I am up in Flagstaff today visiting Connor and watching my friend, Larry Fitzgerald, and the team at Cardinal’s camp. It is a joy to not only see them both, but to get out of the record-breaking heat in the Valley of the Sun; 114 degrees yesterday!

It literally tried to chase me up the mountain yesterday on the drive here. I left the house at about 10:30 AM and it was 106 degrees. By 11:00, I was at 2000 feet and the temperature was climbing faster than I was; 109. When I reached the Sedona turn-off, it was 11:25 and it was 111 degrees! What was going on here -what’s a girl to do? Drive faster, that’s what I did!

I could see the building clouds and the lightning ahead, so I knew there was hope. I actually stopped focusing on the thermostat, and just like a watched pot that won’t boil if you watch it, the temps finally went down and the next time I looked it was 94. When I reached Flag at 12:20 it was a lovely 84 degrees, relief at last!

In addition, I was able to have coffee this morning with my high-school girlfriend, Darcy. She sang at our wedding, 26 years ago. Don’t you just love it when you haven’t seen a friend for a few years and you just pick up where you left off, as if you had lunch together last week? It’s the best, love you, Darcy.  OK, all that has nothing to do with our recipe today, these are just good, so make ’em!

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Here in the Southwest desert, it is prickly pear season. The prickly pear fruit (also known as tunas) are ripe for the picking; the very careful picking, that is. Be sure to wear thick leather gloves and use tongs. The most versatile way to use the fruit is to make a sauce, which can be kept for up to one week in the refrigerator or may be frozen. From there you can use the sauce to make a vinaigrette, use it in marinades, margaritas, or mojitos, to make sorbet, or add it to a BBQ sauce, and the list goes on. The fruit has a bright strawberry/kiwi/watermelon flavor and the most gorgeous crimson color.  There are two things to be careful of though – the tiny and very painful hair-like stickers (hence the need for gloves and tongs) and the pretty color itself, it stains like crazy.

Prickly pear branches (the pads) are called nopales. They are also edible, cooked, and eaten as a vegetable. I think they taste similar to green beans but with a slimy texture. Can you tell I am not a fan of the nopales?

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It has been 11 days since the above hashtag* in my post title first appeared on Twitter. It was Friday, August 12, 2011, and the food blogging community came out in full force to support one of their own. I was in Florida at the time, but I witnessed a beautiful and quickly growing phenom. When I returned home, my time was all about preparations for and then posting about, this blog’s 2nd Anniversary Party.  But that hashtag and all it means has not been far from my heart or my thoughts these past days.

I am always on time and hate being late, but for the first time, it has been great to be late. Had I made the Pie For Mikey a week ago, I would not have had a chance to see the outpouring of love from all of the amazing food bloggers out there. It reinforces why I so enjoy blogging on an almost daily basis. So today, 11 days later, I want to share it with you.

First, you must leave this site to watch and listen to this beautiful video… right now, please!  Honestly, don’t press “read more” until you’ve seen the video.

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It is finally time to use the infused vodkas that you and I made back on July 20th.  What, you didn’t make any?!? Darn, well there is still time; click on the link above, then jump in the car and buy the necessary fruits, veggies, and vodka.  It’ll only take about week until you too can enjoy these delicious cocktails. In fact, since we used up all the pineapple vodka at the Blog 2nd Anniversary Party, I whipped up another batch this morning. Now I’ll be able to enjoy my favorite martini next weekend, here they are in order of popularity…

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When deciding what to serve for an appetizer party, it is important to think of all the various components:

hot and cold
meat and vegetarian
rich and mild
complex and easy-breezy
color on the table (you need to be careful that everything is not dark and brown)

I put out only four items for the Blog Anniversary Party, which is at least 3 less than I normally do. Taking that into consideration – all the above factors were especially important to keep in mind.

Here is what I offered and what purpose each served for the buffet:

Italian Guacamole with Ciabatta Chips – cold, vegetarian,  mild, colorful, easy-breezy, and diet-friendly

Bacon Lollipops – hot, meat, rich, complex, although lacking in color

Lamb Merguez Flatbread – hot, meat, rich, colorful, complex

Prosciutto, Melon, and Bocconcini Picks – cold, meat, mild, colorful, and exceptionally easy-breezy

(can be made vegetarian – substitute an heirloom cherry tomato for the prosciutto on half,  or all, of the picks)

The importance of having at least one easy-breezy recipe included in a party buffet can not be overemphasized. 

As the hostess, you need to know that there is at least one recipe that is no-fail, no-cook, and if all else falls apart, you could get your kid or spouse to complete it for you without too much direction. 

This recipe is exactly that, keep it in your repertoire!

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This in another recipe I’m recreating from that restaurant we love in San Francisco, Gitane Restaurant and Bar. It is one their Catalan Flatbreads.

Merguez is a fresh sausage made with lamb, beef, pork, or a mixture of two or all three. It is heavily spiced with harissa, garlic, peppercorns, cumin, fennel, and more. You can buy it online from several sources or make the homemade version, provided here.

For some insane reason, I forgot to sprinkle my finished flatbread with the fresh cilantro. It could have had something to do with all the martinis I was making (and enjoying) all night! Don’t follow my lead, it is the cilantro that truly makes this flatbread exceptional. Oh, and no worries, I promise that the martini recipes using my infused vodkas will be posted on Sunday.

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Bacon Bonbons – prunes stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in smoked bacon, in a spiced port glaze

That is the full description on the menu at Gitane Restaurant & Bar in San Francisco – which I used to make these delicious and addicting little morsels at home. I served them on Tuesday night at the Blog Anniversary Party and they disappeared quicker than anything else on the table.

The one change I would make, is to cook them a little longer than I did for the party. Although wonderful as they were, I’d like for the bacon to be a bit crisper. I’ve increased the baking time in the recipe below as compared to what I did the other night.  Please keep that in mind when you make them. The bacon will look and be more “cooked” than reflected in my photo.

The name, Bacon Bonbons, is so cute. I can’t just steal it, so I’d like to come up with a new clever name for my version. I haven’t found it quite yet… as you will see. So, any help – from any one of you – would be graciously appreciated!  (Thank you JoAnne Halberg for coming up with a better name!)

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Last night’s “Blog 2-Year Celebration Cookbook Happy Hour” was a great success and so much fun. Thank you to all the lovely ladies who attended, a few of them are shown here.

One of the many people missing in the photos is Chef Gwen Walters. Unfortunately, in the one photo, she was in, she was nearly unrecognizable… looking very incognito in a baseball cap and with a fan in front of her face. Kind of like a restaurant critic or something…. well that makes sense, she is a restaurant critic, so maybe it was intentional… hmmm?

I’ve mentioned here before that Gwen is the queen of smoothies; she is also the queen of Tweets. So generous with her promotion of others. Last night she tweeted out a picture of the party. Even pictures from her iPhone are better than the ones I take with an actual camera… check this out.

When the guests arrived, this is what greeted them at the front door.

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Tonight is the big Cookbook Happy Hour. In the next week, I’ll post recipes for the drinks and appetizers we enjoyed; including drink recipes for those infused vodkas I made at the end of July. It’s this blog’s 2nd Blogiversary!  So how about a little rundown of the blog birthday official numbers…

2 years
730 days
668 posts
577 recipes
1,508 comments (Thank YOU!)
11,876 spam (what the heck?!?)

Enough reflection – time for recipe #578.

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Chef Tim Lipman in the Leftovers kitchen

While in Jupiter, Florida last week, Chris and Kathy took me to their favorite “sister” restaurants, Food Shack and Leftovers.  The food was some of the most creative, seasonal, colorful, and flavorful I’ve ever had- especially at Leftovers.

We had the privilege of sitting at the bar that looks directly into the kitchen and catching up with the Leftovers chef, Tim Lipman. What a cool guy! I would love for him to come to Les Gourmettes next spring and share his unique creativity and philosophy.  And of course, he’d need to bring all that wonderful fish at his disposal, along too. Barb, we need to talk!

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