Culinary Adventures with Camilla

When we weren't hiking, kayaking, or playing poker during our 10-day camping trip last week, I found myself in the hammock, enjoying my books. It was the perfect opportunity to get through more books for my  Foodie Reads Challenge . I finished four books and started a fifth. It was a good vacation! Today, I'm sharing  Everything We Keep  by Kerry Lonsdale* which is not a foodie book per se . But it was a book that I read long into the evening by flashlight after everyone else had snuggled into sleeping bags. And, since the main character is a baker and owns a c afé , I'm counting it! On the Page Right there, on the first page, I was riveted. Aimee is in a church on her wedding day. Except, instead of wearing her wedding dress and marrying her childhood sweetheart, she's clad in black and there for her fiancé's funeral. Everything We Keep  is rife with plot twists and turns as well as love, pain, and healing. I rarely chatter about the books I'm ...

This week Cynthia of  Feeding Big  asked us share some back-to-school recipes. Since my kids aren't sandwich lovers, I try to get creative. Love these Other Ideas Cinnamon Pecan Bars   by Family Around the Table Gingered Shrimp and Veggie Bowl  by A Day In The Life on The Farm Ham and Cheese Rolls  by Cooking With Carlee Whole Wheat Olive Oil Crackers  by Caroline’s Cooking Our Kinda Sandwich 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. Though my boys are decidedly not sand...

I love the idea behind the Crazy Ingredient Challenge (CIC). In the CIC, we are assigned two ingredients to cook and create. Lori of Lori's Culinary Creations   and Kelly of  Passion Kneaded are our fearless leaders. So, here goes... July's Crazy In gredient Challenge = avocado and cumin With avocado and cumin, my first thought was something with guacamole. But that seemed too easy. So, I ended up making an entree salad with pesto, pinto beans, grilled summer squash, avocado, and a cumin-honey yogurt. I feel so fortunate to have just gotten a bounty of summer goodness from one of my favorite farmers, Jamie of Serendipity Farms . The squash, the herbs, the fresh pea shoots. And I had lemons from my parents' tree. I know it sounds like a crazy combination of flavors, but this is for Crazy Ingredient Challenge after all. It really was delicious. And my Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf ate the cumin-honey yogurt by the spoonful for dessert over fresh blackberries. ...

This week Cynthia of  Feeding Big  asked us share some back-to-school recipes. Can you believe that summer vacation is almost over? It's hard to imagine, but we had a great vacation and I'm looking ahead to lunches that everyone will enjoy. Lunchbox Ideas... Lunch Box Mini BBQ Meatballs by Family Around the Table   Avocado Dip by A Day In The Life on The Farm And I decided to share one of our lunchbox favorites: hummus. Well, it's not really hummus as my little one is sensitive to garbanzo beans. D developed a sensitivity to garbanzo beans several years ago, so we get creative with our hummus. He still pines for "the regular, plain old hummus" but it's gotten to the point where he no longer suffers through the stomach pain. So, we make hummus with  black lentils ,  roasted carrots ,  golden cauliflower , though roasted beet is one of our favorites. I put containers of hummus in their lunches with either vegg...

So, he did not turn around and ask me to dance, but there was something about this image that reminded me of Dirty Dancing  when Patrick Swayze gets Jennifer Grey to dance on a log! But I'm getting ahead of myself... This month's  Food'N'Flix  event was hosted by Chef Sarah Elizabeth and her blog of the same name .You can read her invitation:  here . She asked us to watch - or rewatch as is probably the case with everyone! -  Dirty Dancing .* On the Screen Let me say that it disturbs me to no end that I now have to clarify: Dirty Dancing , the original one. Why is there a need to remake such a classic movie?!? Okay, it's not a classic in same sense of the  Casablanca  era of films, but it is a classic for anyone who was a teen in the 80s. Why ruin a classic? Back to the point with a brief summary... The Housemans are vacationing in the Catskills. It's 1963. 'Baby', whose real name is Frances, wants to change the world, while her ...

This week Cynthia of Feeding Big asked us share some back-to-school recipes. Yes, back-to-school. It's hard to believe that summer vacation is almost over. Sad, but true. Grateful for our annual summer camping trip. We're ten years in to a ten-day trek around Northern California. This year, we went down the Eastern Sierras, camping in Lassen National Forest and Inyo National Forest. So darn picturesque. Jake and I love creating these memories for our boys. It makes their eight-week summers seem a little less short! Manns at Little Virginia Lake Manns on the trail to Crystal Lake Manns above Marsh Lake Okay, back to the reason for this post...some great lunch box ideas from my blogging friends.   Creamy Cantaloupe Pops by Family Around the Table   Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips by Caroline's Cooking   S'More Thumbprint Cookies by A Day In The Life On The Farm   Bean and Bacon Soup by Palatable Pastime Warrior P...

Here we are at the July 2017 event for The French Winophiles, a wine-swilling, food-loving group started by Christy of  Confessions of a Culinary Diva  and, now, jointly coordinated by Jill of  L'occasion   and Jeff of  Food Wine Click . This month, Jeff has us heading, virtually, to Southwest France. Here's Jeff's invitation:  here . If you are reading this early enough, we'll be chatting on Saturday, July 15th at 11am EDT. Join us on Twitter using the hashtag #Winophiles. Or come check out the stream later and try to join us next month. To the Southwest of France... We're referring to the region that's inland and south from the Bordeaux and Saint Emilion regions, Marcillac is a small area, but the area vineyards of Cahors, Gaillac and Bergerac are extensive and best known for their reds. The Cahors area produces some of the richest and darkest red wines in France, primarily using the Malbec grape variety, sometimes referred to as "black wine....