Finger Limes

Last week, I visited my son who lives in Los Angeles. My first stop after landing was the Farmer's Market at the 3rd Street Promenade. It was Wednesday, the market day, and I headed straight there. When I lived in Los Angeles, this was one of my favorite things to do and one of my favorite markets there.

I happened upon something I had never heard of: Finger Limes. The vendor let me sample one and I had to have it! They were selling the carton for $10 each or you could buy the limes 2 for $1. I bought four.


Later that night, Alex had a friend over and I cooked dinner for the three of us, sauteed red snapper and vegetables from the market. We "played" with the limes as a topping for our fish.





Finger limes originate from Australia and are now being grown in California. They're shaped like a small pickle. When you slice them open, squeeze from the bottom, and out comes this citrus caviar! When it's in your mouth, it pops like citrus pop rocks! So much fun and delicious and so exciting finding a new food! It was really good with the fish and added to our dinner conversation.

We had a great visit and it was also good to be back at one of my favorite markets on a beautiful day in Los Angeles.

Another Lake Weekend

Last weekend, my husband and I (and our dog Haven) were able to spend another relaxing weekend at Lake Burton. Last time we were there it was summer and the lake was very active. This time, there was hardly anyone there, very few boats on the water, and it was very quiet. So relaxing!

We stopped at the market on the way and bought fresh vegetables and apples for the weekend. There was a pumpkin there called "Marina di Chioggia", a green pumpkin that said would be good for ravioli and gnocchi.

I did not buy it, just wasn't in the mood for investing the time to make either. But it seemed interesting.

There were about 10 varieties of apples. We bought about 5 different kinds and enjoyed them all weekend. I also used them to make apple tarts later in the week.

They also had cranberry beans, one of my favorites. These have a beautiful red and white outer shell, and when you cook them, they taste a lot like pinto beans, only like fresh pinto beans. I cooked them the way I've recently discovered, with a bunch of sage and lots of garlic. They were delicious!

We had a great time and it was nice to get away for a Fall weekend.

Trying New Recipes

I've tried several new recipes this week and am happy with all of them.

First, there was a recipe in last month's Cooking Light for Peanut Butter Banana Bread. I had several bananas that needed to be used and this recipe sounded good. It was!


Next, I was looking through one of Patricia Wells' cookbooks and came across a recipe for white beans. It called for a whole bunch of sage, I happened to have fresh sage and a pack of dried navy beans, so I made it. I think this was my favorite from this week's cooking. I soaked the beans for a couple of hours, then simmered them for about 3 hours in chicken broth with 10 cloves of garlic, the sage and two bay leaves. The beans had a very homey taste. I had some pork in the freezer so I cooked that in the oven and we had the beans, pork and homemade cornbread. It was good!


Next, I was in the mood to try "poaching". I bought boneless/skinless chicken breasts and used aromatics I had on hand. I poached the chicken in water, white wine, sliced lemons, thyme, salt, pepper. When it was done, I sliced it and served over noodles with poached asparagus and a baguette. It was very good!



Yesterday, I made lemon tarts. I had a lot of lemons that needed to be used. I had bought ready-made tart shells (I know!) and used a recipe I found on epicurious. It has been really hot here the last couple of days and they were very refreshing.


Next, I'm going to go experiment with making an appetizer using puff pastry and a goat cheese/herb mixture. I'll take this to book club tonight.

Then, I'm done experimenting for the week. We're going to Lake Burton for the weekend and hopefully I'll be able to just "throw something on the grill" and be done with it!

Paris Markets

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Paris was the street markets. I could have just curled up and stayed there all the time. One day, I'll go there and shop every day and cook a great meal every day from food just purchased at the markets in Paris. I wish I was there right now, planning a meal, shopping for the food, and coming back to my apartment there and preparing an awesome meal. Ahhhhhh...

I have a lot of pictures of food at the markets, but here are highlights. I went to a market street called Rue Mouffetard and another called Marche Montorgueil. Both were awesome with separate vendors for fish, bread, cheese, wine, meat, and on and on. It was heaven.


I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I could just cry, it was such heaven. I was drooling. Did I say this made me very happy?

Le Cordon Bleu Paris

Last week, I had the great opportunity to cook for a day at
Le Cordon Bleu Paris! We prepared three chicken recipes, Poulet En Papillote A La Saugle Et Au Citron, Fricassee De Poulet A L'Estragon, and Poulet Facon Sate. All three were delicious.

When I arrived, I checked in and we had breakfast of croissants and coffee. We were then taken upstairs to our cooking room for the day....we cooked in the classroom dedicated to Julia Child!


Our chef, Marc Thivet, spoke in French the whole time but there was an interpretor. We started with the 1st dish, Chicken with sage and lemon en papillote. Then moved on to the Chicken fricassee with tarragon sauce. We started with a whole chicken, cut it into pieces and got busy. The chicken was labeled Loue, the region it came from. Fresh chicken, free-range, never sealed in plastic!

Once we had two dishes completed, we were treated to lunch.....what a spread! Terrines, pates, cheese galore, wine, bread....It was really good and a treat.


The third recipe we made was Satay style chicken. We were given all the food we had made to take home with us. We had also made a lovely potato dish and the chef had made a vinaigrette dressing to go with salad greens, also given to us to take with us. Since "home" was a hotel room, I had some of the food for dinner that night in the hotel cafe and shared with the young man working the desk. He said it tasted like his grandmother's cooking. I took that as a compliment. The rest I shared with the hotel staff working the next day.


If you want any of the recipes, just email me at dinnerathome@bellsouth.net

What a great day!

Back From Paris

I just spent ten awesome days in Paris. I had never been before, I went by myself, spent the whole time exploring Paris except for one day-trip to Claude Monet's home and gardens.

Soon I will share highlights and pictures, including cooking at
Le Cordon Bleu Paris, the many miles of walking, eating in bistros, awesome street markets. For now, I must prepare for a client cook day tomorrow, back to reality. Stay tuned!

Pound Cake on a Rainy Sunday

It's been a nice, quiet, rainy Sunday here. And we really need the rain. The rain has cooled things off too which is awesome! Although I like summer, I'm always glad for the next season to come for the change in temperature. It's great that we live in Atlanta and actually have all four seasons.

Today I've been cooking. I made a chicken stew with cornbread muffins. I also made pound cake called "Million Dollar Poundcake." Here's what's left:

No, we didn't eat it all! We have a neighbor just home from an extended hospital stay and another neighbor, a WWII vet that we like to share meals with. We packed up chicken stew, cornbread muffins and pound cake fresh from the oven and delivered to them.

The pound cake is really easy to put together and is very moist and delicious. Here's the recipe:


Million Dollar Poundcake

2 cups butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream butter until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one.

Add flour to creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour. Stir in extracts. Pour into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour, 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan.

Enjoy!