Dessert

Edith, Mark and Jay came over for a very casual dinner - we ate in the living room, in front of the TV and watched a couple of videos on Peru for our upcoming trip. I served a menu of reliable favorites. This chili is fast becoming one of our most-liked chili recipes. It's different, but really good and healthy. I made the dessert the day before, and not only was it easy to make but soooo good. I'm nuts about honey.

• Chive and Pine Nut Dip with Sourdough Toasts (Gourmet, June 2005)
• Barley & Turkey Chili with Jalapeño Sour Cream and Amaranth Crunch (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 186)
• Napa Pantry World's Best Cornbread
• Roasted Baby Beet and Rocket Salad with Walnuts and Gorgonzola
• Honey Panna Cotta (Pure Dessert, p. 178)

Wine:
- Ridge 2004 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel (Alexander Valley, California). Just at the edge of not being enjoyable. It's losing its fruit.
- Rockpile 2006 Cemetery Vineyard Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). One of my favorite appellations. A big, juicy wine.

A quick dinner for Larry and Jay tonight - I liked the chicken fingers, but Larry wasn't that crazy about the coating. However, he loved the barley pilaf, which used barley flakes instead of the standard whole barley. the beans were also very good. I'm still working through some recipes in the Dorie Greenspan book - this chocolate cakes is mostly flourless and very good.

• Turkey Fingers with Maple-Mustard Sauce (Eating Well, November/December 1995)
• Barley Pilaf with Fennel, Pecans & Cranberries (Whole Grains for Busy People, p. 142)
• Borlotti Beans with Porcini & Trumpet Mushrooms (Heirloom Beans: Great Recipes for Dips and Spreads, Soups and Stews, Salads and Salsas, and Much More from Rancho Gordo, p. 117)
• Almost-Fudge Gateau (Baking: From My Home to Yours, p. 218)

I made a mostly make-ahead, simple dinner for Larry and Jay tonight. Rancho Gordo isn't carrying borlotti beans right now, but I found some at the Italian grocery across the street, and cooked them up last night along with the tomato sauce. The beans and polenta are hearty and vegetarian, but we added sliced chicken Italian sausage to the top. The beans weren't as tender and creamy as I'd like, but they were good. I ignored the recipe for the polenta and made it with milk. I don't make polenta with water any more!

I made up a simple vinaigrette for the beets - I was craving them, and knew I wanted to make a salad with them as soon as I saw the rocket at Trader Joe's. The lemon cream tart was also made yesterday. The filling is light and airy and really delicious. I used Meyer lemons. The irections say to whip up the filling and fill the pie, then serve. Really, the filling needs to set up in the pie in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.

• Borlotti Beans in Tomato Sauce with Creamy Polenta (Heirloom Beans: Great Recipes for Dips and Spreads, Soups and Stews, Salads and Salsas, and Much More from Rancho Gordo, p. 147)
• Chicken Italian Sausage
• Roasted Baby Beet and Rocket Salad with Walnuts and Gorgonzola
• The Most Extraordinary Lemon Cream Tart (Baking: From My Home to Yours, p. 331)

I checked out Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours from the Library, and picked these little bundt cakes as my first recipe to try out of the book. Mainly because I have a mini bundt pan and am always looking for excuses to use it. In the end, they turned out okay tasting, but making them was a huge effort.

I generously buttered the mini bundt pan, but as I was buttering it, I remarked to Larry that I'd bet Pam would work better. I was right, the cakes ended up being stuck in the pans and we had to partially mutilate them to get them out.

The recipe says to put a little batter in, then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar pecans, then more batter. The batter was really thick and I almost ran out at the end. It was a mess getting the batter spread over the nuts.

The last issue was with the chocolate glaze for the top, I don't know what the problem was but it was too thick. So it just glommed on. This photo was the best of the bunch, and that's not saying much. I just hope I have better luck with some of the other recipes.

• Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes (Baking: From My Home to Yours, p. 188)

Mark, Edith and Jay were all here for dinner. The chicken is just a take on coq au vin. Good, but nothing special (I seem to say that a lot lately, wondering if I'm getting overly picky). The chocolate mousse was a hit and a definite make-again. Creamy and thick, and easy to make.

• Creamy White Bean & Herb Dip (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 76)
• Wine-Braised Chicken with Shallots and Pancetta (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 8)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Garlicky Braised Kale with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 49)
• Real Chocolate Mousse (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 25)

Wine:
- Rosenblum 2005 Carla's Vineyard Zinfandel (San Francisco Bay, California). Really, really good. Well balanced and what a Zin should aspire to be.
- Thumbprint 2005 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Lighter than the Rosenblum, so we should have opened this first. Okay, but disappointing after the Rosenblum.

This was an interesting way to bread turkey cutlets. The recipe calls for salted popped popcorn that is then put through a food processor, then used like breadcrumbs. I had to figure out the popcorn thing first. We usually use SmartPop microwave popcorn, butter flavor. I don't think I know how to pop regular popcorn anymore, so I looked around at the store and settled on Orville Redenbacher's reduced fat Natural Popcorn. Basically just popcorn, oil and salt.

We really liked everything tonight. The turkey was interesting, and I pretty much like anything with farro. The sorbet was delicious and creamy.

• Popcorn-Crusted Turkey Cutlets with Cherry Tomato Salsa (Whole Grains for Busy People, p. 78)
• Farro with Broccoli Rabe & Prosciutto (Whole Grains for Busy People, p. 109)
• Blood Orange & Mango Sorbet (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 47)

I had an urge to bake. Something lemony from Whole Grain baking. These are a twist on traditional lemon bars, with oats on top and a creamy filling. They were good but not something I'd make again and again. These taste good when stored in the refrigerator. Not good at room temperature.

• Lemon-Oat Squares (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 365)

Someone from work was lamenting that one of our local cupcake shops (Kara's) doesn't carry red velvet cupcakes. I've eaten plenty of red velvet, and it's good but not my flavor of choice (at Kara's, it's always fleur de sel for me). I figured I'd try making them, but broke one of my rules of cooking right away. I found a recipe and didn't really follow it. Well, I did, but I wasn't about to dump three bottles of red food coloring into the batter, so the cupcakes are brown. And I ignored the frosting from the recipe and used the vanilla cream cheese frosting from Fine Cooking instead (a half batch was perfect). Also note that I can't decorate cakes worth a damn.

• Red Velvet Cupcakes (More From Magnolia: Recipes From The World-Famous Bakery and Magnolia's Home Kitchen)
• Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 72)

Kent came for dinner tonight, a pre-ZAP planning meeting (we're all volunteer leads for the Good Eats & Zin event). Whole Foods had both halibut and their sustainable Chilean sea bass... sea bass is my favorite, and it was half the price. So I went with the sea bass. We really liked the fish and the salsa a lot. The blood orange salad didn't do much for us.

Larry loves carrot cake. I don't but I make it occasionally anyway. He loved this version. The cream cheese frosting is spectacular.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Sear-Roasted Sea Bass with Blood Orange Salsa (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 42)
• Blood Orange & Radicchio Salad with Hazelnuts & Shaved Parmigiano (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 42)
• Lemony Salt-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (Food & Wine, October 2006)
• Classic Carrot Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 72)

Wine: Four Vines 2005 Naked Chardonnay (Santa Barbara County, California). Tonight's dinner just wasn't going to match with a red, with all of the oranges, so we reluctantly pulled out one of our few whites. If I'm going to drink a California Chardonnay, I like it unoaked, like this one. Pretty good.

Jay came for a late dinner tonight. I couldn't get my act together and got the roast in the oven kind of late, so we didn't eat until almost 8:30. I love pork shoulder. By far my favorite cut of meat. This would have been better if I would have lowered the oven temp a little more and let it cook another hour. It wasn't pull-apart tender like it should be. Still good, though. Jay and Larry loved the escarole. I wasn't crazy about it. I like escarole in soups but not like this.

The tart is beautiful and different. Love the crust and the custard filling, but the oranges are too juicy. I tried to drain them as much as possible but still too much juice seeped into the custard.

• Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder with Carrots, Onions and Garlic (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 50)
• Sautéed Escarole with Raisins, Pine Nuts & Capers (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 16)
• Smashed Potatoes with Horseradish Créme Fraîche (Fine Cooking #82, December 2006, p. 46)
• Orange & Brown-Butter Tart (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 46)

Wine: Four Vines 2005 Biker Zinfandel (Paso Robles, California). Good but not spectacular.

This is kind of a big meal for just the two of us, but the entire menu from this article sounded really good, so I figured why not. We liked everything, especially the potato salad. Definitely something to make again. This menu is great as a make-ahead meal for company, because the last-minute stuff is quick and very little effort. The only change I made was to roast the broccolini instead of boil it. Because I generally don't like vegetables boiled, especially broccoli or anything broccoli-like.

The cake is very much something Larry likes, with warm spices and ginger. The interesting ingredient ingredient is grated butternut squash. It's an excellent cake, light and flavorful. Larry says definitely make it again, and I agree.

• Creamy White Bean & Herb Dip (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 76)
• Pan-Seared Skirt Steak with Warm Radish and Red Onion Pickle (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 76)
• Broccolini with Kalamata Dressing (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 79)
• Roasted Potato and Mushroom Salad with Mascarpone (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 79)
• Buttermilk Cake with Vanilla Icing (Fine Cooking #97, February 2009, p. 80)

Jay came for a somewhat impromptu dinner. We loved this tart. Not too citrus-y, and the jasmine-infused cream was nice.

• Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 94a)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Dijon, Walnuts & Crisp Crumbs (Fine Cooking #89, December 2007, p. 57)
• Bittersweet Citrus Tart with Jasmine Cream (Pure Dessert, p. 163)

Larry and I stopped at a stand at the San Rafael farmers market a few months ago and bought a sugar waffle. We walked away and started to eat it... it was so delicious we went back and got another one. I was watching the guy make them. The batter is more like a dough, formed into a ball before putting it into the waffle iron. I searched around the Internet and found a recipe that looked good, and even ordered some pearl sugar (which is supposedly one of the key ingredients). The batter was difficult. It was gloppy. I kept adding flour after everything had been mixed together, but he thought the first one was the best. I'll need to keep trying - there are several other recipes that look promising.

Sugar Waffles
From Chowhound.com

Batter 1:

1 1/4 ounces fresh cake yeast or 2 1/2 packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (about 100 degrees F)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 large egg, beaten
1/3 cup milk, warmed to 100 degrees F

Batter 2:

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup pearl sugar or 3/4 cup crushed sugar cubes

Prepare Batter 1: In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm
water with 1 tbsp. flour and the sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes
until foamy. Sift the remaining flour into a large mixing bowl.
Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture, egg and milk.
Mix well with a wooden spoon to make a smooth batter. Cover with
a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until the batter has
doubled or tripled in volume. Meanwhile, prepare Batter 2: In a
medium-sized bowl, mix the butter, flour, salt, vanilla, baking
powder, cinnamon (if using), granulated sugar, and pearl sugar into
a paste.

With your hands, work Batter 2 into Batter 1 until well mixed.
Shape the dough into 10 balls, approximately 2 1/2 to 3 ounces
each. Flatten each ball into a disk and dust lightly with flour.
Bake in a medium-hot waffle iron. Don't let the iron become too
hot or the sugar will burn. Bake until the waffles are golden
brown but still slightly soft, 3-4 minutes. Serve the sugar waffles
lukewarm or cooled to room temperature on a rack. Sugar waffles
will keep well for several days in an airtight container, if you
manage to have any left over.

Shawn & Jackie came over tonight - early, so we could prepare dinner together. Fun! Jackie and I sorted out the menu ahead of time and came up with something simple that wouldn't take too much concentration so we could also visit while we were cooking. Everything turned out great!

Shawn and Jackie brought the fixings for the appetizer and salad. The salad was delicious and had arugula, bacon, dried cranberries, toasted walnuts, blue cheese, and apple. We made up the focaccia dough first, which is as simple as dumping the ingredients into a bowl and stirring it up. The pears were simple because once they went into the poaching liquid,we could forget about them. And the mascarpone was a nice match with the pears.

• Baguette Toasts with Goat Cheese and Black Truffle Paste
• Rosemary Focaccia (No Need to Knead, p. 40)
• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Cape Cod Chopped Salad (Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics: Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Pears Poached in Port with Mascarpone (Fine Cooking #23, November 1997, p. 68)

Wine:
- Kosta Browne 2005 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California). Delicious, but more Pinot-y than some of their other Pinots. Has that earthy nose.
- Breggo 2006 Ferrington Vineyard Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, California). Shawn and Jackie brought this excellent Pinot - I really like young Pinots. And we're lucky to have friends with great taste in wine!

Jay came for dinner tonight. Everything was really good - we especially loved the Brussels sprouts and the sweet potatoes. The buttermilk pie was a first for me. Larry and I had buttermilk pie at Liberty Bar in San Antonio last month and loved it. This version wasn't quite the same - not as dense but good. I plan on trying the Liberty Bar recipe next.

• Spice-Crusted Roast Pork Tenderloin (Fine Cooking #89, December 2007, p. 102a)
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Dijon, Walnuts & Crisp Crumbs (Fine Cooking #89, December 2007, p. 57)
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Lime Syrup & Chives
• Buttermilk Pie (Fine Cooking #32, May 1999, p. 53)

Larry's out for the evening, so indulged by making a big dish of homemade macaroni and cheese and some rich, fudge-y brownies. The mac and cheese is good, but next time I'll sweat the onions a bit before adding them. And I used whole wheat penne, but I know I'd like it better with regular macaroni. The brownies are super quick to make, and really dense and fudge-y.

• 21st-Century Mac 'N' Cheese (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 182)
• Best Cocoa Brownies (Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate, p. 95)

Mally and Jay joined us for Sunday dinner tonight. I chose a pretty standard menu with things that I've made several times in the past - we love these chicken breasts. The parsnips were something new but nothing special, a little bland, in fact. We loved the tart but I didn't see the point of the pistachio brittle and won't make it next time - although it was delicious on its own.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts & Warm Bacon Dressing (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 55)
• Roasted Parsnips with Cinnamon & Coriander (Fine Cooking #84, March 2007, p. 18)
• Bittersweet Chocolate Tart with Salted Caramelized Pistachios (Fine Cooking #96, October 2008, p. 90)

Wine: Kosta Browne 2005 Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). This is a great wine. Exactly how I like my Pinot.

I'm a total sucker for shortbread. It's one of those foods that I can't stop eating if it's in front of me. As soon as I made this shortbread, I had piece then promptly took it in to work, where it was devoured very quickly. I love the addition of honey. My honey of choice is normally sage honey, but for this I used an amber honey from Kentucky.

• Honey Shortbread (Fine Cooking #96, January 2009, p. 77)

Jay was over for Sunday dinner, and everything was really good. Pork shoulder is my favorite cut of meat, although I've made better versions of it. The torte was interesting, but probably not something I'd make again.

• Braised Pork Shoulder with Cumin, Cinnamon and Almonds (A Ligurian Kitchen: Recipes And Tales from the Italian Riviera, p. 160)
• Simple Roasted Potatoes with Olive Oil, Rosemary & Thyme (A Ligurian Kitchen: Recipes And Tales from the Italian Riviera, p. 170)
• Chocolate-Pomegranate Torte (Fine Cooking #96, October 2008, p. 88)

Wine: Fattoria di Delsina 2005 Chianti Classico (Italy). Passable but not great.

I decided to branch out from my standard Thanksgiving food and try some different things this year, since we just had one person join us this year (Eddie). I didn't exactly use the recipe for the turkey - I salted it and stuffed the cavities as described, but then went my own way with roasting (breast side down first) and gravy.

We couldn't stop eating the walnuts - yum. I think I still need to experiment with stuffing, but the vegetables were all good, as was the turkey. Larry liked the pie but wants a firmer texture.

With the exception of the potatoes and the pie, all of the other Fine Cooking recipes are available in the book How to Cook a Turkey. I checked the book out of the library, although I thought the title was stupid. I ended up really liking the book.

• Spicy Maple Walnuts (Fine Cooking #48, December 2001, p. 62)
• Salted Roast Turkey with Herbs (Bon Appétit, November 2008)
• Madeira Gravy (Fine Cooking #35, November 1999, p. 30)
• Fennel & Escarole Stuffing with Pine Nuts (Fine Cooking #24, December 1997, p. 43)
• Roasted Carrots & Parsnips with Shallot & Herb Butter (Fine Cooking #70, February 2005, p. 46)
• Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Shallots (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 48)
• Sugar & Spice Pumpkin Pie with Brandied Ginger Cream (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 50)

Wine:
- Ridge 2004 Carmichael Vineyard Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). I think this is my favorite Ridge Zin.
- Loring 2004 Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). Larry's not crazy about Loring wines but I love them. It's a very Pinot-y Pinot, elegant and plummy.

Jay came for the usual Sunday dinner tonight. Everything was great. Loved the cauliflower and the beets, and the chicken was nice because it was prepped the day before, so it just needed to be roasted. I loved this tart, but I love anything caramel.

• Rosemary-Garlic Chicken with Apple & Fig Compote (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 66)
• Cauliflower with Brown Butter, Pears, Sage & Hazelnuts (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 48)
• Green Beans with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette & Parmesan Breadcrumbs (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 47)
• Warm Roasted Beets & Shallots with Crisp Prosciutto Dressing (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 43)
• Chocolate Caramel-Almond Tart (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 76)

Wine: Gamba 2004 Moratta Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Last bottle, and still delicious.

It was just the two of us for dinner tonight, and we decided steak sounded good. So we had our usual filets. I've been dying for delicata squash to come in, and it finally did... but we didn't particularly love this preparation. Back to the Deborah Madison way. The pear cake was good. I love caramel.

• Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon (America's Test Kitchen)
• Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Chile (Fine Cooking #67, November 2004, p. 49)
• Delicata Squash with Caramelized Shallots & Sherry (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 57)
• Caramelized Pear Upside-Down Cake (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 74)

Wine: Martin 2003 Rockpile Cabernet Sauvignon (Rockpile, California). Is there ever a bad wine from Rockpile? I haven't found one.

Edith and Jay came for dinner tonight. Everything was really good, but the star of the evening was the fabulous chocolate cake. Rich but really light cake, and the cinnamon-chocolate caramel filling really made it stand out.

This was my first time cooking with sorghum grain. I had to order it online because no one locally carried the grain, only the flour. After I had cooked up a batch of the grain, I tried it and didn't like it. Weird, gummy texture. But after it got cooked into this salad, it ended up being really good. And the flavor of the mushrooms was great, I tried a little but it was too much mushroom for me. Everyone else liked it, though.

• Double-Fennel Pork Chops (Fine Cooking #96, January 2009, p. 114a)
• Sorghum with Cherry Tomatoes & Corn (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 221)
• Mushroom Ambrosia with Miso (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 292)
• Cinnamon-Caramel-Ganache Layer Cake (Fine Cooking #96, January 2009, p. 86)

Wine: Kosta Browne 2005 Rosella's Vineyard Pinot (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). Amazng wine. I've been hoarding it because our stock of Kosta Browne is pretty limited.

These little cookies aren't something I would normally bake. They're delicate and a little fussy. And not as crisp as I'd like. But I love honey and I'm baking my way through as much of Pure Dessert as possible before it goes back to the library. This is a cookbook I definitely want for my collection. And the cookies, very yummy.

• Honey Snaps (Pure Dessert, p. 174)

Jay was over for Sunday dinner - I try to do fish on Sundays as much as possible, mainly because it's healthy but also because that's what Jay likes to eat! This salmon was excellent. I loved it, even though it was fully of mushrooms. Shiitakes aren't so bad because the texture isn't so chewy and they're sliced up in this recipe. We also loved the squash. I was looking for something different and was unsure about the grapes, but it actually turned out really nice. The pudding - good, but not thick enough.

Most of these cupcakes went to work, where they made me a very popular person. I put the frosting on while it was still on the warmer side, so it's more like a glaze than a frosting. Still good.

• Chocolate Cupcakes (Food & Wine, May 2008)
• Chocolate Frosting (Food & Wine, May 2008)

Tonight was just simple chicken breasts on the grill pan with salt and pepper, more kabocha squash (which is clearly a favorite around here), and a barely-carrot kugel. The kugel was interesting. Lots and lots of carrot, with egg as a binder, and baked. It was sweet due to the addition of honey. I didn't hate it. Larry thought it was weird and wasn't crazy about it. The honey ice cream, though, was absolutely delicious.

• Pan-Grilled Chicken Breasts
• Soy-Braised Kabocha Squash (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 57)
• Barley-Carrot Kugel with Honey Glaze (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 208)
• Heavenly Honey Ice Cream (Pure Dessert, p. 177)

This torte is a little odd, very light but it has some texture because of the additions of pine nuts. Some people liked it, some were just okay with it. I don't think I'll make it again.

• Italian Chocolate-Almond Torte (Pure Dessert, p. 148)

Jay missed out on dinner tonight. Everything was really good, and very quick to make. Loved the sauce for the pork chops. The green beans were so simple, I hesitate to even call it a recipe. Perfect use of the last of the sun sugar cherry tomatoes from the garden.

The cake is the first recipe I've made from Pure Dessert, a cookbook I've been eyeing. Larry picked it up for me from the library and I have a bunch of recipes I want to try. I love olive oil in cakes, and this one doesn't have any butter. The flavor of the sherry really comes through.

• Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 94a)
• Roasted Green Beans with Cherry Tomatoes and Oregano (The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, p. 268)
• Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes (A New Way To Cook)
• Olive Oil and Sherry Pound Cake (Pure Dessert, p. 86)

This was another recipe sent to me to test, and I probably should have trusted my instincts and declined to test it, because it really didn't appeal to me at all. I like my brownies unadorned. And I've got a good, quick brownie recipe already. The brownies themselves are good, but the glaze was weird and awkward with whole cherries on top. I ended up scraping the glaze off so we could just eat the brownies.

• Brownies with Cherry and Pistachio Glaze (Test Recipe)

Edith and Jay came for dinner tonight. Everything was pretty good, although Larry wasn't overly crazy about all of the parsley in the green beans. The crisp was his request, and he picked apple-blueberry.

• Chicken Breasts Roasted with Honey, Pine Nuts and Thyme (Best of the Best Vol. 7, p. 96)
• Couscous Salad with Cherry Tomatoes, Lemon and Pine Nuts (Best of the Best Vol. 7, p. 119)
• Green Beans with Lemon, Garlic, And Parmigiano Gremolata (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 270)
• Apple-Blueberry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine: Lucia 2005 Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). Really, really good Pinot.

Jay joined us for grilled salmon tonight, cooked on the grill and marinated in soy sauce, green onions, honey and brown sugar. We liked everything on the menu tonight. I thought the leeks were different and really special. Jay especially liked the little chocolate cakes.

• Grilled Salmon
• Butter-Steamed Leeks with Fresh Tarragon (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 283)
• Corn Sauté with Ginger, Garilc & Fresh Cilantro (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 37)
• Warm Potato Salad with Pancetta and Brown Butter Dressing (Food & Wine, July 2008
• Little French Fudge Cakes (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 313)

Wine: Williams Selyem 2004 Hirsch Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast, California). Really good, fruity and supple. I've never had a Pinot for Williams Selyem that I don't like.

I'm now getting requests from work for specific baked goods. This request was from our admin, who is awesome so I'm happy to bake up anything she asks for. The brownies are good, and were very popular at work. The plate in this photo is a special one - part of a huge set of chartreuse Russel Wright dishes that belonged to my grandma Colene. She bought the dishes a long time ago, in the 40s and 50s. Grandma passed away in March, and it makes me happy to think of her whenever I use her dishes.

• Rich, Fudgy Brownies (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 44)

I'm always on the lookout for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, and this one is a winner. It made me very popular at work this week since most of them ended up there. What I love about this recipe is the instructions are to chill the dough for 24-72 hours. I chose to bake up a tray at a time, so my co-workers had fresh baked cookies several days in a row. I also love that these use chocolate baking disks instead of chips.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Published: July 9, 2008
Adapted from Jacques Torres

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.

• Chocolate Chip Cookies (New York Times, July 9, 2008)

I only cooked up a third of these, and froze the rest of the dough. These are crispy ginger cookies, which Larry loves. He wasn't sure about them at first, but they grew on him. I think they're a good snack.

• Gingerbread Straws (The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, p. 158)

Wow, were these turkey burgers good. Great flavor. I used half dark meat, half white meat and served them on pita with a cucumber & yogurt sauce. We also liked the salad a lot. The tart was also really delicious, with a light, buttery crust.

• Middle Eastern Turkey Burgers (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 50)
• Cucumber & Yogurt Sauce (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 50)
• Cucumber, Fennel & Roasted Potato Salad with Parsleyed Yogurt (Fine Cooking #92, May 2008, p. 44)
• Plum Tart with Lemon-Shortbread Crust (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 64)

Wine: Cakebread 2003 Rubaiyat (Napa Valley, California). We should have drank this a long time ago. I didn't like it at all (past its prime), Larry and Jay thought it was drinkable but just okay.

We had a few people over for a post-July 4th barbeque: Assana, Dan, Chris, Tony, Janett. This chicken was excellent, and I think it would make a great chicken salad. We used both breasts and thighs. I hadn't made the zucchini roll-ups before but we liked them a lot. Janett and Tony brought a pumpkin polenta and Chris brought curried lentils and roasted veggies in a tomato sauce - all really good.

• Grilled Zucchini & Goat Cheese Roll-Ups (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 55)
• Goat Cheese, Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomato Terrine (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 98c)
• Moist Mustard-Rosemary Chicken for a Crowd (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 86)
• Quinoa with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 156)
• Black Forest Trifle (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 58)

Wine:
- Loma Prieta 2000 Zinfandel (Lodi, California). Assana brought this yummy Zin to start us off for the night.
- Sextant 2004 Wheelhouse Zinfandel (California). Delicious as always.

Jay came over for burgers - I've been wanting to make these again but have been waiting until I could get figs at the market. Finally! I made these with turkey instead of beef this time, and they were really good. The cake.... well, I had issues. It didn't look the best but it turned out okay in the end.

• Born in Berkeley Burgers (Food Network Challenge, Build A Better Burger III)
• Roasted Baby Beets
• Grilled Bread Salad with Tomatoes & Spicy Greens (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 38)
• Chocolate Stout Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 422)

Dan, Assana and Chris came over for a casual holiday weekend dinner tonight. I make these roulades for company all the time, but hadn't made them for this group yet. We liked the zucchini salad okay, but I probably wouldn't make it again. The pie, on the other hand, was spectacular.

• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Zucchini & Yellow Squash Ribbons with Daikon, Oregano & Basil (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 51)
• Black & Blueberry Pie with Lemon Cornmeal Crust (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 70)

Wine:
- Gamba 2004 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Yum - probably needed to be decanted, but it eventually opened up.
- Ridge 2004 Caboose Nervo Vineyard Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Good, but we should have had this one first.
- Don Pedro Ximenez 1979 Gran Reserva Sherry (Spain). Assana brought this over to drink with our pie - we both picked up bottles at The Spanish Table on our last trip there. It's really delicious.

Another simple but really good dinner for Larry and Jay tonight. I substituted boneless, skinless chicken thighs for the bone-in chicken parts. The blueberry bars are excellent.

• Grilled Chicken with Apricot-Balsamic Glaze (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 43)
• Roasted New Potato Salad with Dijon & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #15, July 1996, p. 40)
• Blueberry Streusel Bars with Lemon-Cream Filling (Fine Cooking #93, July 2008, p. 70)

Wine: Thumbprint 2004 Beasley Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Wow - lush berry fruit in this wine. This is why Dry Creek Zins are my favorite.

Since it was just Larry and I tonight, we splurged on our favorite peppery filet mignons. Larry wasn't overly crazy about the scallion/peas but I liked it. We both loved the pound cake. The lime in it went perfectly with the blueberries.

• Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon (America's Test Kitchen)
• Baked Potato
• Quick-Braised Peas, Lettuce & Scallions (Fine Cooking #92, p. 51)
• Blueberry-Lime Pound Cake (Fine Cooking #93, p. 73)

Wine: Ridge 2000 Lytton Estate Syrah (Dry Creek Valley, California). Excellent Syrah - I think it's probably at its peak right now. Which is good, since this was our last bottle.

I was worried that this would be too spicy for Jay, but it wasn't. Instead, it was plain yummy. I made a slight change to the quinoa salad - the tomatoes are supposed to be dressed with olive oil and served on the side. I just mixed them in with the quinoa salad, which I would definitely like to make again. I was too lazy to make anything else for dinner, but the salad was pretty filling so it was fine. The tart was good, but not make-again good.

• Quinoa and Chili-Scented Pork Chops with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 156)
• Chocolate and Polenta Tart (Dolce Italiano, p. 154)

Wine: Ridge 2004 Carmichael Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Wow - one of the best Zins we've had from Ridge in a while. This is the first Carmichael we've had, but we have three more bottles.

Jay wasn't in town tonight, so we invited our neighbor Chris over for dinner instead. We probably won't be having much more salmon this year due to the cancellation of the season, but this was really good. I love lentils. I thought the idea of the potatoes was good, but they weren't as creamy as I like my potatoes. We all loved the tart, though.

• Salmon With Lentils And Mustard-Herb Butter (Gourmet, March 2008)
• Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes With Caramelized Shallots (Epicurious, November 2007)
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)
• Honey and Pine Nut Tart (Dolce Italiano, p. 145)

Wine: Copain 2004 Hacienda Secoya Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, California). Copain Pinots are becoming a favorite for me, and nothings more perfect with salmon than Pinot Noir.

This is another recipe from Pam Anderson's new book. She also made these in the class she taught. She makes them to eat as an afternoon sweet. They're cut into very small bars because they're very sweet, but they're also really delicious. Larry loves them, especially for breakfast. I swapped the amount of fruit and used more cherries than apricots, and I used a very finely shredded unsweetened organic coconut since Larry doesn't really like coconut.

• Miniature Apricot-Cherry Bars with Oatmeal Crumble Topping (The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great, p. 156)

Tonight's dinner was a little rushed at the end - it seemed like prep took me forever, and then the last ten minutes I was doing everything at once. Everything somehow finished on time and was good, though. Larry and Jay liked the salmon a lot. I had waited to make this so I could gather some specialty ingredients for it - sumac powder and fennel pollen. Both optional, but I'm glad I waited. The sumac is an interesting spice. The fennel pollen gets sprinkled on top just before serving. And the green beans? I took about 3 on my plate, because I don't particularly like green beans, especially sauteed crisp-tender like this. But these were good!

We also really liked the cake, although it could have spent a few minutes less in the oven. I had a hard time judging doneness for some reason.

• Spice-Rubbed & Sear-Roasted Salmon with Honey-Glazed Fennel (Fine Cooking #92, May 2008, p. 49)
• Sauteed Green Beans with Roasted Red Pepper (Test Recipe)
• Smashed Red-Skinned Potatoes with Boursin & Scallions (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 47)
• Citrus-Glazed Polenta Cake (Dolce Italiano, p. 86)

Wine: Loring 2004 Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, Californa). I like this wine, but I think it's a little too Pinot-y for Larry.

This was a perfect dinner. I really love the fregola - the mushrooms are chopped small enough for me not to care that they're in there. We just had these filets a month ago, but Larry requested them again. The butterscotch pudding was another test recipe. Easy and delicious.

• Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon (America's Test Kitchen)
• Fregola with Wild Mushrooms, Sherry & Cream (Fine Cooking #90, December 2007, p. 42)
• Oven-Roasted Cauliflower
• Best Butterscotch Pudding (Test Recipe)

Wine: Ridge 2003 Pato Vineyard Mataro (Contra Costa, California). Decent, but definitely on its way out.

I have found the Holy Grail of chocolate cookies. Over the years I've searched for a cookie just like this, and I finally found it on America's Test Kitchen. They are extremely rich and chocolatey, but also have a nice thick and chewy texture. This is now my default chocolate cookie recipe

Triple-Chocolate Cookies

The key to the fudgy texture of these cookies is letting them cool directly on the baking sheets. Avoid using bittersweet bar chocolate--the cookies will be too rich and won't hold their shape.

Makes 26 cookies
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate , chopped
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
7 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into pieces
2 teaspoons instant coffee
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs , at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Melt unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chips, and butter in heatproof bowl set over saucepan of simmering water, stirring frequently, until completely smooth and glossy. Remove bowl from pan and set aside to cool slightly.

2. Stir coffee powder and vanilla extract together in small bowl until dissolved. Beat eggs and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium-high speed until very thick and pale, about 4 minutes. Add vanilla-coffee mixture and beat until incorporated, 20 seconds. Reduce speed to low, add chocolate mixture, and mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.

3. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. Using large rubber spatula, fold flour mixture and semisweet chips into batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes until batter firms up (it will more closely resemble thick brownie batter than cookie dough).

4. Meanwhile, adjust two oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using 1 heaping tablespoon batter per cookie, place cookies 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets (see photo, right). Bake until cookies are shiny and cracked on top, 11 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking time. Transfer baking sheets to racks and cool cookies completely, on baking sheets, before serving.

• Triple-Chocolate Cookies (America's Test Kitchen, Cookie Jar Favorites)

I've been so obsessed with bread lately, so I figured it was time to make up something from Whole Grain Baking again. Chocolate cake - easy, really good, but I thought the frosting was way too sweet.

• Devil's Food Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 370)
• Easy Chocolate Frosting (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 436)

This panna cotta needs to set up overnight, but it's pretty quick and easy to make. It would be delicious with just berries, skipping the sabayon. My sabayon didn't thicken as much as it should have but it was still good. Larry really liked the dessert. And I did too, cooked cream - what's not to like? Plus it brings back memories of Italy.

• Buttermilk Panna Cotta With Berries And Vanilla Sabayon (Epicurious, November 2007)

These falafel patties are actually made with pinto beans and include jack cheese and cumin. They're easy to make and delicious. We loved the avocado spread, too - we served them up with leftover soup from last night. The patties would be great homemade veggie burgers, served on a whole wheat bun. Just before dinner I whipped up these shortbread, which are thin and crisp and contain ground rolled oats. They're really tasty - they remind us of an oat topping on a fruit crisp. I added a note to this entry on the cheese we had before dinner, because it's really nice.

• Arina Goat Cheese Gouda
• Southwestern Falafel with Avocado Spread (Cooking Light, August 2005)
• Scottish Shortbread (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 332)

Amy suggested I take a look at this stew. As soon as I saw that it was made with pork shoulder - one of my favorite cuts of meat, I knew it would be perfect for tonight. I wanted to make something that could be done ahead of time so I didn't have to deal with a bunch of last-minute stuff. It was good, although a little spicy for Jay. And the focaccia was delicious as usual.

The blueberry pie was a test recipe. Really good! Larry wants me to make it again for sure.

• Pork Stew with Green Chiles, Orange & Cilantro (Fine Cooking Comfort Food 2005, p. 68)
• Rosemary Focaccia (No Need to Knead, p. 40)
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)
• Blueberry Pie (Test Recipe)

For dinner tonight I made Jay and Larry something pretty simple and easy to make. I've made these turkey cutlets and the mashed potatoes before, both are really good. We love these shortbread bars. So buttery and delicious, I could eat a lot of them.

• Turkey Cutlets with Mustard Cream Sauce (Fine Cooking #55, December 2002/January 2003, p. 98C)
• Creamy Mashed Potatoes with Goat Cheese & Fresh Sage (Bon Appetit, November 2004)
• Lemon-Cornmeal Shortbread Bars (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 64)

I absolutely love pates de fruit. They're just so tasty. But I never make them. Since I've got this glut of lemons, I thought this would be a great chance to try making some. These are delicious and are a great way to use up extra lemons, but I need to solve a problem with them being a little too wet - if left in a covered container, the sugar dissolves into a gloppy mess. Other than that, they're pretty easy to make.

• Lemonade Jellies (The Ultimate Candy Book, p. 141)

This chicken was really good, and fast to make. Another lemon dessert, these little cheesecake squares are good. Not outstanding, but good.

• Caribbean Chicken Stir-Fry with Mint (Hot Chicken, p. 54)
• Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Chile (Fine Cooking #67, November 2004, p. 49)
• Lemon Cheesecake Squares (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 53

Our New Year's Eve/anniversary dinner tonight was supposed to be delicious hand-made gnocchi. It was okay, but I did some things wrong so it could have been better. The gnocchi was easy to make. I should have boiled it a little longer, and I made the mistake of not using a nonstick pan so it was a little messy. But the shaved truffle, which we got in Italy last month, was delicious. I had picked up jerusalem artichokes from the farmer's market so I made a soup as well. I don't think I like the flavor of jerusalem artichokes. Larry liked it (but not the addition of sprouts on top of the soup). I wasn't crazy about it.

I've got a ton on Meyer lemons from Grandma's house, so I started out my all-lemon, all the time week with a silky lemon pudding that's delicious.

• Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke Bisque with Sunflower Sprouts (Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen, p. 167)
• Pan-Seared Potato Gnocchi (Fine Cooking #90, January 2008, p. 62) with Browned Butter & Black Truffle
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)
• Silky Lemon Pudding (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 65)

We spent Christmas with our neighbors Chris and Assana and Assana's boyfriend Dan. Assana, always a terrific hostess, made excellent appetizers, supplemented by Chris's signature clam dip. We snacked all afternoon and sipped hot cider with rum and hung out. We had an early dinner of chili and cornbread, and Chris brought a cheesy spinach dish. The chili was good as usual. I had cornbread issues but in the end it turned out okay. It needed to cook a little longer. And I don't know why, but I added crumbled bacon to the top. The recipe says to do this, but I never have because it sounds weird. But I did it anyway and it was okay.

I hadn't made this cheesecake for this audience before. It's always a hit. Chris said it's my best dessert. It's really rich but so good. The recipe is under the "Sheri's Recipes" link on the right.

We had packaged up our s'mores kits and handed them out at dinner. I think they turned out okay. The graham crackers are stacked on the bottom of the container.

• Chicken & White Bean Chili (Bon Appétit, October 2005)
• Corn Bread (The Bread Baker's Apprentice, p. 151)
• Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake (Sheri's recipe box)

Larry requested these cookies. They're tasty, but mine turned out kind of flat. Butter wasn't cold enough? I'm not sure, because I chilled the dough before baking. Maybe they just need a bit more flour. Anyway, they're still good. Another winner from Whole Grain Baking.

• Sugar and Spice Drops (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 325)

This fish looked good, and Larry and Jay thought it was okay, but I didn't like it. I used Chilean sea bass from Whole Foods (instead of cod), usually one of my most favorite fish. This method of preparation left the fish too moist. Plus I don't like mushrooms. The fennel was good, and the orzo was excellent. I love orzo. These cookies are a big hit, too. Very chocolate-y.

Chocolate chews
From Tassajara Cookbook, by Karla Oliveira
Makes about 4 dozen

1/2 pound semisweet chocolate
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 teaspoon instant coffee
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In double boiler, melt together the semisweet and unsweetened chocolate, butter and coffee. Meanwhile, beat eggs and brown sugar together until light in color and thick. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

Let chocolate mixture cool slightly and then whisk into eggs and sugar. Stir in vanilla extract and then gently fold in dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

• Cod with Mushrooms, Garlic & Vermouth (Fine Cooking #90, December 2007, p. 86a)
• Orzo with Lemon, Garlic, Parmigiano & Herbs (Fine Cooking #90, p. 44)
• Braised Fennel with Tomato, Green Olives & Capers (Fine Cooking #90, p. 50)

Tonight was not my best cooking night. My timing was all off, but I partially blame Fine Cooking - their cooking times for a 4-pound pork roast were way off in this recipe. Everything was still really good, especially the fregola, which is a small rolled and toasted pasta from Sicily. The idea behind making a huge pork roast for just three of us is that it's enough to provide leftovers during the week. We didn't especially like the pudding cake. The flavor was really good, but the pudding part of it was weird.

• Roasted Pork Loin with Maple-Mustard Crust (Fine Cooking #90, December 2007, p. 38)
• Fregola with Wild Mushrooms, Sherry & Cream (Fine Cooking #90, December 2007, p. 42)
• Fennel Layered with Potatoes & Breadcrumbs (Tortiera di Finocchi e Patate) (Fine Cooking #90, December 2007, p. 49)
• Maple Brown Sugar Pudding Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 418)

Another delicious recipe from Cooking Light - I no longer subscribe to the magazine, but I pick up the special issues every once in a while. It seems to cut down on the risk of ending up with some of the mediocre recipes that end up in the magazine. We also really liked the brussels sprouts. They ended up nutty with a nice texture, nothing like the Brussels sprouts of our childhood, which were probably frozen and then steamed and served plain.

I think this gingerbread is one of Larry's favorites from Whole Grain Baking. It's delicious, and really quick and easy to make. One notable ingredient is brown sugar corn syrup, which surprisingly is NOT carried by my local Whole Foods, but is carried by the Pak-n-Sav across the street. I almost subbed regular corn syrup instead but decided at the last minute to check Pak-n-Sav. There is a huge flavor difference between the two, and I'm glad I found it.

• Pork Chops with Ginger-Cherry Sauce (Cooking Light, May 2006)
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Dijon, Walnuts & Crisp Crumbs (Fine Cooking #89, December 2007, p. 57)
• Roasted Potato Planks with Rosemary and Lemon (Fine Cooking #49, March 2002, p. 82b)
• Gingerbread (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 425)

Jay brought his brother-in-law Raj to dinner tonight since he was in town for a few days. Dinner was good - I really like these burgers, and macaroni and cheese is good any time. The pound cake was good, but I think I've made better.

• Goat Cheese, Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomato Terrine (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 98c)
• Wild Mushroom "Burgers" (Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, p. 151)
• Classic Macaroni & Cheese (Fine Cooking #23, November 1997, p. 40)
• Roasted Green Beans with Lemon, Pine Nuts & Parmigiano (Fine Cooking #82, December 2006, p. 55)
• Bourbon-Glazed Brown Sugar Pecan Poundcake (Fine Cooking #88, November 2007, p. 62)

Barb, Steve and Kent came over for one of our traditional pre-ZAP dinners. We're all volunteer leads for the January festival, so we get together a few times over the year to meet and brainstorm. This was easy to do on a weeknight because everything was done ahead of time. The only thing I did tonight was re-heat the stew, make the mashed potatoes and assemble the salad.

The stew is my usual bastardized version of this old Julia Child recipe. I grind up the veggies into a thick gravy, and only add mushrooms and pearl onions as vegetables. The pound cake was okay. I think I baked it too long. It wasn't my favorite thing from Whole Grain Baking, that's for sure.

• Goat Cheese, Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomato Terrine (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 98c)
• My Best Beef Stew (Food & Wine, January 1996, p.34)
• Butter Lettuce with Poppy Seed & Tarragon-Crème Fraîche Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 49)
• Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with Chives (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 61)
• Chocolate Pound Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 387)
Wine: Valdez 2005 Simoncini Late Harvest Zinfandel. We are big fans of Valdez and picked up this bottle at a wine shop in the city. It was delicious. We also had wine that Kent and Barb and Steve brought... but I'm too lazy to note those here.

Jay came over for dinner, and we all really liked the meal tonight. I love a good roasted chicken. Larry and Jay both really loved the gratin, which isn't creamy but has lots of layers of very thinly sliced potatoes (I used my v-slicer). The pound cake is one of the better cakes from Whole Grain Baking.

• Rosemary Split Chicken (Restaurant Favorites at Home: A Best Recipe Classic, p. 170)
• Potato, Thyme & Olive Oil Gratin (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 50)
• Garlicky Braised Kale with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 49)
• Lemon Cornmeal Pound Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 386)

Jay was here for dinner, and it was (as is usually the case) something quick and easy. We loved the pork tenderloin, especially the fried sage leaves. The tart was good, but wasn't as delicious as I had hoped. Maybe more filling would have helped. I don't know. I love figs, and Deborah Madison recipes are usually really good. But this isn't something I would make again.

• Pork Tenderloin with Sage & Marsala Sauce (Fine Cooking #88, November 2007, p. 26)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)
• Fresh Fig Tart with Orange Flower Custard (Fine Cooking #28, September 1998, p. 70)

Wine: J 2004 Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California). A gift from Assana. Very nice Pinot.

Our neighbors Chris and Assana came over for a casual Labor Day dinner. We used the grill for the appetizer and chicken, and did the rest inside. The grilled crostini was pretty good. We liked the five-spice chicken thighs better, although these were also good, as was the corn saute. I don't usually like tiramisu, but I loved this dessert.

• Grilled Goat Cheese Crostini with a Tangle of Marinated Roasted Peppers (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 42)
• Grilled Rosemary Chicken Thighs with Sweet & Sour Orange Dipping Sauce (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 31)
• Corn & Mushroom Sauté with Leeks & Pancetta (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 37)
• Summer Wheatberry Salad (Fine Cooking #28, September 1998, p. 39)
• Fresh Berry Tiramisu (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 406)

Wine:
- Rafanelli 2001 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California)
- Gamba 2004 Estate Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). The favorite of the night.
- Valdez 2004 Rockpile Road Zinfandel (Rockpile Road, California). Delicious, but also big and boozy.

Jay was here for dinner (Sunday night, of course). We all loved the chicken thighs - excellent flavor, easy to make, and very moist. We also liked this corn saute better than the last one. The mashed sweet potatoes were good, and the tomatoes came from the garden.

The chocolate stout cake was an experiment, since I made the Fine Cooking version a few months ago. I believe this one is the winner - Larry really loved it. This one was a little more difficult to put together, since it involved slicing a standard 9-inch cake round into two. It also made too much ganace, and frosting it was kind of messy. But it turned out great.

• Grilled Five-Spice Chicken Thighs with Soy-Vinegar Sauce & Cilantro (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 31)
• Corn Sauté with Ginger, Garilc & Fresh Cilantro (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 37)
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Marsala (Cooking Light, December 2000)
• Heirloom Tomato Salad with Fresh Mozzarella, Basil and Olive Oil
• Chocolate Stout Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 422)

Wine: Rafanelli 2001 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Delicious. Rafanelli has been kind of hit-and-miss over the past few years, but this is drinking really nicely.

Larry requested his favorite vegetarian chili for dinner tonight, which is super easy and fast to make, especially when paired with our favorite packaged cornbread. For dessert, I scratched my baking itch with chocolate brownie cookies, very tasty. The recipe for the cookies is also in Fine Cooking's Chocolate 2006 special issue.

• Spicy Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili (Bon Appétit, November 2002)
• Napa Valley Pantry World's Best Cornbread
• Chocolate Brownie Cookies (Fine Cooking #34, September 1999, p. 49)

Tonight was a quick dinner for Larry, Jay and I. Seared scallops and spinach are always quick, plus they're both healthy and yummy. Larry threw some sweet potato slices on the grill. I made another test recipe. Spice cake is a favorite of Larry's. This was pretty good, not the best. I wasn't that crazy about the cream cheese frosting.

• Seared Scallops
• Grilled Sweet Potatoes
• Wilted Spinach with Garlic
• Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting(Test Recipe)

This chicken was pretty good, and we really liked the corn saute. Jay and Larry were happy to have grilled asparagus (even though I despise it). I hadn't made this tart in a while, and it's delicious. Love the mascarpone topping.

• Oven-Fried Chicken (Cooking Light, October 2006)
• Corn, Sweet Onion & Zucchini Sauté with Fresh Mint (Fine Cooking #87, September 2007, p. 36)
• Grilled Asparagus
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Chives, Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)
• Chocolate Truffle Tart with Whipped Vanilla Mascarpone Topping (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking Winter 2005, p. 54)

Wine: Williams Selyem 2004 Feeney Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Pretty good, but I think Williams Selyem excels with their Pinots, not necessarily their Zins.

Tonight we had Susan plus her three kids, Edith and Jay over to celebrate Jay's birthday. We grilled up some plain chicken breasts for the kids, and the adults got yummy seared salmon and spinach. This cheesecake is really delicious.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Seared Salmon on Baby Spinach (Bon Appétit, April 1999)
• Crisp Herb-Roasted Fingerlings with Scallions (Food & Wine, April 2004, p. 127)
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Chives, Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)
• Triple-Chocolate Cheesecake (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 53)

Wine: We served three Pinots from three different producers, all out of the Russian River Valley. They were all delicious.
- 2003 Williams Selyem Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California)
- 2005 Sonnet Kruse Vineyard Pinot Noir (York Mountain, California)
- 2002 David Bruce Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California)

I snatched up some fresh tart cherries earlier this week, and hadn't decided what to do with them. Cherry pie? Turnovers? Tart? I got lazy and finally settled on this clafoutis, which is just a baked custard with cherries. Delicious.

• Fresh Cherry Clafoutis (Fine Cooking #20, May 1997, p. 32)

Jay was here for Sunday dinner as usual. The fish was excellent, but I used halibut instead of flounder (not available). The peas were to die for. I picked up a bunch at the farmer's market. Larry especially liked them. I'm a huge fan of bread salads, but none of us were that crazy about the fattoush.

• Broiled Flounder with Parmesan "Caesar" Glaze (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 65)
• Fattoush (Fine Cooking #15, July 1996, p. 35)
• Fresh Peas with Lemon and Chives (Fine Cooking #45, July 2001, p. 46)
• Lattice-Top Blueberry Pie (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 68)

Wine: Rosenblum 2005 Rousanne (Santa Barbara County, California). Rousanne is one of the few whites that I really like. This is a really nice wine, floral and spicy, and perfect with dinner tonight.

Back to baking after a few weeks away from it. I thought this cake would be good for Larry to take with him to Reno this week - and he really loves it. He thinks this is the best thing yet out of Whole Grain Baking. I delivered a couple of slices to my neighbor and more slices to her boyfriend, who loved it also.

This is a simple cake - it smells warm and comforting. It's 100% whole grain and also contains apple juice for moistness. It's got crystallized ginger and chopped toasted pecans and powdered ginger, along with other spices. This is a definite make-again.

• Brown Sugar-Spice Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 377)

Jay was here for dinner tonight - and we had a meal that screams Summer. We hardly ever make hamburgers - in fact, we probably haven't made them at home in years. We usually make turkey burgers. And even at a burger joint, Larry and I both tend to order turkey burgers. So these were a real treat, and absolutely delicious.

We decided to make the burgers after watching a burger contest on Food Network. The mix of flavors was great - I was worried that it was too much, but the flavors marry well with each other. I don't usually like burgers with too much stuff, especially cheese and bacon, but I didn't mind at all here. I think the best part was the teleme cheese and the fig and arugula topping.

We liked the cobbler, but I think my usual berry crisp is better. Not sure I'll make this one again.

• Born in Berkeley Burgers (Food Network Challenge, Build A Better Burger III)
• Heirloom Tomatoes with Basil
• Roasted New Potato Salad with Dijon & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #15, July 1996, p. 40)
• Cinnamon-Cornbread Cobbler with Blueberries (Fine Cooking #15, July 1996, p. 41)

Wine: Tait 2005 Ballbuster (Barossa Valley, Australia). Huge, high alcohol cuvee (Shriaz/Cab/Merlot). Tasty.

Renee came into town today, and it happens to be her birthday... so we threw a little get-together for her. Tonya, Steve, Monique, Cristina and Rex joined us. Since it was a weeknight and I was coming from a work barbeque, I went with the usual tapas menu that I do because most everything can be done ahead of time and it's really simple.

• Marcona Almonds
• Assorted Olives
• Grapes
• Manchego Marinated in Olive Oil & Herbs (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 78)
• Crispy Potatoes with Tangy Tomato Sauce (Patatas Bravas) (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 80)
• Sautéed Mushrooms with Garlic & Parsley (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 81)
• Sautéed Chorizo with Red Wine (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 82)
• Seared Shrimp with Pimentón & Sherry (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 82)
• Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum, p. 84)
• Jaleo White Sangria

I'm not very good at making pies. I've got a limited set of pies I can do well - an apple pie that uses leaf-shaped cutouts for the top, a lattice-topped blueberry pie, and any sort of cream-based pie (banana cream, coconut cream, key lime, etc.). I've had countless failures trying to make pumpkin pie (I had success finally), and any sort of traditional double-crust pie. So I was apprehensive when I set out to make this pie.

The crust has vodka in it. It has a bit of an aftertaste if the pie is eaten warm out of the oven. But it's a very tender crust. The cranberries are cooked down with orange juice, sugar and cinnamon, to make a sort of jam that is spread on the crust, followed by the apples.

After the pie came out of the oven, it cooled for a couple of hours. It looked beautiful and smelled good. But when I cut into it - very soupy. Oh well. The crust is delicious, though. Very flaky, tender and flavorful. I'd probably use this crust recipe again. Larry and Jay thought the pie was just okay overall.

• Apple Cranberry Pie (Test Recipe)

More food for the trip to Yosemite - even though this is a cake, we can eat it on the trail or for breakfast. It's absolutely delicious. It's dense, like a pound cake. The sugary orange glaze is soaked into the hot cake after it's cooked, and it makes the cake kind of sparkly. The aroma is wonderful, too. I took this cake out 5 minutes early, and I think I could have taken it out even a few minutes earlier.

• Orange Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 379)

I made these cookies in anticipation of our trip to Yosemite this weekend - I figured they'd be good trail food on the hike up to Half Dome. They really just taste like yummy ginger snaps. I love them, so does Larry. I like that they have candied ginger in them, but it's ground up with a bit of the flour so it's dispersed throughout the dough. These cookies are 100% whole grain, using rye and spelt flours. I cooked them on the shorter side, so they're chewy rather than crisp.

• Molasses-Rye Snaps (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 326)

I really wasn't sure about this cake. Cornmeal in a cake is appealing to me, but neither Larry or I are that crazy about cranberries, and I really don't like cooked raisins. But I decided to make it anyway, after I found frozen cranberries at Whole Foods.

The cake is easy to make. I used finely ground cornmeal along with a bit of unbleached all-purpose flour, so it's not 100% whole grain. The flavor is kind of like that of cornbread crossed with a pineapple upside-down cake (which I'm also not crazy about), but the tartness of the cranberries contrasts with the sugary top so it's not an overly sweet cake. The cornmeal cake is very much like a cornbread and isn't sweet at all. I served the cake warm as suggested, and Larry said he would like it even better with some vanilla ice cream. We both decided we really liked it, although it took some time for it to grow on us.

• Cranberry-Cornmeal Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 378)

I'm not so crazy about oatmeal cookies, especially if they have raisins like these do. These are made with 100% traditional whole wheat flour, plus some rolled oats. I chose one of the variations in the recipe and ground up a third of a cup of the oats in the food processor (to make puffier cookies).

Larry and Jay really liked these. I had a few bites of one, and I even liked them. Larry wants me to make them again for sure - he loves oatmeal cookies.

• Chewy Oatmeal Cookies (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 314)

We went to a barbeque at another neighbor's house today - same group as last weekend. I brought the dessert again, and since no one had any objections, I did another Black Forest dessert. I wanted to redeem myself from the Black Forest cake from last weekend, which was good but not delicious. And I wanted to experiment with another recipe to see if maybe I just don't like Black Forest desserts.

This trifle is as good as it looks. No, better. It has a lot of whipped cream and less than a half a 9" round of cake in it. Not too many cherries, and a good amound of Kirsch. So it had all of the same flavors as the cake, just different proportions. Plus the cake is a standard chocolate cake instead of a genoise. This is a perfect make-ahead dessert, great for company and was a big hit, I think. The recipe is also in Fine Cooking's Chocolate 2006 special issue.

• Black Forest Trifle (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 58)

I made the "Key" Lime Pie to take in to work today (quotes around Key because I use regular limes). Instead of using the crust in the recipe, I made a graham cracker crust. It was really quick to make this way, and I think it's a huge improvement over the version with the standard pie crust that's in the recipe. I may make this with real Key limes next time they're available in the store.

"Key" Lime Pie
Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs from 9 (2 1/4-inch by 4 3/4-inch) crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Filling
2 14-ounce canse sweetened condensed milk
2 large egg yolks
1 cup fresh lime juice (from about 6 limes)
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest (from about 2 limes)

Garnish
1 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 lime, zested into thin strips

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (4-cup) glass pie plate. Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool in pie plate on a rack.

Make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk the condensed milk, egg yolks, lime juice, and grated zest. Pour into the cooled pie crust and bake at 350 degrees until just set, about 30 minutes. The center may still be a bit jiggly. (Use an instant-read thermometer to double-check the doneness; the center of the pie should be at least 140 degrees). Let the pie cook thoroughly on a rack and then cover with plastic and refrigerate to chill completely, at least 3 hours but no longer than a day.

Garnish the pie: Just before serving, whip the cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread the cream on top of the pie, garnish with the strips of lime zest, and serve.

• "Key" Lime Pie (Fine Cooking #64, may 2004, p. 73)

I made this cake to take to our neighbor Chris's house for a dinner party tonight. I made the cake in two stages - yesterday I made the chocolate genoise layers (almost 100% whole grain - just a tiny bit of AP flour and mostly whole wheat pastry flour), then today I made the syrup and stabilized whipped cream and assembled the cake. It has a layer of cherry pie filling in the middle of the layers of chocolate, and the genoise is soaked in a Kirsch sugar syrup. It wasn't really hard to make. The whipped cream is stabilized using plain gelatin, which kind of grossed me out, but it tasted fine. It seemed a little weepy to me, actually - although the rosettes piped out easily.

I don't think any of us were crazy about the cake. It was good, nothing particularly wrong with it... it just wasn't a "wow" dessert.

• Black Forest Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 398)

Ron and Jay came over for a spur-of-the-moment end of the week dinner. We delivered Ron's Rafanelli to him - he usually takes part of our allocation. I shopped at lunch so dinner was pretty quick to make. We loved this salad. I'm obsessed with butter lettuce.

• Goat Cheese Crackers with Hot Pepper Jelly (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Chicken with Marsala, Mushrooms & Gorgonzola (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 43)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Butter Lettuce with Poppy Seed & Tarragon-Crème Fraîche Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 49)
• Bourbon-Chocolate Mousse (Fine Cooking #85, May 2007, Back Cover)

Wine:
- Gamba 2004 Estate Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). One of our favorites.
- Amphora 2003 Mounts Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Delicious.

Tonight I made Tropical Quinoa Custard for dessert. It's from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, and the description says that if you're a tapioca fan, this custard is for you. I'm definitely a tapioca fan, but I like it unadorned, so I was unsure about the rum, lime, mango and ginger in this custard. I used just a small amount of ginger.

I could hardly wait for the custard to cool. It smelled so good. It's absolutely delicious. I love the mix of flavors - none of them are overwhelming. Perfect.

• Tropical Quinoa Custard (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 117)

Jay and Jeff came for dinner last night. Dinner was good - I love this chicken. And the potatoes. The cake is super moist and kind of different because of the stout and the molasses. I'm eventually going to make a whole-grain version of this cake and see which one we like best. The recipe is also in Fine Cooking's Chocolate 2006 special issue.

The only issue I had with the cake is that my ganache broke. Yet again. Chocolate-to-cream ratio too high? I should have fixed it by whisking in some warm cream but I didn't.

• Goat Cheese Crackers with Hot Pepper Jelly (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Lemony Salt-Roasted Fingerling Potatoes (Food & Wine, October 2006)
• Hearts of Romaine with Caesar Dressing (The Best Recipe, p. 42)
• Chocolate Stout Cake (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 46)

Wine:
- Sea Smoke 2004 Botella Pinot Noir (Santa Barbara County, California). Sadly, our last bottle of Botella. Absolutely wonderful, as usual.
- Gamba 2004 Moratta Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). This wine is settling down and is really delicious. The good news is we have several bottles left.

This pound cake is kind of odd. It's got plenty of butter in it, but it also has cream cheese. The final result is more like an apple quick bread instead of a pound cake. It's very dense and moist, and has quite a bit of crunch from the cornmeal. The cake has a rich dark brown color from the apple butter.

I haven't had any complaints about this cookbook until now - the recipe calls for "whole grain cornmeal". What grind? I used medium, but I think fine would have worked better - a little less crunch. Overall, everyone seemed to like this cake, but it definitely wasn't our favorite out of the cookbook. I'm pretty sure I won't make it again.

• Apple Harvest Pound Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 388)

I'm particular about my chocolate chip cookies. I prefer them with a moderate amount of chips. I like them with walnuts. And I like them to be thick and chewy, not thin. These cookies are tasty, but they turned out thin and they have too many chocolate chips in them. My last batch turned out best - it's the one I did as a single sheet in the oven, rather than two sheets at a time.

• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 304)

My fourth recipe from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking is a very simple cake with a whole bunch of honey in it. I almost used agave nectar because that's pretty much all I use in place of honey these days, but at the last minute decided to go with sage honey.

This is a good cake, but I think I'd like it to be in a loaf pan, more like a pound cake. Larry didn't especially like all the almonds.

• Honey Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 421)

Jay came over for dinner tonight - I wasn't planning on cooking until we realized it's Easter, and most restaurants are closed. So I did as little as possible, and ended up with a chili that Larry really loved and wants again.

We had plenty of cake left over from this morning, so we even had dessert after dinner.

• Chicken & White Bean Chili (Bon Appétit, October 2005)
• Napa Valley Pantry World's Best Cornbread
• Trader Joe's Spinach Salad
• Lemon-Raspberry Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, pp. 375 & 430)

Wine: Carol Shelton 2003 Rocky Reserve Florence Vineyard Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). Good, not great. I'm a fan of Carol's wines (and of Carol).

Our neighbors Chris and Assana and Assana's boyfriend (and honorary neighbor), Dan, came over for Easter brunch - we really hadn't planned on anything, but I can't remember the last time I didn't make Easter brunch, and this is a fun, low-key group.

I made the same easy frittata that I made for Valentine's Day because it's good and cooks in just a few minutes. I made the scones this morning but had everything prepped the day before so they only took about a half hour. And I made the cake the day before. Larry took care of the fruit and the bacon so it was a really relaxing morning.

I'm so impressed with the Whole Grains Baking cookbook. Everything so far has been delicious. The scones were a huge hit. The dough was very, very sticky and I had to add some flour in order to work with it. The cake was pretty easy, but the frosting was kind of a pain - but really tasty. The cake was a bit dense but still tender. I'm not good at decorating cakes but the icing piped out really nicely.

• Frittata with Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Basil (Bon Appétit, January 2003)
• Cinnamon-Filled Scones (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 90)
• Mixed Berries and Bananas
• Bacon
• Lemon-Raspberry Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, pp. 375 & 430)

Chris and Julie came for dinner tonight. I had everything prepped as much as possible last night, so it wasn't too bad putting together dinner after work. The smoked trout was especially good tonight. The meal consisted of reliable stand-bys, things I've made a million times so I don't need to think about it. Julie loved the potatoes, and Chris was crazy over the pot pies.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Chocolate-Raspberry Pot Pies (Just a Bite, p. 228)

Wine: We opened several bottles of Zinfandel, since we're all Zin lovers:
- Rockpile Ridge 2002 Rockpile Ridge Vineyard Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). One of the best Zins I've ever tasted. Perfect balance, lots of fruit, but not a huge fruit bomb.
- Valdez 2004 Rockpile Road Vineyard Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). We opened this second wine without even thinking it was another Rockpile. This wine is still a bit hot and closed, even though we decanted it. We bought a case so we'll continue to wait and drink. Still good, though.
- A. Rafanelli 2000 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). One of the better Rafanelli vintages. A bit earthy, but still with bright fruit, kind of mellow.

Jay was here for dinner tonight. No real plan for dinner, other than I wanted to make fish and the chocolate mousse that had been calling to me from the latest issue of Fine Cooking. The halibut was good - if I make it again, I'll cut back on the sherry vinegar. The potatoes (recipe also found in Fine Cooking's Quick & Delicious 2004 special issue) and gratin (recipe also found in Fine Cooking's Side dish 2007 special issue) were also good.

The mousse was a big hit. Not only was it really, really easy to make, it was utterly delicious. Jay especially loved it.

• Sear-Roasted Halibut with Roasted Red Pepper Purée (Fine Cooking #85, May 2007, p. 84A)
• Butternut Squash Gratin with Onion & Sage (Fine Cooking #17, November 1996, p. 44)
• Pan-Fried Red Potatoes with Pancetta & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #71, May 2005, p. 10)
• Bourbon-Chocolate Mousse (Fine Cooking #85, May 2007, Back Cover)

Wine: Sea Smoke 2002 Botella Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills, California). Excellent, excellent wine. Our friend Ralph gave this wine to Larry for his 40th birthday. We've managed to purchase two bottles of this in the past and have absolutely loved it. It's relatively inexpensive, but so difficult to get. We're on Sea Smoke's mailing list, and were only allocated one bottle last year. This vintage has bright cherry fruit and is really well-balanced.

We had a few of our neighbors (Linda, Assana, Dan, Kathy, Justin, Chris) plus Jay over for a Valentine's Day brunch this morning. It was a great excuse to break out the waffle iron Larry's dad gave me for Christmas. Plus we got a new dining room table a few weeks ago, and can now fit ten people comfortably so I made all of the waffles ahead of time and kept them warm in the oven.

I've been experimenting with waffle recipes, and Larry thinks he likes this one the best so far - probably because it's a recipe specifically for belgian waffles. It's the first yeasted recipe I've used, and it's also a little sweet. The waffles came out crisp and light, although they lost that crispness while they waited in the oven.

The frittata was a huge hit. We thought I should probably make a 1.5x recipe, and I'm glad I did - we ate all of it. I have a large oval nonstick pan that works great for the frittata. I had everything prepped so it was only about 10 minutes to make.

I think I really like having brunch parties. I prepped everything (including the souffles)yesterday so it really didn't take long at all this morning. A note on the souffles: the recipe doesn't specify ramekin size. I used a 5-oz. ramekin this time and made 1.5x the recipe. It ended up making 17 individual souffles.

• Classic Belgian Waffles (Waring Pro)
• Frittata with Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Basil (Bon Appétit, January 2003)
• Fried Apples (A Real American Breakfast, p. 280)
• Mixed Berries
• Sliced Bananas
• Fresh Whipped Cream
• Smokehouse Bacon
• Fresh Orange Juice
• Berry Souffles (Fine Cooking # 19, February/March 1997, p. 71)

I love lentils. So I figured I would really like this dish. But it was kind of bland. Larry thought it went well with the leftover mashed potatoes from last night, though.

I made this pie late yesterday, so we didn't have a chance to eat it. I'd been wanting to make it, and since we just came back from Florida without eating one slice of key lime pie, I thought this would be a perfect time to make it. It's really yummy, although I think I prefer a traditional graham cracker crust. I'm usually a pretty good crust-maker, but I thought this one was a bit tough and it stuck to the pie dish.

Larry made dinner for Jay and I tonight. It was really good! I like having a delicious meal that someone else cooks for me.

The pork recipe was actually for lamb chops, but since I don't like lamb, Larry substituted boneless pork loin chops instead. This was his first pan sauce, and it was executed perfectly. He found the recipe for the salad himself, and Jay and I both really liked it. He used fresh pomegranate seeds from Trader Joe's - very convenient.

I started to make this cake last night, and did the final assembly and frosting tonight. It was kind of a pain to put together, but it ended up looking nice, and Larry really liked it. Very lemony.

• Pork Chops with Pomegranate Red-Wine Sauce (Fine Cooking #76, January 2006, p. 86c)
• Quick-Roasted Winter Vegetables (Fine Cooking #25, March 1998, p. 33)
• Pomegranate Salad (Stanford Cancer Center)
• Triple-Lemon Layer Cake (Fine Cooking #63, September 2004, p. 66)

I picked Cincinnati chili for tonight, because I had all the ingredients already and didn't feel like going to the store. Excellent as usual.

The shortbread is really tasty. I'm still working on using up all the Meyer lemons we got from our neighbor's tree. Larry says he likes this shortbread better than the Scottish version. I like the cornmeal crunch. Very buttery. We gave some to Bea and Jim. This recipe is also in Fine Cooking's Weekend Cooking 2006 special issue.

• Snows Chili (alias Cincinnati Chili) (Hollyhocks & Radishes, Bonnie Stewart Mickelson, p.104)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Lemon-Cornmeal Shortbread Bars (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 64)

Wine: Nalle 2002 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). I'm not sure where we got this wine - maybe on one of our trips to the Sonoma Valley? It's an okay Zin. Kind of light without the oomph! I like so much in Zins.

I usually order something from Niman Ranch for my dad for Christmas (this year was the steak lover's pack), but this year I also ordered a couple of rib-eye steaks for us to try. I like the principle of Niman Ranch, and I love their pork. The steaks were good, but I've had better. Lots of marbling and a they tasted a bit like grass-fed, although I don't think they were.

I made a quick pan sauce with shallots, beef stock, cognac and thyme. The carrots and potatoes were both very good, although I used medium-sized red potatoes this time. I definitley like small Yukon Golds better. The macaroons were especially for Jay. They were good but very moist - I think they probably should have cooked longer. The recipe for the carrots is also in Fine Cooking's Quick & Delicious 2006 special issue, and the macaroons are also in Fine Cooking's Chocolate 2006 special issue.

• Pan-Grilled Rib-Eye Steaks with Pan Sauce
• Glazed Carrots & Shallots with Thyme (Fine Cooking #55, January 2003, p. 54)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Chocolate Cherry Coconut Macaroons (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 84)

Wine: Rafanelli 2002 Cab (Dry Creek Valley, California). Excellent as usual. One of the better vintages for Rafanelli.

We gave out gifts of homemade treats to our neighbors for the holidays this year - some got Scottish shortbread and lemon curd (made with delicious Meyer lemons from one neighbor's tree), and some got homemade hot cocoa mix with marshmallows. Everything was pretty easy to make. Larry made the hot cocoa mix and I did everything else. I had a bit of a disaster on hand with the marshmallows (overflowing saucepan), but I got everything cleaned up and they turned out really good anyway.

• Thick Scottish Shortbread (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Lemon Curd (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Marshmallows (Fine Cooking #36, January 2000, p. 47)
• Hot Cocoa Mix (Good Eats, Art of Darkness II: Cocoa)

For dinner tonight, I made Jay and Larry one of my favorite foods - fried chicken. It's coated in buttermilk and flour first so it formed a nice, crispy coating. The cucumber salad was also really good - the dressing also had buttermilk so it paired well with the chicken.

The potatoes had so much potential, but I was disappointed. They were good (besides needing more salt), but I like Potatoes Fondantes better. I threw the cake together quickly while I was putting the rest of the dinner together - Larry cooked the chicken for me so I could finish it up. It's really good. Very light. Larry says it's a definite do-again.

• Buttermilk Country Fried Chicken with Cucumber Salad (Fine Cooking #83, January 2007, p. 82a)
• Crispy Smashed Roasted Potatoes (Fine Cooking #83, January 2007, p. 45)
• Velvety Cocoa Cake (Gale Gand's Short and Sweet, p. 61)

Wine: Grey Wolf 2003 Zinfandel the Jackal (Paso Robles, California). We have three bottles of this wine, picked up when we worked the Paso Robles Zinfandel festival last year. It got better after it opened up - very fruity.

Fiyaz came for Thanksgiving dinner, and Jay showed up just in time for dessert. It was a nice, relaxed Thanksgiving meal. Larry had asked for a stuffed turkey breast instead of a whole turkey, and he wanted apple pie instead of pumpkin pie. Everything was good - especially the squash soup. I love the croutons. My potatoes were a little thin for some reason, but they worked out okay after they were baked. We did the goat cheese crackers again, this time on Carr's whole wheat crackers, and they were much better.

• Winter Squash Soup with Gruyere Croutons (Bon Apetit, December 1996)
• Goat Cheese Crackers with Hot Pepper Jelly (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Dried Apricot & Date Stuffed Turkey Breast with Marsala Glaze (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 49)
• Potatoes Mousseline (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 41)
• Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts & Warm Bacon Dressing (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 55)
• Apple Pie Covered with Leaves (Fine Cooking #54, Winter 2003 Holiday Baking Issue, p. 43)

Wine:
- Ramazzotti 2005 Zin-Giovese Rose (Dry Creek Valley, California)
- Inniskillin 2003 Sparkling Ice Wine (Niagra Peninsula, Canada). Fiyaz brought this wine for dessert - and it was very tasty.

Tonight I threw a birthday party for Larry's 40th birthday. It was a small gathering, some friends and neighbors, and we had an excellent time. I originally thought I'd just order some things from Draeger's and order a yummy, special cake, just to lighten the workload. Then I decided to make the cake, at least. Then I decided, hey, I can make up a few appetizers. I did a lot of the work early in the week, but as usual, I think I had a few too many last-minute things.

- The Goat Cheese Crackers were super popular, and sooo easy to make. Just goat cheese, hot pepper jelly, and chives. It's not even a recipe, really, but it can also also be found in Fine Cooking's 2006 Quick & Delicious special issue.
- The Hoisin-Glazed Flank Steak Spirals were kind of a pain to put together at the last minute, and messy, too. Thanks to Larry, they got done just in time for the party. However, they were delicious. This recipe is also in Fine Cooking's 2006 Quick & Delicious special issue.
- I made the quiches early in the week and froze them right in the mini-muffin pan. There was only enough filling to make 24 - they might have had more filling than they needed, because they needed to cook quite a bit longer than indicated also. It was nice to be able to just pop the whole pan in the oven and forget about it for a while. They were pretty good.
- The Cucumber Rounds were just okay, I don't think I'd make them again. They are also in Fine Cooking's 2006 Weekend Cooking special issue.
- Goat Cheese Terrine (also in Fine Cooking's 2004 Quick & Delicious special issue) was super easy to make and needed to be done ahead of time. It was tasty, too.
- I loved the Creamy Roquefort Dip, especially with the fennel.
- The Chive & Pine Nut dip is always a big favorite for me. Mmm.
- I keep soft Spanish chorizo on hand in the freezer - it's a really easy, quick, hot appetizer. I used mini-chorizos and sauteed them quickly, then added a bit of red wine and sauteed some more.
- The cake is super chocolate-y and is the same one we did for Jay's birthday. Katie and Jay provided the candles.

Along with the appetizers, we served up wine and Licor 43 cocktails - these are easy and taste like Dreamsicles!

Licor 43 Citrus Punch
1-1/4 oz. LICOR 43 liqueur
2 oz. orange juice
3 oz. club soda
Squeeze lime wedge

Combine the LICOR 43 liqueur, orange juice and lime wedge over ice in a 12 oz. glass, top with soda and garnish with a lime wedge.

• Goat Cheese Crackers with Hot Pepper Jelly (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Hoisin-Glazed Flank Steak Spirals with Carrot, Red Pepper & Scallions (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 78)
• Bacon, Leek & Cheddar Mini Quiches (Fine Cooking #82, December 2006, p. 49)
• Cucumber Rounds with Hummus & Yogurt (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 90c)
• Goat Cheese, Pesto & Sun-Dried Tomato Terrine (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2003, p. 98c)
• Cruditiés with Creamy Roquefort Dip (Fine Cooking #75, Holidays 2005, p. 52)
• Chive and Pine Nut Dip with Sourdough Toasts (Gourmet, June 2005)
• Sauteed Mini-Chorizos in Red Wine
• Double Chocolate Layer Cake (Gourmet, March 1999)

Wine:
- Heritage Vineyard 2003 Zinfandel (Oakville, California). This is the wine that's sold at the Zinfandel festival every year. This vintage is particularly tasty - probably because Paul Draper was the winemaker.
- Louis Jadot 2004 Pouilly-Fuisse (France). I picked this up at BevMo for the party, just for those white wine drinkers.
- Michel-Schlumberger 1999 Benchland Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve (Dry Creek Valley, California). This was a magnum that Larry won in a raffle at the winery. And it was good! Perfectly drinkable.
- Copain 2004 Cerise Vineyard Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, California). Still needs time in the bottle, like all the other Copain we've opened so far. But so much potential. Ralph chose this bottle to open - I was just glad we had some Pinot in the cellar he was interested in.
- The Holy Trinity 2001 (Barossa, Australia). A Bordeaux-type blend brought to the party by our neighbor Chris. Yummy!

Jay was here for dinner, and I made Indian food for him and Larry. I don't make Indian food very much, and when I do, it's not really traditional Indian food - more like simple curries. I wanted to bake this weekend, so I figured I'd get my baking fix by making naan.

The chicken was good. Not super fantastic, must have again, but good. It was kind of a lot of work, and so much butter and cream. Which I usually don't shy away from, but it was really A LOT of butter and cream. I might make the chicken tikka on its own again, though.

The naan. Oh, boy, was I over-ambitious about making naan. It wasn't easy to make at all. The dough wasn't easy to handle. I wanted it smooth but not too dry, and I tried not to handle it too much, but it was difficult. My first two came out very mis-shapen (I cooked them in the oven on a pizza stone). I got the hang of it after that, and the rest came out beautifully... but I live in an area with a huge Indian population. No reason not to buy naan - and it's better than what I could make, too.

• Chicken Tikka Masala (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 70)
• Homestyle Indian Naan (Fine Cooking #47, November 2001, p. 47)
• Mixed Greens with Balsamic-Olive Oil Vinaigrette
• Double Ginger Pound Cake with Brown Sugar Mascarpone Whipped Cream (Fine Cooking #82, December 2006, p. 64)

Wine: Cinnabar 2003 Mercury Rising (California). This is a Bordeaux-type blend from a local Santa Cruz Mountains producer, and oh man is it good. We finished the whole bottle.

We're going to see my friend Scott this weekend, so a batch of cookies was in order. These seemed easy (they were) so I whipped up a batch after work. They're good, but I think I like cookies with chocolate better. Larry liked them.

• Vanilla Sugar Cookies (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking Winter 2005, p. 86d)

Jay came for dinner - I made the rest of the dishes from the tapas party, and added the butternut squash salad again, because I thought Jay would like it (he did). Both Jay and Larry thought they would rather have plain chocolate instead of the toasted bread with chocolate, but I liked it. The shrimp was okay, a little bland.

• Seared Shrimp with Pimentón & Sherry (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 82)
• Roasted Butternut Squash & Pear Salad with Spiced-Pecan Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 58)
• Toasted Bread with Chocolate (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 82)

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2001 Reserve Chardonnay (Russian River Valley, California). Drinkable, but nothing fantastic.

Carsten came over for dinner tonight. I've been dying to make the Cottage Pie ever since this issue of Fine Cooking hit the mailbox. It's such a homey, hearty dish - exactly the type of food I love to make. The beef stew portion is excellent on its own. We all really liked it. Larry loved the salad. The banana cream pie recipe came from my recipe box. It's got a great vanilla custard, with sliced bananas in the middle.

• Goat Cheese, Lemon & Chive Turnovers (Fine Cooking #80, September 2006, p. 86c)
• Cottage Pie with Beef & Carrots (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 62)
• Roasted Butternut Squash & Pear Salad with Spiced-Pecan Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 58)
• Banana Cream Pie

Wine:
- Domaine Zind Heimbourg 1998 Pinot Gris (Alcase, Germany). Carsten brought this wine - it was good with the turnovers. It's an off-dry wine.
- Ridge 1999 Dynamite Hill Petite Sirah (York Creek Vineyard, California). Delicious.
- Oremus 2000 Tokaji Azsú 3 Puttonyos (Hungary). We picked up several bottles of Tokaji in Budapest on our vacation this month, and since Carsten was the one that suggested we check them out, we opened one for dessert. This one was a bit too sweet for the banana cream pie, but it was really good. The designation 3 Puttonyos is the least sweet of the Azsú style Tokaji wines.

Jay came for dinner tonight. The chicken and green beans were a big hit. The potatoes were good, and the icebox cake was fantastic. Kind of like a cold, rich cheesecake.

• Chicken with Lemon Rosemary Balsamic Mustard Marinade (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 51)
• Green Beans & Radiccio with Shaved Parmesan (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 47)
• Gratineed Red Potatoes with Chives (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 52)
• Ginger-Mascarpone Icebox Cake (Fine Cooking #33, July 1999, p. 53)

Wine: Ridge 2000 Buchignani Ranch Carignane (California). Tasty wine. Kind of complex with some fruit and integrated tannins.

For Jay's birthday, I made him halbut on the grill pan (yum), and he requested something chocolate-y for dessert. No problem there. The Chocolate Pot Pies are always a hit. He also mentioned that he had a good hot bacon vinaigrette on a spinach salad at a restaurant recently, so I thought I'd try this recipe - it also has roasted sweet potatoes in the salad, and it's really good. I'm on a salad kick lately.

• Pan-Grilled Halibut
• Spinach Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Hot Cider-Bacon Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #13, February/March 1996, p. 36)
• Summer Wheatberry Salad (Fine Cooking #28, September 1998, p. 39)
• Chocolate-RaspberryPot Pies (Just a Bite, Gale Gand, p. 228)

Wine: Pisoni Estate 1999 Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). We picked this up a few years ago at a liquor store in Monterey. It wasn't a wine that was easy to get, nor was it inexpensive. However, it was a little dissappointing. Not that it was a bad wine. But a Pisoni-made Pinot from Santa Lucia Highlands? I expected fabulous.

Jay was over for dinner, and I made a dish I had meant to make a few weeks ago. It sounded good, and it was. Not earth-shattering, but good. And easy to make. The bread salad was really good, although I've made a few now and this recipe isn't my favorite. Larry wasn't that crazy about the slaw so I probably won't make it again. The blueberry cake, though - I could have eaten the whole thing.

• Pork Medallions with Port Wine-Dried Cherry Pan Sauce (Cooking Light, July 2004)
• Grilled Sourdough Panzanella (Fine Cooking #80, September 2006, back cover)
• Buttermilk & Herb Cole Slaw (Fine Cooking #80, September 2006, p. 48)
• Blueberry-Lemon Cornmeal Cake (Fine Cooking #80, September 2006, p. 69)

Wine: Viansa 2000 Barbera Rose (California). It's been too hot for a heavy red wine - I'd have preferred a Pinot Noir with this dinner. This rose probably sat in the cellar too long. It was drinkable, but had too much residual sugar.

I picked up some fresh halibut yesterday, not knowing how I was going to cook it tonight. A glance at this issue of Fine Cooking revealed a yummy-sounding recipe for halibut along with recipes for potatoes and a salad. Jay was here for dinner, and he and Larry liked everything.

The dates were an experiment based on a dish we had earlier in the month at a restaurant. I only used a drop of honey in the cheese mixture, but they were still very sweet. Good, but I think I prefer dates stuffed with goat cheese.

I thought the potatoes were good, especially since they had no butter. I loved the sage with the halibut but wasn't that crazy about the prosciutto wrapped around it. I loved the salad because it was different, and I obsess over finding interesting salads. I especially love Boston lettuce and I liked the texture that the hard-boiled eggs (pushed through a fine sieve) added to the vinaigrette.

Larry requested the crisp, but I didn't have any. Reports came back positive. I thought it was a good dinner overall, especially since I didn't even start making it until 6, and we were at the dinner table by 7:30.

• Lemon Mascarpone-Stuffed Dates (Food & Wine, January 2006)
• Prosciutto-Wrapped Halibut with Sage Butter Sauce (Fine Cooking #75, Holidays Winter 2006, p.90c)
• Smashed Parslied Potatoes (Fine Cooking #75, Holidays Winter 2006, p.90c)
• Boston Lettuce Wedges with Mimosa Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #75, Holidays Winter 2006, p.90c)
• Blueberry-Cherry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Larry picked out this Mayan pork dish for dinner, and I went along with the notes in the recipe and served black beans and fried plantains to go with it. It reminded us of our December vacation in the Yucatan Peninsula. In fact, I used achiote paste that I brought back from Mexico for the marinade. The pork is marinated a mixture of achiote paste and biter orange juice, then baked in banana leaves (I used a clay pot as suggested). It was really tasty. This was my first time cooking with plantains. Easy, and good.

The shortbread and lemon curd were really, really yummy. I used Meyer lemons that my neighbor dropped off last week. I think I like the lemon curd that was left over from the berry tarts last week, though. Creamier, maybe.

• Cochinitas Pibil (The Turtle Bay Cookbook, p. 172)
• Black Beans
• Tostones (The Turtle Bay Cookbook, p. 111)
• Thick Scottish Shortbread (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Lemon Curd (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)

Wine: ZAP 2001 Heritage Zinfandel (Napa Valley, California). This vintage was made by Joel Peterson of Ravenswood (a different winemaker makes the wine every year). It's a decent everday Zin.

Jay came for dinner tonight. This is one of my favorite types of dinner - very homey. The chicken was good - nothing special, just chicken. Flavorful, moist, but not something that blew us away. The bread salad was a big hit (I absolutely love bread salad), as were the tarts. The tarts are very summery and can be made mostly ahead of time.

• Butterflied Chicken Dijon Grilled on a Bed of Thyme (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 54)
• Bread Salad with Corn, Cherry Tomatoes & Basil (Fine Cooking #52, September 2002, p. 43)
• Grilled Asparagus
• Mixed Berry Tarts with Lemony Filling (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 69)

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2001 Tom Feeny Ranch Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). A decent, everyday Zin.

Our friend Mic is in town from Denmark, so we squeezed in some time for a visit between my trip to Austin and his flight out of the area. I needed to make something easy and quick since I got back late last night and spent the day working. We arranged to have dinner on the late side, so that helps, but really, this menu is ideal for weeknight company.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken with Marsala, Mushrooms & Gorgonzola (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 43)
• Creamy Goat Cheese Polenta (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Sautéed Spinach with Garlic
• Fastest Fudge Cake (Fine Cooking #61, December 2003, P. 18e)

Wine:

I think Larry liked this dish better than I did - probably because I'm just so-so on Italian sausage. I used hot italian Turkey sausage to lighten it up. The recipe is from the cookbook "Come for Dinner: Memorable Meals to Share with Friends" by Leslie Revsin. I don't have the cookbook. I got the recipe via "Best of the Best", which was given to me as a gift last year. This is the first time I've cooked from it, although it looks like a good cookbook.

The vanilla pudding was good. I think I probably prefer chocolate, but Larry loves vanilla desserts.

• Orzo "Risotto" with Roasted Tomatoes and Hot Sausage (Best of the Best Vol. 7, p. 98)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Individual Vanilla Puddings (Fine Cooking #71, May 2005, p. 68)

Wine: David Bruce 1999 Ranchita Canyon Sangiovese (Paso Robles, California). Yum.

Jay came over for dinner again tonight (this is our standing Sunday night dinner). I had planned this chicken for a couple of weeks ago but never made it because it required an overnight marinade.

- The chicken recipe is also in Fine Cooking's 101 Delicious Chicken Recipes special issue. I'm such a sucker for special issues. Anyway, it was really, really good. Larry says it's a definite do-again. It's virtually no work for dinner, too - almost everything is done the day before.
- Pan fried potatoes - how can they not be good? I like them just like this, fairly unadulterated. I don't really like them as much when you start adding things like onions and peppers.
- Larry said he kind of liked tonight's salad better than last night's. They were both good.
- The souffle cakes were good, not super fantastic. I'm not a big fan of white chocolate. If I make them again, I'll do dark chocolate soufflé cakes with the chocolate-raspberry sauce. I was going to do that tonight but it will take some advance planning to do it.

• Lemony Balsamic-Mustard Marinated Roast Chicken with Rosemary & Garlic (Fine Cooking #62 January 2004, p. 50)
• Pan-Fried Red Potatoes with Pancetta & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #71, May 2005, p. 10)
• Forty Shades of Green Salad (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 53)
• White Chocolate Soufflé Cakes with Raspberry-Chocolate Sauce (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking Winter 2005, p. 69)

Wine: Steven Bannus 2003 Pinot Noir (Central Coast, California). This is a very inexpensive wine that Jay picked up - pretty good for the price. Very fruity and a nice, jammy nose.

Fred and Alyssia came for dinner tonight. We provided the meal, and they brought fabulous cabs to drink. The dinner menu was easy - a good filet just needs simple sides and a yummy dessert to follow.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Pan-Seared Filet Mignon
• Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Stuffed Baked Potatoes (Knudsen Cooking For Compliments, p. 89)
• Chocolate-Berry Pot Pies (Just a Bite, Gale Gand, p. 228)

Wine:
- Siduri 2002 Muirfield Vineyard Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley, Oregon). Larry wasn't thrilled with this wine. Good, but it's expensive so he expected more. Siduri wines are Burgundian, I think we both just like fruitier styles better. I still liked this wine, though.
- Scherrer 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon (Alexander Valley, California). Fabulous, just fabulous. Soft and easy to drink.
- Del Dotto 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, California). Also soft but more heavily oaked than the Scherrer. Still really wonderful.
- Meeker 2002 FroZin (Mendocino County, California). Bursting with raspberry, not too much residual sugar, and perfect with dessert.

Jay came for dinner tonight. Larry asked for some sort of pork roast. I originally wanted to do a shoulder roast in the crock pot, but I didn't start it early enough and was indecisive about what I wanted to do with it.

This roast was really excellent. It practically melted in our mouths and I loved the onions and the cider-flavored sauce. I didn't do anything special with the sweet potatoes - just baked them and mashed them up with a teeny bit of butter, cream, salt and pepper. The recipe is also in The Gourmet Cookbook on page 476.

We had leftover cake from last night, and Jay loved it - I reminded him that Amy made it for him last year.

• Cider-Braised Pork Shoulder with Caramelized Onions (Gourmet, December 2001)
• Mashed Sweet Potatoes
• Sautéed Spinach with Garlic
• Fastest Fudge Cake (Fine Cooking #61, December 2003, P. 18e)

Wine: David Bruce 2001 Windsor Garden Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California). Lovely, as are most David Bruce Pinots.

Larry picked this recipe out of one of the latest issues of Fine Cooking - I thought it sounded wonderful, and as I was tossing the chicken thighs in the marinade I became convinced that it was going to be super tasty.

I was wrong. It was good, but nothing fantastic. The veggies were a little plain-tasting - I used turnips, not parsnips, for some unknown reason and that may have been part of the problem.

The cake, on the other hand, was super yummy and super easy to make. I could have eaten the whole thing in one sitting.

• Burnished Chicken Thighs with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Parsnips & Shallots (Fine Cooking #77, March 2006, p. 38)
• Fastest Fudge Cake (Fine Cooking #61, December 2003, P. 18e)

Wine: David Coffarro 2002 Block 4 (Dry Creek Valley, California). Usually Coffarro wines don't age very well. But this one was so good, we drank the entire bottle. Especially yummy with the cake.

Arun, Carol and Jay were here for dinner. Standard vegetarian fare, although looking back at old entries, it looks like I served this when Arun was here two years ago.

- I really loved the dip. It had quite a garlic-y bite to it, but it was delicious and creamy and perfect on the plain little toasts.
- I've just about perfected the corn bread recipe. It has to cook for an hour. Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn. Cast iron skillet. The only thing I forgot this time was to add diced jalapeño, and we really missed it.

• Chive and Pine Nut Dip with Sourdough Toasts (Gourmet, June 2005)
• Spicy Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili (Bon Appétit, November 2002)
• Corn Bread (The Bread Baker's Apprentice, p. 151)
• Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum, p. 84)

Wine:
- Four Vines 2002 Maverick Zinfandel (Amador County, California). This is a favorite inexpensive Zin for us. I think Arun and Carol liked it better than the other Zin - lighter, less in-your-face.
- Gamba 2004 Old Vine Estate Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). This was just released yesterday - Larry and I went to the Gamba release party at Uncorked! last night. This is drinkable now. It's not as fruit-forward as their Moratta Zin.
- Carol Shelton 2001 Black Magic Late Harvest Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). Yet another excellent wine from Rockpile Vineyard. This late harvest wine only has 2% residual sugar (and 17% alcohol!) so it's not cloyingly sweet.

I've been craving this, probably since I hadn't made it for almost a year. It's so good, and so easy. Both Larry and Jay loved it.

This was the third time I've made this chocolate cake, and it was an utter failure. Okay, not utter, because we ended up eating it anyway, without the ganache or glaze. For details, see Kitchen F-Ups.

• White Bean and Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Kale and Zucchini (Cooking Light, January 2005)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Chocolate-Amaretto Heart

Wine: Rosenblum 2000 Cullinane Vineyard Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). So good, we drank the whole bottle. Especially good with the chocolate cake.

Kent, Barbara and Steve came over tonight for one last ZAP leads meeting. It's always a good excuse to get together and eat and drink good wine.

- This was the first time I used frozen dough for the Cheese Sablés. It was left over from the last time we had this group over. I took it out of the freezer on Sunday. It worked out nicely.
- The onion dip was good, like a nicer version of the one made from onion soup mix. The pita chips were excellent (I used whole wheat pitas).
- The stew was easy to make and since I had everything prepped the night before it was hardly any work at all. Everyone liked it, but it really wasn't something I loved. Larry likes my veggie chili better. The polenta triangles are pretty bland, but perfect for the stew - good texture for soaking up the stew.

• Manchego Cheese with Quince Paste
• Red Grapes
• Istara and Stilton
• Golden Onion & Thyme Dip (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking Winter 2004, p. 98C)
• Pita Chips (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking Winter 2004, p. 98C)
• Mrs. Lenkh's Cheese Sablés (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 10)
• Black Bean and Sweet Potato Stew with Chilies and Polenta Triangles (Bon Appétit, October 1998)
• Triple-Chocolate Cheesecake (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 53)

Wine:
- Rosenblum 2003 Eagle Point Zinfandel (Mendocino County, California). One of my favorite wines from Rosenblum. A really yummy nose, and just plain good all around.
- Copain 2003 Arrowhead Mountain Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). A bit closed at first, but it got better once we decanted it and had some food with it. Needs more time in the bottle, I think.
- d'Arenberg 2003 The Galvo Garage (Australia). Really nice meritage.

Anything with the title "creamy tomato" always gets my attention. I gave Jay a choice between two dishes I was making tonight, and he picked this one. Great choice. A little involved to make, but nothing overly difficult. I used mostly thighs and a couple of legs. It was really delicious.

Sometimes I have a really bad cooking night, where nothing seems to go right. Tonight was the opposite - everything just worked and dinner was on the table two hours after I started. The side dishes were both really good, and I even had time to throw together a dessert while the chicken was cooking.

• Creamy Tomato & Fennel Chicken (The Best of Fine Cooking, 101 Delicious Chicken Recipes, Winter 2006, p. 62)
• Sweet Potato & Parsnip Purée (Gourmet, January 2001)
• Roasted Medley of Winter Roots (Fine Cooking #48, January 2002, p. 56)
• Apple-Blueberry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine:
- David Bruce 2001 Truchard Vineyard Pinot Noir (Carneros, California). So good that we went through most of the bottle before I even served dinner. This is exactly my style of Pinot Noir - complex, juicy, luscious. Yum.
- Sonnet 2003 York Mountain Kruse Vineyard Pinot Noir (York Mountain, California). Also really good. A bit lighter than the Bruce, and less complex. Very drinkable.

It's Sunday, so Jay was here for dinner tonight as always. I made these chicken breast because I'm a copycat, and I thought they sounded good when Amy made them. I've been craving (more than usual) homey-type comfort food.

- The chicken is good, but I think the Fine Cooking method gives better flavor with less work. The potatoes and gratin were both tasty, but I thought the gratin was a bit rich. I used dino kale for the greens, and parmesan cheese.
- I was a bit unsure about this pie. But the reviews on Epicurious were really good, and it sounded different. It was pretty easy to make, and Larry and Jay both loved it. It has a bit of everything that's good about pies - flaky crust, fruit, yummy custard and streusel topping.

• "Brick-Roasted" Chicken Breasts (Everyday Dining with Wine, p. 197)
• Pan-Fried Yukon Gold Potatoes with Paprika (Fine Cooking #77, March 2006, p. 17)
• Creamy Winter Greens Gratin (Fine Cooking #77, March 2006, p. 41)
• Sour Cream Apple Pie (Gourmet, October 2004)

Wine: Rafanelli 1999 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). We only have one bottle left of this, but if I'm going to drink wine right now it has to be really good. This particular vintage is excellent. Not only that, but it's listed as a suggested wine with the chicken recipe.

Kent, Barbara and Steve came for an after-work ZAP leads meeting tonight. We've been ZAP volunteers for many years now, and we're all working the Good Eats and Zin event for the upcoming Zinfandel festival. I did most of the cooking after work the night before, so mostly all I had to do was throw the cornbread together and heat up the chili. Everyone raved about the food (we need to have them all over more often!).

- I made the Cheese Sablés a bit smaller this time, and Larry liked them much better. I have to agree. I used my smallest biscuit cutter. I made the dough the night before, so I just rolled them out and cut them before popping them in the oven - they were warm and toasty when everyone arrived.
- I chose vegetarian chili because Kent is a pescatarian (although he's flexible enough about it to just eat whatever the host serves). Anyway, Larry and I both love this chili so I didn't mind making it at all.
- I've been on the hunt for the perfect cornbread. Amy made this one recently, and although she wasn't especially enamored with it, she thought I might like it. Boy, was she right. And Larry, he can't stop talking about how wonderful it was. The only issue I had was that it took much longer than 30 minutes to cook through - more like an hour.
- This torte is my idea of the perfect chocolate cake. Mmm, pure chocolate. And it's pretty easy to make, and elegant. And my co-workers love it when I bring the leftovers in the next day.

• Manchego Cheese with Quince Paste
• Red Grapes
• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Mrs. Lenkh's Cheese Sablés (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 10)
• Spicy Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili (Bon Appétit, November 2002)
• Corn Bread (The Bread Baker's Apprentice, p. 151)
• Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum, p. 84)

Wine: There was a lot of wine flowing, of course, because we're all Zinfandel lovers.
- Renwood 2002 Fiddletown Zinfandel (Fiddletown, CA). Kent brought this.
- Rafanelli 2000 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, CA). This came from our cellar - a good, solid performer.
- August Briggs 2000 Zinfandel (Napa Valley, CA). Steve and Barbara brought this bottle.
- Sapphire Hill 2002 Winberrie Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, CA). Also from our cellar, and I think it was the favorite of the evening.
- Navarro 2000 Pinot Noir Juice. I was under doctor's orders not to drink, so I had this juice. It's been in our basement for a few years, and I think it's gotten sweeter since we bought it. It's good, but was very, very sweet. A good option for people who don't drink.

Jay and Ginger were here for dinner tonight. Overall a really yummy dinner.

- The chicken breasts were good, but I wasn't especially fond of a meat stuffing. I'd prefer just cheese and herbs or something like that.
- This orzo was a big, big hit. I crisped some pancetta and fried some sage leaves while I was making it, then added those at the end. Good addition.
- The apples were extremely easy to make. Ginger made the filling while I prepped the apples. They took about ten minutes to make. I used Mutsu apples, my favorite for baking.

• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Prosciutto & Fontina (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 63)
• Butternut Squash and Sage Orzo (Bon Apétit, March 1998)
• Delicata Squash Rings (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, p. 440)
• Baker, Baker (Good Eats, Apple Family Values!)

Wine: Koves-Newlan 2000 Zinfandel (Napa Valley, California). Yummy but not memorable Zin. Larry and I won this in a contest (AmaZIN Race).

Amy mentioned over the weekend that she had been perusing Fine Cooking's Comfort Foods special issue. It got me thinking about things like pork roast, roasted apples and macaroni and cheese. I knew that tonight's meal would be all about comfort food - perfect, because I think Larry and Jay like those types of meals also. I love braised pork roast and I haven't made it for a long time, so picking the main dish was easy. Both the pork and the sweet potatoes are in the Comfort Foods issue as well.

- This pork roast is good, and even better is that it can be made the day before. I think braised dishes are better the next day anyway, although I didn't make this ahead. Pork and apple are made go to together.
- I thought Larry would love these sweet potatoes more than he did. They've got parsnips and carrots in addition to the sweet potatoes, and I loved the hint of ginger. He and Jay both liked the potatoes.
- This red cabbage is one of Larry's favorite dishes.
- Larry had a pear tarte Tatin at Lavanda a few weeks ago, and it was excellent. It was an individual serving size - more pastry than pear, which was yummy. Larry didn't especially like the almond pastry, but Jay and I both liked it. I used Comice pears, my favorite. I thought they might be too juicy for the dish but they ended up working out fine. I loved making this dish. The caramel turned out beautifully, and something about making a dessert in my well-seasoned cast iron pan was very satisfying. The crust was slightly difficult to work with, but who cares? It ended up on the bottom anyway.

• Pork Shoulder Braised with Apple Cider, Thyme & Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #49, March 2002, p. 60)
• Molasses Mashed Sweet Potatoes (Fine Cooking #47, November 2001, p. 60)
• Braised Red Cabbage with Red Zinfandel (Fine Cooking #31, March 1999, p. 37)
• Pear Tarte Tatin with Almond Pastry (Fine Cooking #23, November 1997, p. 70)

Wine: Domaine Alfred 2002 Chamisal Vineyards Pinot Noir (Edna Valley, California). Yum... ripe and plummy. This was a gift from the former CEO of Larry's company.

It was just Larry and I for Thanksgiving this year. It's nice to have a crowd of people to feed, but I kind of enjoyed the relaxed pace of cooking. I didn't need to be done at any particular time, and I didn't have to stress about things like forgetting to make the spinach (whoops!).

- I modified the turkey this year, and tried a dry brine - basically just like the Zuni Roast Chicken. I wasn't especially impressed. Once again, brined turkey takes the prize. Next year I'm back to a traditional brine.
- I used a different brand of cider this year, and bleh! It was too sweet. I didn't like the color, either - it turned my pan juices a bit grey. I actually had to resort to Kitchen Bouquet to fix the color. The horror! Larry thought it turned out okay, though.
- My rolls didn't rise fast enough, so they weren't done in time for dinner. I'm positive my yeast is the problem, since I had the same issue with my multigrain bread. And the kitchen was like a sauna, a perfect environment for rising.
- I don't like pumpkin pie, and I've never successfully made a good one. I decided to lean on Fine Cooking once again, because it's hard to go wrong with their recipes. I love this crust recipe. It's the same one I use for my apple pie. It's easy to work with, delicious, and flaky. I had some problems with shrinkage when I blind baked the crust, but not too bad. The leaves browned more than I wanted, even with foil protecting them during the final baking. Larry gave the pie a thumbs-up.

• Butter-Rubbed, Cider-Glazed Roast Turkey (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 46)
• Poultry Dressing (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Pureé of Yukon Gold Potatoes & Celery Root
• Herbed Dinner Rolls (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 72)
• Pumpkin Pie with a Leafy Rim (Fine Cooking #54, Winter 2003 Holiday Baking Issue, p. 42)

Wine: Gamba 2003 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel. Oh, my. This is drinking really nice. It tastes a bit like a late harvest Zin, and it's not hot at all, even with 16.5 percent alcohol. We have four more bottles.

This chicken was super quick and really yummy. I love sauces with coconut milk. This weekend, I also made a second version of apple turnovers, for comparison to last week's. This recipe was from Cook's Illustrated. The dough is a bit more complicated, and I thought it was more difficult to handle (not awful, but the Fine Cooking one was easier). The filling in these was grated apples with lemon and sugar, as opposed to apple halves with sugar, flour and cinnamon sprinkled inside the pastry. Larry liked last week's filling better. I kind of liked this week's pastry better - definitely flakier, and held up better the next day. I think the perfect marriage would be this pastry with apple halves as filling.

• Chicken Breasts with Red Thai Curry Peanut Sauce (Fine Cooking #76, January 2006, p. 86C)
• Steamed Brown Rice
• Sautéed Spinach with Garlic
• Flaky Apple Turnovers (Baking Illustrated, p.276)

Jay was here for dinner tonight, and it was an especially good meal. Larry and I picked up salmon and apples at the farmer's market, and I made the delicata squash and spinach because that's what I had in the house. Yum!

- Larry and Jay both loved the salmon and squash, and so did I. Larry says it's a definite make-again. It was really quick and easy to make - always a plus. I loved the creamy tarragon sauce and the shallots.
- I love delicata squash, and it's perfect this way - just sautéed in olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and fresh parsley. Deborah Madison rocks.
- I was thinking about making an apple dessert - turnovers in particular. I mentioned it to Larry, and it turns out that apple turnovers are one of his very favorite foods. How did I not know this after all these years? I used Mutsu apples for the turnovers, the only apples I ever use for baking (also known as Pippin). The turnovers were pretty easy to make, although a few of them started to fall apart in the oven. I was torn between this recipe and one in Baking Illustrated. The Baking Illustrated recipe used grated apple and the pastry looks flakier. I ended up choosing this one because the pastry needed less time in the refrigerator. And I'm not sure about using grated apples, although I trust Cook's Illustrated recipes. These were really, really delicious. Not too sweet, with a light and flaky pastry.

• Seared Salmon on Baby Spinach (Bon Appétit, April 1999)
• Delicata Squash Rings (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, p. 440)
• Apple Turnovers (Fine Cooking 41, November 2000, p. 81)

Wine: Martinelli 2001 Bondi Home Ranch Pinot Noir. Yum. We drank the whole bottle. Pinot and salmon were made for each other.

My friend Scott strongly hinted that he would love for me to make him some of the Sweet Black Pepper Fish that he saw on this site last week. I complied, because I love getting requests for dishes (no menu planning), and this one was really easy to make.

-I used orange roughy, because the grocery only had halibut steaks. I think I like this with halibut better, but it was still good. Also, I think this dish benefits from big chunks of cracked pepper.
- I've wanted to make these cookies for a long time, and once I saw that Amy had made something similar, I became obsessed with making them. Amy's recipe came to her via Cookie Madness. I like that hers are more shiny - probably from using egg whites instead of whole eggs. Mine included a bit of butter and a LOT of chopped bittersweet chocolate (along with regular sugar). It was also a batter, not a dough. I tried three methods of dropping them onto the cookie sheets: using a pastry bag and large decorating tip (ick - nuts have to be chopped tiny to use this method, and it was way too messy), using a tablespoon (hard to make nice round piles of batter), and finally a small scooper. The scooper was the winner. I didn't think I'd like the pecans that much, but they are nice in the cookies. These are really my kind of cookie. Luckily I gave most of them away (Scott and Brian were the lucky recipients), because I can't keep my hands off of them.

• Sweet Black Pepper Fish (Cooking Light, January 2004)
• Wilted Spinach with Sauteed Garlic
• Chocolate Brownie Cookies (Fine Cooking #34, September 1999, p. 49)

We had Jay and Ginger over for dinner tonight. I was pretty sure I wanted to make chicken, and after looking through a bunch of old Fine Cooking magazines, decided on these stuffed chicken breasts. Dinner was good overall, but probably not the best choices as far as make-ahead. Everything required too much attention.

The pan sauce uses verjus (vair-ZHOO) as the acid, instead of something like lemon juice or vinegar (although a combination of vinegar and cider would have worked). Verjus is the tart, fresh juice of unripe wine grapes. The advantage of using verjus is that it's very wine-friendly. It would make a nice wine-friendly vinaigrette for a salad, I think.

- I really liked the sables, but Larry thought they were too cheesy. I have a bunch of dough left over that I'm going to freeze for another time.
- The chicken breasts were pretty good. I'm not so crazy about mushrooms but it was okay like this. I bought huge Rocky free range breasts for this, and I'm glad I did - it made stuffing them much easier than if I would have tried to create pockets in smaller breasts.
- Everyone loves this squash dish. I don't know why I don't make it more often. Trader Joe's carries diced butternut squash, which makes preparation a snap.
- All I can say about the spinach salad is "candied walnuts". I want to eat them by the handful.
- Larry picked the dessert out of Bittersweet. I'm not crazy about coffee desserts, but I made it anyway and cut back on the amount of coffee. Jay hated it, Larry and Ginger loved it. I was so-so on it. It was a breeze to make, though. I loved the shortbread crust.

• Mrs. Lenkh's Cheese Sablés (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 10)
• Chicken Breasts with Mushroom-Pancetta Stuffing & Verjus Sauce (Fine Cooking #49, March 2002, p. 51)
• Braised Winter Squash & Potatoes with Mustard & Shallots (Fine Cooking #31, March 1999, p. 37)
• Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts & Warm Bacon Dressing (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 55)
• Warm Mocha Tart (Bittersweet, p. 278)

Wine: 2003 Sapphire Hill Bastoni Vineyard Palomino (Sonoma County, California). A nice, well-rounded white. I think there are only three wines in the state made with the Palomino grape. We know the people who grow the grapes, which makes it even nicer to drink.

I had one of those rare bad cooking nights tonight. However, the most important part turned out well - the dessert. I had it in my mind that I wanted to do fish tonight. Larry and I picked up The Turtle Bay Cookbook last year in Monterey - the authors were doing a cooking demo and a book signing at at cookware store. We had eaten at the Turtle Bay Taqueria a couple of times during our trip.

- My fishmonger didn't take the skin off of the mahi mahi. Instead of trying to cut the skin off (I really, really don't like cooking fish with the skin), I decided to use Amy's trick of broiling it on aluminum foil, so the skin sticks to the foil and the fish comes right up. I had all sorts of issues with this fish. The crust started to burn before the fish was thoroughly cooked. The skin didn't stick to the foil. This dish might have been better with halibut.
- The peach butter was odd. It didn't help that I completely forgot about it and we didn't have it with the fish at all. But when I made it, the texture was odd. Too much juice in the peaches, I think. It's been in the refrigerator all day and still is a bit goopy.
- The beans. Oh, where can I start. I usually have good luck with Bobby Flay recipes. These had a nice smoky flavor. The recipe says to cook them for an hour at 300 degrees. They have a cup of rum in them - how is all that alcohol supposed to cook off at 300 degrees? It didn't. After a half hour I finally paid attention and looked at the beans - still very saucy and smelling like rum. I bumped up the temperature to 425 so I could cook my crostata at the same time.
- The crostata was delicious and gorgeous. The puff pastry is so buttery. Larry thought it would be better with apples - in time, I will make another one. I just wanted to have one last dessert with summer fruit before I move on to apples.

• Carribean Spiced Mahi Mahi with Habanero-Peach Butter (The Turtle Bay Cookbook, p. 195)
• Honey-Rum Baked Black Beans (Bobby Flay's From My Kitchen To Your Table, p. 76)
• Peach Crostata (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 498)

Wine: Rodney Strong 2001 Chalk Hill Chardonnay (Sonoma County, California). Wow - surprisingly good. We don't usually like California Chardonnays, but this one is excellent, well balanced and not over-oaked.

Katie and I spent the day making yummy treats for her husband's surprise party tomorrow. Everything was really good.

- The Creamed Corn mixture is super tasty and easy to make. We omitted the prosciutto and just used toasted bread.
- We used ground turkey for the meatballs. They could have been a bit smaller so they cooked faster.
- The cheese straws are pretty easy to make too, and mmmm.
- I used cheddar, gruyere and a soft cow/goat cheese (Minuet) from Adante Dairy. This is a great way to get rid of old cheese.
- Larry prefers plain pumpkin pie to this tart, but the streusel is really good.
- We marinated the chicken skewers in the olive oil, garic, soy sauce and salt, in these proportions (taken from the California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad recipe):

1 1/3 T olive oil
1 1/3 T minced garlic
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp salt

• Sage Creamed Corn Bruschetta (Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello, Bruschetta Bar)
• Chipotle Chile Dip (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 20)
• Spicy Thai Meatballs (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 78) with Basil Ponzu Sauce (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 47)
• Hummus (Fine Cooking #10, August September 1995, p. 66) with pita chips
• Spicy Puff Pastry Cheese Straws (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 81)
• Soy-Marinated Chicken Skewers with Honey Mustard (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p.90c)
• Arroz Verde (Fine Cooking #35, November 1999, p. 45)
• Fromage Fort (Good Eats, Say Cheese!) with Toasted Baguettes
• Bourbon Pumpkin Tart with Walnut Streusel (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 52)

Jay came by for a late dinner tonight, on his way home from the airport. These chicken fingers were easy and yummy. The dipping sauce was especially good.

- I used homemade curry powder and no tabasco for the chicken fingers, to cut down on the spice for Jay. Homemade curry powder is much better than store-bought, anyway.
- The potatoes were good. I think I like sweet potatoes best with olive oil, salt and pepper and then grilled.
- The cake was sooo rich. But so good. It's just chocolate, butter and eggs. Really decadent and dense.

• Crisp Curried Chicken Fingers with Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 90c)
  
• Brown Sugar-Glazed Sweet Potato Wedges (Cooking Light, December 2004)
  
• Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries, Walnuts, Cherry Tomatoes, Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil
  
• Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (The Cake Bible, Rose Levy Beranbaum, p. 84)

Wine: Carol Shelton 2002 Wild Thing Old Vines Zinfandel (Mendocino County, California). A big, jammy Zin - yum! We got this bottle after working the ZAP Mendocino Flights event this year. Carol was nice enough to sign our bottle for us.

I decided to make another rustic tart using the last of the peaches from our tree in the backyard. This tart is so easy and yummy. Larry took the tart to work, but I got a teeny slice. I used almond extract, but not sliced almonds (although I toyed with the idea). We both thought it was very good.

• Rustic Peach Tart (Fine Cooking #73, September 2005 p. 50)

I meant to make this on Sunday but ended up not cooking. It was really, really easy to make. I imagine it could also be made with apricot preserves instead of hot pepper jelly. Larry really liked it, and I absolutely loved the peaches grilled.

• Pork Tenderloin with Tequila-Hot Pepper Glaze & Grilled Peaches (Fine Cooking #73, September 2005, p. 86c)
• Orzo with Butter and Parmesan
• Wilted Spinach with Sauteed Garlic and Dried Cranberries

Wine: Rosenblum 2001 Rockpile Road Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). I love every wine I've ever had from Rockpile. Excellent.

Amy and I had a cocktail party tonight, for Jay's birthday. Donna and Dave came over to help celebrate. All of the appetizers were excellent. I think everyone liked the quesadillas best. The beef rolls were also really good, and were really easy to make. The cake was excellent. So chocolatey and rich. Jay loved it.

Both cocktails were really good. More on the sweet side, but yummy.

• Hoisin Beef and Scallion Rolls (Fine Cooking #14, April 1996, p. 55)
• Tri-Color Polenta Cups (Fine Cooking #14, April 1996, p. 55)
• Chicken Tostada Pequena (Fine Cooking #14, April 1996, p. 56)
• Crabmeat-Avocado Quesadillas (Fine Cooking #14, April 1996, p. 56)
• Mixed Green and Herb Salad with Cherry Tomatoes, Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil
• Double Chocolate Layer Cake (Gourmet, March 1999) with Candied Violets

Mojitos
Licor 43 Citrus Punch

Amy and I made tapas for eight tonight - we had Les, Katie, Rafael, Mark and Catherine over. Rafael is from Spain, so the pressure was on. We had a fairly ambitious menu, but we were well prepped and everything came together easily.

- I've made Patatas Bravas in the oven before, and I may try that method next time, but with the same Bravas salt and red sauce from this recipe.
- The mushrooms and mini-chorizos were both a big hit. The Sausages in Sherry, not so much. We got the mini-chorizo at The Spanish Table.
- The cava sangria was excellent (recipe follows). The recipe is from Jaleo, a tapas bar that Larry and I visited in Washington, DC last year. It called for a Spanish liqueur called Licor 43. It's made with vanilla and spices and is excellent. We used an very reasonably priced cava that a staff member at The Spanish Table recommended, called Parxet Cuvée 21 Brut Cava.

Jaleo Cava Sangria

Makes 1 Liter

1 bottle of cava sparkling wine from Spain, chilled
3 oz. Licor 43
3 oz. Brandy
3 oz. White Grape Juice
500 cl. Ice
3-4 Fresh Strawberries
1/2 of a Fresh Peach
4-5 White Grapes
1 bunch of Fresh Mint

Cut the fruit into bite-size pieces (or smaller). Pour the ice into a 1-liter pitcher (or larger). Slowly pour the chilled cava down the inside of the pitcher and not directly overthe ice (to keep the bubbles from fizzing away). Pour the Licor 43, brandy and white grape juice into the pitcher. Add the fruit and mint.

- We thought we would cook the shrimp in the oven. We both agreed it would have been better on the stove (according to the recipe).
- The pudding cups were excellent. I love orange-flavored chocolate. And the small ramekins were perfect.

• Fried Squid (César, Oliver Said, p. 161)
• Patatas Bravas (César, Oliver Said, p. 124)
• Alioli (César, Oliver Said, p. 195)
• Catalan Mushrooms with Garlic and Parsley (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 37)
• Gambas al Ajillo (Tapas, Penelope Casas, p. 13)
• Sizzling Sausages with Sherry (My Kitchen in Spain, Janet Mendel, p. 261)
• Manchego Cheese with Membrillo
• Istara Cheese
• Pau Goat Cheese
• Piminetos de Padron
• Mini-Chorizo
• Crema de Chocolate (César, Oliver Said, p. 191)

Jay was here for dinner tonight. It was an excellent meal! We grilled chicken, since it's been so hot out. I love this chicken. Butterflied, so it cooks evenly. The yams can be fried on the stove (which is what I did tonight), or they can be grilled (more healthy). The tart was excellent. Larry wants me to try it with blueberries next.

• Grilled Thai Chicken (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 63)
• Crispy Yams (Mustards Cookbook, Cindy Pawlcyn, p. 174
• Wilted Spinach with Sauteed Garlic
• Rustic Apple Tart with Vanilla and Cinnamon (Fine Cooking #73, September 2005 p. 50) with Vanilla Ice Cream

Wine: Copain 2003 Arrowhead Mountain Zinfandel. Tonight was the first night we've tried Copain. I got on their mailing list, which requires a three-bottle minimum on allocations. This Zin was an excellent choice. Jay thought it was a bit young, but I like my Zins big and young. Yummy!

Tonight I spent the evening with PJ and her mom and dad, along with her sister Joyce, neice Natasha and friend Ellen. PJ had asked me to their beach house to give a cooking lesson on something that they wouldn't normally think to cook. My criteria for choosing the menu was easy, yummy food that can be made on a weeknight. I also wanted things that would be easy to demonstrate.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Mushrooms & Spinach with Soppressata Crisps (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 49)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Blueberry-Blackberry-Cherry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52) with vanilla ice cream

Katie and I made these burgers for Larry and Les. Yum! They're easy to make, too. We served them on honey wheat buns instead of on ciabatta.

- The bean salad is excellent, and Larry loves it. I used two cans of aduki beans in place of the kidney and the black eye peas.
- I wasn't paying attention while making the crisp and grabbed the baking soda instead of the cornstarch. Bleah. It had potential.

• Seared Turkey & White Bean Burgers (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 86C)
• Mixed Bean Salad with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Cooking Light, September 2004, p. 213)
• Pear & Brown Sugar Crisp (Fine Cooking #23, November 1997, p. 70)

Mom, Cousin Jeanine and Great Aunt Al were here for dinner tonight. I wanted Zuni chicken (mainly for the bread salad), but I didn't want to make two chickens. Instead, Larry chose the pork recipe and I found another recipe for a bread salad. I made up my mind early in the week to make the tart this weekend.

- Neither one of us liked the bean dip very much. It's okay, but not as good as fresh hummus.
- The pork tenderloin is very good this way, and very easy to make. Larry grilled it perfectly.
- I used heirloom cannellini beans that I got at the Ferry Plaza farmer's market. They were excellent - meaty and delicious. They needed a lot of time to cook and some could have cooked a bit more by the time dinner came around.
- I loved this bread salad. I could have eaten the entire bowl. Larry really liked it too, but thinks the Zuni one is slightly better.
- I liked the tart, too. The filling is a chocolate-raspberry ganache. I used golden raspberries for part of the top - they're really yummy. Larry wasn't crazy about it, but everyone else seemed to like it.

• White Bean and Artichoke Dip with Pita Chips (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 86)
• Pork Tenderloin Grilled in Rosemary Leaves (Fine Cooking #28, September 1998, p. 90)
• Grilled Bread Salad with Tomatoes & Spicy Greens (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 38)
• White Beans with Rosemary & Olive Oil (Fine Cooking #19, March 1997, p. 37)
• Chocolate-Raspberry Tart with a Gingersnap Crust (Fine Cooking #52, September 2002, p. 66)

Wine: Ridge 2001 Del Carlo Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Another lovely Ridge Zin. The second bottle will benefit from some more time in the bottle.

Katie and I spent the weekend with her mom D'Arcy, mom's boyfriend Keith, and her niece Raquel. We made dinner tonight - D'Arcy used Pork Cracklins to formulate a menu (that's the part I hate, coming up with a menu). Everything was yummy. Katie made the crisp (including pitting cherries by hand!), D'Arcy mixed the topping together, and Raquel helped prep the roulades and stirred the walnuts.

We just cooked the walnuts on top of the stove to candy them. After the cauliflower was tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper we roasted it, then tossed it with chopped tarragon before serving.

• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Whole Wheat French Bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Satuéed Spinach with Garlic and Candied Walnuts
• Roasted Cauliflower with Tarragon
• Blueberry-Cherry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52) with vanilla ice cream

Wine:
- Ridge 2000 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Yummy and big and fruity Zin. Katie liked this one.
- Salmon Creek 2002 Merlot (California). I'm not a Merlot fan, but this is a nice wine. Not over-oaked, more on the fruity side.

Les and Katie came for dinner tonight. After a long workout day, a quick, hearty meal was in order. Larry picked up berries at the market this morning, so a fruit crisp was the obvious choice for dessert. It's one of the easiest deserts I make. And it's yummy, too.

• Hummus (Fine Cooking #10, August/September 1995, p. 66) with Whole Wheat Pita
• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Bosc Pear, Stilton Cheese, Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
• Blueberry-Blackberry-Cherry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52) with vanilla ice cream

Wine: Gamba 2003 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel. A ripe, concentrated, jammy old vine Zinfandel. A bit of residual sugar, and lots of alcohol. Really, really good. This was one of the best wines at the ZAP festival last January.

Jay was here for dinner tonight. After a long (100k) ride today, Larry was definitely up for a hearty dinner. And I wasn't up for anything complicated. It really hit the spot. I did the spinach in the same manner I've been doing it lately - sauté some chopped garlic in olive oil, then wilt the spinach with salt and pepper. Very simple, very good.

This cake is driving me crazy. The crumbled topping completely melted into the cake. I checked measurements twice this time to be sure, since last time I had the same problem. I guess the only solution would be to add the topping later. Also, the huge fresh blueberries I used this time all sunk to the bottom. I used only blueberries this time. Next time, I'm going to try frozen wild blueberries, and I'm going to add the crumb topping halfway into baking.

Oh, and I found out I was out of baking powder as I was making the cake. Instead of running out or sending Larry out, I used two parts cream of tartar to one part baking soda. It seemed to work fine.

• Pan-Seared Filet Mignon
• Baked Potatoes
• Sautéed Spinach with Garlic
• Berry Buttermilk Cake with Vanilla-Scented Créme Fraîche (Fine Cooking #72, July 2005, p. 43)

Wine: Dave & Donna's 2002 Syrah. This wine was made by some of Jay's co-workers. It was pretty good. Light for a Syrah, but nicely balanced.

I made this cake since Larry just loves cake with blueberries. He especially likes this cake and has told me several times that he definitely wants me to make it again. I used a mix of blueberries and raspberries, although I like the way the blueberries look in this cake. The raspberries are too delicate for cake, I think.

I had some problems with my crumb topping. It looks fine on one side of the cake, but melted into the cake on the other side. No matter, I decided to put the crumb side down since I used a bundt pan. I was going to sift some powdered sugar on the top, but it doesn't really need it. The cake is super moist and yummy as is. I didn't even make the vanilla-scented créme fraîche that is in the recipe.

• Berry Buttermilk Cake with Vanilla-Scented Créme Fraîche (Fine Cooking #72, July 2005, p. 43)

Brian was here for dinner last night. I scrapped plans for chicken and decided to make pork instead. I used 1" thick pork chops for the cutlets, and at the last minute changed my mind to make carrots instead of a spinach dish (Brian doesn't like spinach). Larry thought the dinner was just okay - he wasn't that wild about the pork, but liked the potatoes. I think I like the smashed red potatoes with the olive oil better. The cake was excellent. It probably could have cooked a few minutes less. (Note to self: Brian doesn't like strawberries).

• Pork Cutlets with Orange-Dijon Rosemary Sauce (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 43)
• Smashed Red-Skinned Potatoes with Boursin & Scallions (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 47)
• Glazed Carrots (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001 p.24)
• Vanilla & Sour Cream Pound Cake with Vanilla Glaze (Fine Cooking #71, May 2005, p. 69) with Mixed Berries

Wine: Merry Edwards 2002 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast, California). A bit closed, still. I wanted to open this because we've been allocated some of the 2003 vintage and I'm not sure what I want to buy. It's a nice wine, more traditional than the fruitier style of Pinot I like. We have another bottle of this but I'll wait a couple of years to open it.

John and Jeff came for dinner tonight. I wanted to make something that would allow me to spend time with our guests without having to spend too much time in the kitchen. This meal is mostly prepare-ahead, with some last minute preparations. The key, though, is to have everything ready when your guests arrive (I didn't). Everyone hung out in the kitchen while I rolled up the roulades and performed my regular struggle with the chocolate pot pie dough. The dinner turned out really, really well.

- I couldn't find raspberries, so I used blackberries in the pot pies. Larry says he thinks likes the blackberries better.
- I cut the roulades in half, diagonally, before serving. They looked so pretty like that I think I'll do it again next time.

• Crab Cakes with Chipotle Aioli (Viking Home Chef, Fabulous Fish & Shellfish class)
• Chicken Roulades Stuffed with Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Chocolate-Blackberry Pot Pies (Just a Bite, Gale Gand, p. 228)

Wine: Renwood 2001 Grandpere Zinfandel (Amador County, California). I just love this big Zin. A Pinot would have been more appropriate with dinner, but I think Zin is almost as food-friendly as Pinot. And I was in the mood for a big fat Zin.

Fiyaz and Jay were here for dinner. There was fresh asparagus at the Farmer's Market this weekend, and despite my distaste for the stuff, I bought some anyway and used it in the pasta. It didn't flavor the dish too much. I picked mine out and gave it to Larry.

- The pasta dish was good, not fantastic. I made the caramelized onions yesterday, and they were really, really good. I made a huge batch. I used whole wheat penne for the pasta, although the recipe called for gemelli (I was out).
- The salad recipe was one I liked from last week's class at Home Chef. I liked it in class, but tonight I looked at the recipe, and thought that 3/4 cup of sherry vinegar was way too much. I cut it in half and still thought it was too tangy. Won't make this again, although I like the idea of a warm salad.
- Both the pasta and salad called for pancetta. Fiyaz doesn't eat pork, so I used turkey bacon instead. Not quite the same, since the turkey bacon is smoked, but still good.
- The mousse was really, really easy to make and everyone liked it. But it was too rich for me - I could only eat a tiny portion. And after time in the refrigerator, it got kind of dense.

• Penne with Asparagus & Caramelized Onions (Fine Cooking #71, May 2005, p. 62)
• Warm Escarole and Butter Lettuce Salad (Home Chef, Essentials II Series)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Quick Chocolate Mousse (The Best of Fine Cooking, 101 Quick & Delicious Recipes, p. 104, adapted from Fine Cooking #54)

Wine: 2001 Martin Family Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California). Pinot probably wasn't the best match for dinner, but I really didn't feel like a white. This is a nice wine, very reasonably priced. The Martins are nice people, too.

Brian was here for dinner tonight. My standard Zuni chicken and bread salad wasn't as good as the first time I made it. Not sure why, probably because I wasn't paying attention while I was cooking. It was still good, just not as good as before. I chose the chocolate roulade, because we made a roulade in my cooking class a couple of weeks ago. This dessert took a lot of time to make - a lot of steps, and I didn't think it was that great. Low work/reward ratio. I won't make it again.

• Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 342)
• Chocolate Roulade with Raspberry Filling (Fine Cooking #61, Winter 2004 Holiday Baking, p. 75)

Wine: David Bruce 2001 Bien Nacido Mt. Eden Clone Pinot Noir (Santa Maria Valley, California). Yum. Could have sat in the bottle for a few more years. A really big Pinot.

We don't eat a lot of beef, so when we do, it has to be yummy. High-quality steak, usually. I bought a dry-aged rib-eye steak from Whole foods (we split it because it was huge), and I seared it in a cast iron pan. The only way to cook a steak, in my opinion. Tonight was date night - jazz, wine, candles, and dinner at the table instead of on the couch in front of the TV.

- The potatoes were excellent. Larry wants them again. They were really simple to make, and can be made ahead.
- The greens were also excellent. I liked the mixture of spinach, kale and chard. I used two different kinds of kale. Larry had seconds. It wasn't an overpowering dish, so it went well with the steak, which was the star attraction. Larry picked this recipe out of a cookbook he got me for Valentine's day (sweet guy!).
- The cake was delicious as usual. My ganache didn't break this time.

• Seared Dry-Aged Rib Eye Steak
• Mustard and Rosemary Roasted Potatoes (Fine Cooking #42, December 2000, p. 53)
• Winter Greens with Currants, Pine Nuts and Brown Butter (Fields of Greens, Annie Somerville, p. 254)
• Chocolate-Amaretto Heart

Wine: The Maiden 1998 Red Wine (Napa Valley, CA). We decided to open a special bottle of wine tonight in the spirit of Open That Bottle Night. This was the first expensive bottle of wine we ever bought. It was good, really good. Really tannic, so it could have sat in the basement for another few years. Very concentrated and a little hot, in my opinion. We decanted it and drank the whole bottle.

I made Larry roasted chicken for our Valentine's Day dinner tonight. I skipped the Zuni bread salad and made a baked goat cheese salad and butternut squash orzo instead.

- I couldn't find any chickens smaller than 4.5 pounds at Trader Joe's. I was worried that the Zuni method wouldn't work as well with a chicken this large, but I just used the upper time limits in the recipe and it turned out beautiful as always. I used cast iron this time, and I'll save the drippings in case I want to make a bread salad later this week.
- Amy suggested this salad last month when I was visiting her in Austin. She's been making it for years, using a recipe clipped from the paper. We liked the salad. It's really elegant and a nice change from a plain green salad. We each had some crusty french bread with it, and spread the warm goat cheese on it.
- We had a similar butternut squash orzo at ZAP's Good Eats and Zin event this year. The only difference was the ZAP version had crispy bits of fried sage and serrano ham in it. This was a nice addition, and I'm going to modify this dish the next time I make it. The version we had tonight was still very good.
- The cake was easy to make, and is really pretty and oh so delicious. Amy gave me the recipe, cut from a newspaper. The original recipe calls for Amaretto, but I followed Amy's lead and used Grand Marnier. The only problem I had was that my ganache became a bit grainy as it cooled. McGee says that "With chocolates high in cocoa solids, the cocoa particles can eventually absorb so much moisture that they swell and stick to each other. The water-deprived emulsion then fails, allowing the fat globules and droplets to coalesce, and the fat to separate from the swollen particles. This is why high-chocolate ganaches are often unstable and coarsen with time."

• Zuni Roast Chicken (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 342)
• Baked Goat Cheese Salad (The Cheese Lover's Cookbook & Guide, Paula Lambert, p. 126)
• Butternut Squash and Sage Orzo (Bon Apétit, March 1998)
• Chocolate-Amaretto Heart

Wine: Sanford 2001 Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills, California). Yum. Sanford makes wonderful Pinots. Larry and I picked this up last summer at the winery, on our way back from a trip to the winery. Really intense and chewy. It could have easily sat in the cellar for another year or more because of the firm tannins.

Amy and I planned a mole party for my visit to Austin (we served sixteen people). We chose a Rick Bayless recipe out of an old Fine Cooking. Mole is a lot of work - it was a three-day, laborious process but very satisfying to make. The article says it takes a total of six hours to make, most of which is unattended, but even with two of us it was much longer than that. The end result was excellent. Very authentic, and perfectly seasoned. Amy's husband, Gary, made margaritas that were absolutely perfect. The beans were started on the stove, but then were moved to a slow cooker to simmer for several hours. I made a chunky version of guacamole, and Amy made my favorite Mexican rice, which looked gorgeous in her silver serving bowl. This was a terrific menu for a party, especially with two of us sharing the workload.

- We couldn't find mulato chiles. We got advice from the staff at Fiesta and at Central Market, then decided to substitute equal amounts of ancho and pasilla chiles instead. I've never seen mulato chiles in any Latino store, so mail-order might have been the best way to go.
- Seeding the chiles wasn't difficult, but gloves are recommended. Although the chiles aren't spicy, the residue will cause burning if you touch your hands to your eyes or other mucus membranes, even after multiple hand-washings.

The dried chiles, seeded and torn into large pieces.

- We decided to make the mole as traditional as possible by using lard to fry the chiles and other ingredients. The aroma of the hot lard was very strong and off-putting for both of us (probably because it's not something we're accustomed to.

The chiles, after quickly frying them in lard.

- We pureed the mole ingredients and chiles using a blender. The recipe says to use enough chicken broth in the blender to keep the ingredients moving (about 1/4 cup), then once it's smooth strain it through a sieve. We ended up using a lot of chicken broth - just over four cups, because the mixtures were just too thick. We finally figured out the trick: add chicken broth to the bottom of the blender and slowly add the solid ingredients or chiles until the mixture is thick and smooth, but not so thick that it doesn't move around in the blender.

Some more mole ingredients - tortilla, bread, tomatoes, raisins.

- We ended up adding another four cups of chicken broth to the mole when we simmered the chile and tomato purees together, The recipe calls for a total of ten cups. We used a total of eight cups.
- The recipe notes that it's important to drain and blot the grease from the various ingredients. We drained at ever step, to ensure a non-greasy mole.
- We added 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar to the mole before cooking the mole with the turkey, plus another tablespoon after.

The turkey pieces after browning - ready to bake in mole sauce.

The mole sauce after simmering - ready to bake with the turkey.

- It was difficult to remove the skin and slice the meat off of the turkey legs, thighs and wings. Amy thinks she would just buy turkey breasts next time. We both think it would be best to remove the skin before it goes into the mole, because it was difficult to tell what was skin and what wasn't. This was an especially messy step.

The mole and turkey before going into the oven.

The turkey and mole after baking - after this step, we separated the turkey and sauce. We tore the meat off the bones the next day.

- We brushed flour tortillas with butter on one side, then sprinkled cinnamon sugar on top and popped them under the broiler. When they were nice and toasty and slightly crispy, we repeated the procedure with the other side of the tortillas, then cut them into triangles for the ice cream sundaes. We found that to prevent the tortillas from puffing (and breaking apart), it was best to cut them in half before broiling them.

Cinnamon Hot Fudge Sundae.

• White Corn Tortilla Chips
• Roasted Tomato Salsa
• Black Beans
• Guacamole (with Jicama, Fresh Corn, Green Onion and Cilantro)
• Mole Poblano (Fine Cooking #23, November 1997, p. 65)
• Arroz Verde (Fine Cooking #35, November 1999, p. 45)
• Vanilla Ice Cream with Cinnamon Hot Fudge Sauce (Fine Cooking #61, Winter 2004 Holiday Baking, p. 30)

Margaritas

Jay was here for dinner tonight, and he requested "something vegetarian, not pasta". After consulting with Amy and coming up with a really yummy menu, I completely changed course and decided to cook out of a cookbook I got for Christmas, "Fresh Food Fast". I like how the cookbook is laid out - vegetarian menus, arranged by seasons. The menus can be prepared in less than an hour, and each menu lists a game plan, equipment needed and a market list.

- The lentil soup was very good. Kind of earthy, and easy to make.
- The risotto gave me some problems because I didn't really read the recipe before I started. The recipe calls for cooking the risotto in a pressure cooker - whoops, I don't have a pressure cooker. I contemplated how to cook it: like regular risotto, stirring constantly and adding water as it's absorbed until the barley is cooked, or by adding the boiling water all at once, covering it, and only stirring and adding water as it's absorbed. I decided to use the second method, and the barley took about an hour to cook this way. Both Jay and Larry really liked this dish, although Larry though it would be fine without the goat cheese (which turned the risotto pink-ish due to the red veins in the chard).
- The slaw was just okay, a bit bland. I didn't have raisins so I used currants instead. I probably won't make it again.
- The pie was difficult to make. The method for blind baking the crust was awkward and resulted in it shrinking considerably. There was so much topping (half would have sufficed), that it completely covered the crust anyway - it was pretty much like a regular crisp. At any rate it was pretty tasty. Larry and Jay both really liked it.

• Hearty Lentil Soup (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison, p. 224)
• Barley Risotto with Golden Beets, Swiss Chard & Goat Cheese (Fresh Food Fast, Peter Berley, p. 174)
• Fennel-Cabbage Slaw with Raisins and Apple (Fresh Food Fast, Peter Berley, p. 175)
• Blueberry Crumble Pie (Lobster Rolls & Blueberry Pie, Rebecca Charles, p. 108)

We had our regular grilled salmon tonight (Jay was here for dinner), but instead of marinating in honey (along with garlic, soy sauce and green onion), I used maple syrup. Larry and I both think honey works better. We had potatoes and salad leftover from last night, and I decided to try something different with the rest of the Brussels sprouts that were still in the refrigerator. Everyone liked these. I didn't have pancetta, so I used Niman Ranch cured bacon - which was a fairly significant change to the recipe, but it was still pretty good. Oh, and I didn't add the water at the end of the recipe.

I had all sorts of problems with these cookies. I really wanted them to turn out, because I had something similar from Central Market the last time I visited Amy in Austin. The dough was way too dry - I reviewed what I did, and don't see anything different - except I weighed my flour like I usually do, instead of measuring. I usually calculate 5 ounces per cup - maybe that was too much? Larry thought these tasted just like the tops to my chocolate pot pies. The spice is very subtle - I'd like to add a bit more pepper.

• Grilled Salmon with Garlic, Green Onion, Soy Sauce and Maple Syrup
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Pancetta (Gourmet, January 2001)
• Smashed Red Potatoes with Basil and Parmesan Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 51)
• Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts & Warm Bacon Dressing (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 55)
• Spicy Chocolate Cookies (Real Simple, November 2004, p, 258)

Wine: David Bruce 2000 Brousseau Vineyard Pinot Noir (Chalone, California). Oh, so yummy. Much more full bodied than last night's Pinot, but still had hints of cherry.

Steve came for dinner tonight. We started off with wine and some of the cheese we got during our last trip to the Cheese Board Collective: Baita Fruili, and Istara. Larry thought he liked the Istara a little better.

- I started the roast chicken following the instructions in Fine Cooking, which were very similar to the preparations for the Zuni Cafe roast chicken. I decided to cook the chicken using the Zuni method - higher heat, no roasting rack, hot skillet, and turning the chicken twice during cooking. Perfect.
- I almost didn't make the Brussels sprouts, since I was already making potatoes. I consulted Amy, and she thought it was too much food. Well, Larry overruled and we had them anyway. And they were good! Roasting is a good way to make them - not like the hated Brussels sprouts of my childhood. I wouldn't mind roasting them without the potatoes next time.
- Larry and I both liked these potatoes. I really liked that they had no cream or butter, just olive oil and some parmesan. I went easy on the parmesan. The recipe says it serves four, but we could have served a lot more people, even without all the other side dishes.
- Larry said he really liked this spinach salad, and I did too. It was different enough to stand out. I can't stop eating the candied walnuts.
- Neither of us were happy with this dessert. Steve said he liked it, but in my opinion, way too lemon-y. And although I cooked it just until the spongy top left a slight indentation, the custard part was too liquid still. I won't make these again.

• CheeseL Baita Fruili, Istara
• Roast Chicken (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 42)
• Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Potatoes and Bacon (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 47)
• Smashed Red Potatoes with Basil and Parmesan Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 51)
• Spinach & Basil Salad with Tomatoes, Candied Walnuts & Warm Bacon Dressing (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 55)
• Lemon Pudding Cakes Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 62)

Wine: Storrs 1999 Sunnyknoll Ranch Pinot Noir (Santa Cruz Mountains, CA). Very nice, earthy with cherry and well-balanced.

I always like to do some sort of Mexican food for Christmas Eve. This year, I chose a Mexican-style chili that I've wanted to make for a long time. Chili with pork shoulder is intriguing to me, and this one is nice because it's just pork shoulder with a complex tomato-chili paste.

- We served the chili with whole wheat tortillas, chopped onions and cilantro, guacamole and chips. The pork shoulder could have been more tender - I think this chili is a good candidate for a long(er), slow, simmer or the slow cooker. But otherwise, it was excellent - Larry really liked the chili paste.

- I was ready to start a pumpkin pie (which I hate but Larry loves), when I made a complete change of course and made this decadent Chocolate Tart. The filling is intensely chocolate, but the sweet creamy topping is a perfect foil. This was really simple to make and I had almost all of the ingredients on hand. I think I might want to make 1.5x times the crust - it ended up being a little thin on the bottom. Larry also bought some fantastic raspberries at Whole Foods, so we had those with it. I loved this tart, and so did Larry.

• Mexican-Style Chili (Fine Cooking #29, November 1998, p. 39)
• Chocolate Truffle Tart with Whipped Vanilla Mascarpone Topping (Fine Cooking #68, Holiday Baking Winter 2005, p. 54)

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2001 Tom Feeny Ranch Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). This wasn't a wine for dinner - the chili would be best with beer, but I opened this to have a glass while I was making dinner. Explosive fruit, yummy, yummy, yummy.

Larry made dinner for Jay and I tonight. I helped a little with the potatoes, but these are so easy there's really not a whole lot to do. Put a little oil, rosemary leaves and salt in a cast iron pan and add the potatoes, cut side down. Stick the pan in the oven. That's it. I had another smoked trout fillet left over, so I whipped up more rillets. Also very simple, just add creme fraiche, pepper and chives.

I love tapioca pudding. Normally we buy it at Costco - made by Harry's Fresh Foods, it has all natural ingredients and tastes like homemade. It's the only commercially made tapioca I'll eat. There was a recent episode of Good Eats on pudding, though, and I had to try the tapioca that Alton Brown made in the episode. It couldn't have been easier - it's made in the slow cooker, and it's really creamy because of the whole milk and cream. It's time consuming only in that the tapioca pearls need to soak overnight, and the pudding cooks for a couple of hours. I was unsure about adding lemon zest - I really wanted to add vanilla instead, but I'm glad I added the lemon. It's a nice touch.

I liked the tapioca better when it was slightly warm - a better texture. Once it chilled, it was very gelled and not as smooth. I found that if I microwave a serving for 20 seconds in the microwave then mix in a little whole milk, I get the texture I'm looking for - plus it ends up being about room temperature.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Grilled Pork Chops
• Applesauce
• Skillet-Roasted Rosemary Potaotes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 18)
• Tapioca Pudding (Good Eats, Puddin' Head Blues)

I cooked for Jay, his brother Arun, Larry and his dad tonight. Arun is vegetarian, and we had rain today so I wanted something hearty and comforting for dinner.

- This braise has many parts, none of which is very difficult. Everything can be made ahead of time and reheated before dinner. I doubled the lentils. I used French green lentils since I couldn't find black lentils. It's an excellent vegetarian meal, and the presentation is nice.
- I love these pot pies, but the dough is very difficult to work with. It's very dry and crumbly and I complain about it every time I make these. In the end, it always comes together. This cookbook isn't that well written, but I've liked everything I've made out of it. I love how these seem to be just regular little molten chocolate cakes, but in the middle is a fresh raspberry surprise.

• Hummus (Fine Cooking #10, August/September 1995, p. 66)
• Braised Root Vegetables with Black Lentils and Red Wine Sauce (Local Flavors, Deborah Madison, p. 223)
• Celeriac & Yukon Gold Purée (Fine Cooking #48, January 2002, p. 55)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Chocolate-Raspberry Pot Pies (Just a Bite, Gale Gand, p. 228)

Wine: 2000 Testarossa Sleepy Hollow Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Lucia Highlands, California). Lovely and soft.

Larry, his dad and Jay were here for Thanksgiving dinner. I skipped out on the herbed dinner rolls that I made last year, because I wasn't up to making them (although they're very easy).

- I decided to make this soup after Amy told me she was making it. I was more convinced that I should make it after she tried it and said it was fantastic. I was worried that it would taste too much like pumpkin, but it didn't. It was really excellent. I loved the croutons.
- I made the same turkey I've made for the past few years now. I love the way this turkey turns out. It was an 18-lb turkey from Costco, nothing special. I usually brine the turkey the night before, but I didn't this time. It really makes a difference in the flavor.
- I usually make a crouton-based dressing, using Mrs. Cubbison's stuffing mix and cornbread dressing mix as a base. Since we are virtually trans-fat free now, I had to find an alternative since Mrs. Cubbison's has trans fats. I used Fair Scones, Inc. brand Rosemary-Sage Cornbread dressing and Rosemary-Sage stuffing, evenly mixed (purchased at Whole Foods). It's more crouton-y than Mrs. Cubbisons but they have a nice flavor. I added celery, onion, parsley, chicken broth, melted butter, beaten eggs, salt and pepper and baked it. I didn't add enough salt. It's not as good as my usual dressing, but a good compromise.
- I skipped the pumpkin pie because I don't like it. I made apple pie instead, which Larry loves.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Winter Squash Soup with Gruyere Croutons (Bon Apétit, December 1996)
• Butter-Rubbed, Cider-Glazed Roast Turkey (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 46)
• Poultry Dressing (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Oven-Roasted Beets
• Puree of Yukon Gold Potatoes with Parmesan (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 48)
• Glazed Carrots (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001 p.24)
• Apple Pie Covered with Leaves (Fine Cooking #54, Winter 2003 Holiday Baking Issue, p. 43)

Wine: 2001 Amphora Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Yummy. Very deep dark ruby. I expected a full-bodied wine but it was pretty light. Nicely balanced.

Today was Larry's birthday, and he asked for something with chicken. He picked out a few dishes that I had made before, but I wanted to do something different. Amy helped me choose the menu (thanks - just garlic bread was perfect!). We both thought this chicken sauté sounded really nice. It was good, but not fantastic. Not make it again good. Larry thought it was missing something, and I did too. I was surprised. The chicken was good. The curly endive smelled so fragrant after I wilted it, and I loved the mix of garlic and coriander. But the dish just didn't come together like I had hoped.

The poppy seed cake is Larry's favorite. I have no idea where I got the recipe (Mom?), but it uses a regular cake mix, a box of vanilla pudding, sour cream, sherry and oil. I use mostly sugar- and fat- free versions of everything, plus grapeseed oil. It's better than when I make it with the fatty sugary versions of the products. Tonight I used the new Pam with Flour on my bundt pan, and it worked like a charm. I hate doing the whole grease and flour thing.

• Quick Chicken Sauté with Walnuts, Curly Endive & Orange Pan Sauce (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 62)
• Sourdough bread with Sautéed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Poppy Seed Cake (Sheri's Recipe Box)

Wine: Ridge 2001 Nervo Vineyard Zinfandel (Alexander Valley, California). A white would have been lovely with this meal, but Larry and I wanted a Zin to sip before dinner - and it was so good, we just kept drinking it. A big, fruity, juicy Zin, just how I like it.

I made this sauce for an ice cream social I hosted at work today, to celebrate the end of a project. I bought Häagen Dazs ice cream, mini M&Ms and chocolate chips, assorted sprinkles, extra creamy whipped cream, bananas, nuts and caramel and strawberry sauces. I put my hot fudge sauce in a mini-crock to keep it warm, and it was a big hit. It was excellent. The recipe says to use good quality chocolate - several people commented, asking if it was Scharffenberger - it was, but only partially. I used a bar and a half of Scharffenberger, some fancy chocolate chunks, and Nestlé chocolate chips. It was really easy to make, and it made a lot. The Cinnamon Hot Fudge Sauce variation sounds really good too.

• Hot Fudge Sauce (Fine Cooking #61, Winter 2004 Holiday Baking, p. 30)

Jay was here for dinner tonight, so I wanted to do something kind of light. As soon as I saw the photo of this on the cover of Cooking Light, I knew I wanted to make it. I make a cider-basted turkey for Thanksgiving, and I always love the results. I made two 3-lb. chickens instead of one large chicken. Larry and Jay really liked tonight's meal. The cookies I made were from a Splenda dessert cookbook I got Jay for his birthday - I told him to mark the things he liked and I would make them. This was the first.

- I used Kosher chickens, so I reduced the amount of salt in the brine by half. I thought the recipe made way too much brine. Half probably would have been sufficient. I didn't have time to brine overnight, but I brined for a good part of the day. I butterflied the chickens, and instead of putting onion, garlic and parsley in the cavity, I sliced the onion and laid it with the garlic and parsley on the rack - then I just put the chickens on top. The drippings were excellent.
- I started out thinking I would make the sweet potato fries in the same Cooking Light article, but I modified them once I started making them. I left out the red pepper, since Jay doesn't like spicy. I just tossed them in a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper (instead of spraying them with cooking spray). They were excellent. I used small sweet potatoes from Trader Joe's.
- The cookies turned out okay. Jay likes them, and that's all that matters. I don't like Splenda so I didn't expect to like them. I added walnuts to the mix.

• Cider-Roasted Chicken (Cooking Light, October 2004, p. 154)
• Spicy Sweet Potato Wedges (Cooking Light, October 2004, p. 158)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Tomatoes, Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
• Chocolate Chip Cookies (Unbelievable Desserts with Splenda, Marlene Koch, p. 56)

Wine: Rosenblum 2000 RustRidge Vineyard Zinfandel (Napa Valley, California). A really big, juicy fruitbomb. Yum.

I picked up a special issue of Cooking Light magazine a couple of weeks ago, because as I've mentioned before, I'm a sucker for special issues. Especially if they have the word "quick" in the title. This chicken was on the cover. Instead of going out like we usually do on Friday nights, I decided to cook since I had everything I needed for the chicken.

- The chicken was excellent, one of the best Cooking Light recipes I've made. It was also extremely easy. The recipe calls for serving the chicken over angel hair pasta, but I skipped the pasta and made potatoes instead.
- The potatoes are really good, and they couldn't be easier. Larry says he likes Potatoes Fondantes better.
- I made the apples because Amy made them last week and said they were good - they were! And really easy. I didn't do such a good job with the nuts, though - I stopped paying attention for 30 seconds and the sugar burnt. The apples were still very good. I used Fage Total yogurt, the one with full fat and honey on the side. I just mixed the whole thing together.

• Chicken with Rosemary Sauce (The Best of Cooking Light, Quick and Easy Around the Clock, p. 78)
• Skillet-Roasted Rosemary Potaotes (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 18)
• Baked Apples with Candied Walnuts (Gourmet, October 2004)

Wine: David Coffarro 2000 Neighbors Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). A nice, light, everyday Zin.

Tonight I made chocolate cupcakes, another test recipe. The cupcakes were really good. I made vanilla bean buttercream frosting. Unfortunately, I decided to use silicone muffin pans without muffin cups, and they stuck horribly to the pan. I will make these again, but I'll use muffin tin liners next time. They were pretty easy to make, only 45 minutes from start to finish.

• Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting (Test Recipe)

Jay was here for dinner tonight. I wanted to do some sort of comfort food tonight, so a roast chicken fit the bill.

- I made a change with the chicken by butterflying it before I marinated it. I think whole chickens cook better when they're butterflied. The chicken was excellent, very flavorful. It was perfectly cooked.
- There were two types of sweet potatoes at the farmer's market yesterday - one with orange flesh (the vendor called it a yam, but I think it's actually a type of sweet potato), and one with yellow flesh. I bought three with yellow flesh, one with orange, and prepared the orange-fleshed one separately, without chipotle since Jay is non-spicy. The photo in the magazine shows an orange-fleshed potato. I don't really like sweet potatoes, but I think the orange fleshed one had a nicer texture when I was mixing the filling, and the presentation was nicer. However, the yellow fleshed potatoes tasted more buttery. I love twice-baked potatoes. These are a healthier alternative to my normal version, and they were really good.
- I couldn't resist the purple cauliflower at the market again, so I made the usual roasted cauliflower again. I ate a huge pile of it.
- I was tempted to make the Ginger Apple Crumb pie from the November issue of Fine Cooking, but I didn't feel like doing all that work. Plus, I'll need to use an alternative crust recipe for this - the one in the article calls for vegetable shortening, full of trans fats. Instead, I made the Apple-Walnut Cake. It was good. Not too sweet. I think Amy would want to eat it for breakfast - it's definitely got a coffee cake quality to it.

Hilary came early for dinner tonight and helped cook. She made the rice and helped prep the other stuff. The tacos were good as usual, although we had a lot of food.

- I did my usual black beans, with onion and garlic and chili powder.
- I made salsa with grilled yellow and red roma tomatoes, cilantro, onion, lime juice and jalapeño peppers. The tomatoes were from our garden. I coarsely chopped the tomatoes when they were done. It turned out great.
- This cake is very good. Really dense and rich, and very chocolately. I've redeemed myself from the disastrous chocolate soufflé cake of a few weeks ago. I like that it's very simple and doesn't need frosting.

• Sautéed Pimientos de Padron
• Tuna Tacos
• Corn Tortillas
• Black Beans
• Guacamole
• Arroz Verde (Fine Cooking #35, November 1999, p. 45)
• Bourbon Chocolate Cake (Fine Cooking #64, July 2004, p, 66)

Mango Margaritas

Jay was here for dinner tonight. This was not the best meal I've made. It had great potential, and if I would have paid more attention while I was cooking, it would have been very good. When the cake was baking, I was cleaning the top of the range... and I inadvertently moved the temperature dial from 350 degrees to 500 degrees. I pulled the cake out early, but only after I smelled it burning. Ugh.

- The pork was good. I suspect that there is a problem with my instant read thermometer - it read 160 degrees when I took the tenderloin out of the oven (overdone for pork, in my opinion), but the middle of the pork was very rare. I had to return it to the oven, which completely ruined my timing on everything else.
- The spinach was good too, but it was overcooked since I had to re-warm it. I really don't like cooked spinach. Wilted is fine. Fully cooked is not good.
- The pears were excellent.
- Larry thought the beans were too lemony. Jay liked them. I don't like green beans, so I didn't have any.
- I think this cake could be spectacular. The flavor is excellent, and it has very little fat. I served it with whipped cream, only because I think it needed it due to overcooking it.

• Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Grilled Pears and Wilted Spinach (The Joslin Diabetes Great Chefs Cook Health Cookbook, p. 170)
• Green & Wax Beans with Brown Butter (Fine Cooking #15, June/July 1996, p. 45)
• Fallen Chocolate Soufflé Cake (Bittersweet, p. 112)

Wine: Rosenblum 200 Rockpile Road Vineyard Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). This is a huge, jammy Zin. Yum. I really like it. Rockpile Road is one of my favorites from Rosenblum, although I like most of their Zins.

I got an e-mail last week from a magazine, asking me if I'd be interested in testing some recipes for the magazine. Uh... yes! I think this recipe is a try-out before they pick the regular group of testers.

- The chicken was really good, and very easy, except for deboning the chicken thighs. It was just like at a Japanese restaurant, very tasty sauce.
- The macaroons are a gift, for Jay's birthday this week. He loves macaroons. I dipped a few in chocolate for him. They turned out pretty good. The only disappointment was that the recipe calls for cream of coconut (the stuff you use for pina coladas). As I was throwing away the can, I noticed the ingredients - hydrogenated soybean oil. I assume that means it's full of trans fats. Unless I can find cream of coconut without trans fats, I won't be making these again.

• Chicken Teriyaki (Test Recipe)
• Steamed Brown Rice
• Sautéed Sugar Snap Peas with Garlic and Ginger
• Coconut Macaroons (Baking Illustrated, p. 476)

Jay came over for dinner tonight. He said he wanted pork chops, so we picked up some nice center cut chops from Trader Joe's tonight and grilled them (just used salt and pepper). We had leftover pasta salad from last night, and I got purple cauliflower from the farmer's market.

- I meant to make this pie last night, but I ran out of time. It's just as well - it's definitely an all-day project with all the refrigeration of the crust. I made the crust yesterday so I didn't have to do everything today. Pies are one of those things I've never been able to do well.. After years of trying, I finally mastered apple pie last year. I liked this better than apple pie. It was really good.

• Grilled Pork Chops
• Grilled Cherry Tomato Pasta with Crisp Breadcrumbs and Basil (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p, 51)
• Roast Cauliflower with Shallots, Tarragon and Lemon (Fine Cooking #50, May 2002, p. 52)
• Lattice-Top Blueberry Pie (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 68) with Vanilla Hagen Daaz Ice Cream

Wine: David Bruce 2001 Schultze Family Vineyard Pinot Noir (Santa Cruz Mountains, California). Tasty Pinot. Good balance and structure, with velvety tannins.

My aunt Carol, my great-aunt Al and my cousin Jeanine were here for dinner tonght.

- Amy made this flank steak not too long ago, and it sounded really good. Everyone liked it. I think I went light on the salt, though. I missed it. I probably should have done the Mediterranean style considering what I served with it, but it wasn't bad.
- Potatoes, fantastic as usual. This is easily my favorite way to make potatoes.
- We bought three pounds of fresh peas at the market yesterday and after eating a bunch of them raw (yum), we still had enough for dinner. This is a really nice recipe. With fresh peas, I think the ingredients should be top quality and simple - just enough to show off the peas. Really, really good.
- I made these lemon bars earlier in the day to take to work - using up more of the Meyer lemons since I've been too lazy to juice them all and freeze the juice. I took most of the bars to work, and they disappeared quickly, with a few people coming back for seconds. I don't know, they just weren't my thing. I added the ginger to the crust but didn't use any on top. Next time I'll just leave it out.

• Latin-Style Flank Steak (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 44)
• Fresh Peas with Lemon and Chives (Fine Cooking #45, July 2001, p. 46)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Gingered Lemon Bars (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 64)

Wine: Rafanelli 1999 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Oh, my. This is drinking really well. Proof that the '97 Zin is done. This still had bright fruit, good structure. Jammy.

Ron and Jay were here for dinner tonight. I like having fish when it's fresh in season, but I have a hard time pairing reds to fish unless it's salmon. Tonight's pairing was good, but I think a lighter-style Pinot would have been nice also.

- I love making fish this way, even though I never eat the mushrooms. I've only done white fish like this. It's good for company because it can (needs to be) made ahead, but serving is kind of a pain. I usually end up just plating the fish instead of making people open the pouches at the table.
- The feedback on this asparagus was good. It was really, really easy.
- The crisp was good, but so far the favorite this year is the triple-berry.

• Halibut Fillets En Papillote (Fine Cooking #45, June/July 2001, p. 29)
• Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking 62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Roasted Asparagus with Buttery Breadcrumbs (Fine Cooking #64, April/May 2004, p. 49)
• Peach-Blueberry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine: Testarossa 2000 Sleepy Hollow Chardonnay (Santa Lucia Mountains, California). This is a nice, non-typical California Chardonnay. Light on the oak.

This is Larry's most favorite salad. He asks for it a lot. I like it too, but it's a lot of work for a salad.

- I made a full recipe of the salad, and a half recipe of the dressing. Tonight I did a few things different. I used a canola-based vegan mayo, fat-free sour cream and low-fat sour cream for the dressing. The vegan mayo is a bit lemony and isn't as good in the dressing as regular mayo, but when it's on the salad we couldn't tell the different. I doubled the black beans and used fresh corn instead of canned. And I used dry jack instead of Monterey jack cheese. I got to use basil, oregano and cilantro straight from the garden. The chicken marinade is excellent - just garlic, olive oil, soy sauce and salt.
- Our neighbor gave us a huge bag of Meyer lemons this weekend, so I wanted to make a lemon dessert before I juice them all - I freeze the juice. Larry opted for Lemon pound cake. Larry thought it was really, really good.

• BBQ Chicken Chopped Salad (California Pizza Kitchen Pasta, Salads, Soups and Sides, Larry Flax and Rick Rosenfield, p. 23)
• Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Glaze (Inside America's Test Kitchen, p. 249)

Larry harvested basil and peppers from our garden today. I couldn't help but use both - pesto made from just-picked basil can't be beat. Larry is doing a great job cultivating the basil and it's starting to take over the barrel it's planted in. Everything was very good, even the squash. I usually don't like squash if it's cooked too much, so I sautéed it at very high heat.

- We ate these peppers at a tapas bar in Barcelona, Spain a few years ago. We were addicted, and were disappointed to find out that the peppers were only grown in the Galacia region of Spain. We were thrilled when we found a local farmer selling the peppers - Pimientos de Padron - at our farmer's market. I believe Happy Quail Farms is still one of the few (if not the only) farmers growing these peppers. Picasso's in San Jose buys the peppers from Happy Quail Farms as well and will serve them if you ask (in season). Yum! They are also available at Tienda.com. Lucky us, we found out that the plants were being sold at the Santa Clara County Master Gardner's Tomato and Pepper sale this spring. We are now the proud owners of three thriving Pimientos de Padron plants. Tonight we picked our first crop - only eight or so. I fried them in hot olive oil and sprinkled them with kosher salt. So good! Just like in Spain. We got a few spicy ones too - usually about a quarter of them are spicy.
- I'm pretty picky about how I like my salmon. Grilled with our soy marinade, or pan-fried or broiled. I like it to have that caramelized crust on it. I liked this, though. The pesto was just so good. I was out of bread for the bread crumbs, so I used an english muffin instead. It came together pretty quickly.
- Berries are all over the farmer's market right now. The raspberries I got were okay, but the blackberries and strawberries are fantastic. I had leftover blueberries from Costco (big and juicy), so I made these mixed berries for dessert instead of a blueberry pie like I had planned. This was a nice, refreshing dessert.

• Pimientos de Padron
• Pesto-Crusted Salmon (Fine Cooking #33, July 1999, p. 82)
• Summer Squash with Garlic and Herbs (Chez Panisse Vegetables, Alice Waters, p. 311)
• Haricots Verts with Lemon Brown Butter (Gourmet, November 2002)
• Mixed Berries with Vanilla Bean Syrup (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 52)

Wine: David Bruce 2001 Windsor Gardens Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California). When we first opened this, we weren't sure about it. It was kind of closed and didn't knock our socks off. However, it opened up nicely and was good with the salmon. Well-balanced.

Jay came for dinner tonight. I decided to do something vegetarian since I had a lot on hand, especially a new stock of fava beans from Planet Organics.

- I added Herb Dumplings (tarragon) as suggested. The dish was okay. Larry thought it was "missing something". I liked the dumplings. I think the dish would make a better side dish than main dish, although I thought it was a lot of work.
- Tonight's crisp was blueberry, blackberry and cherry. I used a lot more blueberries than last time, since it seems as though that's what really makes it good. I'd like to do a peach-blueberry crisp while peaches are in season. I did the standard topping tonight instead of adding oatmeal like last time. I think this is one of the best desserts I make, and it's easy and fast to boot.

• Young Root Vegetable Braise (Local Flavors, Deborah Madison, p. 203)
• Herb Dumplings (Local Flavors, Deborah Madison, p. 66)
• Baby Arugula and Baby Spinach Salad with Grape Tomatoes, Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
• Cherry-Blackberry-Blueberry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Jay was here for dinner tonight. We had excellent tuna tacos when we were in Zihuatanejo this month. George at Amado's (on Las Gatas Beach) gave me the general idea of how they make theirs, so here's my formalized version:

----------
Tuna Tacos
Yellowfin or albacore tuna, thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup minced garlic (minced in a food processor)
Corn or grapeseed oil
3 T soy sauce

Heat 1/4 cup oil (I use grapeseed) in a small skillet over low heat. Add the minced garlic to the oil and cook about 20 minutes, until the garlic flavor mellows.

In a separate skillet, heat 3 T oil over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook until soft and golden. Add 2T of the garlic paste (save the rest for another use) and cook for 30 seconds. Raise the heat to medium-high and add the sliced tuna and cook until no longer raw. Add the soy sauce and stir to combine. Sauté for three minutes. Serve with fresh corn tortillas.
----------

- When we had the tacos at Amado's, they served them with a spicy salsa that had chunks of avocado in it. Yum. they used yellowfin tuna. I just used frozen albacore steaks from Trader Joe's. I was unsure about the texture as I was slicing - I'm not a fan of frozen fish, but it worked fine for this.
- We also had black beans tonight - I sautéed some onion and added some of the garlic paste, a couple of diced roma tomatoes and a couple of cans of black beans and a tablespoon or so of chile powder. I like the onions to get kind of golden so the beans have a bit of a smoky flavor. I cook them for a half hour or so to let the flavors meld.
- I used some cherries tonight in the crisp, in place of some of the blueberries. Larry liked Friday's crisp better (more blueberries). I added a cup of oats to the topping, and I really liked the result - it held together better and was a bit more rustic.

• Tuna Tacos
• Corn Tortillas
• Black Beans
• Guacamole
• Triple Berry-Cherry Fruit Crisp with Oatmeal Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Margaritas

Fiyaz and Jay came for dinner tonight. This is one of Fiyaz's favorite dishes, and since he's headed off on a road trip for several months, it was the dish of choice. A description of this casserole is here.

- Tonight I made the casserole with ground turkey breast, and I used fresh mozzarella to top it off. It was really good. As tomatoes come into season, I may use fresh tomatoes instead of canned.
- I got terrific raspberries and blueberries at Costco for the crisp. I decided at the last minute to include blackberries as well. I added just a tiny bit of sugar to the fruit, so the crisp was slightly tart (everyone seems to like the fruit a little tart).

• Polish Lasagna (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Triple Berry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine: Rafanelli 1997 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). One of our favorite Zinfandels, and 1997 was a fantastic vintage. Unfortunately, the bright fruit is fading and this wine is getting to the point where it's almost over-aged. We have one more bottle left, so we'll have to drink it soon.

A week of eating tons of guacamole in Zihuatanejo, Mexico last week made it necessary to cook something relatively healthy tonight. These shrimp cakes were very good. although Larry thought I could make them more spicy. I didn't toast the curry powder since I make my own by toasting and then grinding my own curry spices.

Larry wanted some sort of lemon cake tonight to go with the strawberries we picked up at the farmer's market this morning. I didn't really feel like doing any heavy baking, so I made up some of my very favorite packaged scones from Moreish Treats. The Blueberry Coffeebreak flavor are our favorite so far (we're slowly working our way through the different flavors), but the lemon are definitely a close second. I added some fresh lemon zest to the mix before I added the cream.

• Coconut Curry Shrimp Cakes with Papaya-Lime Sauce (Cooking Light, May 2004, p. 170)
• Fresh Strawberries with Moreish Treats Currantly Seeking Lemons™ Scones

Jay came for dinner tonight. We were in the mood for fish. It's wild salmon season again, but Whole Foods had California Sea Bass so we went that route instead. We weren't disappointed.

- The beans were just okay, but I thought they needed something. Not sure what. The sea bass, on the other hand, was excellent.
- The Artichoke salad was good, although I picked out the mushrooms. Chanterelles were nowhere to be found at the two closest semi-gourmet markets, and I didn't feel like going to yet another grocery store, so I settled for a mix of shiitakes and portabellas. I think thinly sliced and sautéed fennel would be nice as well. It had been a long time since I trimmed an artichoke, and it made me remember that I really don't enjoy the task. Bleah.
- The dessert was just okay. I like making desserts that make me want more. This was so-so. Jay and Larry liked it but didn't think it was fantastic. It's got hardly any fat and very little sugar. I don't know if I'd make it again.

• Grilled Sea Bass with Lemon and White Beans (The Rose Pistola Cookbook, Reed Hearon/Peggy Knickerbocker, p. 148)
• Artichoke, Fennel and Mushroom Salad (The Rose Pistola Cookbook, Reed Hearon/Peggy Knickerbocker, p. 78)
• Apple Strudel with Fresh Berry Sauce (The Joslin Diabetes Great Chefs Cook Healthy Cookbook, Frances Towner Giedt/Bonnie Sanders Polin, Ph.D., p. 264)

Wine: David Coffaro 2002 Barbera (Dry Creek Valley, California). I love Barbera. This is a really nice one, despite its youth.

Fiyaz, Hilary and Chris came for our annual Easter brunch today. This year's menu was pretty close to last year's, just because everything was so good last year. I chose dishes that come together quickly or can be done ahead of time. That way I'm not rushing around at the last minute.

- This apple pancake is really good. It comes out of the oven looking quite spectacular. It's not anything like a traditional pancake, though. It's on the sweet side.
- I couldn't decide which eggs to make this year. I like doing some sort of frittata or egg bake, because it's more interesting than plain scrambled eggs, and it's less work than something like an omelette. This one was really very good. I cut back on the olives because Larry doesn't particularly like them. It cooked up beautifully and slid right out of my oval shaped nonstick pan, onto my oval shaped platter.
- I decided to include scones at the last minute. These are the best packaged scones I've ever had. They're super easy, really yummy, and come out very moist.
- I picked berry souffles for dessert, because I can make them a day ahead.

• Puffed Apple Pancake (Bon Appétit, September 2002)
• Frittata with Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Basil (Bon Appétit, January 2003)
• Moreish Treats Blueberry Coffebreak Scones
• Willie Bird Turkey Bacon
• Fresh Strawberries
• Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice
• Berry Soufflés (Fine Cooking # 19, February/March 1997, p. 71)

Wine: Bonny Doon 2003 Fresia (Monterey County, CA). This is not a serious wine. It's a low-alcohol fizzy strawberry wine. We served mimosas last year, but decided on something different this year. A bit too off-dry for my tastes, even with the strawberries.

Larry has been wanting oatmeal cookies, but it's hard to find a nice big cookie at the store that doesn't have trans fats in them. I decided to make them myself. I don't eat them, because I don't like cooked raisins. He really likes these.

• Big and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (American Classics, Cooks Illustrated, p. 317)

Tom and James were here for dinner tonight. I wanted to do a pork dish because I knew they loved the Branciforte Pinot Noir. I also wanted to to a make-ahead dessert. I originally thought I would make the sautéed fennel with arugula as a side dish, but then I remembered Amy telling me that the mushrooms with spinach and soppressata was excellent.

- The pork chops were good, nothing special. In this particular article, there is an Asian-style pork chop that really appeals to me, but it wouldn't go as well with the Pinot Noir I chose.
- The sautéed vegetables were excellent. I picked around all of the mushrooms.
- The potatoes were a huge hit, and they were so easy to make. Definitely going to become a regular dish.

• Manchego Cheese with Quince Paste
• Sautéed Pork Chops with Balsamic Onions (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 44)
• Potatoes Fondantes (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 59)
• Mushrooms & Spinach with Soppressata Crisps (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 49)
• Berry Soufflés (Fine Cooking # 19, February/March 1997, p. 71)

Wine:
- Martinelli 2000 Giuseppe & Luisa Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Yum - a perfect example of why Helen Turley is a legendary winemaker, and a perfect example of a big, jammy, California Zin.
- David Bruce 2001 Branciforte Pinot Noir (Santa Cruz Mountains, California). Excellent. One of the best Pinot Noirs I've tasted from David Bruce. Tom and James had mentioned that they loved it, so I was happy to serve it tonight. It's only available to Pinot Only Please club members.

Amy is here from Austin, so we had fun cooking dinner for Larry, Jay and Martin.

- Amy and I loved the chicken. Larry thought it was just okay. It was really easy to make.
- I think I like pureéd yukons with some celery root in there better than without. These were really nice.
- This is my favorite fennel recipe. The arugula with it is really nice.
- The consensus on the carrot cake was that my other version from Cook's Illustrated is better. I was leaning towards leaving the walnuts and dried currants out, but decided to go ahead and put them in at the last minute. Jay was the only one that liked the walnuts in the cake. I don't like carrot cake that much so I was so-so on it anyway.

• Chicken with Tarragon & Vermouth (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 42)
• Pureé of Yukon Gold Potatoes & Celery Root
• Fennel & Red Onion with Arugula (Fine Cooking 62, January 2004, p. 48)
• Ultimate Carrot Cake (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 42)

Wine:
- Ridge 2001 Llewelyn Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Yum! Big and juicy.
- David Bruce 2000 Windsor Gardens Pinot Noir (Russian RIver Valley, California). Good, but a poor follow-up after the Ridge.

Tonight's dinner was better than last night's special Valentine's Day meal. Jay came over so I wanted to do chicken or fish.

- I had a bunch of parsnips in the refrigerator and wanted to do something different with them. This soup is good. It lists cream as an optional ingredient. I think cream would have been a nice addition - added body to the soup, but I didn't add it. I tossed bread with olive oil, salt and pepper and baked it to make croutons rather than fry them as the recipe instructed. Jay really liked the soup.
- I did a similar stuffed chicken breast before, with Prosciutto, Parmesan and Sun-Dried Tomatoes. This one was better. I really like doing chicken like this - it's fast and relatively hands-off.
- The cauliflower was a big hit. I liked it this way, and so did Larry and Jay. Larry told me "this is a keeper".
- Amy made this tea cake last week and that made me want to make it again. She used poppyseeds instead of caraway seeds, and I did the same. Yum.

• Parnsip & Leek Soup (Fine Cooking #48, January 2002, p. 55)
• Chicken Breasts with Parmesan-Herb Stuffing (Fine Cooking #45, July 2001, p. 60)
• Roast Cauliflower with Shallots, Tarragon and Lemon (Fine Cooking #50, May 2002, p. 52)
• Lemon Tea Cake (Fine Cooking # 63, March 2004, p. 65)

Wine: Ridge 2001 Lytton Estate Grenache. Yum!

I made dinner for Larry tonight for Valentine's Day.

- The scallops were good, but next time I'll use less lime juice - it was a bit tangy. I seared the scallops in a bit of butter and olive oil instead of using cooking spray.
- The soufflés were pretty good. I've been craving chocolate so this hit the spot, although I think I like the berry soufflés better.

• Pan-Seared Scallops on Linguine with Tomato-Cream Sauce (Cooking Light, January 2003)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Baby Spinach and Arugula Salad with Shallots, Cherry Tomatoes, Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil
• Chocolate Soufflés (Cook's Illustrated, September 1996)

I made some of the food for Jay's Superbowl party this year. It was pretty easy - I chose things that I could do ahead or that came together quickly, and he had the rest (tea sandwiches, fruit platter, crostini) catered.

- I sliced and sautéed the sausage yesterday, then heated it in the microwave before the party. I kept it warm in a mini Crock Pot.
- The phyllo triangles can be made far in advance and frozen. I do this often.
- I had a major problem with my avocados today. I usually buy nice big avocados from Costco, and they work out great. Costco had a different brand last week, from Chile. As I was making the guacamole, I discovered stringy fibers of avocado that wouldn't mash up. I spent a lot of time picking through the avocado and taking out the strings (most of which were brown). It was repulsive. Needless to say, I didn't eat any guacamole today, even though I got the majority of the strings out. Larry said it tasted fine.
- This is my favorite cheesecake, and everyone really likes it. It's easy to make. It's super rich. I don't know where I got the recipe.

• Sliced and Sautéed Aidell's Chicken Apple Sausage
• Phyllo Triangles with Goat Cheese-Peppercorn Filling (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 84)
• New Age Guacamole (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 22) with tortilla chips
• Hummus (Fine Cooking #10, August September 1995, p. 66) with pita chips
• Seven Layer Dip (Sheri's Recipe Box) with tortilla chips
• Crab Cakes with Chipotle Aioli (Viking Home Chef, Fabulous Fish & Shellfish class)
• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 55)
• Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cheesecake (Sheri's Recipe Box)

I started to put together the salmon marinade tonight when I realized that we didn't have any bourbon. I used dry Sherry instead.

- The salmon was very good, similar to the salmon we usually make.
- I've been interested in bread pudding for the past few months. This was interesting and it grew on me. Larry thought it was "an odd mix of flavors" and wasn't that crazy about it. It was really easy to make and came together quickly.

• Bourbon-Glazed Salmon (Cooking Light, September 2001)
• Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Individual Orange and Chocoate Bread Puddings (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)

Jay was here for dinner tonight. Larry requested a light pasta dish tonight, so I went back to an old cookbook that has some good, reliable pasta dishes in it. The cake is really nice - not too sweet, almost like a quick bread rather than a cake. I'm surprised that it turned out as well as it did - I used the wrong measuring cup and put a cup and a half of sugar into the batter rather than a cup. I noticed the mistake after it was in the oven.

• Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Rose Reisman Brings Home Pasta Dishes, Rose Reisman, p. 40)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Spinach and Arugula Salad with Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar and Grape Tomatoes
• Lemon Tea Cake

Wine: Acorn 1999 Sangiovese (Russian River Valley, California). Nice wine. A lighter-style Sangiovese, very drinkable.

Martin, Jay and Fiyaz were here for dinner tonight. We went to the farmer's market today and stocked up on root vegetables, so I wanted to do some sort of chicken dish with the roasted vegetables. Most of tonight's dinner could be prepared ahead of time.

- The chicken breasts were very good and very easy. The article describes a basic technique and has a few stuffing recipes. I took them out of the oven at around 155 degrees instead of 165 like the article said - they were perfectly done (I cut into one to check). I like this method of searing the breasts skin-side down in cast iron before turning them over and finishing them in the oven.
- The root vegetables were really good. I'm loving parsnips. I also added some scarlet turnips for more color.
- The soufflés were a bit of work. I was glad I had prepped everything ahead of time so I could concentrate on whipping the whites and making the sugar syrup. They were excellent, though, and can be made ahead of time (up to a week ahead if you freeze them!) since they're made with an Italian merengue. I used frozen blackberries and raspberries. I'm definitely going to make them again - they'll be great for a dinner party.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Prosciutto, Parmesan & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #45, July 2001, p. 60)
• Roasted Medley of Winter Roots (Fine Cooking #48, January 2002, p. 56)
• Rustic Mashed Red Potatoes with Butter
• Berry Soufflés (Fine Cooking #19, March 1997, p. 71)

Wine: Langmeil 1999 Shiraz (Barossa Valley, Australia). We originally opened a Rosemount Grenache/Shriaz to go with the meal, but it wasn't good (bad storage, perhaps). I didn't like this wine with dinner at all. Too heavy. Not well-balanced. Martin thought it reminded him of pomegranite. I agree, but I don't like pomegranite!

Amy made this earlier in the week, and said it was good, so I couldn't resist.

-The pork was pretty easy to make, and the pears are an unexpected addition to the roasted carrots and parsnips. I loved the parsnips in this. It's supposed to cook to 145 degrees. I thought it was a bit overdone, so my thermometer might be off. I'll cook it to 140 degrees next time.
- This red cabbage recipe is excellent with pork. A copy of the recipe can be found here. It's slightly sweet, but the sweetness is just offset by a bit of red wine vinegar. Yum.
- I've been wanting to make this cake for ages. It's very tender, because it's got oilive oil in it. I just sprinkled powdered sugar on top. I thought it was perfect, not too sweet. Chocolate frosting might be too much.

• Glazed Pork Roast with Carrots, Parsnips & Pears (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 86C)
• Braised Red Cabbage with Red Zinfandel (Fine Cooking #31, March 1999, p. 37)
• Mâche salad with avocado, cherry tomatoes, baslamic vinegar, and olive oil
• Dark Chocolate Cake (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 61)

Wine: David Bruce 2000 Zinfandel (Paso Robles, California). Very fruity - yum. I opened it for the cabbage.

Fiyaz was here for Thanksgiving. I made a huge turkey - almost 21 pounds, because we like to have the leftovers.

- I've never followed a recipe for roasting turkey until last year, when I found this recipe. I love the deep carmel gravy that it makes. I double the amount of apple cider and chicken broth in the recipe.
- My dressing is a family recipe. It's a traditional dressing, and I really like it. It's base is Mrs. Cubbison's dressing and cornbread stuffing - a pouch of each. It also has chicken stock, fresh sage, eggs, parsley, celery, butter, and onion.
- I wanted to make some potatoes that were a little different. These were good, and even better after they set up a bit.
- My obsession with finding a pumpkin recipe that I can stomach continues. I was unsure about the coconut milk in this recipe. Larry said he likes plain pumpkin pie better. Fiyaz liked the pie.

• Butter-Rubbed, Cider-Glazed Roast Turkey (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 46)
• Poultry Dressing (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Potatoes Mousseline (Fine Cooking #62, January 2004, p. 41)
• Herbed Dinner Rolls (Fine Cooking #61, Holiday Baking 2004, p. 72)
• Pumpkin, Sweet Potato & Coconut Pie (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 75)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Croutons, Cherry Tomatoes, and Brianna's Poppyseed Dressing

Wine: Rafanelli 1998 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Yum, and great with the dinner.

Brad, Jeanine and Jay were here for dinner tonight. I had the option of making either chicken or vegetarian - Jeanine doesn't eat any other meat.

- Although the appetizers are from my "Fast Appetizers" book, I don't think anything involving phyllo dough can be considered fast. I've only made these with a warm goat cheese filling. This one had cranberries and orange zest and chives as well. They're pretty good.
- The chicken recipe calls for all thighs, but I used some large free-range breasts as well, since Larry doesn't like dark meat. It would have been better with just thighs, because the breasts just dry out too much. They were okay. I don't think I'll make this recipe again.
- The mushrooms are allegedly good. I don't like mushrooms, but everyone else seems to like these. I've only made these as an appetizer in the past, but tonight I served them as a side. Once the prep work is done, they hardly need any attention during the cooking.
- I took a tip from Amy and added chopped rosemary to the mashed potatoes. It adds a nice flavor.
- I am extremely pleased to announce the discovery of a pumpkin dessert that I like. Of course, this cake only had a half can of pumpkin in it, and it really doesn't taste like pumpkin at all. It was really good, though, and would make a nice breakfast.

• Beggar's Purses with Cranberry and Orange Zest Filling (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 83)
• Chicken Thighs Baked with Lemon, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 38)
• Catalan Mushrooms with Garlic and Parsley (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 37)
• Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes with Rosemary
• Hearts of Romaine with Caesar Dressing (The Best Recipe, p. 42)
• Pumpkin and Cornmeal Cake with Orange Syrup (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 78)

Wine: Rosenblum Vintner's Cuvee Blanc III (California). This is a nice, inexpensive white. We served this along with Rosenblum's red Cuvee Blanc for our housewarming party last year. I would have preferred a Pinot Noir with dinner.

Mark and Catherine came for dinner tonight. I made fish since Catherine's a pescatarian. I made the entire dinner ahead of time, with the exception of broiling the fish and dressing the salad.

- The trout rillettes were very good. I'm not a big fan of trout, but these came together fairly quickly - very little prep outside of making sure all of the little bones in the "boneless" fillets were picked out.
- I broiled the halibut again, like Amy and I did in Austin. The herb cream sauce turned out much thicker this time - I had to thin it with milk.
- I made the gratin in the morning, and just reheated it before dinner. It turned out nicely.
- I'm always looking for new pumpkin desserts. I absolutely hate pumpkin pie, so I try to find ways to like pumpkin. This cheesecake was a big hit - I think I'll make it for Thanksgiving. I didn't like it, but I'm just picky (pumpkin is gross). I loved the crust (made from gingersnaps). I think it would be a great crust for a plain cheesecake, instead of graham.

• Smoked Trout Rillettes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 44)
• Grilled Halibut with Tomatoes and Herb Cream Sauce (Bon Appétit, April 1998)
• Sweet Potato and Leek Gratin (Fine Cooking #47, November 2001, p. 58)
• Baby Spinach Salad with Pears, Blue Cheese and Walnuts, dressed in Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar
• Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake with a Gingersnap Crust (Fine Cooking #60, November 2003, p. 77)

Wine:
- David Bruce 2001 Central Coast Pinot Noir (Central Coast, California). This is the lower-end David Bruce Pinot, but after a few months in the cellar, it's a really nice wine.
- Barossa Valley Estate 2002 Spires Chardonnay (Barossa Valley, Australia). Another nice Australian Chardonnay. I'm impressed. I'm definitely a convert to Australian Chardonnays. This one was a great value as well.

Jay, Amy, Gary, Lauren and David were here for dinner tonight. It was a pre-race dinner; Amy, Lauren and David are doing the Big Kahuna Half-Ironman in Santa Cruz tomorrow.

- The salmon recipe calls for broiling - Larry grilled it with olive oil, salt and pepper instead.
- The crab cakes are always a big hit, and they're easy to make. I use the canned crab from Costco; it's perfect for these and very reasonably priced.

• Crab Cakes with Chipotle Aioli (Viking Home Chef, Fabulous Fish & Shellfish class)
• Salmon with a Ragout of Lentils and Root Vegetables (Fine Cooking #57, March 2003, p. 40)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Spinach salad with hard-boiled egg, cherry tomatoes and Smoked Bacon Vinagrette (Festive Favorites, p. 51)
• Blueberry-Blackberry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52) with vanilla ice cream

Wine: Rochioli 2000 Estate Pinot Noir (Russian River Valley, California). Yummy! Very fruity and full-bodied.

This casserole is something my mom always made for us when I was growing up. This is what I think of when I think "family recipe". This is a homey, non-fancy casserole, but it's great to make ahead and is excellent left over. I usually make it just before we go on vacation, so whoever is staying over with Ginger has something they can just reheat for dinner. I put the casserole together yesterday, and just popped it in the oven to cook tonight. It consists of layers of shell pasta, ground meat mixture (ground turkey, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, garlic), sour cream, and cheese (cheddar and mozzarella). The casserole obtained its name from an Italian I used to know, who was making reference to my heritage. I think the name fits.

- I've made a few changes to the casserole over the years, including switching to ground turkey instead of ground beef, I use fresh mushrooms instead of canned, and I used canned diced tomatoes instead of stewed tomatoes. I can think of a few other things to make it even better - fresh tomatoes in the summer, and fresh mozzarella.
- This is my best chocolate chip cookie so far. I have a few other recipes I'd like to try. The secret is good, fresh butter, and high quality chocolate chunks. I add walnuts to mine.

• Polish Lasagna (Sheri's Recipe Box)
• Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Fine Cooking #56, March 2003, p. 55)

I received my new Alton Brown Salt Cellar today. Finally, I have a place to store kosher salt, and no more trying to pour salt into measuring spoons from the big box!

Jay came for dinner tonight. This is a good summer dish, even though it's a soup. It uses fresh vegetables, and I wanted to use up the last of the corn. It's my favorite tortilla soup. It can be made ahead and put together at the last minute. It's best when made with homemade chicken stock.

Draeger's San Mateo store used to sell a fresh mint gelato that I loved. I decided to try to duplicate it tonight. I didn't have a recipe, but I did find something on Epicurious. I followed my own basic gelato recipe, then looked to the Epicurious recipe to figure out how I should do the mint. Larry thought it was too minty. Jay and I liked it, and thought it was very refreshing. It's much more earthy than using mint extract. I have a Cuisinart electric ice cream maker, the kind with the cylinder that you freeze. It works really well. It's basically the same as my manual Donvier that I started out with years ago, but now I don't have to do anything but press "on".

• Tortilla Chicken Soup Ole (Hot Chicken, Hugh Carpenter, p. 23)
• Chicken Stock (Fine Cooking #48, January 2003, p. 94)
• Fresh Mint Gelato

For the gelato, I used two recipes as a reference:

- Cinnamon Gelato (How to Make Ice Cream, Cook's Illustrated, p. 83)
- Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (Gourmet, August 1998)

Fresh Mint Gelato
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed fresh mint, chopped
4 large egg yolks

Combine the milk, cream, 1/2 cup sugar and mint in a heavy 2.5-quart saucepan set over medium heat. Bring mixture to 175 degrees, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar.

Meanwhile, beat remaining 1/4 cup sugar and yolks in medium bowl, scraping down sides as needed, until mixture turns pale yellow and thickens so that it falls in ribbons, about 2 minutes with electric mixer on medium-high or 4 minutes with whisk.

Remove about 1/2 cup hot milk-cream-mint mixture from pan and slowly whisk into beaten yolk mixture. Gradually whisk thinned yolk mixture back into saucepan. Reduce heat to low and bring mixture to 180 degrees, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Custard should be thick but not curdled or boiled.

Remove saucepan from heat and let mint steep in milk mixture for 10 minutes. Pour custard through a fine-mesh strainer and into nonreactive bowl or container. Chill custard, its surface covered with plastic wrap, until cold, at least 3 hours and up to 1 day. Stir will and then pour custard into ice cream machine. Churn until frozed but still a bit soft. Transfer ice cream to nonreactive container, seal, and freeze until firm.

Mom and Bea were in town for a visit and they stayed for dinner.

• Wild Mushroom "Burgers" (Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, Cindy Pawlcyn, p. 151)
• Heirloom Tomatoes with Fresh Mozzarella and Basil
• Creamy Coleslaw (The Best Recipe, p. 43)
• Peach and Mixed Berry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine:Testarossa 2000 Bien Nacido Pinot Noir. So tasty.

Jay came for dinner, but he brought a salad. I don't blame him. This is one of Larry's favorite dishes, but I like it less every time I make it. I think it's the asparagus, which I hate. It's not Jay's favorite either. It's a great dish for company, because it comes together quickly once all the prep is done.

I had all this fruit in the house, and decided to make a warm fruit gratin (bananas, blueberries, raspberries, plums, peaches). It's not very often that I fail miserably at something new, but I certainly did this time. The pastry cream didn't seem to thicken properly, and I'm going to need to move the oven rack much further away from the broiler next time - after three minutes in the oven, it was completely charred. Ugh. I'm going to try it again.

I'm noticing how much garlic bread we eat.

• Ginger Butter Pasta with Salmon (Hot Pasta, Hugh Carpenter, p. 58)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Warm Fruit Gratin (Fine Cooking #39, July 2000, p. 57)

Wine:David Bruce 2000 Sonoma Pinot Noir. Yummy. A wonderfully balanced Pinot. I'm disappointed that it was our last bottle.

Jay, Renee, and Rex came to dinner tonight. Larry asked for enchiladas (I think he was craving margaritas). This is a great make-it-ahead dinner, because most of the work can be done early... although it's still a lot of work.

- I like green sauce on my enchiladas. These are very simple and tasty.
- This is a really nice Mexican-style rice. I don't like the typical Spanish rice that's served in Mexican restaurants, but this one is different and really good.
- I usually make black beans with Mexican food, but I wanted to do something different, so I made refried pinto beans. The same technique can be used for black beans.
- My tart is a composite of different recipes. It's so pretty! The blueberries and raspberries are huge right now. I arrange them in concentric circles, then I brush them with slightly warm seedless berry preserves as a glaze.

• Chicken Enchiladas with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce (Fine Cooking #47, November 2001, p. 80)
• Arroz Verde (Fine Cooking #35, November 1999, p. 45)
• Classic Mexican Fried Beans with Onions and Garlic (Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen, Rick Bayless, p. 237)
• Raspberry-Blueberry Tart (Sweet Tart Pastry: The America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, p. 276; Mascarpone Filling: Fine Cooking #21, July 1997, p. 57)

Margaritas

Jay came over for dinner tonight. I had been craving baby back ribs, and Costco has excellent baby backs.

- I always make two racks of ribs; the Carolina version is always our favorite, plus something I haven't tried before. We cook the ribs on the grill over low indrect heat, using a rib rack.
- This is my favorite coleslaw recipe. It stays crisp and is really easy to make.
- The shortcake is a great make-ahead dessert, especially for a crowd. The blueberries are phenomenal right now, so it was really good. I think I prefer a fluffier shortcake, though. The filling would be excellent on ice cream.

• Carolina Barbequed Ribs (The Great Ribs Book, Hugh Carpenter, p. 68)
• Crushed Peppercorn and Orange Glazed Ribs (The Great Ribs Book, Hugh Carpenter, p. 76)
• White Beans with Rosemary & Olive Oil (Fine Cooking #19, March 1997, p. 37)
• Creamy Coleslaw (The Best Recipe, p. 43)
• Blueberry Shortcakes (Fine Cooking #28, September 1998, p. 45)

Wine:Bella 2001 Lily Hill Estate Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Excellent. This was a leftover wine from a ZAP flights event we helped out at yesterday. It was one of the best wines of the day, and a great wine for ribs.

Mark and Catherine and Fiyaz came for dinner for Independence Day.

- The phyllo appetizers are fairly quick to make and are an excellent freezer item. I usually make a variety of fillings and freeze a bunch of them to have whenever people come over.
- Everyone flips out over this guacamole.
- Both burgers are excellent. I'm always looking for an especially flavorful way to make turkey burgers, and these were just that. They seemed more like beef to me. The mushroom burgers aren't just a grilled portobello slapped on a bun - it's a burger-like patty made up of chopped and sliced cooked mushrooms. I hate mushrooms, but I love these.
- This is the best pasta salad I've ever had. It's full of flavor (sometimes pasta salads are bland) and it captures summer perfectly.
- The basil vinaigrette is just okay.
- The fruit crisp can be made with many kinds of fruit - the Fine Cooking article that I use is excellent because it gives general guidelines for putting together a crisp, rather than a specific recipe.

• Tortilla chips with New Age Guacamole (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 22)
• Phyllo Triangles with Goat Cheese-Peppercorn Filling (Fast Appetizers, Hugh Carpenter, p. 84)
• Oaxacan Turkey Burgers with Chipotle Salsa (Food & Wine, June 2003, p. 134)
• Wild Mushroom "Burgers" (Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, Cindy Pawlcyn, p. 151)
• Grilled Cherry Tomato Pasta with Crisp Breadcrumbs and Basil (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p, 51)
• Grilled vegetables (scallions, king oyster mushrooms, bell peppers, and eggplant) with Basil Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #34, August/September 1999, p. 42)
• Vanilla ice cream with Cherry-Blueberry Fruit Crisp with Crunch Crisp Topping (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p, 52)

Wine: Valley of the Moon 2000 Pinot Blanc. Not bad.
Margaritas