Pay It Forward: Sweets and Treats From Brussels!

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Oh my goodness! Chocolate, marzipan, caramels, more chocolate, intensely fruity gummi bears, violettes candies, coconut enrobed truffles, and more chocolate. . . !

All of this came in a package sent from Sophie of Sophies Foodiefiles, in Brussels, Belgium. Sophie had received her Pay it Forward package from Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella , then asked her readers if they would like to take part in this event. Goodies from Brussels? That's pretty much a no-brainer. I signed up right away.

Soon Sophie sent 3 lucky foodbloggers a Pay it Forward package of food and non-food items that were specific to her region.

Her package to me was a very generous assortment of sweets and treats that I have shared with friends and family. Click on the photo to see more detail; to return to the post, click on your back button. Mr CC was especially taken with the small chocolate espresso wafers (little green and red squares in photo above) in both milk and dark chocolates. I sampled the gummi bears, which I adore, and they were delicious.

Here is a sampling of what I received:

From Corné Royal, caramel sel de Guerande truffles, sugared marrons (chestnuts), and dark chocolate ganache spread.

From Sirop de Liege, a delicious fruit spread that is perfect for toast, pancakes, waffles. . .

From Café Tasse Chocolatiers in Belgium were several selections that included these incredible bars (Mr CC told me so), flavored cocoa powders for hot chocolate making, and mini-chocolates as mentioned above.

Sophie also sent me chocolate bars from Galler Chocolates. We're saving those for another time.

From Roodthooft in Antwerp came Mokatine caramels.

The delicious and fruity gummi bears are from Joris (I couldn't find a web site).

I couldn't find a European web site for the very lovely violet hard candies, which according to Sophie have been made in Europe for centuries, but the link will take you to a French version that is sold on Amazon.

So there you have it. Sophie is a very kind and generous person, as well as a prolific food blogger, and I am lucky to call her my friend.

Now it's my turn to Pay It Forward: Three food bloggers will receive a package from me within the next 365 days. The only caveat is that if you are chosen to receive a package, you must send a package to three more bloggers within a year from receiving yours. To enter, leave a comment on this post. Please be sure to leave me an email address so I can contact you.

I can't promise to send a package as sweet as the one Sophie sent me, but I do promise that it will have locally produced foods and non-food items from the beautiful northern California coast and I'm pretty sure you will enjoy it!

Copyright © 2005-2009, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Garlic In An Olive Oil, Balsamic, Rosemary Reduction ... With Beans

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You could've knocked me over with a feather...

... when I saw the Garlic Filling that Tanna, of My Kitchen in Half Cups, had made to put into a garlic bread that she and her friend Sue were making during one veeerrrry long and hilarious bread making process and thank heavens they had wine!

Me, I stopped at the garlic filling. My god. The ingredients. The cooking process. My head was spinning with the possibilities of what to pair with it.

Tanna says she adapted this recipe from one in the bread book, Exceptional Breads by Dan Lepard, which seems to be available through Amazon in Canada and the UK, but not yet in the US. Weird.

As I was drooling all over my keyboard at that garlic filling, we lost power. Thunk. When that happens, we turn everything off, hunker down and try not to use water (community well and all that). At first, PG&E said power would be restored within 2 to 3 hours. That was at 1:00 p.m. yesterday. We got our power back this morning around 10. (Update: The power went off again at 1 p.m. and didn't come back on until 9 that night. Grrr.)

Not being able to be online or anything else that uses electricity, I started peeling garlic and, using our old Wedgewood stove that keeps me cooking through hail, snow, sleet, rain and power outages, made this exceptionally delicious garlic stuff of Tanna's. Then I made Rancho Gordo's Good Mother Stallard beans (sorry folks, our temp highs are in the 60s these days). Then I put the two of them together. What can I say? It was exceptional.

Go here for the garlic recipe. I didn't fully reduce the liquid as I knew I wouldn't be using it in bread and wanted to retain some of that flavorful olive oil.

Go here for how to cook the beans.

Put 'em together. Mash 'em a little if you want and use as a spread on your favorite cracker. Or just grab a spoon and dig in. Or take them sailing, which is what we're about to do. I'll be making this again soon. Like tomorrow. Thank you Tanna!

Copyright © 2005-2007, Christine Cooks. All rights reserved

Grilled Beef Short Ribs... It's What Was for Dinner

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I'm of the opinion that if I have nothing particularly good or inspiring to write about, I shouldn't. It's in direct conflict with my obsession to post EVERYDAY (and now I have another blog for which I can't stop photographing flowers and insects in compromising positions).

If I don't write in my blogs, I feel that something is missing from my life. Sounds dramatic but it's, sadly, too true. I'm constantly composing posts in my head; many make it to my computer and many are lost, seemingly forever, in the nether-regions of my mind.

So here I am, with a simple and homely recipe that really isn't very blog-worthy, but I'm going to do it anyway 'cuz I HAVE to. And in the process I'm going to shamelessly promote previous posts not only from my cooking blog, but from my garden blog as well, because, well, sometimes after a busy week it's all I've got.



Boneless beef short ribs, marinated in a locally produced raspberry-chipotle sauce, grilled to medium rare, served on top of a tenderly sautéed melange of Vidalia onions, mushrooms, orange bell pepper, herbs and spices - and dinner is served.

We don't eat much beef. I like poultry, fish and shellfish better, and, of course, our neighbor's lamb. Oh, and then there's pork, the other white meat. So I don't think about making a meal out of beef very often. Plus, I find the chewing factor (as in a LOT) during the course of eating red meat to take longer than I desire. But these short ribs were fairly lean and good looking, so I took a chance. Besides, I'd discovered that our local market, Murphy's, now produces its very own sauces and marinades and I wanted to try the Raspberry-Chipotle BBQ sauce and thought, ah! Beef! So there you have it.

The ingredients that went into my quick, weeknight meal are in the photo below and include fresh oregano and fresh snipped chives, making this a candidate for Kalyn's Herb Blogging Weekend #33.



There's no big secret to putting this together: You place the boneless short ribs in a non-reactive bowl and pour a generous amount of the raspberry-chipotle marinade (or your favorite marinade even, as long as it will compliment the sauteed veggies) over the top and mix it in, coating all the pieces of meat evenly. Let it sit for about 1/2 hour then grill over medium-high heat until well-browned on the outside and medium-rare on the inside. Clay figured about 6 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, for the sauté: Have ready a peeled Vidalia or other sweet onion, cut in half crosswise then sliced into half-moons. Peel and finely dice 3 or more cloves of garlic. Seed and de-vein a large orange bell pepper (or your favorite color, just not green) and slice lengthwise into 1/4-inch thick slices. Clean and slice about 10 large-ish mushrooms, creminis are good. Go pick several sprigs of fresh oregano and chop the leaves finely. Snip a few chive stems and reserve them. What? No oregano or chives growing in your garden?



Get thee to your local nursery and buy a few 2-inch pots for 49 to 99 cents. They grow very well in 1 to 5-gallon pots and are herbs without which no kitchen garden should be. (That admonishment was for my children.)

Back to cooking: Begin with the onions over medium heat in a cast iron skillet into which you've poured about 1 tablespoon of good olive oil. Cook until slightly tender and golden. Add the garlic and stir for a bit. Add the mushrooms and sauté until they become soft, then add the peppers. Continue cooking gently until it's all tender and golden. Don't allow any of it to burn - duh.

When the sauté is finished, stir in the chopped oregano then season to taste with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Per serving, place the veggie saute on a plate and top with 2 of the shortribs. With your kitchen scissors, snip the chives over the top and serve immediately.

When you're finished, click on a few of the links I've peppered throughout this post (shameless hussy that I am) and refresh your memory that I sometimes do make somewhat gourmet meals.