You might think that on Kentucky Derby Day, the day where bourbon reigns supreme, I should be celebrating all things bourbon and not pining away for a real agave margarita. I should be teaching you all how to make authentic mint juleps while I regale you with some madcap horse racing story from youth, no? The […]
Coeur à la Crème & my broken heart – A night to forget!
If you get the impression from the Coeur à la Crème photo above that I am hostile towards Valentine’s Day, I can assure you I am. I owe this ‘holiday’ no loyalty! February after February the day as never failed to sour any sweet display of love I have felt while eating a fancy […]
February 15, 2013 by 45 Comments
Lemon Carrot Confiture
Third Place Winner at the Orange County Fair! I apologize for my tardiness in bringing you this award-winning preserve. Life has been out-of-control busy since this blog (that’s me!) won the “Best of Show” prize at the 2012 Orange County Fair last summer. My genre-busting, step-by-step treatise on Mussels and Chorizo scored a big win with the […]
February 13, 2013 by 18 Comments
Tomato and Spinach Strata
To many The Brunch is more than just a meal served between 10AM and 3PM. It is a sacrament. I don’t know how my own VERY serious approach to brunch began but that is the way I now roll. It is unlikely I will change on this. The Brunch not only provides me an opportunity to create a […]
November 28, 2012 by 13 Comments
"Best of Show" at The OC Fair!
Despite the now obviously shorter days and an avalanche of food blog posts tempting me to heat the oven to roasting temperature, I can’t enthusiastically embrace fall until I take care of some unfinished blog business. I recently entered a few blog posts in the Orange County Fair Culinary Arts food blog competitions and ended up […]
October 1, 2012 by 18 Comments
Thin Mint Cookie Scones
Happy 100th Birthday Girl Scouts!
So how did I end up with 50 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies this year? Well, I’ll tell you but before I do, did you know that the Girl Scouts recently had to face down a boycott of their beloved annual cookie drive? Seriously, they did. I ask you , is that any way to treat this […]
March 14, 2012 by 14 Comments
Mussels and Chorizo (with Bread!)
French Fridays with Dorie It wasn’t too long ago that the sight of uncooked mussels would carry me back to the summers of my youth in Newport Beach, California. The thought of eating these creatures would never have occurred to me back then. We would play on the beach and pry the mussels that grew […]
February 17, 2012 by 33 Comments
OC Fair “Personal Blog Post”
Winner: Gerard’s Tart!
I f you could get past the Ferris Wheel and assorted whirly gigs, make your way beyond the abundant a rtery-clogging food offerings (“deep fried candy bars!”) and the odorous livestock exhibits you might have eventually wandered into the considerable Culinary Arts Pavilion at the 2011 Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa, California. Among the […]
August 14, 2011 by 21 Comments
Gerard’s Mustard Tart
French Fridays with Dorie I have this fantasy/memory playing out in my head about French cooking and how it is prepared. Its seeds were planted when I took a family vacation to France as a teenager. Our family was hosted by a business associate of my father and his very elegant wife. Their names were […]
October 8, 2010 by 16 Comments
