eclaire (what's in a) name?

i am really quite biased against mixes. let me be blunt – i hate to use them because i think that i could put together something better from scratch, and i’m particular about flavors, ingredients, etc. the only thing i make from a mix is falafel (and hummus, on one occasion…ok, and pancakes once or twice. shoot, my statement is really falling apart here – i sound like a hypocrite!!). 

but seriously, to me, falafel is a magical delicious food that either comes from a box or a falafel eatery. period. but in this month’s vegetarian times, there was a recipe for making falafel from scratch, and i figured that if there was ever a time to tackle this delicacy, this was it. so i put the ingredients on my grocery list, headed out to the store, and surprisingly quickly and easily blended myself some delicious falafels. 

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ever since mike and i began avidly cooking and subscribing to vegetarian times to obtain new, delicious recipes, we rarely repeat a recipe. if we do repeat a recipe, it’s usually over a span of a month or two, while the produce it utilizes is fresh and available – but that recipe rarely makes it to the next year when the season rolls around again. this recipe, for honey tofu and couscous, is one of the rare exceptions to our constant desire to try new recipes and experience new flavor combinations. we stumbled across this recipe shortly after thanksgiving, when nothing sounded good to eat because we were still reeling from our veggie tday feast. we made it once, then the next week, then the next one after that. and before we knew it, we were both making it for our respective family’s christmas celebrations.

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last night we went out to dinner with my lovely sister at lillian’s italian kitchen. while the wait was a tad long for three hungry people, the ambiance in the former site of malabar was marvelous, created by packed tables of people who were talking, laughing, and slurping pasta by candle light. as i perused the menu, i was excited to see the primavera dish, which promised fresh veggies and spinach over penne or polenta with four different sauce options (marinara, alfredo, garlic & olive oil, and pesto). i couldn’t resist getting the dish and ordering it with polenta and pesto to see how it compared to my own polenta pesto dish. while it wasn’t vegan and i didn’t have my beautiful nikon with me to do the dish justice in the picture below, the polenta was creamy and delicious, while the pesto was absolutely amazing – bright, fresh, spicy, and creamy all at once. so i suggest you head over to lillian’s – you may want to make a reservation – and enjoy this tantalizing meal asap, while basil is still in season. oh, and in case you’re wondering, my fellow two diners had fantastic dishes as well, so there are many more tasty options than just the polenta with pesto.  so now you have no excuse – go and enjoy!

ok, so it’s not my own cookbook and i *may* have been told which categories to enter recipes in so as to help fill out the compilation, but nonetheless, the friends of hospice’s cookbook is here, and the sentinel printed an article about it:

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_10186160

when i received a beautiful tart pan for my birthday this year (thanks, mom!), i decided that i had to utilize the new present and try my hand at tart making – something i’ve never tried before and frankly intimidated me a little bit. at about the same time, a coworker lent me a lunches, picnics & appetizers version of the tassajara cookbook, and while thumbing through the pages i found a lemon tart recipe that spoke of being the best of all lemon bar recipes, but reinvented into a tart. (i have to give credit to my talented husband for the gorgeous pic above, and while i’m at it, he also gets credit for about half the pictures on this website.)

i absolutely love lemon bars and figured that this would be a perfect way to ease my way into the art of tart baking – because how can you go wrong with lemons, butter, and sugar?

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