I’ve been holding out on you, and I do not mean with those special Raincoast crackers. I mean about informing you about reaching my goal. Exactly 2 weeks ago, on November 29th, I asked you to help me reach my goal of 1,027 comments, by the end of the year. You have done it, and we reached that goal several days ago. The current number of comments for this blog is 1,044!

Thank you so much for all the kind words, it means so very much to me. Plus those comments help make me feel a little less sickened by how many spam comments come in every single day. Yes, blogs get a ton of spam. I have a spam blocker, and since the end of June, it has blocked 2,832 comments of spam! That is an average of 17 per day. That’s more “real” comments than I get in an entire week! So Annoying (and usually of disgusting nature too!) But enough of that, what I really want to say is Thank You All!

The other things that I used to find annoying were deviled eggs and meatballs. I know, that sounds strange, but when you hear this little tale, you will see why.

I am in the beginning stages of planning an 80th birthday party for my dad. That brings up memories of the 70th birthday party I threw for him. I worked for months; planning the menu, decor, invites, etc. Of course, the food was all “gourmet” and took days to prepare. My gorgeous sister, Sloane, worked long hours but wanted to make something to help. She asked, “Well, could I at least bring some deviled eggs?” I happily replied, “Sure, that would be great!”

She arrived hours early to help set up. The food was all laid out on the buffets; the guests arrived, greeted the birthday boy, chatted, and began to eat. Within minutes, and I do mean just a few minutes, all the deviled eggs were gone, while loads of gourmet food looked untouched! What the heck is it with deviled eggs? Although we didn’t serve meatballs at that particular party, the same thing happens with them! I honestly just don’t get it. But I will tell you one thing for sure, we will have several dozen deviled eggs and hundreds of meatballs at our dad’s birthday party in April, and these are the meatballs I will be serving! [Read more →]

The other night, our last guest chef of the year at Les Gourmettes, Gwen Ashley Walters, made an outstanding Pepper Crusted Flank Steak with Chianti Honey Demi. I was about to dump the leftover meat marinade down the drain when I stopped short and realized what a great appetizer I could make, using it. We have our neighborhood Holiday Progressive Dinner tonight, and appetizers begin at my house. Here is the recipe I created, using Gwen’s smokey marinade.

And tomorrow, another fantastic and super easy recipe that I am crazy for – a pumpkin appetizer spread – from Gwen!

[Read more →]

Addiction is a serious subject, and I am not here to make fun of it. That said, the reason there was no post yesterday is two-fold. The first reason has to do with Christmas. It is Christmas’ fault, or the fault of my family’s expectations of what Christmas looks like, that I didn’t have time to post yesterday. It takes FOREVER to decorate this house! And I’m not even half done yet.

The other reason has nothing to do with the “most wonderful time of the year” and everything to do with my newest addiction… My Vineyard, on Facebook. I am here to confess… “My name is Linda, and I am a My Vineyard junkie.”  Your response should be, “Hi, Linda. Do you want me to “friend you” on My Vineyard so that we can play together?”  Then I say, “Oh yes, please do and in return, I promise to send you gifts, and travel to your vineyard every single day where I shall help build your houses, fertilize your vines, and taste your wine!”

OK, now that the business portion of the post is out of the way, on to the recipe of the day. These are a lovely little appetizer to serve to your friends (Facebook, or not!) and family this holiday season. And that is exactly what I shall be doing at tonight’s final cooking class of my fall series at Les Gourmettes, and then again to my lovely neighbors at our Holiday Progressive Dinner on Friday night when appetizers begin at our house. (The main reason I HAVE to finish decorating this house and stop playing that cursed game!)

For convenience, I call for purchased fully cooked short ribs, which I found at Costco and have seen at Trader Joe’s. Feel free to make the short ribs from scratch if you have the time.

[Read more →]

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.

[Read more →]

I have a thing for short ribs. In my opinion, they are the most flavorful cut of beef around and are so easy to prepare. Sear, braise, finish off, and serve. Very little actual hands-on time is required for so much goodness!  A happy Sunday, indeed.

[Read more →]

A flat iron is steak is one of the most versatile pieces of beef. It takes to a marinade like a duck to water. You can grill it, use it in stir-fry, for fajitas, braise it, pan-fry it, whatever.

The last time I posted a recipe using flat iron steak was December 21st of last year, the day after our Arizona Cardinals won the  NFC West title. I am hoping that posting another recipe today, it will send a little (actually a whole boatload) of luck to our struggling team after their humiliating defeat on Sunday. It was a sorry display and just about impossible to watch!

[Read more →]

I learned of a new, new to me anyhow, cut of beef from a most unsuspecting place; One King’s Lane, an online discount shopping site!

I am somewhat addicted to the site and need to take a break from checking out what they are offering each day. Although I do have quite a bit of my Christmas shopping done! The one day I will not give up checking on is Sunday. On Sundays, they offer food and or kitchen products.

About a month ago their featured items were lobsters (I’ve already posted about that!) and Estancia free-range, grass-fed beef. Honestly, I don’t know if the beef we purchased from there was so wonderfully delicious because of the source or if it was the beef cut, bavette steak; but wonderful it was!

If you enjoy flank and skirt steaks,  you will adore bavette steak! Also known as flap steak, bavette has much of the characteristics of flank or skirt steak. Although fibrous and chewy, all three cuts are packed with flavor.

[Read more →]

I am working to perfect an appetizer recipe using precooked and prepackaged short ribs for my upcoming classes at Les Gourmettes Cooking School. I’ve found two different varieties of these convenient and lovely ribs at Costco.

The recipe I’m working on uses shredded meat along with a crunchy Dijon apple slaw inside mini polenta cups. I haven’t been able to get it just right as of yet, but I’ve been playing with the rib meat on some other tasty items. Here you’ll find one of the new quick creations – short rib quesadillas.

My series of three adult classes at Les Gourmettes begin on Tuesday evening, November 16th. We skip Thanksgiving week, resume on November 30th, and finish up on December 7th.  There are only 16 slots available, so if you are interested just let me know and I’ll email you the menus, (Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas Buffet, and New Year’s Eve Cocktail Party) schedule, and registration form.

[Read more →]

No Connor, we did not get a new puppy! Forgive me, I had to say that right off the top. Poor Connor is up in Flagstaff and probably had mini heart palpitations of excitement when he saw that title and got his hopes up that puppy breath will greet him when he comes home for Thanksgiving.

Well, there will be if you go over to Aunt Sloane’s house, she brought home the cutest little shitzu puppy this weekend. His name is Bubo and he is the calmest little guy and as sweet as can be. Can’t wait to “babysit” … once he’s housebroken, that is!

As for the “extravagance” in the blog title – well there is this recipe for prime rib steaks, but that’s not exactly what I’m referring to. Fresh fruit is what I’m talking about!

You see, I took Dave with me to the new Fry’s. The big gorgeous remodeled store in our neighborhood I mentioned in yesterday’s post. Of course, he was impressed and was like a kid in a candy store. He picked up a beautiful tray of sliced and perfectly arranged summer fruits, placed it in our cart, and then went off to the salad bar to make a take-home concoction for his lunch. While I was waiting, I examined the fruit tray. It was gorgeous, although I couldn’t see a price tag, so held if high over my head to look at the bottom. There was the tag glaring back at me… $17.49! Seventeen dollars and forty-nine cents for summer fruits … In The Summer!

Strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, and kiwi… $17.49!!! Are you kidding? It’s not January! All those fruits are in season and on sale at just about every store in town, including this Fry’s.

Needless to say, the tray went back in the cooler and the same whole fruits went into our cart before Dave could finish making his salad and turn around.

As you can see on the receipt below, the cost of those fruits was $8.48 and it took me 10 minutes (Yes, I timed it!) to cut up and arrange said fruits just as artfully. Plus I only used half of what I bought for the same size tray, so really the cost of the fruit on my tray was $4.24. Which, if my math is correct, is a savings of more than $13 over the “Convenient Fruit Gold Nuggets” sold at Fry’s. OK, I’m finished with my “rant of the day”- are you ready for a recipe?

I use two items you may not have, Queen Creek Olive Mill fig balsamic vinegar and pickled figs. The pickled figs were posted here on July 22nd, so if you didn’t make them, use fresh figs. If you haven’t invested in the fabulous QCOM products yet, you’ll just use all regular balsamic vinegar for the glaze.

[Read more →]