INTO THE LIGHT AGAIN

Posted in Appetizers by sallybr

In our department at KSU one of the secretaries organizes a lunch potluck to celebrate the birthdays of the month. The email to announce the monthly event ends with “Remember, simpler is better”, but you may find a spread containing spaghetti with homemade meatballs, very elaborate curries, and fantastic snickerdoodles made from scratch (that was the case last week, and I was unashamed of sitting by that platter and turning them into 80% of my meal).

For last week’s potluck, I made a slightly different version of the Mediterranean Skewers posted last year. They are light, refreshing, fun to eat and won’t weigh you down before a substantial meal. Or a tantalizing spread of 10 different dishes offered at your next departmental party! 😉

MEDITERRANEAN SKEWERS WITH BALSAMIC DRESSING
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

30 skewers
mozzarella mini-balls (like these)
sharp Cheddar cheese, cut in cubes
pitted black kalamata olives
pitted large green olives
15 red grape tomatoes, halved
15 yellow grape tomatoes, halved

for the dressing:
2 Tbs olive oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground fennel
2 tsp balsamic vinegar (white, if available for you)
salt and pepper to taste

Line your ingredients, and have some fun: form the skewers starting and ending with a cut tomato, with the cut side facing towards the center of the skewer. Alternate the cheeses types and olives, so that you end up with many variations in composition and colors. Arrange the skewers on a serving platter.

Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients in a small bowl, drizzle over the skewers half an hour before serving. White balsamic has a nicer color for this type of dish, but if you don’t mind the brownish hint given by the regular balsamic, you can definitely use it.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

The possibilities for this type of appetizer are pretty much endless… Mozzarella and tomatoes with a pesto drizzle on top would make a nice “Caprese on a Stick”, a small bunch of Romaine lettuce squeezed between pieces of sharp cheese and grilled chicken, and voila’: Chicken Caesar on a Stick! Just make sure they are user-friendly, because if the skewers are too big, they can be awkward to eat. These ones I made were right at the limit. 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Five Grain Sourdough Bread

TWO YEARS AGO: The Nano-Kitchen

THREE YEARS AGO: Kaiser Rolls

5Sep2012

BUSY TIMES

Posted in General by sallybr

After many days struggling with this….

Followed by evenings like this…

finally… our lab is starting to shape up!

I promise a more detailed post about our lab move soon… for now let’s say we see the light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully in one more week we can resume our experiments… yeah!!!! 😉

3Sep2012

RASPBERRY SORBET AT SUMMER’S END

Posted in Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Last week a colleague from our new department in KSU stopped by my office and asked if I liked raspberries. No need to think much about the answer! It turns out that he is an amazing gardener, and a very active member of the Manhattan Community Garden, a project that started in 1974 and never stopped growing. Small plots of land are rented to whoever wants to grow fruits or vegetables. The city provides the water, tools, and a lot of advice. You can read more about it here. Maybe one day Phil and I can join and become better gardeners… 😉

Back to berries. A few hours later, our colleague comes back with a big box of raspberries, still warm from the sun! I know, I know, everyone should be so lucky! I wanted to put them to good use, so I made a delicious raspberry sorbet. Phil and I bravely fought over the last spoonful a few evenings later. 😉

RASPBERRY SORBET
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

4 to 5 cups raspberries
1 cup fresh blueberries (optional, see comments)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Make a simple syrup by heating the sugar with the water in a saucepan (or microwave) until the sugar is fully dissolved. Allow it to cool, no need to refrigerate.

Place the raspberries in the bowl of a food processor and process until very smooth, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice. Pour the puree through a fine-mesh strainer and strain the mixture, pressing down and scraping the inside of the strainer with a silicone spatula. You will need a little more than 2 cups of smooth puree. If you don’t have enough, you can use blueberries to bring the volume up.

Whisk the simple syrup and the lemon juice into the raspberry purée. Cover and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours. Pour the mixture in your ice cream maker and process it according to the instructions of your machine. Once the sorbet is ready, place it in a container and freeze for a few hours before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Making the puree of raspberries is very easy using a food processor, but I went through three sizes of strainers to find the one that allowed me to separate the seeds from the pulp without too much grievance. It is not a pleasant job, but it ensures a smooth sorbet, so Keep Calm and Carry On. I added a little bit of blueberries (simply processed, no need to strain them), to make a volume of puree that would work in my ice cream maker, but if you have enough raspberry pulp, you can get by without any other fruit. Add 3/4 of the simple syrup to begin with, once you have the base all ready, taste it and decide if you need more. Raspberries have different degrees of tartness, and if you add other berries (strawberries could work well too) you will need less sugar. I cannot think of a better way to close the season…

ONE YEAR AGO: When three is better than two

TWO YEARS AGO: Grating Tomatoes (and loving it!)

THREE YEARS AGO: A Peachy Salad for a Sunny Day

2Sep2012

MOM TURNS 89 TODAY!

Posted in General by sallybr

Big lunch celebration in Sao Paulo, a few friends and family members. We are missing all the fun, but they framed Mom’s favorite photo of our recent trip to Hawaii, so in a way, we are there!

FELIZ ANIVERSARIO, MAMAE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DONA FILOCA! 😉

31Aug2012

PARADISE REVISITED

Posted in General by sallybr

It was a trip that started with this sunset on the beach behind our backyard, at the North Shore of Oahu…

Can it get any better… ? We awakened the next morning to the great news that my stepson and his girlfriend were engaged! He invited her that morning (her birthday!) for a walk on the beach, and when they reached a beautiful spot near some rocks overlooking the ocean, he popped the question! How cool is that, folks? We were thrilled!

Phil made margaritas at sunset to celebrate the double happy event: the birthday and the engagement… Afterwards we kept our momentum with a nice dinner at the Turtle Bay Resort. Yeap, the one from that movie, remember? 😉

So the festivities began!

The beautiful house we were fortunate to find (VRBO) and the incredible beach in our backyard….

The owners of the house have two gorgeous Golden Retrievers, quite likely the happiest dogs in the known universe! They often dropped by the beach in the morning, hung out the whole day with the regulars for occasional quick swims, then came back to lay on the sand or the cool grass in the backyard. Tough life! One of them assumed the “belly rub” position at the sight of any willing human being, and stayed like that forever. Patiently waiting…
Who could resist that belly? None of us did!

We went for long walks, marveled at nature, relaxed on the beach, and took stand-up paddleboard lessons (harder than I anticipated, folks!). The strong swimmers followed sea turtles underwater.

We were impressed by the little Go Pro camera my other stepson had. The tiny thing is a workhorse! You can take it under water, clip it to helmets, to surfboards, to bikes, and make videos or serial time frames that are amazing! Take a look at this one, of the chase of a sea turtle under water (make sure to watch to the point the turtle goes up for air, it’s beautiful). He also made several time lapses of sunsets, like this one, while some other folks were preparing to camp for the night on the beach, and lit a fire at sunset.

To close the week we had a farewell dinner at Tiki’s Grill on Waikiki, with the best Mai Tais, great food and wonderful ambiance, particularly if you arrive before sunset, as we made sure we did! 😉