Last week I found myself at home instead of teaching a cooking class. That lead me to cook in my free time, obviously. Although I don’t have much photo proof to show you, I did indeed make some delicious food. Pavlovas with lemon curd, scallops with an herb chili oil, esquites (Mexican street corn salad) and crab cakes with a remoulade.
The crab cake recipe that I use (Andrew Zimmern) is the only one I need, ever. Super simple ingredients, not loaded with filler, it lets the crab shine. It’s delish!
Shawna and I hit the Del Mar races. I had some luck on my side… finally.
Winner!
It was a fun day. The weather perfect, the views even better.
Our weather has been a consistent 77-80 degrees with humidity. Leaving us craving water in all forms.
We went to Mission Bay and the Plunge at Mission beach and then back to the bay. Seeking refuge in bodies of water.
I think it’s almost time for an adult poolside day. One where I’m not lugging snacks, chairs, boogie boards, water bottles and everything else that comes along with children. More like a good book and an adult beverage!
The second session of my cooking class was International baking. I had 4 girls, all 8 years old (it can’t get much better than that).
We started off the first week making Venezuelan Alfajores sandwich cookies, Albanian cornbread with feta and green onion. Indian Nankhatai cookies and South African Karringmelkbesuits.
Since they were only 8, they were more about the creating, than the outcome. So I would invite them to use their creativity, after we completed the recipe.
This is one of the girls hand made cookie.
Each of the girls reminded me of our Aves, she would have loved being in this class.
I decided to start each day with a different approach, than I did with my cooking class.
I would find a book on video that had a story about a country that we were going to “visit” or a food that resembled one we would be making. They loved it.
And if you don’t know about StoryLine Online, and you have kids, you have to check it out!
The next week we made Egyptian butter cookies and Lithuanian sour cream pockets.
The sour cream pocket recipe did not work, something was off…
But who cares.
Next, we made mango cupcakes, and stuffed Georgian cheese breads.
I was really excited about this next recipe.
Mongolian sesame flat-bread crackers with a cream cheese spread.
But somewhere along the way, the soy sauce was heavy handed in the spread and it was too salty…inedible
But I will make that again.
We also made a really good cheese pizza.
And a not so good Romanian Easter bread.
The last day of class, I asked them to make something from the ingredients that we had left. Chopped style. They put so much heart into it. But…
You guys, this raised my blood pressure.
I just can’t with chaos.
But, they did so great.
They all used cocoa powder and chocolate chips.
Most of it wasn’t edible.
But that wasn’t the point. The point was to give them the freedom to create, with no boundaries.
I was very lucky to have that group of girls, It was such a great experience .
We get to see Dave Matthews in less than 45 days, I think…. Math is not my strong suit.
With the Dead and Company being on tour and Dave has finally gone out to tour this summer, I can’t help but remember THAT DAY.
May 20, 1995
I went to Vegas to see the Grateful Dead. It was hot, I wasn’t old enough to gamble and I remember being so afraid of being dosed with acid. You laugh, but we heard that squirt bottles had been dosed with acid, sigh. I walked into the outdoor stadium, it was sweltering, people were selling cold fruit, and squirting people with “water”, I put myself into panic mode, ha! But, then….this band came on stage and that was that. I fell in love right there. Soooo, I can NOT wait to see him live again with my favorite person.
Last Saturday I asked the girls what they wanted for breakfast. Being that we didn’t have pancake mix (no I am not making it from scratch, eye roll). They branched out. One asked for avo toast and another, toad in a hole (egg in toast). Extra, or kids who still need to dip everything they eat in a condiment, now insert eye roll.
I made a very good scallop recipe.
You had me at spicy herb oil.
Reality check. We can combine all of the herbs, add in some salt and some spice and we could pair it with anything. Steak, chicken, fish, pasta….seriously you guys, it’s so flavorful, and fresh and perfect for summer.
To give this dish a more Asian influence, add 1 tsp of sesame oil to the herb oil mixture.
This recipe comes from Chef Tory Miller
Pan-Seared Scallops with Heirloom Tomatoes & Spicy Herb Oil
INGREDIENTS
8 Jumbo Scallops
Salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste
2 Tbs Butter
Herb oil
1 Tbs fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 Tbs chopped fresh chives
1 Tbs chopped fresh mint
1 Tbs chopped fresh Basil
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 Tbs minced shallot
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs fish sauce
1/4 cup evoo
1 fresh Thai chili, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh, ripe cherry tomatoes
1 lime, halved
Pat the scallops dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the scallops and cook without turning or moving until they start to turn brown around the edges. Add the butter to pan. When melted, use the butter to baste the scallops to complete the cooking. Do not turn the scallops. This whole cooking process should take around 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and set the scallops on a paper towel lined plate.
To make the herb oil, mix all the ingredients in a bowl and stir well.
Arrange the tomatoes on a plate. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cooked scallops and drizzle with the herb oil. Squeeze the lime juice over the entire dish.
A few months before our trip to Greece I landed a gig to teach a summer cooking class to kids. The days, times and location worked out brilliantly with our schedules. I was given all of the recipes for the cooking session, then I went shopping for the ingredients on the Sunday before class or that Monday morning. There is a Pavilion’s right near the school, that was so handy! The company dropped off bins full of the cooking utensils and tools I should need beforehand, so all I had to do was unpack the groceries and prep for the class.The plan was to teach two separate sessions, three weeks each. The first session was a cooking class the second was a baking class.
My cooking group consisted of 3 boys and 3 girls, ages 6-11 and they were awesome!
Each day we made two dishes/recipes. I would get to the site early and prep all of the ingredients (mis en place), the cooking equipment we would be using, and presented it on a table for easy accessibility. I wrote on each recipe card who was going to do what. Little Billy (names have been changed) will cut onions, Rose will grate cheese and so on and so forth. That way I knew that everyone was participating throughout the entire class. After a quick demo of what we were going to make and asking them about some of the ingredients, we dove in. I didn’t do any of the cooking, they did it all. I guided them, I handled the hot oven, any boiling water and the washing of knives, but other than that, they did it all. And man, they kicked ass!
The first week we made.
Gumbo, flapjacks, carrot casserole, porridge bites, egg casserole, spinach mac n cheese, Spaghetti with meatballs, and omelettes.
They were pretty good eaters. I will say that by the second week, one girl was begging to stop using onions, HAHAHA! I feel like every recipe called for onions.
When we were done with both dishes of the day, we sat down and ate together. I would bring in juice mix and they would take turns making a pitcher of lemonade or fruit punch, yes, of course it was sugar free, not my first rodeo lunatics. Then, if we had any free time before the class ended, we would play heads up or trivia or maybe just draw Whatever they wanted to do as long as it wasn’t swinging from the rafters or playing chase, boys, I am looking at you.
The second week we made;
Mash and gravy, meatball stroganoff, brussels sprout and parmesan salad, hot dogs with a veggie chili, Naan personal pizzas, macaroni and cheese and a fruit salad.
This pasta recipe, you guys, was soooooo good. I know it doesn’t look great and honestly when I read the recipe I wasn’t sold. But it’s good, guilty pleasure BBQ side dish good.
I will share the recipe.
The final week we made said pasta salad, pizza pockets, veggie sushi rolls and eggs with pico de gallo.
We had family over for dinner, cake and pressies. Celebrating Averi and Aileen who have birthdays one day apart.
Averi’s cake was chocolate with vanilla frosting but I apparently I added too much lemon zest (said the girl who loves lemons) and they didn’t like it.
For fucks sake.
Aileen got a Julien apple pie, she is much easier to accommodate.
The girls went to bed and the adults played a fun game, before we knew it, the night was over. Happy birthday ladies.
Yes, we did make it to Great Wolf Lodge in case you were wondering. It happened sooner than we originally planned for, aka turned into a spur of the moment situation. We decided to keep it a surprise from the girls. We told them that we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s and that we were meeting them at the their pool. So the girls packed the night before and let me say, Kaili wanted to pack every damn thing, she wanted to give this and that to Grandma and I felt guilty as hell for lying. Come morning, we packed up the car and headed out. Passing our normal Laguna Niguel exit, luckily they didn’t notice with their heads in IPads. But when we got closer to GWL they meaning Shayne, realized something was off.
“Why did you say we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s? Mom guilt.
We grabbed our luggage and off we went.
Our room was ready when we checked in, so we went and dropped off our stuff so we could get to sliding.
Averi’s birthday, her choice of bed. She chose the twin, no bunk this time.
We found a table to drop our shit, thankfully, that can be the biggest hurdle. If you can’t get there early, everything is taken.
We played all day.
The girls’ Paw Passes came with it all, ice cream, golf, arcade, yada yada yada. So around 6pm we went back to the room and changed and then went for ice cream.
Then they chose their stuffies, played games and then mini golf and then and then and then. For dinner, Averi wanted McDonald’s, sigh. We had it delivered (brilliance) which saved probably $125 for not eating at the resort.
The next morning we were up and down at the waterpark when it opened, easily grabbed a table and did it all again. Once the outdoor pool area opened, Shawna and I went out and had some adult beverages in the quiet sun.
Averi decided to brave the wave pool and boogie board before we went home, we were so proud.
She did so good for her first rodeo! We stayed late into the afternoon and then decided to make our way back home. GWL is always a fun time. Next up though, maybe just Raging Waters and a motel, hahaha!
Even though we missed the 5th graders promotion, we were lucky enough to have pictures and videos taken for us.
5 years old 5th grade
We took the girls to the fair as a graduation gift, an expensive one. Rides, rides and more rides, throw in some corn dogs and farm animals, we had a great time.
I got Kaili to go on my favorite drop ride with me. I also talked her into Gravitron, remember that one? That was our favorite when I was young, loud music and spinning so fast that you can climb the walls. The girls also loved it! All of us but Averi went on a ride that Shawna and I had been eyeing, we were surprised that K and S braved it with us. It was pretty intense and I think both of the girls considered tears, but once we were back on the ground they said it was fun!
Averi however wasn’t a fan of most of the rides, she screamed for the man to “STOP THE RIDE” when we went on the one that has the cars that travel in a circle and navigate a set of hills in the process at a high speed. We started backwards and she was NOT having it. She passed on most of the rides after that, braving a fun house here and there. Oh and she did the giant slide,
Her face at the end, LOL!
We spent the next few days at the pool flaunting their obnoxious pool floaties.
Shayne got an Avocado floaty but she was not in the mood for a photo shoot.
Now we are days away from July and we have two more family birthdays coming up, AND a Great Wolf Lodge stay. The fun continues.
Our Averi is a super fan of lemon. Lemonade, lemons with sugar, lemon soda. I told her it was because when I was pregnant with her, the only thing that soothed my nausea was lemonade. I mean, I am not wrong but she probably likes those things because…sugar. Anyhow, I was telling her that Europe has Fanta Limón, well I should say that I knew Spain had it, and I was really hoping that Greece and Italy did too. I told her I would bring some home for her to try if we ran into any. I didn’t see any in Athens, Santorini or Rome. That was, until we were inside the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport.
Our alarm went off early because our Uber was to be in front of our hotel at 8:30 for our 11:30 flight. I woke up to messages saying that our flight had been delayed two hours. So we rebooked our ride for later and went and had breakfast that’s when it hit us, we wouldn’t be making our connecting flight in Toronto. Fast forward an hour and a half, we were finally checked in and we were told that our luggage would meet us in San Diego. Sweet. We found a spot to grab a sandwich for the plane and that is where I found it, Fanta Limón. I grabbed two bottles, stuck them in our carry on and we were off to Toronto. Since we missed our connecting flight to Chicago, they automatically put us on another flight, but now we were headed to Vancouver. As we sat there we kept watching the screen push back our flight time..DELAYED. DELAYED, MOTHER FUCKING DELAYED. They blamed it on the galley and clean up crew, we would soon find out that all of the airlines were lacking all crew, including pilots and flight attendants. About an hour later we were finally making our way onto the aircraft and would be arriving in Vancouver at midnight. I searched high and low for a hotel to stay at but since we didn’t get our Covid tests the only option was The Fairmont in the international terminal and it was completely booked. So with that, we found ourselves a vending machine, bought some waters and cookies, found a row of open airport chairs and hunkered down for the night.
Airplane pillows, face masks, eye masks and a few melatonin later, we actually slept a few hours at a time. The security gates opened at 6:00 am so we made our way to our future 9:30 gate for our flight to San Diego. This is when when we lost the Fanta, sigh. We completely forgot it was in our carry on bag. The TSA agent felt bad and said that we could drink them really quick, and we told him they were for our kids. With a heavy heart, I took a picture for proof and we parted ways.
Everything was looking up after that and then….our flight to San Diego, the ONLY flight to San Diego was….Yep, cancelled.
The sole purpose of us leaving Rome to be home by the 14th was our girls 5th grade graduation. We promised them that we would be picking them up at school and all getting ready together to celebrate and we had surprise dinner reservations. That was when we realized that we wouldn’t be making it home in time to pick them up or even in time to make the graduation, if we even made it home at all. There were tears, lots of tears in the airport. Once we made our phone calls to our girls, we sat outside our future gate for a flight to San Diego and then decided, f#ck it , let’s drink. Nothing says eff it like morning booze. We made our way to the bar and had a couple of morning adult beverages.
Once we landed in San Fran, we had to walk miles from terminal to terminal to find our gate. At this point we didn’t’ get our hopes up, if the plane and crew showed up, great, if not, great. So we found our gate and grubbed some clam chowder.
In a twist of events, our plane was ready and waiting and our flight went off without a hitch.
After insane amount of boarding passes, we landed in San Diego at 8:30 p.m.
Can you guess what happened next? No seriously, take a wild guess.
Yep, no luggage. I mean that would be asking for too much. On top of everything, they didn’t even know where our luggage was. We had to laugh because all we thought was, thank god this wasn’t happening a day before our wedding (Sorry C and A). We finally made it home after 9:00 pm, took hot showers and were so thankful to be sleeping in our bed instead of an airport.
Why do I feel like this title has a sexual undertone?
Two nuns were riding their bicycles through the back streets and alleys of Rome.
One turns to the other and says, “I’ve never come this way before”.
the other nun says, “It’s the cobblestones”.
It’s a Roman ending.
The alarm went off on our last day in Rome. We still had things to see, places to eat at and hands to shake. We strolled to the hotel breakfast which was quite good. Plenty of options and good coffee.
Originally we planned on packing some rapid Covid tests but totally forgot. We had a connecting flight in Canada which is still quite strict on their policies. We thought better safe than sorry, so after breakfast we took an Uber to a testing site. And, it was closed…so we hopped back in the Uber and went ahead with our day, silently hoping we wouldn’t need the tests.
The Vatican.
We arrived at Vatican city pretty early, but there were already loads of people lined up to go inside, hard pass.
The Italian Polizia Beatles on Vatican Road.
We continued our self tour and walked towards the Tiber river, heading towards Piazza Navona.
We took a break at Piazza Navona for an adult beverage and a bathroom break.
This is when we were sure that the only people who order Aperol Spritz’ are Americans, because it’s not a good drink and the Italian’s know this.
I had a place in mind for lunch near the Pantheon but it wasn’t opening for awhile and the crowds were already crazy. So we chose another restaurant and that is the one thing I hate about myself. I need to stick to my instinct, sigh. We weren’t disappointed with where we ended up, but I know the wait would have been worth it.
Can’t stop, won’t stop the pizza!
We wandered the streets heading back to our hotel.
Taking a little siesta before heading back out.
Italy was playing in England and I thought what fun it would to be watch an Italian match in Italy. So we found a pub that was televising all of the matches and hung around that area until kick off. We had a snack and did a little window shopping.
A recommended wine bar wasn’t too far away, so we popped in for a glass. Their wine list was obnoxious, The Cheesecake Factory should be jealous.
Finally we ended up at the pub with some drinks and a very uneventful fútbol match, we finished our drinks and left at half time.
Stopping off for one more sweet before bed. We had a ride scheduled to take us to the airport in the morning. We have a 5th grade promotion to catch, or so we thought….
The Art of Thyming 