O.k…I know, Saturday blogsurfing hasn’t been happening.  I miss it.  You miss it.  My schedule is packed tighter than a Pork Terrine right now. Seriously.

But, better late than never, right?

I have been hungry for sweets as you will be able to tell when you check out these amazing posts.  Sorry for the lack of commentary.

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Did you hear that now the peanut butter recall has been expanded to include all peanut products, including roast peanuts, and all the way back to January 1, 2007?

I figured that I was pretty safe because I make my own peanut butter but apparently not.  How are you going to know where the peanuts were roasted? Grr…makes me mad!

But…all is not lost!

If you have a blender or food processor and a few minutes you can make some tasty alternatives to peanut butter.

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My week has gotten away from me.  Personally, I would like to go back to start over again, starting with about 5 a.m. Monday morning.

Why?

Because that was the time I was at Panera Bread in Cedar Hill, Texas gnoshing on all sorts of amazing food, slurping coffee in my brand new coffee cup and chatting with Jason Russel (Gen, Mgr.), Stan Sears (comedian Bakery Training Specialist), and Krista Moberg (Marketing).  And I had a blast.

These people LOVE their jobs, and to me that says a lot about Panera.

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I have to admit having a passion for historic buildings, and the Melrose Hotel is one that I have loved for over thirty years a few years.

You see, growing up in the Dallas area, being (at that time, the bohemian 1970s) rather the precocious teenage artist, and convincing people (easily) that I was a European college student on a study program in the United States meant that I spent a lot of time on Oak Lawn, at Oak Lawn parties, and taking pictures of the Melrose and surrounding area.

When I got the chance to go there the other day and have lunch, to see the restoration, and to interview Chef Jeff, well I was drooling at the chance jumping up and down with excitement interested in seeing the changes. Read more

Imagine a crunchy snack that satisfies your sweet tooth, is totally organic and sugar free and provides the equivalent of three servings of fruit in each snack sized bag.  Now imagine you could pick it up at Whole Foods, Wild Oats, or Amazon…for around $2 a bag.

So I guess this must be a dream come true, right?

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I wish I could call this Calvados Chicken Normandy but I can’t.  I didn’t have any Calvados but I did have a nice bottle of Crown Royal that a customer gave to Marc a couple of years ago.  What can I say? We don’t drink very much.

I wanted to make a cider reduction for this chicken and I thought that the whiskey would give it a nice mellow depth.  I was not disappointed at all, and the Hot Pepper Jelly was a brilliant touch if I do say so myself.

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I had heard of grill pans before but I figured that we had a nice gas grill, we live in Texas, and there was no need for a grill pan.

Boy…was I wrong.

You see last Fall one of the local stores gave you points for every so much spent in grocery dollars.  As you can imagine I came away from that promotion with a whole new set of nice pans..including a grill pan.

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Did ya ever wake up, stumble to the kitchen bleary eyed, and wish that Mrs. Cleaver would meet you at the kitchen door, wearing a crisply starched apron, and holding a plate of steaming muffins, fragrant bacon, and fresh, seasonal fruit?

Yeah. Me too.  Is there anyone that actually likes cooking breakfast? I think not.

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Sometimes I get really hungry for Mexican food.  I like the spiciness, the warmth of cumin and cilantro, the play of meat, spice, and grains.

Generally, Mexican restaurants make it too salty for me, and often not as flavorful as I would like.  I think that Mexican food, real Mexican food has a clean, fresh flavor that bounces around in your mouth for awhile, rather than the heavy, greasy stuff that bounces around in your stomach for awhile.

I had 2 lbs of ground pork.  I generally make a tourtiere for Marc at Christmas but this year I didn’t for two reasons.  One, I just didn’t have time and, two, I have been really frustrated with him lately.  Yeah, I am just that childish.

So, with the ground pork I had I decided on enchiladas.  I knew the flavors I wanted to taste in the sauce but I was unsure of how authentic it would be.  still don’t know about authentic but I can tell you this…

It was GOOD.

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So, everyone who knows me  in real life knows I have these amazingly vivid dreams.  Sometimes when I wake up I have trouble figuring out what is real and what is not.  I think I have reality issues anyway.

But, some of my best recipes have been created from a dream that I was eating something.  My dream last night was amazing.

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