During the hot summer months, one of my favorite meals is a salad. I love salads because they’re cold and light and usually pretty healthy. You can have them with or without proteins, as a side or an entrée, you can even add fruit if you want to. With so many options, they just may… Continue reading Lemony Chicken Couscous Salad
Suffering Bastard
As you know I’ve been making tiki cocktail after tiki cocktail this summer. In making all these tiki cocktails I’ve learned something I never knew before: not all tiki drinks are made with rum. As a matter of fact, several of them don’t have a single drop. The Suffering Bastard is just such a tiki… Continue reading Suffering Bastard
Ginger Plum Pie
I’ve always loved pie. It didn’t matter the flavor. If it was hot and had a flakey crust and maybe even had a scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top, I was in. My favorite kinds of pie have always been fruit pies. Strawberry, blackberry, blueberry… I could go on and on. Of course… Continue reading Ginger Plum Pie
Hawaiian Sunset Cocktail
When I think of tiki cocktails I think of rum. Lots and lots of rum. So, you can understand my surprise when several of the cocktails listed in the new Smuggler’s Cove tiki book don’t list rum as the number one liquor. As a matter of fact, a lot of them don’t use any rum… Continue reading Hawaiian Sunset Cocktail
Simmered Shaved Corn
Corn is all over the place right now. I see it in farmer’s markets and in the grocery stores. It’s everywhere, and I couldn’t be happier. See, one of my favorite side dishes is corn. I don’t care if it’s steamed, boiled or grilled. I’ll eat it straight off the cob or shaved into a… Continue reading Simmered Shaved Corn
Doctor Funk Cocktail
According to the new cocktail book from Smuggler’s Cove there are “eight essential exotic elixirs”. They have been around since the beginning of tiki and either Don or Trader Vic were responsible for most of them. I was so excited to make each and every one until I discovered I’d already made the Mai Tai,… Continue reading Doctor Funk Cocktail
Raspberry Crepe Cake
I’ve talked about Melissa’s Produce and the wonderful produce they send me. It’s all sorts of fresh vegetables and fruits and it’s always delicious. But Melissa’s doesn’t just deal in fruits and veggies. They also have herbs, beans, kits and even nuts. I’ve been using their produce for years but it wasn’t until recently that… Continue reading Raspberry Crepe Cake
Mexican El Diablo
When I think of cocktails I think of rum because most tiki drinks are usually made with at least one if not a variety of rums. There’s unaged, lightly aged, blended and long aged. There’s silver, spiced and black. There are so many rum options it can be hard to keep them all straight. Luckily… Continue reading Mexican El Diablo
Strawberry Banana Bread
I know strawberry season might be over (or at least the peak season is) but as long as there are strawberries at the farmer’s market, I consider it to be strawberry season. And I’m not alone. Three weeks ago we had our monthly Food Bloggers of Los Angeles meeting and the topic was strawberries and… Continue reading Strawberry Banana Bread
Fog Cutter
I just got back from our annual family beach trip to northern California. Now, if you know anything about the Bay Area, you know that there are two temperatures in Nor Cal during the summer months: hot or freezing. It all depends on what time of summer you visit. If you’re there from May to… Continue reading Fog Cutter
Chopped Vegetable Salad
As many of you know I get a lot of my recipes from cookbooks and cooking magazines. The cookbooks come from many different places, but one of the most common is Melissa’s. I work with them quite often and attend several of their events. Each event usually has a theme and the most recent was… Continue reading Chopped Vegetable Salad