by Kimberly | Feb 5, 2011 | Uncategorized
I heard the other day that the Super Bowl really is just a food holiday. While I am too big of a football fan to really agree with that statement, I do believe there can be some good food enjoyed on behalf of the two top teams in the NFL. Tomorrow: the Packers and the Steelers. (Just for the record, I am pulling for the Steelers even though I couldn’t care less about who wins.) It really is a sad day because the world’s greatest sport ends tomorrow. (At least golf is starting!)
I read many food blogs so I have compiled some of my favorite mentions here for a list of super bowl foods you can make! And enjoy.
Do you need a vegetarian pizza for the game and like mushrooms? Here is a pan pizza for you.
Jenna, one of my fave bloggers, gives us heath bar blondies. Every football game has to have a bar of some kind 🙂
Bennigans. I remember my first trip ever to Bennigans with my Dad in Tallahassee in middle school. They have the best potato skins. Here are some sausage potato skins: potato, cheese, sausage – can it get any better?
Most Super Bowl parties have an abundance of two things: meat and finger food. These meatball sliders would be perfect for any party.
Michelle comes through with these amazing appetizers. I seriously wish I was going to be home so I could have these piping hot out of the oven.
If you want to really impress your guest by making your own crackers, and have time to do other foods as well, make these cheddar crackers from Jenna. They are simple!
Its Girl Scout Cookie time and since the price of Girl Scout cookies keeps going up (and they support some organizations I would rather not give my money to), why don’t you make your own Tagalongs. Chocolate and peanut butter – always goes good with football.
This is one of my favorite appetizer recipes that I made a few years ago. So delicious! 🙂
Those should keep you busy for the big game. Whatever you do: enjoy the evening.
by Kimberly | Feb 3, 2011 | Books, food, restaurants
Today is one of those days when I wish I was independently wealthy and didn’t have a job. If I were – I would purchase a ticket to the closest airport to Big Sur I could possibly find, maybe even tomorrow, and dine at the Big Sur Bakery along the Californian Coast. Honestly, I wouldn’t go today – because its January and they may or may not be open – but maybe the first week of June.
The Big Sur Bakery was recommended to me by Jenna or Eat Live Run who lives in the area of the Bakery now and loves this cookbook as well. I really was skeptical of how good a cookbook could really be. This sets the bar. A new plumb line for cookbooks.
Honest. Ingredients. Journal-type writing. Amazing breathtaking, simply want to make you run to whole foods and make everything recipes, and beautiful mouth-watering pictures – the type I only dream to one-day take.
They care about their friends and family, their local ingredients, and specializing in their craft. And don’t let the term “bakery” in the restaurant’s name fool you. They are about craftful baking, but they love their meat and potatoes as well. They even have a pork and beer night once a year, complete with fake pig snouts. Vegans not apply (that’s why I can’t go for eleven months).
So…do you need a good read by a fire-place? Pick this up. I may not have a fire going at this moment, but this has been an amazing 3 hour journey into the lives of the owners and lovers of the Big Sur Bakery.
Tax return money, pleae come quickly, so I can buy my own copy.
by Kimberly | Jan 31, 2011 | Uncategorized
One month of 2011 down, 11 more to go. This next month is going to be busy for me in town – not much out of town.
1. I may breathe in May, on a cruise ship, to Alaska.
2. Vegetarianism is going pretty good. I’m thankful for a paycheck now so I can buy good veggies – and more peanut butter!
3. Long drives and sits at different coffee shops make me think, and there are always things I need to change in my life.
4. Hope. Hope is a strange thing when placed in the wrong place it is detrimental to your faith. That is sin. When placed in the right Person – God is faithful to fulfill it. I’ve experienced the wrong place this past week, and now am back on the right Person. He is good.
5. Sometimes I watch online dating commercials, and want to try it. But, then I go back to #4.
February: speaking in Roxboro, eating some good meals with friends, writing, working on food photography, baby shower for a dear friend, and writing – while I’m at it – I might as well do some more writing. Self-imposed deadlines, gotta love them!
Link Love:
1. Love D. A. Carson – and this is a great message.
2. Jewelry designer Jess is also a home designer – her studio makes me want to move to Chicago, or at least move to a studio and have great new stuff! Or design more of my own!
3. Does anyone need a chocolate cake recipe? I so have a craving to make this.
4. This is my spring craft project.
by Kimberly | Jan 30, 2011 | Books, food
Reading cookbooks. Such a delight. Really – there is so much more to do with a cookbook other than to cook by it. Read it. Laugh at it. Savor the pictures. This will occur if it is a well-written cookbook.
I learned the art of reading cookbooks by reading Jenna’s blog. Many of the cookbooks she recommends are now on my Amazon wishlist (linked here in case anyone wants to buy one from themselves, or me). This one, a platter of figs, wasn’t on it – but it was at my local library. I checked it out, read it, took notes, and added it to my wishlist.
David Tanis, of Chez Panisse fame, has a delightful approach to his recipes and his writing: fresh, simple, gorgeous, local ingredients.
There are four I want to try: fava bean salad, spinach cake, pears and parm, and avocado mozzerella quesadillas. His recipes are divided into seasons – which is really the only way a good fresh, seasonal recipe book should be organized. Perfect and helpful.
Here are two quotes that will stick with me:
“I was drawn to the idea that the experience of dining is an end in itself.”
“What a strange idea: comfort food. Isn’t every food comforting in its own way! Why are certain foods disqualified? Can’t fancy food be soothing in the same way as granny food?”
Enjoy a platter of figs.
by Kimberly | Jan 27, 2011 | food, restaurants
I don’t know really how you say it, but I pronounce it: good eats.
On the side of Five Points in the downtown district of the Bull City, sits a gem. Jazz, spinach gruyere dip, vegan and vegetarian choices on a full menu, wines and coffees, luscious desserts, and wifi – really – need I say more.
We walked in with only about 35 minutes for dinner. I stated that to our waiter and he was on it. Thankful for the service!
I think I may have had the best spinach dip I’ve ever had: spinach and gruyere cheese – that’s all (well, the two main ingredients) – baked in my own little ramekin so I could devour it all to myself (I did share a bite, and saved some for leftovers). No artichokes – I think I like it that way.
The sauce that I tried from my friend’s choice: chorizo quesadillas: guacamole mayo – splendid. That would go good on just about anything – but maybe perfect on a BLT. Yum.
The dude singing – perfect, not too loud, we could still carry on a conversation. Must. Go. Back. for more.
