Picture
This little beauty was made for the special occasion of dinner and French Chef watching over at the Maestro’s. It. is. divine. The slight tartness of the fresh strawberries pairs perfectly with the sweet and nutty flavor of the almond cream and the slivered almonds in the crust. Plus I got to use my tart pan for the first time!

Read on for (lots) more pictures and the recipe…

 
Picture
I'm still experimenting with other looks and other blog sites, but for now I think this is pretty good!

Also, check out my new facebook page and feel free to let everyone know you like what you see:
Indulging in Guilty Pleasures on Facebook!!
 
Picture


Phew! It's been a busy weekend full of good food, fun times, playing badminton, and new experiences in the kitchen (including some bad karma)...

I wanted to post some pictures from my experiments with poaching eggs (spurred on, of course, by Julia Child). As you'll see I'm not doing too well and I'm still trying to figure out what the missing component is..

Picture


Mostly what's been happening is that the egg white completely runs away from me and just melds with the water instead of attempting to come around the yolk so you get a gorgeous little result like this one.

So! being a persistent and determined person (already having made learning how to poach an egg a goal for the summer), I went to multiple sources to figure out the main components:

Picture


1. Water that is just barely simmering, between 160 and 180 degrees. See? Got that down...

2. A splash of vinegar (I'm using white distilled and I'm rather suspicious that this might be my problem ingredient...)

Picture


3. Using a ramekin or other small dish to plop the egg in (as close to the surface as possible) so that the yolk doesn't break on impact.

4. Creating a whirlpool in the center not only to cool the water down but also to create a natural spinning effect that should wrap the white around the yolk.

Picture


And yet, helas...

More experimenting to come....

 
Picture
Just a simple Tuesday night dinner...good ol' summery comfort food. BBQ Pork Chops and *cough* store bought *cough* mac and cheese!
Picture


Sprinkle your boneless loin chops with some cayenne pepper (careful on this one unless you love yourself some spice), paprika, black pepper (freshly ground of course), and some granulated onion.

Throw in a skillet with some olive oil on medium to medium high heat and brown on both sides (3 - 4 minutes per side).

Cover for a few minutes to get the insides fully cooked.

Picture


Serve with your favorite mac and cheese, be it non lazy homemade stuff or lazy store bought stuff. It all tastes awesome with some BBQ sauce!

I'm actually thinking about trying to make a BBQ mac and cheese...it'd be pretty amazing. I know S'Mac has already made a BBQ chicken wing one with blue cheese, but you don't even need the chicken and cheese!

 
Picture




No way! Healthy cheesecake bars?? Ok, I'm not gonna lie, they're still not as good for you as a salad, for example, but they are healthier than a regular cheesecake bar because they use 1/3 less fat cream cheese and skim Greek yogurt. And the best part? You can't taste the difference...

Read on for recipe and photos...


 
The other day Maestro lent me Julia Child's The French Chef DVDs, which sent me into yet another Julia Child tizzy. I love the woman, what can I say? If you've never watched these classics, episodes of her old TV show, you should. Not only is she an amazing cook who not only changed her viewpoint on life and food but also that of most of America, she is absolutely enchantingly adorable to watch; tripping over words, dropping things on the stovetop only to throw them back in to the pan (WHO is going to know??), adding tablespoon after unmeasured tablespoon of butter, cream, and cheese, and finishing with her beautifully awkward "Bon appetit," the show is as entertaining to watch as it is educational.
After watching the potato episode, Miss L and I decided we should try out her Crepes de pommes de terre recipe. It was relatively easy, sounded delicious, and we had most of the ingredients on hand. The pictures aren't gorgeous, but then again, neither are potatoes...As Julia says, they're "perfectly delicious"...

Read on for recipe and photos...

 
Picture
Just at the end of rhubarb season, Miss L and I knew we had to get our hands on some to make the essential for summer Strawberry Rhubarb Pie...And what better time to have something sweet and tart to eat than a night dedicated to watching THE Julia Child in her element?

I have to admit, though, Julia would have been disappointed. I didn't have the time to make the pastry the night before so we used a store bought crust (may the food gods all shun me...). It was still succulent and delicious and we added a streusel topping which certainly took from the startling tartness of the rhubarb (which Miss L tried raw and promptly spat back out. Give it a try some time! You'd never believe that's the flavor that counters the sweetness of the strawberries perfectly in this pie).

Read more for step by step photos and recipe...

 
Sorry for the hiatus from posts, guys! It's been a very busy time for me and the summer will only get crazier as I work for the box office at a summer music festival! However, I am hoping to start posting twice a week to get more attention in the foodie blogger world...which I'm delving more and more into thanks to Bloglovin' and, as always, Tastespotting...
I've also recently become more and more fascinated with Vegan fare after purchasing the Veganomicon and getting addicted to/buying the Vegan Dad cook book off of his amazing blog...I'm not planning on "going Vegan" as they say, but I find the cuisine intriguing, challenging, and healthier than most of the stuff  I find myself drooling over, and yet it all still sounds scrumptious! Did you know, for example, that you can make artisan breads vegan?

So to sum up, I love food. And in a more practical application of summing up, I'm going to look into reformatting my blog (I'm thinking perhaps brown may not be the best background color for sexy food photos...), and I'm going to start posting more (look for a strawberry rhubarb pie coming in the next few days!)

Plans for the evening: pie baking, beach visit prep, and French Chef DVDs lent to me by the Maestro and to be watched with Miss L! (I've also adopted the initial/nickname thing to be more discrete)...
 
Follow my blog on Bloglovin'!!


It's a great site to follow your favorite blogs. They update you with new posts and it's just nice to have a place where you can collect all of the links and keep up to date on new recipes, foods, cooking techniques, etc. There are also millions of other kinds of blogs including art, fashion, photography...I'm sort of overwhelmed just thinking about it!
 
From my own deck! I decided, now that we have our own backyard space, it was time to plant some beautiful flowers and some herbs and plants so that we can produce some of our own food! Not only does it save money, it's organic and fresh and it will taste even better knowing that the boy and I have taken care of these little guys from (almost) day 1...
Picture
 

This one is right next to the kitchen window so I can just reach out and grab fresh oregano and sage...on the end is red russian kale, which is gorgeous if you've never seen it.

Picture




The flowers here are feathered salvia, but the other plants are peppers! One is called Pepper Snapper which produces yellow or red sweet bell peppers while the other is called Purple Beauty and should produce sunset colored peppers...so psyched!

Picture





These are wild tomato plants that grew back at Ilka's unexpectedly...neither of us are very sure what kind of tomatoes they will be. Still cool!

Picture







Newer tomato plants from Ilka! Still not sure what kind they will be...

Picture







Just cause I think these are stunningly gorgeous...