We've Moved!

We are very excited to share with you our continued dining experiences in the same small kitchen, just a different look and feel.

Come dine with us at ... Chez Us!

French Cab Franc

We have been wanting to par-take in a WBW event for sometime, but never have had the chance. Not only is this our first one; but, it is also about an area we love - French Wines. Gary, from the Wine Library is our host for this event - thanks for picking a great region! We are not sure how to really write about a wine as we usually just drink a lot of it and write about food, so we decided to break it up with each of our comments!

We chose a 2005 Cuvee de la Chevalaerie Bourgueil at the price of $16.00

We opened the bottle and let it sit for about 15 minutes, to "breath". I did take a sip after opening, mind you, only a baby sip. It was hard on the palette - lots of rough tannins and a strong alcohol scent.

15 minutes of breathing ....... I thought the color was a rich ruby and the first smell was earthy almost that of wet dirt. The Tannins were still pretty strong and the alcohol scent was still there. L. (who loves to drink all wine, but really does not know much about them) also thought it was a bit tannic and rather light. He did taste some berries and thought the bouquet was wonderful and well as the powerful color.

30 minutes of breathing ....... I thought the smell was not as intense but still somewhat earthy/mossy. I was getting a bit of a plum scent as well, rather jammy actually as well as a bit of spice, maybe pepper. L. still tasted the tannins and felt the smell was not as pungent and he did taste some earth at this point.

1 hour of breathing and time for dinner..... I thought the wine had really softened up and you could really taste the fruit (berries/plums) as well as a bit of spice that was somewhat green, maybe a bit of a bell pepper. L. thought we should just eat dinner and enjoy the wine!

Overall, we both loved the wine, it really softened up and had lots of flavor, a rather complex wine by changing so much during the evening. We gave it a 3 wine glass rating (out of five)and would definitely drink it again. I feel that it would be a good wine to cellar and try in one year and again in two years - I see it really developing even more.

Fried Dough .... again

at least the recipe! With reference to my post about fried dough; otherwise, known as Malassadas or Filhoses, I have received many requests for the recipe. I have to apologize as I was waiting for approval to leak the secret recipe. Drum Roll please ........ Malasadas!

March Click Event

Here is our entry for the March Click Event!

Great Grandmother's Silver for everyday because everyday is special for us.

The Perfect Party Cake

Moven over at Food Art and Random Thoughts is the hostess for this month's Daring Baker Challenge. I was going to sit out it out as it has been a challenging month for me in so many other ways .... did I really need another challenge this month? As well, I was scared to have a big beautiful cake sitting around the house for L and I to devour. When I woke up yesterday morning I told L how I was going to use this months challenge as one of my two, to not do. Even though I felt it would be the easiest one I have done as of yet. Well ...... he convinced me that I should not give up and I should do it.

So, yesterday at 5pm, I was making Dorrie's Party Cake, to take over to an impromptu dinner party at our friend's J and A's home. Was I crazy to try to make a cake at 5pm for a 730pm dinner party!?!?! Kind of.......

The recipe is so simple to follow, everything just started falling into place, so easy. The house smelled of sugar, buttermilk and sweet Meyer Lemons - was delicious! Then came the time to whip up the buttercream .... I could not keep my fingers nor my sweet little god-daughters out of the shiny meringue and buttery goodness - we were being pretty naughty over the kitchen aid!

I used tart raspberry preserves for the filling as the recipe calls for. I was worried I may run out of buttercream to frost the cake so I did skimp on the buttercream between the layers - now I know better. I opted out of the coconut part of the challenge only because I am not a big fan of flaked coconut.

I was finished with the challenge by 645pm, just enough time to wipe off the flour from my hands and pretty up for a dinner party. The cake turned beautiful and what a wonderful combination of flavors. The tartness of the buttermilk, the sweetness of the raspberry preserves and the freshness of spring that came from the Meyer Lemons was really nice. The cake was light and not to dense and the buttercream was amazing light and fluffy. We served the cake with a chilled glass of Lemoncello - everyone loved it!

Thank you L for convincing me not to give up on this challenge and Thank You Dorrie for creating a beautiful recipe - we will be using this more often!

Down Under again ...

I was enticed to jump on the Donna Hay band wagon, again! Vanessa over at Vanessa Frida's Journal, enticed me! As well, I just had to make this Coconut and Basil chicken, again, as Diane and Todd over at white on Rice Couple sent us this fantastic care package, which had the missing ingredient from the recipe - Kaffir Lime leaves!

All I can say is ... these leaves made all the difference! I halved the recipe and put two leaves in, while I was yoga'ing all I could smell was lime. My stomach was a grumbling! I was simply amazed at what a difference this made. Bursting with flavor almost too much flavor - maybe just one leave next time. Sorry Honey, you missed a great dish tonight; but, I will definitely make it again for you!

French Onion Soup

I have been DYING to make French Onion soup - don't ask me why, because I do not know. Maybe it is the looming French Gourmet magazine on our counter ... not sure. L. was getting ready to leave town so I figured I would load him up on onions and garlic, not sure why I decided to do that either!

I have this recipe from Moosewood cookbook, that I use. I found it about 20 years ago and love how simple it is to make and how rich it tastes. I have tweaked it over the years ... I now slow cook the onions until they are caramelized and I add some garlic to it as well I do not make it vegetarian. I use a good rich beef stock - I love the richness of the beef stock and the color the soup turns.

To serve I toast slices of baguette, that have been drizzled with olive oil and rubbed with crushed garlic. The richness of the stock and onions really compliment the garlicky goodness of the toast!

Breakfast for Dinner

We did not make a big Easter breakfast, brunch or dinner, like we normally do. I did have a dinner planned; but, then after waking up, we decided to be low-key and just relax.

So for dinner last night, I made what I had intended for Sunday night - Eggs Benedict and roasted Tarragon Asparagus. I stole the idea from a post I saw on White on Rice Couple's blog - Sunday Breakfast. I also associate Easter and Spring with Roasted Asparagus and Eggs Benny and what the heck, breakfast for dinner is always something fun to do!

Definitely was a nice change!

Happy Easter!

From our kitchen to yours!

Virgin Pork Tenderloin Chef

I have never made pork tenderloin, even though it is one of L.'s favorite dishes. I found this recipe for a pork tenderloin with arugula endive and walnut vinaigrette in the March issue of Gourmet magazine (which is dedicated to French Bistro cooking - one of our favorites!!!). Since I was not working yesterday, I decided to make a special dinner for L.

I was a bit nervous for some reason. Maybe because it was my first time or maybe because it is one of L.'s favorite meals or maybe because he talks about how great his mother's tenderloin is. Not sure why, but I was a bit nervous.

After I laid out all the ingredients, I even read through the recipe, which is something I never do - I usually pull everything out and just start cooking. This quick read through definitely put my mind at ease and I was excited at this point, this would be easy and I was confident very good. L. poured a brandy and relaxed and I started doing what I do best, cook. The recipe was really easy, you sauté the pork with a little olive oil and then put it in the oven to continue roasting. While it is cooking you make a salad of Arugula (I used spinach, mishap at the market) and endive. After the porker is done, you make a really nice caramelized vinaigrette using the pan juices, some red wine vinegar, toasted and crushed walnuts and garlic - the garlic really gave this vinaigrette a great deal of flavor with the pork and the salad, together.

I was so happy, my tenderloin came out ultra moist, you did not even need a knife to cut it, and it was very flavorful with the salad and the vinaigrette. L. did say it reminded him of pate, maybe because the pork was so fresh? Or maybe he is use to his mother's recipe. Regardless, I am not afraid anymore and we will be eating the "other white meat" more often!

Lemon Risotto with Chili Shrimp

with Bill Granger, well, not Bill Granger himself but one of his recipes. You must be thinking that L. and I have taken Chez down under these days, first a week of Donna Hay and now Bill! I have not made on of his prized recipes, in awhile and decided that I would make this for Goretti and Patricia's last meal with us; something special.

I love this risotto recipe as not only is it light in flavor; but, with ingredients as well - no cheese and no butter. Just the basics here, stock, olive oil, onion and rice and then flavored with lemon zest and lemon juice at the end. Served with it is a spicy garlic and chili shrimp. You quickly sauteed the shrimp with some olive oil just until golden and a nice pink, then at the very end you add this wonderful paste of garlic and chilies. The finished result is a nice spicy garlic shrimp (the hot part of your dish) cooled off with a warm and ultra creamy lemon risotto. I love to serve a simple oven roasted asparagus that is lightly drizzled with olive oil and sea salt with this dish, it really compliments the lemon in the risotto.

Definitely takes you down under for a night!