What Would Cheeses Do?

This isn’t a t-shirt from our own food shop, but it was too funny not to post about. And it seems obvious to me in hindsight, but I swear I never thought about this when reading the original ‘what would so-and-so do’ type jokes! And that in itself is somewhat embarrassing – heh.
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Stilton….. Perfume????

Apparently, the people who make Stilton blue cheese have launched their own perfume. No kidding! Really! “It claims to ‘recreate the earthy and fruity aroma’ of the cheese ‘in an eminently wearable perfume’.” Now, I’ve always said if they could make a scent like a food such as baked bread they’d hit paydirt. This isn’t even close to what I was imagining though.
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Chicken Focaccia Pizza with Horseradish Sauce


Long before there were shows like Iron Chef, there was the true challenge of putting together whatever was on hand around the house to come up with new and interesting dinners.

Last week, I picked up a bottle of 1905 brand Horseradish sauce from the Dollar Store and wanted to do something really creative. I had chicken, potatoes, Colby Jack cheese and a few other ingredients on hand, so I thought I’d make them into a pizza.

I hadn’t made Potato Focaccia in a long time, but I knew it would make a good, hearty pizza crust. I started there, and began experimenting with sauce ingredients.

For the sauce, I used a combination of 4 parts sour cream, 2 parts Ranch Dressing, and 1 part Horseradish sauce. It came out tasting kind of sweet, and actually lost some of the horseradish bite in the cooking, so I would add a little more next time.

The focaccia baked up nicely, I baked it by itself for 45 minutes, and then added the sauce, shredded chicken, and Colby Jack. I really wish I had some fresh mushrooms to add or diced tomatoes, but that will be for next time around.

I baked the pizza for another 20 minutes, which thoroughly melted the Colby Jack. The final result was very tasty, I’m definitely going to try this recipe again with more ingredients.

Below is the recipe for Potato Focaccia, which comes from the New York Cook Book by Molly O Niell. I highly reccomend this book, it’s loaded with tasty unique recipes.

Potato Focaccia
2 potatoes
1 pkg dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (105-110 degrees F)
4 Cups All purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Boil the potatoes, peel and mash.

Disolve the yeast into the warm water

Combine potatoes, flour, 2 teaspoons salt, dissolved yeast and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Mix ingredients and cover with a cloth until the dough has doubled in size. (1 hour)

Coat a baking pan or cookie sheet with the other tablespoon of olive oil. Flour your hands and place the dough on the pan, and turn to coat the dough with the oil.

(In the original focaccia recipe, you would then insert tomator wedges into the dough and sprinkle the top with oregano and salt. Then bake at 350 until golden brown.)


Back to the pizza:
Mold the dough into a pizza shape, you don’t have to stretch it or work it too much, just shape it the way you like. It does rise a bit though, so make the bottom fairly thin. If you have extra dough, break it off and roll it into breadsticks.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, and then add the pizza toppings: sauce, meat, veggies (if any) and then cheese. Return to oven and bake for about 20 more minutes, until cheese is thoroughly melted.

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Organic Wine Company

We just heard about the Organic Wine Company… “All of the wines are Earth-friendly, made in partnership with nature from certified organically grown grapes. They are free of pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers and other synthetic chemicals, and essential natural preservatives like sulfur dioxide are kept to a minimum. In the cellar, modern and traditional techniques are combined, producing the best possible wines with the fewest detrimental effects on the environment. Grapes are often picked by hand and the wine made gently, with minimal handling and filtration.” I don’t know that I’ve ever had organic wine, but this looks like a good site to click around in for a while and look around – just thought I’d pass it along!
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2004 Blackstone Chardonnay

Wanted to post this quick review before we forgot! The 2004 Blackstone Chardonnay (Monterey County) was an excellent, and rich wine. Rather velvety and strong, but went well with the hard-ish Portugese cheese and crackers that we conveniently had on hand. We might have been a little less ‘affected’ had we had the wine with a full meal (which we’d had much earlier), but as it was, the evening went quite well anyway – LOL.

I’d recommend it for hearty chicken meals, and maybe pastas with heavy cream sauce, and garlic bread too – something on that order.
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Aye, That’s The Rub!

The other day in the supermarket we stumbled upon a really good sale for steaks and so were obliged to bring some home, of course. We fired up the grill and rubbed them with a concoction that a friend of ours had put together and bottled as a gift: dehydrated onion, salt, chili poweder, cumin, and black pepper. They came out wonderfully, medium rare with just enough spice to add flavor but not to overpower the meat itself. To round out the meal we had organic apple sauce and some home-made steak fries. Just one of those meals where everything comes together perfectly. (Sorry – no photos this time!)
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Flapjacks Restaurant

Flapjacks is one of the best breakfast and lunch restuarants I’ve ever
had the pleasure to eat in. It’s independently owned, and located in the
tiny town of Tres Pinos, California (pop 500).

We had lunch there the other day, Kristen ordered a cheeseburger which
was literally oozing melted (real) cheese, and I ordered the grilled
chicken sandwich which came with onions, peppers, avocado and Monterey
Jack. Did I same came with? Actually smothered would be more accurate.
Instead of one grilled hard slab of chicken breast, there were tasty
grilled chunks of chicken buried in the above mentioned toppings. I
couldn’t even see the bottom of my sandwich, which was thoughtfully
served with a steak knife, since there was no human way to actually pick
it up and eat it.

Both the sandwich and burger were served on a hearty sourdough roll. I’m
often disappointed at the quality of breads in many restaurants, even
some of the expensive restaurants out here serve bread that doesn’t even
equal our local supermarket’s. These rolls were delicious though, dense
and chewy, with a nice tangy flavor.

If you should find yourself visiting Pinnacles National Monument or just
cruising down Highway 25, then Flapjacks is by far the best restaurant along the way. The only drawback is that they’re only open until 2pm, and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
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Delicious Souvenirs!

Our friend Tom went trapsing across Europe recently and brought us back some terrific stuff, making sure they were things we couldn’t get here in the states. Thanks Tom! I’ve immortalized your gifts in another watercolor vignette (after all, everything but the keychain is edible and won’t last forever!):

From left to right: Eiffel Tower keychain (a must-have souvenir, of course), Bouquet garni (seasoning pouches for sauces), Edmond Fallot White Wine Vinegar with Herbs from Provence, a jar of rum-soaked crepes, Apricot & Almond Milk Confiture, Michel Cluizel Noir Infini 99% (now THAT is DARK chocolate – we’ve been warned to let it melt in the mouth but do NOT bite down, or we may die right there), and Lindt 85% Cacao Dark Chocolate (for those times when 99% might be a BIT too much.) Mmmmm… souvenirs!
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