Category — Linda

I spent the last couple of days in beautiful Payson, Arizona at the summer home of my dear friend and mentor, Barbara Fenzl, along with Kim Howard, who rounds out our “3 Amigos”. 

Kim and I drove up on Tuesday morning and the three of us spent a wonderful day relaxing, catching up, and cooking together. Then early on Wednesday morning, we hiked for about 90 minutes up and down the Horton Creek Trail before heading back for a yummy lunch at the Chaparral Pines Country Club (recipe to follow tomorrow for my take on their sumptuous Ahi Tuna Sliders!)

Kim headed back down to the Valley after lunch, while Barb and I drove north to Strawberry, Arizona to check out Fossil Creek Creamery.

We tasted and purchased their lovely goat cheese, which you will find on fine dining menus around the Valley; including Binkley’s, T-Cooks at The Royal Palms, Quiessence at South Mountain, and Kai at Wild Horse Pass. While the cheese is tasty, the best part was petting the baby goats – adorable! The little black and white cutie at the top of the page was my favorite!

Now, what to make with this fabulous fresh goat cheese… I can’t think of anything better than these amazing biscuits that are served at Art Smith’s southern-style Chicago restaurant, Table Fifty-Two. Art Smith was the personal chef to Oprah Winfrey from 1997 to 2007, so the biscuits have a pedigree! Enjoy!

P.S. Funny how things work out… my own adorable daughter talked about goats on her blog just a couple of days ago… strange when you think about it – how often do people you know actually mention goats?

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“Hi, I’m back!”  That is what I feel like saying because I haven’t put up a new post in 12 days! “What?”, you say, “That doesn’t make sense, I just read your post from yesterday.” (you DID read it, didn’t you?!?!) Well, as previously stated, there is a wonderful thing in the blogging world called “scheduling a post”, so all the posts of the past 12 days were done weeks ago, so I really do feel as if I’m finally “back at it!”

Dave and I had a glorious trip to Wisconsin to stay at the gorgeous log cabin (really a big lavish house!) on a lake, in the “North Woods” where life is slow and relaxing. I was able to snap an even better picture of a bald eagle this year than I was able to snap last year… here it is!

The cabin belongs to our BFF’s, Jeff and Jen, and their three boys. Jen is a fabulous cook and one of the best parts of the trip is cooking with her and eating on the deck (overlooking the lake, of course) with our husbands. After each meal, the guys ask, “Why do we ever bother to go out to eat when the food here is so much better than anything we pay for?”  Good question!

Next year, I vote, we just stay in! A favorite all week long (for us adults) was this drink that I learned to make when Dave, Marissa, Connor, and I were in Turk & Caicos in May. And since we came home to 110-degree heat, I may be making another batch later today! As promised yesterday, you’ll find pictures of my fridge from classes at the bottom of the post.

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Maybe I should explain my title choice for today’s post. So, I live in the southwest portion of the United States.  Here, we have two popular convenience stores, 7-11 and Circle K.  As previously mentioned, and actually bragged about, I am posting and scheduling my posts about 10 days to 2 weeks ahead of time. As I typed in my “scheduled” date, I noticed that today is 7-11, so whenever we (south-westerners) say “7-11”, we (or at least, I) like to follow it up with “and equal time for Circle K!”  The last thing we want to be is based – in Arizona, of all places! Yeah, right – tell that to our state legislatures! Sorry, no politics allowed here – just recipes and a bit of occasional humor or insights! Honestly – love it all!

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I confess, sometimes I’m a cheapskate to a fault. A perfect example of this character flaw? Mandarin oranges. Here’s how it went down; I needed an 11-ounce can of mandarin oranges back in April for a sorbet I was creating for this very blog. At the same time, I was shopping for a cooking class, which meant that I’d be going to my usual three stores to get everything needed for the class. The three stores are Safeway Grocery, Trader Joe’s, and Costco. I loaded the cooler in the car and headed out. At stop number one, Safeway, I noticed the price for a can of mandarin oranges was $1.99.  That seemed a bit high to me, so I passed them by, thinking maybe I’d find them at Trader Joe’s for a better price.  Stop number two, Trader Joe’s – no mandarin oranges. Oh well, I’d double back by Safeway after the final stop at Costco and pick up a can. Good plan… until… I spotted a case (12 cans) of mandarin oranges at Costco for….. wait for it….. $5.99! In miser terms, that is 50 cents a can! Now I had a serious dilemma on my hands. Should I pay 4-times the price for a single can of mandarin oranges at Safeway or be stuck with 11 extra cans if purchased at Costco? Let me tell you how long I pondered that question… less than 2 seconds. I loaded up the case into the cart with all the other mega-size items and figured that after I used just 3 of the cans from the case, the rest would be FREE (at least they would be free if they would have been purchased at the Safeway $1.99 price!) And FREE is my second favorite 4-letter word, next to LOVE. How sweet is that?

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Happy 4th of July!

The recipe for Red, White and Blue Red Velvet Cupcakes follows,

but first…

What is your happiest or earliest memory of celebrating July 4th? Mine is standing in my maternal grandparents’ backyard, holding sparklers with our big extended family all around. That would include my grandparents, mom, dad, brothers, sister, cousins, aunts, and uncles.

There could be up to 43 of us at any one time, given that my mom is the oldest of eight. We would either barbeque hot dogs and hamburgers or there would be big buckets of KFC scattered around, and always huge watermelons … and … soda! We were allowed to drink soda – at my grandparents’ house! [Read more →]

Yep, it’s my 300th post. I have to confess, I never thought I’d really do it! I can’t think of one other thing in my entire life that I’ve done this consistently on a daily (or near-daily) basis before… well besides brushing my teeth, I suppose.

Well, another thing I’ve done very regularly for the last seven years is to keep my hummingbird feeder full. Not as easy as it may seem. I am seriously devoted to the little devils. I snapped the photo of this sweet guy a couple of days ago while he took a rest on a nail used to hang our Christmas lights. I love to watch them zip around and really appreciate their feisty attitude… so aggressive and defensive for ones so small. After taking the hummer photo, I checked on the herb garden and peach tree and when I discovered how many ripe peaches there were – I had to make a wonderful summer cobbler with them.

So today it’s dessert and backyard photo day! Pictures of my peaches and sunflowers to go along with the resting little guy above.

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I would estimate that I receive between 2-5 requests each week, throughout the year, to provide birthday party cooking classes. Honestly, I could do that full time and have a real business…that is until those requesting find out the cost of such a party.

The real problem with the cost is not that a cooking class is about $50 per person. Most parents are fine with paying $50 for their child to participate in a 2 to 2  1/2 hour cooking class. But when they realize that they will not just be paying $50 for their child, but for at least 9 of their child’s “closest” friends, to the tune, of at least, $500 (the minimum for a private class is 10 students – or party-goers, in this case). Now that is a different story… trust me, I understand!  Four hundred and fifty dollars is a heck of a lot to pay for a birthday party.  But, if you are willing and happy to pay that amount, I will happily work with you to find a mutually agreeable date, put together a menu, and get your party on my calendar. Or… if you, like me, think that’s too much – then I have some helpful ideas on how to “Host a Cooking Birthday Party” of your own, with some “ crafts help” from Family Fun Magazine. Major Disclaimer: I am not crafty – so even I was to do your party for you, well, the crafts – you are on your own – I am a cooking teacher, not an art teacher – not by a long stretch!

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As previously mentioned, yesterday was my darling friend, Anne’s birthday. So, of course, Peggy, Anne, and I celebrated the joyous occasion together. They came over after classes today and I made a new summer cocktail which we enjoyed and were so happy to be able to have “girl time” together.  We called Connor downstairs to take our picture…and although he took about a dozen, not one of them came out clear, so I used an artistic touch called Fresco in Photoshop to “enhance” it a bit. Believe it or not, it is less blurry now than it originally was! I know, that’s hard to imagine – but true all the same. It’s all good because after a couple of these drinks we couldn’t tell the difference anyhow. Happy Birthday, Anne – love you dearly! xoxo

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