Melazane alla parmigiana

You don't need to be a vegetarian to enjoy the wondrous creations from Mother Nature's (or you local farmer's) garden.  One of my most beloved and elusive veggies is eggplant.  For many years I would never venture to purchase one regardless how tempting that beautiful purple globe is.  Now however I am adventurous in the grocery shopping department.  I had been eyeing this recipe for weeks now so on my last trip to the grocery store I went for it and picked up eggplant!  My tomato sauce is stewing, my eggplant draining and thoughts of eggplant Parmesan are dancing in my head.  It's a very simple concept, good tomato sauce and prepare the eggplant properly and you'll have even those that not fans licking their chops!  I served this with garlic toast and a nice bottle of Australian Cab Sav.  Did we miss the meat? Not in the least, and most went for seconds! 

French Cuisine Part Deux

I know it has been awhile since my last contribution, and reading Foodymom's post has made me feel like a slacker. So here it goes...

Our pretty much impromptu French dinner was a hit as everyone heard. My contribution to the evening was a couple well earned bottles of French wine; red and white, Poulet, chevre chaud, and a nice after dinner coffee or tea with Madeleines and Macaroons. Now that it is written out, that sounds like a lot of food. Good thing I axed the Lemon tart!

I love to bake andI think it has to be one of my passions in life. I enjoy taking everyday basic ingredients, measuring and mixing to create delectable edible pleasure. And my daughter is all about helping me when I told her I was making pink cookies. These strawberry chocolate french macaroons were my very first attempt and were a little too tall, but they tasted so amazing that I went ahead and altered the recipe to make Lemon chocolate ones. They were not pink, but they were even tastier.

Afternoon Snack

When a friend and co-worker said he would bring a treat the following day, I thought to myself hmmmm what could this treat be???? The morning came and went and soon lunch rolled around. As I was on lunch duty I took great pleasure in sharing some salad and meatless beef strips as we had plenty to go around! Lunch too finished and it began to get later..... Nowhere to be found was this treat sharer and we began to wonder, what was this treat? Was there a treat at all?? Could chocolate be involved??? The excitement was unbearable and when we thought we would cave and go to the junk table, lo and behold our treat! Completely un-chocolate related and amazingly sinful! What was this delectable treat, you most certainly would like to know. Served on a wooden cutting board were the most lovely figs topped with a sharp and tasty blue cheese. It was love at first bite, the combination sweet & salty, smooth & textured, this was by far better than chocolate(at least that day)! Thank you to our "treat provider" our afternoon was perfect!

Blackberry Jam Extravaganza

There are many things that I have yet to try but my aunts homemade jam is not one of them. I'll take a jar of their pineapple apricot or strawberry over any store bought specialty item any day! But as time goes on so do the years and my aunts are starting to get tired of making jam and other delights year in and year out. That was my cue to step up and learn. For the last several months I have been talking about wanting to make blackberry jam(my favorite). We are extremely lucky to live in an area where these buds of tastiness are plentiful and often free, that is if you are brave enough to face the thorns. The date was set and this labour day long weekend was it, my chance to get up close and personal with some berries. With the help of a super market and some friends with jars, I collected supplies and was off. Sunday was D-day, or should I say B-day! The picking began in the early afternoon, with a great vastness of blackberry bushes and a kind neighbor who let us pick on their property the buckets and their carriers were on a mission. The mission: fight the thorny, prickly, and often aggressive and violent blackberry bushes for the treasured berries. Some came armed with sneakers and old shirts, others not so prepared came in open toed shoes(a big no no) but the most important thing was that they came! For hours under the sun, amidst the bees and surrounded by the occasional snake we picked. We picked until our our fingers were purple from the berries and the thorn pricks and our legs looked like "Zorro" had been there. In the end we estimated 50lbs of berries took up most of the fridge space. After a day like that it was great to share a turkey dinner with all the trimmings with the family! Thanks!!

Monday morning the hard work began early. After a nice breakfast it was off to rinsing the berries, straining the berries, cooking the berries, straining again the berries, measuring the berries and making the jam.... This paired with sanitizing jars, measuring sugar, stirring constantly and a whole lot of arguing back and forth over what should be done next, took up most of the morning. Once we took a pit stop for lunch and shelled some fresh caught dungeness crab it was back to work. Now came the fun part filling the jars, sterilizing the lids, and my favorite, testing the jam! YAY after all this painstaking labour it was done and delicious. I was not afraid to share the riches and breakfast the following morning at work was bread, butter and yes, you guessed it, homemade blackberry jam! The torch has been passed and it's now my turn to continue the tradition with the years of fresh fruit ahead....