Sunday Pasta
The first eggplant came off the vine, today! It was smallish - it could have grown few more days - but it's mid-July. We're ready to start partaking!
There are two eggplant plants out there. We're going to be up to our eyeballs in eggplant, pretty soon but this is one recipe that just can't be beat - and with just a couple of tweaks here and there, it can go from appetizer to entree in nothing flat.
The recipe is Little Gram's. It's her mom's version of a caponata and it really is good. Today, Victor left out the mint and added a chopped hot Italian pepper. Little tweaks...
Little Gram lived for 105 years - and at 93, finally started writing down her recipes. The whole recipe collection is here on the website. They're a lot of fun. One thing to remember is the recipes evolved over time and ingredients weren't measured. Make them, play with them, and enjoy them.
Although this originally was an appetizer, tonight, it was a sauce for pasta.
Eggplant Appetizer
Ingredients:
- 1 medium eggplant
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 3/4 cups halved or chopped green olives
- 3 cups thinned Italian tomato sauce
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 6 tablespoons vinegar
- 1/4 chopped Locatelli cheese
- 2 tablespoons capers
- fresh basil and mint
Cut eggplant in strips the size of French fries. Salt and let stand about an a hour. Dry on a paper towel. Deep fry in hot oil. Keep oil as hot as possible without burning. Add eggplant one at a time and keep adding one at a time to keep the oil at the same temperature. Fry each one until tender and cooked. Drain on paper towels.
To Make Sauce:
Parboil celery for ten minutes. Add olives and cook another five minutes. Drain all water out of the pot. Add the thinned tomato sauce and boil for ten minutes. Add vinegar and sugar. Cook for three minutes. Add cheese. Make it come to a boil and then turn off heat and allow to cool.
Pour sauce over fried eggplants. Garnish with fresh Basil and mint that have been sliced into very thin strips.
No matter how you do it - it will be great! And if you happen to have a loaf of fresh-baked bread... really go for it!
Can't Be Beet Salad
- 1 pkg Roasted Golden Beets
- 1 pkg Steamed Baby beets
- 1 pkg Steamed Lentils
- 1 btl mango Dressing
Dice beets. Mix with steamed lentils. Drizzle on desired amount of dressing - 1/2 bottle should be enough for most folks.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Mini Cheese Cakes
We were watching Jacques Pepin the other night and he made a mini-cheese cake / souffle that really looked interesting. Jacques is another of my most favorite chefs. No pretense, no huge ego - just really good, sound cooking and technique. I really like how he credits all of the various jobs he has had over the years for making him a skilled cook, today. Things he learned at his parent's restaurant when he was a kid, things he learned working for Howard Johnson's, things he learned in school. Taking things from one place and being able to adapt them elsewhere is important. One of the things I liked most about opening hotels all over the USofA was learning new ways to do things and tweaking them for the next property. Lots of different experiences, seeing different ways of doing things, and just being open to new ideas makes us all better people.
I also like how he doesn't get flustered when things don't go right. The episode with the mini cheese cakes, his daughter was supposed to butter the souffle cups and then coat them with bread crumbs. The reason for the crumbs is to easily get them out of the cups when cooked. She did butter them but as he was filling them, he realized they hadn't been crumbed. He just said that if they don't come out, they can serve them in the cups. No big deal.
And that's an important thing to remember about most things in life - it's no big deal.
Like the recipe calling for 6 oz souffle cups but we only have 10 oz souffle cups. And I only wanted to make two because Nonna sure wasn't going to eat one. I cut the recipe in half, used 10 oz cups, and they came out stellar! Oh - and the recipe calls for whipped cream cheese and I only had half a brick. No big deal.
This took about three minutes to make and a mere 20 minutes in the oven. Ridiculously easy - and ridiculously good.
Light and delicate, rich, rich flavor, totally satisfying. I used an aged roquefort for the dish and it really shone. I would imagine just about any good cheese would work - maybe even my favorite traditional French brie - but the roquefort was so good, I may not mess with success.
Jacques served them on a bed of arugula as a salad. I just did them as a simple side dish and the recipe was easy to cut it in half for the two of us. I'm sure it would be easy enough to double for a crowd, as well.
I also mixed the cheese into the batter, because I think that's how he did it on the TV show. You can't screw it up, so do it as you see fit. It's no big deal.
Mini Savory Cheese Cakes
- 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 1 cup (one 8-ounce container) whipped cream cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese, like Stilton or Roquefort
Preheat the oven to 350. Generously coat four small (3/4-cup) soufflé molds with the butter. Divide the bread crumbs among the molds and coat the bottoms and sides heavily with the crumbs, pressing them onto the buttered dish so they stick.
Put the cream cheese in a medium bowl and add the eggs, sour cream, salt, pepper, and 1 tablespoon of the parsley. Mix well with a whisk and divide among the soufflé molds. Sprinkle the crumbled blue cheese on top of the cream cheese mixture in the molds. Top with the remaining 1 tablespoon parsley.
Arrange the molds on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes. The cheesecakes will still be slightly wet and soft in the center. Let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding.
Delish.
Bean and Wheat Berry Salad
It's just a couple of days before the official start of summer, but the weather is already screaming mid-August. It's 85°F with humidity you can cut with a knife. We're under a severe thunderstorm watch and a flash flood watch until midnight.
Oh, joy.
The rain and the thunder, I don't mind. It's the damned heat. It saps what little energy I have left in my advancing age and places me indoors in the air conditioning. Even Blanche is feeling it. She'll lay outside in her favorite dirt hole in the shade for a bit and then it's indoors and laying in front of the air conditioning vent on the cold tile kitchen floor. Nonna, in the meantime, is sitting in her room with the air vents closed under an electric throw turned to high.
Hot weather may sap my energy but it sure doesn't sap my appetite. I'm the original feed a cold, feed a fever person who gets sick and gains weight. There are not a lot of things that affect my appetite, although extreme heat or cold may affect what it is I want - like ice cream, whether it's blazing hot or blizzarding.
Today, the weather dictated salad - and beans and wheat berries came to mind.
Wheat berries are one of those really overlooked delicacies. I love the flavor and the chew of them after cooking - served hot as a side or cold in a salad. They add great texture to dishes - plus protein and fiber.
And I love beans, as well - more protein and fiber. Mix 'em all together and it's a nutrient-dense dish.
Today's salad is typical of my throw-together dishes. It's made from the stuff that was in the house at the time I made it. I didn't go out and buy anything specific for it and the next time I make it, items will probably change to reflect that day's offerings.
Bean and Wheat Berry Salad
- 1 cup wheat berries, cooked and cooled
- 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 small red onion, chopped
- 1 small can sliced black olives
- 1 small jar roasted red peppers, chopped
- assorted fresh herbs (today, I used basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, ad mint)
- S&P, to taste
Mix everything together and serve in a nice bowl.
If you're lucky enough to have one handmade by Kel Darling, by all means use it!! Handmade bowls, plates and pottery with a story, and just fun, unique pieces make food taste better.
Seriously.
Most of what I cook is basic stuff that anyone can do. It only looks great because it's on fun plates and platters. We eat with our eyes and something colorful in a fun serving bowl is just going to taste better than the same item in a disposable aluminum pan.
As I learned from my very first job at the donut shop years (and years) ago, it's all about presentation.
Corn Cakes
Cooking Light arrived the other day with a recipe for Corn Cakes with Bacon and Turmeric Yogurt. It sounded like something I needed to try.
Naturally, I couldn't just follow the recipe as written - I wasn't up to cutting corn off the cob, for one, and didn't feel like dicing a yellow squash - but the bacon and green onion part sounded good. Especially good with Mexican Style Roasted Corn with Cotija Cheese.
Yeah, I cheated big-time.
The end result was pretty good, though - and the future corn cake possibilities are pretty endless. I didn't go for the turmeric yogurt sauce, either. A dollop of sour cream worked just fine. The lazyman's guide to fine cooking...
Corn Cakes
- 3 strips bacon, chopped and fried
- 1 bag Mexican Style Roasted Corn with Cotija Cheese
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1/4 cup cornmeal
- 3 eggs
- S&P
Cook bacon. Add corn to pan and heat until sauce is mixed in. Let cool.
Stir in cheese packet, green onions, and cornmeal. Add eggs and S&P to taste.
Drop by scoops into skillet and cook about 2 minutes per side.
I fried them in a goodly amount of oil, but probably could have done them in a non-stick skillet with just a hint of oil and gotten a better look. However, they really did come out good - and there's lots of possibilities with this - any diced veggies from the garden will work, for sure.
Have fun with it!
Focaccia Genovese
While I was working, Saturday, Victor was cooking - shades of what retirement is going to be like in a couple of weeks! We're both looking forward to this. As much as I like to cook, it will be nice not having that "5 o'clock" deadline looming when I get home.
When I walked in, the first thing I smelled was baking bread. There are not a lot of scents out there that can top that one - especially since it included fresh basil... This is not a bad way to start the weekend unwind...
The recipe comes from one of our many Lidia Bastianich cook books - Lidia’s Commonsense Italian Cooking. They're excellent cook books.
Focaccia Genovese
adapted from Lidia's Commonsense Italian Cooking.
For the focaccia:
- 1 pkt yeast
- 1 tsp sugar
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 6 cups flour
- 2 tsp kosher salt
For the topping:
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup chopped basil
- 3 tbsp grana padano, grated
Dissolve the yeast and sugar in ½ cup warm water (90 to 110 degrees F). Let the mixture sit a few minutes, until the yeast is bubbly.
Put the proofed yeast in a mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Pour in another 1½ cups warm water and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the flour, holding back about ½ cup of the total measured amount. Add the salt. Mix on low speed to combine into a wet dough. If the dough is still dry or seems tight, add up to ½ cup more warm water, a little at a time. If it seems too wet, add up to the remaining ½ cup flour, a little at a time. Knead the dough on medium speed until it is soft and springy and leaves the sides of the bowl clean, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Dump the dough on a floured counter, and knead a few times by hand to bring together into a ball. Oil a large bowl, and toss the dough to coat. Cover, and let rise until doubled in size, about
1 to 1½ hours, depending on the temperature of your room.
Punch down the dough. Oil a half sheet pan with olive oil, and dump the dough into the sheet pan. Press with your fingers to fit dough to the edges of the pan. Let rise another 30 minutes, uncovered. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Once the dough has risen, gently press indentations in the dough with your fingertips, about 1 inch apart. Bake until set, about 10 to 15 minutes, pull out of oven, and brush with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Finish baking until the focaccia is golden brown on the top and bottom, about 25 minutes in all.
While the dough finishes baking, in a bowl stir together the basil, grated cheese, and the remaining olive oil. As soon as you remove focaccia from oven, spread with the basil mixture.
Crispy exterior, light interior - the perfect bread. I made grilled cheese sandwiches with it for lunch, today.
I'm going to have fun getting used to this...
Oh... and dinner?!?
Bucatini with Clam Sauce.
Yeah... I'm spoiled...
Manicotti
It's Nonna's Birthday. There's not a lot you can get a 91 year old for her birthday. It's not like she's wearing out things at this stage of her life - and there's really not a lot of things she needs. So how do you celebrate a birthday? With a special dinner!
The criterion for a Nonna Dinner is pretty simple - Italian and soft. I figured homemade manicotti would met both - and it did.
I made everything last night so all I had to do was sauce it and get it into the oven when I got home.
I followed Lidia's recipe for crespelle - the manicotti wrappers.
Manicotti
Crespelle:
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 to 1 1/4 cup water
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. Crack the eggs over the flour and whisk them in. Add salt and whisk in water until smooth.
Heat your pan until hot and brush with melted butter.
Pour 1/4 cup batter into the pan and swirl to completely coat. Cook until pale golden and crespelle is dry on top.
Place on plate and continue until all the batter has been used.
The filling I just winged...
- 1 16 oz carton whole-milk ricotta cheese
- 2 large eggs
- 8 oz cubed mozzarella
- 1 cup Pepato cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
- S&P
Mix all ingredients together.
Place crespelle on counter, place about 1/2 cup filling. Roll and place seam-side down in baking dish.
Cover with a simple marinara sauce, cover dish, and bake about 30 minutes at 375°F. Uncover, top with additional cheese, and bake an additional 15 or so minutes.
Nonna loved it. She ate every bite and almost licked her plate.
They really did come out good - I was a bit nervous because the crespelle seemed thicker than the last time I made them, but they absorbed the sauce and were hearty without being heavy. Definitely good.
Victor made cheesy garlic bread to go along with it and Nonna immediately had a piece of Lemon Coconut Cake.
It was a good birthday!
Oven Braised Artichokes
I saw artichokes at the store this morning. Purple, even... At 99¢ a piece, I had to get a couple.
When we were kids, artichokes were steamed and the leaves dipped in mayonnaise. That was the one and only way to eat an artichoke that I knew. They were grown just south of San Francisco in what is now Serramonte - they liked the combination of sun and fog down there. That was pre-freeway, pre-shopping center, and pretty much pre-history. There isn't 10 square feet of land left down there to grow anything.
Over the years I've learned to cook and eat them in any number of ways - Victor stuffs them or we steam them and have any number of fun dipping sauces, but this is the first time I oven-braised them. It shan't be the last!
I wanted to find something a little different - and I did! These are a take on a Martha Stewart recipe I found online.
Oven Braised Artichokes
adapted from Martha Stewart
- 1 lemon
- 6 artichokes
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 tbsp minced garlic (from about 5 cloves)
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp chopped basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 375°.
In a large bowl, juice lemon. Fill with water and add the lemon back in.
Trim tough outer leaves of artichoke and peel stem. Trim off top, slice in half, and remove the fuzzy choke.
Quickly place in lemon water.
Drain artichokes and place, cut side up, in a wide, shallow ovenproof pan. Pour wine, oil, and water over artichokes and sprinkle with garlic, herbs, red pepper flakes, and S&P. Bring to a boil, cover, and place in oven. Braise until artichokes are tender, about 45 minutes.
Drizzle with the pan juices, and enjoy!
They were pretty outstanding, if I do say so, m'self! Lots and lots of flavor, the heart and the stem were tender, and the leaves had a mildly-garlicky, herby slightly spicy hint to them. They really were good.
I used a Pinot Grigio - my white cooking wine of choice - and it imparted just the right flavor. Sicilian olive oil - of course - and the red pepper flakes came from peppers in our garden last summer. The amount of garlic may seem excessive, but it works - with no harsh garlic taste.
It doesn't get any better...
Well... actually, it does... Victor's birthday is Wednesday. I just made a Walnut Cream Cake that originated in a kitchenware/cafe named Bon Appetit in Philadelphia years - and years - ago.
Details at 11. Or Wednesday night...
Gnocchi and Beets
For as long as I have known Victor, he has stated that he hates beets. Hates. Loathes. Despises. Doesn't like. Won't eat. You get the picture.
Naturally, I love them, but convincing Victor that they were good was not going to be an easy task. Then, again, I like a challenge once in a while.
I started off with golden beets and roasted them in the oven. He reluctantly tried them - and even more reluctantly said he didn't hate them.
I was on to something...
I tried them, again. He begrudgingly ate them - and liked them, again. This has happened more than a few times, now. Tonight, Victor cooked dinner and he cooked more golden beets - roasted in the oven with olive oil, garlic, and balsamic vinegar. Absolutely fabulously delicious.
He has come to the realization that he really likes beets - what he hates are pickled beets - those mushy things in a can that get put onto a salad. It's a good thing, because I have several different varieties of beet seeds that are getting planted in the garden this year!
Along with those beets, tonight, we had homemade gnocchi left over from last month when we were getting ready for the Blizzard of '17. He mixed it with pesto he had made late last summer from the basil in the garden. It's nice to be able to reach into the freezer and get real food.
Now I have to start working on cabbage...
Sweet Potato Pancakes
Home. Back to reality. The upside of living here is the proximity to New York City. The downside is the proximity to New York City.
Back in my wild and crazy youth, we'd catch a flight from Boston on the Eastern Shuttle, bus to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, and then risk our lives walking to the Grand Hyatt for our free rooms. That was back when Times Square really had an edge to it - not the Disney Ride it is, today. Third-run movie theaters and porn theaters competed with the legit theatres - and the legit theatres were showing their age. We'd be up and out all night and crawl back on the plane a day or two later - ready to do it all, again.
Lest it be said that I was always galavanting in bad company, in 1983 my parents came back to Boston and we did a trek to The Big Apple. They were doing a driving tour of the USofA and arrived right around their anniversary. After a few days in Boston, we drove down to NYC and I took the train back while they continued their trip. We got a suite at some hotel courtesy of my roommate, Jeff, who was Regional Sales Director for Seagrams, and scored tickets to 42nd Street at The Majestic Theatre. After several cocktails during and after the show, Pop and I put my mother to bed and we went out on the town. Rumor has it we had a great time. Couldn't prove it by either of us. It really was one of the most fun times I ever had with my father - not that I can really remember any of it. Just that we both had a blast.
That trip ended with a week-long hangover - that train ride back to Boston was painful. This trip ended with coffee and danish at 7:30am, an early train back home, and grocery shopping.
My, how times have changed.
I wouldn't trade those [lack of] memories for anything - but I am glad I've settled down, a bit. The warranty has expired on a lot of these parts...
What hasn't expired, though, is magazine reading, grocery shopping, and cooking.
I prefer paper copies of my cooking magazines, but also get the digital editions for those times when I'm sitting in a train or otherwise ensconced with my Kindle. One recipe from Fine Cooking or Cooking Light was a dish of shredded chicken over sweet potato pancakes. I don't remember the recipe, really, but the idea sounded pretty good. I like stuff piled on other stuff - this was right up my alley.
I made sweet potato pancakes by boiling a large sweet potato, mashing it, adding shredded cheese, bread crumbs, parsley, basil, garlic, and an egg to bind. I scooped it into a hot skillet nd fried them.
Meanwhile, I had boiled a chicken, pulled off all the meat, strained the broth...
I sauteed a chopped leek with shitake mushrooms and garlic, added some cauliflower and some white wine and cooked it down. Added some of the chicken, some broth, and thickened it with a bit of cornstarch.
Spooned it over the pancakes and dinner was served!
Really simple and really, really good!
And to bring it all back... In May, my sister Arlene and her two daughters are flying into New York. We're going up to meet them and take them to see Phantom of the Opera - at The Majestic, where I saw 42nd Street with my parents 34 years ago!
Fun!
Savory Pumpkin Tart
A couple of months ago when I was perusing recipes for Thanksgiving - yes, I start thinking about this stuff more than the day before dinner - I came across an online recipe from La Cucina Italiana that looked interesting. A savory Pumpkin Tart in a puff pastry crust. Puff pastry is my friend, and savory pumpkin is my other friend. The two together sounded like something I needed to pursue a bit further.
The La Cucina Italiana website is fun - since the demise of the English edition, I have to rely on the Italian edition - because I'm just so fluent in Italian. Google translate makes a mockery of recipes and it's only by actually knowing how to cook and understanding the metric system from my drug-taking days that I can figure out some of the recipes. I was able to grasp the concept of this one - the actual recipe didn't matter.
I had time today to do some baking so off to the kitchen I went. I made a Pumpkin Caramel Swirl Cheese Cake and then decided to make the Pumpkin Tart. It was one of the easiest things I have ever attempted - and the house was full of autumn scents. It came out looking perfect, if I do say so m'self...
Victor came into the kitchen and said he didn't think the puff pastry would last in the 'fridge until Thursday. And then he said we should probably have it for dinner, tonight. Gotta love a man who thinks ahead.
He was probably right - puff pastry really doesn't hold up well under refrigeration - and it was the perfect excuse to try a new dish.
What I really liked about this was we were able to actually taste pumpkin - not all of the spices normally associated with Pumpkin Pie. And no sugar. It was not at all sweet. The perfect balance of flavors. It was great.
Savory Pumpkin Pie
- ½ lb puff pastry
- 1 can pumpkin
- 2/3 cup minced shallots
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 3 oz grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- pinch garlic powder
- salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 425°F / 220°C.
Roll out pastry to fit tart dish or pan. Refrigerate while making filling.
Saute shallots in butter until wilted. In bowl, mix cooked shallots with pumpkin. Add eggs and remaining ingredients, mixing well.
Pour into puff pastry crust and trim crust to fit pan. (It's actually easier to fill the tart and then trim the crust - nothing falls down or gets under the crust.)
Place in hot oven and bake about 25 minutes or until tart is cooked and filling is set.
Cool and serve at room temperature.
I used shallots because I had shallots in the house. Onion would work - and so would leeks.
Since we had a lot left over - Nonna doesn't eat pumpkin - the rest went into the 'fridge for lunch tomorrow. We'll get to see first hand how the puff pastry stands up under refrigeration. Personally, I think it will be just fine - and I'm really glad we ate it, tonight!
The Importance of a Well-Stocked Larder
I threw out dinner, tonight. It's something I haven't done in years, but it needed doing.
We cleaned out the last of the garden this morning. The stuff that was hanging on we looking pretty anemic. Lots of green tomatoes, but nothing ripening. The eggplants had just stopped doing anything but hanging there - same size as when we got back from vacation, and the peppers were gasping. It was time to say goodbye. We had a bumper crop of produce and learned a lot about what, where, and when to plant things. I already have seeds for next year from the Seed Savers Exchange and will draw out a plan before we plant anything. A little planning and organization will go a long way.
But I digress...
We brought in probably 20 pounds of green tomatoes and maybe 3 more pounds of peppers to add to the 3 pounds already picked. My thought was to can a bunch of chow chow or green tomato relish, but I thought I could simmer up some with some pork and some other veggies and mix in some fava beans I had soaked over night. Perfect time for a nice fall stew of sorts.
I had a green tomato recipe where everything is ground together, so I thought I'd grind some stuff and cook it all off in the oven, shred the pork back into it... Pretty basic stuff. I browned the pork pieces, simmered them in some red wine, added broth, and ground up green tomatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, mushrooms, and 1 hot pepper. After a while, I added the cooked fava beans. The smells of the cooking pork and the drying rosemary in the kitchen were wonderful. The house smelled great!
I pulled it out to taste and almost died. The one little pepper was screaming hot - and the favas - the favas totally sucked! They were absolutely horrible. Gawd-awful-inedible-horrible. I think I could have handled the heat on its own, but having it coupled with the disgusting favas was too much. I don't generally buy dried fava beans, but I saw these and thought they would just be perfect for fall and winter soups and stews. And I paid way too much money for them - or, at least, more than I should have for dried beans. And they sucked.
The entire pan went down the garbage disposal and I threw the second package of favas in the trash.
I nonchalantly mentioned to Victor that I had just tossed dinner and we'd be having pasta. With a dozen or so quarts of sauce downstairs and a half-dozen varieties of dried pasta at any given moment, pasta is always a possibility.
He laughed and said it must have really been bad for me to toss it. I can usually make do with just about anything. No big deal - ya win some ya lose some.
About 15 minutes later I'm in the office and new, wonderful smells start permeating the house. Victor decided to up the pasta with a little eggplant lasagne.
Be still my gastronomic heart!
We had 4 or 5 eggplants that also needed using up, so away he went, layering fried eggplant with ricotta and sauce and cheese... Having the right ingredients in the kitchen is key. It was just stellar.
My philosophy in the kitchen is the worst thing that can happen is you throw it all out and call for pizza. It tends to put everything in perspective. Really. The worst thing that can happen is you toss it out and have something else.
From dinner to disaster to fabulous dinner, we did it all, today.
And there's a coconut cake for dessert... There's a story behind that, too...