Fwd: Caprese. Heirloom tomatoes. Late Harvest Apple Cider Vinegar. French fleur de sel. Basil. YUM!

Fortunately, we had extra tomatoes, plenty of vinegar, and 1/2 log of
mozarella left. Because we had to make a whole extra tray for the
kids. Who gobbled this up as fast as we could make it!

Onions and Potatoes. Mostly.

The potatoes are fresh red bliss potatoes, microwaved then grilled.
Cube then toss in olive oil and salt. Then grill to perfection. (put
them in a grill pan or skewer them!) The onions are cippolini, we
love these - blanch, remove outside skin, sautee then pop in the oven
until caramelized. Olive oil, thyme, balsamic vinegar. YYS!

2 pictures for you

Cooking.Starts.young. :)

The new salt slab - not your average Saturday night Fish Fry!

We started with Cod, then scallops (Gene prefers the pink ones, these
were sublime), then on to albacore tuna (the only fish we marinated -
in lime, garlic, ginger, salt, and black sesame oil). The salt
flavor imparted was delicate and understated. It was delicious!

celery root confit, lobster stock, roasted chestnuts, chicken stock, candied walnuts

We're working on a little dinner with friends - with wine pairings -
here's a behind the scenes look at what goes in to making the dishes
sparkle with flavor (I'll post pics of the finished products too!)

Roasted Shallots and Parmesan Brussels Sprouts

Two of our favorites on one plate! We had marinated lamb, oven roasted
cippolini onions with a balsamic glaze, roasted shallots, and mashed
potatoes through the ricer. YYS!

Beets. Fresh. Small. Dirty. Clean. Cooking.

Beets. We love beets. The kids love them too. Their flavor is so
earthy and sweet. These are homegrown (Can I get a big Jeff
Foxworthy-inspired, Duhh?) . Summer was rough in the plains this
year, you may have heard. There just wasn't enough water. And I
wasn't interested in spending $300/month watering my garden. This is
the result. Beets picked after an entire season. We did pull a few out
earlier this season that were somehow larger - but not many. Hoping
for a more robust crop next year. In all their smallness and pain in
the lower back-ness, they remain one of the most delicious vegees.
ever. And the juice will more than likely be found on our porch next
week ... very red. Perfect.

food coma after dinner with friends

dinner's done, I'm in a food coma. Butternut squash soup topped with
oven-roasted fennel bulb and toasted pecans, salad from the garden
with sorrel, arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, pears, toasted fresh fennel
seeds, beet greens, carrot greens, a little sage, a little oregano &
green pear for crunch - dressed with cara-cara orange juice+zest,
basil seeds, honey, brown sugar, a little balsamic, a little rice
vinegar, salt, pepper ... microwaved then grilled quartered red
potatoes, and fab lemon and garlic stuffed roasted chicken. Tim
brought some of that killer rustic bread of his and awesome choco chip
cookies. YUM. To my delight, all of the kids but one asked for MORE
(drum roll please) SALAD! I didn't make an abundance of it, thinking
the kids wouldn't care for the bitterness of the arugula (I didn't use
any greens other than sorrel and arugula, pretty peppery for kiddos!)
Hooray! (ages: 3, 5, 6, and 9) Only one of the 5 yos didn't ask for
more!

sadly I did not take a picture. We were all so busy enjoying each
others' company and eating ... that the camera did not come out once.
Good times. Good friends. YYS food!

gnudi in tomato sauce

beauties bathing. Tomatoes getting a quick blanch before becoming
sauce for yummy gnudi. The kiddos gobbled them up like candy! Yummy
yummy! Schlurp!

busy bees, busy kids, a pumpkin! Ernie and the cukes, fennel pollen

chicken & acorn squash (from my garden, yummy oh my yummy schlurp!!)

this is the chicken marinade I make. It's good for any kind of
chicken, these happen to be thighs. Ginger, garlic (plenty of it),
lemon, salt, and a splash of olive oil. Grill to perfection. You
will not be able to stop eating it. Yummy yummy SCHLURP!

experiment. finished product to follow.

all from our garden. fresh. Potatoes, tomatoes, zuchini, squash
flower, herbs, garlic, beet greens - with some wine, shallot, onion
... y.... yummmy ... s

om nom farm to yummy yummy table schlurp dinner

YUM. We had lots of lovely, delicious things in the garden tonight,
which made their way to our table. Tomatoes, zuchinis, beets,
cucumbers, The protein, on the right, marinated and grilled ahi,
topped with pico, to its left, cucumbers, tomatoes, in a light rice
and balsamic vinegar with a pinch of brown sugar, some salt and pepper
and dill (also from our garden), black rice with chicken stock and
whole garlic, zuchini coins cooked in white wine with garlic, onion,
and tomato, and, in the middle, candied beets. Evelyn couldn't keep
her fingers off it long enough for me to shoot it! Yummy. yummy.
SCHLURP!

carrot, cukes, and fennel amuse

there was one carrot - a small one - for 5 people. How would You have
served it? I used a little salt, a little white sugar, a drop of
honey, and some rice wine vinegar. Yummy! YS!

beauty is skin deep. Flavor is through and through.

from the YYS garden! Isn't it beautiful, this raiinbow carrot, with
its beet red exterior and gorgeous orange interior?

pickled baby beets and baby fennel amuse bouche!

first beets and fennel of the season! We've been eating the tops for a
while. Yum-o! Ernie and Evelyn kept wanting more. Sorry, kids. Only
enough for 3 smalls and 2 large! The pickling liquid was a little
rice vinegar, a little red wine vinegar, a splash of balsamic, salt,
pepper, and brown sugar.

yummy Fathers' Day Crepes Yummy! Schlurp!

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my garden greens, lightly dressed

they were topped with a piece of salmon in the same honey mustard
dressing accompanied by a piece of sauteed eggplant. I just love the
simplicity of this shot! YYS!

Grilled chix thighs on a bed of squash with quick pickles from fuzzy melon.

squash, cleaned, cubed, marinated in salt, honey, sriracha, olive oil,
pan roasted and caramelized, deglazed with orange juice, then pureed
with a little more sriracha - and fuzzy melon, quick pickled in cider
vinegar, salt, and dill. YYS!

And of course, Chicken thigh, grilled, on top of the squash. Num yum. Schlurp!