Salad

The latest issue of Eating Well magazine had an article on bison - we've had it before in burgers and chilis but haven't made it at home. Our local Whole Foods carries a variety of bison meat - not only ground, but also steaks, top loin roasts and stew meat so we picked up some ground bison for these burgers - which were very tasty. The couscous salad was good, not something to definitely make again.

• Greek Bison Burgers (Eating Well, March/April 2009)
• Toasted Israeli Couscous Salad with Mint, Cucumber & Feta (Fine Cooking #98, May 2009, p. 44)

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.

I packed up a lunch for Larry and I today, to take to San Francisco with us. We're in a running clinic all day and needed to bring a bag lunch. I wanted to make something somewhat light and nutritious. Both were pretty good. I used lavash for the wraps and they fell apart as usual.

• Smoked Turkey Wraps with Mango and Curried Mayonnaise (Bon Appétit, August 2002)
• Chickpea Salad with Parsley, Lemon, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Bon Appétit, August 2002)

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)

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 brought Arun and Carol over for dinner tonight. Always a challenge for me when Arun is here because he's vegetarian. I could fall back on something like veggie chili or lasagna, but I want to make something a little different. The polenta pie was good, but I felt very semi-homemade when making it. Not really even a recipe, just slice up pre-made polenta, layer that in a dish, top with jarred pasta sauce, cheese, more polenta and more cheese. It could be made more homemade by making the polenta and pasta sauce from scratch, but I was looking for something fast. It was good, not great. The cake was good but Larry thought I've made others that were better.

• Goat Cheese Crackers with Hot Pepper Jelly (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Polenta Pie with Cheese and Tomato Sauce (Gourmet, June 2006)
• Roasted Butternut Squash & Pear Salad with Spiced-Pecan Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 58)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• The Ultimate Flourless Chocolate Cake (Chocolate Holidays, p. 57)

Wine: Valdez 2004 Rockpile Road Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). Not as good as before and still a little hot but it opened up okay.

The last of the turkey leftovers - I really liked this salad for a light dinner.

• Turkey & Blue Cheese Salad with Tarragon-Mustard Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #60, October 2003, p. 66)

Now begins the effort to use up the leftover turkey in interesting ways. This baked pasta is good, and different. I used the vinaigrette that I've been using on green beans as a dressing.

• Baked Rotini with Turkey (How to Cook a Turkey, p. 227)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)
• Butter Lettuce with Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #95, November 2008, p. 47)

I really liked this salad. The dressing is made with avocado and is made in the food processor so it comes together really quick. I used frozen shrimp that I poached in lime-flavored water, as suggested in the cookbook - a great trick to achieve flavorful shrimp quickly.

• Crisp Cucumber Shrimp in Retro Goddess Dressing (The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper, p. 34)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

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.

Larry requested these burgers from the latest issue of Fine Cooking. They were delicious served without buns but with an tomatillo & avocado salsa.

• Mexican Black Bean Burgers (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 51)
• Tomatillo & Avocado Salsa (Fine Cooking #94, September 2008, p. 51)
• Grilled Sweet Potatoes
• Butter Lettuce Mix with Buttermilk Herb Ranch Dressing (California Pizza Kitchen Pasta, Salads, Soups and Sides, p. 23)

I haven't made this salad for a long time. For some reason I thought making a half-recipe would be perfect, but I could barely finish half my salad. This recipe makes a lot of salad and a lot of dressing. I made a full recipe of the dressing so we'd have some leftover for weekday salads. We love this salad and it's great for a summer night.

• 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)

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.

From whole grains every day, every way. With cauliflower salad.

I made this casserole for Larry and Jay because my massage therapist Kris said it was really good. I gave her the cookbook at the beginning of the year, since she loves whole grains so much. We really liked it, and it was good leftover. I used wheatberries for the grain. It could be made vegetarian by leaving out the sausage.

I've made a lot of gingerbread, but this one really did it for me. The gingerbread itself isn't anything special, but the addition of chunks of milk chocolate make the cake. Larry prefers something more ginger-y. But I'm the one doing the cooking so this is what he got.

• Hearty Grain Casserole (Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way, p. 192)
• Gingerbread with Milk Chocolate Chunks (Chocolate Holidays, p. 16)

Jay and Larry loved these pot pies. They aren't something to throw together at the last minute, but they're still not too time consuming to make and can be made ahead of time. We also liked the salad a lot - something different for a change.

• Chicken and Root Vegetable Potpies (Cooking Light, September 2007)
• Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Green Peppercorn Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #50, May 2002, p. 52)

Excellent dinner tonight. It seems like whenever I try to slap something together at the last minute, it turns out really good. We both really loved these chicken thighs, and I plan on making them again soon. Larry is becoming a fan of chicken thighs - as long as they're boneless.

• Spicy Honey-Brushed Chicken Thighs (Cooking Light, March 2007)
• Garlicky Roasted Potatoes with Herbs (Cooking Light, December 2006)
• Butter Lettuce with Creamy Black Pepper Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)

I instantly knew I would like this salad when I saw the recipe. Crab, shrimp, avocado, butter lettuce and toasted coconut. Yum! Larry even liked it - even though he's not crazy about coconut. It added a nice bit of crunch and sweetness. I want to make this again.

• Coconut Crab & Shrimp Salad (Cooking Light, October 2005)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Jay came over for polenta lasagna, salad, and the ever-delicious garlic bread tonight. The lasagna recipe is written to be very convenient, using processed foods - not my favorite, but I used good-quality ingredients (such as organic jarred marinara sauce) and it turned out to be delicious. Next time I may use a flavored polenta. This is written as a vegetarian recipe, but I decided to use turkey Italian sausage instead.

Our salad was perfect. Larry picked the dressing, and I added chives and fresh tomatoes. The dressing recipe is also in Fine Cooking's Cooking Fresh 2005 special issue.

• Polenta Lasagna (Cooking Light, October 2005)
• Butter Lettuce and Radiccio with Chives, Tomatoes & Lemon Poppyseed Dressing (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 48)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Ridge 2001 Syrah/Grenache (Dry Creek Valley, California). Yum. Really big and oaky.

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.

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.

I made this potato salad to bring to a party yesterday. It's basically just boiled red potatoes, grilled veggies, and some oil, vinegar, cilantro and chile powder. I wasn't overly crazy about it, but a couple of people at the party asked me for the recipe and several people raved about it. Larry also thought it was good, but not the greatest potato salad ever.

• Southwestern Potato Salad (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 26A)

I love Chinese chicken salad, and this is a good one. Larry and I both really liked it.

• Chinese Chicken Salad (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 59)

Another Sunday night dinner - tonight we used the grill for both the chicken and the salad. The chicken wasn't anything special. The effort making the brine and the spice rub was wasted, because it tasted just like grilled chicken. Good, but nothing special. I cut back on the salt in the brine since I was using a Kosher chicken.

Jay and I both liked the salad, which involved a quick grill of halved hearts of romaine. Larry wasn't so crazy about it, but he doesn't especially like blue cheese dressing, either. The beans were excellent, though. I used huge runner cannellini beans from Rancho Gordo, which took forever to cook but they were worth it.

• Beer-Brined Butterflied Chicken (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 55)
• Grilled Hearts of Romaine with Blue Cheese Dressing (Fine Cooking #73, September 2005, p. 58)
• White Beans with Garlic, Lemon & Parmesan (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 45)

Wine: Atelier 2004 Rockpile Zinfandel (Rockpile, California). Yum. I don't think I've ever had a bad wine from Rockpile.

This pasta was good, easy to make and just the right amount of heat from crushed red pepper flakes. And excellent with garlic bread to mop up the extra sauce.

• Rigatoni with Spicy Tomato-Vodka Sauce (Fine Cooking #77, March 2006, p. 82C)
• Butter Lettuce with Poppy Seed & Tarragon-Crème Fraîche Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 49)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Chumeia 2003 Dante Dusi Vineyard Zinfandel (Paso Robles, California). Good, even better with the pasta.

We were just so-so on the linguine tonight. I don't know what it was about it. Larry said he didn't like the chorizo - but it's the good Spanish chorizo I normally buy. I thought there was too much linguine (I used whole wheat, by the way). I made half a recipe, which should have served 2-3, but I think we could have served two more people. I don't like having leftover seafood.

• Linguine with Shrimp & Chorizo (Fine Cooking #83, January 2007, p. 82A)
• Butter Lettuce with Poppy Seed & Tarragon-Crème Fraîche Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 49)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Since today is a holiday, I figured it would be a good day to work on another test recipe that was sent to me. I had a big Niman Ranch pot roast in the freezer already, so there wasn't a lot of shopping to do. Overall, we really liked this dish. The sauce was flavorful, the meat was tender. It took a lot of time to make but that's okay since it's not a workday.

• French-Style Pot Roast (Test Recipe)
• Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes with Chives (Fine Cooking #81, November 2006, p. 61)
• Spinach & Cucumber Salad with Yogurt-Mint Dressing (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)

Wine: Amphora 2000 Jacob's Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon (Dry Creek Valley, California). Excellent Cab. I love Amphora wines. This was a gift from Larry's former boss.

After a day of strenuous exercise (today was a long hike on the Dipsea Trail), I like to make a nice filet as a recovery dinner. And the perfect recovery beverage, a hearty red wine.

I've made pepper-crusted filets in the past, but this method is different - cooking the cracked peppercorns in the oil mellows out the flavor a bit and helps the pepper really stick to the meat. We both really loved the filets and I'll definitely use this recipe again. Larry liked the reduction sauce better than I did - I think a standard pan sauce would have been just as good. He especially liked the cherries. The potatoes were good but nothing special. The salad was different. The dressing has just a teeny bit of oil in it so it's a good, flavorful low-fat alternative to a standard dressing, and the cantaloupe makes it kind of creamy. Still, I'm not sure I'd make the salad again.

• Pepper-Crusted Filet Mignon (America's Test Kitchen)
• Port Cherry Reduction Sauce (America's Test Kitchen)
• Potatoes Lyonnaise (America's Test Kitchen)
• Mâche with Spicy Melon & Pink Peppercorn Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 51)

Wine: Merryvale 1998 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, California). A nice soft Cab that was a gift from a former co-worker. Good with the steaks.

Jay was here for dinner tonight. This chicken was very easy to make and also very tasty. The brown sugar-cumin rub created a nice carmelized coating on the chicken, and the guacamole sauce complimented it well.

• Cumin-Dusted Chicken Breasts with Guacamole Sauce (Cooking Light, January 2007)
• Mixed Greens with Poppy Seed & Tarragon-Crème Fraîche Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 49)
• Creamy Parmesan Orzo (Cooking Light, March 2004)

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2002 Winberrie Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). One of Sapphire Hill's better wines. A good everyday Zin.

This is an all-Jay weekend - he was here for dinner again tonight, since I bought over two pounds of halibut today. I love halibut and this dish is really delicious.

• Cornflake-Crusted Halibut with Chile-Cilantro Aioli (Cooking Light, March 2004)
• Butter Lettuce with Poppy Seed & Tarragon-Crème Fraîche Dressing (Fine Cooking #86, July 2007, p. 49)
• Oven-Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Onions (Cooking Light, December 2002)

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.

Sunday night, so Jay was here for dinner. The chicken was good, but just your regular everyday roasted chicken. Nothing exceptional. I love butterflied roast chicken. We all loved the potato salad, and the escarole was pretty good too (both can be found in Fine Cooking's Side Dish 2007 special issue).

• Yogurt-Marinated Butterflied Chicken (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 53)
• Braised Escarole with a Parmesan Crust (Fine Cooking #18, January 1997, p. 43)
• Roasted New Potato Salad with Dijon & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #15, July 1996, p. 40)

Wine: David Bruce 2004 Pinot Noir (Central Coast, California). Good, as are most David Bruce Pinots. I've really been drawn to Pinot lately.

I've been craving crab, and since I love avocado I thought this salad would be yummy. It was good, but not as good as I had hoped. I don't know, it needed something more.

I picked this out only because I happened to have this issue of Fine Cooking sitting out. I've suffered from an icky cold all week, and by the time I finished cooking I just wanted to go to bed. So Jay and Larry got to enjoy this meal without me. They said it was good - especially the ragout and the salad.

• Chicken & Shrimp Ragout with Curry Spices (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Toasted Almond Rice (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)
• Spinach & Cucumber Salad with Yogurt-Mint Dressing (Fine Cooking #64, May 2004, p. 63)

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.

Jay came for dinner tonight, and I made a menu from an older issue of Fine Cooking. Larry picked the article out, and I thought it sounded really good. We were looking for something a bit extravagant, since Larry and I both ran a half-marathon today.

The menu has a timeline, and much of the work can be done ahead of time. The only thing I did ahead (last night) was make the Butterscotch Custard. I used mixed greens instead of curly endive in the salad. Larry and Jay really liked the sauce for the tenderloin - it would make a really nice pan sauce.

The Butterscotch Custard was really good, but rich. Both Larry and Jay say it's a make-again. It was pretty easy to make. Next time, I'll definitely use smaller ramekins. Also, I had some problems with the condensation from the foil dripping on to the custards when I checked them for doneness. It made some of the custards looks kind of lumpy but didn't affect flavor.

• Endive Salad with Blue Cheese, Pears & Spice-Candied Walnuts (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 70)
• Filet of Beef Wrapped in Bacon with Wild Mushroom & Rosemary Sauce (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 71)
• Celery Root & Apple Purée (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 72)
• Butterscotch Custard (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 72)

Wine: Pine Ridge 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley, California). This wine was a gift, and a nice one at that. Soft tannins and very drinkable. Perfect match with the tenderloin.

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.

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 really thought this chicken would be tasty. I like pomegranate. And honey is always a nice addition to a glaze. But I really didn't like the final flavor at all. Neither did Jay. Larry liked it, though. We all loved the farro salad. This was my first time using farro, and I think it's one of my favorite grains. It's flavorful and kind of chewy - a nice texture.

• Honey-Pomegranate Roasted Chicken Thighs (Cooking Light, December 2004)
• Farro Salad with Corn and Tomatoes (Cooking Live, Foods Of the World: Global Grains)

Wine: Gamba 2003 Moratta Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River, California). We've been hoarding this, but now that we have a few bottles of the latest release, we can drink it more freely. This is one of my favorite Zins, but it's big. A big fat cherry bomb.

I made this pasta salad for a Fourth of July block party. Pasta salad usually leaves something to be desired, but I thought this might be nice because of the arugula. It was nice, but didn't knock my socks off. I used whole wheat pasta, which probably wasn't the best choice.

• Shells with Arugula, Feta & Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #51, July 2002, p. 43)

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)

Jay was here for dinner tonight. I was looking for something to do on the grill since it's been kind of warm out, and I wanted something quick too since time was so short this weekend. The whole dinner was really good. Larry and Jay really liked the salad and the salsa a lot. I've been wanting to make this wheatberry salad for a very long time, so I was happy to see the recipe re-printed in Fine Cooking #79 - it got me thinking about the salad again. I love grains, especially grain salads. I liked everything (except the asparagus, of course).

• Grilled Pork Chops with Fennel-Paprika Spice Rub (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 40)
• Cherry Tomato Salsa with Capers & Green Olives (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 40)
• Summer Wheatberry Salad (Fine Cooking #28, September 1998, p. 39)
• Grilled Asparagus

Wine: David Bruce 2002 Truchard Vineyard Pinot Noir (Carneros, California). Yum, another excellent David Bruce Pinot.

Larry and I took Coco to Ed Levin County Park today for a Memorial day picnic. The park is in the hills of Milpitas, and is quite large so we had no problems finding a nice spot in the shade, near one of the ponds. Coco was thrilled to be out somewhere new, and Larry and I enjoyed the beautiful weather and yummy lunch that I packed.

I made the salad components yesterday, so that all I had to do is layer and dress it. I made the Aïoli and cooked the pancetta yesterday also, so it wouldn't be a lot of work to put everything together. The sandwiches are toasted so they didn't get soggy at all. They're a fancy version of a BLT with avocado, and are really tasty. We liked the salad, too. The recipe is re-printed in Fine Cooking #79.

• Pancetta, Tomato & Avocado Sandwich with Aïoli (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 90c)
• Barley & Black-Eyed Pea Salad (Fine Cooking #28, September 1998, p. 37)
• Thick Scottish Shortbread (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Lemon Curd (Fine Cooking #26, May 1998, p. 54)
• Mini Watermelon

Jay was here for dinner tonight. I wanted something like fried chicken and potato salad for dinner, so this was my take on it. I love this chicken. So simple. And the potato salad was really good. Jay and Larry loved the zucchini. Both the salad and the zucchini are also in Cooking Fresh 2005, and the chicken is in Fine Cooking 101 Delicious Chicken Recipes.

• Chicken Under a Brick (Fine Cooking #36, December 1999, p. 35)
• Creamy Potato Salad with Radishes, Lemon & Dill (Fine Cooking #52, September 2002, p. 45)
• Sauteed Zucchini with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Basil (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 49)

Wine: Martin Family Vineyards 2002 Red Rooster Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Pretty good.

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.

The spice rub was really excellent. We used boneless pork loin chops again. I wasn't sure how the salsa would turn out - it sounded kind of odd, but it was actually not bad. The salad was pretty good, too.

• Grilled Pork Chops with Ginger, Cinnamon & Clove Spice Rub (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 41)
• Green Grape Salsa with Scallions and Mint (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 41)
• Grilled Potato, Corn & Red Onion Salad over Arugula (Fine Cooking #39, July 2000, p. 48)

Wine: David Bruce 2001 Syrah (Santa Cruz Mountains, California). Good, but not as good as the Novy we had last night.

This dish had been on both Amy's and my to-do dish, so it made sense to make it together. We had a lovely bike ride with Shayla, then all had dinner together. Prep was simple for the chicken, and the cucumber salad was quick too. We picked up fresh cucumbers at the farmer's market and fresh dill at Boggy Creek Farm for the salad, which was part of the same Hungarian menu article as the chicken. We also got the potatoes at Boggy Creek Farm - in fact, as we were selecting potatoes, one of the farm employees was brining in more potatoes that had just been dug up. Very, very fresh. We all loved the salad and the potatoes. The chicken was good, probably not a make-again.

• Chicken Paprikas (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 34)
• Cucumber Salad (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 35)
• Gratineed Red Potatoes with Chives (Fine Cooking #70, March 2005, p. 52)

Wine: Seghesio 2003 Zinfandel (Sonoma County, California). Gary picked this wine up on Amy's birthday - it's a nice, inexpensive Zin. Tasty, too.

The plan for tonight's dinner started with a plan to make the Potatoes Boulangére. Larry saw the recipe in an issue of Fine Cooking that I had laying out, and we both wondered why I had never made them before. The dish is similar to a potato gratin, but without the cheese and cream. It was excellent. In fact, the whole meal was yummy, although Larry was just so-so on the salad.

• Garlic Chicken with A Crunchy Chip-Basil Crust (Fine Cooking #25, March 1998, p. 37)
• Potatoes Boulangére (Fine Cooking #63, March 2004, p. 49)
• Tri-Color Salad of Belgian Endive, Arugula & Radicchio with Shaved Parmesan (Fine Cooking Fresh 2006, p. 38)

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2001 Winberrie Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). When we both tried this wine, we both said "wow!". Usually Sapphire Hill wines are nice, everyday-type of wines. This is a big fruit bomb with a bit of residual sugar.

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.

It's funny how I'll pick out a few things that I want to make, and when I actually read the recipes it turns out that the dishes share some ingredients and will tie together nicely. In tonight's case, there was lots of garlic, and both the salad and the potatoes had lemon, too. Overall a good meal. Jay came over even though it isn't Sunday - he and Larry did the 60k Tierra Bella ride today (Coco and I went to obedience school so I didn't ride).

- We all liked the pork roast, although it could have spent a little less time in the oven. I was worried about having dinner done by 7 and ended up putting the roast in a bit early. Also, the roast was very thick. It would have been better to have a thinner roast to make butterflying and rolling easier. Larry thought the milk solids that were left in the gravy were weird, but it tasted good. Next time, I'll strain the gravy in addition to de-fatting it. This recipe is also in Fine Cooking's Weekend Cooking special issue (along with the recipe for the potatoes).
- This salad was sooo good. I loved the zucchini like this, and I'm not a fan of summer squash. It was different and a nice change from the usual salads I make. I had been wanting to make something like this ever since I had a raw zucchini salad at a cooking demonstration at the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. Instead of slicing the squash into ovals, I peeled it and sliced it into long, thin strips. This recipe is also in Fine Cooking's Fresh special issue (the latest one).
- The potatoes were good but nothing special.
- Dessert was dark chocolate and a late harvest Zin.

• Roast Pork Loin with Garlic & Rosemary (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 53)
• Summer Squash Salad with Lemon, Capers & Parmesan (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 53)
• Mashed Potatoes with Lemon & Garlic (Fine Cooking #72, July 2005, p. 46)
• Dark Chocolate

Wine:
- David Bruce 2002 Truchard Vineyard Pinot Noir (Carneros, California). Typically delicious David Bruce Pinot. We drank the whole bottle. Mmm.
- Napa Cellars 2001 Late Harvest Zinfandel (Napa Valley, California). Really nice - not too sweet (8% residual sugar). Perfect with dark chocolate.

This is the third and final recipe I've made from an article on pork tenderloin (out of Fine Cooking). All of the recipes were really good. I prepped most of tonight's dinner last night. The pork would have benefitted from a longer marinade time, and I cut back on some of the cooking oil.

• Spicy Korean-Style Pork Medallions with Asian Slaw (Fine Cooking #78, May 2006, p. 32)

Wine: Cline 1999 Syrah (Los Carneros, California). Good - I wouldn't have paired a Syrah with this salad, but the article suggested a lush, rtruity red with a lot of tannin. It worked surprisingly well.

I've been wanting to make this dish ever since this issue of Fine Cooking came out. Finally, I had most of the ingredients at home and the time to make it. Trader Joe's didn't have Bosc pears (they never do, and I wasn't willing to go to the OTHER grocery store), so I just used Asian pears. Bosc would have been more flavorful, but these weren't bad.

The balsamic vinaigrette is used to deglaze the pan after the pork is cooked, and the warm vinaigrette wilts the arugula. The vinaigrette will break if it's overheated - mine did. If this happens, it's possible to re-emulsify it if it hasn't been too overheated. I used a blender and strained out the chunks that formed from overheating (McGee has a good explanation of broken emulsifications). The trick with this vinaigrette is to have the pan hot enough for deglazing without breaking the sauce.

• Wilted Arugula Salad with Sauteéd Pork, Pears & Blue Cheese (Fine Cooking #77, March 2006, p. 82c)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Windward 2002 Monopole Pinot Noir (Paso Robles, California). This is a good Pinot - beautiful strawberry nose. But it's Burgundian, and I'm a fruity wine kind of girl. Still good, just takes me a bit of time to get into it.

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.

This salad was really yummy - especially the chicken. Very hearty, and easy to make. I used Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn and cut back on the onions.

• Baby Romaine Salad with Spicy Chicken & Warm Chipotle Vinaigrette (Fine Cooking #74, November 2005, p. 55)

I've been craving this salad. I love the combination of avocado and bulgur - I'm a big fan of grains anyway. Larry likes it but not as much as I do. It's got an excellent mix of unsaturated fat, protein, and whole grains - very healthy.

• Chicken and Bulgur Salad with Avocado (Food and Wine, September 2002) with Mixed Greens
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Amy and I decided to make an easy salad for dinner tonight, since we're still recovering from last night's tapas party, and we're getting ready for another party tomorrow night. This was really easy and light. We both thought there was too much oil in the dressing, and Amy thought it needed something.

The recipe is also in the first Quick & Delicious special issue (green cover), and there are some slight differences - that recipe calls for canned beans instead of dried, and adds shrimp, to make it a main-dish salad. We decided to add grilled shrimp, but marinated it first using the recipe for Chili Lime Shrimp from Gourmet.

• Black Bean & Corn Salad (Fine Cooking #40, September 2000, p. 45)

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)

After a week eating crappy trade show food in LA, I was ready to have some good comfort food at home. Jay was here for dinner, and I made exactly what I was craving - roasted chicken and bread salad. Both were excellent.

• Chicken Under a Brick (Fine Cooking #36, December 1999, p. 35)
• Grilled Bread Salad with Tomatoes & Spicy Greens (Fine Cooking #58, July 2003, p. 38)

Wine: Ridge 2002 Buchignani Ranch Zinfandel. Yummy fruit bomb of a wine.

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.

I got home after 7pm tonight, so it was kind of late to cook, but I felt like making dinner anyway. I shopped for dinner and got everything done within two hours - not bad. Larry liked everything. I especially liked the chicken. The chili rub is like a dry rub paste.

The bean salad is supposed to have grilled shrimp in it - I just omitted it and adjusted the ingredients accordingly. The salad is originally from Fine Cooking #40, but was adapted for the special issue listed below.

• Chili-Rubbed Chicken with Avocado-Mango Salsa (Fine Cooking #57, May 2003, p. 86C)
• Black Bean and Corn Salad (The Best of Fine Cooking, 101 Quick & Delicious Recipes, Fall 2003, p. 26)

Wine: Ridge 2000 Dusi Ranch Zinfandel (Paso Robles, California). Not as much fruit as some Ridge Zins, but still nice. Opened up after a while. This was more of a before-dinner wine.

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.

It was just me for dinner tonight. This is a nice one-person meal that's quick to make and really yummy. I love seared scallops.

• Seared Scallop Salad (Fine Cooking #44, April/May 2001, p. 90)

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.

I chose this chicken because I thought it would be nice with the polenta I've been craving for weeks now. These aren't necessarily something to make on a weeknight, but they can be made up to three hours ahead. Larry really liked the chicken breasts, but thought the polenta was nothing special (I loved it, I've made it a bunch of times before).

My Home Chef class this week was on composed salads and legumes. The salad we had tonight was similar to one we made in class. Our Planet Organics delivery this week included some wonderful baby fennel, so I added that to the mixed greens, along with shallots, cherry tomatoes and chopped shallots. I made a vinaigrette using meyer lemon and orange juices.

• Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Spinach & Goat Cheese (Fine Cooking #69, January 2005, p. 62)
• Polenta with Goat Cheese & Fresh Sage (Fine Cooking #29, November 1998, p. 61)
• Mixed Greens with Shaved Baby Fennel, Shallots, Cherry Tomatoes, Toasted Pecans and Citrus Vinaigrette

Wine: Sapphire Hill 2001 Tom Feeney Ranch Old Vines Zin (Russian River Valley, California). Yum!

I love Deborah Madison, and her Local Flavors cookbook is one of my favorites. This appealed to me because Larry and I both love fennel, and the dish is very simple, mostly just fennel and lemon and pasta. The salad was good, too, but Larry said it's not something he'd want all the time. He's not crazy about endive or stilton.

One note about the recipe: it calls for two tablespoons of butter in the ingredients list, but the instructions only refer to one tablespoon. I used two, but it would have been fine with one, I think.

This menu was somewhat of a tribute to Deborah Madison and Greens Restaurant. Deborah Madison was the founding chef of Greens, and Annie Somerville, who trained under Deborah Madison, is the current chef at Greens.

• Pasta with Golden Fennel (Local Flavors, Deborah Madison, p. 47)
• Winter Greens with Apples, Pecans and Stilton Cheese (Fields of Greens, Annie Somerville, p. 16)

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 made this wonderful chicken tonight, and we even let Gary have some too. It was so much fun making it together. We agreed that the recipe could be written in a more organized way - it's full of details and very long. We made one change from the recipe - we didn't cover the chicken after salting it, and when it came out of the refrigerator the next day, it looked weirdly dry. Amy was worried but I reassured her that this would make the chicken skin so nice and crispy that she would actually eat the skin for once (she did!). We used more bread than the recipe calls for, and doubled the vinaigrette. The vinaigrette doesn't need to be doubled, even though we used more bread.

• Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 342)

Wine: Renwood 2001 Grandpere Zinfandel (Amador County, California). This wine is made from a clone of pre-prohibition vines. It was excellent. Well balanced, soft, muted fruit. I really liked it and so did Amy.

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.

Our friend John mentioned last weekend that he makes this chicken quite often, and that it's very good. I've been wanting to make it, so I picked up a chicken this week (kosher). This was an excellent meal - one I'd like to repeat soon. Larry said both recipes are definitely keepers. Larry especially loved the goat cheese with the kale (I used dino kale).

- The recipe for the bread salad called for eight generous ounces of bread. I didn't think this looked like enough, and ended up using the entire loaf - double what the recipe called for. I used a 3.5 lb. chicken and the cooking times were perfect, but at 500 degrees instead of 475 - I never even had to check the temperature of the chicken, either. I normally butterfly chicken when I roast it, but since the cooking method in this recipe is so specific, I left the chicken whole (I heated a 10-inch skillet on the top of the stove, then put the chicken in breast-side up, placed it in the oven, and turned the chicken over several times at specific intervals). I was worried that the kosher chicken would be too salty, since the recipe calls for salting the chicken the day prior, but it was fine. The pan drippings were to die for. I used arugula for the greens in the bread salad.
- The addition of the goat cheese to the kale is optional, but it really made the dish nice -the combination for the cheese and the slightly bitter kale was really nice.

• Zuni Roast Chicken with Bread Salad (The Zuni Cafe Cookbook, p. 342)
• Garlicky Braised Kale with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (Fine Cooking #42, January 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Sea Smoke 2002 Botella Pinot Noir (Santa Rita Hills, California). We bought this wine on a whim at Vintage Wine Merchants when we were there for a tasting. It's a very reasonably priced Pinot at $25/bottle, and we got the last one. Our friend Ralph had recommended it. It is an excellent Pinot - ripe cherry, concentrated, long finish. Just really, really good, and perfect with the chicken.

Larry's dad is still here so I made dinner again last night. I followed Amy's example and used halibut instead of cod tonight. It was good, and the halibut holds together better than the cod. I had a head of regular cauliflower and a head of purple cauliflower. No taste difference, but I liked the way it came out (visually).

• Pan-Seared Halibut with Creamy Fennel Ragout (Gourmet, December 2003)
• Roast Cauliflower with Shallots, Tarragon and Lemon (Fine Cooking #50, May 2002, p. 52)
• Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon, Walnuts & Ricotta Salata (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 94C)

Wine: Forth 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Mendocino County, California).

I purchased a Heritage Turkey on Friday. Larry and I talked about it, and decided to buy a small-ish one before Thanksgiving (since they are so expensive and we didn't know how it would taste). I picked up the turkey at Mollie Stone's in Palo Alto - it was a Bourbon Red from Mary's Turkeys, ten pounds.

The turkey was very different from the standard broad breasted white turkeys that are raised commercially. The meat is richly flavored, and the texture is very firm. There is not very much white meat on the birds. It was good, just really different than any turkey I've ever had. The flavor is not mild at all.

- To roast the turkey, I just used salt and pepper, and midway into roasting I basted it with melted butter. I normally roast turkey breast-side down for a while, then turn it over breast-side up. I couldn't balance the turkey on the breast side at all, so I had to cook it fully breast-side up. Because of this, the turkey did not cook evenly and the back side skin did not brown at all.
- I cooked up a batch of Willie Bird turkey bacon, and decided to use the same pan to saute the fennel and onions. It's very good this way.
- The salad called for goat cheese, but all I had was Ricotta Salata. It was a good substitution.

• Roasted Heritage Turkey
• Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Chipotle Chile (Fine Cooking #67, November 2004, p. 49)
• Sautéed Fennel and Red Onions
• Roasted Beets
• Warm Spinach Salad with Bacon, Walnuts & Ricotta Salata (Fine Cooking #53, November 2002, p. 94C)

Wine: Rafanelli 1999 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Good, but losing its fruit.

Tonight I made the dinner I had planned for Sunday night, since we had ground turkey in the refrigerator. It took about an hour to make everything. Larry loved this meal.

- I used ground dark meat for the burgers, since whole foods was out of breast meat. I didn't have time to make pesto, and I didn't have any on hand, so I just added some chopped basil to the mayo (I used low fat canola mayo). The pesto mayonnaise was really good. I was out of arugula so we just left it out. I used a grill pan indoors instead of doing it outside (convenience - I think they would be better grilled outside).
- I don't like red kidney beans, so I used Aduki beans instead. The bean salad was very good - Larry said I should definitely make it again. He really liked the vinaigrette.

I made this salad using the pork tenderloin I made on Sunday. It's from the same article as the pork sandwiches. Larry loved the pork tenderloin this way, and wants me to make more this weekend. The salad is really good. Just the right amount of sweet and tangy. Larry had a little tonight for dinner, but the rest is for lunch.

• Thai Pork Salad with Chili Dressing (Cooking Light, September 2004, p. 200)

We picked Jay up from the airport tonight and brought him home for dinner. Labor day is a traditional day for grilling, but somehow I got it in my head I was going to do a vegetarian lasagna. Lots of cooking, a hot day and no air conditioning isn't very pleasant, but it wasn't horrible. Both recipes are featured in Fine Cooking's "Dinner with Friends" issue. The lasagna recipe differs slightly from the original in that the original uses 4 oz. mozzarella vs. 10 to 12 oz. in the re-released version.

- Although this lasagna is vegetarian, it is far from low fat. It's got lots of butter and cheese in it. I love fresh mozzarella. I don't like zucchini so I was worried about how much I would like this. It was okay, a bit too zucchini for me. Jay and Larry really liked it. It took some time to put together, but I did it early in the day so I just had to reheat it before dinner. I made a full recipe, and it made quite a bit.
- I used cannellini beans for the bean salad. The article suggests making bruschetta with the beans, but I like just bean salad. I left out the jalapeño, since Jay doesn't do spicy. The beans weren't bad.

I made this last night so that I could bring it to work for lunch. It's interesting. Not fabulous. I love bulgur, and I love chickpeas. I had to add more salt to this. It was fairly quick to make, about a half hour. It might be a nice picnic item. I had Jay try it, and he liked it.

• Moroccan-Spiced Bulgur and Chickpea Salad (Cooking Light, August 2004)

I've been trying to make things this week that are healthy and will be good for lunch. This recipe was part of an article in Cooking light on food to pack for air travel. Larry and I both really liked the combination of onions and corn. It was also very filling. I used a rotisserie chicken for this, and the breast meat was a bit dry but it turned out fine. I think it would be really nice with some freshly grilled boneless chicken breasts. It took me about 45 minutes to put this together.

• Barley-Chicken Salad with Fresh Corn and Sweet Onions (Cooking Light, August 2004)

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.

Renee is in town this weekend, so we had her and Jay for dinner. We haven't seen Renee for over a year, so it was a nice night of catching up.

- I hadn't made these mushroom burgers for a year, but I really should make them more often. They can be made ahead of time and are really good. I like them even though I really don't like mushrooms. Tonight I didn't make them with the garlic aioli and basil pesto like I usually do - we just had sautéed red onions, arugula and the regular condiments. They're not your typical mushroom "burgers", which is usually just a grilled portabella mushroom. These are a mixture of chopped and sliced mushrooms, with cream cheese and bread crumbs to help hold them together. They're very meaty.
- Jay really liked the zucchini salad, although he said it had too much pepper. Larry wasn't overly enthusiastic but still said he'd want it again (he especially liked the corn). I liked it because it didn't taste like zucchini.

• Wild Mushroom "Burgers" (Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, Cindy Pawlcyn, p. 151)
• Zucchini, Tomato and Corn Salad (Gourmet, August 2002)
• Grilled Cherry Tomato Pasta with Crisp Breadcrumbs and Basil (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p, 51)

Wine: Rafanelli 1999 Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley, California). Great wine - excellent with the burgers, bright fruit just like I expect from a Zinfandel.

I wanted something easy and cool tonight, and I wanted to be able to do all my shopping at Trader Joe's. I thought a salad would be nice, and I've been wanting to make this one. It was really good, and pretty quick to make. Larry really liked it. I cut the recipe in half and just made two servings - it was plenty, and I couldn't finish mine.

• Seven-Layer Grilled Southwestern Chicken Salad (Fine Cooking #65, July 2004, p. 86c)

Dinner came together in an hour tonight. We stopped in at Ikeda's on our way home from Reno, where we picked up a beautiful piece of wild salmon. It was the best we've had in a long time. The flavor of farmed salmon just isn't the same. We looked at but resisted the pies.

- This salad tends to be disappointing outside of the prime summer months. The tomatoes are key - they need to be ripe and flavorful. It's easy to make and is a really nice summer dish.
- We are in the midst of a super-productive period with our Piminetos de Padron. I don't mind, I could eat them every day. Some got pretty large this past week. The ones that are sold at the farmer's market are pretty small. I've decided that the flavor of the larger peppers is the same as the smaller ones, but the small ones are much more tender.

• Sauteéd Pimientos de Padron
• Manchego Cheese
• Grilled Salmon (Marinated in soy sauce, green onion and honey)
• Grilled Cherry Tomato Pasta with Crisp Breadcrumbs and Basil (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p, 51)

Wine: 1999 Limerick Lane Collins Vineyard Zinfandel (Russian River Valley, California). Can be really good but I think this bottle was a little past its prime. A Pinot would have been better with the salmon but I was craving a juicy Zinfandel.

I tried out my new Villaware Panini Grill today. I made sandwiches for lunch - tomatoes, pesto, and sharp white cheddar cheese on sourdough bread. They were excellent. I also made some appetizers for Jay and Larry before dinner - just mushrooms, olive oil and salt on sourdough. I think they look really nice. Jay and Larry thought they were good, not fantastic.

- This bean salad is one of our summer staples. It's really good. I've never actually made the tuna confit part of the recipe - I just use albacore that I poach in olive oil, lemon slices, rosemary, salt and pepper.
- I absolutely loved these popovers. They were really easy and come together quickly in the blender. I'd like to try some of the variations - herbs, parmesan, etc. Jay and Larry thought they were okay, but they don't love popovers like I do.

• Cremini Mushroom Toasts (Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book, Nancy Silverton, p. 17)
  
• White Bean Salad with Fresh Tuna Confit (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 69)
  
• Popovers (Fine Cooking #50, May 2002, p. 44)
  
• Hearts of romaine with Caesar Dressing (The Best Recipe, p. 42)
  

Wine: David Coffaro 2002 Pinot Noir (Sonoma County, California). Good everyday Pinot. A bit young and closed, but nice.

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)

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.

Larry and I went to a book signing at Books Inc. last night - Christopher Kimball of Cook's Illustrated is promoting their new book, Baking Illustrated. I looked through Baking Illustrated, and it looks good - but I was more interested in the third America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. Mr. Kimball doesn't seem to be a warm, engaging person. That just may be how he is in crowds, but I wasn't impressed. Nonetheless, I like Cook's Illustrated - I think the recipes are as reliable as those in Fine Cooking, just not quite as interesting. One of the recipes in Baking Illustrated got me craving calzones. I found the same recipe on the web site (available to subscribers, I don't think the recipe ever appeared in the printed issue).

- I cut the six-serving calzone recipe in half, but still only made two calzones. They were huge, and Larry and I just split one between us. They were excellent. The recipe has a couple of variations, but this is the one that appealed to me most. I've never made calzones. I skipped the pizza dough part of the recipe, and opted for Trader Joe's pre-made dough. I hate making pizza dough, and have always just gotten it from a pizza parlor (many sell raw dough). It's cheap, good and fast.
- The tomato sauce for the calzones was really good. It took fifteen minutes to make. I want to make it during the week - it would be great with capellini.
- The spinach salad was good, but we both like the other warm vinaigrette I've made in the past - this one didn't have mustard in it.
- There was a dark chocolate tasting at the book signing last night. We had a lot of chocolate left over, so we decided to open a bottle of port to go with it,

• Ricotta Calzones with Red Peppers, Spinach and Goat Cheese (Cook's Illustrated, September/October 2003)
• Simple Tomato Sauce (Cook's Illustrated, September/October 2003)
• Wilted Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing (Inside America's Test Kitchen, Cook's Illustrated, p. 101)
• Dark Chocolate (Baker's, Ghirardelli and Scharffenberger)

Wine:
- David Bruce 1999 Ranchita Canyon Sangiovese (Paso Robles, California). Good everyday Sangiovese. We have another nine bottles of it still.
- Teldeschi 1997 Zinfandel Port (Dry Creek Valley, California). Not bad. It was one of the first bottles of wine Larry and I bought together.

Martin was here for dinner tonight. I made his favorite fish, halibut. I decided to make the cornflake-crusted recipe again because it was so good.

• Cornflake-Crusted Halibut with Chile-Cilantro Aioli (Cooking Light, March 2004, p. 182)
• Wilted Fennel & Spinach Salad (Fine Cooking #63, Feb/March 2004, p. 83C)
• Orzo with Butter and Parmesan

Wine: Forth 2002 Sauvignon Blanc (Mendocino County, California).

I had leftover Napa cabbage, so I made Chinese Chicken Salad tonight. Normally I make this with iceberg lettuce, but it's just as good with Napa cabbage. This is a really good salad. I had an odd problem with frying the rice noodles tonight. I don't know if it was the package or the brand or what, but they didn't puff up like they should have.

• Madame Wu's Chinese Chicken Salad (Dear SOS: Thirty Years of Recipe Requests to the LA Times, Rose Dosti, p. 59)

A pretty plain dinner tonight. I was craving beef. Larry really liked the fennel and spinach I did with the scallops last week, so I made that as a side. I was in kind of a hurry, so it wasn't as good as last time - it needs to be cooked fully before adding the spinach.

• Pan-Seared Filet Mignon
• Wilted Fennel & Spinach Salad (Fine Cooking #63, Feb/March 2004, p. 83C)
• Baked Potato

Wine: Christopher Creek 1999 Estate Reserve Syrah (Dry Creek Valley, California). A really good Syrah, well balanced and perfect with steaks.

Another excellent scallops recipe from Fine Cooking. Larry loved the spinach, and I thought the fennel was excellent this way. The recipe serves four, so I cut it in half. I ended up adding more spinach because it wasn't enough. Next time, I'll make the full recipe and just cut back on the amount of scallops. The recipe also calls for segmented oranges, but I didn't think they added anything to the dish. Instead of adding the orange juice to the top of the finished scallops, I added it to the pan to deglaze it, then drizzled that on top of the scallops. Yum!

• Seared Scallops with Wilted Fennel & Spinach Salad (Fine Cooking #63, Feb/March 2004, p. 83C)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Trader Joe's is stocking albacore tuna again. They haven't had it for several months now. To celebrate, we had the yummy tuna and bean salad again. And, of course, garlic bread.

• White Bean Salad with Fresh Tuna Confit (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 69)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Jay was here for dinner tonight. We had a busy weekend and I didn't feel like making anything fancy, so we had the bean and tuna salad again. Jay liked it a lot.

• White Bean Salad with Fresh Tuna Confit (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 69)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

Wine: Ridge 2000 Lytton Estate Grenache (California). Not the best pairing for the meal, but I opened it mainly because I wanted a glass of wine before dinner. Wow, it is a really nice wine. Fruity with balance, nice tannins.

Larry and I had a filling lunch today, so we wanted something light for dinner. I had fresh poached albacore tuna in the refrigerator, so I used that instead of making the tuna confit from the recipe.

Trader Joe's is now carrying fresh albacore tuna, and at a great price. As long as they carry it, fresh poached tuna is going to be a regular item in our refrigerator.

This is a great recipe for two - I halved it, and is a fast and make-ahead meal.

• White Bean Salad with Fresh Tuna Confit (Fine Cooking #46, September 2001, p. 69)
• Sourdough bread with Sauteed Garlic Butter (Fine Cooking #43, March 2001, p. 49)

I wanted to make something similar to a dish Amy had at Central Market when I was in Austin last week.

- I marinated firm tofu in soy souce, garlic, and Asian hot sauce. I put it under the broiler, but there are a couple of things I'd do different next time. First, I'd broil it ahead of time so that it's served at room temperature. Second, I'd broil it longer. I had to turn it over once to cook both sides thoroughly.
- The Asian Slaw was excellent. I cut back on the peanut butter, because I just don't like peanuts. I used Napa cabbage instead of plain cabbage. This could be a very quick salad with bagged cabbage - I saw one at the store with red and green cabbage and carrots.

• Broiled Marinated Tofu
• Super Slaw (Bon Appétit, July 1998)