What Did You Eat?

WOBAT: Wild Salmon With Horseradish And Potato Chip Crust

It's Weekend Obnoxious But Amazingly Tasty time.   Glenna, over at  A Fridge Full Of Food...But Nothing To Eat created this event to let bloggers have some fun and let the child within scamper out for a bit.  Well, let me tell you that the child within me loves potato chips.  That child can't stop eating them if they are within sight.  Woe unto the person who tries to come between Little Sher and a bowl of potato chips.  Considering this lack of control, Big Sher avoids them, rushing past the chip section at the grocery store with eyes averted.  I haven't tasted a single chip in over a year.  So, I felt positively gleeful when I saw this recipe and knew I had a perfect excuse to buy some chips--for WOBAT.  Is it obnoxious to pair beautiful wild salmon with potato chips?  As it turns out--no.

Corn Chowder

My attention has been resolutely focused on freshly picked tomatoes for the past few months.  Can you blame me?  I dream about tomato season all through the days of Winter, counting all the ways I'll eat them.  But, I also long for sweet corn.  There are so many times I want to sink my teeth into a nice fat ear of corn, or cut off the sweet kernals and cook them in butter. Last Fall, I bought Jasper White's 50 Chowders and promised myself I would make his recipe for corn chowder as soon as the sweet corn appeared.  Well, the sweet corn season is almost over and I still haven't made chowder.  So, this last Friday, armed with late corn from a small produce stand, I finally made my corn chowder.

5 Things To Eat Before You Die

Julie at Kitchenography tagged me for a meme devised by Melissa over at The Travelers Lunchbox.  Inspired by a BBC poll of 50 things to eat before you die, Melissa has whittled the question down to a more manageable query for her fellow bloggers. What five foods have you eaten in your life that you think everyone should eat once before they die?  At first, it seemed difficult to narrow my choices down to only five foods, but I soon realized that five very predictable (for me) choices had rushed to the fore in my mind.

WCB: How I Learned To Tolerate Kayaks

Well, when we last visited the subject of kayaks, I said I hated them.  But that was a red kayak.  Yellow kayaks are much cooler.  See how it makes my fur pop? 

And look at this!   You can use the pointy thing at the end for some good cheek rubbing!

Ahhh!

You poor humans!  You don't know what you're missing!

This week Boo_licious at Masak-Masak is acting as hostess for Weekend Cat Blogging, which was created by Clare at Eatstuff.  Thank you Boo_licious!  Go over to her site to see some rocking kitties.

Weekend Herb Blogging: Eggplant Stew With Tomatoes, Peppers and Couscous

Summer is trickling away, but my garden continues to pump out a steady supply of eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers.  But, I'm becoming more and more aware of the fact that in a couple of months all of this will be a pleasant memory, and the long wait until next year's harvest will begin.  So, I enjoy every dish I make with these gifts from my garden, knowing I will miss them very much when they are gone.  Yesterday, I made a eggplant stew, loaded with tomatoes and sweet paprika. Technically paprika is a spice, so I'm stretching things by using it as a springboard for Weekend Herb Blogging.    WHB was created by the lovely Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, and she allows us some leeway in these things. The recipe also contains that culinary workhorse, parsley.  Parsley is hardly glamorous, but what would we do without it?  I certainly notice its absence in any dish calling for it.   

Aioli Bodega Espanola

Years ago, when we first moved to Davis, I was disappointed in the lack of good restaurants.  This is a small town, but we have a major university here, so I always thought we should have a wider variety of places to eat. But, things have changed and now our town has Nepalese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Afghan, Czech, Greek, Mexican, Italian, and Austrian restaurants to choose from.  And most of them are quite good.  One of my favorite places to eat in Sacramento is a wonderful Spanish restaurant named Aioli, so I was extremely happy to see they recently opened a branch in Downtown Davis, at the site formerly occupied by Cafe California.  Yesterday, Roxie and I went there to eat lunch and I was pleased to see that the Davis Aioli is just as good as the one in Sacramento.

At Last!!!

Cue the Etta James!  After months of anticipation, a new person has finally arrived into the world.  Well, the world outside her mom's body.  For months, many people have followed the saga of Kristi and Rich at Interrupted Wanderlust, awaiting the arrival of the mysterious Beastie.  And now, at last, on this wonderful day Beastie has been revealed as Isabella!  Beastie is a girl!!!! Congratulations Kristi and Rich!  The world is now a much better place.

How To Consume 10,000 Calories In Six hours

Last Friday, my cousin Roxie and I went to the Napa Valley for the day.  She had no interest in visiting the wineries, but she wanted to eat a nice meal (of course).  And shop. So I made reservations at one of my favorite restaurants, Mustards Grill.  I've prepared quite a few of the restaurant's signature dishes, using their wonderful cookbook, The Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook. On this visit, I wanted to try one dish I've never ordered, their famous Mongolian porkchop.

Right off the bat, we made a crucial mistake. We didn't eat breakfast and arrived in Napa with hours to spare before our reservation at Mustards.  Roxie wanted to visit the Oakville Grocery, a critical error.  The grocery is famous for the wonderful food stuffed into the tiny store. You can't buy toilet paper or cleaning supplies at the Oakville grocery, but you can find a great display of cheese, sausage, and prepared foods.   Spurred on by our hunger, everything looked delicious, so we began to fill our baskets.  I was delighted to find rendered duck fat, an Acme ciabatta, lemon curd, a huge turtle (the candy), and butternut squash tamales.  Roxie bought a  stinky Roquefort torta, and two spicy sausages.   We were off and running.

WCB: My Mom Went To The Wine County, And All I Got Was This Stupid Thingy!

My Aunt Roxie is here visiting from Texas.  She's always petting me, calling me cute names and talks about taking me back to Texas with her. I think Mom is a little jealous because I like my Auntie Roxy so much!

Roxie gets really affectionate after a 3 glasses of wine, and then I worry that she needs a Field Sobriety Test.  Here she is, Cuddling Under The Influence (CUI) She's going to spill that wine all over me!!!!!!!

Yesterday, Mom and Auntie Roxie went to the Napa Valley and stuffed their faces all day with food.  This morning they say they're never going to eat anything rich again.  HA! They bought me this thing in Yountville, the home of The French Laundry.  I would have preferred pate or some seared tuna like they had at Mustard's Grill. 

Lion King auditions today!

This is more like it.  I'll wear this  tomorrow when I go to church. 

This is Weekend Cat Blogging which is the creation of Clare over at Eatstuff. We haven't heard from her for a few weeks and miss her very much!  I have a big crush on Kiri.  Hope you will be back with us soon, Clare.  Meanwhile, Heather volunteered to do a roundup at her site, Heather's Space. You can also check out Carnival of Cats.

WHB: Lemon Risotto With Rosemary

Well, the last few days have been very hectic. My cousin Roxie, who lives in Texas, came to visit.  It's been fun, but it also meant little time to check my favorite blogs or write a post of my own. I kept wondering how  Kristi is doing over at Interrupted Wanderlust.  It's only 9 days until Beastie finally arrives!  And, it's Weekend Herb Blogging, the invention of the lovely Kalyn, and I can't miss that.  This week WHB is being hosted by Anthony at Anthony's Kitchen.  Several days ago I was short of time and made Nigella Lawson's great recipe for lemon risotto. You wouldn't think risotto would be a good thing to fix on a busy day, but this recipe is extremely simple and always works for me. I'm not sure why this dish comes together in about 20 minutes, while some other risottos can be troublesome. I remember one mushroom risotto that seemed to take hours, until I wanted to pitch the pot of it into the back yard.  I've heard other people talk about how easy this recipe is to make, so it isn't just me.