More specialized dishes - aceitunas

My love for olives is unbounded.

Nicoise, picholines, arbequinas, kalamatas, manzanillas...I love them all.

Knowing this, my friend Stacy got me this nifty snack dish at the Oakland Friends of the California Museum sale, an annual treasure bonanza.


The painting on the bottom says "Aceitunas," which means "olives" in Spanish. I had always thought it was "Olivos" because my dad is from Los Olivos, but that means "olive trees."

The larger vase-shaped thing on the side is labeled "Huesos" or "bones" for the pits. Ah, the wonderful economy of Spanish. The annoying hard thing in the middle of a fish is a bone, so why not call an olive pit a bone too? Makes sense to me.

The smaller thing says "palillos" or "little sticks" for used toothpicks. This is a party dish!

I don't have parties very often, but I eat olives all the time. I put them in the dish, toss some crackers and a few nuts and maybe a piece of cheese in, too. Then I have myself a little party and pretend I am watching the sunset in Spain.

Book Review: Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas

So the nice people at DK Publishing sent me a free copy of "Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas" by Craig W. Priebe and Dianne Jacob to review.

(I wanted to add an image of the cover, but for some evil reason, it won't upload).

First of all, I learned something: a piadina is an Italian sandwich kinda like a pita sandwich, but using a folded-over thin pizza crust as the bread. Looks like yum.

In fact, most of the recipes look like yum, too. Priebe obviously knows his way around a pizza, having owned C.K.'s Grilled Pizza in Chicago for 7 years. His recipes are inventive and fun, running the gamut from traditional (Pizza Margherita) to the exotic (The Venezuelan pizza - chicken and plantain with coconut sauce).

He has perfected a technique that I am sure yields great pizza. He gives dough-making instructions and then has an extensive section of dough-grilling possibilities using a barbecue, panini maker, even a fireplace grill.

Basically you grill the dough, top it, grill some more and then finish in the broiler to cook the toppings just right.

I admit that I have not tried these recipes yet because I am waaay too lazy. The chances of me making dough, making toppings (many of which require pre-cooking, marinating or other steps) making a fire, (first I would have to buy a BBQ) waiting for the right heat, grilling the dough, moving the coals to one side, topping and grilling the pizza, THEN broiling it....It is all too much for me.

Maybe when I have that cute little soiree on the patio for a dozen friends. First I have to build the patio, though.

(To Priebe's rvedit, he does give alternatives to make the technique easier - buying prepared dough, for instance - but you can tell he is really in love with doing it his super special way).

This book would be great for an obsessive barbecue hound, that brother-in-law who is always trying to perfect the most delicious party food. If you get it for him, invite me over. This stuff sounds great.

The necessity of a good asparagus platter

I have a small kitchen and don't have much specialized cooking equipment or dinnerware. But one thing I always look forward to getting down from the high shelf is the asparagus platter, for that means that spring is here!

The plate is designed for steamed asparagus. The little impressions of asparagus on the plate allow any clinging water to channel away from the spears. And the pocket on the side is for delicious sauce.

My favorite way of making asparagus is to roast it under the broiler or in a hot oven. Coat the spears with a little olive oil, put them under the broiler and turn them as they start to get brown and spotty. Take them out when they have a few brown spots all over. I like the big fat juicy ones.

For sauce I have recently become addicted to mayo with a little Smoked Spanish Paprika mixed in. Ok, a lot of Smoked Spanish Paprika (I use about 1/2 tsp to every 2 tbsp of mayo). It tasted better if you make the sauce a few hours before so the paprika can meld with the mayo. It is also a pretty pink red color.

They don't make it like that anymore

The other day I was going through the cookbook shelf (already I'm lying - as if I have ONE cookbook shelf) and found this hideous old cookbook that my friend Stacy gave me a long time ago.

I scanned some of the pages and put them up as a flickr set for all to enjoy.

As a preview, just in time for Easter preparations, here is one of my favorites:

That's afternoon tea to you

Oh, yes, doesn't "high tea" sound elegant and refined?

The problem is that the thing we do where we spend too much money on a pot of tea with finger sandwiches and scones with our lady friends is NOT "high tea." If you're an American, strike "high tea" from your vocabulary because it is unlikely that you will ever have high tea, or at least if you do, you will probably call it "dinner" lest you confuse people.

The thing pictured above? With the impossible beautiful little scones, pot of clotted cream, homemade marmalade and 6000 calories of sweet treats? That's afternoon tea.

I'm just telling you so the waiters at the Ritz don't talk about you behind your back when you use the wrong term. I'm a giver, that's what I am.

Glad we got that straight.

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The tea pictured above was at Jin Patisserie in Venice, California (sadly not Venice Italy). They have a lovely calm patio with a squat murmuring fountain and bamboo growing around the edges, quite calming and nice.

The tea included a pot of your choice of 36 (I think) teas, two egg salad finger sandwiches, two little tangerine scones, a mini quiche, a little piece of blueberry bread topped with a chocolate, clotted cream, homemade lemon marmalade, and sweets including green tea, passionfruit, and white chocolate. The sweets were all light and not horribly sugary.

There was so much food that I only could eat part of it there. I hate egg sandwiches so I skipped those. The rest I packed up and ate in the car on the way home. See how I am?