Posts from — August 2012

For the first four days of our Alaskan trip, we have been in Denali National Park and Preserve. We stayed at the lovely Grande Denali Lodge, high on a hilltop over the town. The best day, by far, was when we were taken on the Tundra Wilderness Tour – a 53-mile, 8-hour tour, with a certified driver/naturalist. Our driver was Peter, and he was beyond amazing! Although we were riding on a “remodeled” school bus, it was one of the most enjoyable and informative tour-guided trips I’ve ever done.

Beautiful Denali Mountain looming large in the background, still visible, even beyond my huge hair – frizzed out from the humidity.

And from what not only Peter said, but just about everyone else in Denali told us, it was one of the most perfect, beautiful, and fruitful sighting days seen in many a summer.  Denali Mountain (also known as Mount McKinley – see the story and controversy over that name HERE) is most often shrouded in clouds. It was such a warm (warm for Alaska) and cloudless day, that the mountain was “Out” for what Peter told us was only the sixth day since May.

And although, we came with the expectations of seeing literal herds of caribou and moose, packs of wolves, and flocks of eagles – turns out, that no matter what we’ve all seen in movies, that is not how it “works” in Denali.

So when we not only saw the mountain in all its unclouded glory, but we saw just about every wild animal possible. First a small herd of Dall sheep on the mountainside.  Then two male caribou, with full racks of antlers, on a ridge and a lone bear in the brush, quite far from the bus. Next, up, is a cow moose, also rather far from the bus, but viewable with the zoom lens on my camera. Plus the bus is equipped with a super-zoom video camera that Peter is an expert with and screens throughout the bus for all to see “up-close”.

Best of all, we saw four different sets of mama bears with their cubs – from new spring cubs to 3-year-olds (grizzly cubs stay with their mother for the first 3 years of their lives before heading out on their own) and oh my, are they adorable!

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This is my first photo of Alaska, flying into Anchorage on Alaska Airlines – with glaciers below.

After checking into our hotel, we went exploring and found a huge open-air market. Love these license plate maps.

It was a beautiful 70+ degree day. Don’t know why these people have long pants and sleeves on – we were in shorts and t-shirts!

Kinda wish I would have bought some of these antler buttons.  If I stumble upon them again, I will for sure.

Ulu knives with bone handles. An ulu is an all-purpose knife of the Yupik and Inuit Eskimo. It was traditionally used for everything from skinning and cleaning animals, to cutting food and, if necessary, trimming the blocks of snow and ice used to build an igloo.

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Three Years and Exactly 1000 posts!

Wow, time flies when you’re doing what you love to do! I didn’t realize until I began planning for this post, that I started my blog the day after Julia Child’s birthday.  It is appropriate though, especially if you read my very first entry HERE!

As I’m traveling through Alaska on this momentous day, I want to thank each and every one of you who read what I write and cook the recipes that I create. Whether you check in every day and are a treasured loyal follower, or just stop by every now and then… I appreciate you more than you know!

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American legend, Julia Child, would have turned 100 today. Julia died two days shy of her 92nd birthday in 2004.

Photo by Hans Namuth
Gelatin silver print, 1977
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

In 2001, Julia Child donated the kitchen from her Cambridge, Massachusetts home to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C.  It includes the cabinets, appliances, cookbooks, pegboard, kitchen table, and hundreds of her kitchen utensils and gadgets.

Julia’s turquoise kitchen had been on display from 2002 until this past January.  The National Museum of American History will temporarily reopen the exhibit today through September 3, 2012, in honor of her birthday. It will be open again permanently in November 2012 and will anchor an expanded food exhibit.

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Additionally, 100 restaurant chefs across the country have been firing up their ovens all week to honor Julia’s amazing culinary legacy. Four of our own Valley chefs are participating. CLICK HERE to read about some of their fond and funny memories of Julia and then drool over their menus, especially the one at Quiessence at the Farm at South Mountain. The tribute dinner there has been organized and will be hosted by our Phoenix Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, the chapter of that I am a founding member.  So sorry to be missing it!

As I’ve mentioned before, I too, had the pleasure of meeting and later working with the incomparable Mrs. Child.

1994 in San Francisco

2001 in Minneapolis

Believe me, I know how very blessed I am to have had that honor.

Here are two photos from the IACP Culinary Concerts from when I was the producer.

Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, Shirley Corriher, and Martin Yan on stage in Providence, Rhode Island on March 29, 2000

In this photo, the chefs were choosing ingredients for a signature dish they were going to make together. Martin had pulled out a bunch of cilantro and handed it to Emeril. Emeril showed it to Julia and she matter-of-factly said, “I don’t like cilantro.” Emeril said, “No cilantro, then!” as he tossed it back into the basket in front of Martin. Martin made some comment and tossed the cilantro into the audience and obviously, it struck Emeril’s funny bone!

Martin Yan, Mary Sue Milliken, Emeril Lagasse, Jacques Pépin, and Susan Feniger in San Diego on April 18, 2002

Julia was scheduled to perform with these great chefs, but wound up with a bout of bronchitis. Here the chefs are making a birthday cake (a few months early) in her honor.

I am also privileged to own an autographed first edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, an amazing treasure. 

I have brought along the new Julia Child biography, Bob Spitz’s “Dearie:  The Remarkable Life of Julia Child” to read on my Alaskan trip. Can’t wait to dive into it.

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Pure brilliance!!! That is what I think of the idea of making Sriracha Powder from the wildly popular Sriracha sauce. The brilliant idea and recipe are courtesy of Chef Dale Talde of Talde in Brooklyn, New York.

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Chef Talde uses the powder to make his signature Sri-rancha, a Sriracha-flavored homemade ranch dressing. In my book, turning the sauce into a powder is brilliant for two reasons. First, it intensifies the delicious Sriracha flavor. Secondly, it prevents the sauce from watering down dressings, such as the ever-popular Sriracha Mayo. So many wonderful uses come to mind – including sprinkling it atop deviled eggs and potato salad or stirring it into soups and stir-fry.

Plus when you run out of Sriracha, which I do more often than I’d like to admit, you can have the powder on hand as a quick substitute until you get to the market again.

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All summer, I’ve been snapping photos of miscellaneous happenings around the house. I thought I’d share a few of them with you today. Nothing major, just silly little things that make me make me , say “wow”, a bit disgusted, or just plain happy.

The first is Arizona summer monsoons. Although they can bring awful dust storms, they also produce the most beautiful clouds, as in the photo above, taken with my iPhone on July 23rd, while in my car. Don’t fret, I was stopped at a red light. 🙂

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And when they result in a monstrous booming thunderstorm, well that’s the best of all!

Another simple joy in life is cleaning out the kitchen junk drawer. Exactly why it’s so satisfying, I don’t really know. Especially with the knowledge that it’ll be a mess again all too soon. I failed to take a before picture, but rest assured, the rubber bands in the left corner were spread from end to end! As were the stamps. Have you ever noticed how many envelopes are delivered with uncancelled stamps?  I always cut them off and use them again.

So many! About $15 dollars worth! No wonder the USPS has financial troubles.

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Back in early June, I told you how I was going to join a CSA.  Well, I did, and I was able to pick up a box of fresh Crooked Sky Farm produce every Thursday morning for the past eight weeks. What fun it was to be surprised by the bounty I received.

For the last four weeks of the eight, there was fresh corn. Corn is one vegetable we never get tired of. This is one of the many “easy-breezy” dishes I created to use up all that corn. Of course, many a night, it was plain old corn on the cob, always a wonderful summer-time treat!

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By the time you read this, Dave and I will be on our way to Alaska for a trek through quintessential Alaska wilderness – Denali National Park & Preserve, and then an Alaskan cruise. Not sure if I am the cruising type or not, but I am super excited to go to Alaska, one of the only states I’ve not yet been to. And there is the added bonus of escaping the Arizona heat, the expected high temperature for Scottsdale today is 113 degrees. Bring on the cooler temps!

I recently read in Sunset Magazine that the state has 100,000 glaciers, thousands of brown and black bears (in parts of Alaska, bears outnumber people by a large margin), and 586,412 square miles—bigger than Arizona, California, Montana, and Oregon combined.

The excursion that I am most looking forward to is zip-lining in Klondike Adventure Park!

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And, we are guaranteed to see whales on the whale watching excursion … now that will be worth the trip!

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As promised, I recreated the Pepperoni Arrostiti that we so enjoyed at Trattoria Contadina.  The cheese-stuffed bell pepper uses three different Italian kinds of cheese; mozzarella, asiago, and bel paese. In case you haven’t heard of bel paese before…

Bel Paese – Literally meaning “beautiful country”. This cheese was invented in 1929 by the Galbani Cheese Company in Lobardy. A wax rind covers the uncooked cheese made of pasteurized cow’s milk. The small discs have a soft texture and are peppered with small holes. Bel Paese appears pale with touches of creamy yellow. This cheese is similar to mozzarella or Fontina in its mild, buttery flavor but is distinct in its body and tang. Bel Paese is versatile and easily melted.

It took two tries to get this recipe just right.  The first time, I took pictures. The second time, I forgot to do so. As a result, the pictures won’t reflect the light roasting of the peppers before cutting and filling with cheese. I decided this was needed because the peppers were not soft enough the first time around. After roasting lightly, they were the perfect texture… just as we’d enjoyed at the restaurant. Be certain to serve with a nice crusty Italian bread. Trust me, you’ll want it to sop up the tasty sauce.

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Mark Tarbell and Tarbell’s are one of the many chef friends/restaurants that I follow on Facebook. A great side-benefit to following these talents is that they sometimes post what is on special for dinner that night. When it looks tempting, I can hurry up and make reservations… or if we don’t feel like going out… I can try and duplicate the dish for my own knock-off “special of the day”.

This was the case late last week when I saw Tarbell’s post above.  It reads:

“A new week, a new Mr. Fish! Nantucket Sea Bass with a stew of sweet corn, summer squash, and Napa cabbage is topped with a cured tomato relish. We’re loving the veggies we’re getting from local Crooked Sky Farms!“

It is a big recipe, but after not posting a recipe for a full week, a big recipe is called for!

I didn’t have sea bass, but I did have halibut. Additionally, I didn’t want to cure tomatoes for the relish, so instead, I used sun-dried tomatoes as the base. Following is the delectable result.

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