You may have heard of this friend of mine, her name is Kathy Casey. She is just the sweetest, funniest, warmest person, and girl can COOK (and mix a mean cocktail!)!!!

Every year, Kathy and her crew create the most a.MAZ.ing fruit cakes. I don’t even like fruit cake – but this is just heaven!

Courtesy of Kathy Casey.

The picture from Kathy above just doesn’t do it justice, I swear! Check out her blog post on her “Over 21″ Real Fruit Cake made with Maker’s Mark.

Or, if you are in the mood for a little entertainment, watch this fun video that shows the labor of love involved in getting a batch of these cakes ready for gobbling!

If you now have a serious hankering for something devilish, you can buy it until December 14^th or while supplies last. You can purchase them thru Kathy’s website and at her Food Studios (for those that are local) which is open Monday – Friday, 9:00am – 5:00pm.

OR – if fruit cake still sounds too dangerous, Kathy left this great recipe that I’m re-posting below. This would be great for a Christmas morning brunch with a nice cup of espresso and some friends in their snugglies!

Unbelievable Apple Cake with Cider Crème Anglaise and Cranberry Compote

(re-posted from Dishing with Kathy Casey)
Makes 1 cake, serving 8 to 10

2 cups (about 10 ounces) unpeeled, diced Granny Smith apples
2 cups (about 10 ounces) unpeeled, diced red-skinned apples, such as Braeburn, Winesap, or Jonathan
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 cup canola oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup dark raisins
Cider Crème Anglaise (recipe follows)
Cranberry Compote (recipe follows)

Preheat an oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan or a large Bundt pan and set aside.

Combine the apples and sugar in a large bowl. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Stir in the oil, eggs, and Worcestershire. Add this mixture to the apple mixture all at once and mix well. Fold in the walnuts and raisins.

Scrape the cake batter into the prepared pan. Rap the pan on the counter to release any bubbles.

Bake for about 1 1/4 hours, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean when poked into cake. Cool the cake in the pan, then turn it out onto a cake plate.

To serve: Slice the cake into desired number of servings. Pool a little Cider Crème Anglaise on individual dessert plates, then place a cake slice on top. Spoon a little Cranberry Compote over each cake slice. Pass additional Crème Anglaise and Cranberry Compote at the table.

Cider Crème Anglaise
Makes 2 cups

4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup half-and-half
3 tablespoons apple juice concentrate, undiluted

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until well combined.

In a double boiler or medium bowl set over a pan of simmering water, heat the half-and-half until hot but not simmering. Whisk half of it into the egg mixture to temper the eggs. Add the tempered egg mixture back into the hot half-and-half, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook slowly until the sauce just begins to thicken and become slightly shiny, about 5 minutes. (Do not overcook or it will turn into scrambled eggs!)

Immediately remove the bowl from over the hot water. Stir in the apple juice concentrate and place the bowl in another bowl of iced water to cool quickly. Stir often during cooling. Refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days.

Cranberry Compote
While cranberries are in season, buy a bag and stick them in the freezer. Then, at any time during the year, you can enjoy the cranberry compote. Try it over vanilla ice cream or plain cheesecake for a scrumptious treat!

Makes 1 heaping cup

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup apple juice

Place all ingredients in a medium-sized, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the cranberries pop and the mixture has a thick compote consistency, 5 to 6 minutes. Let cool completely before serving.

Refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days.

Recipe from Dishing with Kathy Casey cookbook.

A quick homemade crepe batter from scratch - the hardest part is letting it sit!

Just a thought here – everyone should start the day with a homemade breakfast. A breakfast made with love. The kind of meal that tastes so much better, because someone made it with care, knowing it would fuel your day, help you focus, and send you off into the world just a little more complete, a little more full, a little more ready to take on the world.

Well, we know how often that doesn’t happen, which makes the mornings you do get a treat like that even more meaningful. This weekend, I pulled out my homemade crepe batter recipe. This is the SAME recipe I’ve been using since 7th Grade Home Ec class. That’s right, I’ve been toting it around all these years, and I realized, it’s the first thing I ever made, and it was as delicious then as it is now. You can also see the stack of Trader Jo’s organic turkey sausages photobombing in the background….they were the perfect addition to a standard like the crepe.

Before I show you the other (slightly fuzzy) breakfast pictures from the past week, here’s my crepe recipe:

Siiri’s Homemade Crepes

• 3 eggs
• 1.5Cups Water
• 1Cup Flour
• 1Tbsp. Melted butter (for the pan – if you have a nonstick pan, skip the butter!)
• pinch of salt

Directions

1. Whisk all ingredients (except that butter) together vigorously for about 2 minutes.
2. Set aside and let rest in a non-reactive bowl (this means NO METAL) for 30 minutes.
3. Get your largest frying pan up to medium high heat (I do a tester crepe of course, and find my heat at about a 7 or so is good).
4. Turn your oven to 200F and once you’ve made about 5 crepes, transfer to a cookie sheet in the oven to keep warm. They won’t dry out, don’t worry!
5. Each crepe is about 1/3Cup of batter, and I use a big old spoon to pour it in and spread the batter around with the back of the spoon before it sets. Once the edges curl up a bit, it will release itself from the pan. Flip it for about 15-30 seconds, and you’re done!

With that, here’s a few more images I’ve taken recently that I just had to share, even though they’re fuzzy, and not a great example of my food photography skills (or lack thereof I should say)….

A simple toss together sandwich of toasted whole wheat English Muffin, two fried eggs over medium, twice fried pepperoni, and melted cheddar.

This was a quick weekend breakfast LAST weekend before heading out for a day of errands and chores. An old school, stick to your ribs classic – ye olde McMuffin on the homestyle…in other words, I faked an Egg McMuffin sandwich with the junk I had laying around in the fridge. My audience didn’t seem to mind one bit!

Another fun concoction of apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, tart crust and topping made from Girl Scout Cookies - Thank You Berry Munch cookies to be exact!

And this beauty was a tasty apple tart with lemon essence and a crunchy cookie crumble topping (perfect with a cup of steaming hot coffee on a frosty winter morning, right?! I had some leftover Girl Scout Cookies called Thank You Berry Munch that have yummy dried berries and other tasty bits in them. I crumbled them in my nut chopper (think “Slap Chop” but fancy, from Pampered Chef…), and added a half Tablespoon of Smart Balance, mixed into a topping and baked the whole thing off at 400F for 30 minutes to a golden brown crisp.

That’s all for now – go enjoy your week, cook with the ones you love, and if you can, make someone’s day better by making, bringing or treating them to breakfast! A great way to say you care!

Now it’s up to the public (that’s YOU!) to help me win! There’s a few wonderful prizes, but most of all, this will be a huge chance for me to continue with my dream of sharing food creativity and education with the masses! Please go to the Girl Scouts of Western Washington Food Blogger Recipe Contest page and VOTE for my “Samoa Curry Arancini” recipe now until March 1st! (I copied the recipe below for your convenience and to make your mouth water!)

In case you’re busy doing your taxes, watching the Grammys, or living under a rock, allow me to remind you – it’s almost GIRL SCOUT COOKIE TIME!!!!! I know, I know, it’s exciting! Before I get to my super exciting recipe and contest news, let me first give you the most important details: cookies go on sale SOON – March 2nd – 18th.

How could you NOT want at least one sleeve of Samoas? If you drink a cup of coffee with them, it counts as breakfast, I promise!

You can learn more about the best sale of the year by visiting the Girl Scouts of Western Washington website here. And because the Girls Scouts are hip and keeping up with the times (I mean, they are the future leaders of America after all…) there is an awesome cookie locator, as well as an app, that tells you exactly where girls are selling cookies in your neighborhood! They won’t be updated until closer to the sale, but are very good to keep handy! (and to learn about the origin of the Girl Scout Cookie, check out the full history!)

This year, as an added bonus, the Girl Scouts turned to food bloggers in Western Washington to see what we’d do when turned loose with boxes of our favorite sweets. That’s right – a contest – with food bloggers – and COOKIES. It’s dangerous kids, and I’m getting serious….seriously excited. The contest is to use the cookies in a recipe of our own making. And you know I love a challenge. Without further ado, I present to you my savory AND sweet appetizer – Samoa Curry Arancini!

A little sweet, a little salty, a LOT addictive!

What in the heck is Samoa Curry Arancini you ask? That’s a great question – to which I answer: I made it up.

In “old world” Italy, people would take their left over risotto the next day and roll it into balls, then deep fry it into crispy, heavenly balls of fried deliciousness. I decided to take this old Italian recipe to India, to warm it up a bit. The recipe that follows IS EASY – I PROMISE. If it looks complicated, then take a deep breath, it’s smoke and mirrors, and you can use this to your advantage the next time you have company. This is the perfect appetizer to prepare ahead, and fry up at the last minute:

Samoa Curry Arancini

Ingredients

• 1 Cup White Rice (sticky rice like Niko Niko)
• 1 Cup Coconut Milk
• 1 Cup Water
• 1/2 Tbsp. Yellow Curry Powder
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt (plus more for dusting the arancini after frying)
• 1/2 Cup boiled then chopped chicken
• 1 box Girl Scout Samoa Cookies
• 1 Cup Greek Yogurt
• 1 handful fresh basil leaves
• 1 Tbsp fresh mint leaves + a pinch of salt

Coating

• 4-6 Samoa cookies, pulsed into crumbs in a food processor
• 2 Tbsp panko bread crumbs (or regular bread crumbs – plain)

Directions

1. First get your rice and chicken prepared, this can be done at the same time. Get a small pot of water boiling and add your chicken breast (I use a frozen one). Boil till cooked through (about 15 minutes). While that’s boiling, get another small sauce pan for the rice.
2. Combine the coconut milk, water, curry powder, 1/2Tsp. salt and rice in sauce pan. Put on medium heat and stir constantly, THE WHOLE TIME, with a spoon, till it boils. Continue stirring constantly for 2 minutes while boiling. After 2 minutes, turn heat off, cover with lid and remove completely from heat. Set a timer for 20 minutes and do NOT remove the lid.
3. Meanwhile, prep your coating of Samoa crumbs and bread crumbs (I like panko bread crumbs – which are Japanese, but can be bought at any old grocery store). I put this mixture in a bowl and keep it in the freezer till I’m ready to roll the arancini and fry them. This prevents the chocolate from burning in the hot oil.
4. Take 4-5 Samoas and chop each into 4-6 chunks, set aside. You’ll stuff a chunk of Samoa into the middle of each arancini.
5. When your rice and chicken are done, stir them together and refrigerate until chilled completely. Once chilled, use a tablespoon to create evenly sized arancini balls (“arancini” means “orange” in Italian). As you create each ball, stuff a Samoa chunk into the middle and then roll in the crumb mixture.
6. I like to pop the whole batch in the freezer for a few minutes, to chill them down before frying (again to keep the chocolate cold).
7. To prepare your dipping sauce, just toss the greek yogurt, basil, mint and pinch of salt into the blender. Puree it and stick it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
8. When guests arrive, get a small sauce pan ready with 1-2 inches of canola oil hot on medium high heat (I set it around 7-8). To test your oil, drop a tiny bit of your rice mixture in and see how long it takes to form a crispy outer crust (this should be no more than 1 minute).
9. To fry, drop the arancini (up to 3 at a time) into the oil and let fry for 1 minute max – this will create a brown, crispy crust (that’s right, it’s a SAMOA CRUST).
10. Plate them up with a saucer full of your basil, mint yogurt sauce, and serve hot. When you bite into the arancini, you’ll get the added surprise of a warm, melted center!

Don't blink, or someone will grab up that crispy, crunchy, melty ball of perfection before you do!

As the arancini fry to a golden crisp, that Samoa chunk you stuffed into the center is liquefying into a caramely, chocolatey, coconutty surprise. The warm flavors of coconut, curry and salty chicken are wonderfully balanced by the sweetness of chocolate and mint, and refreshing basil and yogurt.  Better make a big, BIG batch, because after the first bite, you’ll want to hoard the whole batch to yourself – and so will your guests! Enjoy, and if you have any questions about the recipe, just leave me a comment!

It is such a treat to participate in a wonderful contest that will benefit the Girl Scouts of Western Washington by raising awareness not only of their fundraising activities, but also by keeping the community aware of all the great work they promote in local communities. To find out more, please visit http://www.facebook.com/GirlScoutsWW and https://twitter.com/#!/GirlScoutsWW and the Twitter hash #GSCookieRecipe. DON’T FORGET TO VOTE, VOTE, VOTE! https://girlscouts.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5vfxi5D0DTx0KKE

Riley, his apple and his Nonna (bad camera phone pictures, sorry!)

Riley and his mommy, my older sister, Kate.

Funny Faces

Seriously, could we BE more related?!

Riley with his Chewie (that's me)

EW, GROSS!

Now that you’ve indulged in massive amounts of cuteness, here’s a great short list put together recently by REAL SIMPLE, that I got in my email. They’ve rounded up the perfect snacks to take on the go this time of year. Great for those days you have to do holiday shopping after work, or a Saturday morning you find yourself running errands all over town.  Rather than stopping somewhere to stuff your face full of greasy, fatty burgers (which I’ll admit, sound amazingly good, and I’ve had a few in as many months recently), pack these budget-friendly items suggested by Madonna Behen to keep your energy up when you’re away from the roost.

• Apples. Though tasty, peaches, pears, and oranges can be messy to eat, and bananas get mushy. Apples can withstand a lot more abuse.
• Protein-rich raw, unsalted nuts, such as almonds, sunflower seeds, and walnuts. Tote these for their sheer indestructibility and relative indifference to air exposure.
• Dried fruit. To keep the sugars in fruits like raisins from crystallizing, empty a few handfuls into resealable bags. (Toss the less airtight boxes.) For items like mangoes and apples, seek out those with no added sugar, to keep calories down and crunchiness at bay.
• Vacuum-sealed tuna packets or tuna-salad kits (complete with mayo and crackers). Like Lunchables, but for grown-ups.
• Celery sticks, baby carrots, olives, cherry tomatoes. These veggies can withstand a fair amount of jostling and time away from the refrigerator.
• Packets of plain instant oatmeal. Empty one into a travel mug before a flight, ask an attendant for boiling water, and you have a quick breakfast with no cup necessary.
• Drinkable yogurt or single-serving containers of applesauce. Punch a straw through the foil and it’s a spillproof, no-utensil healthy snack.
• Dried ginger. A sweet snack that can also help keep motion sickness at bay.

Great, all-natural snacks like fruits, nuts and protein-packed tuna will prevent the 3pm splurge at the drive-thru, while keeping your daily calorie count in check, not to mention your wallet! Thanks to the REAL SIMPLE crew for keeping us on track this holiday season!

Here is Seattle, there are really three camps of coffee: low brow fast food or quick serve coffee you get on the go, major chain mass market shops that focus on consistency and broad availability, and then the specialty shops.  Each have their place in my life, and I’m not the kind of person (or food fiend) that snubs my nose up at any one genre of coffee.  I am, however, the kind of person that will spit the steaming hot mouthful of crap water back into the cup, or on the ground, if it tastes like a dog took a bath in a tub full of wet cardboard.  Just because it’s coffee, doesn’t mean I’m going to drink it.

(click through to read the rest of my amazing revelation about specialty coffee!)

As a little girl, I recall going to Uptown Espresso in lower Queen Anne with my dad, right by the Space Needle, and I got a special drink – an “Almond Moo” (steamed milk with almond syrup in it, still just as good!). And as a college student, I looked for my moments of widsom at the bottom of a mug of French Press from the original Stumptown location in Portland, near my school (Reed) campus.  Those days I took my coffee black, black, black.  Maybe I thought the blacker it was, the more potential brain juice was in it? I dunno. But that was then…..this is now. Nowadays, the best cup of coffee is shared with close friends and loved ones, at home, in your morning jammies, just catching up on life.  For me and my fabulous apartment, it’s curling up on the couch with that special someone, a cup of perfectly roasted brew and an incredible view of Mt. Rainier (which I luckily have every day it’s sunny).

I really thought I liked coffee, and I do! It’s been around me my whole life.  But my level of like is nowhere NEAR a couple of guys I met the other day during a crazy cupping (that’s what the gurus call it when you taste a bunch at once) at a special place down on 1st Ave called Fonte.

DISCLAIMER: Before we go any further, let me just say this: if you are not a coffee fanatic, or you just want a latte and that’s all you care about – FANTASTIC. You can still go to Fonte for your coffee, and leave the rest of the details to the food nerds like me that want to know every detail down to what the farmer ate for breakfast the day he harvested the beans, okay?

If you’ve never heard of Fonte before, fear not, I also was not familiar till very recently. But now I know, and I can recommence with regular life knowing it’s a bit better with this resource.

Fonté Coffee Roaster is one of Seattle’s premium coffee roaster’s providing specialty coffee and tea for coffee retailers, restaurants and hotels. In ’92, they set out to create the most exquisite coffee blends in the world. Fonté’s Master Roaster manages a rigorous roast-to-order production process that involves shipping coffee on the same day of roasting, ensuring to-the-minute freshness to all customers.

They are hard core – they source, blend, roast by hand, sell and serve – all with meticulous attention to detail. You can check them out online visit www.fontecoffee.com, or head down and try some in person: 1321 First Ave.

Not only did I learn how to truly taste the value and flavor in a cup of coffee – and remember how to appreciate good coffee black, I found out there’s only a bajillion steps and important key factors that dictate the worlds best coffee.  The guys at Fonte know it like the back of their hand, but what I found more impressive was the way in which they could explain it to me. I understood what they meant, I was able to start tasting flavors as well – once I was following along, and I actually enjoyed it!

So here’s the crazy of how this works:

• Fonte literally gets to test the beans before they buy, and the purchasing happens via auction.
• They get a bundle of sample beans before the auction. They roast and test them, rank them and then decide what they’d like to bid on.
• Then, they hit up the auction site on the right day for those beans (check out the auction site here: http://www.cupofexcellence.org/CountryPrograms/Nicaragua/2011Program/tabid/720/Default.aspx)
• And here is an example of the results from an auction: http://www.cupofexcellence.org/CountryPrograms/Nicaragua/2011Program/AuctionResults/tabid/739/Default.aspx
• Then they get the beans in, locally around Seattle, and they get to work on building their blends and roasting so they can fill their orders, some of which ship the same day as they roast. THAT is freshness people.

I have never had a sneak peek into how this specialty coffee world works, but now that I know, I’m totally hooked. I think Steve, the “big roaster man” as I call him, has a lot to do that. He’s a patient teacher and a wealth of information, and best of all, he’s excited to share that with everyone he meets.

That’s Steve, hard at work!

And here are some auctions that are still coming up this fall (you’ll see a couple just happened, which means Fonte may have some awesome new beans to try out – if you’re close by and into it – or if you want to look online! They fill orders all over!)

CoE Guatemala   07/07/11
CoE Honduras    07/12/11
CoE Rwanda            10/13/11
Carmo Coffees   10/25/11
CoE Brasil            01/12/11

And if that weren’t enough, now they’re starting this amazing new option called “The Vault”.

“The Coffee Vault”
Registered members can source limited quantity, high quality single origin beans.

Beginning July 18, Fonté Coffee will launch a new program called “The Coffee Vault”.  These hand-selected, extremely limited small lot coffees vary in price from $20 a pound and up depending on the bean origin. Fonté will source and purchase a specified amount of single origin beans which will be sent to the roasting plant and placed in a zero oxygen environment to preserve freshness. These rare, unroasted beans will be stored separately so each registered client can call or email Fonté Coffee with their weekly order.  Steve will roast-to-order a one pound minimum of the reserved micro-lot coffee, shipping the following day.

If you want more information on this, you can contact Lara Jones at ljones@fontecoffee.com.

So, really, whether or not you want to sniff a cup of coffee for 5 minutes before slurping and spitting a sip to get a feel for how quality it is, or you just want to get in, grab a cup and go (or stay for dinner in their precious cafe and people watch – SAM is across the street) Fonte is worth a shot (HA! Shot, get it? sorry)

I don’t go out of my way often to get something “special”, but what I’ve realized now is that I really don’t have to.  Steve and Paul (the knowledgeable and gracious owner), make it insanely easy to know as much, or as little, as you want while still enjoying the simplest thing of all – the coffee.

Did that get your attention? I hope so, because this weekend you can drive to Maltby, just 30-40 minutes North of Seattle and insert your face into a truckload of free ice cream, hot dogs and more with the Snoqualmie Ice Creamery.

Snoqualmie Ice Cream Announces First Annual Ice Cream-O-Rama
June 25th, 11:00am – 4:00pm
FREE ICE CREAM – LIVE MUSIC – ICE CREAMERY TOURS

Here’s the skinny (which I won’t be after I eat all the ice cream), they are NOT paying me to say this, in fact, I’m getting nothing whatsoever. I have loved this company for the past 5 years, after I first discovered their honey lavender (now French Lavender) in a little stand behind a cheese counter and next to a Chinese tchotke stand in the Pike Place market. It. CHANGED. MY. LIFE. True story.

Get this, they’re also adding a sustainable farm.  That’s right, they started with ice cream, and now they’ll have a FARM. I love these people. Proof you can do multiple things really well, right?

Here’s a sketch of the upcoming farm.  Here’s a bit more info on that if you’re interested, or you can scroll down to find out who is going to be entertianing you while you lick a million licks of ice cream:

The addition of the onsite sustainable farm is just one more step toward the company’s goal of being as sustainable as possible while crafting the most perfect ice cream imaginable.  When the Bettinger’s built their new Ice Creamery in 2005 they set out to be as environmentally responsible as possible. The custom build factory was the first certified sustainable building in Snohomish County and incorporates green designs including the solar panels that help run the plant and the demonstration bioswale built to collect rain water runoff. As a result of these efforts, Snoqualmie Ice Cream uses up to 50% less energy and generates zero rain water runoff while producing some of the best ice cream possible.

WHO’S COMING WITH ME?!?!?!?!?!  I’ll be there sometime between 2-4pm, so if you’re coming too, you can tweet me or use: #SnoQuoIceCream in your tweets!

You can also find Snoqualmie Ice Cream in a handful of grocery stores. Here in Seattle I’ve found it in QFC and can barely keep my hands off it! (and I am not even a sweets person!)

For more information visit www.snoqualmieicecream.com

Get the scoop on Snoqualmie Ice Cream news and events on Facebook and Twitter.

++++++

MALTBY, WA—June 17, 2011— Snoqualmie Ice Cream, the Pacific Northwest’s top ice cream producer, is set to kick off ice cream month (July) a little early with its first annual ICE-CREAM-O-RAMA at the company’s Ice Creamery and Café in Maltby, WA on Saturday, June 25th.  The free event will feature live music, free ice cream and hot dogs, tours of the company’s Ice Creamery, and the unveiling of the company’s new 1.5 acre sustainable farm where they will soon produce many of their key ingredients right on site – the farm will produce everything from fresh honey and eggs to lavender and blackberries for the company’s 700+ flavors of ice cream, gelato, custard and sorbet.

The event will run from 11:00am – 4:00pm and will kick-off with a short dedication for the sustainable farm which will be followed by a full day of fun including live musical performances throughout the day by some of Pike Place Market’s top performers and a special performance at 2:00 p.m. by the Presidents of the United States’ Chris Ballew as Casper Babypants. 

Snoqualmie Ice Cream, based in Maltby, is owned by Barry and Shahnaz Bettinger who have made all-natural hand-crafted ice cream, gelato, custards and sorbets for the past 14 years.  In addition to selling nearly 700,000 pints annually at major grocery stores throughout Washington, Oregon, California and Texas, the company also operates an on-site Café where visitors can try some of the company’s 700 custom flavors as well as homemade soups and sandwiches.  Additionally, the company supplies the ice cream base for many of the region’s most popular ice cream shops as well as custom ice cream flavors to many top restaurants, resorts and food service providers throughout the Northwest.

In addition to unveiling the new onsite farm, Snoqualmie Ice Cream has a lot to celebrate at the 2011 Ice Cream-O-Rama. With sales growing steadily, the company recently expanded sales into Texas and launched a fresh new package design and web site:  www.snoqualmieicecream.com. However, even with some new changes the one thing that has remained constant year after year and keeps customers coming back is the passion that Snoqualmie Ice Cream puts into each and every pint.

This week the recipe is “Warm New Potato Salad with Grainy Mustard”, and you can guess we’re getting a batch of new potatoes in our bin this week?!

source: NewRootsOrganics.com

I’m excited to give this recipe a try! Head over to New Roots Organics website to see all the other recipes they have up (and no, I’m not getting paid, or anything for free from them, I’m just excited, darn it!!!!) (click through for the recipe, and don’t forget you can always sub out for any other potato or root veggie in a pinch!)

Warm New Potato Salad with Grainy Mustard (Serves 4)

Sake #1: Junmaiginjo Jokigen. (Taste slightly of pears)

Note from Barrie: jump off the cliff, go for it!!!

Tasting note: Satori cheese, paired with Sato’s Rice Label sake. The cheese is a asiago cows milk from Winsconsin. The cheese smells of tomato and rye before you eat it.

Pairing #2:

Drink: A rum out of Martinique from a family joint.
Note: a slice of lime rather than a wedge for the drink to prevent sourness.

Espresso rinded cheese with rum??? DUHHHH, THAT'S A YES! http://www.TheCheeseImpresario.com

Barrie note: “Just like a relationship,1+1 should always = more than 1. Put each other on a pedestal.”

And here are some of the pictures I tweeted while there last night:

Getting ready for a delicious evening of cheese, spirits, friends and food lessons with The Cheese Impresario, Barrie!

Okay, so I ended up doing more talking, sampling and “mmmmmmm!”ing than note taking, but my phone battery was dying and can you really blame me anyway?!  Everything was amazing and Barrie blew my mind, what an amazing ability to sense the best of each ingredient and think outside the box! I hope she does another event soon, and for the larger public, because it would be REALLY fun to have a group of friends go to this together and learn, eat and have a blast!

A HUGE thank you to my girl, Keren, (www.FranticFoodie.com) for putting this together and inviting to me come along for the ride.  An equally HUGE thank you to Barrie Lynn, (www.TheCheeseImpresario.com) for being so fabulous and wonderful and letting us all experience what she’s known for years: CHEESE RULES!

Check out Barrie’s series, Cheese Rules, on Small Screen: http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/cheeserules 

French Summer Black Truffles from Marky's

If you like salt, and by “like” I mean you (like me) have a salt lick next to your bed, and dream about your cupboard being stocked full of a rainbow presentation of worldly salts, then this place is for you. 

Of course this place would be in Miami.  But thanks to the wonderous series of tubes formerly known as the Interwebulars, you and I can buy the best the world has to offer in 000 caviar and $200/lb truffles that some pig snorted up on the French countryside. Thanks pigs. We owe you one.

So let’s cut to the chase, here’s some succulent food porn from Marky’s to whet your appetite.

Got $360 laying around? Splurge on some Kaluga Caviar. (picture via Marky's. click to go through)

Caviar isn’t usually my first option when it comes to food indulgences, but that’s because I’m too poor to even entertain the idea.  I usually go for something greezy and cheap, like that guy I dated during college….*shudder*

They also have 10, yes 10, different classifications of Foie. That includes their own brand, which is  – big surprise – sold out.

Block of Goose Foie Gras for $125? Sure! I'll bring the wine, thanks Marky!

And this is just the tip of the iceburg.  Here’s a list of all the other departments they have online:

Deli Meats & Pate
· Basturma · Bresaola · Chorizo
· Duck Breast · Prosciutto Ham
· Salami · Sausages · Serrano
· Canadian · Italian · Spanish 
 
  Butter & Creme Fraiche 
· British · French · Normandy
· Devon · Echire · Isigny
· Salted · Unsalted · Goat
· Creme Fraiche · Fromage Frais 
 
  Cheese
· Danish · Dutch · English
· French · German · Italian
· Norwegian · Spanish · Swiss
· Blue · Brie · Fondue · Smoked
· Buffalo · Cow · Goat · Sheep
 
  Olive Oil and Gourmet Oils
· Almond · Argan · Avocado
· Grapeseed · Hazelnut · Olive
· Pinenut · Pistachio · Pumpkin
· Safflower · Truffle · Walnut
· French · Italian · Spanish 
 
  Vinegars
· Aged Balsamic · Apple Cider
· Banyuls · Champagne · Fig
· Red & White Wine · Sherry
· French · Italian · Modena
 
  Belgian Leonidas Chocolates
· Dark · White · Ganache · Milk
· Candy · Marzipan · Pralines
· Solid · Truffles · w/Liquor
 
  Gourmet Tea Forte
· Black · Green · Herbal · Oolong
· Loose Tea · Samplers · White
· Tea Gifts & Accesories
 
  Kosher Deli
· Butter · Caviar · Cheese
· Mustard · Smoked Salmon
 
  Accoutrements de la Table
· Knives · Servers · Spoons
· Mother of Pearl Plates

 
  Disposable Tableware
· Cups · Cutlery · Mini Dishes
· Plates · Skewers · Trays 
 
  Molecular Gastronomy

Oh, and of course top that off with specific sections of the site for their Russian, Spanish and French goods. OY!