We made it to Scotland! After a couple of days in Edinburgh we headed up to the Scottish Highlands for a week’s stay in the Glencoe area. It is incredibly beautiful here and being the highlands there are plenty of ‘hills’ to climb.
Travel Day! Headed North of the Wall (Eventually)
And we’re off! Well, actually we’ve been off since yesterday. I fully expected today’s post to have been written in Scotland, but unfortunately, we haven’t made it there quite yet! I’ll just have to wait another day to get my hands on a hog roast sandwich from my favorite place in Edinburgh.
Continue reading “Travel Day! Headed North of the Wall (Eventually)”
Pan Tomate, A Honeymoon Memory
The calendar flipped to June this week and that means it’s anniversary month for Cheryl and me. The iron anniversary! My focus on Spain lately got me thinking about the tail end of our honeymoon in Barcelona, where we took a cooking class. Yes, we learned how to make pan tomate, a delicious way to turn stale bread into part of a meal. But, what I remember most is watching other people in the class make the pan tomate.Continue reading “Pan Tomate, A Honeymoon Memory”
Panzanella – Tomatoes and Stale Bread
I’m back! This week has been waaaaaay more manageable than last week and I’ve actually been cooking dinners again. So happy. It has also gotten very warm and feels more like it should be for Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start to summer. For us, summer brings salads and this panzanella is just the ticket for your cookouts or even weeknight dinners.Continue reading “Panzanella – Tomatoes and Stale Bread”
‘Cause Pasta Salad Is How I Feel
You may not know it but on occasion there are times where I struggle a little to come up with ideas to write about. Even so, I’m able to pull something off. Well, it caught up to me this week. Pasta salad pretty much sums it up.Continue reading “‘Cause Pasta Salad Is How I Feel”
Pinchos Morunos, Get Ready for Grilling
Didn’t take long for me to dive right into my new cook book and start sharing, did it? I’ve been going through it over the past week looking at sausages and getting ideas, but as I mentioned before there’s a lot more to Charcuteria than you’d think. This recipe for grilled kebabs with Moorish influenced seasoning jumped out at me and since summer is approaching I thought it would be a good one to try first.Continue reading “Pinchos Morunos, Get Ready for Grilling”
New Kitchen Book – Charcuteria: The Soul of Spain
It’s not often you see me write about stuff other than food I’ve been cooking or sausages I’ve been making. That should tell you something about this particular acquisition. If you are into making sausages and curing meat you need to get yourself a copy of Charcuteria: The Soul of Spain, by Jeffrey Weiss.Continue reading “New Kitchen Book – Charcuteria: The Soul of Spain”
More Artichokes – Alla Romana This Week
Last week I didn’t have time to properly cook some wonderful artichokes but this week was a different story. Since things slowed down ever so slightly and my Wednesday night soccer was rained out I was able to quickly throw together Carciofi alla Romana like in Elizabeth Minchilli’s Eating Rome.Continue reading “More Artichokes – Alla Romana This Week”
Spring Artichoke Salad with Grapefruit and Mint
Kitchen is finished! Well almost. A couple small finishing touches to go but we can at least move our stuff back in and the workers are all packed up and gone. However, it has been a ridiculously crazy week and I really haven’t had any time to fully test drive our (ok let’s be honest, my) new space. Good thing this week’s post takes no time at all to whip up and is a perfect spring salad made with raw artichokes.Continue reading “Spring Artichoke Salad with Grapefruit and Mint”
Escarole with Duck Sausage – A Date Night Inspiration
For date night last week we went to one of our favorite places here in Chicago, Osteria Langhe where we ate an amazing contorno of escarole and spicy sausage with olives and cherry tomatoes. It was really really really really good. By now you can guess what Cheryl said. ‘You can make this with one of your sausages, can’t you?’Continue reading “Escarole with Duck Sausage – A Date Night Inspiration”
The Roaming GastroGnome 