Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This month Elizabeth at Literature and Limes is hosting the Food'N'Flix group as we watch Moonrise Kingdom .* You can read her invitation here . I had never heard of the movie, but was eager to jump in. I picked up the DVD at the library and we all nestled in to watch. Then we realized that it was directed by Wes Anderson and promptly went on a deep dive down the Wes Anderson rabbit hole. After Moonrise Kingdom , we pulled out Fantastic Mr. Fox , we streamed  Isle of Dogs , and we also sat down to watch The Royal Tenenbaums, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Rushmore  which were all available at the library. So, after our Wes Anderson exploration, I can say that his movies are eccentric, distinctive, and each frame could be printed and hung up in an artsy coffeehouse. The pacing and dialogue is understated and the soundtracks are ethereal. This is a sweet coming-of-age story where Sam and Suzy run away from home on their tiny island off the coast of New England. They had been pl...

  It's hard to believe that we're already in final month of the first quarter of 2021. This year has flown by so quickly. And, yet, it doesn't really feel as if we've turned a corner on this corona pandemic. Not  yet anyway.  Here we are in March for the third 2021 installment of our #EattheWorld project, being spearheaded by Evelyne of  CulturEatz . Here's  her challenge . This month, we are sharing recipes from Luxembourg. Here's the #EattheWorld line-up... Tara’s Multicultural Table: Kniddelen (Luxembourgish Dumplings)   Radha: Gromperekichelcher   Sugarlovespices: Luxembourg Sweet Love Pretzels   Palatable Pastime: Chicken in Riesling   Amy’s Cooking Adventures: Bouchée à la Reine (Vol-au-Vent)   Pandemonium Noshery: Bouneschlupp - Luxembourg Green Bean Soup   Culinary Adventures with Camilla: Bou’neschlupp  Kitchen Frau: Stäerzelen (Buckwheat Dumplings)   A Day in the Life on the Farm: Gromperekichelcher (Potato Pan...

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 Sue of  Palatable Pastime  is hosting this month's #FoodieExtravaganza. She asked us to help her celebrate National Noodle Month. Now that is a month I can get behind! Here's the list of our noodle creations... Instant Noodles Egg Masala by Sneha's Recipe Linguine with Salmon and Cilantro Pesto by Karen's Kitchen Stories Penang Char Kway Teow (Malaysian Noodles with Crab and Sausage) by Culinary Adventures with Camilla Sesame Ginger Noodles by A Day in the Life on...

  Okay, I'm early with this post. Really early. But I am a serial planner, a quick reader, and had a copious amount of free time during this holiday week. P.S. I Love You  by Cecilia Ahern* is going to be our book selection for our Lit Happens online book group in February 2021. Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures is hosting; she is also picking the movie, based on the book, for our Food'N'Flix group. So much fun! While Lit Happens isn't a cook from the book kinda group, I always do find inspiration in what I read and watch.  On the Page I have read this book before...years ago. And, at the time, I remember being wildly impressed that a young, single woman - it was her debut novel - could imbue her characters with such depth and understanding of not just married people but a recently widowed woman. The emotions seemed so vivid and genuine. This time around, I was still captivated enough to read it in one evening. However, I did find Holly annoyingly self-centered. Her...

Casseroles are on the menu today! Co-hosted by Christie of  A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures  and Heather of  Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks , they encouraged us: "With all this cold weather we're having, nothing will warm your family up better than a comforting casserole. Share you favorite recipes to warm your family up this winter." The Casserole Club Another Less than Traditional Zasmażana Kapusta by Culinary Adventures with Camilla Cheesy Chili Cornbread Casserole by Our Good Life Chicken & Green Bean Casserole by Sweet Beginnings Chicken Broccoli Casserole by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole by Blogghetti Chicken Enchiladas Casserole by Delaware Girl Eats Mexican Lasagna by Kate's Recipe Box Potato, Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole by Palatable Pastime Taco Lasagna by A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures Tater Tot Cowboy Casserole by Karen's Kitchen Stories Turkey Meatball Rice Casserole by Cindy's...

Welcome to September's  Improv Cooking Challenge  which is now headed up by Nichole of Cookaholic Wife . The idea: we are assigned two ingredients and are challenged to create a recipe with those two things. This month's chosen ingredients are two of my favorites: Sausage and Mustard. I thought about recreating the Sausagefest we attended a few years ago in Santa Cruz. It was a veritable smorgasbord of sausage, mustard, and beer (for the talls - the smalls had horchata!!). But time was short, so braising sausages from a favorite purveyor, D'Artagnan Gourmet Foods , and glazing fingerling potatoes with mustard in the oven was a quick and delicious dinner. You can see D'Artangnan's sausage selection: here . I have tried them all, but their Duck and Armagnac Sausage is our favorite! And here's the line-up for the rest of the year. Stay tuned... October 20: Carrots and Curry November 17: Nuts and Caramel December 15: Cinnamon and Honey ...

Pizza night at the Manns is an exercise of topping the dough with whatever happens to be in the fridge. Last night I found a package of venison sausage (thank you, Corralitos Market and Sausage Company!), a log of chevre, and leftover roasted red peppers. Sweet! It sounded like a great combination...and it was. So easy. And, by the time everyone was done with homework, pizza was ready. Pronto al tavolo! Ingredients  makes 1 large rectangular pizza approximately 10" x 13" Crust* 3/4 C white rice flour (you can use brown rice flour instead) 1/2 C tapioca flour  1/3 C sorghum flour  1/3 C buckwheat flour 1 t xanthan gum 1 t sea salt 1/2 C whole milk 1/4 C water 2-1/4 t active dry yeast (or 1 packet) 2 t organic brown sugar 1 - 2 eggs (2nd egg if the dough is too dry) 3 T olive oil + more for baking the crust Also needed: parchment paper Toppings fresh tomato sauce chevre venison sausage, cooked and thinly sliced ...

When I saw the blurb in Edible Monterey Bay 's weekly e-newsletter about Sausagefest 2012, I knew that we had to go. Sausage + Beer. And Santa Cruz Brewing Company beers at that! It worked out that we could easily make it there on our way home from San Jose. Done deal. Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing is an award-winning, local, certified organic brewery. Founded seven years ago, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing handcrafts and handbottles unfiltered, lightly carbonated ales made with organic hops and organic grains. They do not, according to their website, strive to make consistent beer; they strive for great beer. I'm good with that...I rarely do anything the same way twice. At Sausagefest, we not only had beer in our glasses; we had beer in our sausages... Teamed up with the meat-mavens at El Salchichero , Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing offered up some amazingly innovative creations. We had sausages flecked with sugar pie pumpkin, candied ginger, cloves, nutmeg, star anise, ci...

Because one of my best friends is a hunter, I get gifts of meat, lots of meat. My boys call their Uncle Brian "the best killer in the family." For this fungi dinner Brian gave me some wild boar sausages. I put Jake to work, manning the grill, despite his protests that it was his party and he shouldn't have to cook. He also grilled some monster-sized portabella mushrooms. Then I topped the grilled sausages with a white truffle mustard that I ordered from gourmet-food.com. So, technically, I didn't do anything for this dish...Brian killed the boar and had the sausages made; Jake grilled them; but I did open the jar of mustard!

Not sure that beer and cheese alone would be enough for dinner, Jenn went to Mecca Deli in Marina and picked up several varieties of German sausages, some precooked and some for the grill.  We tried bierwurst , that doesn't actually contain any beer but is usually served with beer; weisswurst , a white sausage made with veal, pork, heavy cream, white pepper, ginger and lemon; and Nürnberger Rostbratwurst  with its distinctive marjoram and caraway seed flavoring. I served them with dollops of a German mustard made with apple juice.  Due to the way veal is produced, I typically don't buy or eat it.  But last night was a tasty exception!