Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Foodie Extravaganza is where we celebrate obscure food holidays or cook and bake together with the same ingredient or theme each month. Posting day for #FoodieExtravaganza is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page  Foodie Extravaganza . We would love to have you! If you're a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our  Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board ! This month - October - we're celebrating pumpkins, hosted by Lynda at Reviews, Chews, and How-Tos . Here's what the crew is sharing. The #FoodieExtravaganza Pumpkin Patch No-Bake Pumpkin Cookies from Caroline’s Cooking Butter Roasted Pumpkin Seeds from A Day in the Life on the Farm Vegan Malaysin Red Pumpkin from Sneha’s Recipe Pumpkin Saffron Rice from Palatable Pastime Roasted Kabocha (Japanese Pumpkin Fries) from Culinary Adventures with Camilla Low-Carb Pumpkin Scones f...

A twist on Aldous Huxley's  Brave New World, m y planned 'Brave New Swirled Soup' - 'Pumpkin, Corn, and Lemongrass Soup with a Swirl of Crème Fraîche' became 'Pumpkin, Corn, and Lemongrass Soup with a Swirl of Plain Yogurt' after I sent the crème fraîche over to my parents with the boys a day early. The boys spread it on their bagels for lunch! Oye. The plain yogurt worked out fine...and makes for a silly story. Brave New World 's title comes from William Shakespeare's The Tempest.  In Act V, Scene I, Miranda exclaims: O wonder! How many godly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world, That has such people in't. The irony: Miranda, who was raised on an isolated island, is praising men not  acting in godly manner at all. Huxley uses the same irony when the "savage" John refers to what he sees as a "brave new world." It's been a long time since I've picked up eit...

Most Friday evenings all I want to do is come home from work, slip into comfy clothes, whip up a filling dinner, and lounge with my boys, playing games or watching a movie. But every now and then, Jake and I ditch the kids for uninterrupted conversation and a little romance. After seventeen years, I now know the formula for the perfect Friday night: art, libations, and food. And it fell into my lap when I saw the announcement for  Carmel Belle 's Pop-Up dinner at the  Monterey Museum of Art , La Mirada. One week late for a Valentines' celebration...but, hey, romance happens all year long, right? No need to stick to February 14th. And thank goodness I didn't hesitate, the tickets sold out in less than a day for this inaugural event. So, along with 58 other people, we lined up, checked in, and were ushered down the corridor to a cocktail reception with drinks from the elegantly effervescent and lovely Lauren of Lauren De Vine Beverages . I had seen her post on facebo...

Today is my mom's birthday. Happy birthday, Nonna! So, last night I asked the boys if we should bake her a cake. They both shook their heads. Pie, they decided. Okay . Pumpkin pie. Okay . And you have to roast some pumpkins while we do our homework. Oh, okay. The boys delivered her pie this morning on their way to school. I didn't have any pumpkins, but I had two kabocha squash from our High Ground Organics CSA . So, while they boys finished up homework, I made some kabocha puree. I've always called it a Japanese pumpkin. Close enough. Ingredients for one 11" pie 2 C all-purpose flour 1/2 C white whole wheat flour 1/2 C finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour 1 C butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes dash of ground cinnamon 3 to 4 T ice water 3 to 4 T Frangelico 4 C kabocha puree (make a puree like this: click here ) 4 eggs 2 C organic heavy whipping cream 1/2 C organic granulated sugar spices to taste (D used some ground ci...

This morning when we were at the market, Riley asked if I would make a pumpkin pie today. I agreed. And he handed me a Japanese kabocha squash. Can you use this? Okay. I roasted it and made  pumpkin puree . This afternoon I had the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf help me. The Crust 2 C white whole wheat flour 1/4 C ground almonds 1/2 C powdered sugar pinch of salt 3/4 C butter Mix the flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt; rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in 1 teaspoon of water with a fork until the mixture forms a ball. Roll out between two pieces of parchment paper. Press gently into a pie pan. Chill in the freezer until ready to bake. The Pie 3 C  pumpkin puree 1 C heavy cream 3 eggs 1/3 cup ginger syrup 3 T organic brown sugar ground cinnamon ground cloves ground nutmeg pure vanilla extract Just a note, Dylan is a spice fiend...and he doesn't measure. He just adds spices until it smells the way that ...