Culinary Adventures with Camilla

As I move ahead in my  Foodie Reads Challenge  this month, I dove into  Kitchens of the Great Midwest   by J. Ryan Stradal.* On the Page... I picked up this - and six other foodie reads that caught my eye - when I was at a bookstore with two of my best girl friends this past weekend. The gal I've known for almost thirty years rounded the corner before the cash register, noticed the stack of books under my arm, and just started laughing. What? I demanded. You know I'll read all of these...probably before summer vacation.  "I know you will," she said. That afternoon, I went home, curled up on the couch and dug into this one. I read half of the book before meeting up with my cousin and her family for dinner; I read the second half when we came home. So, while it is a quick read, I can't say that I really enjoyed it. Instead of a complete story, this is more a series of abrupt vignettes from throughout Eva's life. We are introduced to her pa...

"Mom," asked the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf, "what are you making for dessert?" What?!?!  Bear in mind that this is what the kitchen in our new house looks like right now. I wasn't planning on making anything except the bare minimum for dinner. I certainly hadn't planned on making dessert.  D - I really don't know where anything is. But I had a gallon of milk in the fridge that needed to be used and he offered to make a hot milk cake, so we dug through some boxes and adapted one of our favorite recipes to infuse the milk with dried lemon verbena leaves. Plus, we had some fresh nectarines that needed to be used right away to. Ingredients  makes one 9" square cake 8 T (1/2 stick) butter + more for greasing pan/parchment paper 1 C milk 4 dried lemon verbena leaves 2 C gluten-free flour 1-3/4 C organic granulated sugar 2 t baking soda 4 large eggs 3 ripe nectarines, pitted and thinly sliced Procedure ...

Surprise, this post is not about food! You read that correctly. Not. About. Food. Well, it's not about food in the sense that I didn't cook or eat what I'm going to share. But it is about food in the sense that they use real natural ingredients that - in another context - would be edible! Let's get down to it. Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm invited me - and eleven other lucky food bloggers - to be part of a review panel for the newly-launched Petoskey and Pine . Petoskey and Pine creates artisinal bath products that include handmade soy candles , handmade soaps , and handmade lip balm . When I saw that their line included lemongrass lip balm, I was in. Immediately. We selected either a soap or a candle and they sent us a lip balm that complemented our fragrance choice.* I chose their lemon verbena candle...and - surprise! - I got my lemongrass lip balm after all. How did they know? Lip balm thoughts: I am extremely picky about anything that goes o...

The second Saturday of the month is one of my favorite days. Do you know why? Because it's our #winePW - Wine Pairing Weekend - reveal. I love it. How can you not adore bloggers who love food and love wine. It's a fantastic event from which I always make a wine shopping list. And this month, I'm hosting. Fun, fun, fun. The theme I selected: Fall fruit pairings. Here's  my October #winePW invite . Think apples, pumpkins, quince, and more! There's no question which Fall fruit I featured, right? It’s the time of year when "pumpkin" and "pumpkin spice" gets tossed into everything from a four dollar coffee confections to hand cream, and from every baked good imaginable to seasonal ales. Don’t get me wrong, I am right there on the pumpkin wagon. A couple of years ago I devoured so many pumpkin dishes that I had an allergic reaction. I'm not kidding...unfortunately. So, now, throughout pumpkin season, I limit my pumpkin culinary creation...

At a local organic farm some woman handed Brian a weed and declared, "you know if you tuck this in your bra strap, you don't have to wear deodorant." He was appalled. Do I look like I'm wearing a bra?!?" "No, I mean - here! - maybe you can hang it behind your ear." Do I stink?!? "No...it's just good for you." So, he graciously took the weed, enclosed it in a baggie and [I quote] "brought it to his resident weed expert." That would be me. Lemon verbena. When I searched for recipes, I was drawn to lemon verbena cake. But the resulting cake was too eggy. It was dense, though the lemon verbena flavor was nice. Ugh. I was out of the weed. So, I had Brian go back to the farm, hunt down the woman, apologize, and beg for more. He did and promised her a taste. Here we go for take two. I am glad I attempted this again with some major modifications. Fluffy, light, not too sweet. And the lemon verbena really comes through. The verd...