Culinary Adventures with Camilla

We celebrated the advent for autumn with a trip to the glass pumpkin patch at MEarth . You all know my season obsession with pumpkin, right? Well, these won't cause me to break out in hives from pumpkin overload! We wandered the tables and picked our top three pumpkins each. Organized mostly by color, Dylan gravitated toward the table with pumpkins in every shade of blue from the palest cerulean to stormy navy. Riley liked pumpkins in the sunny shades of yellow. Jake preferred the green ones; and I loved the ones that were funky. My favorite one was a quince-hued pumpkin - you know that rosy color they take on after they are poached? - with deep cantaloupe-colored spots. Some looked downright edible; others were fanciful in their colors and textures. They were all vibrant and gorgeous. And, though it was for a really good cause, we walked out pumpkin-less. They were pricey and I don't keep anything breakable and expensive in my house. Maybe when the boys get older... ...

I'm embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of  De Tierra Vineyards .   But, in my defense, we have a lot of wine here in California. A lot. And we have a lot of good, locally-made wine in California. But De Tierra is now on my radar since they teamed up with one of my favorite restaurants for a wine dinner. Last night we went to  La Balena Carmel  where De Tierra matched, and poured, a wine with four courses. Cin cin! First up: Chef Brad Briske and Team La Balena served warmed olives with fresh bread; grilled octopus, fingerling potatoes, housemade pancetta, and apple mostarda; and baby lettuce, pear, walnuts, and moscato vinaigrette. De Tierra paired that with their 2009 Reserve Chardonnay. It smells of tree blossoms which complemented the apples pieces in the octopus dish and the pear slices in the salad. This golden-hued chard was nicely balanced - not too oaky and not too sweet. Delicious and fresh. Next , a duo of delicious reds! Pillowy soft...

Tonight De Tierra Vineyards paired up with one of my favorite restaurants - La Balena Carmel - for a wine dinner: warmed olives with fresh bread; grilled octopus, fingerling potatoes, housemade pancetta, and apple mostarda; baby lettuce, pear, walnuts, and moscato vinaigrette; agnolotti with herb ricotta and Fogline Farm pork sugo ; chocolate and balsamic-braised beef shoulder over creamy polenta with broccolini; and dolci . As always Emanuele and Anna Bartolini, La Balena's owners, Chef Brad Briske, and Team la Balena created an astounding dinner. Two courses in, we all decided that we needed to expand our vocabulary. Wow, was all we kept murmuring, mouths stuffed with delectable morsels. Nothing short of amazing. 

3 C flour (plus a little more for kneading) 1/2 C cold water 2 eggs 1 t vinegar 3 T butter In a bowl, beat the water, eggs, and vinegar together, then set aside. In another bowl, cut together the flour and butter with a pastry blender. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour the egg mixture into the center. Mix the wet and dry ingredients with a fork until it becomes stiff. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. 1 pound ground turkey 1 T minced garlic 1 carrot, sliced 2 C baby kale freshly ground sea salt freshly ground pepper 1/2 C fresh tomato sauce smoked paprika chile powder ground cumin In a large, flat-bottom pan cook the turkey and garlic in a splash of olive oil till meat is completely browned. Add in the carrots and kale. Cook until slightly softened. Season to taste. Preheat the oven to 350 deg...

Despite the way too sweet Party Popcorn we made last night, we're forging ahead in our mission of conquering our fear of sprinkles and cooking through  Jackie Alpers'  Sprinkles! Recipes and Ideas for Rainbowlicious Desserts . It's not really a fear per se ; it's more of a questioning: why are sprinkles necessary in life...and on our food? These waffles make a pretty darn good case. Adorned with sugar pearls and cupcake gems, these are not only delicious, they are pretty. And in a house full of boys that I, only half-jokingly, refer to as 'Testosterone Land', pretty is a rarity. So, I'm embracing the pearly, pink beauty of this breakfast treat. What will probably shock you, if you've been following me for awhile: I cooked these almost exactly at Jackie Alpers wrote the recipe. Now that is a rarity as well! I did use dark brown sugar, instead of light. I subbed out all purpose flour for a white whole wheat. And I skipped adding salt altogethe...

Bacon S'mores  launched this week. And I sent them a three-part post, pairing cheese with (wait for it, no, it's not wine!)...BEER! Click to see the first post of the trio:  bleu and a smokebeer . Beer and Cheese. Yes, Please! Would love to know if you try this. Comment below...or email me at constantmotioncamilla[at]gmail[dot]com.

 As we launch into cooking our way through Jackie Alpers' Sprinkles! Recipes and Ideas for Rainbowlicious Desserts , I thought we'd start with something a little less sugary. Or so I thought. At least it has a savory base: popcorn. Here's our Hollywood Stars Party Popcorn, slightly adapted from Sprinkles! As Reluctant Kitchen Elf is our resident popcorn maker, I put him to work. He popped us two bowls' full of corn. One bowl was for the recipe; the other bowl was for if the recipe wasn't a hit. Thank goodness for Bowl B. While the popcorn popped, Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf looked at all of the sprinkles we'd gotten on sale this evening. Cupcake gems in gold and silver, rainbow stars, dots, and more. Honestly, I didn't pay that much attention to them. But he carefully compared the photo in the cookbook to our options and selected three different jars. 5 C popped corn 1/2 C white chocolate chips 1 T butter silver cupcake gems rainbow star quin...