I love things that remind me of my grandma...

... many of these things naturally revolve around the kitchen. My grandmother taught me to cook and bake well, whether she intended to or not. She was self taught... when she first married she could barely boil water, or so I am told. I find this hard to believe. Now that she is gone, I have inherited her copper bottom pots - and hopefully - the magic contained in them.

My grandmother used to broil every vegetable I can think of with a sprinkle of Parmesan. Now I love cheese ten times more than the next person, but I was a timid eater as a child, and never could quite get into large rounds of eggplant, no matter how much cheese she put on top.

ALSO! At Vons the other day, guess what I found! Little one glass servings of wine! I did not know you could do this, drink one or two, and save the other two without having to have the same kind of wine 4 nights in a row! Fantabulous! Bella Sera Pinot and Barefoot Chard came home with me. I suggest the Bella Sera with eggplant.

All of this matters why?

Because after years of turning up my nose, I have finally found love for the aubergine. Binnie would be so proud! Turns out I needed feta and Greek yogurt and mint to complete the picture.

So here I present to you: Spicy Eggplant stacks! One small eggplant will do for two, but never fear, my dear singles, you will like this so much you will make it twice and the mighty aubergine will not go to waste. Just make sure you do it within a few days, or your eggplant will indeed go to waste... turns out once you cut into them, they dont last very long!

Spicy Eggplant Stacks

INGREDIENTS:

-Six 1/2" slices of eggplant (roughly half a small eggplant)
-olive oil for brushing
-1/2 tsp ground coriander
-1/2 tsp paprika
-1/2 tsp cumin
-1/2 c Greek yogurt
-1/4 c English hothouse, chopped up real nice and small, like Miz T likes
- 1 small garlic clove, or half a good sized one, put through a press or diced up real nice.
-1/2 c feta crumbles
- chopped sprigs of mint to taste, plus three leaves for garnish (you can sub cilantro here, its almost as tasty)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Open mini bottle of Bella Sera and pour entire contents into a wine glass.
2. Preheat broiler, or if you're industrious (or male) fire up the grill.
3. Place slices of eggplant on a cooking sheet and brush both sides with olive oil
4. Mix up spices in a cute little prep bowl.
5. Sprinkle both sides of eggplant with spice mix
6. Broil/grill until charred... if you're broiling, be sure to turn 'em so you get both sides!
7. Stir cucumber,mint, and garlic into yogurt.
8. When eggplant is done, pull them out and place three on a plate.
9. Sprinkle feta on top, then spoon a bit of yogurt concoction on top of that, then top with the other eggplant slice.
10. Do the feta thing again on top of that, then the yogurt thing again.
11. Garnish with mint
12. Open another mini bottle of Bella Sera, eat, drink and enjoy!

One Question...

SURF REPORT: Cardiff Reef: Small and fun, pretzels to scale.

Question for the men out there.

If it’s a first/second/third date, and dude du jour has already worked up the nerve to call me, why oh why do they not have a place or two in mind already when they call?? Is it asking too much to actually have thought about it first? Here’s the thing. I’m already caught a bit off my game because YOU CALLED ME. I’m way too busy trying to be cute and bubbly and giggle in all the right places… please oh please… don’t make me think on my feet trying to figure out your neighborhood, any place I might know out there, or whatever.

I’m a girl.

I need my freakin’ GPS to get down the street.

I don’t have a geographical restaurant expert that categorizes by zip code hidden in my purse. You’re the Boy Scout; cut me a break at least until the fourth date, huh?

Right.

Okay, so I thought I was doing fine with my version of this recipe (most stuff cut by 66%) until I did some addition (this veggie plus that veggie plus plus plus…) and multiplication (the rice). The original states its side dish for 4. Ya, 4 linebackers maybe! My version serves two heaping portions. Good news is that it’s super yummy cold the next day. Also super yummy reheated the next day.

Next day, have it with a glass of South Sea Magic iced tea from http://joysteaspoon.com//32-south-sea-magic.html Because OMG! So yummy. And you’re supporting a woman owned small business (Who just happens to be a good friend of mine but whatever!) Its damn good tea, especially on a hot spring day, with a slice of California Cutie in it.

SoCal Wild Rice & Corn Salad

INGREDIENTS:
- 1/3 c Long grain and wild rice mix (NOT the quick cook crap!)
- 1 Tbs Lemon juice
- 2 Tbs Olive oil
- ½ c White corn kernels
- 1/3 c Poblano chilies, diced up all tiny like Tiff loves
- 1/3 c Yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1/3 c Yellow zucchini, diced ½”
- 1 small avocado, diced 1/2”
- 1 thin sliced green onion, green and white parts
- ¼ c Chopped cilantro (Excuse to use the fancy food scissors…love those!)
- Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour a glass of wine.
2. Put the rice on to boil and relax for about half an hour. Wild rice takes for freakin’ ever!
3. Pour another glass of wine and start choppin’!
4. Whisk 1 Tbs of the oil with the lemon juice and set aside.
5. Heat the other Tbs of oil in a skillet on MedHi, and add -IN ORDER- the Poblano chili, yellow bell, and corn. Grind a bit of pepper and toss around a bit. Remember when tossing in a skillet YOU MUST COMMIT TO THE TOSS. I realize some of you mens have commitment issues, but if you want this salad, you have to get over it for about 10 minutes.
6. Add zucchini and commit to the toss once again. Little bit salt and pepper here too. Sauté 6-7 minutes until just tender, scrape into a bowl and set aside, toss in lemon/oil dressing.
7. Add rice, toss. Add avo and cilantro, toss. Salt and pepper to taste.
8. Take a sip of wine and appreciate your fine skillz. This is gonna be goooooood….

Rainbow Chasin'

SURF REPORT: April 21, Grandview: JUNK. Only person out is a lady in a garbage bag walking her golden. She must think I am crazy...



This morning, I hopped out of bed a bit late – 6:30 AM - dosed the cat with her steroids, started the coffee pot, and gazed out the window at what they are calling our “unseasonable rain showers”. Well, it’s a little overcast out the kitchen, but the sun is trying to break through… Remembering that ridiculously high number on the scale at Miz T’s house this weekend… I decide my fat a$$ needs to risk a few raindrops.


Let me back this up a bit for you. I don’t own a scale. I don’t believe in them, I think as long as you are happy with how you look, numbers don’t matter. Numbers LIE to you and tell you you’re fat. Your expensive designer jeans however… they don’t lie. And I did happen to notice that I only have two pairs that relieve the stuffed sausage look of my thighs lately… so when I visited my best friend, I got a little curious.

Remember when I said “If I ever hit 140 I’ll worry about it”?

I lied.

Turns out 138 is all it takes to make an otherwise sane skinny girl insane.

“But you have cowboy boots and jeans on!” Miz T exclaims… and it does not matter. That is 13 pounds of happy fat. Who knew that ditching a loser Australian and miserable corporate job would make me THAT happy? Whew… no wonder those denim leggings aren’t working out…

So, despite the menacing BLACK – not gray – cloud looming over the ocean, I pull on my Uggs and start over the tracks. How bad could it be, this is Leucadia. It’s kinda like Camelot of hippies. “The rain may never fall till after sundown…”

Out my door, I immediately run back in the house to grab my camera. RAINBOWS! Yes, folks, as you can see from the picture, it turns out

The Leucadian is the end of the rainbow.

Who knew?

Across the tracks, a light misting begins. But my feet are happy and dry in my Uggs, so whatever… I’m from Seattle; cloud spittle does not bother me. But what is that noise? It’s familiar, like the jungles of Costa Rica… It's...

OH GEEZUS - It’s the sound of torrential down pour on palm fronds!

WTF?

Where is this coming from, the sun is shining all around me! Nowhere to hide, running home would make no difference in the level of soaked. I continue to the beach. Another 30 seconds and the storm is gone as fast as it appeared. Just long enough to make an unfamiliar smush in the toes of my Uggs. Boo! More coffee…

But it did give me those precious few minutes to decide on my first recipe to share. This one is totally made up, idea stolen from my favorite restaurant in the ‘hood. It’s been tested over and over, and proven to be yummy. I even served it to my chef muse, Miz Martini, and she liked it so much that she stole the recipe too! So here we go:

Roasted Red Pepper Salad

INGREDIENTS:

-One really red red pepper, ribbed and seeded, cut in quarters longways.
-One package of herbed chevre. The real stuff people, with the goat on the front. Not that fake “goat cheese” crap. REAL chevre.
-Fist full of baby spinach
- Olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour yourself a glass of wine.
2. Blister pepper slices under the broiler, skin side UP. This does not take long, so watch them!
3. Pull out pepper slices, flip, and stuff with herbed chevre. AKA spoon goat cheese goodness onto the insides of the peppers kinda like you would sour cream and cheddar on a potato skin. Pop under the broiler till melty and lightly golden on top.
4. Toss spinach with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Make a pretty bed out of this concoction on a plate.
5. Pull stuffed pepper slices out of the oven and nestle onto your bed of spinach.

There you are friends! Good and light eatin' for one. Enjoy the April Showers!