Season Greetings to everyone .  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is looking forward to an exciting New Year! 2010 is the year of the Tiger and should be very exciting.
I wish the very best for everyone and hope to finally get some time to visit everyone else’s blogs. There is so much [...]

Roasted Potatoes with Garlic Dip
3 lb potatoes, peeled, halved and quartered or 3 lb new potatoes, halved
2-3 tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp sea salt
Garlic Dip
10 cloves of garlic, pressed
1 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp sour cream
4 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp paprika or more to taste
sea salt to taste

Pre-heat an oven to 400 degrees F. [...]

Deep-Fried Chilies
vegetable oil
green chilies, red chilies or jalapenos
Special equipment: Electric deep fryer.

Place the oil in the deep fryer according the manufacturers instructions.
Heat the oil to 360 degrees F.
Place the chilies in the basket and deep fry for 1-2 minutes , depending on the size of the chilies.
Remove and place on paper towels to drain.
Serve.

A while ago I was on Jamie Oliver’s web site and he asked the question, should the person doing all the cooking have to do the cleaning up too?
I thought this was a very interesting question. I love to cook and I love things clean but I don’t like the idea of cleaning [...]

We held a Tapas party (Spanish appetizers) for our December Open House dinner and although I was not as prepared as I would have liked, I think everything went really well. It was a drop-in get-together, so people came at different times but we were happy that most people stayed for quite a while. Both [...]

Spinach and Yogurt Dip with caramelized onion
350g (12 oz) spinach, chopped
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 cup full-fat yogurt
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
pita bread, cut into quarters for serving

Place spinach and salt in a covered saucepan over medium-low heat for 2 minutes or until wilted. [...]

Mussels and Clams with Lemongrass (Neung Phat Hawy Maleng Phuu Ta-Khrai)
2 lbs clams
2 lbs mussels
1-1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 lemongrass stalks, white part only finely sliced
1″ piece of galangal, sliced (if you can’t find this, use ginger)
2 long green chilles (or red), seeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp organic [...]

The Best Chicken and Sweet Leek Pie with Flaky Pastry
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
2 1/2 lbs free-range boneless & skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
2 leeks, trimmed, washed and cut into 1/2″ pieces
3 carrots, peeled, quartered lengthwise and chopped (1/4″) (organic preferably)
3 stalks of celery, quartered lengthwise and then finely sliced [...]