Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Last month I took part in a virtual dinner party and read The Lost Family  by Jenna Blum . And, as always, when I really enjoy an author's work, I jump in grab as many of their books as I can. In this case, I picked up the two that I could find and dug into The Stormchasers*  immediately. On the Page The Stormchasers was a very quick read; I think I read it in just two sittings. The story centers on fraternal twins Karena and Charles who haven't seen each other in twenty years when a tragedy drives a wedge between them just after their eighteenth birthday. Fast forward two decades and Karena receives a phone call from a hospital that her brother is there. Charles is a storm chaser (think Twister !) who follows tornadoes and relates them to the storms in his head; he has bipolar disorder. So, she drops everything and rushes to the hospital, not knowing what she'll find. By the time she arrives, he has checked himself out. So, Karena, a seasoned reporter, j...

Welcome to the June edition of the Fantastical Food Fight. I look forward to this event every single month. It's coordinated by Sarah of  Fantastical Sharing of Recipes   and you can get   more information about it  here . This month, we were given the challenge of making something with seafood. I have no dearth of seafood recipes, especially since we are members of a CSF (community-supported fishery) and receive a share of fresh-caught seafood on a regular basis. Just last week I bought a whole halibut from them during a special Saturday sale. You'll see this recipe next month... But when I came home, my husband had already filleted it. "Did you take photos of the process?!" I asked. No, I'm not a food blogger , he answered. "But I am!" I cried. Next time,  he said, but rather unconvincingly. Back to the event at hand. Seafood, huh? I thought about doing a variation on my Abalone à la Meunière or Pickled Shrimp or fish en papil...

I was looking at ways to churn butter in my food processor, but the boys insisted, "Mom, let us do. We're going to shake it in a jar." Sounds fine . Apparently, they've done this with my mom several times. And while I know there is a more simple - and less messy - way to accomplish turning cream into butter, I never turn down a chance to let the Kitchen Elves do their thing. Ingredients 2 C whipping cream salt and fresh herbs are optional (I wanted them, they vetoed) Also needed: quart mason jar with lid, mesh strainer, cheesecloth Procedure Pour cream into a lidded jar, filling it up about 2/3 full.  We repeated the process to finish the entire pint. Next time I'll get a bigger jar.  Shake.  I'm not kidding.  Just shake. We put on some good music and shook that jar like a maraca. Once the cream is to the point where it's holding peaks, place a mesh strainer and cheesecloth over a mixing bowl and compress the cream with a spoon...

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce...

Here we are at the third #KitchenMatrixCookingProject post for June. This month, Karen of  Karen's Kitchen Stories  selected our recipes. This week she has us looking at Corn + 12 Ways. You can read more about our project:  here . We'd love to have you join us. And, if you don't have a copy of his cookbook, you can read  his corn matrix online . Now that it's corn season, I am looking forward to trying several of Bittman's ideas such as corn and coconut milk, corn with saffron, and corn with crab cakes! Before I get to my selection, here's what the other bloggers made... Getting Corn-y An InLinkz Link-up Corn Salad with Shrimp and Fennel Fronds I actually bought corn for our Fathers' Day feast, knowing that I needed to make a Bittman corn recipe. So this was perfect. I did adapt slightly as my corn wasn't as fresh as I'd like to eat it raw, so I blanched it. And I swapped in fennel fronds for the tarragon. And it was definit...

Welcome to the June edition of  Food'N'Flix . This month, Kelley of  Simply Inspired Meals  is hosting; she invited us to watch  The Incredibles *. You can read her invitation:  here .  On the Screen Let me start with this: I have no idea how many times I have seen this movie. More than a dozen. Definitely. It was one of my boys' favorites...and I can't believe it's been fourteen years since its release. And this weekend, we re-watched it twice. Once because we were headed out to see the sequel; and once because I needed to pay more attention to the food. A quick synopsis: Mr. Incredible (secret identity Bob Parr) and Elastigirl (secret identity Helen Parr) were always saving lives and battling evil. But they retreated into the suburbs, hiding and adopting civilian identities live a normal life with their three kids, Violet, Dash and Jack-Jack. Then they are forced back in action. And this time, their crime-stopping involves their kids. Whil...

Tomorrow we're celebrating Fathers' Day, so I decided to see if any of the Festive Foodies wanted to join me in sharing some recipes for all the dads in our lives. I chuckled when I saw the line-up; Coleen, Ellen, and I must be cooking for carnivores! And, funny thing: I didn't realize when I offered to host this event that I had set the posting date  before  Fathers' Day, so, there wasn't any way it could be our real Fathers' Day menu. Whoops. This was our pre-Fathers' Day dinner instead. Tomorrow night, we are having my parents over and Jake will be grilling our actual Fathers' Day feast: marinated quail, wild salmon, top sirloin, and fresh corn. I baked two Key Lime pies and will make a green salad, too. If you're celebrating tomorrow, what's on your menu? The Dads' Day Eats Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla is serving Chorizo Deviled Eggs, Crusted Steaks, and Café Liégeois Coleen of The Redhead Baker offers Whiskey G...