Category — Random

My beautiful, talented, and generous friend and neighbor, Amy Kilpatrick, embroidered these adorable tea towels for me. I love them to pieces and now she is going to teach me how to embroider – believe me, that is a friend!

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Who are your culinary heroes? I have several; Julia Child, of course, and Jacques Pépin to name only two. Then there is my friend and mentor, Barbara Fenzl.

Another is Alice Waters, the owner of the world-renowned Berkeley, California restaurant, Chez Panisse. Ms. Waters opened Chez Panisse in 1971 when she was only 27 years old. Since that time it has become one of the most awarded restaurants in the world and she has been cited as the most influential culinary person in the past 50 years and is considered the mother of American food. Add to that the fact that Ms. Waters has been a leading proponent of the local and the organic food movements for more than 40 years, long before you could find organic produce in just about every grocery store. Before I go on, please know that the picture above of Alice Waters is not how she typically dresses, she is innovative, but not necessarily eccentric! The photo is her Halloween costume at a 2008 benefit at which she was honored for her amazing works.

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Please hang your flag today in remembrance and honor of the thousands of victims and heroes of that horrific day nine years ago, and each day since, who have sacrificed to serve our country. God Bless America!

"Remember"

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Paris – “The City of Lights” 

The nickname was first attached to Paris because it was a center of education and ideas during the Age of Enlightenment and then later due to its early adoption of street lighting in the late 1800’s. The city is laid out in twenty clockwise-spiraling arrondissements (municipal boroughs) so it’s actually quite simple to navigate. A trick to remember; the last two digits of the postal/zip code are the arrondissement your address is in.

My friend, Kim Howard, will be going to Paris soon and asked for the names of places where we like to stay and dine. I had put this list together for a student after we last visited in 2008. Of course, there are wonderful links to all sorts of Paris/France websites and blogs over there on the right-hand side of the page under “French Stuff I Love.” After this recipe  –  my rendition of hot chocolat from Angelina’s, you will find some of our family’s must-see and must-do Parisian treasures. And if you love Paris as we do, please leave a comment (with links, if possible) with your favorites!

Le Chocolat à L’Ancienne dit “L’Africain”

(literally, “hot chocolate once called African”)

3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons powdered sugar
4 ounces finely chopped 72% bittersweet chocolate (such as E. Guittard 72% Bittersweet)
Cold fresh whipped cream

Combine milk, heavy cream, and powdered sugar in a heavy saucepan and place over medium-high heat until bubbles appear around the edges of the pan.

Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted. Return to low heat, if needed, to melt the chocolate completely.

Serve topped with whipped cream.

Serves 1

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A new page has been added on the top left side of this blog… it’s called Menu Ideas. Reader, Emily, suggested a menu page. Actually, what she was looking for was for me to “… create a menu for a month using the recipes you have posted so far.” Now, that is going to take me a while. Since I’m generally just posting one recipe a day, there isn’t really enough up here thus far for a complete meal each day for a month. Not everything really goes together with that tightly, although I do understand what Emily is looking for.  As she said in her email to me, “… for people like me, any assistance with meal planning is enormous! I’m the type who needs to follow a recipe. I can’t just look in the fridge and come up with a meal. In other words, I need all the help I can get!”

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Another day, another post without a recipe. Sorry, but it’s the holiday weekend, right?  More news to share though. I found out too late to pick up a copy, but in the August 2010 issue of AZ-Lifestyle magazine, LPG was featured. Don’t get me wrong, I knew we’d be featured, the reporter was here in June interviewing and taking pictures. I just did not know it had come and gone from newsstands.  Oh well, here’s what the LPG portion looked like. And following in yesterday’s footsteps, here is a link to the previously posted Coconut Mango Cupcakes seen in the photo below! As an added bonus; it’s a great recipe to revisit if you need a refresher course on how to cut open a mango.

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There is no recipe today. Sorry to disappoint, Sloane! But there are several links throughout this post to recipes that have previously appeared here…

This past Thursday I received some exciting news… one of my blog recipes will be featured in an upcoming cookbook! If you were one of the people who voted for my Martini Puffs to be included in the “Cocktails & Appetizers” section of the book… Thank You!

After I submitted the recipe, more than six months ago, I forgot about it. So this is a happy surprise. 

The book will be available on October 19, 2010. If you would like to pre-order a copy of the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook from Amazon you can do so by clicking THIS LINK. And no, sadly I do not get any $$ from the sales… it may be time to do a book of my own!

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Today is my friend, Larry Fitzgerald’s, 27th birthday. Larry and I began cooking together when he was only 22 and I was exactly twice his age (ouch!). He was a star wide receiver even then, beginning only his second season, but now – well, now he’s a superstar. Deservedly so! He’s beyond talented. Larry has an incredible work ethic and is as humble as can be, one of the nicest and most genuine people on the planet. It would be hard for the average person to imagine being as humble as he is after you watch this amazing video from ESPN Sport Science.

Dave, Marissa, and I attended the Second Annual Larry Fitzgerald & Friends Celebrity Servers Night to benefit The Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Foundation and The Larry Fitzgerald First Down Fund, last night at Morton’s. My favorite thing about the photo of us above is how I’m looking at my camera that Marissa is holding, and Larry is looking at the camera that his professional photog is holding. So neither picture turned out well, so typical!

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Just in case you missed this fabulous article about Trader Joe’s, I’m posting IT HERE, for you to enjoy. Be sure to watch the piece on 2 Buck Chuck while you’re there too.

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I tossed all the eligible names into a large copper pot, blindfolded myself, tightly squeezed my eyes shut, held my breath, and then drew one name out from all the comments/entries; and the winner is….

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