Santa Barbara Museum Of Natural History WIne Festival

Last Saturday in Santa Barbara was a pretty busy day. Starting off with the crazy, fun Summer Solstice parade and followed by the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History's Wine Festival. I was invited to pour by David Hardee, owner of Carina Cellars of Paso Robles. It was quite a treat to see many old friends, make new ones and enjoy one of the most beautiful settings in Santa Barbara. We poured the Viognier and the Clairvoyant, both tasting delicious. I'm partial to the Viognier. It's the perfect thing for a warm, sunny day. Fresh, crisp and refreshing. Big thanks to David for letting me help out!

Looking across Mission Creek

Thekla Sanford of Alma Rosa



The most beautiful setting



People were there in droves, the first beautiful Saturday of Summer!

Can't forget all the fabulous food being served!

David Hardee, owner Carina Cellars

David tells all!

Christine who was also pouring Carina with me.

Getting ready to hit the grill

The baked one

The top

My little table



Prayers for Bellinis!!!



Crazy Shasta daisies

My one tomatoe plant.

Thrift store pizza

This isn't about a receipe, but the inspiration something simple can bring.

This morning there was the final SBMA women's board meeting of the year and sat next to my friend Lois. We were talking about her trip to Ravello for a wedding last year when she started on Pizzas. Neapolitan pizzas, Roman pizzas, any pizza, it was what she craved from day one of her trip. This is a woman who really watches what she eats and pizza was a once-a-month treat. She said that there wasn't enough great pizza!

Naturally, my internal food clock was turned on and my chemo brain was replaced by pizza brain, a much better place to be if you really want to know, but now all I was thinking of was Italy, pizza and a good Sangiovese.

On the way home from Santa Barbara one of my favorite things to do is to stop in at a certain thrift store. It's rare that I don't find some treasure or piece of junk that I can't live without. Old kitchen utensils, books, furniture and even artwork that was once someone else's junk becomes a treasure for a while in my home. Most goodies end up on Ebay or at a garage sale. Today was no different with my mind focused on being in Italy in 22 days and on Lois' pizza extravaganza. There were 2 things that were just sitting there waiting for me. I  walked by one item and made the cruise around the room and as I circled back another shopper stopped and looked at MY treasure. How dare she! I couldn't wait untill she was out of my way and I could grab it.

What did I find? A small, delicate, strange, marriage of a table. Too tall for a converted footstool, too short for a piano stool. A marriage of different centuries and my imagination hasn't stopped since. Where did this come from? Why did someone make it? Why did it end up in the donation heap? 100's of questions raced through my head. Now here it was in my living room.

Then there was the sweet little hand-colored, tourist litho of Florence, dinner was going to have to be pizza and Sangiovese. No other options.

Fast-forward to being in the sun in the garden cleaning mia piccola tavola.

Why did someone cut an ivory-inlaid, Rennaisance panel and think to attach it to a table top? With that question running through my mind I ran inside and pulled out the flour and all the rest to make a pizza. The result was a wonderful baked  pomodoro, peperoni and salsicce pizza. Not to forget the accompanying wine choice, I dug into my cellar and pulled out a Santa Barbara Winery, 2006, Stolpman Vineyard, Santa Ynez Valley,  Sangiovese, mmmmmmmmmmm. say no more. Meaty, round, full of fruit, a wine to chew on with my pizza. Thank goodness for Bruce McGuire and SB Winery!!!! http://www.sbwinery.com/

OK, so the wine is taking me away for my story. Who made this table? There was a lot of thought that went into it. I turned it over to see if there were any marks, just two butterfly screws made of an old metal, iron-like, with screwheads that have an old embossed makers mark and the initials AI carved in the frame. The legs are beautiful, delicate cabriolets and instead of metal protectors on the bottom, it's carved wood.

There was something else, a hand-colored litho of a city view of Florence. Now the day could no longer be in the real world. My mind moved me to Italy, it's 1898, to a small house of a furniture maker with four children who were being sent to the new world to seek their fortune at the turn of the century. The furniture maker took a table, a family heirloom, passed down for centuries and cut the top in half, then quarters. He gently rubbed the edges to a soft shine, putting all his love and emotion in perfecting the edges of this, his final gift to his children. One quarter, inlaid with the finest Asian ivory, delicatly inlaid in garlands of flowers, a masters art, given to each child to slip into their bags to  accompany them with their new dreams in America.....

All this because of Lois' pizza, shame on her.

Enjoy dreaming........qui si mangia bene.

Gelato disaster---well sort of

I haven't made a gelato in a long time and after the successful Apricot sorbetto I was feeling pretty frisky in the kitchen. It only took a few moments to sort out all the possible flavor combinations that were lurking in the pantry and to settle on caramel toasted almond toffee crunch.

The receipe was easy enough to follow. The trouble was with my hands. It's been months since I cracked an egg and I was out of practice! In the back of my head that little voice said, "Listen to your mother, don't separate the eggs over your cooking bowl!" I should have been smart and followed her advice on breaking and separating eggs---3 bowls: 1 to break over, 1 for the yolks and 1 for the whites.

Well, being that I think my way is usually better, I decided just to break them over the bowl with the whites. What was I thinking? Had I reversed and did my egg destruction over the yolks it would have been fine. Needless to say at egg 5 I dropped the yolk in the whites and ruined a perfectly good opportunity for a merengue. Surely there was something else that could be done with a bowl of whites and a yolk, but my attention span was already waning and preparing the gelato wasn't going quickly enough.

Luckily the custard did everything when it was supposed to and the burnt sugar was a beautiful brown with smoky hints that made the whole house smell fantastic. If it would have tasted as wonderful as the aroma it would have been heaven.

While the custard was setting up and cooling it was time to prepare the almond toffee crunch. Now my candy making skills haven't been put to the test for a really long time so this was either going to work or not. One of the drawbacks of living near the ocean is the humidity. Humidity is the killer of toffees, brickles and other crunchy things. But here I was lucky!

I took the lightly toasted, slivered almonds and let them cool off. Then cooking and praying at the same time, I carmelized the sugar and created the toffee base. At that special moment of magic, I tossed in the almonds, stirred rapidly, and threw caution to the wind. Dumping the mixture onto the buttered surface and quickly flattened it all out and let it harden.

In about a half an hour it was comepletely cool and when broken in to bits, never made it into the gelato. Couldn't waste it there! Tasted like a buttery dream. I didn't even take photos. It didn't last that long, shared with my staff and mom, it dissappeared.

Here's the official receipe:

1 cup nuts---toasted almonds, or any nut you like
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 unsalted butter
1/2 tsp baking soda

Prep your turn-out surface at least 20" long of buttered foil.

Toast nuts in a 350 oven---10 minutes, till golden brown, careful not to burn,  then cool and chop coarsely
Take a med saucepan, on med-low heat, stir together sugar, water and butter, until all is combined and melted. Very quickly 2-3 minutes.
Boil this on med-high, stirring constantly, until it turns a caramel colored. This takes about 8-10 minutes. Don't give up, it happens all at once, it does take time!!!
Vigorously, stir in the baking soda, then the nuts.
Quickly, as soon as it is mixed, pour out on prepared surface and flatten with your spoon or spatula.
Cool, then break into bitesized pieces.
Store in an airtight container.

You won't have to worry about storing long-term. It won't last that long. I guarentee.

ENJOY!!!

I promise photos with the next batch!

Fried Risotto!!mmmmm!

Just a quick note. I remembered somewhere that leftover risotto made into patties and fried were a treat. Well, aside for setting off my smoke alarm with the first try, they are. Shaped a 3/4 inch pattie about the size of a hamburger. Heated up the skillet with a little oil, I mean very little, and let her cook! About 3 minutes on each side.  Flipped it once and sprinkled a little bit of shaved parmesean cracked pepper and mmmm. Quick and easy. I'm taking one to work with a BIG salad for dinner tonite.

Face it, all my favorite foods tend to be crispy, not good for the behind if you know what I mean. Since my new friend Pam and I are challenging ourselves to get back into our skinny jeans this Summer post surgeries I'll be passing on the french fries!