Food

This morning on the porch I checked out "The Cooking Loft" on FoodTV with Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli. I think I've seen her either helping Flay or on Iron Chef. Not sure. She was doing tomatoes, and I definitely enjoyed watching the show, because of her general style and personality. She started by slicing cherry tomatoes and sprinking a little bit of kosher salt, fresh black pepper, and a tiny bit of SUGAR on them. Huh? Okay, I have to try that. Then she made a tomato sauce that looked pretty good - with steaks, yum.

There was one "student" (in her cooking class) this week who kinda reminded me of someone I know, so that was amusing. To-do: I need to take another cooking class in the comming year.

Last night a wonderful friend of mine came over with her family. I love to have people over, and eat simple/tasty stuff in my kitchen that I cook while we all leisurely hang out at the counter area or in the family room. With our expanded space it's better than ever... these were our first non-family guests.

It was a total piggie night (carbs? what is a carb? ...but I did drink a coors light which is the least bad of the options I had). I had grilled up some thin chicken cutlets and I had the makings of caesar salad all laid out buffet style so that people could fix theirs to their liking.

I also made a salad with a couple of vine ripened tomatoes, two shallots, some chunks of lowfat mozzarella, a couple of teaspoons of pesto, and some fresh basil from my porch. YUM. I forgot to add a splash of balsamic. Some of us ate it on the side, but the guys plopped it right on top of their chicken caesar salad. There was bread, good bread... I was good, not 3 slices, just the smallest one from the loaf.

My daughter made a mix of cubed poundcake, sliced strawberries, blueberries, and cool whip all mingled together in a glass bowl. Everyone loves it and I'm working on giving her a self identity of "good cook" so that maybe she'll eat a broader range of foods once the evil braces come off.