Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  I've been making this for years...and I've never really measured until this year. I am certain there are plenty of version of this fresh relish out there. It's so easy, fresh, and delicious. 2 C fresh cranberries 3 seedless, organic clementinues 1/4 C coconut sugar ground cardamom ground cinnamon ground nutmeg Place the cranberries, spices, and sugar in a blender. Slice two clementines into wedges and place them in the blender. Squeeze the juice from the third clementine into the blender along the the empty skins. Blend until desired texture. You can make a smooth paste, or leave it more rustic. Spoon into a jar, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use. I've never really had leftovers on this, but I would say, use it within a week.

We haven't been cooking around the world recently. And Dylan has let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I need to get back in the saddle. Fine. So, while Jake took Riley to his mandolin lesson, Dylan and I got busy with the pots and pans. Tonight we traveled to Brunei by tabletop. Brunei, officially 'Nation of Brunei, the Abode of Peace ' is a small sovereign state on the island of Borneo and completely surrounded by Malaysia. I read this etiquette guide (from wikipedia) to the little boys last night before dinner: Eye contact - In Brunei society, some conversations between males and females have a very little contact, unless necessary due to religious reasons. However, most people maintain direct eye contact to signal interest, and staring in Brunei society is considered as extremely rude and should be avoided. Physical contact - It is best to avoid physical contact and touching between members of the opposite sex while conversing in public. Communication styl...

I realized that if I wanted to candy citrus peels for my Epiphany breads, I needed to do it tonight. I vacillated between candying the peels and saying 'screw it', thinking that maybe 2012 is the year that I learn to say no, just no. But my flirtation with idleness was brief and less than 5 minutes after the thought flitted through my mind, I was in the kitchen peeling the limes. I have never had any luck with measurements for this, so here's the basic procedure, or rather, what worked for me: take the peel of your citrus and place them in a pot, covered with cold water, bring them to a boil. As soon as they boil, remove from heat and drain. Repeat two more times. Place sugar and water in a pot to make a syrup, using more water than you think you'd need, because you are going to simmer it down. As it starts to thicken, place the blanched peels in the syrup and simmer till the peels become translucent. For me, that took almost 90 minutes. Let the peel cool, complet...

Tonight's the night when Dylan, for his week's homework, played chef and made dinner for the family. "Bell Pepper Pork Chops" is what Dylan is calling this recipe. Last night he selected a recipe from one of my a cookbooks and we adapted, based on what we had in the cupboard. butter olive oil minced garlic sliced fennel pork chops sliced crimini mushrooms dried oregano dried dill clementine juice splash of red wine tomato paste smoked sea salt sliced bell peppers Melt a pat of butter with a splash of olive oil. Quickly sear the pork chops on both sides. Remove from the pan. Saut é garlic, fennel, and mushrooms until softened. S eason with oregano, dill, and smoked sea salt. Make a sauce with tomato paste, fresh-squeezed juice from two clementines*, a splash of red wine, and more olive oil. *Dylan took "fresh squeezed" to a new level. I turned my back for half a second, after telling Dylan to add the juice, and this is that I saw when I came back to ...

This salad is the perfect end to a summer's dinner: greens topped with slices of ripe avocado and fresh green figs, sprinkled with pink Himalaya salt and fresh ground pepper. And I love the squeeze-and-go dressing...juice from a clementine and a good olive oil. So easy. So fresh. So delicious.