Cancún- A Vacation in Paradise

We've just returned from a one-in-a-lifetime wonderful vacation to Cancún. Our oldest son, Erik, hosted us at one of the resorts that he manages (he is head of HR over several companies). It was a marvelous, wonderful, rejuvenating, relaxing and luxurious 5 days in the sun; made all the sweeter because we left 18" of snow at home. We left 20°F in Springville and found 20°C (68°F) in Cancún. Since we didn't want to leave our house at 0-dark-thirty we spent all day Friday traveling. Erik and a private car (Suburban) with driver picked us up at the airport. We were welcomed into the vehicle with cool, damp, scented washclothes and cold bottled water.

The next morning when I opened the curtains I was greeted with paradise! This is the view we enjoyed each day. Ahhhh...

SECRETS SILVERSANDS MAYA RIVIERA RESORT 

Erik is quite adventurous in his eating and recommended the octopus for dinner the night we arrived. I've eaten octopus before, but nothing like this. It was tasty and the ends of the tentacles were wonderfully crispy!

Saturday was our day to see the markets in downtown Cancún. We stopped at the the famous Cancún sign, and since there was quite a line to take a photo in front of the sign, we opted to go down on the beach to get our photo op. (And, yes, I used some creative editing to get Cancún facing the right way!)

It is winter in Cancún so the days were cool, never above 23°C (73.4°F) and the nights were cooler, 18°C (65°F) Frankly it was cooler than I had planned on. Next time I will bring a couple of jackets or sweaters.

THE BEACH BY THE CANCUN SIGN

There was a little playground on the beach and Gordon wanted to get a couple of cute shots...

Who knew? This takes me back to the days of our honeymoon 34+ years ago when we ended up falling down laughing in the aisle while trying on tennie-runners at K-Mart!

The markets were interesting. One of my favorites were these *chicken-dance* pollos! Bwahahaha! Can't you just hear the chicken dance music?

I found a pretty white blouse at a cute little shop that Megan likes and bought it to be my Provo City Center Temple blouse. It makes me happy just thinking about it!

Erik was in search of some little embroidered purses to take back for Megan. We eventually found them, but not before we found this guy who was serving mangos on a stick. He expertly peeled and cut it to look like a flower. Then he added some non-spicy red sauce, lime juice, salt and, for the brave, a hot chili powder (I passed on the spicy!) It was delicious and I was glad there were the aforementioned damp cloths in the Suburban with which to clean my face, between slurpey, juicy bites and eventually my hands.

And although we'd eaten a sumptuous breakfast Erik had a hankering for food from one of his favorite restaurants. I was still quite full so only ordered a tomato-avocado salad. Yummy!

This was Erik's quest... chapulines (grasshopper tacos)! I HAD to try them and they were actually quite tasty with a crunchiness from the legs. But the best part was the freshly made masa tortillas being cooked right there in a corner of the restaurant! I could have eaten a dozen... but used my willpower!

Dinner that night was at the Bordeaux restaurant at the resort. When we'd made a reservation earlier in the day I asked the manager what he would recommend. My meal started with escargot, continuing with French onion soup, grouper fish and ending with crème brûlée. It was wonderfully delicious from beginning to end. (So much so that the next night I went back alone, while Gordon watched the Super Bowl, in Spanish, and had it all again substituting a salad for the grouper fish)

There was ample time to wander the resort, soak up the sun, take photos and relax.

EGRET IN THE LITTLE LAGOON AT RESORT

I will be back over the next few days with more posts about each day in paradise.

Blueberry Cheesecake

I think Camille's friend, Jamie, says it best about this luscious dessert!

"Oh my stars 'n stripes... that looks amazing!"

I found this a year or so ago on Pinterest and it is a definite Pinterest WIN! I've made it for the last two 4th of July celebrations here at mine house!

I've had several requests for the recipe, so I will share it here. Mind, this isn't my recipe- I got it from a Polish blog! I've added some notations in the recipe if you don't cook metric or don't have a scale.

Blueberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust:
100g (1cup) crushed whole wheat cookies (store bought or home-made) (I used graham cracker crumbs)
1 / 2 cup oatmeal
3 tablespoons of brown sugar
pinch of salt*
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (*I just use salted butter and omit the salt)
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:
40g powdered gelatin - 3 pkgs (I found this is the best amount even though it isn't 40g)
1/4 cup water
400g cream cheese, softened (the better part of 2- 8 oz pkgs. About 14 oz)
250ml heavy cream 30% (a generous cup)
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 cups blueberries, washed and drained

For the topping:
250ml heavy cream 30% (a generous cup)
3 teaspoons of vanilla sugar (I used 2 tbs of super fine sugar and 1 tsp vanilla)
1 cup blueberries, washed and drained

Crust:
1. Place oatmeal and crushed cookies (or graham cracker crumbs) together in a food processor. Pulse to grind up the oatmeal. Add melted butter and vanilla. Press into the base of a 20cm
round x 9cm (8”x 3”) spring form pan and bake at 350°F (180°C) for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely at room temperature. (Or be like me and stick it in the freezer!)

Filling:
2. In a small saucepan soak the gelatin in 1/4 cup cold water (for about 10 minutes), and then put on a
    heat and warm up stirring until dissolved. (Do this in saucepan, not microwave! yikes what a mess!)
3. Mix together cream cheese and sugar in a mixing bowl with beaters. Slowly add heavy cream, and
    mix well. Add vanilla and lemon juice.
4. Purée blueberries in a food processor and mix with cream cheese mixture.
5. With mixer on low slowly add the warm gelatin, after ingredients are combined let it stand for a
    few minutes until it start thickens.
6. Pour evenly into the chilled base, smooth the surface and refrigerate for about 4-5 hours,
    but best to leave overnight. (or do the freezer thing again)
7. Before you unlock the spring form pan, run a knife around the edge of the cheesecake to loosen.

Topping:
8. Whip the heavy cream with vanilla sugar. Cover top of the blueberry cheesecake with whipped
    cream and blueberries.

Enjoy:)


http://www.malacukierenka.pl
(this recipe comes from this Polish blog!)

Super Mercado Vallarta

At least fifteen years ago, maybe more, Stuart was on an exceptional soccer team. They were the little team that just kept winning. This team ended up going to Tri-sectional play-offs and took 4th place. To put that in perspective... 4th placeout of over 1000 AYSO teams from So CA, Nevada and Arizona. Yup, it was a fun year.

After that last game we needed to have a wonderful *end of season party*. Most other years this meant we went to one of the local pizzerias. But this year, since the team was predominately Hispanic, it meant a wonderful Mexican fiesta COMPLETE WITH CARNE ASADA! I don't think any of us had ever had real Mexican food and we were hooked (except I can't like the roast jalapeños) Our friend, Josephina Aquinaga (I love how that name rolls off my tongue!) kindly showed me how to make my own carne asada. Bless her! (But I can't turn it with my bare fingers... I use tongs!)

It became a tradition to have carne asada for 4th of July and other fun bbq holidays, or just when we needed a yummy treat. I always shopped at Super Mercado Vallarta. At the time there was only one market in the Antelope Valley on Palmdale Blvd. A quick internet search revealed that it is SMV #4. Now there are several in Palmdale and Lancaster. One thing that I've really missed since moving to Utah is a good carnicería so when I go back to the Antelope Valley I always stock up on carne asada seasoning from Super Mercado Vallarta.

Thursday evening I got a text from Rebekah-

"Hey. I've got a crazy request...
Could you bring me carne seasoning from Vallarta market?
Caden is addicted and we need more. Pretty please?"

Grammie did Caden one better! I got the whole carne asada dinner makings: seasoned carne asada meat, avocados, tortilla chips, fresh, hot tortillas (yum), and the ingredients for *pico de gallo de gringa* (extremely mild pico for babies like me).

Walking around Super Mercado Vallarta is akin to a trip to Disneyland for me. And look what I found!

I think it is some kind of sausage, but I wasn't brave enough to get any!

We had a wonderful feast. Caden was the cook. Rebekah commented that he kept putting meat on the plate for her to cut up but each time she went back the pile of cut meat was the same as before. Hey, someone has to eat the *BAD* pieces... it might make everyone else sick!

*When Life Gives You Lemons...*

Make Lemon Curd...

OK... here's a question???

Why do lemons get such a bad rap? I happened to love lemons. I used to eat them with salt when I was a kid. Lemons smell so fresh and clean.

Lemons are yummy additions to so many dishes...

• Fish
• Desserts
• Breads
• Pies
• Lemon Curd
• OH... I could keep going!
  

If you are going to make lemon curd the first thing you NEED! is a microplane. If you don't have one, RUN- don't walk, to the nearest store and BUY ONE! I had no idea what I was missing with my old grater.

Another thing you need is butter... cut into 1/2" cubes... don't they look so pretty!

But the very best part about making lemon curd is the EATING! YUM!

The worst part?

That would be cleaning up the kitchen.

So let me share (again) friend-Sheri's recipe for lemon curd.

LEMON CURD
7 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 Tbs granulated sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh grated lemon zest (micro-plane)
4 Tbs butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (Sheri says unsalted but sometimes I don't have it.  I say I never have unsalted butter so I use the salted kind instead of adding salt to the recipe)
3 Tbs heavy cream

Whisk the yolks, whole eggs, and sugar til combined. Whisk in juice, zest and in a medium non-reactive* saucepan . Add butter and cook over med/low heat stirring constantly til curd thickens to a medium, sauce-like consistency, about 5 min...but I usually go to about 170 degrees. (I seem to be candy thermometer impaired!  If I put it into the pan with the cute little clippy thing then I end up scorching whatever I'm cooking under the end of the thermometer.)

Strain through fine mesh strainer into non-reactive bowl and stir in the cream.

This is so yummy on toasted English muffins... or just about anything. Sheri says she loves it more than chocolate!

** Inquiring minds want to know?

Non-reactive material- clay, enamel, glass, plastic, or stainless steel.  

Reactive material- Aluminum- imparting a metallic taste, and can discolor light-colored soups and sauces, especially if you stir them with a metal spoon or whisk.

French Toast Heaven

Last night was our neighborhood Christmas Party.  Instead of the normal ham and funeral potatoes fare the organizers opted to do "breakfast for dinner".  I happened to be one of the people who LOVE breakfast for dinner.  (Probably because at breakfast time I only want oatmeal!)

The ward provided pan-cake-ree-uses, french toast sticks and the beverages. The we all brought a breakfast casserole: most of those were different forms of quiche but, BUT Carol Gadd brought the most heavenly-French-toast-casserole-stuffed-with-blueberries-and-cream-cheese AND fresh blueberry syrup!  I could have eaten half of that ALL BY MYSELF... but I was considerate and only took a small corner.  BUT I have been craving it ever since... guess what we will be having for Sunday dinner?

** as promised... the photo 12/18/11


I tracked Carol down for the recipe- which she told me right then and there!  When I called back this morning after my trip to Wal-Mart to get the ingredients for said yummy stuffed French toast we got to talking about WHY I love French toast so much.  I thought it would be fun to share those reminiscences here.

I was the baby of the family by 8 years so that meant lots of years with just Mom and I at home.  I had the best, most dedicated mother!  She was all about her children, even though she worked full-time and single was raising us alone.  I didn't care for breakfast cereal, always an easy option for working moms, so my mom would get up early enough to make me french toast EVERY MORNING!  Then she would put it on the Copper Kraft warming tray*, covered, and when I got up for school there would be my yummy, hot breakfast!

It is interesting how we only come to appreciate the depth of our parent's dedication to us only as we get older.  I though everybody's mom was just like my mom!  What a lucky girl I am!!

*(My mom loved cooper cookware.  We had Revere Ware copper bottom pans that hung on the wall and always had to be cleaned with Twinkle copper cleaner to make them sparkle after each use.  In the 1960s there was a company doing business as Copper K(c)raft that sold wonderful copper cooking items.  Mom got this warming tray especially for this purpose.  I realize now that this was an extravagant purchase to accommodate her little Joanie!  This tray was made of corrugated copper and plugged into the wall similar to a grill... but only for warming-duh! A Google search didn't bring up anything like this, but I did find another company who sells copper cookware for anywhere from $298 to 1675!  Yikes!! And those are the sale prices!)

I will share the recipe here with you.  Thank you Carol for this wonderful trip down memory lane.  I'll come back tomorrow and add the photo.

Baked Berry/Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast w/berry syrup

Casserole
12-14 slices white bread
2 8oz packages cream cheese, cut into cubes
12 eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup
2 cups milk
1 cup berries- blueberries or berry mix (fresh or frozen)

Remove crusts from bread and cut into 1” cubes. Arrange half of the bread in a buttered 9 x 13 pan. Top with cream cheese cubes and half the berries. Add remaining bread cubes and berries.

Beat together eggs, milk and syrup. Pour over bread mixture. Cover with foil and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Bake at 350° covered for 30 minutes then uncovered for another 30-40 minutes until golden brown and center is set.

Berry syrup
1 c sugar
2T corn syrup
1 c water
1 cup berries
1 T butter
Bring water, sugar and syrup to boil. Cook for 3 minutes. Add berries and simmer 8-10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter.

Fried Zucchini

One of the difficult things about moving to a new location is that you miss what you've left behind: friends, places, the beach (sniff) and favorite eateries! A few of my SoCal favorites are- (in no particular order)

• In 'n Out
• Panera Bread
• Steer n' Stein
• Cielito Lindo (on Olvera St in LA... yummy taquitos)

The first one, In n' Out has finally appeared here in Utah and Salt Lake Valleys, but, sadly, I have to live without Panera Bread and Steer n' Stein.  (I've got taquitos covered!) My favoritest thing about Steer n' Stein is their Fried Zucchini... ON MY YUM!! There are times I just crave it! But, sadly, I am out of luck. I've begged several local restaurants to serve it, but none of them have... sniff...

OK here's where the long part of the story comes in...
SO Tuesday I stripped all of my tomatoes off the vines since it was going to freeze. I have 3 BYU ice cream buckets (3 gallon size) full of green to somewhat-ripe tomatoes. Then on Thursday I thought I'd give Fried Green Tomatoes a try (since I've never had them and love the movie by the same name.) I went to my "go-to" resource- Google (BTW- what did we do before the internet?), found a recipe for said fried green tomatoes, made them, shared them and decided that they weren't my favorite.

But that got my little brain to thinking (duh, what took me so long??). Why don't I just make my own fried zucchini? (again with the DUH). I knew that the batter at Steer n' Stein was similar to a tempura batter, one of my favorites; as opposed to bread crumbs or cornmeal. I Googled my-little-Joanie-girl-self up a tempura batter recipe that looked right (I knew it needed to have cornstarch), bought some zuc's and decided to give it a try.

Oh! My! Stinkin'! Heck! (You'd think I live in Utah or something!) I think I've nailed it! Camille and Kevin, Stuart and Anna* were here to partake and all agree that I've succeeded in bringing Steer n' Stein to Utah Valley.

NOT THE GREATEST PHOTO... BUT, OH WELL... IT TASTED YUMMY

So I will share my secret with you. I hope you enjoy them.

FRIED ZUCCHINI

• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup cold water
• 1 egg, separated
• 1 cup flour, for dredging
• salt and pepper to taste
• 3 1-inch diameter zucchinis
• Parmesan Cheese (the shake-a-shake kind, not shredded)
• BYU Creamery's Buttermilk Ranch Dressing (ok... I guess you don't HAVE to have it from BYU, but that is the best!)
• cooking oil

DIRECTIONS

Wash zucchini.  Cut in half lengthwise then cut each half into long spears, usually 4 per half, but you can make them smaller.  Place 1 cup flour to a plastic bag (I just used the produce bag I had the zucchini in). Add salt and pepper to taste (I like the grindy-grindy kind). Dump in the zucchini spears and shake, set aside.

Tempura batter
Sift together 3/4 c flour, cornstarch, and baking soda.  Beat together cold water and egg yolk.  Stir into flour mixture.  Beat egg white until smooth and frothy.  Stir into batter.

Heat about 3/4" of cooking oil in a heavy pan (I love to use my enamel covered cast iron  Dutch oven for frying, it has wonderful even heating and the high sides eliminate the spatter mess!) to 350 degrees.

When oil is hot give the bag of zucchini spears another shake, dip the floured zucchini in the tempura batter, carefully add to hot oil. Don't crowd your pan.  (I can fit 6 in my 6.5 quart Dutch oven). Fry 3-4 minutes until golden brown, turning once.  Remove to paper towels to drain.  Place fried zucchini on serving plate, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Enjoy them plain or dipped liberally in Ranch dressing!  It is a true taste treat.


* Bet you thought I forgot about my asterix!  Anna is Stuart's Canadian girlfriend, here for a visit.  We like her a lot.  I'll keep you posted...

Too Many Cooks

Camille and I drove down to Palmdale on Monday for Andrea’s funeral. It was a beautiful funeral with the necessary mix of tears and laughter, memories and hopes of a glorious resurrection. I’m grateful we could be there.

Later that day after an obligatory Wal-Mart run we came back to Auntie P’s with the making for a fun bbq. Apparently we must have been hungry when we went shopping because we all came back with our idea of a fun dessert. Spencer, Deborah and Riley came over to Auntie P’s to join us.

I’d found some yummy peaches that just begged to be made into a fresh peach tart (you know my favorite tart this summer with fruit d’jour?). The only problem is I decided to plug in the hand mixer before I put in the beaters! This is a somewhat authentic reenactment of the original incident... no Grammie’s were hurt in the process!



Ah, but Sonny... she’d found some ginormous *muush-mallow* and wanted to make s’mores. After roasting burning the marshmallows over the gas range she realized it wasn’t hot enough to melt the chocolate... soooo she microwaved the whole mess! Mess is right!



I think this is the *mush-mallow* that ate Cleveland!



Camille wanted to try the same thing...



(I love Sonny behind her! Bwahahahaha)



It was so nice to have an evening to visit with family...

CAMILLE, DEBORAH AND JOANIE

And be with little Riley again... he is such a sweet boy!



The part I love about family is that when you get together it is like no time has passed. I suppose that is what happens when you’ve known each other for a good portion of your life. Here is Camille and Sonny cheesing it up together... they’ve known each other since Camille was a toddler but now they interact as peers! I love it!



And now today, Thursday, Mams and Mum are motoring it back home to Utah!



(Thank you to Auntie P for these wonderful photos... my camera made the trip but hardly came out!)

Red, White & Blueberry

About a month ago I posted about a wonderful Strawberry tart I made. Yesterday I was hankering for it again but this time I had three different kinds of berries to grace the top...



Doesn't this look so patriotically yummy?

I did cheat on the filling (my hands just weren't up to making lemon curd yet) I used this old standby, which was good... but not as good as the lemon curd/cream cheese filling!

Fastest Cheescake
• 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 3 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated)
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1 9" graham cracker or chocolate cookie pie crust (** I used the baked crust from the original strawberry-lemon tart post)
Preparation:
In medium bowl beat cream cheese until smooth and fluffy. Gradually add the sweetened condensed milk, beating constantly. When half of the milk has been added, add the lemon juice and beat until smooth. Add remaining sweetened condensed milk until mixture is smooth. Pour into graham cracker crust and chill at least one hour. 8 servings

Summer Food

Even though we had unusually cold weather on Memorial Day I just NEEDED some summer food- you know the kind: salads; crispy, tangy salads!

One of my favorite salads is the Strawberry Spinach salad but I didn't have spinach (and Gordon doesn't care for spinach). So I decided to improvise- I love that way of cooking. There is always an element of serendipity in improv!

What I DID have was strawberries (yum!),  iceberg lettuce, an aging avocado (how the heck did that happen) candied pecans left over from the last time I made SS salad and, to make it more acceptable to my carnivore husband, a grilled chicken breast. I made up some of the fresh strawberry vinaigrette dressing that I love and threw it all together in an aesthetically pleasing manner...



Now I have another favorite *summer food*!

Strawberry Lemon Tart

Several weeks ago my friend, Sheri, post a photo of a luscious dessert she'd made for her family! It was a strawberry mango tart! Oh My YUM! Did I ever want some!! Being an old hand in the kitchen, it was something she'd just whipped up on a whim. I hounded, begged, asked her for her recipe, which she kindly shared. BUT COULD I FIND IT? Umm, no...

So also being an old hand in the kitchen (and having the ability to Google recipes) I give you my offering of Strawberry Lemon Tart-



Strawberry-Lemon Tart
1 Easy Tart Crust Recipe (below)
1/2 Lemon Curd Recipe (below)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 pint strawberries, sliced

Roll out pastry dough in a large circle (slightly larger than your tart pan. I have a 11" pan). Carefully transfer the pastry dough into your pan. Pat it into the pan and then pinch of the extra on the fluted edge. Prick dough with a fork at about 1/2" intervals. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan to rack and cool.

Prepare Lemon Curd using the recipe below.

In a bowl whip cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy. Stir in 1/2 Lemon Curd recipe into the cream cheese mixture. Pour into cooled tart shell. Refrigerate for an hour or two until set. Just before serving arrange sliced strawberries on filling. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

(This was a big hit with all the epicureans at my house last night. "It's crazy good!")

Easy Tart Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 tablespoons (or more) ice water
2 tablespoons chilled whipping cream

Blend flour and salt in processor. Add butter; using on/off turns, cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 3 tablespoons ice water and cream. Process just until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill 1 hour. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

(I used my food processor, but just turned it on high and waited for it to resemble coarse meal.  I didn't wait to roll it out and it was just fine.)

Lemon Curd (Also from Sheri!)
7 large egg yolks
2 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 Tbs granulated sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup fresh grated lemon zest (micro-plane)
4 Tbs butter, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (unsalted but sometimes I don't have it)
3 Tbs heavy cream

Whisk the yolks, whole eggs, and sugar til combined. Whisk in juice, zest and salt in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Add butter and cook over med/low heat stirring constantly til curd thickens to a thin, sauce-like consistency, about 5 min...but I usually go to about 170 degrees.

Strain through fine mesh strainer into non-reactive bowl and stir in the cream.

This is so yummy on toasted English muffins... or just about anything.  Sheri says she loves it more than chocolate!

Toas-Tite Nostalgia

Today was our first one of our first sunny warm days this month (I think we many have had one other day)! I knew I needed to get out and do yard work. Work is good for my soul this time of year**!

I was nearly finished with my work and was thinking how hungry and thinking *Hmmm, what to eat?* All of a sudden it popped into my mind... Mom's sandwich maker that lives on the top shelf of my pantry, which I'd just seen on Sunday when I was putting things away after family dinner.

So, I have to know, how many of you know what a Toas-Tite is, or have one? A quick Google search found this cool old ad.



Now, for those of you who don't know what a Toas-Tite is I will show and tell right now. Here's mine-
I inherited it when my Mom died 34 years ago.



You start by buttering one side  of two pieces of bread(when I was a girl we used to do both sides, but I'm trying to cut back!), add your filling- mine is leftover ham from Sunday dinner and cheese. Scootch the filling towards the middle so it stays in the samich.



Close the Toas-Tite and trim off the excess bread.



Scoop it all together and if you are really nice...



Put it into Harley's bowl for a nice puppy treat.



Then put it on the stove. Gas works so much better than electric.



Turn it several times, making sure to keep the flame low so it doesn't burn.



Tip it out onto your plate, pour yourself a cold drink and get ready to enjoy!


(NOW IF I WAS PIONEER WOMAN I WOULD GIVE YOU A CHINA CHECK RIGHT NOW... SO HERE IT IS- 
KID'S PLASTIC-WARE FROM IKEA! bwahahahahahaha)

Enjoy the yummy meltiness of this samich and remember a happy time 50-some years ago when your Mommy used to make it for you.



Happy samich... happy day.

** Tony's birthday was yesterday, feeling sad this day.

Cowboy Salsa

I love clever ideas! Debra and Jared had light refreshments at their reception: chips & salsa, cupcakes, grapes and a yummy lemony punch!

But the one that stole the show for me was the Cowboy Salsa!



I was there early to take photos of the family between the ceremony and reception. I tried one little taste and was hooked! I fantasized about it until I finally broke down on Saturday afternoon and went to Ream's and bought the ingredients to make this yummy salsa!

I will share my version of-

COWBOY SALSA

2 tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, chopped
1 bunch of green onions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 can black beans, drained
1 1/2 c frozen corn
1 pkg Western Family Italian Seasoning mix (dry) [it's WF's version of Good Seasons]
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 8oz can tomato sauce
lime juice to taste (I gave a healthy squirt from my plastic lime, maybe 1 tsp.)

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate until serving. Makes about 5-6 cups.

Dead Fish

My dad use to have a saying... Company is like fish; after 3 days they stink! Whereas this is not always true I have found that I would rather have a visit end with all of us saying, “This visit was too short!” as opposed to “Oh, schmack, I wish I’d left yesterday!!” My visits this trip falls into the previous category. It just wasn’t long enough.


[THIS PIC HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS POST EXCEPT IT IS A POT OF TINY BULBS BY BEK'S FRONT DOOR. THE DAFFODILS ARE NO LARGER THAN MY FINGERNAILS!]

I had a lovely week with the Flynn family and on Friday they all got a big treat! Uncle Stuey flew into Fresno to surprise them when they all got home from school. Those boys just idolize their *St'rt*.

And speaking of dead fish... Curt and Bek treated Stuart and I to an excellent sushi dinner on Friday night (the boys decided they’d pass on that one!) We sat right at the bar and watched Wan prepare all of our sushi rolls and sushi. I’ve decided that eel is a new favorite. Wan is a master at the art of sushi.

Saturday we drove back to Palmdale where Stuart dropped me off at Auntie P’s then hot-footed it down to Brea to visit a friend. He stayed there to hear her speak in church on Sunday.

I went to church with P in the Palmdale 4th ward (sniff, no more Palmdale 2nd ward!). I got to see old friends, some of whom I haven’t seen for years since they were split into 4th ward years before we moved from Palmdale. P told me that Glenn Tong was now on the High Counsel so when I saw him I told him I’d love to hear him speak someday. My wish is his command! By coincidence he was speaking in the Littlerock 1st Ward which meets right after 4th ward. I ditched out of 4th ward’s Relief Society and sneaked into the back of the chapel. Imagine my surprise to find more old friends!

We ended up sitting in the chapel for nearly another hour after sacrament meeting was over visiting! The happiest news is that both Ann Keelan and Pauline realized they were quilters and now we have a new quilting friendship. Happy times.

So today, Monday, finds us winging (fly little Beatrix, fly) our way home with another perk... I have Stuart to share the driving. (FYI- the trip took 8.5 hours!  It usually takes me 9.5-10.)

"Treacle Tart, Hermione?"

Since forever ago we've had a leprechaun feast every St Patrick's Day. That's just what we DO! But for the first time in 20 years I got to have that feast with my leprechaun-Bek.

Bek and I tend to be Harry Potter fans; we're known to quote it to each other (well, and sometimes to perfect strangers!). This year Bek wanted to try making some Treacle Tart.

"Treacle tart, Hermione!” said Ron, deliberately wafting its smell toward her. “Spotted dick, look! Chocolate gateau!”

She'd found several recipes, all in metric, of course, that looked promising so we collected the ingredients with care and looked forward to some treacle tart.



Oh My Stinkin' Heck! What a lot of work! The crust had to be made way in advance so it could be very cold for rolling out, we needed brown bread for the filling (which Bek made the day before), tons of butter (this is not a bad thing!), eggs, cream, lemon juice and zest... but hardest to find was treacle syrup. One recipe suggested substituting golden syrup for the treacle syrup.

The recipe called for a tart pan (which just happened to be living in my dungeon in Springville, but too bad for us, we were in YLP!) I told Bek that using a mesh-bottomed pizza pan would do. My mom used mesh-bottomed pie pans all the time. What we didn't reckon with was the metric conversion (which we got wrong), the ratio of butter to flour was too high. As the crust baked (remember in a mesh-bottomed pan) the butter melted in great waves that coated the bottom of Bek's new oven!



Isn't this so pretty? It is the crust oozing out of the holes. This is one of those *puddings* that requires two baking times: one for the crust alone and one with the filling. So can you guess what we got to clean up twice? Somehow I didn't get a photo of the finished treacle tart but I found a reasonably good facsimile here. The saddest part about treacle tart? It tasted so much like lemon bars, which we'd just made earlier in the week, that it was a disappointment.

But here is something that didn't disappoint! I love a good ol' traditional boiled dinner. Yummy!