I am not what you’d call a football type of girl. As a matter of fact, when I was growing up, I made a pact with myself that I would never marry a guy who watched sports on TV. I stuck to my guns, and I couldn’t be happier.
I did grow up in a football, baseball, basketball loving house. I’ll clarify- the male half of the house loved sports. My dad was a huge fan of the Yankees, the Giants, the Warriors, and the 49ers. I think the best thing that ever happened to him (aside from us, his family) was getting to go to the Superbowl to see Joe Montana lead the team to victory against the Cincinnati Bengals.
On the day of the game, we all huddled around the TV at my aunt’s house in Menlo Park and watched intently– just in case we could see my dad. Well, I’m sure some people were actually watching the game, but as far as I was concerned my dad was a bigger hero- a bigger superstar than all of the 49ers put together.
In January of 1982, I’d only been home from France for about a month and I remember my uncle Gordie making barbequed pork butt (which at 9, was the funniest thing ever). It tasted smoky and sweet and totally American.
Years later, we’d attend an annual superbowl party at my friend Julie Walker’s house. I remember spinach dip and popcorn and seven layer dip and … get the recipe
Swirling the tawny-colored, hazlenut-scented, 150 year old port in my glass, I looked at my friend Irvin and thought “This cannot be my life.” One long slow sip of the honeyed elixir, poured from one only six remaining bottles on earth, confirmed that I was indeed awake. I couldn’t have dreamed anything that fantastic. My next thought was that I’d better remember every second of my weekend at Pebble Beach Food and Wine, because it was surely a once in a lifetime experience.
Fast forward to April 2012 and I’m waking at a truly obscene hour for a Saturday. I don’t mind though, I’m off to hang out with some of my favorite bloggers and head to (you guessed it) Pebble Beach- courtesy of my friends at Driscoll’s Berries. This recipe, for simple baked goat cheese with raspberries, thyme, and walnuts is, in fact, inspired by our first stop on the trip: Driscoll’s organic raspberry farms, but more on that in a minute.
Those who know me, know I’m always up for an adventure. Almost any kind- except the kind where I’m going to get carsick. I adore road trips, but our bus driver was on some sort of trip himself. It’s true, I should have known better than to skip breakfast, and facing backwards to chat nonstop with Kamran, my East Coast Boy Blogger BFF (ECBBBFFF for those in the know) may not have been so wise. But about an hour into the trip I … get the recipe
I really need no excuse to have friends over for dinner, cocktails, and conversation. Whether it’s a planned gathering with a big sit down dinner or something more impromptu, I love to have people in my home and feed them.
I realize that not everyone feels as comfortable in this realm, and that planning parties and festive dishes can fill people with anxiety- even a sense of dread at times. The holiday season can be doubly hard as it brings gatherings, not only in the home but potlucks, cookie exchanges, and food-centric events of every sort.
Even the most seasoned host, the most proficient kitchenista, has to have some dead simple recipes up her sleeve. The best of these seem as though they might be impossible to replicate, sound ridiculously fancy, and yet could be executed by just about anyone. Meet, my new best friend, goat cheese mousse- the simplest most elegant holiday appetizer I’ve made.
The other night, I was rushing off to a pot luck. yet I had time to create, prepare, & photograph this recipe. Simultaneously I made cranberry blood orange jam, and candied kumquats from Simply Recipes in just over one hour. This is not because I am some sort of super woman- it’s just that easy! Oh, and while everything was in the icebox chilling, I was in the bath, getting pretty. Not only was this gorgeous, fluffy, and rich mousse devoured at the party, I looked gorgeous fluffy and rich. Hmmm, maybe a bad … get the recipe
Anyone who knows me knows that I love to entertain. If I like you, you’re invited to my house. I love to have a handful of simple elegant appetizers up my sleeve in case we end up at my place.
Okay, that ended up sounding racier than it actually is.
All joking aside, in the last year, I’ve hosted a wedding reception, a chocolate party, several cooking parties, a Latin-themed Thanksgiving, and recently a celebration on what would have been my father’s 68th birthday. This weekend, I am co-hosting a party for my brother’s big 2-9! I am telling you, I love parties.
But sometimes, get togethers are not so planned. Or, maybe they are, but still who doesn’t love a simple appetizer, anyway?
This one can be on the table in 25 minutes. Most of that time is just soaking the figs- so you’re just chatting away, pouring wine, and being the ebullient host or hostess that you are- because I know you’re ebullient!
Speaking of racy parties (or not) and ebullient hosts, let’s talk about figs. What is sexier than a fig? Ripe, bursting with pink flesh and seeds that go “pop”! Unfortunately, the fig season seems to be winding down right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy them. In this tapenade, briny kalamata olives are softened by the sweetness of dried figs made succulent again with the help of sauvignon blanc.
Serve this tapenade with artisan bread, crisp rice crackers, … get the recipe
As I come to the close of an amazing weekend surrounded with food bloggers at Food Buzz Fest, I think about how much things have changed in the last year. At the end of my first Food Buzz festival, I had been blogging for only five weeks. I had met hundreds of food bloggers over the weekend, some of whom would become great friends. Some of them will be at my house in just a couple of hours for a food blogger cooking party.
Shortly after that conference, I met another food blogger, this time on Twitter. She invited me to join a vintage recipe swap. That blogger was the amazing Christianna from Burwell General Store. Though I didn’t have time or gumption to hop on board for the fritter challenge, I joined for the second, “Company Time Lemon Cake”.
The recipe swap is now one year old and it is so very cool. If you’re not familiar with the concept, we put creative and often very modern spins on old recipes from a depression-era cookbook/hymnal that Christianna found in a junkstore. It’s called “All Day Singin’ and a Cookin’ on The Ground”. This time we’re doing maple cake.
Since I’ve already done a butternut squash cake with maple cream cheese frosting, I thought, maybe I’d do a savory play on this. And, you know how I feel about pastry crust…
Check this out…
- INGREDIENTS SAVORY MAPLE SWEET POTATO PIE
- 4 sweet potatoes, baked
… get the recipe
When I started the journey of October #unprocessed, I knew that there would be certain challenges. I mentioned the biggies in my guest post on Eating Rules.
- Breakfast and lunch had to be prepped the night before since my husband and I eat both meals out of the house on most days
- Avoiding eating out and ordering in by having some easy to make meals in the fridge just in case I was too tired or too hungry to make a full blown dinner
The things I thought less about were the little things. Life, is made up of all those moments in between. Sunday morning, some friends invited us out to brunch. That was easily avoided when they accepted an invitation to our house. I made challah French toast and baked eggs. We drank fresh squeeze OJ and laughed and I almost screwed up the French press YET again.
One thing I couldn’t (and didn’t want to) avoid was an afternoon trip to the movies with my brother. Oh no, I thought, popcorn! I don’t generally eat processed junk food, and anything partially hydrogenated was exorcized from our house about seven years ago, but movie popcorn is my rare exception. I decided I would one up the movie popcorn. I called up my rebel spirit and made some amazing coconut curry popcorn to sneak into the theater with two apples and a few squares of dark chocolate. I did buy a bottled water there- not to assuage any guilty … get the recipe
This post is the second in a series on pies, tarts, and galettes in all their many forms.
Vive la France! Vive la de Tarte à la tomate. It’s an exciting day for two reasons. It’s my 101st post, so I’m going to do a giveway did a givewaway of some of my favorite things- what those are, you’ll just have to wait and find out but they’ll involve edibles and kitchen tools! It’s also Bastille Day, and while I’m sure the French side of my family would very much approve of my newfound pastry making skills, I am not sure how well my latest interpretation of a tomato tart would be received. You see, in France, a tomato tart is just that, a tart with tomatoes perhaps a bit of cheese and some herbs not much beyond that.
It should be quite obvious that I adore tomato tarts considering the name of this blog (it’s The Tomato Tart in case you were wondering). Why I don’t even correct people anymore when they say, “Oh, hey, you’re The Tomato Tart”. If you ask my, the perfect tomato tart begins with oven roasted tomatoes, which you sprinkle with just a little bit of sea salt. The oven roasting does two things, it brings out the sweetness of the tart releases some of the tomato’s natural moisture- lessening the chances of a soggy bottom (ew).
My tomato tart took a rather revolutionary turn for the All-American one June day, when … get the recipe
I have just returned from Atlanta where I was a speaker at Blogher Food. I am not quite ready to give you the full wrap up, there’s just too much to say. I will say that I had a fantastic time with friends both old and new and I learned some valuable things both inside and out of the sessions at the conference.
I also ate a lot of heavy rich food while away- which can happen when you’re eating out for every meal. Even the veg-food tended to be fried or doused in lots of fat. These Thai prawns with mango dipping sauce are a light and summery dish. The prawns are coated in a spicy marinade- steeped in the scents of Thailand- Kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass, and ginger and garlic. They are served with a silky mango dipping sauce.
I had a fantastic time in Atlanta, and I will write more in the coming days, until then, enjoy this recipe, which feels like home to me.
- INGREDIENTS FOR THAI PRAWNS
- 1 lb spot prawns*, peeled, deveined, tails left in tact
- 1 thumb sized knob of ginger
- 4 kaffir lime leaves
- 1 cup of sauvingnon blanc
- 2 stalks of lemon grass chopped into one inch pieces
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 serrano chiles (seeded if you want to remove the heat)
- INGREDIENTS FOR MANGO DIPPING SAUCE
- 4 Manilla mangoes
- 2 tablespoons coconut extract
- zest of 1 lime
- pinch of sea salt
