 years old the first time I ever had that combination.  A friend of my mother was Italian and she invited us to dinner. To my horror, she served us a dish made with pasta and lentils. I had never heard of such a thing. To me, spaghetti and meatballs was sacrosanct, and the only acceptable way to eat pasta. Actually, I doubt I'd ever heard the word "pasta" then.  I didn't want to embarrass my mother, so I bravely ate the pasta and lentils--and hated it!  However, I've since developed a great love of pasta and legumes. They are perfect together.

WCB: Like Jack

I may be a girl, but I think these new sunglasses make me look as cool as Jack Nicholson.

But, that doesn't mean I'm going to hang out at Laker's games. I'm a King's fan.

The weather was cooler, so I was out and about today.  Saw a butterfly!  We're all sooo happy that Clare and Kiri are back hosting Weekend Cat Blogging.  It's just not the same without them. So, go over to Clare's site, Eatstuff, and see what all the other cool cats are doing.   Toodles.  See y'all next weekend!

Weekend Herb Blogging: Herb Rubbed Salmon And Dilled Cucumbers

The heat is going down, yesterday it barely hovered around 100 degrees.  To us, after temperatures of 117, it almost seems balmy. Almost.  I still don't feel like cooking, but I'm tired of eating cold food. So this is a perfect meal for me right now. It's delicious, extremely quick to prepare, and it didn't heat up my kitchen at all.  Plus, it's healthy and counteracts the fried PB and banana sandwich from two days ago.  I'm sure the omega-3 from the salmon and the saturated fat from the sandwich are doing battle in my arteries right now.  This meal is full of cumin, coriander, fennel and dill, so it certainly qualifies for Weekend Herb Blogging.  WHB was created by the talented and busy Kalyn, who is at the Blogher conference as I write this.  Hope you're having fun Kalyn!  Stop by her blog, Kalyn's Kitchen and see the other herb bloggers in action.

WOBAT: We Always Have Elvis As Our Guide

Yes, that's the legendary fried peanut butter and banana sandwich that the King, Elvis Presley, consumed in mass quantities. What made me do it?  Well, Glenna over at A fridge full of food and nothing to eat  has a zany blogging event called Weekend Obnoxious But Amazingly Tasty recipes (WOBAT).  Of course, she took the obvious choice for her post, a fried Twinkie.  I e-mailed her and complained that I couldn't think of anything obnoxious but tasty to make, and she said, "Well Sher, we always have Elvis as our guide."  And she's right, of course.  I've never had a fried PB and banana sandwich, but I've always wanted to taste one.  So, here was my chance, and it was very, very good. In fact, I'm surprised the King didn't add bacon to the ingredients. I bet that would make it perfect.

How Roquefort Saved Me..... And The Worst Dessert Ever!

This heat will not end! It's relentless. Today was 108 or 112, depending on your location.  Either way, it was too much. And on top of that, my larder was pretty bare.  We've existed on salads, sandwiches, and cold soup for the last four days.   And now most of my food staples are gone.  That meant a trip out into the baking heat to the grocery store. Or, I could scrounge around in my pantry and see if I could come up with something, (anything) instead of leaving my somewhat cool house for the horror of a sweltering shopping center.   Fortunately, I spotted a chunk of roquefort in the fridge and knew I was saved.  Good cheese always saves the day.  The result was a pasta dish that tasted quite nice.  Too bad the picture makes it look like a cow patty. 

Grape and Almond Gazpacho

I hesitate to mention the heat, but that's my reality right now.  It was 110 degrees yesterday, causing the death of people in Stockton, a town near us.  So, the prickly heat all over my body and in my scalp seems very minor now.  But, I simply did not want to cook anything, so once again I turned to my Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook for their grape and almond gazpacho recipe. Actually, I've seen several different recipes for grape gazpacho recently. It must be a trendy dish. I decided to fix this version before it jumps the shark or I receive a cease and desist order from Mustards Grill to stop posting so many of their recipes on my blog. Yes, I'm sure my influence is major and my tiny little blog reaches all the way to Mustards' ears.

Weekend Cat Blogging: Body Heat

You think you have problems?  Look at me.  The temperature here in Davis will hit at least 109 degrees today. See my fur?  Do the math. I'm not happy.  But there is some great news. Clare is back!!!  YAHOO!  We've all missed her and Kiri so much. Go over to her site and see what she and all the other cool cats are up to.

OK, would someone bring me a frozen margarita?

Weekend Herb Blogging: Ratatouille With Petrale Sole (Thyme)

I was 12 years old when first introduced to eggplant.   My mother was slowly making her way through Julia Child's French Chef cookbook when she announced that we would be making an odd sounding dish called ratatouille, made with eggplant and zucchini.  Despite my misgivings, I helped mom prepare the dish and was surprised to find that I liked it very much. I still have my mother's tattered and food stained copy of The French Chef, and that's the recipe I still use to make ratatouille.  It's a great recipe and I always think of that first time we made it together. 

I follow Julia's recipe faithfully, with one exception. I add some sprigs of thyme to it, because I love the taste of thyme and the woodsy note it adds to the dish.  Although I used pesto on the fish that accompanies this dish, thyme is my featured herb this week for Weekend Herb Blogging. Several months ago, I planted some common thyme, which is traditionally used for cooking, and it's a handy thing having ready access to one of my favorite herbs.  And it's cheaper to grow it than buying a big bunch of thyme at the grocery store, which usually goes to waste.  If you do plant thyme, make sure it gets full sun. Thyme develops a fungus easily if it doesn't get enough sun and good air circulation.   

This week WHB, which was created by hard working Kalyn, is being hosted by the lovely Paz. Thank you Paz!  Go over to her site and see what all the other herb bloggers are doing!

10 Foods I Miss The Most Meme

It's been so hot, I lost any desire to cook. Plus, my aunty Scotty fell and broke her hip Monday night.   So, I've been hot, sticky, and distracted.  My meals yesterday were tomato sandwiches, yogurt, and half a jar of Agrimontana cherries.  I'm trying to motivate myself to plan some sort of menu for the next few days, but it's slow going.  Ages ago, the lovely Spicehut tagged me with a 10 Foods I Miss The Most meme.  After much delay, here's my list.  Maybe doing it will inspire me to start cooking again.

10 Foods I Miss The Most Meme

My mother's seafood gumbo

Making this was always an event, with us shelling as much as 40-60 pounds of shrimp. We had teams of people shelling for hours, as my mother made the roux and chopped the vegetables for the stock.  She always made a huge canner full of the gumbo, in order to feed all the people who lusted after it and showed up at our house like vultures spotting a fresh kill.  She died almost 10 years ago and I still can't make gumbo as good as hers.

Jay's Potato Chips

And I mean Jay's Original Potato Chips, not the ruffled kind or chips tricked up with fancy flavors.  I sometimes dream about those extremely thin, almost lacy potatoes chips I ate when I was a teenager in Illinois.

Proceed With Caution: Chinese Chicken Salad with Sesame Noodles and Rice Vinegar Cucumbers

Ever since I received my Mustards Grill cookbook I've wanted to make their Chinese Chicken Salad recipe.  I'm very fond of Asian style salads in general and often prepare Vietnamese Chicken Salad, which is quick and delicious.  I could see that the Mustards Grill recipe was more involved than most salads, but it didn't discourage me from making it.  Even though the recipe contained the warning, "this is a fairly complicated recipe, but keep in mind that a lot of it can be done ahead of time," I failed to recognize that they were waving a big red flag at me to proceed with caution.  It wasn't a hard recipe by any means, but it required a great deal of busy work that could have been done at my leisure, days beforehand.   Instead, I blithely launched into it in the late afternoon and soon realized that I was a very foolish woman in not heeding the nice warning.  When I finally finished the salad, I was tired, annoyed at myself and faced a kitchen looking like a team of chimpanzees had a food fight in it.