Posts from — November 2011

We had our friends, Steve and Tram, over for dinner on Sunday. Well, golf and dinner for the boys and antiquing and dinner for Tram and me.  As an added bonus, Marissa arrived home at about 5:00, just in time for dinner. She had been in Tucson for UofA’s Homecoming and was able to drop in on Scottsdale for a whirlwind 22 hours.

Tram the Reporter (writing down the recipe for me), Steve the Chef, and Marissa the Photographer

This was a new sort of dinner party for us, I had a co-chef in the kitchen! Steve is a fabulous cook and he actually ended up making more dishes than I did. Plus he and Tram provided the main ingredient – halibut – that they caught themselves, in Alaska last summer. So Good! Steve and I each took half of the halibut and cooked it our own way.

To top off the perfect day, Tram brought THE MOST gorgeous and delicious angel food cake that I have ever seen or have had the pleasure of eating. She made it from a recipe recently given to her by her mother-in-law. It was divine! If she decides to share it with me (I didn’t even ask yet – I mean she just got it from her MIL!), and if she gives me permission, I will share it with you. Until then just drool over that picture above! Oh my!

Today I am sharing with you Steve’s recipe for halibut with limoncello sauce. If you were smart enough to make the homemade limoncello I taught you how to make last year, then you are ready to crank this out. If not, purchased limoncello is perfectly wonderful to use too.

Thank you, Tram and Steve! xoxo

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I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy True Food Kitchen. In fact I celebrated with two different birthday lunches there, the first with my dad and the second with my good friend, Karen (who was one of my bridesmaids, all those years ago).  When Dad and I were there, the two women at the table across from us were enjoying this huge bowl of vegetables. It is True Food’s gorgeous crudités bowl with tzatziki and black olive dips. The next week, when Karen and I went, I had to order it so that I could check it out more closely and recreate it at home. I think this is one of the prettiest ways to serve crudités that I’ve ever seen! That is True Food’s bowl above… and mine is below.

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Today I absolutely have to share this with you! Before you even see what I am sharing, I have to tell you… it’s already almost too late (November 6th deadline!) to order one of these beauties for Christmas. Already. Almost. Too. Late! But, hey, there are 364 other days in the year – which includes anniversaries, birthdays,  Valentines Day, and… well you get the point.  I am beyond tempted to get one of these for myself… Way To Cool! That being said, check this out!

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Weekly Tip #4

This week’s tip, actually tips, have to do with poaching fruit for seasonal desserts and how to keep those fruits from turning brown.  These are a couple of helpful methods, which one you use depends on what you have on hand.

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As far back as I can remember, our pre-trick-or-treating tradition has been to have everyone gather around the grill and make their own pizza. Our neighborhood is famous for a great Halloween. All the streets are cul-de-sacs and on many of those streets, the families all gather at the entrance and put out tables where the kids can just come up to table and pick candy from five bowls placed out (1 from each house). Meanwhile the adults socialize, eat, drink and just have a great time together.

There are already loads of kids in neighborhood, but it seems everyone invites all their friends to come here to trick-or-treat too.

Other houses set up elaborate haunted houses that attract not only the kids, but the adults, as well. Joannie, my neighbor from 2 doors down, dresses up as a witch each and every year and makes the kids do a trick before they get their treat, her house is a destination for the kids!

We go through 4 or 5 huge bags of Costco-sized candy each year. When my two kids were young, we’d have at least another dozen kids at our house (from outside the neighborhood) over to have pizza and then head out for their candy. [Read more →]