Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  Thanks to Stacy of  Food Lust People Love , Sue of  Palatable Pastime , Rebekah of  Making Miracles , and Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  for coordinating this low-stress group, Sunday Funday. This week, Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures with hosting and she has us cooking like a Viking to celebrate Leif Erikson Day. Here's the line-up... Meatball Lefse Wraps from Amy’s Cooking Adventures Crispy Green Herb Patties from Food Lust People Love Kjøttkaker med brunsaus (Norwegian Meatballs) from A Day in the Life on the Farm Norwegian Havre Kjeks (Sweet and Salty Oatmeal Rounds) from Karen’s Kitchen Stories Pannekaken - Norwegian Pancakes from Sneha’s Recipe Suaasat, a Greenlandic Christmas Stew from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Swedish Pickled Herring Appetizer from Palatable Pastime Leif Erikson and Norse Cooking I adore challenging prompts and 'cook like a Viking' certainly qualifies! I started with what I knew about Leif Erik...

Last year I saw a post from one of my favorite bloggers - Wendy at  A Day in the Life on the Farm  - and I realized that they've been having a muffin party for years without me. LOL. I emailed the host, Stacy of  Food Lust People Love  and got the scoop: "...last Monday of the month and no themes. We've been baking together since August 2015! Only one rule, you must use the muffin method (folding wet ingredients with dry - no creaming butter and sugar, etc.) to bake muffins."  I wasn't very good about joining in this year, but this month, I couldn't resist. This is the December #MuffinMonday line-up... Blueberry Orange Muffins from Food Lust People Love Chocolate Clementine Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm Cranberry Apple Muffins from Zesty South Indian Kitchen Cranberry Gingerbread Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal Egg Nog Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories Samosa Muffins from Magical Ingredients 'Tis the Season Muffin...

If you have been following my blog recently, you'll know that I am making my way through a series of books by Laura Bradbury. The third book in the line-up is My Grape Christmas. * In this book, Laura and Franck are back in Burgundy to celebrate the Christmas holidays with his family. This book included more French wine, lavish holiday meals, and some drama as Franck's mother seems determined for Franck to reunite with his French ex-girlfriend. As as jetlag and constant motion collide, Laura drinks a lot of coffee. I smiled when I read this... "The espresso was quickly served to me in a tiny ceramic cup with 'Illy' emblazoned on the side—the name of a well-known Italian espresso company that I’d seen used in bars and cafés all over France" (pg. 2). Seeing that always make my little espresso-loving heart sing, too. I found this at a hot dog stand in Pacific Grove and was so excited! It's been a favorite brand of mine since before I lived in Italy.          ...

This is another cookie creation that was spawned by watching an inspiring fifteen minute video by cookie artiste Susan Spungen last month. Thankfully I found the article:  12 Stunning Cookies that will Impress Everyone You Know  that featured Spungen's recipes and more gorgeous photos of her creations. But, as you can see, my marbling technique needs a little help. These were just barely swirled. But they were delicious! I'll try again as soon as I swap out the igniters in my oven. They decided to misbehave - as in not heat up enough to kick on the oven - and I'll be without an oven until the parts come in. Jake joked that my oven is on strike since it hasn't had a day off since October. Probably true... This is very slightly adapted because my black tahini dough wasn't as dark as I wanted. So, I added in some cocoa powder. I will be making these cookies again this weekend - in my parents' oven - and I'll post photos if my marbling looks better....

It's time for Fish Friday Foodies' December event. W e are a group of seafood-loving bloggers, rallied by Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm , to   share fish and seafood recipes on the third Friday of the month. And t his month Karen of  Karen's Kitchen Stories  is at the helm, while the group serves up a virtual  La Vigilia  which is short for  La  Vigilia di Natale . Karen provided a little guidance by sharing: "The Feast of the Seven Fishes is an Italian American Christmas Eve tradition. There are no hard rules." She gave us the outline of the courses according to Bon Appetit  magazine and let us run with it. Years ago, when I was in college, I dated a guy whose family was from Calabria. And the first Christmas I spent with them was when I learned about this tradition. His family, however, did twelve fish courses - not seven - in honor of the twelve apostles. Ironically, no one in that family really cooked; so twelve course...

This month, the Fish Friday Foodies, with Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories , is serving up a virtual La Vigilia  which is short for La  Vigilia di Natale . You can read more about that in my round-up I'm sharing for the event at the end of the week. But this is what I am offering as my fifth (seafood stew) course: Brodetto. Brodetto was historically made by fishermen in Le Marche with the leftovers of their catch or damaged fish and so included many different types of fish and seafood. Ingredients  serves 6 to 8 2 medium onions, finely chopped 4 large garlic cloves, minced 2 T olive oil 1 red bell pepper, cored and diced 2 California bay leaves 6 C broth or stock (I use organic chicken stock) 1 C clam juice one 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes one 15-ounce can tomato sauce 1 C red wine 1 T hot sauce or 1 t dried red pepper flakes 1 pound wild caught large shrimp, peeled and deveined 1 pound wild caught salmon, deboned and cubed 1 pound squid,...

I had been enviously watching Tiff and Matt's travels to Morocco, Portugal, and Spain in recent weeks. While they were in Barcelona, Tiff posted the following photos; and I commented that it'd be nice if they could carry home a leg. I was joking. I mean, I had only met Matt once before, and I'm not quite that rude and demanding. I would typically make sure we've met half a dozen times before I start asking for food favors! photos by Tiffany In any case, during the family white elephant gift exchange, when D's number came up, Tiff whispered 'Tell him to take the red one.' D-, grab the red bag.  Thankfully, he did. Inside was a package of  Jamón Ibérico , a bottle of Campo Viejo Reserva Rioja 2013, and a package of crackers. He wrinkled his nose at me and I hissed that I'd give him something in exchange. Then, my Auntie Oly stole it from him. 'Tis the nature of the white elephant after all. Thankfully, I still had my number to go...and if I ...