I love to go on vacation but what I love even more, is coming home.  Isn’t everyone like that?  Dave and I had another lovely week up in the North Woods of  Wisconsin with our BFF’s Jeff and Jen and their 3 boys; Travis, Blake, and Jack. They (as in the 6 of them, not me) love swimming in the lake, boating, fishing, water skiing, tanning, hiking in the woods, and being outdoors.  I love staying inside their gorgeous log-cabin home, and relaxing. They can have all that sun, water, nature and mosquitoes!  Even though I do everything in my power to avoid those blood-sucking devils, they find me.  Oh well, it’s worth it to live in the beauty of the pines and be with the people I love.  Another thing I love is making meals with Jen. She’s a great cook and she and I are totally in tune with each other in the kitchen.  Can’t wait until next year…

While we were out of town, we missed a big happening in “the Valley of the Sun” – and I’m not talking about the All-Star game (although we did unfortunately miss that too).  We missed the “now famous haboob” that occurred here on July 5th!  I have two links for you to watch it – as I did – from the comfort of my laptop.  Here is the first video and here is another view.  Amazing!  And here is a picture of a damp paper towel that I used to wipe off the center island kitchen counter … mind you, my house was completely and professionally cleaned by Gabby, my “twice-a-month house cleaner” earlier that very same day – July 5th!  And no other living creature has been in the house since.  This is a small sampling of the dirt that came in through our closed and locked windows and doors when the massive wall of dirt rolled over our defenseless little house!

Disgusting!   On to better and more appetizing things…

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Yesterday it was red velvet waffles, today we have banana waffles. The red velvet just about hopped out of the waffle iron themselves, the banana waffles stick a little bit because of the fresh banana in the batter, so be patient while getting them out of the iron. Just pry them a bit with a fork and they will come out in one piece. And if you waffle iron doesn’t have a light to indicate that the waffle is cooked through and ready to remove, just wait until the steam stops, that is another way (the old fashioned way) to let you know it is ready.

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Happy Birthday to my handsome, talented, kind, caring, loving, and wonderful son, Connor! I am so proud to be your mom and I absolutely adore you! (this sweet picture was taken last month at my Dad’s 80th birthday party by Sloane’s friend, professional photographer Robert Westerman.)

I woke up early to make Connor his birthday breakfast and thought, “My baby is no longer a teenager, I feel so old!”  But then I realized that I really don’t feel old at all, that is just something people say and then for some stupid reason you automatically say to yourself.  What I actually feel is happy and proud to have raised two cute and innocent little children into such amazing adults – that doesn’t make me feel old – it makes me feel privileged and lucky.

Instead of the traditional homemade birthday dinner of his choice, Connor requested a birthday breakfast, specifically, waffles.  So I made two waffle varieties and served them with bacon, melon, and juice. Waffle #1 is red velvet, the recipe is below…  #2, banana waffles, will be posted tomorrow.

Before we get to the recipe, I want to share some “waffle tips” with you. This applies to waffles of all flavors, not just red velvet and banana.

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I know… when the temps start rising, I start complaining! But I’m pretty certain it wasn’t still March when I began my rant last year! Look at those temperatures! That is crazy talk – nearly 100 degrees tomorrow – on April 1st! Maybe the forecasters are just playing an April Fools joke on us and it will actually be a lovely 78 degrees. Fingers crossed!  Just in case, I’ve got the perfect spring breakfast or brunch dish for you. I’m going to consider making this again for Easter…. as long as we’re not tipping over the century mark by then. If that is the sad and sorry case, I plan on serving only ice cream, sorbet, and a nice light, but heavily chilled, Rosé!

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A gâteau (pronounced ga-toe) is a French cake, often specifically a sponge cake.  1. a rich or fancy cake. 2. food baked or served in the form of a cake.

After my Wednesday appearance on Valley Dish, I had a stack of about 30 herb crêpes left over. Crêpes freeze very well, so a dozen were wrapped, labeled, and frozen for future use. Fortunately, I had seen this, just the Sunday before, on my favorite daily shopping website; One Kings Lane:

Spinach Gruyere Crepe Gâteau

This savory cake is a work of genius. It is 6 inches in diameter and features a seemingly endless stack of delicate crepes, each layered with classic flavors – aged Gruyere cheese, tender onion, and spinach. This is rich, soul-satisfying fare, with an absolutely stunning presentation. $65 Retail; One Kings Lane price $45

That inspired me to make my own version with the addition of luscious duxelles. (Duxelles is a finely chopped mixture of mushrooms, shallots, and garlic sautéed in butter, and reduced to a thick mixture with cream. Often used as a stuffing; notably, beef Wellington, or as a garnish.)

An alternative smoked salmon gâteau (much quicker and easier) is at the bottom of the post. Either version makes a perfect light dinner, lunch, or brunch dish.

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You know that saying, right? It means you measure any wood you are working with twice to make absolutely sure that your measurement is correct because you only get the one chance to cut it right. That is how I feel about greasing a pan when baking. I am not a huge fan of baking or making desserts. Too many things can go wrong, at least for me they seem to. So the one thing I try to get right is to get the dessert out of the pan in one piece.  Easier than it sounds, unless you use parchment paper. Whenever I make a cake or quick breads, I always (even when I forget to put it in down on a recipe) grease the pan, line the bottom of the pan with parchment, and then grease the parchment. Works every time, as you’ll see in the pictures below.

I’ll be on Channel 12 NBC Valley Dish live today at 3:30, making a wonderful winter salad, in case you want to watch. I’ll post a link to the taped show along with the salad recipe tomorrow. AND… a very happy birthday to my sweet Jennifer! I adore you! xoxo

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As usual, there are overripe bananas sitting on my counter. That indicates two problems, first that people ask for bananas and then don’t use them, Marissa and Dave, I’m talking to you! And secondly, now I must make banana-something, again!  OK, that’s not truly a problem, just a reality.

The real problem is that I didn’t follow my own advise while preparing to make this coffee cake. I neglected to set up my mise en place (the French phrase meaning “everything in place”) beforehand. So even though this is called blueberry-banana coffee cake… there are no blueberries in mine. We had them on the side. Dang it! Be sure to get out your blueberries, and everything else needed, before you begin.

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I bought these pretty peaches at my pretty daughter’s request… 4 days ago. Since she hasn’t eaten even one peach yet, time to do something with them, at least a couple anyhow. Turns out Marissa has a good excuse though, she hasn’t been home much, because she has a new job. Not the big “career” job she’s still searching for, but a paying job, all the same. So, if you go the California Pizza Kitchen near Scottsdale and Shea, ask to be seated at her table, I’m sure she’ll take good care of you!

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A happy coincidence, meant to be, just by chance, lucky, a fluke, a quirk, or a twist of fate… whatever you call it, I like it! And I love that word, happenstance, awesome word! What, by chance, was the fateful occasion for me?

I had about 1/2 head each of green and orange cauliflower from the Colorful Cauliflower Purées of 5 days ago and was trying to decide what to do with it. Of course, I could just make a vegetable side dish or purée and freeze it for later use, but that felt mundane. I was leaning toward cauliflower soup, but it’s so dang hot outside. Instead of pondering it any longer I decided to waste time on Facebook and, as luck would have it, there staring me in the eye was a recipe for a frittata using cauliflower, delivered directly to my home page from my Facebook friend, Food & Wine! Problem solved, and proof that perusing Facebook isn’t always a waste of time.

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Who would think that with four people living here, we wouldn’t be able to get rid of a box of blueberries in a week? I used a portion of the 2-pound box (from Costco, of course) for blueberry muffins, another portion for blueberry pancakes, and was thinking the family would devour the rest. Well, they haven’t, now the sweet little gems are getting moldy, so I have to bake again… this finally finished them off!

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