Cupcakes

Boxed Golden Butter Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Icing

Stuffed Bread

Stuffed with whatever was in the fridge...



Pepperoni
Mozzerella
Peppers & Onions & Garlic (all softened in some olive oil)
Garden Tomato Slices





Just like our recent pizzas, baked outside on the grill.


Mmmm, gooey. Guess there's no skipping the gym tomorrow.

Summertime Food

With temperatures close to 100 almost every day, I've been doing everything not to heat up the house and cook inside. Thank goodness for coldcuts and tomatoes from our garden!

Website Changes

Hi all. This morning my blog was hit with Spam. And when I say hit, I mean over 200 bogus comments left trying to get readers to click a link to a Poker website. Argh! I went through and tried to erase as many as I could. I was hoping not to have to do this, but I've decided to change up the format of the site. All comments will be reviewed before being posted (which essentially means they will not show up immediately). Sorry.

Skirt Steak Tacos

Thursday Dinner - Skirt Steak Tacos
Simple, but good. I marinated skirt steak with onion, garlic, cumin, lime juice, salt & pepper for a few hours. After all the other taco toppings were ready we threw the steaks on the grill for a few minutes on each side and then thinly sliced.

BYOB @ Solstice

Last night, Solstice Kitchen & Wine Bar had a BYOB night. For a mid-week break we decided to make reservations and check it out.



We took two selections with us - Passalacqua Sauvignon Blanc and a Lesec Chateauneuf du Pape. Both were fantastic.

Passalacqua Winery ~ Sauvignon Blanc ($16)
We picked up this bottle the last time we were in Sonoma. As we remembered, it was light, clean & crisp. A great nose with lots of fruit (grapefruit-lemons-limes) and just enough acidity.

Lesec Marquis Chateauneuf du Pape ($30)
Shows a lot of what's great about Chateauneuf du Pape - dark garnet color, substantial tannins, and a finish which is quite satisfying.

Some random photos from the night...

Amuse Bouche: Miniature Tomato Salad in a Phyllo Cup


Heirloom Tomatoes with Pesto


I love that they present their dessert menu on a CD case (I got their amazing fresh donuts - as usual)


S and I ~ Full & Happy

Sunday Gravy

Since our garden has been pumping out tomatoes faster than we can eat them, I decided to make a big pot of gravy from scratch (my normal "from scratch" uses canned tomatoes).



I started by skinning them. For me, the easiest way is to make a small "x" on the bottom of each tomato, blanch them for a minute in boiling water, and then toss into a pot of ice water to cool completely.



Here is a closeup. You can see how the skin just pulls away.



Once peeled, I cut and seeded the tomatoes and heated them with a little olive oil and garlic.



This is where my photo shoot ended. Once the tomatoes softened and cooked down a bit, I blended them until smooth and made gravy as I normally would with canned sauce.

Fourth of July

A few photos from our trip to Virginia.



To start off the weekend R made us some of her famous frozen mai tai's





Meanwhile, Filly snoozes waiting for Ed to get home.


Filly searched up and down when we first arrived trying to find him, but he wasn't home. When he finally did arrive she went nuts.


For dessert, Rebecca made some very cool individual cheesecakes. I helped decorate...


The best part of helping...


Cakes in progress






Another fantastic drink from Rebecca's blender - blueberry daquiri


On Sunday we just relaxed outside with some frozen drinks and antipasti...


THANKS GUYS FOR A GREAT WEEKEND!!!