Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Deb from  Kahakai Kitchen  is our   Cook the Books   hostess for this round (December 2018-January 2019); she chose   Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers by Sara Ackerman .*  You can read Deb's invitation:  here .  I definitely needed an easy read this month. Between life, work, school, and the holidays, this was a great book to look forward to at the end of the day.  And, despite the craziness of the season, I carved out time to read as I crawled into bed each night. While I am not lucky enough - like host Deb and author Sara - to live in Hawaii, I do have ties there. My dad grew up on Oahu - after his family immigrated from the Philippines - and I spent many, many summers there as a kid. Jake and I honeymooned on Kauai and went back with both sides of our family a few years later.  My parents have taken the boys to Oahu - to see where Nonno lived, where he went to school, and to experience some of our favorite haunts. Can you say ...

Deb from Kahakai Kitchen  is hosting this month's  Food'N'Flix . And we are watching, or rewatching as the case may be, Stranger than Fiction .  Click to see Deb's  invitation . from imdb.com This was a surprisingly charming film with a rockstar cast. I was more than a little surprised to see Will Ferrell depart from his usual goofball character and display some dramatic acting chops. Maggie Gyllenhaal was fantastic. And Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, and Queen Latifah all sparkled in their roles - not like disco ball sparkly, but crystal vase sparkly. Elegant and subdued. Impressive. My husband Jake claimed that I have seen the movie before. It didn't seem familiar. However, I am guilty of renting movies, popping them in, and getting distracted with a multitude of projects while he sits and watches it. So, this time, I shut down my laptop, placed my beads out of reach, and didn't stick anything in the oven that needed babysitting. I'm not going...

Dolcelatte literally means 'sweet milk' in Italian. And while the label 'sweet' is definitely applies to this bleu-veined soft Italian cheese, it's a lot more complex than that. I was inspired to augment this cheese with even more flavor layers. I served this cheese smeared on a slice of bresaola, topped with chopped macadamia nuts, and dotted with bee pollen...all atop a slice of ciabatta. Che squisito !