Culinary Adventures with Camilla

It's time for Group B's  Secret Recipe Club   May  reveal .  This month I was assigned to  Secrets from the Cookie Princess , but one of the other bloggers needed help finishing her assignment and I happily took on A Spoonful of Thyme as well. Kathy is the blogger behind A Spoonful of Thyme and this is the first time I've gotten to explore her blog. She's been part of a gourmet group for thirty-three years. Wow!  So many of her recipes were intriguing -   Red Wine Pot Roast with Honey and Thyme , Fiddlehead Fern , Heirloom Tomato Marmalade , and Plum Tart with Ginger Crust .   But, as I was limited on time, I picked her Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs . I made a few adaptations, swapping out capers and pickles for marinated artichoke hearts, subbing a different mustard and using the herbs that I had in my fridge. But the smoked salmon is truly the star of this dish. They were the perfect first course for my Mothers' Day feast. Thanks for the ...

When I saw this at Whole Foods this evening, I was mesmerized. First, the label was pink - I rarely see that on a beer; second, it's a Saison - more on that later; and third, it's from Bison Brewing .  I drink, and enjoy, anything from Bison. Anything. Their honey-basil ale is a perennial favorite. And I always wait anxiously for the holidays when I can track down their gingerbread beer. The first word that comes to mind when I tried Saison de Wench: haunting.  Named for The Beer Wench , Ashley Routson, Saison de Wench starts with a perfumey aroma of rose petals. It's not heady, old-lady. It's subtly floral, but unmistakable. It's goes down smooth and then more earthy notes emerge. And it finishes with a bite of lemongrass that lingers on the palate. Haunting. Jake and I battled over the bottle. I probably should have opened two.  Here are the brewing specs...for the geeks. Farmhouse Ale Brewed with Botanicals ABV: 6.0% IBUs: 20 Hops*:...

That is 'bison' as in Bison Brewing Company , in Berkeley, not bison the animal! For Dylan's May the Forks Be With You brunch , I called this Qui-Gon Jinn-gerbread. A note about Bison's Organic Gingerbread Ale: I have been looking for this for two years! It's a limited release ale - only available between September and December - and for the past two years, by the time I get around to looking for it, I can't find it. This year, I saw it at our local Whole Foods in November and snagged up three four-packs before they disappeared. I decided to sacrifice one to this gingerbread coffee cake for Dylan's birthday brunch. 1/2 C chopped cashews 2 T dark brown sugar 1-1/4 C butter, plus some for greasing 1 C unsulphered molasses 1 C dark brown sugar, packed 1/2 bottle Bison Brewing gingerbread beer 2 t ground ginger 2 t ground cinnamon 1 t ground nutmeg 1/4 t ground cloves 2 C white whole wheat flour 1/4 C dark rye flour 1 T baking powder 1...