Culinary Adventures with Camilla

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  This month Felice of All That's Left Are the Crumbs is hosting Bread Bakers with a Scandinavian bread event. She wrote: "Scandinavian bread culture has existed in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark from prehistoric time through to the present. Show us your best Scandinavian Bread! For this theme I have chosen the traditional three countries that make up Scandinavia - Norway, Sweden, and Denmark."  I'm glad she clarified because I was about to make Dökkt Rúgbrauð , Icelandic Dark Rye Bread. Soon! In the meantime, here's the #BreadBakers' Scandinavian bread basket... Danish Rye Bread ( Rugbrød ) from A Messy Kitchen Epcot Norway School Bread from Simply Inspired Me...

In September,  Food'N'Flix  returned after a brief hiatus. Oh, happy day. I've missed this food-loving, flick-watching group. And this month, my friend Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm  is hosting. You can read Wendy's invitation  here , but she's invited us to watch  A Man Called Ove.*  I had never heard of the movie or the novel that inspired it, but Wendy's enthusiasm is contagious. I watched the movie three times before returning it to Netflix...and I ordered the novel. I'm looking forward to snuggling into a beanbag with a mug of Glögg , Swedish mulled wine, and the book. Soon! On the Screen We've seen this story countless times before: an old curmudgeon's gloomy life is brightened by an unforeseen person or string of events. That is the certainly the case of Ove. But our familiarity with that story line doesn't change the fact that A Man Called Ove  is disarmingly charming with its understated, dark humor. The movie open...

R, the Precise Kitchen Elf, needed to bring an international dish with familial ties for a potluck in Chemistry class. That's all I knew. Here's what he made... My paternal grandmother’s mom was from Sweden and my family loves rhubarb. Whenever it’s in season – which is a very short season here on the central coast of California – we make rhubarb everything: pie, curd, barbeque sauce, and this Swedish crumble. It’s not totally traditional; it’s my mom’s version.                                                                                                                                –...

For several years, I took part in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. I created, baked, and shipped off  Boozy Salted Fennel Pollen Shortbread  (2012),  Matcha-Black Sesame Shortbread  (2013),  Candied Buddha's Hand-Olive Oil Shortbread  (2014), and  Kaffir Lime Macaroons  (2015). Last year the organizers opted not to host the event and another group of blogging friends decided to create one. So, for year one of the Food Blogger Love Cookie Exchange coordinated by the gals at  The PinterTest Kitchen  and Sarah of  Fantastical Sharing of Recipes , I made   Boiled Cider Cookies with Candied Ginger  (2016). To participate in the event this year, bloggers were asked to donate to one (or both) of the following charities. Join us, if you're so inclined. No Kid Hungry  is an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger. They believe no child should go to bed hungry.  CLICK HERE to sponso...

I'm on Orphan-detail today for the  Secret Recipe Club  - for someone in Group D - and I am  so  excited about having been introduced to Karen of  Lavender and Lovage . What a lovely blog! One of the reasons I always volunteer to help out an SRC orphan is to meet new foodie bloggers. And Karen is definitely one to follow. She divides her time between North Yorkshire and South West France, where most of her time is spent food writing, food styling and photographing. She grows most of her vegetables and all of her own herbs, specializing in old-fashioned and seldom used herbs. And she hosts regular French and seasonal cooking workshops in her specially designed kitchen. Wow! How I wish I lived closer. I would definitely find my way into one of her classes. Speaking of those old-fashioned and seldom used herbs and ingredients, I was intrigued by her  Blue Blossom Salad  - greens with blue cheese and borage blossoms - and  French Toast with...

For the main dish on our tabletop travel to Sweden, D and S made some Svenska Kottbullar , Swedish meatballs. So easy, so tasty! I decided to share the recipe over at Curious Cuisiniere when Sarah asked if I would be willing to share a cultural recipe. Sure thing. Thanks for asking. Visit Sarah's blog: here . She has some amazing recipes. And you can see my post, for her: here .

This creamy potato and anchovy casserole is said to have been named after Pelle Janzon, a food-loving Swedish opera singer of the early 1900s. D helped make this for our tabletop travel to Sweden last week. Ingredients 2 lbs potatoes 1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced 1 small fennel bulb, trimmed and thinly sliced splash of olive oil anchovies, approximately 10 filets 1 C organic heavy cream panko breadcrumbs 3 T butter, thinly sliced into pats + extra for buttering baking dish Procedure Preheat oven to 400°F. Peel the potatoes and cut them into strips. Sauté the leek and fennel slices in a splash of olive oil until softened. Butter an ovenproof baking dish and cover the bottom with a layer of potatoes. Spread half of the leek-fennel mixture over the top of the potatoes. Place half of the anchovies over the layer. Another layer of potatoes, then the rest of the leek-fennel and anchovies. Finish with a layer of potatoes. Flatten the surface a bi...

I had the two mini-bakers help me with dessert for our tabletop travel to Sweden. D and S made Morotskaka , a Swedish carrot cake. It was moist and delicious; we didn't frost it and didn't even sprinkle it with powdered sugar. Ingredients 1-1/4 C olive oil 1 1/4 C organic granulated sugar 4 eggs 2 C flour (we used a whole wheat pastry flour) 2 t cinnamon (I forgot the cinnamon, but will definitely use it next time) 1 t baking soda 2 t baking powder 1 t sea salt 4 large carrots, finely grated 3/4 C hazelnuts 1 C raisins Procedure Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9" round baking dish, then line with parchment paper. Butter liberally. Set aside. Grate the carrots. Our four carrots - we used a mixture of orange, yellow, and purple carrots - rendered about 4 cups grated carrots. Chop hazelnuts. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients to form a batter. Gradually add the dry ingredient...

Riley's class kicked off a cultural heritage project last week. He has to answer the following questions: What is my culture? How it is expressed in the things that I do, think, and value? How did I acquire that culture? Where did it come from? He came up with a great idea of how to illustrate his ethnic heritage. I won't share what he's planned just yet, but - as expected - I'm supporting the project in the kitchen. So, over the course of the weekend we're going to eat our way through some countries that are in his blood. My side is easy - the Philippines. Jake's side is slightly more varied; we narrowed it down to four. Though there are probably more lines in there, Riley is sticking to these - Sweden, Portugal, Ireland, and Germany. Here we go with Cultural Heritage Through Culinary Delights - Part I... Last night we had sausages and sauerkraut. Riley didn't care for it. He said, "It's sour, Mom. Is that why they call it 'sauer'?...