I should have re-arranged the salad (aka bread) so you could see the lovely mound of heirloom tomatoes in the bottom of the bowl. You can see the bread (toasted croutons, actually), the basil, red onions, corn and fresh mozzarella cheese. Oh, and the little tiny drizzle of extra-good EVOO.

This recipe came from a contributor (Georgia Pellegrini) on The Pioneer Woman’s website. It’s not on Ree’s own blog, but the recipe section of her website where people all over contribute their own recipes. There’s a huge treasure-trove of recipes there if you haven’t ever looked. Anyway, this has been in my to-try file for awhile. I adore panzanella salad (the Italian bread salad with tomatoes, garlic and basil) and with good tomatoes starting to be available, they’re so perfect for this kind of salad. And although this bears a great resemblance to a panzanella, this isn’t the same thing. I also took some liberties with the salad – I was serving it to 4 girlfriends for lunch – as an entrée – and I wanted it to have a bit more substance, so I added in the fresh corn and fresh mozzie.

What makes this salad different is the making of “tomato water.” I know, sounds weird. Into a blender you put 3-4 tomatoes (heirlooms or extra ripe and tasty red ones, juicy ones), a bunch of basil, a bunch of cilantro, half of a red onion, sliced thin, garlic and some white wine vinegar. This gets blended up into a sludge. It seems like a waste – I know, I know – but trust me on this. The end result is worth it. It may seem like you’re throwing away a good bunch of tomatoes. The picture at left is what the sludge looks like. It’s draining in a strainer lined with cheesecloth. In the photo it looks just awful, I know, but I used some green zebra tomatoes and yellow ones, and only one red tomato, so of course it’s going to look green and muddy. If you want it to be clear and bright, maybe with a slight pink tinge, use all red tomatoes. I saved the sludge – don’t know for what yet – maybe soup? Gazpacho?

Now, after half an hour of draining, you end up with about a cup of tomato water. Here’s a photo of what that looked like. Not very pretty either.

BUT, it’s really tasty stuff. Trust me on this one. I took a tiny teaspoon of it – so I’d know what it tasted like – and was very pleasantly surprised at how flavorful it was. It’s not like tomato juice at all. Each person got about 1/4 cup in the bowl. Then you start adding all the other ingredients, with the croutons added last, along with a few pretty basil leaves. I think I probably used too many croutons, so you can vary how many based on your family’s likes/dislikes.

When you bake the bread croutons – do try to leave them so they’re slightly soft in the center – I followed the recipe and the croutons were rock hard, so each of us had to mush the bread around into the tomato water at the bottom of the bowl to soften it some. But then, that’s the whole idea anyway. I could have tossed it all together, but it wouldn’t have looked quite so pretty.

What’s GOOD: well, I love panzanella, so I knew it was a sure-fire thing I’d like this. My friend Joan said she liked the freshness of it and that it was extra healthy. The tiny drizzle of EVOO on top was the only fat – although you do use some to brush on the croutons too. Still not much. I think my recipe program says there are 9 grams of fat in the salad. I think the extra work of making the tomato water was well worth it.

What’s NOT: maybe just the time spent making the tomato water. A bit of a nuisance, but it adds a lot on the flavor scale. Otherwise, it’s something you could make any evening for a quick meal. I had my granddaughter and her cousin work on pushing the sludge through the cheesecloth – it takes awhile to drain otherwise.

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This is the front of the Red Rooster in Harlem. When we had dinner there, it was nearly dark. I didn’t even think of trying to take a photo, but it looked just like the above photo which comes from Marcus Samuelsson’s website.

My granddaughter is 16. Very poised. Athletic. Pretty. Thoughtful. A terrific student. A good conversationalist. An ideal roommate in my book! We had so much fun on this trip. After spending 3 nights in D.C. we took the train up to New York City. We checked into our hotel (more on that in my next post) in the Theater District. Sabrina could hardly wait to get out on the streets. She wanted to actually see Times Square. It was just a few blocks away. She might have been a teeny bit disappointed in it by daylight. The crowds were horrendous everywhere. The next evening Powell took her on about a 5-mile walk and she got to see just a tiny bit of Central Park (Powell would only walk about 100 feet into a well-lit area), blocks and blocks of the shops on 5th Avenue, and then ended up in Times Square. At that point I think she felt she’d “been to NYC.”

Anyway, we did some window shopping our first afternoon, then returned to the hotel to change clothes and off we went to dinner. If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time you may remember awhile back I did a review of Marcus Samuelsson’s book Yes, Chef: A Memoir. If you’re at all interested in reading more about it, go to my blog post I wrote in 2012.

Chef Marcus Samuelsson has made a huge name for himself. Born in Ethiopia, he was orphaned at a young age and adopted by a Swedish family, so really, his first language is Swedish. He went to culinary school in Europe, did his stages a couple of places, then aimed for New York. He worked for some years at Aquavit, the very highly acclaimed Swedish restaurant in NYC. I think he produced a cookbook for them as well. Then he began to be noticed, and somehow got himself onto the Food Network and the rest is history, as the saying goes. He’s written 3-4 cookbooks in the last few years (obviously he has help with that) and opened several restaurants around the U.S.  The Red Rooster was first. And what order the rest of them came, I don’t know, but he has one at Lincoln Center in NYC, another at JFK airport, 3 restaurants in Sweden, AND I was blown away – how did this happen – he’s opened a restaurant here in my neck of the woods in California – a place called Marc Burger (both here in Costa Mesa, CA and Chicago). If you want to take a look at all of his restaurants, there’s a list and links on his website. This local one is located inside the Home Store at Macy’s Department Store. Who knew? I sure didn’t. I’m going to have to check it out really soon! Obviously they only serve burgers.

So, a couple of weeks before the trip I went online and made a reservation for the Red Rooster. Since it’s located in Harlem, I decided we should go early, so I had no difficulty booking a table at 5:30. Sabrina and I took the subway – her first adventure on the underground transportation system. Let me just say for the record – she didn’t like it. Not any of it. On one of our subway trips we had to change to another line at Union Station, so we actually exited out of the subway (meaning we had to pay again to go back to the subways) just so she could see the big, monstrous main hall at Union Station. She thought that was ever so cool.

Anyway, we navigated ourselves north to Harlem. Once we exited at our stop, and emerged into the streets, there was the Red Rooster about 100 feet away. So very easy. During dinner Sabrina said, “uhm, Grandma, could we, pretty please, take a taxi back to the hotel after dinner?” I said sure – $50 later. But oh well, if it made her happy! It did.

Now, down to dinner. Red Rooster has an all-Southern (American) menu, and Sabrina and I had such fun choosing. We both had a drink – mine with alcohol (that I didn’t like – it had some kind of bitters in it and it was very bitter, too bitter) but Sabrina had some kind of fancy non-alcoholic one they concocted for her. She loved hers. Here are the photos from our evening at Red Rooster. Sabrina ordered mac ‘n cheese with bacon and greens (absolutely fabulous – I had 2 bites – rich, but smooth and a great combo of cheeses). I ordered shrimp and grits, one of my favorites and this one was every bit as good as my own recipe, which you can read here on my blog.

For dessert we ordered a cobbler – I think it was peaches, served with vanilla ice cream, a side of whipped cream and a berry coulis to pour over the top. Oh my goodness, was that ever delicious. We ate every bite, I think, with me scraping the side of the gratin dish.

In doing the research for this post, I went to amazon and discovered that Marcus is just about to publish his latest cookbook, Marcus Off Duty: The Recipes I Cook at Home. It’s out in October. I ordered 2 – one for me and one for Sabrina. She likes to cook, so maybe it’ll be her first cookbook that’s truly her own. Marcus has written several cookbooks – just search his name on amazon and you’ll find them all. Now, my next thing is to go to the MarcBurger that’s right here in my area. I can’t quite visualize a restaurant in the middle of a department store kitchenware area. I’ll let you know . . .

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This may be one of the most well known parts of Julia’s kitchen – just part of the pegboards that Julia’s husband Paul made for her. Soon after moving into the house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Paul put up the pegboard on a couple of blank walls so she could see and easily access all of her precious Dehillerin copper pots. Each pot had a circle drawn around (see left side, middle where there is a pot missing). Paul designed her Cambridge kitchen.

Julia donated her intact Cambridge kitchen to the Smithsonian when she moved to California. I can hardly picture Julia being without her copper pots, but I believe she moved into an assisted living house so most likely she didn’t cook anymore. What a treasure the Smithsonian now owns! The exhibit is in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, and it was one of the busiest exhibits I saw there.

Julia had family money, as I recall reading from one of her biographies. If you’d like to read my review of Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, go to my blog post about it that I did in 2013.  So to have moved to Paris back in the 50s, to buy all those copper pots would have been a huge expense (and I mean HUGE). She didn’t buy them all at once, but over the years they lived there and only when she realized she actually needed that particular pot or pan. My recollection is that she used her family money to buy most of her copper pots.

Surely there are plenty of bloggers out there who have featured photos of Julia’s kitchen, but I found it so fun to look all around and wanted to share my take on it. Culinary history was made there. Some of her TV series (the later ones) were filmed there in her Cambridge kitchen. I wished I could have actually walked inside the kitchen – but you can view it from all 4 walls through windows. It tickled me to see the oilcloth tablecloth on the kitchen table. I couldn’t quite make out the brand of coffee pot – but it was an ordinary coffee pot. Of course, Julia didn’t live in Cambridge past the early 90’s, I think, so it would be a 80s style coffee pot. I loved the dish drainer. Hardly anyone uses those anymore. And notice the KitchenAid cobalt blue mixer.

And I thought the braided bread basket in the center of the table was so 80s. Any of you make one of those? I did – you made bread dough, (see photo at right from www.artisanbreadinfive.com)  – made braids or just strips, and wove them around an upside down ovenproof bowl. You let it rise, then you baked it – a long time – until it was very “set,” then you let it dry and sprayed it with acrylic spray and it became the bowl you served bread in, with a pretty cloth napkin in the middle of it. And you were very careful using it because it would break easily.

At left is Julia’s cookbook collection. I don’t know whether it contains all of her cookbooks she ever owned. I sort of doubt it. There were 2 Joy of Cooking books there. But also on the top shelf were most of Julia’s own published cookbooks. And then, the Cambridge phone book. And I think the bottom shelves were her boxes of her tv shows on tape or DVD.

Above also is the Legion of Honor medal Julia received in 2000. The placque said : “Julia Child was awarded the Legion d’honneur, France’s highest honor, for introducing Americans to French cuisine and cookery through her books and television shows.” It’s on loan to the Smithsonian from Julia’s family.

At the end of every program Julia filmed (I think) she said to the camera, “Bon Appetit,” with a bit of a French accent. That photo at right is SO Julia. She had such a joy of life.

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When my granddaughter Sabrina and I visited two of the Smithsonians, I didn’t take all that many photos (except in Julia Child’s kitchen, while I’ll post about next). There are several other photos I took, but they didn’t come out very well. I made the mistake of not taking along my battery charger for my good point-and-shoot camera. Of course, even though it said it was high on battery life, it really wasn’t, so nearly all the photos are from my cell phone. And although it takes great pictures, it’s easy to move your hands with such a small thing like a cell phone.

Anyway, the above were two interesting things in the Museum of American History (Smithsonian). The bottom photo is Abraham Lincoln’s mask. As I recall reading, this is not his death mask, but he actually allowed a sculptor to make a mask of his face with whatever kind of materials they used back in those days. Lincoln wasn’t very enamored with the feel of it or the constriction on his face, but he withstood it for whatever period of time it took.

The top photo you might never guess, and I thought it was so hysterical. Have you figured it out yet? Frisbees? No. White circles? Well, yes, but they’re not just decoration. They’re a display of all the different kind of beverage container lids, to-go types, available. And yes, this display was in the Smithsonian. I wonder what some of our descendants will think of that one a couple hundred years from now – they’ll think we were a bit crazy I think. Or that the folks at the Smithsonian were.

These were fun. They’re Judy Garland’s shoes she wore, the Ruby Slippers, from the Wizard of Oz. Filmed in 1938, it said. Actually the signage below doesn’t contain much other information except a bit of info about the movie itself.

And here on the right was a sign I found interesting. It says: “Changing Times, Changing First Ladies: Dolley Madison, Mary Lincoln, Edith Roosevelt, and Lady Bird Johnson are four of the first ladies who fashioned their own ways of handling the White House, families, parties and politics. Over different times and circumstances they crafted significant roles for themselves that they believed would allow them to best serve the president and the country.” I took some other pictures in the First Ladies exhibit, but all of them had glass reflections, or after looking at them I thought they weren’t really worthy of putting on the blog. I enjoyed looking at many of the china patterns designed and used by many of the first families. Most of them were relatively plain, but with ample gold decoration.

Stay tuned, as I said, in a couple of days I’ll write up Julia Child’s kitchen, also contained in the Museum of American History (Smithsonian). It’ll be mostly photos – I took a bunch.

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I’ve been home 6 days and seems like it’s taken me that whole time to get back into the swing of things. You know – unpacking my suitcase, doing laundry, grocery shopping (not a whole lot of cooking going on here, however), paying bills, talking to friends, going out to lunches and/or dinners, etc. My cousin Gary arrived on Tuesday and is with me until next week, so he and I have been busy as well. Last night we went to dinner at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen in the Downtown Disney near me. It was really good food – I had a bowl of New Orleans gumbo (very good) and a Green Goddess green salad (not very Green Goddessy in my humble opinion, but it tasted fine). We were indoors – the only big negative was that the piano musician was SO loud we could barely talk. So, afterwards, we three (my cousin Gary and an old, dear friend of mine, Carole, who lives in Bel Air and was attending a convention nearby) walked on the downtown Disney street (you feel like you’re in Disneyland, actually, but you’re not) and sat at a table at Starbucks and stayed through the nightly fireworks show. Very fun. The “street” was jam-packed with adults and children. Throughout Downtown Disney there are street entertainers (musicians, magicians, artists).

Although I’m very tech savvy, I was having the darnedest time trying to transfer my trip photos from my iPhone to my kitchen computer here, where I do all my blog writing. Finally I phoned my computer guru and he told me – oh, once you set up iCloud on your home PC, which I just did this week, it will only transfer photos taken AFTER you set it up. Good grief! No wonder I couldn’t make it work. So he coached me through attaching the phone via USB and hunting for the photos on my phone’s photostream. SO, all that said, I’m now going to start writing up some posts about the trip.

The photo above is just a taste of it since I wrote up yesterday the book I just read about Tiffany glass, Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel. This photo was one of the Tiffany panels at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. I stood in front of it for many minutes, up close, looking at the tiny pieces of glass, also examining some of the glass textures too, since the processes were a part of the historical aspect of the book.

So, stay tuned. There will be travel stories up sometime soon, with oodles of pictures. I also need to write up a post about my outdoor kitchen, which is now FINISHED. I’m so very happy with it. I need to take photos, and also find some decorations  (just some simple things) to put on the long, long countertop to break up the length. The barbecue is working. The fireplace works. Only thing I’m waiting for is my patio table and the bar-height table and 4 chairs to be treated and newly powder coated.

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While I was on this recent trip, I did quite a bit of reading. Every night, trip or not, like clockwork, I read for 20-30 minutes before I fall asleep. And because I’m having a problem with my foot (did I say I have a stone bruise on my heel from wading in the river on the camping trip a few weeks ago?) I had to rest my poor heel sometimes in one museum or another. My Kindle went with me in my purse throughout the trip so I always could sit and read if I could find a place to sit. (I’m seeing my GP this week about my heel, though I’ve read there’s not a lot that can be done for stone bruises.)

I’ll be writing up several books in my left sidebar, as I always do, about my most recent good reads. There will be at least three, of which this is one. But I decided to do a post about it because it was just so interesting.

You knew, of course, that Louis Comfort Tiffany was the Tiffany glass and lamp man. Right? You knew that, of course you did!? Tiffany and Co., the jeweler that we all know, was his father’s, Charles Lewis Tiffany. You’ll learn everything you never thought you’d care to know about the making of stained glass windows and lamps if you read this book. But it’s not boring in the least.

Susan Vreeland, the author, has written several books, the most notable probably Girl in Hyacinth Blue. She also wrote Luncheon of the Boating Party. I think her newest book, this one, Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel is her best one yet. Just an FYI: she has another book soon to be released called Lisette’s List: A Novel. The latter can be pre-ordered. I just did.

The setting of this Tiffany novel is the design studio and glass factory owned by Louis Comfort Tiffany. He’s middle-aged, married with daughters, wealthy (mostly from his parents) and he is somewhat of an art visionary. With little or no financial sense – he’d always had money and thought nothing of spending more, never giving a second thought to whether it would be there forever.

The heroine in the book is Clara Driscoll. She’s a no-nonsense kind of frugal woman with a big independent streak in her and a sad marital past who needs a job. She works for Tiffany, and over the course of many years, she begins to help with designs. Mr. Tiffany grants her some leniency with her ideas, and eventually she takes on the project of designing the first Tiffany lamp, with the very iconic upside-down tulip shape we all recognize. But transforming the idea on paper into a practical thing, a lamp, first a oil-burning one, later electric ones, was far from an easy task. That’s what you’ll learn in this book, about how leaded glass is made, and about the very unique ways in which glass makers can create shades, forms and textures. In that respect, I found the book especially fascinating.

The story along with it – Clara’s life – and her very slow escalation into a position of supervision within the design, window and lamp making department is also very interesting. When I began reading I assumed the book was based on complete fact. It’s not exactly. Vreeland took some liberties to make it a more interesting and riveting story. Tiffany, a kind of old-school stuffy man, made one particular strict policy in his company – he didn’t permit any married women. Period. Hard to believe, but that part’s true. Once you were discovered, you were out. Clara weaves her way in and out of a couple of relationships and a near second marriage, that makes for almost an air of mystery. It’s a charming story from beginning to end. Whether Clara Driscoll really did design the Tiffany lamp? Well, that’s up to speculation, although Vreeland read Driscoll’s letter collection in which she describes in detail how she did it, so probably it is true. And whether she actually led a mini-revolt within the company regarding the male-only glass making trade union (which tried to shut down the women-only lamp making department that was non-union), isn’t known either. She lived in a boarding house, which has its own sub-set of stories to go along with it, and also made for fun reading. All of it together makes for a good story.

So, when my granddaughter Sabrina and I were in New York last week, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’ve visited it many times in the past, but Sabrina had never been and she happily went off on her own. Once I’d seen the Impressionists again (I never tire of them) and a few other oils, I went downstairs to the café for a coffee and a place to sit and rest my aching heel. As I was walking down the stairs, lo and behold, there in front of me was a 3-piece panel of Tiffany glass. Flowers and greenery, as nearly all of them are. I walked right up to it and read the tiny little card of info. Clara Driscoll’s name was not associated with that one. In fact, I believe in the Afterword of the book, Vreeland says that none of the Tiffany glass designs (windows or lamps) were specifically credited to Clara, but Vreeland’s research indicated significant hints about her contribution to the lamp-making. Driscoll never did receive the recognition she craved. Elsewhere in the NYC area there are two more museums with oodles of Tiffany glass. I wished I’d had time to visit both of them. I’d never have thought of doing so had I not read this book. Next time.

If you like Vreeland’s style of writing (I certainly do) then this book will be good reading. I certainly thought it was. You’ll come away from it with a whole new appreciation for the intricacies of creating leaded glass in whatever form you see.

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Oh gosh, are these ever tasty. Think savory cookie, because that’s what they are. They’re almost like shortbread cookies, but loaded with savory seasonings and perfect for evening cocktails.

As I write this post, it’s ahead of time. I like having a few posts “in the bank,” so if I go through a dry spell of cooking, I’ve got something up my sleeve. And I’m thinking that because I’m going away on a trip (I’ll be back by the time this posts) this recipe would be a good one to have up so I can get back into the swing of cooking again. Hopefully I will have posted a travel story about the trip I’m taking with one of my granddaughters to NYC and DC. And my son Powell will be there for part of it as well. I’ll explain later.

But what I’m going to mention is that today is my birthday – the day this posts. I don’t know if I’m going to feel blue on August 4th, without my DH beside me, kidding me, laughing with me about my advancing age, or if it will be a good day. His birthday was last month and it happened (will have happened) while I’m on this trip, so I’m hoping to be exceedingly busy that day and won’t think about it too much. Sabrina and I will be in Washington, D.C. that day, doing tourist things. Like maybe the Smithsonian, or the National Gallery. We have a lot more things to do than we’ll have time for, that’s for sure.

This grieving thing is so darned unpredictable. I had a really bad day not too long ago. No good reason – I mean no specific reason, really – other than the house felt terribly empty, quiet. I called Sara, my daughter, and bless her heart, the next day she came up and visited overnight. I fixed dinner, we talked, cried a little, watched Pride and Prejudice on DVD, went to church the next morning, then had lunch at our local Mexican restaurant we like so much, along with her brother Powell and his family.

Anyway, back to these delicious crackers/cookies. They’re an Ina Garten recipe and I believe the recipe is in her most recent cookbook, Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust. I found it online at the Food Network because she prepared them on her show recently.

They’re incredibly easy to make – like a refrigerator cookie. The extra sharp cheese was really nice, and the spices – well, they were just perfect. The jalapeno, of course, gives these a kick – reduce the amount if you’re sensitive to spicy heat. The dough gets chilled in a log, then you slice them and bake. See, I said they’re easy!

What’s GOOD: the flavor, first and foremost. Just ever so tasty and special for guests. Don’t put anything on them or with them (other than a glass of wine or a cocktail) because you want to taste the seasonings in the cracker/cookie. This recipe is a keeper, okay?
What’s NOT: not a single thing! Keep a log of these in the freezer (or only bake half) so you’ll have something really, really special when unexpected guests drop by.

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I’ve just returned from a 9-day, 8 night trip to Washington, D.C. and NYC. All of it with my granddaughter Sabrina, and part of it with my son, Powell. It was a fabulous trip (and the weather was ultra-surprising in that it was cooler than usual, and less humidity than normal). I’ve returned to California where it is expected to be in the high 90’s and this morning when I got up the humidity was 86%. A/C weather.

First thing will be uploading all my photos, writing more than one post about the trip (no recipes, but I will have travel stories to tell both about touristy things we did and also some wonderful restaurants we visited). But it will take me a few days to do all that. I have a recipe that will be “up” in a couple of days, something I wrote up before my trip. So bear with me as I get re-organized and back into my routine. I was ever so glad, this morning, to make myself a latte in my most used appliance in my kitchen, my Nespresso machine. Yesterday morning we 3 got up at 4:15 am (in D.C.) in order to leave for the airport by 4:45 am (40 minutes away) and catch a 7 am flight to San Francisco, then we took the short haul to Orange County. It feels wonderful to be home. Home is where I feel the best. Sometimes the most sad too, without my dear husband. His birthday occurred while we were on the trip. I kept busy that day – Sabrina and I spent most of the day at two of the Smithsonian museums, then we had a fantastic meal out. More on that later.

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Think condiment. Think Italian chutney maybe? Here it’s a fruity spread for crackers (or, a condiment for grilled pork). By definition, a mostarda is an Italian condiment made of fruit and a mustard-flavored syrup. That’s not exactly what this is (it does contain mustard seeds, but that’s the only relationship is has with “mustard”), but I didn’t name it. Whatever you choose to call it, this stuff is off the charts delicious.

If you’ve been reading my blog in the last couple of weeks, you know that I went camping with some of my family. Maybe I kinda went glamping, because I stayed in the lodge/motel just down the road. And I use the word lodge loosely. The room contained 2 beds and a bathroom. There was no TV, no internet, no cell service, period. There was no lobby, no place for guests to sit around except on an outdoor deck – if you could tolerate the heat. The clock radio was plugged in but didn’t work. The room was dark with minimal lighting available. But, that A/C unit was used every single afternoon and night and I was ever so grateful. And the mattress was actually pretty good. What they did have was a small sort of fast-food counter with minimal eating options and a gift shop. The ice was the big seller there, along with the ice cream bars.

One of the down sides to me being down the road from the campground where the family was, was that my ice chest full of goodies had to be in the hotel room with me up on the 2nd floor (and no, no elevator). The campground had bear boxes (i.e., sturdy thick-gauge stainless steel boxes that mostly elude bears from ripping into them), but all their campsite bear boxes were chock full.  It could not stay in the car for 2 reasons: (1) it was too darned hot – the ice wouldn’t have lasted more than a few hours at the temps we had up there; and (2) they have bears, and everyone is strongly told in no uncertain terms to leave absolutely nothing in the car in the way of food. Bears can break windows and will claw trunk lids if they think they might be able to get into food. As I awkwardly carried this full and very  heavy ice chest toward the lodge, a kind gentleman took pity on me (it wasn’t the kind that rolls on wheels – big mistake on my part) and at least carried it up the one flight of stairs for me. I was extremely grateful. The lodge did provide about a gallon of ice a couple of times a day (they kept track).

The family stayed in tents and slept on cots or air mattresses – in the heat. I had A/C. I was in charge of bringing appetizers for the 3 evenings I’d be with everyone. As I planned what I’d take along on this trip (a 6-hour drive from home) I knew I wanted to make some things ahead of time. And to make it as easy on myself as I could. No, I really couldn’t toast the bread. No, there was no ideal way to heat up anything. Yes, they had camp stoves, but it was highly recommended that I choose cold appetizers to not waste precious propane. SO. I looked for new recipes to try. You’ll read about the Brussels sprout appetizer in a few days.

In order to maximize my time with the family at the campground, I drove 3/4 of the way there and stayed overnight in Tulare (too-LARE-ee) at a very nice, comfortable Hampton Inn. That was the first time in a whole lot of years I’ve stayed by myself in a hotel. It felt strange without my hubby beside me. Be proud of me – I didn’t cry. I felt like it a couple of times but I didn’t. And going into a restaurant that night to eat alone was hard. Very hard. It wasn’t an upscale restaurant – more like a diner – so I didn’t feel uncomfortable exactly. I just missed my DH, big time.

That hotel did have an elevator, so it made carrying the full ice chest to the room a bit easier. For sure, if I ever do this again, I’ll take the much larger on-wheels ice chest. The next morning I got on the road early and made it to the campground by about 11 am. My daughter-in-law, Karen, and her extended family (all there camping too) are foodies. Powell (my son, my step-son actually but I never use the phrase) is too. All the dinner items were brought in vacuum sealed packages, prepared at home. We had coq au vin one night, and Bolognese another night. Carnitas tacos with all the trimmings was on the menu the other night I was there. No desserts, other than s’mores for the 2 children, although Karen had purchased monstrous square marshmallows, which were big enough you could divide them into about 4 portions of s’mores. I didn’t have any – my only indulgence was a dark chocolate kiss (or 2 or 3) I kept chilled in my ice chest and shared with everybody mid-day. And I left them with another package of milk chocolate ones.

Happy hour started each night about 5, so I would bring from the hotel my chilled stash of food for the evening. This mostarda was on the menu my first night because I’d stopped at a market along the way there that day and bought a still-warm baguette. Of the 4 appetizers I took, this was, by far, the standout. Here at right is my gin and tonic (I’ve taken a recent liking to them – good Bombay gin, Schweppes tonic, and a squeeze from a generous slice of lime – very refreshing in extreme heat!). Do note the uber-colorful plastic tablecloth, the super lightweight trivet I added in for color and a prop for the bread, and the picnic table laden with “stuff.” Wine is generally the beverage of choice with this family, and there was no shortage of it. I should have taken some, but brought the gin instead. A few others shared one with me, and my son Powell, and his brother-in-law Julian made it for me each night I was there.

One of my appetizers won’t grace these pages – nobody liked it much, including me. It was a spiced carrot thing (pureed) with Moroccan flavorings including preserved lemon. I thought it looked good (and had no fat in it at all) but it wasn’t.  Most of it got dumped into the toilet in my lodge room.

Now, after all that lengthy monologue, we’ll get to the mostarda, finally. Pretty much, this is like making jam. You do need to bloom the spices first in the water, vinegar and sugar, then the minced fennel is added, and lastly carefully chopped flesh of the orange. You cook it and cook it. And cook it some more if you prefer the texture to be more like marmalade. I did, so it probably simmered on the stovetop for about 35-45 minutes or so (photo at left). I tasted it here and there. My only difficulty was that fennel bulbs and oranges are all different sizes, so the ratio of fruit/fennel to vinegar/sugar was just a touch off (too much vinegar) so I have altered the recipe just slightly. It’s far easier to add more vinegar later if it’s needed (and continue to cook it a bit more too, if you do so) than to have to add more sugar as I did. The orange zest is added at the very last. If you’d prefer, go to the original at Food52  and use Elizabeth Rex’s recipe, although her recipe just says use a small fennel bulb and an orange, so those sizes are certainly open to interpretation. Elizabeth is a line cook in Chicago. She’s a genius with this recipe. Truly. I loved it.

Most of the double batch went camping with me, but I kept back about 1/2 cup and I’m definitely going to use it – Karen and I talked about it at the camp that the mostarda would be delish with a grilled pork chop, or a pork roast. Since this mixture keeps well, and until I have a dinner guest, I’m going to keep it in the frig for doing just that.

What’s GOOD: the flavor of the orange is the most prominent, but then you get the savory part (the fennel and the mustard, fennel and coriander seeds) but overall the jam is sweet. Truly, you could eat it on toast for breakfast, but it’s far too lofty for that, I assure you. It would likely be delish piled on top of a block of cream cheese too. I wouldn’t use any kind of a flavored cracker – you want the mostarda flavors to come through, not onion, caraway or Ranch flavorings in a cracker, if you understand my meaning. Use a plain cracker or slice of a baguette. Toasted would be lovely. Altogether delicious. It keeps for awhile too.
What’s NOT: other than the time it takes to mince the fennel, chop up the oranges correctly and simmer it, nothing at all. This is a keeper-recipe for sure.

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Risotto goes really well with grilled meat, and even in the heat of summer. When you make it in the Breville risotto cooker, it’s pretty seamless and easy, and if you barbecue outside, the kitchen stays cool. If you have an outdoor plug somewhere and a way to cook it there, you could even make the risotto on your patio! Then you’d have zero heat in the kitchen!

Recently my friend Cherrie and I combined our efforts and did dinner in their backyard. Our friend Joe was here too, so the 4 of us had a lovely meal on their cool Eucalyptus-shaded back deck. Part of the plan was that I was going to teach Bud how to do boneless, skinless chicken breasts on the barbecue without cooking them to dry leather. Bud has been a master barbecuer for decades, and he was very, very skeptical, but he was willing to try. Cherrie basically doesn’t buy chicken breasts to grill because she was convinced you can’t grill them and have them moist. I showed them how!

I do have to laugh – you’ve read it here before in recent weeks – I really don’t know how to do the actual act of barbecuing. Dave always barbecued. I did tell him HOW to do it, but I’d never done it myself. I did grill a steak a few weeks ago with success, but for the last month my barbecue has been out of commission  until my outdoor kitchen countertop is completed. So I still have some lessons to learn about the heating-up and temperature controlling of the barbecue. The cooking technique, though, I know, because I  used to tell Dave how to do it. So with Bud to control the barbecue temp, I felt pretty sure we could do it.

I defrosted 2 packages of Costco’s plump boneless, skinless chicken breasts and made the same recipe I posted a week or so ago – the Cha Cha Cha Jerk Chicken. I had the spice mix already prepared (I’d made double when I did it before), so I just marinated them in the pineapple juice and orange juice mixture with the spices added. They marinated for 24 hours. I drained the breasts, patted  them dry with paper towels and Bud grilled them for a couple of minutes on each side (to get pretty grill marks) then I had him bring them back into the kitchen. He was a bit perplexed about this part. I said “trust me.” I sliced each breast into wide strips, put them back into the marinade briefly, then put them back on the platter and out to the barbecue they went. I told Bud to just grill them for about 1-2 minutes on the cut sides (where you you certainly see that on the inside the chicken wasn’t done). He wasn’t so sure, but he did as I asked, and sure enough, they were perfect. The only different thing we did was to pour the marinade into a small saucepan and simmer it until it reduced down and we served that on the side. It was pretty hot (spicy heat) so it didn’t take much on each portion. And yes, the chicken was almost dripping in juices. Cherrie couldn’t believe it. A week later they had a big 5th of July party and used boneless, skinless thighs, and Bud was so proud of himself – he used the same technique and the chicken was SO moist. A different recipe/marinade, but grilling for grill marks, back in the marinade, then cut into a couple of long strips and back on the grill for 2-3 minutes, maybe a few more for thighs and they were done. Delicious.

So, now, back to risotto. Cherrie had yet to try to adapt her Breville BRC600XL The Risotto Plus Sauteing Slow Rice Cooker and Steamer to one of her own, existing risotto recipes. There are numerous recipes in the cook-booklet that comes with the cooker, but she wanted to branch out. So I showed her how to do it. The recipe below is made (and written up) in the traditional way, but it was quite simple to adapt it. Everything was cooked in the risotto cooker. I sautéed the shallot in oil and butter, then added the rice to harden it a bit before we moved to the next steps. I added in the mushrooms and let them cook for maybe 2-3 minutes. We used a LOT more mushrooms than the original recipe called for. Then I just poured in 3-4 cups of the broth. I left a little bit out, and did end up adding more at the end, and even a bit of water to get it loose enough to suit both Cherrie and me. Cognac and cream gets added in, plus some Parm and Italian parsley.

The recipe comes from the 1987 risotto bible – Risotto: More than 100 Recipes for the Classic Rice Dish of Northern Italy. I guess it’s still in print – probably because it’s just so classic and filled with great recipes. My poor old, spine-cracked copy has seen a lot of use over the years, and this recipe is one I’ve made many times over the years. Just not recently.

What’s GOOD: I don’t think I’ve ever met a risotto I haven’t liked, unless it’s been overcooked (like they often are in mediocre restaurants who don’t understand how it’s supposed to be). This one is a winner. The cognac adds a lovely undertone, a rich flavor. The mushrooms (ample) provided some veggie with our dinner (although the photo doesn’t show many of them). Altogether wonderful recipe. This makes a beautiful company side dish.
What’s NOT: nothing except the making of it if you use the traditional stir-stir-stir method. That part’s a bit tedious. Enlist help from your family or guests. Children might not like this with the cognac – the alcohol surely cooks out – but it does add a flavor that kids might not like. If so, leave it out, but substitute more broth or water.

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