Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This week the # SundaySupper crew is filling (virtual) tantalizing trays. Think cheese platters and charcuterie. Imagine cocktails and shooters. Uncharacteristically,  being the savory-gal that I am, I opted to share a dessert. But since this dessert has to be served in mini portions - it's potent and decadent - and because it's jaw-droppingly delicious, I decided it was my pick for the event. Here's one of my friend's reactions when I put them out on the table for one dinner party a few years back. It's one of my favorite candid reactions to something I've made. About the name of my dish: 'Witchy.'  It's spiked with  Liquore Strega .  Liquore Strega,  Witches' Brew, is an Italian herbal liqueur whose bright golden hue comes from the presence of saffron in its formulation.  I remember when I first saw the sunny bottle on a shelf at a bar in Rome.  The bartender let me taste it and when I asked what was in it, he answered: " T ante

When I had the chance to test out the new(-to-me)  Tasting Room , I did. I was intrigued by the 'personalized' wine experience. Click here to read about their WinePrint™ personalization technology. Pretty interesting, right? Here's what we did and how it worked. First, we received our package... ...which had six 50mL bottles of wine included, two white and four red. We read the instructions and set up the tasting as directed. These are photos from the red-tasting portion, tasting wines #3-6.   We poured the wines and logged in to the website. Then we tasted, in order, and logged our preferences. As you can see, Jake didn't care for Wine #4. It wasn't my favorite either. Wine #5 was our second favorite, but Wine #6 was not delicious either. In the end, Wine #3 was our preferred red. The verdict: "You love bold, fruit-flavored red wine with significant body - wines exploding with flavor." That is not really news

This month  I invited bloggers to join me for August's Food'N'Flix  event to watch - and cook from - a double-feature of the  Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs  flicks. Bloggers could choose to watch the original or the sequel or both! Caroline Makes  wrote: "This film is full of food - at one point it rains cheeseburgers - but as the title is so memorable I wanted to make something with meatballs. I've featured meatball recipes on my blog before, like these  cheese-stuffed meatballs ." Caroline submitted a plate with broccoli trees and mashed potato clouds. I loved that she played with her food! from Caroline Makes It's raining meatballs! Gwen of Simply Family Healthy submitted a photo of her Chicken Parmesan Meatballs with Eggplant. from  Simply Family Healthy Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures couldn't decide what to submit and ended up with two foodimals. Perfect. She made a Buffaloaf , classic meatloaf that was so stinkin'

When D and I were at Whole Foods this evening getting spices for his school project (click to read about that: here ), I came across a container of Pichuberries. Since I had never seen those before, I put it on our shopping cart immediately. Meet the pichuberry! What is a pichuberry? It's a Peruvian fruit known as aguaymanto or Inca berry. It looks like a small, golden tomatillo; it's about the size of a large marble. R's assessment: it tastes like a mix between a star fruit and a tomato. He's right. From my reading...the pichuberry has almost 20 times the vitamin C as an orange and could be known as an anti-diabetic fruit. They reduce sugar levels in the blood and stimulating hormones that secrete insulin in diabetic patients. We will definitely be buying these again. They were tasty!

One of the first projects they do in 5th grade is to identify, research, and express their cultural history. Since R did this two years ago (when he made an R-ball), D already knew the percentages: 50% Filipino, 12.5% Swedish, 12.5% Portuguese, 12.5% German, and 12.5% Irish. Somehow, D decided that the 50% Filipino was itself 50% Filipino and 50% Spanish - since the Philippines was a Spanish colony and Nonno looks like he's from Spain. Okay, it's your project, Wom. Here's his progress post for his teacher: D's Spice Box, Part I . We tossed around a couple of ideas, but since he's such an avid cook, he decided that he would make a box of spices with spices from all of the countries from which his ancestors hailed. Cool idea. He made a list, checked it twice, and off we went to buy some spices. We already had several of the spices on his list, but he needed juniper berries... ...he also needed dried dill, rosemary, and thyme since we usually onl

I'll admit that I didn't intend to make a hot sauce with hops . I was just making a sauce with my pepper bounty from our High Ground Organics CSA . Then I got the bag of Cascade hops from the Lamberts . And, instead of using other herbs, I decided to turn the hot sauce into a hoppy affair. This really packs a punch, a bitter and delicious punch. Ingredients 1 pound fresh peppers (I had Padròns and banana peppers) 3 whole garlic cloves 1 T grey fleur de sel 1 1/2 C white vinegar Procedure Wash and dry your pepper. Lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roast for 40 minutes - until the peppers are shriveled and golden. Once roasted, pull the stems from the peppers. Combine the peppers, garlic cloves, and salt in a blender. Blend for a few pulses. Once the ingredients are roughly combined, drizzle in the vinegar. Blend till smooth. Transfer sauce to a mason jar and allow to sit in the pantry; th

Ingredients 1 C heavy whipping cream 1/2 C organic raw turbinado sugar 1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder 1 T ginger syrup 1/4 t ground ginger 1 t ground cinnamon Procedure Place all of the ingredients in your ice cream maker and process according to your machine. Ours took about 30 minutes to come to a soft, gelato-like texture. Spoon ice cream into a container and freeze for at least an hour before serving.