Five years ago yesterday, a loving little boy, I have known since he was in preschool, officially turned into a young man, an adult.

January 5, 2008, was Joey DeBolske’s 18th birthday.

Joey was in Colorado that day, celebrating and skiing/snowboarding with his father, Kevin. He was in his element. Joey loved to snowboard, he loved his dad (this was an annual trip Kevin made with friends, and this was the first time he had invited Joey to join him), and he loved Colorado.

In fact, he was considering attending college in Boulder, the following fall, after he graduated from Saguaro High School (my alma mater) later that spring.

Five years ago today, on his way back home to Arizona, that little boy, who had grown into an amazing young man, whom we all adored, who is the son and oldest child of my best friend, Peggy Murrietta, died in a horrific bus crash in Mexican Hat, Utah.

The photo above was retrieved from Joey’s cell phone. It is time-stamped 1/6/08, taken on the mountain that last day. Peggy so treasures this photo, knowing that Joey was living life to the fullest, doing something he loved to do.

Also left behind, are Joey’s adoring siblings; Samme (then 16 – now 21), Natalie (then 13 – now 18), and Steve (then 11 – now 16).

Joey was the consummate big brother. He was their protector. Their defender. The peace-maker. Their beloved big brother.

Joey was all that and more, not only to Samme, Natalie, and Steve, but also to his beautiful mom, Peggy, and to his friends, including his buddy and my son, Connor.

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This gift from the kitchen would be perfect to give my best friend, Jennifer. Coincidentally, today is Jen’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Jenny Jen, I love you and I’m thinking of you today! xoxo

This would be the perfect gift because Jen loves smoked salmon and this fennel-cured salmon would make her so very happy.

On the eighth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:
Fennel Cured Salmon
Spicy Guinness Mustard
Two Jars of Mustard
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Homemade Kahlua Liqueur
Lemon-Sugar Hand Scrub
Cranberry Citrus Vodka
and a bottle of Tomato Dust

Gravlax is similar to lox, which is cured salmon that has been cold smoked. You want to make this food gift within a few days of giving it away. Home-cured salmon has a shelf life of 7 days after the cure is removed. It can also be frozen and will keep for about 90 days before it begins to deteriorate in the freezer. So if you finish curing on Christmas Eve and you give your gift on Christmas day your gift tag should say something like:

Homemade Fennel Cured Salmon
Please enjoy by New Year’s Eve
or
Place in the freezer and use
by Valentine’s Day

I learned to make this recipe back in 1993 after attending the Sonoma County Wine Auction. Dave and I attended the Sonoma and Napa County wine auctions several times. This recipe and the memory of those events make me want to go again in the coming year.

BTW – You may substitute the same amount of dill for the fennel fronds… if that is easier for you to find… of course, then it would be Dill Cured Salmon. 

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Marissa Lynn

Today is my sweet Missy May’s 25th birthday! This is one of my favorite pictures of her. That sheer joy in her face… it’s still there!

Evident in this photo of Marissa and her boyfriend, Jeff.

I believe they may be on the roof of her house in San Francisco. Not sure if I like that. It’s three stories high and it’s not like there’s a rail around it or anything. I know, I know, she’s 25, for goodness sake. But I’m still her mom!

And as such, I’ll never stop thinking about her happiness, health, safety, and well-being.

Here I am with her Godmother, Laura, preparing her dress on her baptism day. Isn’t she just the most beautiful baby? She is still that beautiful, inside and out!

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I’m having a bit of a birthday hangover today… not from too much alcohol… rather from just Too Much!

Dave went way overboard when it came to gifts this year. The flower arrangement arrived on Friday. Aren’t they beautiful?

On Saturday morning, he and Connor left the house to “run some errands” which I knew meant they were off to wrap presents at Dave’s office.

I was busy making the soup, that I promise to post tomorrow when they arrived home and made about a half dozen trips from the car to the breakfast table with stack upon stacks of wrapped boxes. It looked like Christmas, just without the tree! There were 22 gifts! What? That is crazy!

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2009

I had planned on putting up the soup recipe using THIS chicken stock today, but to be completely honest, I’m still working on it.  So instead, I shall do what I have done the last three October 27ths of this blog…

2010

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Today is Dave’s birthday. Connor came home from school for the weekend and HE, not I, made Dave’s birthday cake! All I did was take the action photos. Dave’s cake of choice is always his Auntie B’s Chocolate Cake. My mother-in-law sent me the recipe even before we were married so that I could make it for her boy who had moved so far from home.

Dave remembers the anticipation of The Beloved Cake when he would see a measuring cup full of milk, covered with a towel, sitting near the heater under the front picture window of his childhood home. You see, the recipe calls for sour milk. That old method of souring milk is no longer recommended since milk that is soured naturally may contain toxins. A safer, quicker, and much easier way to sour milk is to add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar to 1 cup of 2% or whole milk and leave it to sit on a counter for 15 minutes before using. All that being said, everyone in Dave’s family is healthy and happy after consuming many of Auntie B’s cakes that were made with naturally soured milk.

Happy Birthday, Dave! xoxo

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Ten days ago today, was my 3rd Blogiversary and I put up my 1000th post. On that momentous day, I included this picture.

Yesterday, I found this picture of a painting by artist Sarah Ashley Longshore, on Facebook…

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Three Years and Exactly 1000 posts!

Wow, time flies when you’re doing what you love to do! I didn’t realize until I began planning for this post, that I started my blog the day after Julia Child’s birthday.  It is appropriate though, especially if you read my very first entry HERE!

As I’m traveling through Alaska on this momentous day, I want to thank each and every one of you who read what I write and cook the recipes that I create. Whether you check in every day and are a treasured loyal follower, or just stop by every now and then… I appreciate you more than you know!

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American legend, Julia Child, would have turned 100 today. Julia died two days shy of her 92nd birthday in 2004.

Photo by Hans Namuth
Gelatin silver print, 1977
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

In 2001, Julia Child donated the kitchen from her Cambridge, Massachusetts home to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, in Washington, D.C.  It includes the cabinets, appliances, cookbooks, pegboard, kitchen table, and hundreds of her kitchen utensils and gadgets.

Julia’s turquoise kitchen had been on display from 2002 until this past January.  The National Museum of American History will temporarily reopen the exhibit today through September 3, 2012, in honor of her birthday. It will be open again permanently in November 2012 and will anchor an expanded food exhibit.

Image

Additionally, 100 restaurant chefs across the country have been firing up their ovens all week to honor Julia’s amazing culinary legacy. Four of our own Valley chefs are participating. CLICK HERE to read about some of their fond and funny memories of Julia and then drool over their menus, especially the one at Quiessence at the Farm at South Mountain. The tribute dinner there has been organized and will be hosted by our Phoenix Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier International, the chapter of that I am a founding member.  So sorry to be missing it!

As I’ve mentioned before, I too, had the pleasure of meeting and later working with the incomparable Mrs. Child.

1994 in San Francisco

2001 in Minneapolis

Believe me, I know how very blessed I am to have had that honor.

Here are two photos from the IACP Culinary Concerts from when I was the producer.

Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, Shirley Corriher, and Martin Yan on stage in Providence, Rhode Island on March 29, 2000

In this photo, the chefs were choosing ingredients for a signature dish they were going to make together. Martin had pulled out a bunch of cilantro and handed it to Emeril. Emeril showed it to Julia and she matter-of-factly said, “I don’t like cilantro.” Emeril said, “No cilantro, then!” as he tossed it back into the basket in front of Martin. Martin made some comment and tossed the cilantro into the audience and obviously, it struck Emeril’s funny bone!

Martin Yan, Mary Sue Milliken, Emeril Lagasse, Jacques Pépin, and Susan Feniger in San Diego on April 18, 2002

Julia was scheduled to perform with these great chefs, but wound up with a bout of bronchitis. Here the chefs are making a birthday cake (a few months early) in her honor.

I am also privileged to own an autographed first edition of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, an amazing treasure. 

I have brought along the new Julia Child biography, Bob Spitz’s “Dearie:  The Remarkable Life of Julia Child” to read on my Alaskan trip. Can’t wait to dive into it.

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Twenty-one years ago today, at 12:59 pm, my sweet love, Connor, was born.  He arrived 3 weeks early, weighing in at 6 pounds 4 ounces, and was 18 1/2-inches long.  Now my baby boy is 21 years old and 5 feet 10-inches tall.

Time flies when you’re having fun!

I hope you’ll indulge me while I post just “a couple” of my favorite photos of my favorite boy!

Chilling on the rocks in the center of Oak Creek in Sedona, AZ

Midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean with big sister, Marissa

With Clyde the camel in Paradise Valley

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