Rest, Relaxation and Recovery

In the last few posts we hinted that we were busy with an adventure or two. Well, we returned home today. We’re well rested, relaxed and in need of a post-vacation recovery. You know how those go…we ate too much, we packed a lot into a span of a few days and well, we traveled with two kids. It was a blast, it was memorable, it was full of laughs and smiles, and it was down-right exhausting.

Not to worry though, we’ll be back soon with that overly caloric, but fantastically delicious birthday/date night recipe we enjoyed a few weeks ago as well as some new Cuban cuisine. Until then, we thought we’d revisit a healthy and seasonal recipe from last year because quite frankly we need some healthy food this week. 😉 So enjoy, and feel free to take a guess where we were (Shhhh…if you already know!).  Continue reading

A Special Treat

Today we have a special treat for you.  Our good friend Charles at Five Euro Food asked us to guest post on his delicious blog which has everything from roasted chickpeas (one of our favorites) to the Swedish Sockerkaka, and all for around five euros. The reason for the guest post? Charles is a proud new papa to one of the most adorable baby boys I have ever seen! And knowing how special these early moments are, we were more than happy to help.

Now most of you regulars know that I don’t eat chocolate. I’ve just never been a big fan. I was allergic as a child and even though the allergy disappeared, I just never grew to really like it. However…there is one, and only one, exception to this rule. No bake cookies!  Continue reading

Blue Ribbons

Before we delve into today’s post, it’s time to reveal the results of our poll. The votes are tallied and it was a CLOSE race. We had two clear leading contenders for our next cooking destination taking about 60% of the votes. And the winner is…Cuba! Cuba took Argentina by just one vote! Thank you to everyone that participated. We’re looking forward to our Cuban cooking adventure.

However, before we get to Cuba we have a few posts to share first. Today is a taste of our adventures from the State Fair.  Continue reading

Follow the Leader

It’s hard to believe, but this is our last post from Down Under. This tour seems to have gone by rather quickly, or maybe it’s just me. I really enjoyed our adventures with Aussie cuisine and have a feeling a few of these recipes will stick around (especially the Pavlova) for years to come. However, before we get to the final recipe, I thought we’d play a little game of follow the leader.

You see it’s my turn to pick our next cooking around the world destination, but I’m feeling a bit indecisive. So I thought I’d leave it up to you to decide where we go next. You lead, we’ll follow. The poll will be open until next Sunday evening. So tell us, where should we go? Click your choice in the poll below.

Now on to our last Australian dish and we’re heading back to the barbie. This time we’re going with seafood and a recipe inspired by the Sydney Fish Market, a Grilled White Fish with Lemon Rocket Pesto. The original recipe called for the use of lemon myrtle, an ingredient I had never heard of before. So after consulting good ol’ Wikipedia, I learned that it’s a flowering plant and a well-known “bushwood” flavor. I then had to learn what “bushwood” meant…it traditionally relates to any food native to Australia. Continue reading

Off and Running

One of the great things to come out of these cooler temps we’ve been having lately is my running season is off to an early start. I don’t like to run in the summer. Temps above 75 are just not for me, which is odd because I spend at least two to three times a week in hot yoga with temperatures between 95F and 105F degrees. Anyway, today was my first morning run of the season and it was a good one. Temperatures hovering around 60, not a cloud in the sky, sun shinning, flowers still blooming – it was perfect. In fact it was so perfect, I ran farther than I ever have before (without stopping to walk) and was just getting to the point of winding down when I looked up and saw a coyote about 100 feet from me. Needless to say, my run did not wind down, but rather picked up to a speedy pace (amazing what a little adrenaline will do) and I ran back toward civilization (thank goodness for early morning golfers).

I know that coyotes are probably more afraid of us than we are of them, but I wasn’t about to hang around to find out. He never came closer, but did run parallel to me, tracking my moves until I came within range of the golfers and golf carts. Then he disappeared and I ran on home. So now that I’m all wiped out (but mentally exhilarated from an exciting first run), I’m going to turn today’s post over to Mr. N. He had a “write a blog post” on his list of things to do this summer. Take it away Mr. N… Continue reading

Smoking Good Times

At the start of the summer, on one of our little weekend getaways, the four of us sat down and made a list of things we wanted to do this season. Summer always seems to go so fast, and we’re likely to let it get away from us if we’re not careful. But we’ve found that by creating a wish list we’re more likely to actually get around to doing some of the fun things we thought up and less likely to forget.

Like visiting random historic sites.

Last weekend we realized that summer was once again passing right before our eyes and decided it was time to attack making Cornish hens (which was at the top of our “foods to make” list). We invited some friends for dinner and set to work. A co-worker had recently mentioned a recipe for smoked Cornish hens and I knew that’s what I wanted to do. We found our inspiration in a recipe from the Neelys over at the Food Network. Continue reading