Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Selefina spices. Complimentary product was provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links. However, all opinions expressed here are my own. When a contact from  Selefina * asked me if I would like to sample their new line, I looked through the website and let her know which of their products intrigued me. One that I ordered was their dried Hibiscus Petals . We don't drink a lot of soda in our household. But when we do, I usually make the syrup and add sparkling water. That's it! In this case, I decided to make a hibiscus simple syrup and drop a candied hibiscus in the bottom of the glass for a garnish And this syrup process is easily doubled or even tripled if you want to make more at one time. It keep in the fridge for awhile. I honestly am not sure how long as it never lasts long in my house. Hibiscus Simple Syrup 1 cup organic granulated sugar 1 cup water 1 Tablespoon dried hibiscus petals Place all of th...

It's hard to believe that January flew by so quickly. Here we are in February for the second 2021 installment of our #EattheWorld project, being spearheaded by Evelyne of  CulturEatz . Here's  her challenge . This month, we are sharing Sudanese recipes. Here's the #EattheWorld line-up for Sudan... Palatable Pastime: Best Easy Hummus   Magical Ingredients: Sudanese Tamia   A Day in the Life on the Farm: Sudanese Peanut Stew   Pandemonium Noshery: Kamounia - Sudanese Beef   Sneha’s Recipe: Gurasa - Sudanese Flatbread  Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Red Lentil Soup (Sudanese Addas)   Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Basbousa and Karkadé Making Miracles:  Sudanese Rice and Potato Goulash   Kitchen Frau:  Peanut Butter Creamed Spinach and Sudanese Peanut Butter Meringues When I saw the destination, I started researching and immediately tried a recipe for Asida , a cooked wheat gruel that is particularly popular in Sudan, as well as in Saudi ...

Today is our final May post for our Kitchen Matrix Project, named after Mark Bittman's  Kitchen Matrix  cookbook. You can read about the year-long project:  here . This month, I chose the recipes and went with a Latin theme. So, we have worked with masa; we made salsa; we braised carnitas. And so on...you get the idea. Next month, Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories selected our recipes. Stay tuned! This week I chose Ice Pops + 12 ways, but couldn't decide what to make. I love the idea of ice pops because you can customize them and it's not as time consuming as making homemade ice cream. If you don't have a copy of the cookbook, you can read his versions online . I wanted to make a few different versions, but time got away from me and I opted to make ice pops with Mexican Agua de Jamaica . It seemed to fit the theme...and I did make half of them boozy by adding a splash of tequila to the mix. In case you're curious, Bittman has fruity ice pop suggestions ...

When Thursday's dinner crew decided to cook and serve a meal with Mexican dishes, I asked them about special beverages from that country and they opted to make Agua de Jamaica and Horchata .  Agua de Jamaica translates to 'hibiscus water' and is an infusion of dried hibiscus flowers* and sweetener. It's easy to make and perfect as an ahead-of-time concoction. Some people call it 'hibiscus tea,' but as tea technically requires leaves from the camellia bush, I would go with 'hibiscus tisane,'  but 'cooler' works, too. Ingredients  makes 1-1/2 quarts of concentrate Concentrate 2 C organic hibiscus flowers 8 C cold water Cooler  makes 6 servings 1 C concentrate 1/2 C simple syrup (you can see a recipe here ) 4 C water Also needed: ice Procedure Concentrate Place hibiscus flowers in the bottom of a large pot. Pour in cold water. Bring water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 10 mi...

When I saw this at Whole Foods this evening, I was mesmerized. First, the label was pink - I rarely see that on a beer; second, it's a Saison - more on that later; and third, it's from Bison Brewing .  I drink, and enjoy, anything from Bison. Anything. Their honey-basil ale is a perennial favorite. And I always wait anxiously for the holidays when I can track down their gingerbread beer. The first word that comes to mind when I tried Saison de Wench: haunting.  Named for The Beer Wench , Ashley Routson, Saison de Wench starts with a perfumey aroma of rose petals. It's not heady, old-lady. It's subtly floral, but unmistakable. It's goes down smooth and then more earthy notes emerge. And it finishes with a bite of lemongrass that lingers on the palate. Haunting. Jake and I battled over the bottle. I probably should have opened two.  Here are the brewing specs...for the geeks. Farmhouse Ale Brewed with Botanicals ABV: 6.0% IBUs: 20 Hops*:...

  To accompany our braised lamb shanks with rose harissa, I poured some Headspinner Prosecco over wild hibiscus flowers in syrup. Cin cin!

In my usual weekly blog crawl, I came across a recipe from girlichef that I had to make for my parents' international Christmas Eve dinner: Ponche Navideño , a Mexican Christmas punch made with fruits and spices. It sounded perfect. So I jotted down the ingredients and headed over to our local Mexican market, prepared to go on a ponche scavenger hunt through the aisles. No need. As soon as I walked into the produce section, there was an entire display with all of the ingredients I had on my list...and then some. There was even a printed recipe for ponche - written in Spanish! - that would have been helpful if I actually read Spanish. I stood there for a bit, comparing girlichef's recipe with what I could make out on the market recipe. Then I picked and chose and came up with my own combination. I skipped the prunes and halved the sugar but added quince and dried hibiscus blossoms. Here goes... 12 tejocotes (hawthorne apples) 6 guayabas (guavas) 6 tamarindo pods (tamarin...