Today, it’s another of the recipes from Saturday’s Christmas Craft Party, stuffed mushrooms. What’s not to like? Bacon. Cheese. Mushrooms. Pepper Jelly. It’s all good! This would be perfect to bring to a holiday party.

But, before I get to it, I have to share with you just how clever my friend, Sheila is and how she “constructed” a second long table for our crowd in her craft room.

See this table? It’s really drywall set atop two sawhorses. Next, she cut up two twin bed skirts and used them as the table skirt. Finally, Sheila used her Kitchen Papers Flourish Paper Table Wrap to cover the top. So resourceful and so darn pretty!

OK, on to the recipe!

Bacon-Wrapped Cheesy Mushrooms

15 to 18 slices bacon, cut in half
12-ounces (1  1/2 packages) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup diced green onions
3/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup pepper jelly
30 to 36 fresh medium to large crimini or white mushrooms, stems removed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with foil. Place a rack atop one of the baking sheets.

Place the bacon pieces, in a single layer, on the prepared baking sheet without the rack. Partially cook the bacon in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool while you prepare the mushrooms.

In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, green onions, cheddar cheese, and jelly.

Use a small spoon to stuff the mushroom caps with the cheese mixture, really pack it in there.

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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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This photo was taken during summer cooking classes. Although the two students in the foreground are fabulous – what I want you to focus on is the background. The view through the window behind the kids.

It is the view I’ve looked at every day for the last four years … ever since we did a complete remodel on our backyard.

In 2008 we expanded our backyard, taking down the existing block fence and pushing out to the back and to the west. Putting up a new block fence. In the process, as my neighbors probably recall, there was the unfortunate incident of hitting a gas line and closing down the street for a couple of hours with the fire department on hand. (Good times!)

We dug out the existing kidney-shaped diving pool, filled it in, and put in a new play pool with a spa, waterfall, and a swim-up bar that has you eating and drinking while watching me cooking away in the new sunken outdoor kitchen.

We tore off the existing patio cover and deck, and boarded up the two upstairs doors so that one of us didn’t somehow forget there was no deck to step out onto and fall to our death! Making the back of the house look like a tornado had come through. Then we put up a new patio cover, more than triple in depth.

Oh, and by the way, one very important note here – when I say “we” – I mean that “we” hired FANTASTIC contractors to do all that. (if you need a general contractor, a plumber, a landscape designer, an electrician, or a painter… let me know because I love those guys!) We only lifted a finger to write out the checks. So many checks! I

Here’s a very fuzzy zoomed in shot of what I see out that window. And it’s not the pool I’m focusing on today, it the patio furniture.

This is a photo of the remodeled covered patio, just after it was completed in April 2008.

Dave and I received the patio table and four chairs (along with 2 chaise lounges and a side table) as a wedding shower gift, in 1985.

Yep, the set is 27 years old. I’ve had it repainted and re-strapped twice, so about every 9 years… making it again due for a makeover.

And although it has served us well, it is time for it to move on to another family… along with many other items from my home.

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This is the tasty creation that I served at the Burlap Pumpkin Making class this past Saturday morning. We went through two double batches!

FYI: I purchased the cute numbered (1 -12) cocktail classes on One Kings Lane.

Many thanks to Tram and Sheila for the two photos!

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We had a creative and fun-filled extra long weekend. Our BFF’s from Illinois, Jeff and Jen, flew in on Thursday.

After years of them playing hosts to us at their gorgeous Wisconsin log cabin and at their beautiful home in Illinois, we were finally able to play hosts to them….for the first time EVER!

I know, that’s crazy, isn’t it?  Well, it was an absolute joy and just makes me wish they would come back at least once a month until we could pay them back for their more than a decade of hospitality.  Even at that rate, it would take us a couple of years to catch up!

On Saturday morning, I held the burlap pumpkin class that I threatened to hold in THIS POST … several of you expressed interest.

Thankfully, Jen and Shelia were two of the participants, because those two girls are super artistic and they were able to help the other participants make some really pretty pumpkins.

Peggy and I showed everyone how to put the pumpkins together, but it was Sheila and Jen who really lead the way, helping one lady after another, bling out their fabric squash creations.

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Our trip to California last weekend wasn’t all that we expected it to be. Several of the vendors we hoped to see were not there, including “the boys” Dustin and Christian who own Uber Chic Home, and Martin and Trinidad of Atelier de Campagne. Turns out they were at the Three Speckled Hens Antiques Show in Paso Robles. In addition to that, it was HOT! You know how I hate to travel away from hot Arizona to where it should be cooler and end up still being HOT somewhere else!

Although the Rose Bowl Flea Market was a bit of a disappointment this time around, Sheila and I still came home with plenty of happy finds. Some were found at the Rose Bowl, others at various shops along Main Street in Ocean Beach. Where, by the way, you can also find this sketchy Hippy Hostel, just in case you are looking for lodging,

On to the Happy Finds… (plus a fun bonus at the end of the post)

Four seriously awesome antique English crocks. These things are all the rage and often very expensive. Mine was a steal. The vendor told me that he has a guy who digs them up out of the River Thames. Seriously, it’s common practice. Read THIS little blog post to learn more.

I purposely picked out the most aged and crackly ones he had.

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While Sheila and I are living it up here in Coronado, this healthy and hearty soup is served as our lunch one day and dinner the next. You do need to remember to soak the beans the night before, otherwise, it is pretty straightforward. Unlike yesterday, this time the photos nearly match how I describe to do it, nearly. I just had to use two baking dishes for the roasting of the vegetables, if you have a dish that is large enough, just use one.

If you have leftovers when reheating be certain to add a bit more water to thin out the soup. It thickens considerably as it cools.

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Not only did Sheila and I enjoy our Vootbeer Cocktails on Friday night, we also scarfed down some salty spicy-sweet little snacks … ummm … as our dinner.  Hey, we’re on a vacation shopping trip – do not judge!

Additionally, this is a “do as I say, not as I do” sort of recipe. We didn’t have any foil, or a rack, so the photos don’t exactly match the instructions. I had to make do with what was available in Sheila’s adorable drool-worthy cottage kitchen.

The kitchen is actually very well equipped, as Sheila is a fabulous cook, but things are sometimes just a bit smaller than I am used to. If you have foil and a rack, which I’m sure you do, then follow the directions and you will be set!

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… from today, is Halloween!

My Illinois BFF, Jen, called me at 8:34 AM this past Monday morning and was buzzing about a blog that she had just found and completely loved. There was a craft on that blog that SHE AND I HAD to do … right now! (yep, that is her above, I know, she’s super pretty, and yeah, I adore her!)

HERE is the blog … and the project … that we I did that very day.

And here is the story of exactly how that went down:

I jumped in my car, which was serendipitously filled with gas just the day before, and headed out to the closest  99¢ Only Store, which is exactly 3.3 miles from my house, to buy the necessary supplies. There, I found 11 black feather boas, 4 packages of black and gray gauze, 4 black glitter skulls, and 2 silver glitter skulls.  From there I drove across the street to Hobby Lobby and purchased 2 foam wreath forms, using a 40% off coupon for one of those wreaths. Total amount spent – $33.79 plus tax.

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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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