Swedish Meatballs and Sweet Braised Cabbage and Cranberries

When I first married SB, I came to the our kitchen (and the marriage!) with a goodly number of recipes in my cache. Over the years, though, he has told me that he cannot get enough cabbage. The other day, I was browsing Diana Henry's cookbook, roast figs sugar snow - winter food to warm the soul, and came across a recipe for Swedish Meatballs. Now, I have a perfectly good recipe for Swedish Meatballs, but what got my attention was a side cranberry relish that Ms. Henry suggested would go beautifully with the dish. So... I took her suggestion and played with it a bit.

Random Recipe - Chocolate Raspberry Sandwiches

I made the prettiest little cookies today! So subtle and not overly sweet ... think chocolate shortbreads with seeded raspberry jam and those sprinkled top layers with a peek-a-boo to tempt you. That's it ... in a nutshell ...

Saturday Snapshot - The Long and the Short of It

This past week, I spent some time in Toronto. What a nice city and what nice people! SB and I stayed with friends at a small B&B in Old Cabbagetown, a neighborhood in the south central area of the city. We walked all over the place, finding market neighborhoods, a brewery area, the theatre district, many historic buildings and tourist magnets, and various wonderful restaurants.

Our beloved Boston Red Sox lost to the Toronto Bluejays, but we still had a great time at the game. The artwork of Canada's 'Group of Seven' inspired me as I wandered the galleries in the Ontario Art Gallery. The CN Tower awed me, as I walked the perimeter of the building and then whizzed to its observation deck for a dramatic view of the city. I was excited to meet and have dinner with Brenda, a blogging friend with whom I've chatted lots of times online.

The long and the short of it is that we will return to this beautiful city and its people ... four days is not long enough to get to know the Canadian way of life and the city by Lake Ontario!

This Saturday Snapshot joins many others on Alyce's weekly photo share. Visit her blog at home with books to view others' Saturday Snapshot submissions! There's so much to see in this big old world!

Moroccan Vegetable Salad

How can you NOT love a salad with all these colors? I fixed these as an accompaniment to a roasted leg of lamb when I made our Easter lunch. This is a salad that packs a lot of punch. There are strong citrus, garlic, and hot chili flavours ... little pockets of huge pizzazz that hit your tongue in different ways with each bite. They were perfect with the mellow spiced lamb and roasties. And the colors ... so cheerful!

Saturday Snapshot -

'Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.'  - Mark 14:25

One of my favorite places to go for a quiet walk is in Cornish, New Hampshire. It is the summer home and workshop of Augustus St. Gaudens ... and a place of quiet contemplation in a spot of incredible beauty. Today is the perfect time to contemplate and this picture spoke to me with such simple symbolism.

Beef Noodle Soup

Another day ... another lunch! I am on a mission to use up all the little bits of things that I have in the fridge and this soup does the job admirably! A warm nod to a brisk afternoon, this soup has Asian overtones - earthy dried mushrooms,  garlic, ginger root, soy sauce, and dry wine added to a beef broth. Lean strips of beef are stir-fried in just a bit of peanut oil. Carrot and scallion strips are then stirfried with the garlic and minced ginger. The fortified broth is added and simmered to bring out the flavours and finish the dried mushrooms. Then spinach ribbons and Ramen noodles are added to finish the soup. Everything simmers until the beef is tender and the noodles have the perfect 'bite'. Yum ... it was a slurpy, savory affair!

Roasted Tomato Tart

Hello, lunch! Nice to see you!

Roasted Swordfish with Ina's Caesar Dressing Sauce

I have been really enjoying Ina Garten's cookbook, how easy is that?, since I checked it out of our little public library here in the backwater. Last evening, I made her recipe for Caesar Roasted Swordfish. Other than going a little heavy on the sauce, this dish was a real hit! The dressing is delicious and would be worthy drizzled on traditional Caesar salad makings. In fact, that would be my recommendation. Make the full amount of sauce, cut the amounts for marinating the swordfish and drizzling over the finished fillets in half, and save it for a 'next day salad' lunch. The recipe calls for frizzled capers as a tangy garnish, but we passed, as we're not fans of capers, but they sure would pack an extra flavour punch!