What Did You Eat?

WHB: Roasted Salmon with Lentils and Bacon (Bay Leaf)

I can't go too long without salmon, and this seemed a very good dish for the colder weather we're having right now. Plus, my very good friend Nancy had given me some Puy lentils, and I've never paired salmon with them.  Plus, Food & Wine said the recipe was "fast," which made it seem even more attractive.  It  lived up to it's billing, but I found that it took longer to cook the lentils than the recipe stated. I think Puy lentils are firmer, and maybe that explains it?   As I recall, regular brown lentils that I sometimes use cook faster.  The recipe uses both thyme and bay leaf, but I feel that bay leaf should be the feaured herb for Weekend Herb Blogging.  Normally, WHB would have wandered home, after its extensive travels this month, to it's CEO, Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen.  But poor Kalyn has suffered that worst of all household calamities--a broken water pipe. What a trooper she is, but the lovely Ulrike from Kuchenlatein has stepped in and will host this weekend.  Thank you Ulrike!

Centerpiece Of The Month

When Janelle at Talk Of Tomatoes started the Centerpiece of the Month, I decided to get on board.  I'm not proficient at creating centerpieces by any means.  At most, I put some flowers in a vase and set them on the table. And that's always been fine with me, because I love flowers.  I used to gather flowers and herbs from my garden, put them in vases, and position them around the house.   Even when I'm feeling down, seeing flowers always lifts my mood.  But, I stopped for the last couple of years, and I miss them.  So, Janelle's monthly event is perfect for me.  I hope that, as time goes by, my centerpieces will evolve into something more.....artful.  And maybe, just maybe, Bob and I will be inspired to eat more meals at the table, rather than the island/breakfast bar in the kitchen. 

I have a thing for pitchers, probably because it reminds me of my Grandma Bessie. I don't know if she had pitchers of flowers in her house when I was a child, but I like to imagine that she did.  So, if I see one that gives off a "fill me with flowers" vibe, I buy it.  I bought this pitcher years ago from a local potter at the Davis Farmers Market.   It's one of my favorites.  As soon as I put these tulips on the dining room table, I felt happier.  But, we still haven't eaten a meal there.

Baby steps.

Go to Janelle's site.  And maybe you would like to make your own centerpiece. I'm sure there are many of you who could out centerpiece Martha.  Well, maybe not Martha.

The Problem With My Enchilada Stack Is......

...they never look like a proper "stack".  They start out looking tall and layered, then slump down into flat little slabs while they cook.  They taste good, but I clearly have not figured out how to make them resemble a tower of tortillas.  I tried this before, when I made Enchilada Stacks With Chicken And White Beans.  They were delicious, but were seriously lacking in height.  So, when Scott at Sugar and Lard issued a Tower Of Tortillas Challenge, I  figured I would give it another go.  Well, it was the same result as before--a flat, but tasty disk.  As Scott is giving style points for height and number of tortillas used, I'm clearly doomed. But, I think I may have spotted where I went wrong. If you're a master of making a stack, let me know your secrets.

Three Things Meme

The fabulous Mandira of Ahaar tagged me with a cool Three Things Meme. These memes are nice because it makes you sit down and really think about what you like and dislike.  Go over to Mandira's and see her choices.  Then do one of your own!

Three Things that make me laugh

1.  Dr. Strangelove, Or How I learned to  Stop Worrying And Love the bomb.   
2.  Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot.   
3.  Bringing Up Baby/His Girl Friday/The Philadelphia Story 

Honorable Mention:  Absolutely Fabulous,  Wedding Crashers.   

Three Things that make me cry

1.  Madame Butterfly.  (As soon as I hear the music I start to cry.)
2.  Vittorio de Sica's film Umberto D.  ( It's sad!  Really sad!!!)
3.  The Velveteen Rabbit.   

Three Things that scare me

1.  Certain politicians in office right now.
2.  Viruses and bacteria that make me sick. 
3.  Cruelty.   (They all go together.)

Three Things I love

1.  Yosemite.         
2.  Family, friends (human and non-human)
3.  Spring

Three Things I'd like to learn

1.  To speak Italian.
2.  Patience.  (And a lot of the people around me wish I would learn that.)
3.  Really good cake decorating skills.            

Three Things on my Desk

1.  My camera
2.  My iBook computer
3.  A big pile of magazines.   

Three favorite foods

1.  Tuna
2.  Tomato sandwiches
3.  Polenta 

Three beverages I drink regularly
(I have GERD, so a lot of my favorite beverages, that I would like to drink regularly, are now forbidden--like wine, orange juice, coffee, etc!)  So, most of the time it's:

1.  Water  (Yawn)
2.  Water (Yawn)
3.  Water (Yawn

Three TV shows/Books I watched/read as a kid

1.  The Black Stallion.  (I was one of those horse crazy kids.)
2.  Black Beauty.      ( I told you!!  I wanted to be a horse.)
3.  The Pokey Little Puppy.  (My mother said I made her read this children's book to me each night for months, until she wanted to throw it away. Apparently, I knew every word and would get upset if she tried to skip any of them!  So, I think this qualifies as my first "reading.")    

Now, I tag everyone who would like to do this!

WCB: Hey, It's Broccoli Time!

Hey, I'm not so camera shy this week.  Mom didn't have to use the branch to get me to pose.  Actually, I wanted everyone to see how big the broccoli is getting.  I could care less about eating broccoli, but since it's my job to guard it, this means I'm still Queen Of The Garden! 

I'm also getting along fine with Sundance. I love trying to eat all his Kitten Chow and sometimes I succeed, which causes mom and me to have a big argument.  I can't understand why it's bad for me.  Anyhow, Sundance has been selected as understudy for The Lion King and is trying to learn his lines.   

Notice how his costume matches his eyes perfectly?

As you know it's Weekend Cat Blogging (created by Claire and Kiri).  This week Bustopher and Harmon at Kate In The Kitchen have been busy getting ready for their hosting Duties.  Their personal assistant, Kate, is sick--so they've had their hands full cleaning the house and setting out the party food. Head over there and check out all the other cool cats!

Cupcake Roundup: Hunk Of Burning Love (The Elvis Cupcake)

When I was in grammar school, we were poor. Not destitute, but poor. I knew that was the case, but I didn't know just how poor we were until I was much older. Then I learned how hard my mom worked to hold things together, the ways she scrimped, often skipping meals for herself when the food budget was tight. She knew how to sew and made most of my clothes, so I never felt embarrassed about the way I looked.  But, I knew things were different for us when I visited my friend's houses.  They always had fresh milk, while we drank reconstituted powdered milk, which I hated with a red hot passion.  We rarely had dessert, and if we did, it was usually Jello.  Forget about fancy snacks like Oreos.  I ate graham crackers so often, I dislike them now.   But occasionally, mom would surprise me with a cupcake. It was always a yellow cupcake with peanut butter frosting. I still have a snapshot memory of her holding out the cupcake to me when I was about seven years old.  I thought it was the best thing a person could ever eat, and I knew she made it just for me. If you're a parent with a small child, never underestimate the power of a special cookie or cupcake.

Recently Garrett at Vanilla-Garlic  and Cheryl at Cupcake Bakeshop decided to hold a Cupcake Roundup, asking people to come up with a cupcake.  I knew that mine would have peanut butter frosting, something I haven't had since I was a child. Remembering Elvis' favorite treat, I decided to make a banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting.  It would be an Elvis Presley special--a hunk of burnin' love cupcake.  The hunk would come from a piece of chocolate stuck in the middle of each cupcake. The burning love would come from a pinch of cayenne pepper in the frosting. Yes, cayenne pepper. 

If you'd like to see the Roundup of other cupcakes, check with Garrett and Cheryl on January 29th.

WHB: Hearty Vegetable Soup (Thyme)

Glenna at A Fridge Full of Food But Nothing To Eat posted yesterday on how she enjoys using Cook's Illustrated The New Best Recipe Cookbook.  I received a copy of another of their cookbooks, The Best Of America's Test Kitchen, a few months ago and have made several recipes from it already, including meat loaf.  On Monday, I made a vegetable soup recipe from the cookbook.  It was fairly simple to make, which was a good thing, as my eyes were still quite inflamed from the conjunctivitis. Both Bob and I enjoyed the soup, which was very filling and served as our main meal.  The broth has a nice creamy texture, due to pureeing part of the vegetables in the soup along with two slices of bread.  It also benefits from thyme, rosemary and bay leaf, which makes it an ideal dish for Weekend Herb Blogging, the brainchild of Kalyn, of Kalyn's Kitchen, but hosted this week by Ed at Tomato.  Head over to his site and check out the herby happenings. 

My Top Ten Recipes of 2006 Meme

Last week, the lovely Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums tagged me for a My Top Ten Recipes of 2006 meme.  I was surprised that this was so difficult for me.  I was unable to decide until I just asked myself, "What would I like to eat again in the next two weeks?" That made it much easier.  So, here we go. These are the recipes I would love to taste again in the near future.

1.)   I've thought about this Ginger Chicken so many times in the last month.  It's easy to prepare, and warm and soothing with its lavish amount of fresh ginger root. I loved it.

2.)  Zuni Cafe Chicken Bouillabaisse is another easy recipe, but elegant enough for the fanciest dinner party

3.)  This Eggplant Gratin With Saffron Cream seemed popular with most people.   It's one of my favorite Deborah Madison recipes.
 

4.)  I've made this Wok Tossed Salmon With Chilis And Basil quite a few times. It doesn't require much preparation and it's a great way to serve salmon   

5.)  I'm flat crazy about this Nigella Lawson version of Asian Spiced Kedgeree.  If you like Kedgeree, try this version. And if you've never had Kedgeree, do yourself a big favor and have it sometime.

6.)  This Polenta Gratin With Spinach and Wild Mushrooms looks a bit fancy, but since it's made with store bought polenta, it's easy to fix. I usually don't like that type of polenta, but this recipe works wonders with it.

7.)  I love Sopes (Masa Boats)!  They taste great and are lots of fun to make.  If you want to see an even better version, see Aria's take on these.

8.)  I fell madly in love with this Mustard's Grill recipe for Smoked Ham and Jarlsberg Cheese Sandwiches With Basil Mayonnaise And Tomato And Apricot Chutney.  In particular, the tomato and apricot chutney is amazing.

9.)  A recent dish, this Spanish Cod Soup, With Spinach, Chick-Peas, And Parsley is a dish I want to try again soon.

10.)  And last, but not least, during this cold, windy winter, I would love a BLT made with a freshly picked tomato.   Summer can't come fast enough for me.

Now, wouldn't some of you like to share your 10 best recipes with us?  Please do!

Bacon, Onion and Walnut Mini-Breads

As Rosanna-Danna said, "It just goes to show, it's always something!"  I'll say!  This Saturday I had plans to meet with a reporter, Claire St. John, from The Davis Enterprise, who is writing an article on Davis food bloggers.  Imagine my surprise when I woke up Saturday morning with blood red, throbbing, itchy eyes, exuding a substance best left to your imagination.  I immediately called my friend Nancy, the all knowing pediatrician, who said it might be conjunctivitis. At her urging I called my eye doctor who concurred and phoned a prescription for antibiotic drops to my pharmacy.  Unfortunately, the drops weren't going to make my eyes feel or look better for some time. And a very nice reporter was coming to my house, despite being warned of the health crisis within.  She came to my house and interviewed me, and despite my oozing, throbbing eyes, I had a very enjoyable time talking with Claire.

Before developing the infection, I had planned to cook some yeast bread and vegetable soup, to show off.  Wouldn't you, if a reporter came to talk about your food blog?  But things were going all pear shaped.  I've always found kneading bread very soothing, so before I knew it, I was making the bread.  I could barely see what I was doing, and my doctor had advised me that it would be wise to forego serving anyone food.  But, there I was kneading bread and thinking about making the soup!  I suppose I thought the bread and soup would be some kind of prop showing that I really do cook the things on my blog.  "See this bread and the soup?  I made it.  Don't touch it, it may be full of bacteria."  What was I thinking?  At some point I realized that my vision was so poor I would probably cut my fingers off if I attempted making soup.  So, no soup.

The yeast bread was simple to make and, as I eventually discovered, quite delicious. But, they were only for show, little pariah breads.  Desperate to prove that I was a real foodie, I urged Claire to take a jar of pear jam, swearing I canned it according to USDA standards.  I remember babbling something about how "I only make my jam with fruit picked at the height of the season...."     Then I began cleaning the outside of the jar with disinfecting solution.  Sigh.  I think the conjunctivitis affected my brain.  Fortunately for me, Claire was very nice about the whole thing.

About the bread--do make it. It only makes 6 rolls, which could cause arguments in your house as people fight over the paltry number.

Wash you hands a lot. Don't touch your eyes.  Ever.

Top Of The World, Mom!!

My mom was not a sports fan until the end of her life.  I never saw her watch a football or baseball game. She had no use for it.  But suddenly, late in life, she became a devout Chicago Bears fan. She took to her new passion with the same zeal shown in learning to cook any new type of cuisine. One of my fondest memories is my mother preparing strudel every day for a month until she finally got the dough so thin you could read a newspaper through it.  That same devotion to detail was evident in her love for the Bears. Da Bears, I mean!   She went to the library and checked out old videos of their glory days with Walter Payton.  It seemed to me that she knew their entire history. She talked about certain players as if they were her sons.  Watching her scream and shout with joy, or sink into despair with every win and loss, I was constantly amazed. This was my mother?  The mother I grew up with didn't tell you, "I can't talk to you right now, the Bears are in the red zone!"  My mother knew what the red zone was?  Sadly, she was a fan during less than stellar years. The losses were all too frequent.  But she always showed up in front of the television, hoping for a win.

As I watched the Bears play today and win the NFC championship, I imagined mom was there with me.  She would have felt a great deal of affection for the New Orleans Saints, a team that means so much to a part of the country that has suffered mighty blows.  But, I knew that she would have screamed so joyfully people would have sworn there was a seismic shift under their feet.   

I hope you saw the game Mom.  I miss you so much.