Finally! For two nights now we have had our windows open. The first evening we could hear the falling rain, all night long. Joy! Although the word from the weatherman is that it’ll be back up in the mid to high 80’s next week, we’re just enjoying it while we can. On that note, the winter squash dish yesterday made me crave more of the same. Today, instead of the exotic Red Kuri squash, we’ll go a little more traditional and work with the super fun spaghetti squash. Although the spaghetti-like strands of squash taste nothing like pasta, it’s a tasty and healthier way to “feel” like you’re eating pasta…

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My dear friend, Kim Howard, brought me a wonderful gift a few nights ago when she came over for a little party I had. From one cook to another, a gift of a pretty squash is just the most perfect gift. Kim found the red Kuri squash at Whole Foods. She correctly knew that I would love to try something new and then share it here, with you. Thank you, Kim, love you!

Red Kuri squash has a delicate chestnut flavor and is smooth and creamy. Like pumpkin, Kuri is perfect for both savory and sweet dishes. It is thick-skinned, brightly colored a red-orange, and has the appearance of an oblong pumpkin without the ridges. It is available year-round and can be baked, braised, pureed, or steamed. Served as a side dish, soup, or even dessert. Red Kuri is a good source of fiber. It also provides vitamin A and vitamin C, some of the B vitamins, calcium, potassium, iron, riboflavin, and thiamine. Low in calories and sodium, this deep-colored squash also contains beta-carotene.

When you see the name of the recipe, you may ask yourself, “What is a mélange?”  Mélange is a synonym for stew, you see, both Marissa and I have a nasty image in our heads when we hear the name “stew”, so I went a bit French on you and change the name. It sounds so much more gourmet, doesn’t it?! [Read more →]

I exercised my “God-given” right to brag about my child back on September 30th and told you that Connor was going to have a comic strip in the NAU weekly newspaper… remember that?  Here is a follow-up – above are the first two of his Ticks and Lima Beans strips published. Yeah, Connor!

David had business to attend to in Flagstaff on Monday, so we spent last weekend there, visiting our artist and humorous son. It was such a joy and relief to get out of the warm, honestly – more like hot, weather in Phoenix! We did a little eating, a little sightseeing, and I did a little cleaning of the nasty dorm room – eww!

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I’ve been making these delectable fall-inspired appetizers for at least a dozen years and they are always a huge hit. I can’t recall exactly where the original recipe came from, all I know is that it was in one of the many Williams-Sonoma cookbooks I used to own. Depending on my mood or what I have on hand I’ll sub in walnuts for the pecans, Gorgonzola for the Roquefort, and pears or a mix of pears and apples, instead of all apples. Another fun addition is dried cranberries that have been soaked in a little cranberry juice or red wine, to plump them up. Just sprinkle them on before sprinkling on the nuts. FYI: 12 sheets of phyllo is just less than half a package.

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Here is the second of the two appetizer recipes using that 2-pound box of cherry tomatoes (cherubs). It couldn’t be easier and they will disappear before you know it … enjoy!

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Halloween is exactly one week away, so if you don’t have a fun punch idea, here you go. You’re welcome!

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I want you to know that I am here for you! Here to make mistakes and tell you about them, so that you don’t make the same mistakes, kinda like parents try to do for their kids. The only difference, as rational adults, certainly you will listen better than the average teenager does!

My most recent faux pas? While shopping for the ingredients for about a half-dozen appetizers for an upcoming party, I didn’t follow my shopping list.  I had written “cherry tomatoes” on both my Costco and my Trader Joe’s lists. I went to Costco first and purchased a 2-pound package of those cute little “cherub” egg-shaped tomatoes.  Next, I was in Trader Joe’s I saw “cherry tomatoes” and thought, “Oh, I’ll have plenty of those from that huge package from Costco,” and promptly crossed them off the list.

Bad move! I needed real “cherry” tomatoes for this recipe, round and substantially larger than those little cherubs. Dang, it… but was I going to make another run to the market?

No way, do with what you’ve got, that’s my motto … OK, not so much as a motto as admission to the fact that I’m just lazy! So be sure and use cherry tomatoes, they will be easier to hollow out, easy to fill, and will stand up so much better on the serving tray…

The second cherry tomato recipe, which cherubs work perfectly, will be posted in a couple of days.

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I’m going to take a long weekend break from my “reminiscing about our first trip to France” month for the next 4 or 5 days and instead focus on appetizers! Fun and creative appetizers because now that it is fall in AZ… it is THE time to party outside and enjoy our weather!  We are going to start out nice and slow with a cool serving idea for a party staple … the Mexican layer dip.

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Today’s recipe is another one of the many scrumptious creations we made during our week-long stay at La Pitchoune. It is adapted from Simon Beck’s Marmites of Seafood with Creamy Leeks from her cookbook, Simca’s Cuisine.  A marmite is a French-covered crock, by the way.

Simon Beck was Julia Child’s friend and co-author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Simon (also known by her nickname, Simca) and her husband, Jean Fischbacher, owned the property that Julia and Paul built their Provençal home on in 1963, near the town of Plascassier, in the hills above Cannes. Julia and Paul named it La Pitchoune – affectionately known as La Peetch. Pitchoune is a Provençal word meaning “the little one” which is apt since it is a small house, just up a small hill from Simca’s larger home.

You can read all about those wonderful years in Julia’s final book, the autobiographical My Life in France, published posthumously in 2006 and written with Paul Child’s nephew, Alex Prud’homme. The book recounts Julia’s life with Paul in post-World War II France.

The film, Julie & Julia, directed by Nora Ephron, was adapted from Julia’s memoir My Life in France and from Julie Powell’s memoir, Julie & Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, the film was released in the summer of 2009.

If you would like to learn more about possibly taking the week-long cooking classes at La Pitchoune, you can visit Kathie Alex’s website, Cooking with Friends in France, and download the brochure to get all the details. Above is a pretty little watercolor picture I found of the La Peetch, on the site… great memories, good times!

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So many of the dishes we made during our stay at La Pitchoune were from famous French chefs and cookbook authors. This vegetarian dish, from Michel Richard, was amongst our favorites.

Another of my favorite things discovered on that first trip to France was the Santons that are so prevalent throughout Provence.  There are actually two styles of Santons, small painted clay figurines or larger clothed clay dolls, it was the dolls that were displayed in La Pitchoune that I fell in love with. Authentic French Santons are hand-crafted in Provence. They represent traditional Provencal characters that existed a few hundred years back in all villages in the South of France. They are made with clay and painted by hand one by one with real-life details.

The origin of the Santons goes back to the French revolution; Santon meaning “little saint” were traditionally used in churches at Christmas time around the “crèches” or nativity scene where they represented characters from the bible and as a result attracted large crowds mostly in the Provence region. In 1789, when the French government abruptly closed all churches, the parishioners were distraught and sought solace in recreating their own nativity scenes which included Santons in their homes. The characters grew from the traditional members of the nativity to the members of life throughout everyday Provincial life, from the baker to the bricklayer. The tradition was strong over the years and today Santons are a part of life in Provence.

The first picture farther above is of Julia and Kathie’s collection… and this second collection is mine. From left to right; tall male chef with a copper pot, a female baker with a huge basket of baguettes, a smiling bonneted woman carrying a duck in a basket, a male artist with a pallet and brunch along with his easel and painting, an angry-looking old bonneted woman shopping at the market, and finally a sweet vendor at the market with his vegetable cart carrying a scale.  Below is the last Santon photo, a more traditional set of the Magi that is always on display in our dining room but is set out to hold a more prominent place during Christmas.

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