Culinary Adventures with Camilla

To celebrate the end of a successful school year, we took the boys to our favorite restaurant, La Balena . We've long been friends with the owners, Emanuele and Anna. And I love that I always come away inspired. One of the first dishes we tried was Burrata with Anchovies. So simple and yet so amazing. I think that's the way food should be. Well, most food. It lets the ingredients speak for themselves. And on the summer solstice, I recreated the dish for us. It's not a really a recipe. But I'll share it, in the hopes that it will inspire you to try it for yourself. Ingredients serves 4 as an appetizer 4 balls of burrata 4 anchovies, cured and packed in oil olive oil freshly ground salt freshly ground pepper toasted bread, optional (I served it without at home) Procedure Place burrata on a serving plate or platter. Top each burrata with an anchovy. Sprinkle with freshly ground salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Serve immediately.

To celebrate a new school year and to say farewell to Chef Brad (he's leaving to open his own restaurant), Aunt Jenn took us all to La Balena for dinner last night. It's one of our very favorite restaurants and we adore the owners, Anna and Emanuele. As we were leaving Anna gave them hats. They were thrilled though they both did lament, "We can't wear these to school!" It's against their dress codes to have any hats with writing or logos. And, of course, the big one - yes, I do mean my husband - joked, "Where's mine?!?" While Jenn is one of my oldest and dearest friends, nothing makes me love her more than watching her kids eating adventurously. If you follow my posts at all, you already know that I feel it's our duty as parents to create kids who eat real food; I believe that we, as parents, are responsible for making kids picky eaters. If your kid doesn't eat vegetables, it's because you didn't offer them vegetables......

Some kids have favorite actors, athletes, and musicians. Mine have a favorite chef: Chef Brad Briske of La Balena and Il Grillo .  So, when I saw that Brad was going to be a guest chef at the Scotts Valley farmers market pop-up brunch (click for the pop-up brunch series ), I bought tickets immediately. Unfortunately, Jake was wrapped up with the house remodel and under the gun with his deadline. So, he didn't get to come with us. I let the boys invite a friend instead. POTATOES SAVORY AND SWEET potatoes, peavetta, golden raspberries, and herbs STRAWBERRIES AND CHOCOLATE Live Earth Farm strawberries with Ashby Confections ’ chocolate PORCHETTA BRUSCHETTA Companion Bakeshop open-face sourdough, Fogline Farm pig, fried egg, greens and honey SWEET FINISH plum tart, almonds and lavender syrup As always, Brad and his dishes delighted all of our senses. Everything was delicious, beautiful, and perfectly in sea...

We've gotten in the habit of eating our capodanno dinner at our favorite restaurant: La Balena . What a delicious tradition! Here was my post from Capodanno v.2013 and  Capodanno v.2014 . Capodanno v.2015 was no exception. I made our reservations early in the evening knowing that they get crowded and we wanted to head home for movies and family fun. While I am not typically a fan of Chardonnay, I tried a glass from Italy and it was more lean and more crisp than its California counterparts. Very nice. We always order the  Polpo Grigliato , grilled octopus. This time, it was served with ceci (garbanzo beans), escarole, and a limoncello vinaigrette. D is sensitive to garbanzo beans, so he skipped those. But we all dug in voraciously. We had two salads. Jake ordered. D ordered La Vigna - arugula, shaved fennel, blood orange, almonds, and a honey-Meyer lemon vinaigrette. R is still not a huge fan of salad. He "washed down the salad with Trippa Fi...

If you've been following my blog, you probably know that I have a pretty hefty foodie crush on Chef Brad Briske of La Balena Carmel . It's our special occasion restaurant and we actively seek out any event at which he's cooking. So, when I noticed that he was cooking at the  MEarth  Sustainable Chef Dinner - so close to Fathers' Day - I bought tickets and used it as a slightly belated celebration for my Love and my Dad. Brad is truly impressive. Just amazing. Not only is he an incredible chef, but he is passionate about his craft and generously shares his wealth of knowledge and vast experience. He's also patient and kind. One example: he didn't mind having my boys underfoot at this week's MEarth's dinner.  Grazie mille , Brad. Tanja Roos shared that typically they receive menus ahead of time from the visiting chefs. Here she demonstrates how she followed Brad around with a pen and paper in the few hours ahead of the event to handwrite the m...