Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Murder in the South of France by Susan Kiernan-Lewis* was the first in a series about character Maggie Newberry, an American who heads to France to identify the body of her sister who has purported died from a drug overdose. I blazed through this one in a couple of hours and jumped right in to the second book Murder à la Carte , actually preferring the second to the first. However, after reading these two, I think I'm done with the chick-lit mystery genre for awhile. On the Page image from amazon.com As I already mentioned Maggie heads to France to identify the body of her sister only to discover that she also has a niece about whom no one knew. Maggie makes some rather unbelievable choices and decisions, especially regarding Laurent. The Newberrys seems oddly detached from the death of their daughter Elise even though they end up taking custody of the granddaughter. And the authorities were written as uncaring and incompetent. I think the only thing that kept me ...

Bánh mì  is a Vietnamese term for all kinds of bread, derived from bánh (bread) and mì (wheat). But, more often than not, it refers to the baguette which was introduced by the French during its colonial period. But when we say it, we're usually referring to the Vietnamese sandwiches that my boys adore. These sandwiches combine French ingredients such as baguettes, pâté, and mayonnaise with native Vietnamese ingredients such as cilantro, cucumber, pickled carrots, and daikon. "Mom, can you make bánh mì for my birthday party?" Sure can.  And I love that it's not even a question in my mind that the kids he invited will eat it! "And can you make them with meatballs?" Okay. R had invited some of his closest friends to join us at the Mt. Madonna Range for a very belated birthday celebration; his birthday was in June. Then we planned to come back home for a lunch.  Bánh mì  could be done mostly ahead of time, so it was the perfect po...

As my Fresh Tasty Valentines event enters its final stretch, I wanted to share a recipe from a new  BenBella Vegan  title: Dining at the Ravens by Jeff and Joan Stanford. I'm not going to say too much about it as I will be kicking off a blog tour for them on the 9th. Check back for that full review and another recipe then. For this event,  BenBella Vegan  is  providing a prize package that includes five different cookbooks from their 2015 publishing releases! One #FreshTastyValentines winner will receive a print copy of the following cookbooks:  The Plant-Based Journey ,  Dining at The Ravens ,  Plant-Powered Families ,  The China Study Quick & Easy Cookbook ,  and   The Plant Pure Nation Cookbook . Enter the giveaway below! Carrot Pâté Canapés   makes 1-1/2 C of pâté slightly adapted - recipe shared with permission I selected an easy - and versatile - recipe. It was quick to put together and delici...

When looking at different recipes and menus for a Game of Thrones themed luncheon for Brian , I came across photos for Jon Snow's Pork Pies. I didn't delve too far into what made them special; I just decided to make some fennel scented meat pies with an absinthe crust. Yum! Absinthe Pâte Brisée 2-1/2 C all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling 1/2 C finely ground blanched cashews or cashew flour 1/2 t fennel pollen 1 C butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes 3-4 T ice water 3-4 T abinsthe fleur de sel Place the flour, ground cashews, fennel pollen, and cold butter in a large bowl. Use the patry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 T at a time, alternating with the absinthe, until mixture just begins to clump together. If you squeeze some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and cut again. Note that too much w...

You can read my tirade about national food holidays by clicking here . I will repeat my sentiment if you don't feel like reading multiple paragraphs about it; in summary: only in America would we designate an entire day to celebrating food - and I use that term loosely. "National Gumdrop Day" was yesterday. "National Sticky Bun Day" is next Tuesday. Argh. No, we do not celebrate those days in my house. But I will get behind a celebration of whole foods. So, when "National Almond Day" popped up on my radar, for today, I thought to myself, " that I can acknowledge." Here are a few ways you can add almonds to your table... Moroccan-Spiced Almonds make a great snack. Add almonds to meatballs instead of breadcrumbs as I did in my version of Albóndigas. Turn ground almonds into an exotic, impressive dessert: Frangipane-Fig Tart . And one more...a delicious, albeit time-consuming, appetizer: Triple Mushroom Pâté. What's your favorite w...

Every year, for the past five years, we've headed to the not-too-distant wilderness for an annual Halloween camping trip. Sugar-Nazi that I am - notice the witch costume which isn't too far from the truth most days of the year! - this camping trip is a way to ensure that my kids get to enjoy Halloween festivities such as trick-or-treating (just the sites for the families who have joined us) but we aren't bombarded with a bunch of stuff we aren't going to eat. We have a pumpkin carving contest, we potluck, we trick-or-treat, we camp, and we have a blast. We all bring appetizers, whatever we want to toss on the grill, and shared potluck dishes for an evening feast. I won't tip my witch's hat before the trip, but I'm excited about the dishes I've picked as my contributions this year. Last year I brought a pumpkin soup, some pumpkin-shaped cheese balls, and pumpkin-ginger truffles . But my favorite dish was a Pumpkin Pâté. Pumpkin Pâté 2 C pumpkin puree...

Due to waaay too much vino on Friday night, I am getting a late start on blogging about the food I served that evening. We celebrated Jake's 36th birthday with 'A Fungi Feast for My Fun Guy.'  First up: a triple mushroom pâté. I served this with raisin-rosemary crackers from Trader Joe's. I started with a recipe from Gourmet magazine from 1997 and tweaked a bit to come up with this version. It's a pretty involved recipe, but it's well worth the effort. 1 1/2 C chicken stock 2 C chopped shitake mushroom 2 C chopped trumpet mushroom 2 C chopped crimini mushroom 1 stick butter 2 minced shallots 4 minced garlic cloves 1/4 cup wine 1 C organic heavy cream 4 large eggs 1/4 cup ground almond meal 1/4 C chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 t chopped fresh thyme 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs 1-1/2 T fresh lemon juice 2 t pink Himalaya salt 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper Butter loaf pan, then line bottom and sides with parchment paper and butter pape...