Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month, the Foodie Extravaganza celebration is all about honey. September is National Honey Month! So, host Rebekah of  Making Miracles   invited us to   "bake, cook, grill a dish that utilizes honey, and showcases this deliciously sticky natural sweetener." A Veritable Honey-Phile Back in 2013, I had a piece published in  Edible Monterey Bay  entitled "Bee Yourself: Honey, Anarchy, and Saving the World, One Hive at a Time." You can read it  in their archives  or  on my blog . And it was also my first cover! "Bee Yourself" was one of the first feature pieces I wrote, versus smaller sidebars, and it required copious amounts of research, numerous visits with beekeepers, and - my family's favorite part - a bunch of honey tastings. Furthermore it cemented my love of all things bees and all things honey! So, when Rebekah mentioned this month's theme, I knew I was in! First, here's this month's line-up... Honey Chicken Wings...

Another week, another recipe for the Kitchen Matrix Project, named after Mark Bittman's  Kitchen Matrix  cookbook. You can read about it:  here . This month, I picked the recipes for the month am I'm very excited about the dishes and the bloggers who are joining me. And I am thrilled with how simple these recipes are to make.  This week, I picked 'Pork Ribs + 9 Ways' for the group. I had a tough time deciding because I was intrigued by the Salt and Pepper-Grilled Baby Back Ribs, Pasta with Pork Ribs, and the Smoked and Roasted Spare Ribs with Sage and Ginger. But those will be for another day. Stay tuned. More Ribs An InLinkz Link-up Whose Ribs?!? Every time we have ribs for dinner, we chuckle about this story. D, my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf, was about 3-years-old at the time, riding in the cart with me at the grocery store. He asked me about the rack of ribs in the cart, pointing, "Mommy, what are those?" Ribs, I answered....

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page  Foodie Extravaganza . We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our  Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board ! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out  HERE . Sneha of Sneha's Recipe is hosting this month. And she requested that we create dishes with spare ribs this month. "Braised, Slow Cooked or grilled or as side dish preparation ... make the way your family will enjoy," she encouraged us. The Spare Rib  Smörgåsbord Chinese Spare Ribs (Slow Cooker) by Caroline's Cooking  Slow Cooker Chinese Spare Ribs by A Day in the Life on the Farm  Pomegranate Braised Short Ribs ...

When one of the blogging groups to which I belong selected 'spare ribs' for the July topic, I was flummoxed because, though I've heard the words 'spare ribs' before, I really didn't know how those were different from the other types of ribs that I usually get. A little bit of reading and a trip to the butcher and I was all set. I even had the butcher slice the ribs to 1-1/2" lengths.  I sliced between the bones to create small riblets. Then I test two different preparations. This one was the favorite for two of my boys, but the other said it had too much honey. Interesting. I did prefer the second dish better myself, but this one wins for ease. Ingredients 1½ to 2 pounds lean spareribs, cut into roughly 1½ inch long pieces 3 C cold water 3 T raw, local honey ½ t sea salt 2 T toasted sesame oil 2 T gluten-free soy sauce or tamari 1 T olive oil black sesame seeds for serving, optional Procedure Pour water, hon...