Random Culinary Adventures

I have been distracted from my cooking lately. We had our house painted, tented for termites and are still not done with the entire project. I did however add a small freestanding fishpond (with just goldfish to start) to our breezeway and am working on creating a small little tropical space there. It’s been fun but time consuming and creates a chaos that is not conducive to cooking for me.

I did, however, use my newly honed fried chicken skills to host a b’day dinner for my cousin, Mary. (that's us, stuffing our faces!) It is getting easier and more efficient for me each time I try Keller’s recipe. We had Fried Chicken, Green Bean with Blue Cheese salad, Red & Green Coleslaw, Garlic Bread, AND I tested the Zuni Café recipe for Tomato Summer Pudding on them! It got rave reviews!

My tomatoes are ripening and may not make it to October 30 when we have our Zuni Café Dinner. Speaking of tomatoes, those darn squirrels or rats or something is eating my tomatoes one day before I pick them! I’m having to pick the tomatoes a day or two early and that means I don’t really get “vine ripened” tomatoes! I am sooo mad and bummed! I’ve lost about 8 large tomatoes so far this year. I think next year, I’m going to net the tomatoes and see if that helps to keep those critters off my tomatoes! I notice that heirlooms don’t give me the “bounty” that the regular Ace, Early Girl or Beefeater tomatoes do. I don’t mind getting fewer tomatoes because the heirlooms are so sweet and delicious…they taste more “tomato-y” to me…. but I DO mind losing them to critters! My cat, who is the consummate hunter, does not hunt squirrels for some reason. She’s brought home rats, mice, rabbits, lizards, birds, moles and gophers but never any squirrels….darn!

I baked a birthday cake for Mary’s dinner that I hadn’t made in years but I knew that she likes citrus desserts so this one was the perfect choice. It’s called a Lemon Mirror Cake and it used to be an intimidating dessert for me to prepare but I must be becoming a better cook because it was pretty easy this time. It’s a beautiful presentation as you can see and it tastes like a light dessert (even if it’s not really “lite”). I’ll have to make this dessert more often since it’s now an easy one to make! If you click on the dessert name, you can get the recipe which is now online.


Last week, I organized a dinner with the women who live on our block. We just ate at the Country Gourmet on the corner of Mary and Fremont in Sunnyvale. If you haven’t tried it, it’s a perfect place for a casual dinner where you order & pay at the counter and they bring the food to you. Everything is fresh and delicious AND inexpensive…main entrees’ run between $13-16. Anyway, one of the women has a “supper club” and their members have been having potluck, themed dinners for over 20 years. One person organizes the menu and tells the cooks which dish they are to bring. The hosts must decorate their home to reflect the theme…our neighbor even made her house look like a castle one time! And, to get the point here, we were talking about getting our two groups together sometime next year to have a feast! Sound interesting?

Our Crowing Coq Cookbook Club’s Zuni Café Dinner is coming up on October 30. Do you think we ought to come in costume too? Seriously though, the recipes that the members are choosing to bring promises a delicious gourmet evening so stay tuned and I’ll regale you with descriptions, wines and Willie’s fabulous photos. It should inspire you to start cooking something new!

Bon appétit!

Sandi