Category — Linda

This is one of the two wreaths that had been hanging on my front doors ever since October 2011, well with the exception of the month of December when Christmas wreaths were briefly there.  It had become somewhat of an embarrassment when spring hit, but I had tossed my old worn-out spring/summer wreaths and I just couldn’t find new ones I liked to replace them. So the very “fall-ish” wreaths remained, pheasant feathers and all!  Until Saturday, that is. On Saturday, the Fed Ex truck delivered the two new wreaths I found on One Kings Lane!  So, I packed up the fall wreaths and hung out the new ones, just in time for summer cooking classes.

From a distance, they may look a little “Christmasy”, all red and green. But up close…

… come closer…

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Twenty-one years ago today, at 12:59 pm, my sweet love, Connor, was born.  He arrived 3 weeks early, weighing in at 6 pounds 4 ounces, and was 18 1/2-inches long.  Now my baby boy is 21 years old and 5 feet 10-inches tall.

Time flies when you’re having fun!

I hope you’ll indulge me while I post just “a couple” of my favorite photos of my favorite boy!

Chilling on the rocks in the center of Oak Creek in Sedona, AZ

Midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean with big sister, Marissa

With Clyde the camel in Paradise Valley

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I’ve only cooked one night, my dad’s birthday dinner, in over a week! That is so NOT like me, it’s such a rarity that it has probably been 3 or 4 years since it last happened. Well, if you exclude out-of-town vacations, that is.

What I’m trying to tell you is that I have nothing to share with you, recipe-wise. But I still have a few things to show you – Baseball. Gardening. Shopping! All of the photos were taken with my iPhone, the top two, were with a special camera app that I cannot recall the name of.  Marissa, will you please help me out with the answer?

I’ll begin with baseball. Dave and I went to our first Diamondbacks game of the season. We split season tickets with 8 or 9 other people. They are great seats in the third row behind the DBacks dugout. It was a total bust of a game though. Our guys lost to the Braves for the second night in a row. We left in the top of the 8th when the score was Braves – 7 and DBacks – a big fat ZERO. The final was 9 -1, Ouch! Let’s move on to something more pleasant, shall we? Shopping!

On Thursday, Peggy and I made our monthly trek to Sweet Salvage and I found several treasures. My favorite is this basket. I love the worn leather detail.

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Terry, Barbara, and Sloane

All-day long while Jacques, Barbara, Henry (executive producer), Kim, Sloane, Terry, and I were busy at the taping – others were slaving away as well. My husband, Dave, was working like a dog on taxes (it was April 15 after all, but the “real” April 15th was still two days away if you know what I mean). Henry’s wife, Jesse, was working like crazy because they have two young sons… and we all know what hard work that is! And Kim’s husband, Paul, was at home, cooking up a storm!

So after the show had wrapped and we all made ourselves as presentable as possible in 10 minutes… we rejoined at Paul and Kim’s gorgeous home, for an intimate dinner for ten.

Henry and Jesse

We started out with wine by the fireplace on their “back forty”.  Kim brought out Baguette Slices topped with Wild Mushrooms, Comté, and Roquefort along with a terrine of Jacques’ Chicken Liver Mousse brought over from the set.

Linda, Jacques, Dave, and Henry

The conversation and the wine easily flowed as we recounted the day’s events and as Jacques entertained us with a choice few of his many wonderful stories. Then we headed inside to Kim’s stunning dining room table, which I should have taken a picture of, darn it.

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Linda and Jacques in Kim and Paul Howard’s backyard on April 15, 2012

On Saturday, I mentioned that I was working on something very BIG over the weekend. These pictures are a hint of just WHO and WHAT the BIG deal was all about.

If you do not already recognize the handsome gentleman in these photos, he is none other than world-renowned chef, Jacques Pépin.  And if you don’t already know who Jacques Pépin is… please either read THIS or THIS or THIS, or just Google “Jacques Pépin” and read up. I promise you will be very impressed with this amazing man.

Kim Howard, Barbara Fenzl, and Jacques in my backyard on October 26, 2008 to celebrate Les Gourmettes’ 25 Anniversary.

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I’ve been working on something VERY BIG for the last couple of days and it will come to full fruition on Sunday… so I shall tell you all about it next week.  Until then…

I took a bunch of pictures of our yard when it was just beginning to bloom and then again yesterday…  I’m going to share with you some of the progressions. The bunnies and quail are year-round residents.  And you may recall my drama-trauma baby quail story from last year at about this time… if not, please do check it out HERE! It’s quite the story.  To avoid the same sequence of events this year, here is what I did to the “quail pot” next to our pool.

I had to do it! Those darn quail came back to nest again and I had to chase them off so they would find another place to lay their eggs. I thought they would have learned their lesson. But no!  First I stuck a bunch of cardboard between the plant and the pot, but they still tried to get in there. So the bubble wrap went in and that seemed to do the trick. Thank goodness, I could not deal with that again!

OK, so my yard is blooming like crazy right now and I am in love with it. We didn’t have any hard freezes this past winter and everything is big and healthy, so I’m taking it all in while I can.

The “centerpiece” of the yard is this orchid tree. It’s pretty enough most of the year, but in the spring… it is a stunner!

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The three quiche recipes I worked up for The Arizona Republic food section over six weeks ago are finally in the newspaper today.  Although I am extremely pleased with the article written by the lovely Karen Fernau, the photos leave a lot to be desired. The cover shot’s color is off and the inside photos are an unappetizing black & white.  Luckily, the beautiful color photos that food photographer extraordinaire, Michael McNamara, shot are on the AZCentral website, along with all three recipes.  Find the full article and links to all three recipes, plus the basic crust recipe, HERE.

And this is what you will find there…

Jalapeno Popper Quiche                  Photo credit: Michael McNamara

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Challah is an egg bread that holds deep religious significance in the Jewish faith.

“According to Jewish tradition, the three Sabbath meals (Friday night, Saturday lunch, and Saturday late afternoon) and two-holiday meals (one at night and lunch the following day) each begin with two complete loaves of bread.  This “double loaf” commemorates the manna that fell from the heavens when the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years after the Exodus from Egypt. The manna did not fall on the Sabbath or holidays; instead, a double portion would fall the day before the holiday or sabbath.” (excerpt from Wikipedia)

Challah recipes always make enough dough for two loaves. Three important steps to the perfect challah are; three risings instead of the usual two (one of those being a slow-rise in the refrigerator), using two coats of egg wash for a shiny lacquer-like crust, and not over-baking.

Challah is delicious and used the next day for French toast.  Especially loaves with raisins, or in this case, craisins.  I substituted dried cranberries for the raisins, as my family prefers craisins to raisins. We’ll be enjoying the plain loaf with our Easter dinner on Sunday and the craisin loaf for a French toast breakfast on Easter Monday.

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Do you work outside the home? Have you in the past? If so, then you already know what happens when a co-worker brings food into the office. People suddenly act as if they are on the verge of starvation and have not eaten in a week. Even if you have never worked in an office, you have still witnessed this phenomenon before… at Costco… or anywhere there is FREE FOOD!

There was a bunch of food leftover from the appetizer portion of our party this past weekend and I sent it all into Dave’s office on Monday morning. I can just imagine the food frenzy that day!  The thing is, I can’t blame the people in my husband’s office. These dear souls deserve a treat.  Dave is a CPA, and at this time of year… coming down the homestretch of another  “tax season”… their days are long and stressful! Enjoy and eat up, people!

Turns out, I didn’t send in everything after all. Yesterday morning I found a bag of extra dippers for the fondue.  One of my favorite items to add to a cheese fondue or crudites platter is new potatoes. The potatoes are left unpeeled and larger ones are cut into halves or quarters and then boiled in salted water until easily pierced with a paring knife. The potatoes are now perfect to cook up for breakfast too.

Dave usually prepares oatmeal and an apple for breakfast, but yesterday I made him an extra special meal, which he richly deserves! Thank you, my sweet husband, for all you do – especially this time of year! xoxo

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As I cook up a storm today for our 1970’s Progressive Dinner, I am listening to music from the decade of my youth. Let’s see, in 1970, I was in 3rd grade and by the end of the decade, in 1979, I was graduating from Saguaro High School.

The ’70’s were not ALL disco, as most people seem to think. In fact, disco didn’t hit it really big until the end of ’75 (Donna Summers’ Love to Love You Baby) and early ’76 (Disco Inferno by The Trammps)

Here is a list of the number 1 songs from each year. As you can see there’s a mix of good old rock and roll, rhythm and blues, disco, and even a little reggae.

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