Brillante - Dave Said So

I've been given this cute little award by Dave of Dave's Cupboard - the Brillante Weblog award. It is cute, isn't it? So, it is now up to me to share 6 things about ME and pass this on to six other bloggers worthy of this fabuloso award. (This is NOT, in any way, related to the real Brillante Awards).

First - Six Things About Anne:

1. I can not eat cherry pie. It's gross. I'm not sure why I feel this way, but I can tell you that I would not eat it in a box and I would not eat it with a fox. I would not eat it here or there, I would not eat it anywhere.

2. I don't own fancy schmancy kitchen gadgets. In fact, I prefer less to more. I wrote about my favorite kitchen tools once, and while I would love several large-ish fun things for my kitchen, I don't find them very necessary.

3. I'm movie-addicted. I can recite lines from many, many movies and movie lines often wind up in my daily dialogue. My oldest daughter is the same, so we can have nearly full conversations from movie lines alone!

4. I like scrapple. I don't care if it's made out of scraped hog's head and cornmeal. It's good.

5. I am the Queen of Hollandaise. I was so afraid to make it in school that I missed the day we were making it on purpose. I still had to do it the next day and was so good at it that other students would sneak off to find me and ask if I would make theirs.

6. Having to be a perfectionist, I always made Hollandaise by hand as well as meringue and whipped cream. This most likely contributed to the carpal tunnel syndrome I developed. I suffered with that for 10 years before having surgeries. I let it go so long that I now have some permanent nerve damage. I think Hollandaise made the right way was worth it, though.

I shall now tag the following Brillante webloggers with this award:

1. Kfarmer
2. Jenni
3. Kate
4. AJ
5. Melanie
6. Ian

By the way, if you've already been tagged, or just don't have the time (I usually don't!), please ignore me.

Tag rules:

1- Link to the person who tagged you.
2- Post the rules on the blog.
3- Write 6 random things about yourself.
4- Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
5- Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6- Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

P.S. - Some people can be SO PICKY! I was doing a little play on words calling this a Brilliant(e) award, and several people didn't "get it" and felt the need to email me. *Sigh*. I'll keep my humor to myself, I suppose. I've corrected it to read Brillante - which is silly, but correct.

Veggie Wednesday: The Complete Book of Garlic

When I visit my local food market to purchase garlic I have one of two choices - the usual papery skinned white garlic or elephant garlic. Occasionally I'll come across a purple striped variety, but that would be as exotic as it gets. My choices were limited to those three, and I was OK with that.

Now, though, I'm on the lookout for different varieties. Wait! There are more? You bet your garlic breath there is. How about Spanish Roja, Shvelisi, French Red Asian or Transylvanian? What about garlic that doesn't come in the usual artichoke shaped bulb? Did you know there was such a thing? Did you know that, just like apples, not all garlic tastes the same? I surely didn't.

Ted Jordan Meredith likens the varieties of garlic available to the varieties of apples we have at our disposal. Would you be OK with only Red Delicious apples being sold at your market? I know I wouldn't, and likewise, I shouldn't be satisfied with the usual Artichoke variety of garlic as the only type available to me.

The Complete Book of Garlic walks you through garlic from start to delicious finish. With chapters on Natural History, Cuisine, Therapeutic Benefits, Cultivation and Taxonomy and Diversity - you'll come away from this book a virtual expert in garlic.

If you'd like to grow garlic, simply at home or commercially, everything you need to know - the best type of soil, which variety is your best bet, how to water, when to plant and how to harvest - is included here.

I honestly never knew there were so many cultivars of garlic and I am now wiser and ready to branch out and explore my newly found options.

You can pick up a copy of The Complete Book of Garlic, A Guide for Gardeners, Growers, and Serious Cooks by Ted Jordan Meredith at the Timber Press website, or at Amazon.com.

40

Today's the day I join the big kids - I'm officially 40 years old. 4-0. Forty. Four decades. Four times ten. You get the idea. When you're a kid, you think 40 is old. I mean, OLD ... gray, wrinkled, incontinent. Now I realize that 40 is NOT old. I don't feel old and I don't look all too old, either. I mean, on a good day I look like this (a really good day):



But this is what I look like usually, so I might be getting older than I think:


Ah well, someone has to scare the kids into getting off to school in the morning, right? At least this year I'm celebrating at home and not off at a hospital visiting my husband. Happy Birthday, ME!

The Foodie Bucket List

I already went through the Omnivore's Hundred, spurred on by Cajun Chef Ryan. He left a comment on my Foodbuzz profile that got me to thinking (he seems to have that effect on me).

He wrote, in reference to his own list, "Now I have 33 new things to try before I die!". I just recently saw The Bucket List (loved it, cried too much) and I thought a list of the foods I would most like to try before I "kick the bucket" would make for a fun read.

I have to limit this to 10 (although it's more likely closer to 100) so I don't run out of space. Now, some of these foods are things I've had, but not in the proper arena, so that's been added as well.

So, read my list, grab this for yourself, and spread the word!

My Top Ten Foodie Bucket List

1. Bouillabase - within sight of the Mediterranean.
2. Tunnbrodsrulle -(HERE as well).
3. Gumbo, étouffée, jambalaya and muffuletta - all in NOLA.
4. Cafe au lait and croissant in Paris.
5. A chili-cheeseburger and hot dog at Texas Wiener II. (Again)
6. Sushi. Nope - never had it - I live a horribly sheltered life. Done, and DONE many times since 2009!
7. Paella in Valencia.
8. Maryland crab cakes.
9. Poi - in Hawaii, preferably!
10. Shawarma - missed my chance this year at Musikfest.

Ten shouldn't get anyone too far - maybe a year or two - but since most of mine involves globe-trotting, I figure it makes for a more interesting list and something to shoot for.

Last of the Tomatoes

Summer is just about over (even if the calendar reads differently) and the fresh, really good tomatoes are nearly gone. This is a super-simple way to use up a few of those red beauties.

Chicken Stuffed Roma Tomatoes
Printable Recipe

4 large Roma tomatoes, halved and seeded
1 cup cooked and diced chicken
1/4 cup peeled, seeded and diced cucumber
1/4 cup diced yellow pepper
1/4 cup salad dressing (I used, and really loved, Wish-Bone® Bountifuls™ Berry Delight™ Dressing)
salt and fresh pepper as desired

Combine chicken, yellow pepper, cucumber and dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Blend well. Stuff tomato halves and serve!