I’m off to tape a television segment today for Channel 3-  Your Life A to Z.  It will air tomorrow, Friday, October 14th, at 10:100 AM.  So, instead of posting a recipe I have some miscellaneous, fun, and important items tell you about. 

The last couple of days I’ve been sharing with you items from my weekend shopping extravaganza with Peggy. Both of us are in love with birdcages and we found the perfect one for Peggy’s house. She had an open corner in her dining room and we decided the birdcage would fit perfectly there. She will change it out throughout the year and create holiday and casual vignettes, using the cage as the canvass.  Above you can see what we did for her Halloween Birdcage Vignette and below is a closeup. Doesn’t that look great?!

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Inspiration for this recipe came to me after enjoying a white chocolate and limoncello cupcake while visiting my daughter in San Francisco. Limoncello and white chocolate are a match made in heaven. You may use store-bought limoncello or make your own with THIS RECIPE.

I brought these sweeties to a neighborhood luncheon last week to test them out, and since they were a hit, I will be making them tomorrow, along with this puff pastry appetizer, on Channel 3-  Your Life A to Z.          I hope you can tune in at 10:00 AM Tuesday morning.

Oh, and please note, there are only six ingredients – seriously, these are “easy-breezy”!

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… is the 2nd birthday of Les Petites Gourmettes’ blog. And we are going to celebrate!

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For my last appearance on Valley Dish, I asked host, Tram Mai, what she would like to make.  After some 15 cooking appearances, it was the first time to make something of her choice instead of my choice or an specific themed assignment.  Tram requested a dish she had back in her college years in Los Angels at a restaurant called Crustacean.  After much on-line research, I compiled several peoples’ take on the roasted crab and came up with my own rendition.

The roasted crab is outstanding, but I think the real star of the dish is the garlic noodles.  The key is to find thick spaghetti, also know as spaghettoni or bucatini.  I found them at Whole Foods and in the Italian specialty aisle at the “big fancy” Fry’s on Tatum and Shea.

As for the crab, although the version we made on the live show used Dungeness crab, I’ve also tried with the pasteurized canned crab found at Costco and it tasted exactly the same… plus it’s more economical and so much easier!

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Before we get to today’s recipe and before I forget, I need to tell you that I’ll be on NBC – Channel 12 Valley Dish tomorrow – Wednesday, June 29th.  It’s going to be an especially important and good show, so tune in at 3:30, if you can… or there’s always TiVo! xoxo

They say that spicy food cools you off in the summer. Strange, but true; hot spicy food make you sweat, then your body temperature actually dips. But then you’re sweating, not my favorite cup of tea. In hot weather, I generally gravitate towards cool and refreshing foods like yesterday’s grape cooler cocktail, or ice cream, or watermelon.

If you lean more toward spicy food to bring your body temps down, give this grilled dish a try. And even with the addition of all that spice, just the sight and idea of sweet juicy peaches sounds nice and cool!

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So many of you told me that you missed my Valley Dish segments from last week, that I’m just posting links to them here. The links are only good for about 3 or 4 weeks, so here are a few pictures too…

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Several weeks ago, Karen Fernau, food writer for the Arizona Republic, called and asked me to submit an answer to a reader’s question for their “Ask A Chef” column.  I did so and then forgot completely about it… big surprise! Anyhow, my mentor, friend, and boss, Barbara Fenzl, informed me that she’d seen it on AZCentral.com. Here is the LINK for it.  It presents a good time for me to remind you about all the useful information you can find on The Basic Kitchen page, over there on your left. Things like a Glossary of Cooking Terms, a Pantry list, Kitchen Tools you should have, and even a list with some of my Favorite Cookbooks.

Those gorgeous eggs pictured above are this Easter’s Silk Tie Eggs that I made along with my friends, Lorie and Ronnie.  They turned out especially wonderful this year.  TIP: When searching your closet and thrift shop for 100% silk ties, look for bright colors. It’s tempting to choose the pretty pastels, but the colors don’t transfer as well.  Go for the reds, deep purples, and dark blues and you’ll end up with the best results.

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Today is Eugene Robert Otter’s 80^th birthday. Who is Gene Otter?  My dad; that handsome 20 something year old in the picture above, that’s who.  Happy birthday, Dad!  If you follow this blog then you already know that I am in the middle of planning his big 80^th birthday party, which will be held on Saturday, April 30^th.  The reason we’re waiting nearly two weeks to hold the party is because today it is still Lent and my dad gives up all alcohol for Lent and he wants to party at his party, so the weekend after Easter works best.

Today is also this year’s Tax Day.  Three days later than usual due to a holiday in Washington, D.C. that occurred on Friday, April 15^th.  Tax Day is a big deal at our house because Dave is a CPA and has been working non-stop for several months now and the end is finally here!

With all the celebrating happening around here, I’m going to post some crafty Easter stuff today instead of a recipe.  I’ll appear on Channel 12 Valley Dish twice this week.  First in a taped segment with Marissa on Wednesday, April 20^th, where we demonstrate how to make these gorgeous silk tie Easter eggs. Then again on Good Friday, April 22^nd, when I will show you how to set up a beautiful and natural Easter buffet. Here’s a little sneak peak at a couple of the elements involved.  Be sure and watch both the egg and buffet segments at 3:30 on Channel 12.

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Unfortunately, no time to post a recipe today. I’ll be on Valley Dish today at 3:30… not cooking this time, but instead showing how to set up a Mardi Gras tablescape. Tune in if you get a chance.

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Here is the final appetizer that I’ll be making this Friday on the “Oscars” edition on Valley Dish. Hope you’ll tune in at 3:30 on channel 12.

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