We have a very little house but our family has always known that what we have, we are more than willing to share with everyone’s friends.  For almost a year now we have really enjoyed getting to know the boyfriend of our youngest daughter.  He is a big burly French Canadian with huge green eyes and a gentle disposition.  And perhaps best of all-he can cook! 

He makes a fabulous omelette (almost as good as our Son’s) and has proven to be a great baker.  Perhaps I am easily impressed because I am such a lousy one.  We are especially pleased when guests feel comfortable enough in our home that they will ask to make something for us and have the run of the kitchen.  When his sister stayed with us this Christmas she made us French crepes.

Last night he baked this eggless Mexican Chocolate Cake!

makes one 8 inch round cake (he used a bundt pan)

 1 1/2 cup of flour

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper or chili powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of cold water

1/4 cup of canola oil

1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a cake pan, set aside.

In a large bowl,whisk all dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients and mix well until batter is fully combined. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cake cool for 10 minutes, remove from pan and finish cooling it in a wire rack.

It called for a chocolate glaze but we all decided that a cold custard would be a delicious accompaniment.  The chill from the custard nicely offset the pepperiness. 

Kath’s quote:  “As with most fine things, chocolate has its season. There is a simple memory aid that you can use to determine whether it is the correct time to order chocolate dishes: any month whose name contains the letter A, E, or U is the proper time for chocolate.”-Sandra Boynton

mi casa su casa

When I joined the Foodbuzz Blogging Community I had to fill out a foodie profile and I was asked where my favourite restaurant in the entire world was located.  This proves to be a very daunting task whether you are a world traveller or just trying to think back over the thousand of restaurant meals that you’ve likely enjoyed in your lifetime.

After much deliberation I choose Cumpa Cosismo in Ravello Italy.  It is said to have been Jacqueline Onassis’ favourite restaurant when she vacationed in the area which I understand was frequently. 

The cafe is a little off the beaten path, that is to say not off of the main square.  But the reason why it was hard to find is that it is known simply as Nettie’s to the locals, after notorious Chef/owner Netta Butone.  Her traditional recipes are simple and exquisite.  Nettie knows her stuff-she personally brings the laden platters to the table and then you don’t see her again until she presents you with the cheque.  

Every once in a while, I attempt to recreate her anti-pasta which is a selection of local vegetables.  Hers was cauliflower, diced zucchini, swiss chard, peppers, eggplant a bit of soft cheese. 

For mine,  I separately saute or grill a number of favourites in extra virgin olive (use your best stuff here) and one or two in black truffle oil for variety.

For a couple, I’ll add freshly chopped garlic or fresh basil -but just use what you have on hand and keep it very simple. 

A tip I learned about the eggplant, is that after lightly grilling you stack it, so that the steam in the veggie will continue the cooking process.  To serve, I take each eggplant slice and roll it into a tube. The platter can be served hot if you are entertaining at home or cold if you are taking it to a friend’s. 

Kath’s quote:  “I feel a recipe is only a theme, which an intelligent cook can play each time with a variation.”-Madame Benoit
 

Bon apetito!

If I owned a restaurant (and we still may give that another try) it seems to me that the compliment that would flatter me the most would be the request that my food be served at a person’s memorial service.  I attended an absolutely beautiful celebration of a friend’s life this morning.  She was well enough earlier last week to participate in the planning of this day.  She wanted to know the designated time and was content with an 11 am start.  That way, her daughter shared: “She could provide everyone with lunch”-one of her greatest pleasures.  When it was difficult for her to speak the words “cheese and fruit platters”, she drew circles in the air.  Luckily her daughter knew exactly what the gesture meant. 

When we moved from the sanctuary upstairs to the downstairs hall, the courteous ladies from Rae and Jerry’s were there to great us.  I am absolutely hooked on their salmon sandwich rolls and only get to savour them on other occasions such as these.  The salmon is not overloaded with mayonnaise but still moist with a gherkin pickle in the middle.  I know that there are also delectables made from shaved ham, chicken and corned beef.  Their ham and relish is particularly yummy.  Sister #3 loves the cream cheese and cherry. Rae & Jerry’s cheese trays are always a world wide collection of Fontina, Havarti, Camembert, Edam, Gouda and Cheddar (of course). 

My family already knows a piece of music that I would like at my memorial.  I tucked a copy of it in a file so it could be found at an opportune time.  Maudlin?  Not at all.  They will also know that I want lilies everywhere and that they are to to give everyone who attends a heart stone that I have collected on my habitual beach walks. They know the two places that I would like my ashes thrown into the wind.  They also know that I want baskets of kettle- cooked potato chips, bowls of fresh salsa, black truffle Bothwell cheese, rosemary and Parmesan Triscuits, bowls of ripe black olives and marinated artichoke hearts and cubes of feta cheese.  For dessert-Dream cookies.  Scads of them, so that everyone can eat their fill and then take home pockets full for their kids.  But just in case someone forgets a detail-now it is all outlined here…..

I want to be like Doris.  I want to live a long, full life and then bless in death, all the people that I love in the same way that I have demonstrated my love for them in life-with one last lunch.

Kath’s quote:“Everything ends this way in France – everything. Weddings, christenings, duels, funerals, swindlings, diplomatic affairs — everything is a pretext for a good dinner.”-Jean Anouilh

She flies on.

“You are never alone if you have a good book.” so said by my maternal Grandfather.  The love of reading was passed along to me through my Mom.  I would be embarrassed to bring kids home after school because the house would be a mess and my Mom would be there with her nose in a book.  But now I look back and think-I turned out pretty well in spite of being raised in an untidy house but where would I be without my books?  My habit is so excessive that I have to read library books as I could never support my habit financially or with the space to store them.  I often read two books of fiction a week and have another of non-fiction on the go as well. 

I am just about finished a non-fiction account of a writer raising twin newborns in Rome where he and his wife are on a study grant. “Four Seasons in Rome” by Anthony Doerr combines many of my loves in one tidy packet-the written word, apartments with balconies and green shutters,  BABIES and the most amazing food!

This is his account of shopping for fresh produce:  “The vegetable stand we buy from is isolated in a little convergence of alleys in between the hardware store and the bakery, called Largo Luigi Micelli.  The sisters who run it are stubby-fingered and wear gumboots.  “Buongiorno,” they say, every time we arrive.  “Dimmi.”  Tell me.

Most days a son helps them, eager and grave in his apron, periodically bringing a hand to his upper lip to confirm the existence of his downy mustache.  The three of them educate me in winter produce: one type of cauliflower white as cotton, another purple as dusk; sheaves of young leeks with mud still packed in their roots; basins of squash; tiny, spherical potatoes like miniature moons.  Frost, they say adds flavour to the leaves of kale; winter radicchio should be brushed with oil and grilled on warm coals.  There is fennel, in bright, reedy piles.  Crinkly, soft cabbages.  Mountains of radishes.  There are eggplants in rows and eggplants in heaps; indigo, violet blue, some so purple they are black.

The leeks are bundled like debarked, nascent trees; the red-leaf lettuces are aloof and silent; they burn like torch flames.  Especially in wet weather the market is luminous.: the air slightly smoky, the stalls seemingly huddled together against the chill, the emerald piles of spinach, the orange pyramids of carrots, a dozen tattered umbrellas gleaming with beads of rain. ”

Ah the markets of Italy….. 

Kath’s quote:  “There are two Italies…. The one is the most sublime and lovely contemplation that can be conceived by the imagination of man; the other is the most degraded, disgusting, and odious. What do you think? Young women of rank actually eat — you will never guess what — garlick! Our poor friend Lord Byron is quite corrupted by living among these people, and in fact, is going on in a way not worthy of him.”-Percy Bysshe Shelley in a letter from Naples (1818)

tutto cio serve e amore

PS I finished the book late last night and came upon this:

      “When we eat it is like a poem.  Blown campenalla (ruffled edge pasta) with local sheep’s milk cheese, topped with Parmesan and black truffle fondue; Spoleto-style trengozzi (to call these dumplings is akin to calling a Rolls-Royce a golf cart) with tomatoes, peperoncino, pecorino cheese, and parsley;  the loin of a Valerina piglet in a pecorino, pear and Montefalco red-wine sauce; and a hot, wet chocolate flan smothered with orange cream.  

      We close our eyes; we slide the forks out of our mouth’s.  “It’s ridiculous,” Shauna says.”

I have 22 more sleeps before my winter get-away and I am in “eager anticipation” mode.  I am yearning for warmth (it was -43 here yesterday), for the sand between my toes, to wear flip flops and pareos all day long, to walk by the water, to travel with my beloved entourage and to see all my Isla friends again.  But truth be told-I can’t stop thinking about the food!  Lime wedges to squeeze over everything, creamy “just-made” guacamole, salsa that tastes so fresh- it dances in your mouth, ceviche and fresh fish, fish and more fish.

I am not an “all-inclusive” kinda girl.  For me, part of the pleasure of a meal-is the hunt to obtain it.  I won’t even be able to direct you to my favourite little “fast food” tiende on Isla Mujeres because I do not think that it has a name and I didn’t even get to check to make sure that it was still there on my last visit.  But right now I have this insatiable craving for their fish tacos!

The person ahead of me ordered a fruit platter and so the process began to peel each of his fruit requests, then pull up a chair to sit while lovingly slice each one and then assemble them on the plastic plate-and voila (20 minutes later) a feast for the eyes and the taste-buds.

My tacos could not be started until the fruit plate preparations were completed and cleaned away.  Worth the wait? OMGoodness-yes. Fresh….perfectly cooked…crunchy toppings…messy….and cheap!  Less than $5 for a feast that I took down to the beach to share with my gang.

Kath’s quote: “Ruling a large kingdom, is like cooking a small fish.” (Handle gently and never overdo it)-Lao-tse, Chinese philosopher (6th century BC)

it is well, it is well with my soul