Big Daddy’s
The Rose Bowl Flea Market was on Sunday, but Sheila and I arrived in Los Angeles early Saturday morning. Our first order of business was to go directly to Big Daddy’s Antiques Warehouse. If you recall, I found out about Big Daddy’s from Vignette Design and it was the first booth Marissa, Dave, and I visited last month at the Alameda Point Antiques Faire.
Big Daddy’s not only participates in the Rose Bowl and Alameda markets, they also have warehouses in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. You may also remember that I was coveting the Turkish olive baskets in Alameda and then found one back home in Arizona. Well, the same baskets line the steps up to the front door of the LA warehouse. I took that as an excellent sign that there were more good things to come!
March 14, 2012 4 Comments
Pasadena
There is a VERY good reason I did not post over the weekend… I was in Pasadena, California at the Rose Bowl Flea Market with my girlfriend, Sheila. Boy, did we have a fun and fruitful adventure!
It was a gorgeous southern California day and we took full advantage of it. We arrived at about 7 AM and didn’t leave the market until well after 2 PM.
March 13, 2012 4 Comments
what the heck…?
I thought this was a cooking blog! I know, I know – I haven’t posted a recipe in nearly a week. It’s not that I haven’t been cooking, it’s just that so many much more interesting things have been going on. In fact I was cooking up quiches like a fiend for the last couple of days but I won’t be able to post those recipes until after an article about them runs in the Arizona Republic food section in a couple of weeks.
Food editor, Karen, and food photographer extraordinaire, Michael, were here at the house this morning. My plan to was to take pictures of Michael taking pictures of the food, but yeah, I forgot and just chatted it up with the two of them instead. Darn ADD gets me every time!
March 2, 2012 3 Comments
Turkish olive basket
Does this photo look familiar? If so, it is because I posted it back on February 7th as I was describing to you the wonders we saw at the Alameda Point Antiques Faire. These vintage Turkish olive harvest baskets were in the Big Daddy Antiques tent. Here is what I said about them, “The one thing at Big Daddy’s that I really wanted to buy was at least one of these vintage olive harvest buckets. As we walked through the faire, I’d see people with them and be so jealous and sad that I couldn’t get one home.”
February 28, 2012 No Comments
press
I have been prepping, chopping, dicing, and packing up like a crazy mad woman for a wedding shower cooking class that I am conducting for 24 lovely ladies later today. During a little rest time, yesterday, I stumbled upon this on Chow Bella…
… while I was actually looking for this…
February 11, 2012 No Comments
thanks Jenny!
This quick, easy, and delish recipe comes from my Illinois BFF, Jennifer. My girl knows how to throw together a fabulous dinner like no one else! With three busy sons, who run her ragged, she is the master. Love you, Jenni-Jen! xoxo
February 10, 2012 3 Comments
answers to my less than popular game
OK, I give in. Since a couple more people played and a few of you sent me emails – I concede. Here are the answers for the second edition of “What the Heck is That?!?” And very impressively, this time we had one person get all three items correct. Kudos to my super smart (and super sweet!) friend, Kim!
Object #1
This is a manche à gigot, otherwise known as a leg of lamb holder clamp. Gigot is the French word for leg of lamb or mutton and manche means handle. So this tool is used when slicing leg of lamb. It is attached to the shank and then tightened to provide a clean grip for the carver.
January 19, 2012 4 Comments
Crafts 101 – Part 3
In the top photo, you are feasting your eyes upon Peggy’s scrumptious “Feliz Navidad” wreath. And below is my “Joyoux Noel” banner, not yet attached to a wreath. I still need to get to Trader Joe’s to pick up my fresh wreath… I’ll get there…
December 7, 2011 2 Comments
festive duck
First things first - Happy Birthday to my BBF, Jennifer Markett, who lives in Illinois! I LOVE YOU! And if you were here with me, I would be serving you this wonderful duck strudel! xoxo
Pictured above is my collection of authentic vintage French confit pots. Pretty, aren’t they? Duck confit has been a preservation method, for cooking and keeping duck in its rendered fat in France, for centuries. It results in supremely tender, moist, and extremely flavorful duck. You can then sear the duck legs in a hot skillet and serve them as is, or shred the meat and add it to salads, or into the delicious and festive strudel recipe I have for you below.
One of the great things about this strudel is that you can assemble the entire thing a month in advance and freeze it. Pop it in the oven for your Christmas celebrations and impress your guests! It is out of this world glorious!
A sealed glass jar of confit may be kept in the refrigerator for up to six months, or several weeks if kept in a reusable plastic container. To maximize preservation, the fat should top the meat by at least one inch. As the fat turns solid, and prevents any air from reaching the meat, so basically the confit technique is a way of hermetically sealing the meat. The cooking fat acts as both a seal and preservative and results in a very rich taste.
I have been collecting authentic confit pots from France for a while now. Before refrigerators, the pots were used to “refrigerate” the confit. The entire inside of the pot is glazed and the glaze drips decoratively down the outside rim of the pot. The rest of the outside of the pot is left unglazed. The pot was filled with the duck and sealed with the fat. The pot was then buried in the cold mud and the unglazed outside of the pot would soak up that coldness and keep the duck confit perfectly chilled until ready to dig out and use.
The amount of duck confit used in this recipe is small, only 4 ounces. So instead of going to the trouble to make my own confit, I purchased a leg quarter from Chef Vincent Guerithault of the famed Vincent’s on Camelback. Call ahead, and Chef Guerithault will happily sell you some too. Or you can make our own duck confit, I’ve included a recipe from Epicurious.com at the bottom of this post. It is not difficult, just time consuming. You will need to salt the duck for at least 24 hours before beginning and you have to render duck fat from the duck skin, which I have posted about before. The link on how to do that, is there in the recipe too. But if you just purchase the confit, you can get going on the strudel recipe…. right now!
December 3, 2011 1 Comment
margaritaville in the fall
If you’re anything like me, when you think of margaritas, you think of a warm summer day. Last week I was introduced to a cold-weather margarita that will knock your socks off! Chef Jeff Smedstad was the visiting chef teaching at Barbara Fenzl’s Les Gourmettes Cooking School last Monday night and everyone in the class swooned when he served this luxurious (de lujo) concoction.
Chef Smedstad is the chef/owner of Elote Cafe in Sedona. Dave and I dined at Elote the first night we were up in Sedona, last month. I failed to mention it before, because back then, it was all about my sprained ankle. And that’s a shame because it was one of the best meals we’ve had in a very long time. For a fantastic rundown (with drop-dead gorgeous pictures) on Elote go to my friend, Gwen Walter’s blog and check out her professional and spot-on review.
While you’re reading the review and drooling over the photos, enjoy this somehow “warming” cold margarita. Chef Smedstad calls for Añejo tequila. Añejo, or “aged” tequila sits in oak barrels for at least one year and up to two years, eleven months, and thirty days. On the next day (3 years), it would be called Extra Añejo. Although the Añejo or Extra Añejo really make this drink shine (see Chef’s notes at the bottom of the recipe) you may use Blanco (white) tequila or Reposado (rested) tequila, just be sure to use a high quality tequila and not anything along the lines of the dreaded José Cuervo!
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November 16, 2011 4 Comments
