Culinary Adventures with Camilla

  My Grape Quebec by Laura Bradbury* is the second in a series that follows her from being a 17-year-old exchange student in Burgundy to being (I'm all the way in the seventh book right now) married with two kids living back in France with her family. Book two covers her time as a university student the year that she and Franck are working to get his immigration paperwork in order so that he can join her in Canada. On the Page Where book one in the series documented her trials and tribulations as a foreigner in France, this book looks at the culture shock that Franck experiences in his move from Burgundy to Canada. Two things made me chuckle: his reactions to coffee and to cheesecake, "Franck stared down at his, and then back up to me. 'What is this?' I laughed at him. 'Coffee.' I’d forgotten. He was used to espresso in tiny cups when he ordered café. He took a tentative sip and grimaced. 'I beg to differ. I have no idea what this is, but it’s not coffee....

Twenty-one years of cheesecakes. If you have been following my blog for awhile, you probably know that I didn't have traditional wedding cake. Instead I opted to have a local-to-me baker make seven different cheesecakes for our reception. So, I've been celebrating our anniversary each year with cheesecake. This year was no different. But this might be the first year that I was able to find a photo of our cheesecake table.   And photos of us cutting the cakes. We look like babies!  This cheesecake is a little like marriage: there are some compromises. My husband likes  Plain and White Cheesecake . I like to shake things up, as evidenced by my  Matcha-Yuzu Cheesecake with a Meyer Lemon Gelée   or my  Lemongrass-Ginger Cheesecake.  But, I've figured out that I can make a fairly plain cheesecake that makes him happy - such as my  Honey-Lemon Cheesecake  - and I can add something zingy that makes me happy. See! Compromise. That give and take is th...

Jake and I are celebrating two decades years of marriage tomorrow. That's a whole lifetime...well, at least the time it takes for a child to be considered an adult and then some. On one hand it certainly feels like a lifetime; on the other, it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. In this past twenty years, we've had two boys, lived in two states and five different houses, and juggled probably a dozen different jobs between us. We've traveled to Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona; we've visited Italy and Costa Rica. We've SCUBA'd, zip-lined, canoed, and tangoed. It's been an amazing adventure. Under the Wedding Maple at Owen R. Cheatham Redwood Grove, Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park But it's also been work. A lot of work. Don't let anyone tell you that marriage is easy. Maybe that is what makes the celebrations all the more sweet. And this year, March 2020, has been particularly chall...

Welcome to the April edition of the Fantastical Food Fight. I love this event coordinated by Sarah of  Fantastical Sharing of Recipes . For more information about it, click  here . This month, we were given the challenge of making a recipe inspired by strawberry shortcake. So you can read all about my journey to this dessert through recipe testing: Laminated Biscuit Strawberry Shortcake and Sour Cream Pound Cake Strawberry Shortcake . But first... The Strawberry Shortcake Line-Up An InLinkz Link-up Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake This dessert was the end of a wonderful food day to celebrate my 18th wedding anniversary. We had already indulged in quiche, rhubarb pie , bouillabaise , and a great bottle of wine.  I created the crust with leftover biscuits from my  Laminated Biscuit Strawberry Shortcake ! Ingredients Crust 1 C crushed graham crackers 1 C biscuit crumbs (or just use more graham crackers) 3/4 C ground ...

Jake and I are celebrating 18 years of marriage tomorrow. That's a whole lifetime...well, at least the time it takes for a child to be considered an adult. On one hand it certainly feels like a lifetime; on the other, it seems to have passed in the blink of an eye. In this past eighteen years, we've had two boys, lived in two states and five different houses, and juggled probably a dozen different jobs between us. We've traveled to Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona; we've visited Italy and Costa Rica. We've SCUBA'd, zip-lined, canoed, and tangoed. It's been an amazing adventure. Under the Wedding Maple at Owen R. Cheatham Redwood Grove, Grizzly Creek Redwoods State Park But it's also been work. A lot of work. Don't let anyone tell you that marriage is easy. Maybe that is what makes the celebrations all the more sweet. So, why cheesecakes? you ask. Well, we had seven cheesecakes at our weddi...