Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month. This month Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm   is hosting. She urged us: "Let's continue our celebration of the New Year with delicious, fiber filled, heart healthy recipes. How are you going to sneak more fiber into your diet?"  She even suggested some soluble fibers - barley, oats, beans, figs, and sweet potatoes - along with some insoluble ones - lentils, avocados, strawberries, and apples. Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page  Foodie Extravaganza . We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our  Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board ! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out  HERE . The Heart-Healthy Round...

For the first  Food'N'Flix   of 2017, Heather of  All Roads Lead to the Kitchen  asked us to watch, or rewatch, French Kiss.*  You can read  Heather's invitation:  here . Heather wrote: "T he majority is actually filmed in France, so there's some beautiful scenery. This isn't a particularly food-heavy film, but there are a few scenes that will offer obvious inspiration, and hopefully a whole movies worth of ideas to draw from (location, location, location!)." On the Screen... Okay, maybe I was not in the mood for this film today. Maybe I was already grumpy because my plans for a yoga class on the beach were foiled. But I actually found this film cringe-worthy. French Kiss stars Meg Ryan as Kate, a slightly neurotic goodie-two-shoes. Does that look like a familiar character for her? Yep. She made millions in the 80s and 90s playing exactly that character. While it was adorable in When Harry Met Sally , I just couldn't stomach it in this mo...

I am of the mindset that chimichurri makes everything taste better! Seriously. Who doesn't love that herby, tangy condiment from Argentina that is equally complimentary to meat as it is to veggies? These chimichurri meatballs used ground pork and with pork sausage and were the perfect addition to my Wine & Fine Swine birthday dinner party. They are easy to make, yet impressive. I braised them in beef broth, but you can also bake them in the oven. And - even better for me this month - they are Whole30 compliant. Ingredients Meatballs 1 lb ground pork 1 lb ground pork sausage (I used an Italian-spiced sausage) 1/2 C ground almonds 3 cloves garlic, crushed and minced 2 T fresh parsley, minced 1 t fresh oregano, minced pinch of red pepper flakes zest from 1 organic lemon freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper 1 egg 1 T olive oil 1 C beef broth Chimichurri 1 C fresh parsley 1/2 to 3/4 C olive oil 1/4 C vinegar (I used appl...

These were my 'something green' for the Wine & Fine Swine birthday dinner , but it's something that I make quite a bit because it's easy and tasty. Note that this is not compliant with my current Whole30 adventure . Boo. Though I have read that the balsamic vinegar is allowed so long as it doesn't have any added sugar, the honey is not compliant.  Ingredients serves 6 1½ C diced bacon 1 T olive oil 1 C white onion, peeled and diced 3 to 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 2 pounds fresh green beans, washed and trimmed ½ C balsamic vinegar 2 to 3 T honey freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper Procedure Blanch green beans and set aside. In a large, flat-bottom pan, heat 1 T olive oil. Sauté the bacon, onion, and garlic together until the bacon has rendered its fat but it not crisped, approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Pour in the vinegar and whisk in the honey. Bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened. Toss in t...

In Japanese cuisine, this dish is called  ochazuke . It’s a simple rice sidedish made by pouring hot green tea over steamed rice.  I chose to put this on our  Wine & Fine Swine menu  because the pork dishes accompanying this course were Asian-inspired and - truth be told - I really wanted the chance to use my pink cast iron teapot. Or, I should say, I really wanted to make Brian use my pink teapot. He happily obliged! Ingredients serves 8 4 C cooked rice (I used jasmine rice cooked in vegetable broth for more flavor) 1 to 2 C green tea pinch of salt black sesame seeds for garnish Procedure Brew the green tea and add a pinch of salt. Set aside. Place the cooked rice in a shallow dish with a lip to hold the tea. Sprinkle with black sesame seeds as garnish. At the table, pour the green tea over the rice and serve immediately.

As January continues, I am forging ahead with my renewed  Foodie Reads Challenge . My copy of  The Vegetarian  by Han Kang* was next on my nightstand. So, over the course of a few evenings, I read it. On the Page... While the book was provocative, I can't say that I really enjoyed it. Honestly, I almost put it down. Marital rape, a father force-feeding a grown daughter, attempted suicide...and that was only in the first part of the novella. This book is comprised of three parts. Part one is told from the standpoint of the husband of the vegetarian; part two is narrated by the brother-in-law of the vegetarian; and part three follows the sister of the vegetarian. And all of them were uncomfortable. I will not say too much more - just that the people in her life are baffled by Yeong-hye's abrupt decision to give up meat. This was one passage from a dinner party to which Mr. Cheong brought Yeong-hye. "People mainly used to turn vegetarian because they subscribe...

This month, we catapulted into a new adventure. We are now a robotics team family; translation – our lives now revolve around a robotics team’s schedule. Our older son joined the robotics team at school. And, for six weeks, they have an absolutely grueling schedule. They plan, build, troubleshoot, and create a robot that will compete in a series of challenges. This means that for two days during the week, he stays at school until seven in the evening. On Saturdays he’ll be at school from nine in the morning till six at night. Not only has this meant shuffling our schedules to align with pickup and dropoff logistics, but it has caused me to make some significant changes to my meal-planning. We sit at the table to eat, as a family, at least two times a day. Everyday. During the week, we share breakfasts and dinners. On the weekends, we sit down together at lunch as well. For us, mealtimes are social. Sitting around our table is when we talk about our days – either about what is...

Another year, another birthday dinner for one of my favorite carnivores: Brian. Tonight we feast! This menu was inspired by my share of a pasture-raised Berkshire pig from a small, artisanal purveyor in Aromas: Wayne’s Fine Swine . After the party, either tonight or early next week, I'll add hyperlinks to the menu here. You'll just need to click on the title to go to the recipe post or the wine's tasting notes. Enjoy!  Chimichurri Pork Meatballs Crisps, Crème Fraîche, & Caviar Paired with Patrick Bottex Bugey Cerdon La Cueille     Vietnamese Pan-Seared Pork Chops Ling Ngau Tong (Pork, Lotus Root, Peanut Soup) Ochazuke (Green Tea Over Rice) Balsamic Green Beans with Bacon Paired with 2014 Abbatucci Valle Di Nero Rose      Salted Juniper-Dark Chocolate Panna Cotta Vanilla-Fennel Lard Caramels [I had to change my menu a bit as I couldn't find my candy thermometer. We served two ice creams from Revival Ice...

Here we are at the first 2017 event for The French Winophiles, a wine-swilling, food-loving group started by Christy of  Confessions of a Culinary Diva  and, now, jointly coordinated by Jill of  L'occasion   and Jeff of  Food Wine Click . Here's Jill's full invitation for this month:  here . The French Winophiles are headed to Savoie which is a wine region on the eastern edge of central France. What Everyone Else Poured... Michelle from  Rockin Red Blog  gives us  Peeking Into the Secret World of Savoie Wines . Jeff from  Food Wine Click  writes about  Soup & Savoie . Wendy from  A Day in the Life on the Farm  enjoys  “Savoie”ring time with Family . Camilla from  Culinary Adventures with Camilla  creates  A Savoie Pairing: Soupe auxCailloux + Gonnet Chignin . And Jill of  L’occasion  writes about  The Biodynamic Vineyards of Savoie .   In My ...