Weekend Cat Blogging-Helping us pick a new lawn

We're incredibly sad to hear that our blogger hero, Sher from 'What did you Eat' has passed away suddenly. I got great pleasure from reading her stories about cats and about the squirrels. I particularly adored Upsie, who just had so much character. I hope her friends and family will take some comfort in how many lives she's touched, but it must be incredibly hard to lose such a wonderful woman.

Tina has been hard at work helping us to choose some artificial grass. Having a lawn and living in San Diego are not compatable, our gophers really love to tear it up and its actually dangerous now, so we're going for an alternative that isnt going to look awful after 6 months. It took her a few days, but she's decided on the more lush version so we'll tell the rep today!

Muhuruuuu er Walnut and Roasted Pepper Dip

Well, this was a real success! I was browsing the lovely Tigers and Strawberries and found a really delicious looking dip called Muhammara. I then saw the gigantic ingredients list and decided it would be more of an inspiration than an actual recipe. I threw a bunch of stuff in the food processor and in less than 5 minutes I had this delicious but healthy dip. Andy actually started eating it with a spoon and asked if I'd mind if he finished it! This is very uncommon with healthy stuff like this so I was happy! I think I'll go back and try the proper recipe as it was so wonderful its worth a try.

I took some of these and processed with garbanzo beans, breadcrumbs, eggs and leftover goat cheese to make delicious veggie burgers.

Walnut and Pepper Dip inspired by Tigers and Strawberries
1 jar roasted red and yellow peppers (or three freshly roasted peppers)
1 tomato
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup fat free yoghurt
3 tbsp harissa
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
salt and pepper to taste

Throw everything in the food processor and process until you have the desired consistency (some like more lumps than others!)

A sad week for bloggers cats and squirrels

I was really shocked on Monday to hear that the wonderful Sher, of 'What did you Eat' had died suddenly of a heart attack. She had a wonderful sense of humour and was a pleasure to read, and I loved hearing her stories about her cats and squirrels, especially the wonderful Upsie, who passed away earlier this year. I got the courage to start a blog and join the daring bakers after reading about her hilarious adventures. Glenna did a wonderful tribute on her blog.

Lucha Libre

I just got back from a very nice lunch at lucha libre, just off the I5 at Washington.

I'd been wanting to try it for a while, and picking up my husbands car from the garage seemed like the perfect opportunity. He had the Tijuana hot dog and I had the veggie quesadilla. The hot dog was pretty good and gave him his usual rush that bacon gives him so goodness knows what he's like now, I'm sure he's giving everyone at work hell!

The quesadilla was delicious, at only $4 it was a bargain. It had delicious grilled veggies, peppers zucchini and onion, black beans and cheese and was served with a dollop of quesadilla. I started to chow down on it and realised that I had twice as much as I thought and it was enough for lunch and dinner, even for a hungry person like me! Bargain!

I cant wait to go back and try more!

I guess those folks at chow were right this time. The parking seems a bit tricky but other than that I'd be happy to go back anytime!

Fourth of July, time for snacks!

My perfect Fourth of July, a morning spent baking new treats, an afternoon sharing them with friends on the beach!

I was going to attempt some previous Daring Bakers challenges. Croissants seemed like a fun idea, then I realised how involved and daunting they were and decided on something a bit more fun.

Pretzels for my lovely husband, who doesnt have a sweet tooth but loves a nice bit of savory, I knew he'd love these. It was really fun to read the first challenges of the daring bakers on Ivonne and Lisa's blogs and then to give it a try myself! I was really glad I got these out of the house quicksharp as they were absolutely delicious, and I think we'd have eaten the entire batch on our own!

This is the kind of recipe I love, just a bit of flour, sugar, water yeast and salt, a quick rise, then shape, dip in water, proof and bake. Of course they are complete with a little brush of butter and a sprinkling of kosher salt, but really, how simple is that!!

This will definitely be on my rotation of baked snacks from now on!


I then set about with my first attempt at macarons. It didnt seem too bad, as they didn't require a huge number of eggs, that I'd regret wasting or expensive ingredients. I'd come across a delicious looking recipe on tartelette and decided to try it. The batter came together very well, I had my first try at making praline, and I happened to have some dulce de leche knocking around for a filling.

My first time wasn't perfect, the macarons stuck to the silpat, so only about half came out ok. I also don't think I baked them for quite long enough, they were very fragile. They were also insanely sweet. I think a more creamy/tart filling might be nice against the intense sweetness of the meringue.

The recipe was used exactly as written, so I wont repeat it here, I found other sources that were a lot more detailed, and I might try that route, apparently putting some water under the silpat after baking really helps to release the macarons.

As far as dulce de leche goes, there are 3 ways to do it:
1. Put a sealed can of condensed milk into slightly simmering water for 3 hours
2. Pour a can of condensed milk in a small, thick bottomed pan and heat on a low/medium heat, stirring almost continuously with a wooden spoon until it is thick and caramel colored.
3. The david lebovitz method, heating in the oven.

Mothers Kitchen

Now that I'm finished with my extreme bike training, I know that one of the things I'm going to miss is Mothers Kitchen, situated at the top of Mount Palomar, its a lovely place to stop and have lunch, particularly in the Summer, when its so hot in the rest of San Diego, its just lovely and breezy and the air is clean and fresh.

The cafe is really friendly, with a lovely shady garden outside. The food is rustic and veggie. The last few times I've been, I've become addicted to their grilled cheese sandwiches, but they also do a wonderful lasagne, great mac and cheese and lots lots more.

Its a great excuse for a daytrip up to the Palomar Observatory for a hike and to learn about the stars. Or if you're nuts like me, consider a gentle 45 mile bike ride from Lake Wolford, with around 5000 ft of climbing and a personal photographer too!

The Del Mar Fair! My first bake-off!

I decided to enter the Eagle Brand bakeoff, seemed like a good plan, especially since you get free entry to the fair.

I baked a shortbread cookie with some zest in, gently boiled down condensed milk to a dulce de leche, made a sandwich, which I dipped in chocolate and pecans. I thought they were delicious, but I didnt win. Oh well!

Most of the winners were creamy pies, mine was quite involved, and maybe they wanted a really quick and easy recipe.

Anyway, the fair was a lot of fun, I had a look around all the scary fried foods stands and the zucchini fries looked very nice so I tucked into them. This was all I could take, so no funnel cake or fried ice creams for me! I love the emphasis on 'Totally Fried'!!

We then made our way over to the turkey stampede, which was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. The turkeys are too stupid to actually race, so they drive a very cool remote control truck for them to follow. It was quite interesting, despite being rather intellectually challenged, the heirloom breeds of turkey were pretty nimble. It was heartbreaking when they brought out the butterball turkey, it could hardly walk. I've read about this in 'Animal Vegetable Miracle' by Barbara Kingsolver so it was interesting to see this first hand.

The last surprise of the fair was the 'free bible stories. I like the way the jester was laughing in a way which kind of meant 'If you fall for this then I'm a monkeys uncle'. Oh dear.

Nothing against religion but this is a bit over the top!!