Old Friends and a New Recipe (Lemon Cake)

Last weekend Dan and I went to the Belgian coast to spend some time with some old friends. We have known George and Jacqueline since before we moved to Belgium. In fact Dan has known George for most of his life—they were in high school together in California. Being trained by the Jesuits tends to make lifelong bonds, I think.

Two Pesto Pasta

This is a re-post of a recipe that I cook often. It's one of my all time favorites. Why? Let me count the ways: it's easy, it's healthy, it's made in the time that it takes the pasta to cook, and it uses ingredients I always have on hand. I first posted it when my blog was brand new. Almost nobody saw it. I decided to re-post it so that you could all see it. You're welcome!

Too Hot to Cook: Gazpacho

One of the (many) reasons we moved to Belgium was the climate. I grew up in Atlanta, where it's hot and sticky for at least 6 months of the year. Dan and I lived in DC, where it's stinkin' hot. AND humid. (Though we used to say that in Washington, it wasn't the heat that would kill you, it was the stupidity, heh.) Belgium, however, is on the same latitude as the southern tip of Hudson's bay. Yesss! Cool in the summer. We checked—not much is air conditioned here. No need! Double Yesss! We almost didn't need the enticement of languages, culture, travel opportunities, chocolate. Cool summers, yessirree. That was it for us.

Rillettes of Trout and Smoked Salmon

I've written before about luck. I don't win contests, I don't find parking places, I never get in the right line. But when it comes to friends, I'm very lucky. I've written a little about them and now I'm doing it again.

We have some friends who live near us. He is a fly fisherman, and he loves to fish in the rivers around here. He catches lots and lots of trout. Sometimes he gets tired of eating them, and he cleans them and puts them in his freezer. Then he gives them to me.

Blue Cheese, Cranberry and Pecan Lunch Quiches

Many years ago, when I was just starting to cook in my first tiny kitchen, I made a quiche. This was before the wave of quiche mania swept across the US in the late '70s. This wave was so ubiquitous that there was even a book called "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche". (Heh, to which a friend of mine replied that REAL men ate whatever they pleased...)

Orange Chocolate Cake

Well. THAT was a rather long weekend, wasn't it? I've been AWOL, and I'm sorry. I had an enormous project that came to me and I've been absolutely swamped by it. I haven't even had time to cook!

Well, that's not precisely true. I did have time to make a cake for our neighborhood barbecue on Sunday. I had promised to bring a dessert and when I saw this recipe I knew it was going to be the one. I changed it, of course.

In Praise of Summer Fruit

It's a little early for most of these, but it's not too early to start looking forward to them. The fruit of summer is one of the joys of living here. We have local fruit starting now, with the early strawberries and right through the summer with cherries, plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines, blackberries, red and black currants. Into the autumn we have apples and pears. Every month there is a new treat. I'm ready.

What's your favorite summer fruit? What do you do with it?