Chopped Salad with Roast Beef and Homemade Croutons - Recipe for Spring Lunch

 Lighten up!  Spring is here and summer is just around the corner (alright, alright, just let me dream for a second).  You can almost smell the aroma of ripe tomatoes, taste the sweetness of fresh corn, and wipe the juice of Georgia peaches dripping down your chin.

For now though, I celebrate longer, lighter, sunnier days with this Chopped Salad with Roast Beef and Homemade Croutons.  The salad took place of crepes on our Sunday breakfast table.  Along with the salad, I drank a glass of tomato juice.  The Artist sipped a glass of chilled Chenin Blanc.  Regardless of your beverage choice, I encourage you to chop the ingredients for the salad and enjoy the meal in the company of someone you like.

How to Roll Sushi at Home: Spicy Tuna Roll and Inverted Salmon Roll

"Do you like sushi?" I asked my Fish professor Corky Clark at the Culinary Institute of America.  "If by sushi you mean vinegar-flavored cooked rice, then no, I don't like it," said Chef Clark.  I remember his answer from over four years ago, as if he said it to me yesterday.

Well, regardless of your definition of sushi, I love it.  I prefer creative sushi rolls, with large chunks of fresh, silky fish, tobiko, fatty avocado, and exotic sauces.  I am a big fan of the Rainbow roll - a California roll draped with tuna, salmon and yellow tail (I ask to leave the shrimp off).  But I discovered my all-time favorite roll while living in Dallas - the Volacano roll: a California roll topped with scallops that have been coated in spicy mayonnaise and broiled.  My friend Nicole, who tried the roll in my company during her first sushi experience ever, said, "It's like an orgasm in my mouth."  Need I say more?

Seattle clearly doesn't have a shortage of sushi restaurants.  There are plenty of places, some better than others, scattered all around the city.  This weekend, however, we decided to roll some sushi ourselves.  A quick trip to Uwajimaya to pick up fresh fish (salmon and tuna) and a stop at HMart for rice, seaweed, and a few other staples, and we were ready to roll.

The List: Top Ten Things to Teach your Boyfriend when Sharing a Kitchen

I wasn't the one who wanted to write this list, but the Artist insisted, saying it will be very popular and bring a  new audience to my blog.  "Alright," I thought, "I shall give this a try." I am not going to lie -- the idea of finding a new audience is quite attractive, but the main reason I chose to write this post is to help new couples navigate one of the most dangerous rooms in the house... the Kitchen!

Keep in mind, the list is written from my perspective.  I consider myself very well acquainted with the kitchen, its tools and gadgets, appliances, towels, plates and platters, and the ingredients inside the refrigerator and the pantry.  My particular audience, the Artist, has a thing or two to learn.  And so I share the lessons and suggestions in no particular order in hope of a happier side-by-side kitchen existence.  Share these rules with your significant other and let me know what happens.

Save Your Herbs, Save Money ~ Basil, Parsley, and Mint "Pesto" Ice Cubes Recipe

Whenever I clean out my refrigerator, I end up throwing away bunches of wilted, wrinkly, dried-up herbs.  What I am really throwing out is money.  Straight into the garbage can go my pennies, quarters, and dollars.  I shall never see them again. Sigh.  

In order to stop the madness of throwing away my money, I had to do something drastic--immediately.  And so, I pulled out the herbs before they had a chance to die, and turned to my small food processor.

I stared at the bunches of thyme, sage, basil, parsley, oregano and mint.  The idea of putting all these herbs together did not make sense.  Instead, I chose my three favorites: basil, parsley, and mint, and hoped they would harmoniously come together.  Into the food processor they went.

Eat Your Matzo ~ Savory and Spicy Matzo Brei Passover Recipe

Happy Passover!  I have been bread, pasta, and cake free for the last three days.  I even passed on a basket of bread and cookies at dinner last night.  Staying strong!


One of my favorite culinary Passover traditions is matzo brei: pieces of broken-up matzo mixed with eggs and fried up in oil as little cakes.  I grew up eating this deliciousness on a regular basis (not just for Passover), usually on Sunday mornings, as prepared by my Dad.  His matzo brei was always particularly crisp, salty, and impossible to resist.

This weekend, as a replacement for traditional Sunday crepes, I prepared a batch of Savory and Spicy Passover Matzo Brei.

BOA Trinity Salad ~ Beets, Oranges, and Avocado

A few days earlier, I shared with you a slice of birthday cake.  The sweet memories of the stacked honey cake layers still linger.  But that sweetness had to wait until after dinner.  What came before the cake was a culinary experience of sorts, and a test of boundaries for my family.  Would a group of somewhat conservative eaters (I'm primarily pointing fingers at my dad and my brother) appreciate a trinity of beets, oranges, and avocado?  There was only one way to find out.

As I spent several hours in my parents' kitchen preparing a few salads for my birthday dinner, I came across three beets at the bottom drawer of their refrigerator.  I am pretty sure the beets were intended for a pot of borscht, but I had something else in mind for their final destination.  I decided to drizzle them with olive oil, generously season them with salt and pepper, and roast them in a hot oven.  Oranges and avocado joined the party and offered a glorious array of colors.

Let me tell you, the salad got high scores and was approved by every picky eater.

Birthday Celebration ~ Let There be Cake, Beets, and Potatoes!

Last week I celebrated my birthday! (Thank you).  While I didn't get a pony, or a kangaroo for that matter, I did get to celebrate my birthday with family and friends.  What could be sweeter, except for a slice of my mom's Honey Cake with Sour Cream Frosting and Toasted Walnuts?  Not much.  The cake was exactly what I wanted for my special day.  In fact, I was sure to request the cake on more than several occasions, weeks before my actual birthday.

The cake: layers of honey cake spread with sweet and tangy whipped sour cream and sprinkled with toasted walnuts.  The cake stood tall and proud.  Since the birthday celebration took place in the evening, the lighting did the cake very little justice.  I used this light deficiency as an excuse to ask for an extra slice of cake to take home and photograph.  I was a very happy girl the next morning!

Thank you to my mom for baking this special cake for me and for beautiful sunflowers (scroll down to see those sunny beauties!).  I hope one day to get the recipe for this cake and bake it for my own daughter.