When you go to a friend’s house, you can easily see what tools they keep on their kitchen counters. But pulling out their drawers to check out their cooking gadgets probably wouldn’t be too cool. It is an unspoken rule. No snooping in other people’s drawers and cupboards, without their permission, of course. But you don’t ask. It’s just not done.

So today, I am giving you a full disclosure into my two main tool drawers. Check them out and compare. I bet we have a lot of the same stuff. We’re cooks, after all.

Here I am, four months into my fourth year of blogging and so much has happened during that time. Places I have gone and people I have met, plus the great friends I have made in the blogging community. I am so thankful for these wonderful people in my life. My dear blog, Cook & Be Merry, has surpassed anything I could have imagined when I first started. Today it has 235 posts and over 711,000 pageviews. My most popular Twisted Cookie post has 36,000 pageviews and 80 comments. That is so amazing to me and I am really glad I could give you a recipe that would make you all so happy.

Dear readers, I don’t think I have ever asked you for anything, but today I am going to ask you to do me a favor. Leave me a comment, would you? You know who I am, but I don’t know you. I don’t know your names or if you’re men or women, and I really would like to, just this one time. Just plain old Hi would be fine. Thank you so much!

Well, here I am without a camera. On Friday, my trusty Canon Rebel T1i was sent off to the Canon Factory Hospital for a diagnosis and an estimate. I knew something was wrong when I had to shoot those Orange Biscotti on two different days, taking about 100 photos and none of them were in focus. Not one. The images on the post are the result of heavy Photoshop manipulation and they still look awful. So with a heavy heart, I knew the little guy needed help. For all I know, it may be terminal. I was told it may be technical, or maybe the CPU is compromised. The amount to fix it may be more than the poor little camera body is worth. In which case, I may have to buy a new camera. *Sniff* But let’s not think about that right now, before we have the diagnosis.

My T1i has been my best friend for over three years, constantly at my side, a magical collaborator in my photography, who always told me the truth, no matter what. If my food or food styling looked like crap, it showed me so in no uncertain terms. Like a best friend who, out of love tells you, you need to lose ten pounds or that hair color makes you look like a skank. My T1i was also part of a beautiful duet, like two sitting at a piano, playing in sync and that incredible moment when the last note is played perfectly together. In this case creating a photograph that is a work of art, which wouldn’t have existed without the contribution of both.

Whether my T1i will come home safe and sound, or need to be retired, I would like to present these ten images in homage to my brilliant partner, without whom….

Imagine them blown up into 4×6-foot photos (or larger) that will be hung on the immense white walls of my penthouse loft, illuminated by the wall of floor-to-ceiling south-facing windows. Or they will be the artwork on the walls of my up-and-coming restaurant. Use your imagination. Think big.

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Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2012 was as great a year for you as it was for me and Cook & Be Merry. For everyone who visited my blog, Thank You.  And to all my great commenters, you are the absolute best! You make my day and make my blog so much more interesting. I have some really good recipes coming up in 2013 that should make you smile with happiness, so stay tuned as we enter year number four of Cook & Be Merry.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 most popular recipes of 2012 on Cook & Be Merry, chosen by you, dear readers. Above is the most popular recipe by far, the #1 in pageviews of all time, Twisted Cookies with Rolled-In Sugar.

#2 BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

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#3 Mini Tart Shells, Food Art & An Optical Illusion

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#4 26 Food Porn Sites That Are Not Tastespotting

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#5 Twirly Lemon Butter Cookies with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

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#6 Snickerdoodle Cookies

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#7 Parmesan Panko Zucchini Fries

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#8 Chicken, Sausage, Asparagus & Mushroom Pasta From Grace-Marie’s Kitchen

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#9 Gumbo ~ Shrimp, Chicken & Andouille Sausage

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#10 Blueberry Pudding Cake for My 4th of July BBQ

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Here’s to us in 2013. I wish you abundant happiness, prosperity and great cooking!

Lynne xo

~One Year Anniversary for Cook & Be Merry
~Top 10 Recipes of 2011

Remember back in 2007 on The Next Food Network Star, there was that cute young Hollywood Celebrity Chef and Caterer Paul McCullough, that everyone was sure was going to be the winner? Even Anthony Bourdain. And then it got to the Iron Chef Challenge with only four contestants left and he was eliminated that night! Well, that was the experience, the seed, of an idea for his cookbook that will be coming out in November.

You see, Paul is convinced that the decision to eliminate him from the NFNS show was because he couldn’t give the correct answer to a question asked by a judge regarding a Roma Tomato. Possibly because he didn’t like tomatoes in the first place. So after leaving the show he went to Australia and ended up eating quite a few tomatoes, which he ultimately decided he loved. Over the next couple of years, after returning to Los Angeles, he made tomato dishes of every size and style, and when he decided to write his first cookbook, it was, of course, all about tomatoes. It’s title: Roma-Therapy.

Paul McCullough is the Owner and Executive Chef of Paul’s Kitchen, a boutique catering and events company in Hollywood. He has appeared regularly as a celebrity food stylist and guest chef on Extra, KTLA Morning News, The Fine Living Network, USA Network and LATalkRadio.com. He has catered for celebrities such as Kelly Clarkson, Lance Armstrong, Tom Hanks and Beyoncé. He also caters VIP events for City of Hope National Medical Center. You can read two articles about him here and here.

So, recently I received an email from premier food stylists Denise Vivaldo and Cindie Flannigan of the Denise Vivaldo Group asking if I would be interested in covering a food photo shoot at Jon Edwards Photography studio for a cookbook by Chef Paul McCullough. Chef Paul had been researching Jon Edwards on-line and came across my post about another photo shoot I had written about Jon. He liked it very much and wondered if I would be interested in chronicling his book shoot. Emails flew back and forth and, of course, I said Yes!

When I arrived at Jon Edwards Studio, I discovered that there were tomatoes covering every surface, not only in the kitchen, but in the studio as well. After meeting Chef Paul and having it explained that they were going to shoot 25 tomato dishes that day, the vast array of tomatoes made perfect sense.

When I asked Chef Paul to tell me about his book, Roma-Therapy, he explained that it is going to be a gift-type book, not just a cookbook, although it will have 25 fabulous tomato recipes with beautiful photographs. It is going to be about his life in tomatoes and what he has learned about them, tomato lore and legend, facts and figures. It will be a small-ish book, maybe 7×7-inches, a fun, whimsical take on tomatoes that can be given as a hostess gift, stocking stuffer, or a birthday gift for someone who has everything.

Here you can see Chef Paul in the kitchen prepping for each dish. He and his assistant did all the prep work, and prepared the dishes that were baked in the oven or on the stovetop. Chef Paul was cheerful, energetic and focused all day as he kept track of the ingredients for each recipe and made sure that the dishes were flowing from the kitchen to the studio at a good pace.

Food stylist Cindie Flannigan was working in the kitchen at the other end of the table from Chef Paul. Her job was to choose the plate or bowl from the prop stores for each recipe, then build the components of the dish in an artistic way for the camera. After collecting everything that may be needed for that dish, the hero was placed on a plastic tray and carried by Cindie to the holding table in the studio to await its turn.

Here you can see the journey of a puff pastry tomato tart starting in the kitchen as Chef Paul makes sure the pastry is the right size and thickness. It is topped with caramelized onions, a tomato slice and two cheeses and baked to perfection. And finally its beauty shot in all its golden glory.

While Chef Paul and Cindie were working away in the kitchen, there was a different kind of action in the studio where the photos were being taken. Here you can see Artistic Director Jeremy Stanford making sure the heros are perfect, the shot is lined up the way he likes it and that all of the chives are the same height. The AD’s job was to make sure the shots were set up with all of the components in place, which kept him hopping, because there were two tables and two cameras working at all times.

These are three trays, fresh from the kitchen, sitting on the holding table waiting to be set up in front of the camera. One came with extra soup in a measuring cup in case the AD or food stylist wants to change the level in the glasses. Sometimes the heros come from the kitchen covered with damp paper towels so they don’t dry out. Or they come fully plated, but with a little plate of extra components in case the stylist doesn’t like the ones on the plate. This one also came with a torch, possibly to make the edges of the steak more charred or to melt some of the tomato herb butter on top just before the shot.

Here is our famous food stylist, Denise Vivaldo, in the studio making sure each little component of the hero is artistically placed. She is the one who chooses the surfaces on which to shoot, picks several possible props to go in the photo, such as napkins, wine glasses, forks, placemats and makes sure each plate is free of smears or crumbs. Once the hero is in front of the camera, she may paint a little oil on a component if it looks dry or, after looking at the shot on the computer monitor, move components or props around.

Aren’t these the most beautiful popovers you have ever seen. Chef Paul made them for one of the recipes, but then the food stylist decided they were awkward on the plate once out of the pan, so they were not used. They were, however, delicious, and the recipe is at the end of this post.

Probably the most important person at a photo shoot is the photographer, in this case world famous Jon Edwards. He is the one who takes a dish, and with his artistic eye and years of experience, makes it look beautiful beyond compare. He is the one who chooses what angle to shoot from and how to frame the food in the photograph to best advantage. Jon Edwards goes about his work quietly and with a sure hand, and each photo is absolutely stunning. The last time I was in this studio, Jon was shooting with a Hasselblad camera, but he is now using a  Canon 5D Mark II with a 90mm shift lens. And sometimes he has to climb way up on a ladder to get that perfect overhead shot!

Towards the end of the shoot, I realized that I had been taking photos of serious people doing serious work all day, but I had none of anyone looking happy and smiling. So I asked Chef Paul if he would mind smiling and to my delight he had no problem mugging for the camera. Him and his yellow tomato. This guy is just the greatest.

Wow, what a day! Thank you Chef Paul for inviting me to record your cookbook photo shoot. It was amazing! Also a big thanks to Jon Edwards, Denise Vivaldo, Cindy Flannigan and Jeremy Stanford, for letting me get in the way and photograph your every move. You are all so inspiring with your perfect work and attention to details. Thank you again!

Last Saturday was the third Trufflepalooza I have attended, created and produced by Erika Kerekes of In Erika’s Kitchen. This year we were treated to 20 amazing truffle-infused dishes, each more delicious than the last, made with grated fresh truffles, truffle butter, truffle salt, truffle honey, truffle vinegar, truffle oil or a combination. Erika calls it “an ambitious affair, a loud, cheerful, sweaty tribute to my favorite fungus, the Italian Black Summer Truffle.” Much of the preparation is done ahead of time by Ericka, and on the day, a flock of L.A. food bloggers descend on the kitchen to help prep, cook, assemble and serve the truffle delights.

The photo above is Caciotta Truffle Cheese Chips, which were waiting on a big platter upon our arrival. Below is the Trufflepalooza 2012 Menu and photos of many of the dishes which followed, to the delight of the 150 party attendees. Including me!

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Truffled Avocado Mousse

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Truffled Pacific Rockfish Tacos with Radish Slaw

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Truffled Short Rib Tacos with Pickled Shallots

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Truffled Shrimp and Pork Shu Mai

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Tiny Truffled Hasselback Potatoes & Melted Leeks with Ricotta and Truffles

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Truffled White Bean Puree

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Truffled Yellowtail Tartare

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Truffle-Infused Brie

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Some of the dishes on the menu are wonderful repeats from last year and you will find them on Tuffflepalooza 2011. Thank you Erika for this wonderful event and all of your hard work and creativity. Bravo!

Recipes:
Truffled Pork and Shrimp Shu Mai
Truffle-Infused Brie with Pluot & Truffle Honey
Tiny Truffled Hasselback Potatoes

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope 2011 was as great a year for you as it was for me and Cook & Be Merry. To everyone who visited my blog, Thank You.  And to all my great commenters, you are the absolute best! You make my day and make my blog so much more interesting. I hope I can give you many more recipes in 2012 that will entertain you and make you happy. I’ll do my everlovin’ best. Because you’re worth it!

So here are the top 10 most popular recipes of 2011 on Cook & Be Merry. Above is the #1 most popular recipe by far, BBQ Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp.

#2 Chicken, Sausage, Asparagus and Mushroom Pasta from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen

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#3 Mireoix Meatloaf Recipe ~ Simple & Easy

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#4 Black and White Checkerboard Cookies

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#5 Snickerdoodle Cookies

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#6 Gumbo ~ Shrimp, Chicken & Andouille Sausage

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#7 Sweet Potato and Turkey Empanadas from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen

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#8 Cornbread ~ Soft, Sweet & Buttery

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#9 Mini Tart Shells, Food Art & An Optical Illusion

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#10 Mini Lemon Tartlets & A Culinary School Banquet

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I give you a toast with my glass held high ~

Here’s to the bright New Year
And a fond farewell to the old;
Here’s to the things that are yet to come
And to the memories that we hold.

Lynne xo

My husband, Scott, created this work of art for his company’s pumpkin carving contest. And he won the prize! Congratulations!!

See the Halloween Pumpkin for 2012!

The last 8 photos I submitted to TasteSpotting were declined. I was disappointed, naturally, because getting my photos accepted does wonders for my traffic. However, since the people who view TasteSpotting also view FoodGawker, where 6 of those same photos were accepted, I figured it was TasteSpotting’s loss.

When Sarah Gim, who runs TasteSpotting, spoke at Camp Blogaway last May, she was asked what her criteria was for choosing what is accepted. She answered that she couldn’t say exactly, but she knows it when she sees it. Well, it is her website after all, so she can put what she wants on it.

BUT…. There are 26 other food porn sites, that I know about, where our photos can be submitted. We don’t have to be subject to TasteSpotting’s whim. We can saturate the food porn landscape with our photos and reap the forthcoming traffic. Here’s my list:

1. Kitchen Artistry
2. Tasteologie
3. Dishfolio
4. Dessert Stalking
5. Food and Fizz
6. YumGallery
7. eRecipeCards
8. Finding Vegan
9. Refrigerator Soup
10. Liqurious
11. Tasty Days
12. Savory Sights
13. TasteFix
14. Opensource Food
15. Foodieview
16. Knapkins
17. Foodepix
18. Bakeolicious
19. The Hot Plate
20. FoodPorn
21. RecipeNewZ
22. FoodSpreading – NEW!

And of course…

23. Photograzing
24. Tasty Kitchen
25. TasteStopping
26. Food Porn Daily

If you know of additional food porn sites, let me know and I’ll add them to the list.

So about the photo of the BBQ Pork Sandwich above… that was taken at a food blogger luncheon at my favorite restaurant BALEEN and you can see all of the photos in that post, which includes the stunning BALEEN Burger below. Beautiful food.

Recently I was honored to receive the “One Lovely Blog” award from the wonderful blog Engineer and an Oven. Thank you so much, Caroline! I have enjoyed creating my blog so much and sharing my recipes and stories with all of you!

There are some rules to abide by in order to accept this award and they are:

1. Post a link back to the person that gave you the award.
2. Share 7 random things about yourself.
3. Pass the award to 15 recently discovered blogs.
4. Drop them a note and tell them about it.

I hereby present the One Lovely Blog Award to these absolutely brilliant, astonishing, wonderful, terrific and beautiful food blogs which I have recently discovered.

A Glass of Milk
Anecdotes and Apples
Another Day in Pensacola
Breakfast Lunch Dinner and Punch
Cooking on the Side
I Savor the Weekend
Lentil Breakdown
Love From the Oven
My Fiance Likes It So It Must Be Good
A Bookworm’s Life
Pennies on a Platter
Polwig
Of Muses and Meringues
Quarter Life (Crisis) Cuisine
The Procrastobaker

I hope you will visit each one and enjoy them as much as I do.  And please leave comments so they’ll know you were there.

Here Are 7 Random Facts About Me

1. I am not a “sitting in hot water” kind of person. My new house has a 6-foot square Jacuzzi in one of the bathrooms and I will never use it. I am storing several sleeping bags in plastic containers in it. Give me a shower every time.

2. My Death Row meal is Lobster with Drawn Butter, a Double Hamburger and Fries from Burger King, and a big bowl of Salty Buttered Popcorn.

3. When I was in my 20’s I had a motorcycle, a Bultaco Lobito. I bought that particular bike because it was the only one I could find that allowed me to put my feet flat on the ground when sitting on the seat. I’m short, just 5 feet tall.

4. After graduating from high school, I went to Beauty School for a year and a half. I got my state (Minnesota) license, worked for a year, hated it and quit. I still give a pretty mean haircut, though.

5. My maiden name is Lynne Kathleen LeMere.

6. One of the things on my Bucket List is to go Equitrekking, which is a travel adventure on horseback. I spent my childhood in Minnesota horseback riding, and I would like to spend a week in the saddle, maybe on a cattle drive. There would be cooking by the chuckwagon crew and singing around the campfire at night. Maybe on a ranch in Colorado with the Rocky Mountains in the background. Yahoo!

7. I am a Lawn Geek. I like to garden with flowers and vegetables, but I also love my grass plants. My new house has a lawn in the back and front, and when I moved in they were dry, burned, patchy and about an inch tall. So I told the gardener to stop cutting the grass, fertilized, and watered the hell out it, until it was about four inches tall, lush and green. Then I let the gardener cut it on the tallest setting on his mower. I love it when I come home and see my grass plants all healthy, especially when they are all exactly the same height. *sigh*

Last Saturday I attended the third annual Trufflepalooza, a totally truffle-infused party given by Erika of In Erika’s Kitchen. About 75 people were served 16 dishes which had some form of truffle goodness in each recipe, such as grated fresh truffles, truffle butter, truffle salt, truffle honey, truffle oil or a combination. Erika must be Super Woman, because she prepared all of the dishes by herself, with just a little help on the day of the bash.

Last year I helped in the kitchen on the day, and by the time the party started I was too worn out to take any photos. So this year I gave up the fun of helping in the kitchen, and decided to chronicle all the wonderful and beautiful dishes so you could see them. The photo above is of Truffled Shrimp and Pork Shu Mai, and the names of the dishes in the following gallery can be found by placing your cursor in the middle of the photo. Links to several of the recipes found on Erika’s website are at the end of this post. I hope you enjoy looking at these photos as much as I enjoyed shooting them.

If you’ve made it this far, I salute you. Imagine having tasted all those wonderful dishes and how truffle-infused you yourself would feel. It was fantastic!

Thank you Erika. Bravo!!

Twisted Puff Pastry Straws with Truffles and Parmesan
Truffled Pork and Shrimp Shu Mai
Truffled Twice Baked Potatoes
Filet Mignon with Truffle Butter
Emery’s Salad with Pancetta and Truffle Vinaigrette
Truffled Egg Salad
Pacific Rockfish Brandade with Truffles
Roasted Figs with Goat Cheese and Truffle Honey
How to Make Truffle Butter
Truffled Brown Butter Rice Krispies Treats

If you have been following my blog, you know that I moved recently after 18 years in my previous house. Going through everything, preparing to pack, was like an archeological dig, particularly the closets and the garage. I had boxes I hadn’t opened since we moved in there, or I discovered things that had disappeared behind and under other stuff in the house years ago. Another treasure trove were the two utensil drawers in my kitchen, which were narrow and deep and packed full. So here are 10 things I forgot I had, and was so happy and amused to rediscover.

1. Meat Grinder – I inherited this meat grinder (photo above) from my mother, although I don’t remember her ever using it. I think she inherited it from her mother, my Grandma Gertrude, who absolutely did not cook. So Grandma must have inherited it from my Great Grandmother, who was from Norway and was the gourmet of the family. I like to imagine that meat grinder came over on the boat from Norway and came through Ellis Island on its journey to Minnesota. I used it in the 1970s before the advent of the food processor to grind nuts for a Polish pastry, similar to rugalach. It was in a box buried in the garage.

2. Bone Caviar Spoon – I bought this caviar spoon about 25 years ago when my husband and I were first together. We were having his father, sister and brother over for dinner for the first time and I wanted to make an impression on how chic I was serving the caviar. I haven’t used it since. Maybe I should. The spoon in its velvet pouch was in the bottom of the kitchen drawer.

3. Potato Ricer – I lost this stainless steel potato ricer in my house or garage about 10 years ago. I could not find it for the life of me. At one point I needed a ricer so badly that I bought another one made of white plastic. So when the lost ricer showed up in a box in the garage I was so relieved because it proved that 1) I actually had a SS ricer and 2) that I hadn’t lost it. Seniors worry about this kind of thing. So now I have a Mr. and Mrs. Potato Ricer.

4. Japanese Vegetable Slicer – This was an impulse buy at Bristol Farms a few years ago and I have never used it. It was on a shelf in the metal cabinet I have in the garage where I keep all my cooking and baking equipment. Bottom shelf behind other stuff. I still think this is a trick gadget,  but I can’t figure out what I would use the itsy bitsy circular strands for. Maybe deep fry them for a garnish? Let me know if you can think of anything.

5. Terrine Paté Mold – My oldest son gave this to me when I was in culinary school. We were learning French Continental Cuisine, including meat and vegetable terrines and patés. I am thinking I should make something really interesting with aspic, then plate the slices with an interesting sauce drizzled over. I’m glad I found this in my hall closet. Hmmm. The creativity juices are beginning to flow.

6. Grandma’s Silver Sugar Spoon – This silver spoon resided in my Grandma Gertrude’s sugar bowl my whole childhood. It turned up in some stuff in my garage and I was immediately transported back to her kitchen. When she died, my mom inherited the spoon and it went in our sugar bowl at home. My mom died when I was 19 and when my father was to remarry a year later, he wanted to give all of my mom’s and grandmother’s treasures to his new bride. Well, guess what, I still have that spoon that I surreptitiously kept for myself. Actually, my step mom didn’t want his previous wife’s treasures, but that is another long story.

7. Cookie Mold – I always wondered what happened to this mold, usually around Christmas, but was too busy to attempt to find it. I think I bought this from a mail order catalog and now that it is found, I’m going to have to make some of them. Fun.

8. Ice Cream Maker – This was one of those gifts you give to someone you live with because it is actually something you want to use yourself. I gave it to my husband. I wanted to make licorice ice cream which used black licorice candy that was melted in the cream. This was before it was discovered that black licorice was carcinogenic. He in turn gave me a rowing machine. LOL.

9. Fregola Sarda – I bought this bag of toasted pasta at the little store at Osteria Mozza when I went there last year. I have a definite squid recipe in mind that I am going to use it for. This bag was hiding at the back of the cupboard where I kept all my pasta, lentils and beans. I was really glad to reacquire it as it is so interesting.

10. Skewers with Brass Animal Heads – These skewers are probably the item I have searched my house and garage the most for in the last couple of years. The problem is I would only use them in the summer for grilling. So when summer was over, I would stash them someplace and then, a year later, forget where they were when I wanted to use them again. I wanted to use them for the bacon wrapped shrimp I made, but couldn’t find them at the time. Well, now that they have turned up, I have them in my utensil drawer in the new kitchen. So don’t let me forget where I put them, ok?

I hope my story inspires you to clean out your garage and empty your closets. You never know what hidden treasures you may find.

Recently I had the great pleasure of being  invited on the cruise ship Queen Victoria for a luncheon at the restaurant Todd English, to meet Chef Todd and take a tour of the ship. I had never been on a cruise ship before, so it was all new and exciting for me. Here you can see Harbor Drive going down to the World Cruise Center Catalina Terminal in San Pedro and the stacks of one of the other gigantic cruise ships. I took this from my car as we inched along.

The Queen Victoria is immense. The top photo is a composite of four photos, because I couldn’t get it all in one shot. The QV weighs 90,000 tons and her length is 964.5 feet (294 meters). That is the length of 3 ¼ football fields. If you stood it on end, it would be 65 stories tall. She was built for Cunard by the Italian shipyard Fincantiere and cost approximately $522 million. Her maiden voyage out of Southampton, England, was December 11, 2007 after being named the previous day by Camilla, HRH the Duchess of Cornwall in the presence of Charles, HRH the Prince of Wales. She has a passenger capacity of 2014 with a crew of approximately 1000. The QV has 13 bars and clubs, 7 restaurants, proper English Tea served daily and room service 24/7.

The restaurant, Todd English, is quite elegant and has windows that overlook the water. My table companions were Patti of Worth the Whisk and her husband, and Erika of In Erika’s Kitchen and her husband, which made for quite lively conversation to go with our dining experience. It was fun to be with other people that were just as interested in photographing the food as eating it.

Maine Crab Cake, Todd’s Fiery Sweet & Sour Tomato Sauce, Whipped Avocado & Cucumber Salad

Chef Todd English was 20 when he attended the Culinary Institute of America and he graduated in 1982 with honors. He worked with Jean Jacques Rachou at New York’s La Cote Basque and in Italy apprenticed at Dal Pescatore and Paraccuchi. He returned to the U.S. at 25 and was asked to be the Executive Chef at award winning Michela’s in Cambridge, Mass., where for three years he received high praise from press and public.

Shaved Asparagus Caesar, Tomato Ragout, Parmesan Foam

In 1991 the James Beard Foundation named him their National Rising Star Chef; in 1994 Best Chef in the Northeast; 1999 “Top 50 Tastemakers”; 2001 Bon Appetit’s Restaurateur of the Year; and People Magazines 50 Most Beautiful People. He was recently named to the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who in Food and Beverage in America.”

Grilled Tenderloin of Beef with Lobster Ragout, Bearnaise Sauce, Swiss Chard, Celeriac Gratin

Chef Todd is currently Chef and owner of three Olives in Charlestown, Mass; New York in Union Square; and at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. He has four Figs Restaurants and 14 additional restaurants nation-wide. He has numerous television credits, including the series “Cooking Under Fire”, Iron Chef USA and Martha Stewart Living.

Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta with Cardamom Foam

Chef Todd has written three acclaimed cookbooks and has a line of cookware and lifestyle products. He is also involved with several charities including Big Brothers, Share Our Strength, and Boys and Girls Clubs.

Panache of Seasonal Sorbet with Minted Mango Citrus Salad

Coffee with Todd’s House-made Cookies, Jellies, Truffles and Biscotti

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Here you can see Erika and Patti as we were waiting to talk to Chef Todd.

After our delightful lunch, we met with Chef Todd in a small bar, where we had a short question and answer session. Someone asked him what he would be doing if he wasn’t a chef, and he said he would be living on an island somewhere in the South Pacific.

Chef Todd talks with his hands, which may be part of his Italian heritage. He was standing about three feet in front of me, so his hands were right in front of my camera.

Next was our tour of the ship, which was very interesting to me, because I had never been on a cruise ship before. On a 12-day voyage there are 1072 pounds of lobster served; 14,105 pounds of potatoes served; 1705 pounds of coffee; 51,847 eggs; 24 pounds of caviar; 2617 bottles of champagne; and 1752 gallons of beer. The annual consumption is 954,681 teabags; 59,060 pounds of coffee; 1,528,707 eggs; and 34,871 pounds of breakfast cereal. All meals are included in the price of the ticket. I would be a butterball by the time I got home.

I asked our tour guide if there was anything to do on the ship besides eat, because it seemed there were restaurants at every turn. She said we could go shopping in the boutiques and art galleries, or visit the two-story library which has a spiral stairway and 6,000 books. We could go to the casino and play the slots, or attend a play. We could visit the pool and jacuzzi outside or go to the gym and spa. Here is a photo tour as we walked and walked. I was lost immediately.

GolinHarris, the PR firm for Cunard Line/Queen Victoria, gave us a whole packet of information about the ship and Chef Todd English, which I have used extensively in the story above. One of the facts that made me laugh out loud was this:

There are 280,000 square yards (159 miles) of carpet on the Queen Victoria.

I laughed because I am a carpet aficionado and I was in heaven walking on all the beautiful carpet everywhere we went. The colors and designs were different in each area and I took photos of the carpet throughout our tour. Ok, I’m weird. Check these out:

So it was time to end our stay on the Queen Victoria. We turned in our bar code badges and got our Driver’s Licenses returned to us. As I was walking out of the terminal, I saw Chef Todd English getting in his limousine, no doubt rushing off to his next engagement.

Farewell, Queen Victoria.

If you had told me a year ago everything that was going to happen this past year, I would have asked you what in the heck you were smoking. When I started my blog, I was planning on cooking my favorite recipes, photographing them and blogging about them. I wanted to get them in one place for myself, my family and friends. That’s all. I had no idea I was embarking on a great adventure, filled with such interesting people and places. And that I would make so many wonderful new foodie friends, in person and on-line. This has been the best year of my entire life!

Back in the beginning, I was very lucky to take a food styling class from Denise Vivaldo of Food Fanatics and a photography class from Matt Armendariz of MattBites. I also took a photography class from award winning commercial photographer Raiko Hartman. I attended Camp Blogaway, where I met so many food bloggers who were as nuts about food as I am. Then I had the great good fortune to spend a day in the studio of world renowned food photographer Jon Edwards. I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from these talented people.

One of the best parts of the great adventure last year was being invited to blogger luncheons and events at beautiful restaurants, where I photographed the food and wrote about it. I went to Ciudad, where lunch was prepared by Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. I even got my picture taken with them. At the pre-opening blogger luncheon at Seasons 52 at South Coast Plaza, I was wined and dined like a visiting dignitary. I was invited to Rosti Tuscan Kitchen for a fun pizza making content with a group of my fellow food bloggers. And to Baleen in Redondo Beach, which had the most  beautiful photogenic food. Plus I got to eat all this magnificent food. It was heaven.

I took cooking classes from local cooking teachers, which was one of the things I was thinking of being myself, before I decided to do a food blog instead. I visited Tim Hogan at the Manhattan Beach Parks&Rec, Linda Steidel at Williams Sonoma, and Mary Ellen Rae of Personal Touch Gourmet. Also Grace-Marie’s Kitchen at Bristol Farms, which resulted in my becoming the unofficial website for the Cooking School at Bristol Farms.

One of the most interesting things I did was crafting little appetizers to photograph on the beautiful plates created by the famous glass artist, Barbara Schaefer, of MyKickAssGlass. The story about her and the photographs were published in the Easy Reader Beach Magazine, which has resulted in me writing a food article with photographs every month since. This has been almost beyond belief to be writing for a magazine, something I never would have foreseen.

If you had told me that I would get over 100,000 pageviews during my first year, I would have fallen down on the ground with laughter. But that’s what happened and I am incredulous. I want to thank everyone who visited my blog, because you are the reason I’m doing this and you have responded so generously. I also want to thank the people who have left 800+ comments on my blog. My commenters are so great. They are smart and funny, and enhance my blog so much. I swear, sometimes what they have to say is more amusing or interesting that what I have said in my posts.

Now we get to the part about which were my 10 most popular posts. All of these posts had photos on both TasteSpotting and FoodGawker, which had a huge influence on how many people saw them. So from 1 to 10, with 1 being the most popular:

1. Gooey Cheddar Cheese Bread from Grace-Marie’s Kitchen was by far my most popular post. It got Stumbled over and over, and still is as of this very moment. People just seem to go crazy for the crisp, browned, toasted top layer of cheddar cheese under which is a soft gooey cheesy layer full of garlicky ham and onions. I want to go make some right now.

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2. Twirly Lemon Cookies was picked up by a couple of the baking sites, which resulted in a lot of referrals. I think readers are interested in photos and recipes with piping and detail work, and here it had the cookie and the frosting both. Plus a story about my first chef’s coat.

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3. Roasted Red Pepper and Provolone Sandwich, again, was one of those melted cheese phenoms. That post got more comments than any of my other posts and the photo was the star.

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4. Mini Tartlet Shells, Food Art & an Optical Illusion had a title that was definitely a teaser. This post appeared on October 4th, which is also my birthday, and was my blog’s busiest day, pageview-wise, with 1760. In my opinion, it also has the most interesting comments of all my posts. I have great commenters.

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5. Mushroom and Spinach Quiche with Shredded Potato Crust also included the Top 10 Googled Recipes of 2009, one of which was Quiche. This has proved to be absolutely true, as I have another Spinach and Feta Quiche recipe that is my 11th most popular post.

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6. Gumbo ~ Shrimp, Chicken & Andouille Sausage is a post about the frustration cooking a sub-par recipe and then fixing it. This is a really good recipe with a good story.

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7. BBQ Bacon Wrapped Shrimp was popular in the summer grilling season. Although recently there have been a lot of people googling bacon wrapped shrimp, plus this photo above has been picked up by a couple of Tumblr sites resulting in a lot of pageviews.

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8. Corn Bread Tartlets & Linda Steidel’s Cooking Class was my most popular post for the first half of the year. This is a very cute and easy appetizer with a nice photo.

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9. Mojito Grilled Lime Chicken Wings has the most delicious looking chicken of any of my photos. Plus the fact that it is a Weight Watchers recipe that has lime juice, cumin and garlic. And it’s grilled. What else could you ask for?

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10. Umami Burger is a restaurant review with photos of the food. There are no recipes. I have to laugh at its being number 10 in popularity on my list, because I absolutely trashed this restaurant – the food, the venue, the service. Everything. Go figure.

There you have it – my first year in review. Thank you all for visiting and I hope I can make my second year as fun and interesting for you. Cheers.

Yesterday my plan was to make these Mini Tartlet Shells and photograph them. Next I was going to make the Lemon Curd and fill the tart shells. A couple of weeks ago I made the Little Buttercream Bees that were going to embellish their tops. Then I was going to photograph the finished tarts and write my blog about the whole thing. Well, guess what, that isn’t what happened.

Here you can see the 2-inch mini brioche tins and the ball of dough.

You fill a ½-tablespoon measure with dough, which is then rolled into a ball and placed in a tin.

I made the tart shells and photographed the process. Then just to make sure they were ok, I looked at them on my computer monitor. I take a lot of photos, hand held, so I have no idea what the photos are like until I see them on my screen. I mean, how interesting are tart shells, really. On a scale of 1 to 10, they’re a 1 at best. But this bunch of photos of the tart shell process were really interesting to me. Usually I photograph one food item at a time. If they’re small and alike, maybe three items. But here I had 24 small metallic brioche tins. That were also shiny. When they were lined up on the baking sheet, all of a sudden there were these visual patterns that were mesmerizing. And I had to show you… forget about the lemon curd.

Here you can see how to press the dough into the brioche tin. Poke a hole in the middle with your finger and start spreading it up the sides. Make sure when you’re done that it is flat on top.

This photo was a complete surprise to me. When I looked at it for the first time, I said to myself, “Whoa, that’s gorgeous.” I don’t mean to be blowing my own horn here, because I have no plan when I shoot and the way the photos turn out is a complete surprise to me. I think I’m going to print this out, frame it and hang it in my kitchen.

While your first batch of shells is baking, you can measure out and roll up the dough for the next batch.

This photo has been endlessly fascinating to me and is the optical illusion I discovered hiding in my photos.  The first time I looked at it, all of the wells were in-ies. The next time I looked at it, the upper left corner well was an in-ie and all the rest of the wells were out-ies. Now when I look at it, I can get one well to be an in-ie if I really concentrate on it, but when I blink it is an out-ie. I cannot get two side by side wells to be in-ies no matter how hard I concentrate. Our brain is such a mysterious thing. How do you perceive the wells?

I was doing some research on patterns and why the human brain likes them, which you may enjoy reading:

James Kent says: “If there’s one thing the human brain loves, its ordered patterns. The brain likes audio patterns (rhythms); visual patterns (stripes, mandalas, mosaics); syntactic patterns (language, logical formulas, melodies); interpretive patterns (charts, graphs, symbols); metabolic patterns (respiration, hormonal pulses, circadian rhythms, action potentials); behavioral patterns (routines, habits); etc. In fact, it is not a stretch to say the brain’s entire function is ordered pattern recognition, memory, and recall. That’s it.”

And if you are weird like me and want to read more about patterns, particularly Fibonacci numbers, you can go here at World Mysteries. I thought this was very thought provoking.

Ok, so back to the Mini Tartlet Shells. Here they are in all their golden glory and the recipe is below. Next I will make the lemon curd, fill them and some little bees will be landing on top.

About a year ago, a little furniture store opened near me that had some pretty interesting pieces in its windows. I always meant to stop by and check it out, but you know how time flies, especially if you are a food blogger. Then around a month ago a big sign went up in the window, “Going Out Of Business” and I said to myself, Oh Wow, I’d better go there now before they’re gone.

Inside, it was pretty bare, and what furniture was left was utilitarian. But against the back wall was this astounding sculpture! It was reflecting the sunlight coming in through the glass doors and looked ethereal. I walked around and around it, marveling at the beauty and ingenuity of the inset glass pieces. I recognized Villeroy & Boch and Wedgewood china patterns. It was love at first sight. Boom. I wanted it. I needed it. I had to have it. I talked to the owner and my heart fell. Thirty eight hundred dollars. The owner said he’d consider adjusting the price. I said I had a hundred dollars. We both laughed…

Later, I called my friend, Barbara, of MyKickAssGlass, and told her she had to see this piece before the store closed. We met there on a Saturday and I brought my camera this time. Here she is standing next to it and you can see its size. She is barely five feet tall. It is so heavy that the two of us could not make it budge.

The artist’s name is Terrie Read Kvenild. She graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 1976 with a BA in Art with Honors. Her work is exhibited all over California in places like the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and the Functional Art Gallery in Hollywood. Her three-dimensional mosaics sell on consignment at two major galleries: the I. Wolk Gallery in St. Helena and Gumps Gallery in San Francisco. Her richly colorful mosaic horses are what she calls her “bread and butter” shapes, but in her thirty years of experience she has made it all, from bugs to cacti.

You can see her public works at Margaritaville in Capitola Village and Nob Hill Shopping Complex.

Out doors, where she works with cement, wire mesh and thinset mortor, are stacks upon stacks of bowls filled with Mexican pottery bits and Chinatown finds. Every time Gumps Department store has broken china, they send it off to Terrie, who fashions it into magnificent sculptures, which you can find at Gumps. Scroll down to the middle of this post and click on the big vase. It will fill your screen with her amazing sculpture.

The Pegasus of Greek mythology was an immortal winged horse sired by Poseidon, which sprang forth from the neck of Medusa, when she was beheaded by the hero Perseus.

The goddess Athena gave the Corinthian hero, Bellerophon, a golden bridle with which he tamed Pegasus, and rode him into battle against the fire-breathing Chimera, a three-headed monster with the head of a lion, body of a goat and tail of a snake.

Later, when the hero attempted to fly to heavenly Olympus, the gods sent a gadfly to bite Pegasus, causing him to buck Bellerophon off, throwing him back down to the earth. Pegasus continued to wing his way to heaven, where he took a place in the stables of Zeus and was given the job of carrying Zeus’ thunderbolts.

Because of faithful service to Zeus, he was honored with transformation into a constellation.

The ancient Greeks held the magnificent beast Pegasus, of Greek mythology, in great reverence. Greek coins of 360 BC had Pegasus on one side and the helmet of Athena on the other side.