Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month I am hosting Food'N'Flix and have the group watching Spirited Away . You can read my invitation here . And I will give my thoughts about the movie in another post. It just inspired me to try all sorts of Asian recipes!  First up:  Bò Nướng Hành Hương,  the Vietnamese version of Japanese Nikumaki which is beef wrapped around green onions, then grilled. I prefer the Vietnamese version as it has more spices for flavor, giving the meat a sweet, sour, and salty taste. And, perhaps, it's a ubiquitous Asian dish because a friend mentioned that it looked like a Korean BBQ dish. Ingredients  makes 4 servings 1 pound beef tenderloin steaks, pounded thin 2 green onions ½ Tablespoon five spice powder ½ Tablespoon tamarind paste 1 teaspoon honey 1 teaspoon soy sauce or gluten-free tamari 1 clove garlic, finely minced 2 Tablespoons canola oil 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil + more for drizzling Also needed: 100% cotton twine for tying ...

In February I saw a post from one of my favorite bloggers - Wendy at  A Day in the Life on the Farm  - and I realized that they've been having a muffin party for years without me. LOL. I emailed the host, Stacy of  Food Lust People Love  and got the scoop: "...last Monday of the month and no themes. We've been baking together since August 2015! Only one rule, you must use the muffin method (folding wet ingredients with dry - no creaming butter and sugar, etc.) to bake muffins." Oh, my goodness...is  that  the muffin rule? That makes total sense. But I had no idea.  In my house we've always said that if it's 'naked' as in frosting-free, it's a muffin; if there's frosting, then it's a cupcake. Turns out there's more to it than that. In any case, I jumped in. This is my second month participating with the #MuffinMonday bloggers. Here's the line-up for this reveal... Celebratory Gluten-Free Strawberry Muffins fr...

Each month The Cake Slice Bakers are offered a selection of cakes from the current book we are baking through. This year it is  The European Cake Cookbook  by Tatyana Nesteruk*. We each choose one cake to bake, and then on the 20th - never before - we all post about our cake on our blogs. There are a few rules that we follow, but the most important ones are to have fun and enjoy baking & eating cakes!  Follow our  Facebook ,  Instagram , and  Pinterest  pages where you can find all of our cakes, as well as inspiration for many other cakes. You can also click on the links below to take you to each of our cakes. If you have a blog and are interested in joining The Cake Slice Bakers and baking along with us, please send an email to thecakeslicebakers at gmail dot com for more details.  The Cake Slice Bakers also have a new Facebook group called  The Cake Slice Bakers and Friends . This group is perfect for those who do not ha...

This is how inspiration works in my kitchen. Last night, it resulted in these cookies. I was dubious that the ingredients would actually result in a cookie, but they did! One of my best friends emailed me this photo. Another one of his friends had scribbled this down at swim practice. The only words in the email: "If you want to try…they are soooooo goooooooood!!!" Okay. Sold. So, I went to the website she references and found a slightly different recipe . Then, because I can't follow a recipe to save my life - well, I probably could to save my life - I slightly adapted it. I used three different kinds of nut butter, swapped out the vanilla for bourbon, and added hemp seeds. Ingredients 1/2 C bourbon pecan peanut butter (I bought mine at Mouth ) 1/2 C raw almond butter 1/2 C raw peanut butter 1/2 C honey (I used pine honey) 1 T bourbon 2 eggs, room temperature ½ t baking soda 2 T hemp seeds 1 T instant coffee 1/3 C semi-sweet chocolate chips ...

When we were planning his family birthday dinner, R requested seared ahi. When I asked if he wanted it as the main dish or an appetizer, he shrugged, "It doesn't matter. Just as long as I get seared ahi." Done. I decided to marinate ahi in a spicy marinade, sear it, then serve it with rice noodle bowls. Delish. Remember: since you're eating it (mostly) raw, you need to purchase sashimi grade ahi and you should eat it the same day you buy it. We use gluten-free tamari since his best friend can't eat gluten. But use whatever you have in your cupboard. Ingredients  serves 4 as an entree and 6 to 8 as an appetizer 2 lb sashimi grade ahi tuna 1/3 C organic tamari or gluten-free soy sauce + more for drizzling 2 T sesame oil + more for drizzling 1/3 C canola oil, divided in half 1 fresh jalapeno, thinly sliced on the bias 2 cloves garlic, peeled and pressed 1 pinch red pepper chili flakes 1/3 C sake black sesame seeds for garnish ...

It's time for Fish Friday Foodies' October event. We are a group of seafood-loving bloggers, rallied by Wendy of  A Day in the Life on the Farm , to   share fish and seafood recipes on the third Friday of the month. This is, easily, my favorite recipe sharing event of the month. I always come away with a list of recipes that I just have to try! This month, Claire of Sprinkles and Sprouts is hosting. She asked us to toss some fish or seafood into pasta and share it with you all.  So, after three years of being gluten-free - he doesn't have Celiac disease or any other medical condition that requires him to be gluten-free - Jake has decided he will ease back into gluten, but he does want to focus more on consuming lower carbs. And, after three years, of adapting recipes or, sometimes, making two different dishes for dinner, I am elated. But I still have a cupboard full of gluten-free pasta! So, I'm sharing this recipe with gluten-free pasta, locally-caught wild...

This is going to be a much more productive month for my  Foodie Reads Challenge . Earlier this month I was unpacking (yes, we have been in this house for a year!) and uncovered a box of foodie reads that I have yet to read. Sweet! I happily dove into this one and finished it last week. Today, I'm sharing thoughts about  On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta   by Jen Lin-Liu * .  Lin-Liu is a Chinese-American journalist and owner/chef at Black Sesame Kitchen, her restaurant and cooking school in Beijing. This is part odyssey, part travelogue, part documentary and commentary on the state of the female condition as individuals and wives, and part cookbook in a tiny way. She does include several recipes per region that she's visited in the narrative. On the Page On the Noodle Road is Lin-Liu's attempt to unearth the answer to the question: Did Marco Polo really bring noodles from China to Italy? And, if not, from where did they rea...

I've followed the blog Manu's Menu for several years. So, when Manu posted that she was looking for a few bloggers to test recipes and post a review of her upcoming cookbook, I was definitely game. She grew up in Italy and I've always found her recipes like a homecoming of sorts. I miss Rome, especially when I visit local farmers' markets and make homemade pasta. The first recipe I tried was her Prawn and Zucchini sauce. It was so easy, delicate, and delicious. But, as it was a weeknight, I didn't have time to try one of her pasta recipes. This past weekend, on a leisurely afternoon, I decided to make the same sauce and use it with one of her hand-rolled pastas.  D and I had just gone to a farmers' market and picked up fresh summer squash and fresh squash blossoms. You can read all about that adventure here . I emailed Manu and told her I was thrilled to have a gluten-free pasta recipe to try. She cautioned that the gluten-free dough is...