Culinary Adventures with Camilla

 Grapefruits lopped in half are a breakfast table staple in our house. Filipinos soak the segments in vinegar. I know, I know, that sounds beyond bizarre; it's actually very good. Some people sprinkle theirs with sugar. We, usually, devour ours plain in all its juicy, tangy splendor. But I wanted something a little bit more exotic for Jake's birthday and I found a recipe for broiled grapefruit with honey, cardamom, and vanilla . Perfect. When Riley first took a a bite, he had this look of horror on his face. "Why is the grapefruit hot, Mommy?!?" Then he declared, "Mmmm...cardamom. This is good." While I am still a fan of the slice-and-go method, my experiment was a wild success. two large grapefruits, halved and the sections sliced from the membrane 2 T organic honey 1 t pure vanilla extract pinch of ground cardamom Position an oven rack about 4 inches below the broiler and pre-heat the broiler. This was the first time that I've used our broil...

Fourteen years ago I took my new boyfriend on a camping trip for his birthday. Having known him for less than two months, when we woke up on the bank of the river on the morning of his birthday, he announced to me that we were going to be married one day. [Okay, those weren't his exact words, but that was the gist of it.] I laughed, nervously, at him and jumped in the river. On our wedding day, he asked if I remembered what he said at Deep Creek. And he said, "All I have to say is 'Ha, told you.'" Happy birthday, Jake! Life with the Manns is always an adventure. We like it like that. So, this morning, I decided to whip up a less-than-typical birthday feast. Recipes to come. Asparagus-Almond Pizza Honey-Cardamom Broiled Grapefruit Omelettes with Brie & Prosciutto 

Kristina, the blogger behind SpaBettie , is the hostess of this month's Food'N'Flix . Food'N'Flix was started by one of my favorite foodie bloggers Heather of girlichef.com : "We are just a bunch of FOODIES who like to watch movies that make our belly rumble and our mouth water and then head into the kitchen to cook or bake something inspired by what we watched." from imdb.com Kristina's pick for April: "Big Night." Click here for her invitation to participate. Pronto al tavolo! Truth be told, I never need an excuse to "cook Italian." Since that's where I learned to cook - Rome, that is - Italian is our usual fare when we aren't traipsing around the globe through tabletop travel; this year I'm teaching my boys to cook, and appreciate, all kinds of cuisine through a Cooking Around the World project . Whenever we aren't cooking a specific country, Dylan says, with just a little bit of sass, "Of cour...

Paxton and Jake with their catch. Photo credit: Captain Dan Wood When Jake called to check the schedule because he wanted to head out with two of our friends the next morning, there was no hesitation in my mind: fresh salmon?! Yep. Go. Catch your limit, my love! I packed granola bars, string cheese, beef jerky, fruits, and made some mini rhubarb loaves  and sent him off - at an ungodly hour - with a good luck kiss. Photo credit: Paxton Mobley I didn't hear anything from them for a long time. Finally I got a text: "two fish in the boat." Sweet! Then I mentally prepared to clean the fish. It's not that I mind cleaning the fish; it's the lingering smell on my hands that I mind. But - to my surprise and delight - when I got home, the fish was there, in the fridge, cleaned, gutted, sliced into steaks and fileted. Gotta love that. There is nothing quite like fresh fish. And knowing that Jake reeled this 16-pounder in made it even better. No, in ...

When Jake told me that he was out the door before 6am to go salmon fishing with two of our friends, I thought: I need to bake something tonight so I don't have to get up with him at 5am. I still ended up waking up with him, but I had whipped up these loaves the night before anyway, so I was just there for a good morning kiss. 1/2 C olive oil 1 C organic granulated sugar 1 egg, beaten 2 C all-purpose flour 1 t baking soda 1/2 t pink Himalaya salt 1 C organic, whole milk yogurt 2 C fresh rhubarb, thickly sliced Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease mini loaf pan. In a large bowl, blend all of the wet ingredients together. Mix thoroughly. Add flour and mix until just moistened. Stir in rhubarb. Spoon into prepared pans. Sprinkle with sliced almonds and organic granulated sugar. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely and slice to serve.

When I ran into Sarah, from Edible Monterey Bay , at the inaugural Independent Marketplace earlier this month, she told me about the next supper club. All I needed to hear was: Earth Day. Farm Tour. And organic Asian Street Food. After the amazing first pop-up supper club at Lokal last month, I didn't hesitate to (1) put it on our calendar, (2) line up a babysitter, and (3) rope in some good friends to join the culinary adventure. Sarah did ask that I not blog about the event until it hit their website; that was tough, but I did it. As soon as it hit their blog , it hit mine . On a farm. In the dirt. Followed by street food. Oh, yes! Sounds like the perfect way to celebrate Earth Day. It was. We met up with everyone at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems' Farm & Garden where Liz Milazzo, the Field Production Manager, led us on a walking tour of the 25-acre farm that employs organic production methods and serves as research, teaching,...

We traveled, by tabletop to China, last week, but I am just now sitting down to blog about that fab meal. When I was researching what to make for that dinner, I emailed my friend Belle who responded with exactly what I had open on another tab: lion's head meatballs. Taking that as a sign, I decided that was the recipe for tonight. Thanks, Belle. Belle also suggested onion pancakes , so we kicked off the feast with our version of that. Dylan did a great job on them. But really, what 8-year-old wouldn't have a blast squishing dough with a rolling pin?!? Traditionally this Shanghai casserole dish features oversized pork meatballs and greens and is cooked in a sand clay pot. The large meatballs are meant to represent a lion, and the shredded greens its mane. I didn't have ground pork, so I used ground beef. And I had a bounty of greens from my High Ground CSA box that I had picked up that afternoon, so my version used kale and spinach and arugula for the man...

When I was doing research for our Chinese cooking around the world adventure, Belle suggested "onion pancakes." I envisioned a sort of onion latke when I read her email. But after doing some reading, I realized it was, in fact, a flaky dough disc studded with scallions. That was much more palatable since we aren't huge onion fans in this household. I started with this recipe . And it was perfect timing since I just picked up our High Ground CSA box that had some gorgeous spring onions. Ingredients 2 C all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting work surface 1 C boiling water Up to 1/4 C toasted sesame seed oil 2 C thinly sliced spring onions Procedure Place flour in large mixing bowl and slowly add in the boiling water until it just comes together. Transfer to a floured work surface and knead a few times to form a smooth ball. Place in a bowl, cover with a damp towel, and allow to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.  Divide dough into four ...

We traveled, by tabletop to Chile, this evening. This quick, one-pot dish was easy and tasty. Chile has a long coastline, so naturally seafood is a major part of Chilean cuisine. Chileans utilize their marine bounty in a number of ways. I made my version of caldillo de congrío , a simple fisherman's stew made with red conger eel. Okay, so I didn't actually have any red conger eel; I used a mixture of shrimp, scallops, and squid. Truly delectable. 1 fennel, trimmed and diced 2 tomatoes, diced 1 C red wine 2 C fish stock parsley, finely chopped cilantro, finely chopped 1 bay leaf Salt and pepper to taste 1 lb of seafood 1/2 C organic heavy cream Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high flame. Add the fennel and saute until softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and simmer for another 4 or 5 minutes to cook the tomatoes down a bit. Add the wine and cook down for another minute or so. Pour in the fish stock and add the parsley, ...