Category — Holiday

How completely adorable and at the same time, sophisticated, is this? It’s the picture perfect elegant appetizer.

A cute and savory Smoked Salmon Mini “Ice Cream” Cone.

It is eaten in a bite or two. It is a flavor explosion in your mouth, a combination of creamy, sweet, smoking … perfection!

Believe it or not, it is also a breeze to make. Really, it could not be more simple.

I purchased the mini ice cream cones on Amazon HERE. They came perfectly wrapped and not one was cracked or broken.

I made these for my last week of cooking classes at Les Gourmettes. We served them as they were made during the class, so there was no need for a beautiful table presentation.

In fact, I made a “cone holder” with a heavy-duty cardboard box, an ice pick and, a chopstick. I made the first hole with the ice pick then made it large enough to hold a cone, using the larger end of the chopstick.

You could do the same, even for a more presentable presentation. Just wrap the box in some colorful fabric or simple butcher paper. Or you can buy a holder HERE.

These would be perfect for any entertaining event… say a Christmas Open House, a cocktail party or, maybe even … a wedding.

[Read more →]

Proverbs 31:28

[Read more →]

Happy May Day

[Read more →]

“Dining with one’s friends and beloved family is certainly one of life’s primal and most innocent delights, one that is both soul-satisfying and eternal.”   ~ Julia Child

Easter Day – Scottsdale, Arizona  Circa 1963

[Read more →]

Instead of my usual Silk Transfer Easter Eggs, I went another route this year. On Pinterest, I found Cocktail Napkin Easter Eggs.

I hard-boiled 9 eggs and used the technique explained HERE for the first eight eggs. Then on a whim, I tried another technique and ended up with the egg above. I love the end results and will show you how to do both.

Plus I’m putting up links to all of my Easter recipes as listed on the Complete Recipe Index – over there on the left if you are still trying to figure out what to make.

Cocktail Napkin Easter Eggs

8 to 12 white hard-boiled eggs, cold
Printed paper cocktail or lunch napkins
1 egg white, lightly beaten

Open the napkins and separate the printed top layer from the plain second layer if the napkin has two layers. Discard any plain sheets.

Cut each napkin into four squares, along the folds.

Dip a small pastry brush into the beaten egg white and use to adhere and apply a square onto the front center of an egg.

[Read more →]

Sometimes April 1st sneaks up on me before I can plot and plan my April Fool’s prank.

Not this year.

This year I enlisted Connor’s help. He agreed to go to Costco with me to get the supplies as long as I’d stop at the grocery store to get two of the three needed ingredients for Rice Krispies Treats.

Deal.

Here is what Connor and I did with the Post-it® notes we bought.

We covered all the windows of Dave’s car with the colorful squares.

[Read more →]

When it comes to giving gifts on Valentine’s Day, you might consider mushrooms and other fungi if you’ve reached your limit when it comes to chocolates and roses. Mushrooms are culinary delights in their own right, but none is more renowned or desirable than the truffle. The fungal truffle lent its name to the confectionery treat in the 1920s and is still a worldwide delicacy. The smell and flavor of truffles are largely described as being earthy, musky, and intense by experts in this field. The scent is special in other ways, too. Truffles grow underground, so they require animals to dig them up, eat them, and disperse their spores in order to reproduce.

Truffles release chemical scents that mimic pheromones produced by mammals to encourage animals to eat them. Boars produce androstenone, one of these chemicals, in their saliva, which is the primary sexual hormone. Therefore, truffle hunters often use female pigs to track down the elusive mushrooms. As androstenone is also found in human sweat, some people consider truffles to be aphrodisiacs.

Now, if you are making a special Valentine’s meal for your significant other tomorrow night, you might want to take some of these suggestions into consideration.

Just saying…

Click on the name of the various aphrodisiacs to find a recipe for each.

asparagus – loaded with essential vitamin E

basil – libido lifting nutrients vitamins A and C, magnesium, beta carotene, and potassium

caviar – luxurious jewels from the sea, salty and sexy

chiles  – elevates heart rate, raises body temperature, makes lips swell

chocolate – releases phenylethylamine, the same hormone love-making releases and increases endorphin secretions and raises heart rate

[Read more →]

I want to give you a heads-up  – my blogging abilities are going to be compromised for the next week.

Yesterday, I began putting away Christmas. The tree is down and the New Year’s Eve tablescape and decor, that I’m about to show you, are put away. I hope to get the rest of the house “untrimmed” and “defrocked” today.

Then, Saturday the real work begins.

Fun work!
The work I love to do!

The sort of thing I live for…

Decorating. Shopping. Cooking. Making lists. Organizing. Setting up and Planning… for Tram’s baby shower.

Hence – very little time to blog. You may hear from me, or I may go “underground” and you might not. Either way, please know that I am in my element, experiencing joy and happiness and that I’ll share all the glorious details with you… after the fact. I don’t want to ruin any of it for my sweet friend, loyal blog follower, and mama-to-be, Tram!

For now, back to New Year’s Eve, from here out, referred to as NYE.

See that huge clock?

Isn’t it grand!?!  I bought it years ago at a cool store in the Scottsdale Airpark that, sadly, no longer exists. It is five feet in diameter and it is heavy! I put it out on the front patio for NYE and it was still there yesterday, when Chip, my landscape architect extraordinaire, came by with his crew to install more lighting in the front yard.

Chip asked me about the clock and I told him that when I bought it, my intention was to hang it in the front room. But I feared it was too heavy, so I’ve just had it leaning against walls in various rooms over the years. Most recently in the guestroom, better known as Marissa’s bedroom.

He said, “It’s so cool! Where do you want it to go? I’ll hang it for you.”

Hey, you don’t have to make a generous offer, like that, twice!

Quickly, before he could change his mind, I said, “OK!”

So I got the stud finder, nails, some wire, a hammer, and a ladder. He got his right-hand man, Roy, and another ladder. They wired it up and went to hang it… and the wire snapped. (I told you it was HEAVY!) Thankfully they were still holding on to it when that happened!

They got some “better” wire from their truck and tried again, and voilà, the clock is finally hanging where I wanted it to be hanging all along!

I really am going to get to the tablescape… but first a couple more photos of the front patio/entrance leading to the NYE dinner party.

Happy New Year. Do you see it?

Now you do!

Come on in.

[Read more →]

I would like to wish a happy, healthy, joyful, and prosperous New Year to each of you.

“May your troubles be less and your blessings be more and nothing but happiness come through your door.”  Traditional Irish Blessing

[Read more →]

I changed my decades old tradition of present wrapping this past Christmas. I’ve always wrapped each family member’s gifts in their own unique and individual wrapping paper.

None of them knew, until Christmas morning, whose gifts were whose.

When the kids were little, this method kept them from counting to see who had more and from shaking gifts they would have otherwise known belonged to them.

This year, I still wrapped the gifts, I just didn’t worry about using a specific paper or tags. Instead,  I used personalized Christmas Sacks from Harrow & Green, a small company in London.

[Read more →]