Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month Tina of Squirrel Head Manor is hosting the Food'n'Flix bloggers as we watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone *. You can read her invitation here . Okay, I'll start with this: I am not a fan of the Harry Potter universe. There, I said it. I have tried to read the books. I have tried to watch the movies. Back in 2015, we read  Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone  for #TheBookClubCookbookCC and I made  Pumpkin Pasties . So, when I saw Tina's invitation, I posted to my local friends, "Does anyone have a DVD of the first Harry Potter movie? I could stream it for $3, but I'd rather borrow it for free if possible." The next day a DVD showed up on my doorstep from a friend. Except it was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ...which didn't match Tina's invitation. I messaged my friend and stated, "I don't think this is the first one." The next day, another DVD showed up on my doorstep and it was the r...

I had fully intended to get all of my Thanksgiving recipes posted before the end of November. But we have spent almost every waking moment since getting out of our postage stamp-sized townhouse into our very own home. So, best intentions didn't translate too well. But I'm getting there.  Since I poured two Halter Ranch wines for the dessert course, I figured that I needed to serve two desserts. Makes sense, right? I'll post tasting notes separately, but this chocolatey goodness was the perfect pair with Halter Ranch's El Pecado: Bittersweet Cremeux with Buddha's Hand Crème Anglaise. Oh, my. Make both parts the day before you're eating. Assemble right before serving. And make your portions small, this dessert is decadent and potent. Ingredients For the Cremeux 1-1/2 C organic heavy whipping cream one 2" finger of Buddha's Hand Citron (click for an Intro to Buddha's Hand ), sliced lengthwise in half 2-1/2 C bittersweet or sem...

Remember last month when I won (or tied) the Cook the Books round-up for The Color of Tea  by Hannah Tunnicliffe? Here's the recipe Hannah liked: Vanilla-Chamomile Cremeux . What a treat to open my mailbox yesterday and find a lovely little care packet there - air mail from Auckland - from the author. Inside...a cotton tea towel with an origami print that my 9-year-old quickly absconded with, declaring: "This will make the perfect summer blanket for my stuffed animals!" I'll get it back eventually. ...and two bars of chocolate from New Zealand, Devonport Chocolates , that had the other two hovering over my. "What'd you get?" asked my husband. Hannah included a Dark Chocolate-Raspberry bar and a Milk Chocolate Hokey Pokey Bar . When I sent her a quick 'thank you' email, I admitted that I have no idea what 'hokey pokey' is in reference to something edible. The song-dance, sure. The food? No clue. But after doing some searchin...

This round Deb, at  Kahakai Kitchen , selected  The Color of Tea  by Hannah Tunnecliffe for our April-May  Cook the Books  project. Serendipitously, the author herself will be judging our entries. No pressure... Annnnnd, despite having had the book on my nightstand for months - yes, months! - I waited until the last minute to read it and cook from it; but at least I made it to the party. I cracked the cover on this book after an evening event at the boys' school. My house was silent except for the hum of the filter on our fish tank. It was far too late for me to be up, especially as I had a busy day at work the next day, but I couldn't put it down. And I eventually fell asleep with it on my chest, sleeping peacefully until my husband came to retrieve me from the couch. The Read Grace Miller has landed on the tiny island of Macau - "the bulbous nose of China, a peninsula and two islands strung together like a three-bead necklace." A stranger in a for...

My kitchen elf Dylan helped me make the first of our Thanksgiving desserts. Inspired by Chef John Cox's butterscotch cremeux that I had at The Grand Public Tasting during the 2012 Big Sur Food & Wine Festival at Post Ranch, I (1) looked up what a cremeux was and (2) decided to make a version of it for myself. Click to read my piece for Edible Monterey Bay about the Grand Public Tasting . Since I try not to use gelatin, I looked at a multitude of recipes, picking and choosing different techniques until I came up with this. So easy...and so delicious. Step 1: Make the vanilla cream. Place 1-1/2 C organic heavy whipping cream in a sauce pan along with the caviar of one vanilla pod - plus the pod. Heat the cream until it begins to bubble around the edges. Remove from heat. Let steep for 10 minutes. Step 2: Melt the white chocolate. Remove the pod from the cream. Bring to a bubble again. Add in 2-1/2 C white chocolate chips and swirl until they are completely submerge...