What’s Worse: Egg Yolks or Heavy Whipping Cream?

Tail Waggin’ Delights! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This Saturday morning, Sam finished making another batch of homemade ice cream.  On this occasion, he tried a Philadelphia-style recipe.  It’s distinguishing feature is that this batter is egg-free.  Most ice creams, indeed any that we’ve concocted, start with a lovely and delicate egg-custard.  Philadelphia-style is known for its simplistic, yet rich, base: heavy cream, sugar, and desired flavorings.  Sam decided on Madagascar vanilla beans…sophisticated, eh?  Did you know that you can rinse and reuse vanilla beans?  Bizarre…

We have decided to use an alliterative dog-breed name for each of Sam’s ice cream creations, which I then illustrate in Sharpie on our little containers.  This time, we created Vizsla Vanilla and Silky Terrier Swirl. 

Portabellos for My Fellow!

Tonight, we continue with the theme of, “Using ingredients new to my kitchen but somewhat ordinary to everyone else makes me feel lame.” Portabello mushrooms – nope, never cooked with ‘em. Polenta – nope, never cooked the stuff. However, I have partaken in both ingredients outside of said abode, with mixed response.

Firstly, the mushrooms. Best Portobello experience ever encountered is credited to Tusker House at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. I think I ate that beautiful Portabello sandwich at least once a week for five months while employed at DAK in the spring of 2000. There really wasn’t much available for a vegetarian at the Disney parks back then (besides Dole whip at the Tiki Room), and this sammich could really hit the spot after a long day of conservation education chats with many a guest.

Nextly, the polenta. I have only had this once before tonight – in PB (Pacific Beach – here in Sandy Eggo) at Ghort’s old pad. Peggy G. had stewed up a bunch of polenta with some tomato sauce, and other found objects, to be served to a number of random gents hanging out at Ghort’s apartment. I was frightened, Aunt Em. Tonight’s polenta fared about the same with me, as I accidentally purchased the pre-cooked variety rather than quick-cooked. Note to readers: boiling ten (10!) cups of water is unnecessary for pre-cooked, as you promptly drown the polenta. One-fourth of a cup would have sufficed. I’m still not a fan, but Sam seemed to enjoy it. Wait until he has some homemade grits! If he liked this mush, he’ll adore some well-cooked southern breakfast charm.

The Portobellos and polenta were accompanied by some roasted sugar snap peas. These green friends were super tasty after a drizzling of olive oil, salt and pepper before snuggling up to the mushrooms (already roasting for 9 minutes) in a 400° oven for about 7 more minutes.

For dessert, Sam brought out a present that I promptly unwrapped only to find…

(to be continued in an upcoming post from a galaxy far, far away…)

Tomatillo-tastic Enchiladas!

Swiss Chard.  It's a Beautiful Thing.  Seriously.  Beautiful!!  However, it's the tomatillo that has a special place in my culinary heart.  *Sigh*


This evening, I was super jazzed to work with two ingredients that I had not yet previously brought into my kitchen: Swiss chard & tomatillos!  The first is a bit understandable, as I've only recently become a fan of greens, but tomatillos?!  Good golly, what is wrong with me?  I loved peeling these little friends, and was tickled to find how easy this recipe was to prepare.  However, I should *not* have promised Sam that we would eat an early dinner because, albeit simplistic in its process, it took almost 2 hours to prep and cook.  Yikes!  At least I got in a quick jog while these bad boys were baking!  


The enchilada sauce is comprised of fresh garlic, tomatillos (yes!), jalapeños, Mexican crema (i.e. sour cream), salt, and sugar.  The fabulous filling is comprised of the diced stems of Swiss chard, chiffonade-cut leaves (literally translated, to cut "in rags"), onions, cheese, salt and pepper, veggie broth...yowza!  The recipe was lifted from one of my fave veggie blogs, Herbivoracious.  Genius!  It was super satisfying to create our own enchilada sauce, and my new BFF is the tomatillo.

...and Have Buttered Scones for Tea!

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I sleep all night and I work all day
(He's a lumberjack and he's OK
He sleeps all night and he works all day)
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavat'ry
On Wednesdays I go shopping
And have buttered scones for tea..."



Ah yes, The Lumberjack Song.  We decided to partake in homemade 'buttered scones' this morning in honor of Python's lumberjack.  Ours were of the fresh orange and poppy seed variety, from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food 'zine.  Super easy and the freshly-squeezed OJ added a nice fresh twist to a light and sweet breakfast treat.  I realized, just prior to popping these little lovelies in the oven, that I only had horrible, grey-green sanding sugar (insert sad trombone here!), but luckily the color faded away during the magical baking process.  Yum!!

Reflecting on Perfect Days…

Hillcrest Farmer’s Market VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

When recently asked what would make a perfect day for Sam, he responded, “A day game…watching the Padres at PETCO Park!”  (Within days of this discussion, Sam ventured down to said venue to pick up two tickets to opening day!)  When asked for my perfect day, I couldn’t immediately come up with an answer.  After all, there are so many opportunities for a blissful day – I’ve been grateful to have many experiences all over the world, and would call several days ‘perfect’.  For example: a breathtaking solo climb past languorous llamas up the steep slopes of Huayna Picchu; crouching in the undergrowth of the Amazon rainforest to stealthily view a pack of peccaries dashing across the trail just a few feet away; walking across a forgotten footbridge in an Illinois park; watching the ordinary clouds trade places with animal figures on a summer’s day; kayaking in La Jolla Shores/Caves above the spotted backs of Leopard sharks; rolling out of the interior of a plane into the nurturing hands of the sky’s updraft; passing a football back and forth (at the dog park) with Sam while Chauncey euphorically rubs his back and tummy in the grass; watching from backstage as the third graders glow with pride at the conclusion of the Shakespeare Fest performance and India Showcase; sitting on a bed in a chic hotel, painting pottery on towels with Michelle & her daughter, Elizabeth, after a day of shopping and tea-time on the Magnificent Mile…I am filled with gratitude as I am reminded of all of these perfect days, those I did not mention and those that are to come. 

Yet, if I were to fashion a perfect ‘San Diego’ day upon request, it would most assuredly include a visit to the Hillcrest Farmer’s Market.  It always includes: lusting over handmade jewelry, Día de los Muertos aprons, wire art and handmade soaps; a visit with Janet at Granny’s Granola; a stop at Peace Pie’s booth with my fingers crossed that they still have at least one delectable slice of their cashew-cheese pizza and coconut milk (straight from the coconut); a custom cookie from The Cravory (red velvet is my absolute fave!); a taste of Sam’s spinach/feta tamale from Gourmet Tamales; coveting fresh pastas and sauces from the Lisko Imports tables; and always concludes with a $3.00 bouquet of fresh flowers from my favorite flower booth.  I’ve included some photos in this entry of many of the aforementioned market-moments.  However, if you happen to have ever visited me in this lovely city, you will have experienced most/all of these treats first hand.  If not, please visit soon – or live variously through this posting!

I would love to hear about your perfect days – please add a comment to this post with your musings as well!