Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I am using some free time to catch up on draft recipe posts. Yikes! I have some in my draft folder that are years old. Years. This was one that I must have read and cooked while we were in Tahoe for Spring Break one year. Since we haven't had a family vacation in March for at least two years - as robotics has been at the forefront of our calendars - I know it's been at least that long. Here's a recipe and thoughts about  Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier.* On the Page While the boys were playing around the lake, I stayed by the fire and finished this book in one sitting. I absolutely loved it. photo by R - Lake Tahoe, northshore First, a note: I had no idea this had been made into a movie. I can't wait to track it down because I so enjoyed the book. Though I rarely enjoy a movie-from-book as much as the book itself. So, perhaps I'll skip the movie and just revel in my adoration of Chevalier's book. I enjoyed the main charac...

I, first, made this recipe for a friend's birthday party...about three years ago. And I have never posted the recipe despite having made this almost a handful of times since then. So, it's about darn time it hit the blog, right? It's a new year's resolution of mine to clean up my drafts folder. Ingredients serves 8 3 small shallots, peeled and finely chopped 1/2 C organic dark brown sugar, lightly packed 1/2 C fish sauce  3 to 4 T unseasoned rice vinegar 1 t freshly ground black pepper six  1"thick-cut bone-in pork chops (about 3 1/2 to 4 pounds total) 1 T oil salt, as needed* 1 organic onion, peeled and thickly sliced organic lime wedges, for serving Also needed: cast iron skillet *Go easy on the salt when seasoning these chops; the marinade is fairly salty, especially after it reduces. Procedure In a small mixing bowl, whisk together shallots, brown sugar, fish sauce, vinegar, and pepper. Place pork chops i...

Here we are at April's #thebookclubcookbookCC event. It's hard to believe that we only have three more months in this year-long journey to explore - and cook from -  The Book Club Cookbook, Revised Edition: Recipes and Food for Thought from Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors  by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp.* Judy, Vicki, and their publisher,  Tarcher-Penguin ,  have provided the hosting bloggers with copies of the book plus copies to giveaway each month of the project. Woohoo. Incredibly generous. This month Sarah at  Things I Make (for Dinner)  has selected  Girl With a Pearl Earring  by Tracy Chevalier.** Click to read  Sarah's invitation . She shared the recipe for Griet's Vegetable Soup, but invited us to find inspiration in any of the pages. On the Page... While the boys were playing around the lake during our week in Tahoe earlier in the month, I stayed by the fire and finished this book in one sitti...

Today's #SundaySupper task: "Share recipes for food popular in the 50's, 60's, or 70's. Share recipes for food popular in the 50's, 60's, or 70's." Hmmm...okay.  Given that I have no memories before the mid-70s, and what I do remember wasn't particularly inspiring, I started by looking at food advertisements from those decades. There was lots of cooking with Jello and Miracle Whip. Wow. I laughed at the Five Star Casserole recipe featuring Armour Vienna Sausage. Nope, not going there. But then I saw this ad for Campbell's - for Creamy Baked Pork Chops. If you can't make out the content, it's essentially pork chops, cream of celery soup, and water. I knew I could make this completely in my style, that is to say from scratch. No cans in sight. Campbell's Soup ad from 1963 Ingredients serves 4 4 T butter, divided in half olive oil 3 C chopped celery 1-1/1 T white whole wheat flour 1 C organic heavy ...