Culinary Adventures with Camilla

In 2020, COVID jumpstarted my forays into sourdough baking and my starter - that I was gifted from a friend - was named Dough-ba Fett. He flourished. I made boule after boule; I even used Dough-ba in English Muffins , Puff Pastry , and Croissants . But, after two and a half years, I murdered Dough-ba. Yikes! Well, it was really more of neglect than malice. And, when I went to grab Dough-ba's jar from the fridge, he was completely dried and a little bit molded.  I hopped into the Secret Sourdough Society to which I belong and asked if anyone local to me had some starter to share. I drove over, picked up the starter, and fed it as soon as I returned home. Then I fed and discarded throughout the week until my new starter was bubbly and vigorous.  In fact, he made quite a mess! It was just in time for making some boules before my mother-in-law and father-in-law arrived for a quick visit. I know she loves my bread. When I was actively baking boules all the time, I experimented with...

This is the July #TheCakeSliceBakers event. Since this is only my second event this year, I'll recap what we are all about... In this group, we are given a selection of three cake recipes. 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 have a blog but want to join...

Amy of  Amy's Cooking Adventures  selected  The Midnight Library  by Matt Haig* for our April Lit Happens online book group. While this is not a cook-from-the-book group, I almost always head into the kitchen after reading any book or watching any movie.   On the Page I really had no idea what to expect from this book when I read Amy's announcement. And, in the end, I found it a fascinating premise though I didn't anticipate it starting in such a dark place. Spoiler alert - and warning - if reading about depression or a suicide attempt doesn't appeal to you, skip this book. In any case, the idea is that between life and death is a library, a library whose shelves are lined with books of how your life would have played out had you made different decisions. Nora Seed is a desperately unhappy 35-year-old who lives just outside of London. She views her life as a failure in both the personal and professional realms. She gave up on a competitive swimming career despit...

I will be sharing more about the 2020 Sin Banderas Rhône Rosé for the March 2021 #WinePW event that focuses on the wines of Washington State's Yakima Valley. Stay tuned for more on that next weekend, but I am going to be posting several of my recipes ahead of time. The participating wineries  were so generous that I have more seven pairings to share. Seriously. Seven. So, I'm starting now and will continue throughout the entire month of March. I love pairing  Rosés with chicken. I paired their 2019 with my  Shichimi Togarashi-Spiced Fried Chicken . But this 2020 was more delicate and wanted a dish that was still subtly spiced that didn't overpower the mouthfeel with crisped panko crumbs. I settled on a Thai-inspired chicken satay with peanut sauce. Just be sure to start this the day before you want to serve because the chicken marinates overnight. Ingredients serves 4 to 6 Chicken juice and zest from 1 to 2 organic limes 2 shallots, peeled and finely minced 1-inch k...

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 ...

The month, the Wine Pairing Weekend bloggers are looking at Cabernet Franc Around the World with Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm leading the discussion. You can read her invitation  here .  If you are reading this soon enough, feel free to join the Wine Pairing Weekend live Twitter chat on Saturday, December 12th at 8am Pacific. Just follow the hashtag #WinePW and be sure to add that to anything you post so we can see your tweets. In the meantime, all of these will go live before Saturday morning. Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Honey-Lemon-Sesame Drizzled Plancha'd Veggies + Garzón 2018 Reserva Cabernet Franc A Day in the Life on the Farm: Hungarian Short Ribs Paired with Dracaena Cab Franc The Quirky Cork: Francly Turkish! Turkish Cab Franc & Lamb Chops Grape Experiences: Crush On Cabernet Franc! Crushed Grape Chronicles: Cab Franc - Sailing the Loire with a Pirate Princess Exploring the Wine Glass: Championing for Cabernet Franc; The True Underdog Cooking C...