Summer cocktails and sorbets!

It's been really frickin' hot in Florida. That's pretty much the bottom line. Hot. Sweltering actually. Feels like 100+ degrees out. Literally. Thanks global warming.

Anyway, I was having a lazy Saturday this past weekend and trying to get rid of some lingering remnants in my fridge. So I decided to try my hand at summer cocktails. I'm not usually a big liquor drinker, or lemonade drinker for that matter. Or anything but coffee, water and wine when it really comes down to it. But when one has these sorts of things on hand it seems prudent to get creative.

The first cocktail attempt was my cross between an Arnold Palmer and a Hot (or rather cold) Toddy. I mixed ice tea and brandy with a splash of raspberry lemonade and some seltzer. Pretty good.

The second was inspired by my adventures in Europe, where vodka and Fanta seemed to be all the rage. I mixed some vodka with the raspberry lemonade and lemon lime seltzer to give it that little, refreshing bubble.

It didn't take long before I got sick of drinking all that sweet stuff (we're talking powdered lemonade here ... left over from the baby shower). But I couldn't let all of that raspberry lemonade go to waste. So I busted out the hot pink ice cream maker and turned it into a sorbet. Just threw in the rest of the lemonade, some seltzer and the frozen raspberries. That's what I call resourceful!

I was so encouraged by the results (the sorbet seemed to come out better than any of the ice creams I've tried) that I decided to clear off some space for the ice cream maker on my counter. After all, it's just the start of summer in Florida. And it looks like it's going to be a hot one.

What's been cooking?

So it's not like I've been totally lazy these past two months between posts. I had to eat after all. I've just been relying on some old favorites. My comfort foods, if you will. Anyway, here's a little recap of some of the things going down in my kitchen.

Bobby Flay's Chicken Cacciatore: This is fabulous. I love the layers of flavors from the spicy jalapeno to the tangy balsamic. Bobby thought of everything. I still can't believe he lost the throwdown! I bypass the whole chicken and just do mine with chicken thighs.

Emeril's Smoked Salmon Quiche with Potato Crust: A different twist on a classic quiche. Potato crust = Yum. As if potatoes weren't awesome enough, try kicking them up with some Essence of Emeril and Parmesan. Heaven.

My Pasta with Goat Cheese, Chicken and Sun Dried Tomatoes: An easy weeknight meal with lots of bold flavors.

Duff Goldman's Curried Pasta Salad: I whipped this up to go with some jerk burgers at a friend's Memorial Day BBQ. I liked it so much I've already done a sequel to go with the NFNS party leftovers. I probably used twice the curry powder the recipe calls for and spiced mine up with cayenne pepper. Throw in some dried cherries for a sweet balance the spiciness. And impress your friends ... my cubicle food buddy at work thought I julienned the broccoli for the slaw! Thanks Publix!

Emeril's Quiche Lorraine: Who doesn't love cheese and bacon? Simple, easy, freezable. Although, I freeze anything. Perfect to whip out as a snack for a spontaneous Friday evening wine tasting!

Giada's Shrimp and Lemon Linguine: A note to the home cook - don't salt the water too much when using fresh pasta, as I did when I made this recipe. I guess it stands to reason it absorbs more of it than the store bought, dried kind. I've also decided I'm not a huge fan of lemon. Besides those two things, my dinner guest was a big fan of this one.

And we did have a little baby shower action in the midst of all this, during which my friend E and I converted my pad into Kitchen Stadium to whip up six dishes in about three hours. (You have ... 20 minutes). OK, we did get a late start because we had to hit up our fav wine shop for double points Saturday. But we did it! E made a roasted red pepper dip, tuna tartare and bruschetta. My contributions were:

Leek and Mushroom Quiche: The beauty of the quiche ... I used the same quiche lorraine recipe from above and swapped in a pack of portobellos and a leek. Eyeball it.

Rachael Ray's Italian Sausage Sage Meatballs with Apricot Balsamic Glaze: Always a big hit at parties. *Note: This recipe doesn't appear to be on any authorized web sites. It's that good. I'm not about to infringe copyright on Rach's $18 million a year empire. It's in her Get Togethers cookbook.

Rachael Ray's Lemon Pepper Chicken Bites: Why I keep making stuff with lemon is beyond me. But everybody else liked it. I served with some teryiaki.

So that's a lazy two months of cooking for me! Not surprising : )

Lapse into Laziness

Well I guess you could say I fell off the blogging bandwagon there for awhile. It happens. Don't get me wrong. I've still been cooking and eating well these past two months. I suppose I was just too distracted by, well, all of life's little distractions to blog about it. Or perhaps all of the cooking was really more of a distraction from the distractions... There's something to think about!

Either way, I've been meaning to get back on track, and finally this weekend presented the perfect opportunity: My Next Food Network Star premier party. When I was home in Buffalo a few weeks ago and first saw the promo, I couldn't believe that it was time yet again for the show that brought us Guy Fieri, Aaron McCargo Jr and Melissa d'Arabian. So I sent out all my invites and started the menu planning.

I'm big on themes for this sort of occasion. Recall, the Next Iron Chef premier where everyone had a secret ingredient to cook with. I thought better this time of imposing any restrictions on my guests, so figured I'd just come up with my own guidelines. And then the perfect idea hit me. I would make a recipe from some of the former winners.

Anyway, here we go again! Without further ado, here's what I came up with.

Melissa d'Arabian's Salmon Cakes: The recipe does not include a dip, but I whipped up a simple mayo one with the ingredients that go in the salmon cakes (mayo, dijon, onions, bacon grease and lemon).

Aaron McCargo Jr.'s Molasses Marinated Flank Steak with Roasted Red Peppers

Guy Fieri's Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp with Chipotle BBQ Sauce

As it turns out, Guy's got some pretty tempting recipes, so I rounded out the menu with these two little quickies.

Ginger Carrot Soup Shooters: I put my soup in little plastic shot glasses so guests could easily eat them. I have to say I wasn't a huge fan. A little too overpowering in its pine nutiness. I tried to give it another layer of flavor with some roasted red bell and jalapeno peppers. And as a garnish, I did a little swirl of honey on top.

Artichoke Spinach Dip with Roasted Red Bell Peppers

CATW: Suriname, Pork and shrimp pepper pot

Drum roll please ... my latest global culinary endeavor was this pork and shrimp pepper pot from Suriname. A delicious, creamy stew with spicy habanero pepper. Yum! Check out my other blog for details.

Easter Eats

If there's one thing I love more than a good dinner party, it would be dining as the guest of an equally as (or more) skilled culinary mastermind.

For Easter this year, I got to be an esteemed guest in my SoBe partner in crime's beautiful new home and enjoy a wonderful spread of traditional lamb and mint jelly, with all sorts of fixings.

Of course I'm not one to show up as a guest empty handed. For the cocktail hour (or hours as is the case with my friends) I whipped up these Rachael Ray Sage Sausage Bites with Balsamic Apricot Dip. These little Italian sausage meatballs are always a big hit with a sauce that offers the right mix of sweet and savory.

For dessert, I whipped up one of my all time favorite desserts - one I also consider an Easter staple. Carrot cake. I could not resist trying the Cake Boss Buddy Valastro's recipe, and turned to Ina Garten for the cream cheese frosting. The cake was perfectly moist and flavorful, and the cream cheese frosting rich, but not too sugary.

My efforts, however, were quite humbled by the spectacular spread. I'd never had lamb with mint jelly before, and was pleasantly surprised by the flavor combination (courtesy of Tyler Florence's take on years of tradition). It was lucky too that I saved room after the cocktail hour, since I could not get enough of another one of my friend's veggie pizza, a cream cheese, ranch dressing spread covering croissants and topped with carrots and broccoli. This recipe looks pretty similar to the one she told me.

Of course one of my favorite stars of the show were the lamb cupcakes another friend showed up with. The loving detail with which she placed little white chocolate chips to look like fur, and marshmallows for ears was just priceless!

Forget diamonds ...

... I think if Marilyn Monroe were a food friendly female around today, she'd have a new BFF. What woman's life isn't considerably enhanced by a KitchenAid?

At least that's how I feel now that I've acquired one.

I'm staying mums as far as the blog is concerned about how I acquired it. But I will say while some other things in life don't work out, the KitchenAid and I are looking forward to a long and happy relationship.

I took the honor of christening it on Easter Sunday by making one of my all time favorite desserts - carrot cake. Two words: life changing. I never would have imagined homemade cream cheese frosting so smooth, so fluffy, so quick and easy.

So yeah ... forget the diamonds. If anyone ever wants to marry me, I'm going to suggest going cheap on the ring. If you're going to spring a few thousand on me, I think I'd rather upgrade to one of those bad ass KitchenAids they auctioned off at the South Beach Food and Wine Festival. I'm thinking hot pink ... autographed by Emeril Lagasse ... Just thinking.

Rainy Day Tailgating

I had the perfect plan for my re-emergence onto the cooking scene: Polo tailgating.

Forget the big hats and sleek dresses a la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. My polo experiences are pretty much defined by snacks, wine and friends enjoyed under the Florida sunshine.

This year's excursion promised to be the best yet. One of my friends has a grill attached to the back of his truck. Another a little tent. And of course one can not forget my contribution: the picnic table and cooler in the back of my CRV.

The menu planning began at least a week in advance, and with plans to grill who else would I look to than Bobby Flay, my favorite grill master. I found an interesting recipe for a Grilled Jerk Chicken with Mango and Cilantro Salsa. To top that off, I thought I'd whip up a munchie I saw Giada make on her show a few weeks ago, Tilapia Fish Tacos with Arugula.

Both came out pretty well. For the chicken, I used drum sticks and wings. Bobby Flay recommends marinating the meat for 24 to 48 hours, depending on how strong you want the flavor. I went some where in between, and I have to say I felt like it could have been stronger. The flavor was good, but I would have liked a little more spice. I did cheat and use jalapeno peppers instead of the one called for in the recipe.

For Giada's, I was too lazy and busy to go to the Asian market for the wontons and decided to put my own little twist on the bite size fish tacos. I rolled corn tortillas into little cones, pressed the edges tight to hold the shape, placed them in a cupckae tin and popped them in the oven until crisp.

But just as we pulled everything together, Mother Nature threatened our party with afternoon thunder storms.

Good thing we gals don't let anyone rain on our parade. We moved our party indoors : )

In case you were wondering ...

... I've already done too much writing this week. And thinking for that matter. Taxes. FBI investigations. Four front page stories in a row. Takes a lot out of you. So I'm recovering this weekend, with the help of a little dinner party at a friend's and some vino. Rest assured, I've got lots of ideas floating around in my head yet to come once I restore my energy.

Giada's Whole Wheat Linguine with Green Beans, Ricotta and Lemon

Despite a particularly draining week and a promise that my Saturday would be devoted to relaxation, I could not resist the lure of the kitchen.

Maybe it was the stress of a long week, but I was craving pasta. So I turned to my new Giada De Laurentiis cookbook, Giada's Kitchen for some inspiration.

I opened the book up to this recipe for Whole Wheat Linguine with Green Beans, Ricotta and Lemon and since today is about minimal effort figured why bother flipping pages. I'll just roll with it. The end result is pretty good. Very light, and the lemon zest gives the pasta a certain freshness. The pasta really showcases the veggies. And it was simple to make. The biggest time commitment was slicing the green beans.

A perfect light, sunny dish for a light sunny weekend dinner! Lovely with an Italian Pinot Grigio.

What kind of wine am I?

At some point during the Chilean food and wine demo, the wine ambassador made an interesting observation about Pinot.

"I always tell women, it's just like us," she said. "It's complex, sensitive, tender and hard to grow."

Sound familiar? It's like in the movie Sideways, where the main character's personality bears a striking resemblance to the profile of his favorite vino. I have to say, I've never been a huge fan of Pinot Noir. So it got me thinking. What does that say about me?

Over time, my appreciation of different wines has evolved, and more recently I've become a big fan of heavier, richer reds. My favorite, the Chilean signature grape Carmenere. Some Wikipedia research showed that Carmenere favors a long growing season in moderate to warm climates (Kind of like me). The vines do poorly if introduced to rain (As do I). It blends well with some other grapes, but stands just as well on its own (Sounds familiar). Carmenere is known for its rich, intense colors and flavors that range from full fruity to spicy and smoky. Despite its boldness, Carmenere is still softer and gentler than some other reds.

Hmmm... Maybe there's something to this. What's your wine type?

CATW: Reflections on Chile

Check out my other blog for reflections and a recipe from my Friday evening Chilean food and wine demo!

CATW: Tajikistan, Plov

Just updated my Cooking Around the World blog with a recipe for Plov from Tajikistan. Check it out! A yummy lamb and rice dish.

Keeping it Real

She doesn't have her own cookbook yet, and features about her in Food Network Magazine are pretty limited.

Yet Sunny Anderson stuck around more than 30 minutes after her Sarasota appearance happily chatting and signing paper towel ads with her photo for the dozen or so fans who stuck around after her demo.

As far as food celebrities go, she gave keeping it real new meaning.

Sure, Sunny Anderson is one of Food Network's newer stars. Her cooking show Cooking for Real is in its third year. She does not appear on many of the prime time reality shows that command the bulk of Food Network's audience.

I was on the fence for a few weeks about whether to spring the $50 to go see her in person. I enjoy watching her show, and her food always looks good (maybe not stand out and memorable ... but tasty and easy). I mostly liked the idea of a fairly small and intimate session with any Food Network celebrity. After our new friend we met at SoBe told me how nice she was in person, I decided it was probably worth it.

As soon as I got there I was glad I sprung for the ticket.

For some reason I was surprised that she was already there examining the collection of knives at Publix Apron's Cooking School when I arrived 20 minutes early. I think squeal with delight would probably sum up my reaction when I walked through the door and she was standing right in front of me, dressed town in jeans and a purple t-shirt.

She's one of those people who just radiates warmth. She's pretty and personable. She flashed a huge smile and gave me an extremely warm welcome, making me feel like I had just walked in the kitchen of one of my best girlfriends. My first instinct was to hug her, but I stopped myself ... for a second.

"Can I give you a hug?" I asked.

(It's important to note at this point I had already spent my afternoon wine tasting for three hours and made friends with one of the pourers. Enough said.)

"Of course!" she gushed, as if it wasn't totally weird that I accosted her, and she threw her arms around me.

That was the beginning of my BFF-dom with Sunny Anderson.

Turns out I knew some people at the demo and took a seat at a table in the back by them. Sunny spent the next 20 minutes making the rounds, stopping to chat with everyone in the room, taking pictures, answering questions about her show and dishing Food Network gossip.

And she proceeded to do so for the next two hours as she cooked up some orzo, mustard greens, bacon-wrapped flank steak and a pear tart with cheddar. I have to say everything was really delicious. Simply made right before our eyes and packed with flavor. I guess bacon does that.

She talked about growing up in a military family, her time spent in the service and how she got into the business. She told stories about how she tried for years to get into the Food Network, putting herself out there to do any small job they would offer until she finally got her own cooking show.

You definitely got the distinct and genuine impression that she really pushed and worked her way to her spot. She wasn't one of these people who was just magically discovered and walked into the limelight. It seemed that she worked hard to get where she is, and truly appreciates it.

And she did not hold back any behind the scenes details about the other Food Network stars, from how "fabulous" Ina Garten is to Alton Brown's dry sense of humor and Robert Irvine's padded resume.

"I'm a foodie too," she said. "Just like you guys."

When someone asked about the cookbook she was writing, she promptly went to the cabinet pulled out her giant purse and whipped out a marble notebook where she was sketching out her ideas and passed it around to everyone in the audience.

After the demo wrapped up she enthusiastically, yet modestly, offered to stick around to sign autographs and take photos.

I brought her two copies of Food Network magazine, one for me and one for my sister, for her to sign. In mine she wrote "Keep real."

I lingered for a bit just totally enthralled watching her chat with the other women. I thought about inviting her out for a drink, then became mindful I might be coming off a little creepy. In hindsight, I kind of wish I did. She was there all by herself. No entourage of publicists and security.

But instead I just thanked her and got ready to leave.

As I started to walk away, she stopped to look up from her signing and say what I thought was a very genuine and appreciative goodbye to me. The look in her eyes made me think she really meant it.

"No, thank you," she said. "Thank you so much for coming. You have no idea how much it means to me."

A well-ordered blogosphere, at least my tiny piece of it

Well this blogging thing turned out to be more fun than I expected. So much fun that I've taken to blogging about everything remotely food related, not just the international culinary adventure I originally intended.

But I'm one for order. I like things to make sense. And sometimes it just didn't make sense to have stories about food festivals and wine tastings on a blog created to honor global recipes.

It seemed like the best solution was to start a new blog that will serve as the main clearinghouse for all my food musings so I can devote Cooking Around the World in 80-Some Days to what it was intended for. No fear! I'm certainly not abandoning my slow-paced global quest. Just trying to streamline my thoughts so they're more "reader friendly" as we say in the biz.

So this is where you'll be able to find all my random stories about cooking, wine tasting, dining out and commentary on foodie and Food Network culture.

And stay tuned. I'm kicking around the idea of yet another blog to write about my interest in locally grown produce...

Chicken, spinach and goat cheese pasta

Maybe it was watching all those cooking demos in SoBe, but early on this week I started to get an itch to get in the kitchen. Besides, I was gone all weekend. I had nothing around for dinner. So I resorted to an old favorite, something I came up with once upon a time to get rid of some rotisserie chicken and spinach. Basically just a quick, flavorful pasta dish you can whip up easily any weeknight.

What you need:

1 carton chicken broth

1 box whole wheat pasta spirals

1 bag spinach

1 jar of sun dried tomatoes, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

About half a rotisserie chicken cut into bite-sized pieces

8 oz. goat cheese

What to do:

Pour the chicken broth into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook about 10 minutes until al dente. Most of the liquid should cook out so you won't have to drain it. Add the bag of spinach and let wilt into the pasta. Pour into a bowl and reserve.

In the pot, pour the oil from the sun dried tomatoes. Saute the chopped tomatoes and garlic in the oil for a few minutes. Add the chicken pieces.

Add the pasta and spinach mixture back into the pot and then stir in the goat cheese.

I will dream of Miami ...

Words hardly do justice to the incredible, awesome time I had this weekend.

Well, one word does come to mind: Overstimulating.

My first trip to the Food Network's South Beach Food and Wine Festival far exceeded my expectations. Turns out, all of the things I worried would cut into the fun - crowds, lines, getting shut out of demos - were not an issue.

In their place were all these wonderful things I never anticipated. A well-stocked goodie bag. A waterford wine glass. A lanyard with a clip attached so you could wear the wine glass around your neck. A rum tent.

Someone really put a lot of thought into this.

We started as soon as the festival opened at 11 a.m., walking past Peter and Paul to cross under the golden gates into our own personal heaven - at least for the next seven hours.

We passed tent after tent, all with signs beckoning us in with promises of meeting some of the country's greatest food personalities - not just those on the Food Network.

To be honest, a lot of the details of the day are a little bit of a fog. That's where this whole overstimulation comes in. And I was feeling that way well before we hit the rum tent.

What kind of Food Network groupie wouldn't feel that way? We saw Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray, Emeril, Michael Symon, Paula Deen, Guy Fieri. There were stars everywhere, many of them happily working the crowd and chatting it up with their friends. We got our picture with Robert Irvine.

All this sandwiched between the beautiful greenish blue waters of the Gulfstream in the Atlantic and Ocean Drive.

I LOVE MIAMI!!!!

Forget the all you could eat food and wine. Just being there was euphoric.

Of course there was a highlight of the day: The Rachael Ray signing.

She was the last in my tri-fecta of first wave Food Network favorites. She was really my first, the one I watched in college who made me really think I could be successful in the kitchen. I packed my little Yum-O shirt just for the fest and started staking out her demo tent for seats practically as soon as we got there. Forget that Bobby Flay was on stage. He was the farthest thing from my mind this time around. I wanted to see Rachael.

The wait wasn't long before she came on stage for her demo, much the same as on t.v. Maybe a little bit more reserved. Maybe a little distracted by the live audience. Maybe a little tired. This was already day four of the festival. But she was every bit as warm and welcoming as you would imagine.

After the demo I bolted over pretty quickly to the tent where she would do the book signing. The book people were pretty strict, saying she might only sign one book and only one bought at the festival.

But I had something else I wanted to try and sneak under the radar. I had the very first copy of her magazine, Everyday with Rachael Ray, and I wanted her to sign it.

As I walked up to the table and put my two items down I heard the woman in front of my gushing.

"Ohhhhhh, you have the first copy of the magazine," she said.

I looked up and realized it was the editor. That might not seem that awesome to anyone else, but I'm a journalist. I can appreciate it.

I asked her if she would sign it too. At first she insisted that I didn't really want her to.

"No I really do," I told her. "I really want you to sign it."

She got a big smile on her face and started flipping through the pages.

"Where should I sign it?" she asked.

"Anywhere you want," I told her.

"I'll sign my column," she said.

She held it up and showed Rachael, who slapped her signature on the cover.

And that was it. It didn't occur to me until I walked away that I could have told her I'm a reporter. Oh well. It was still a great moment.

Then I followed the sound of the steel drum band down the yellow sand road. The rum was waiting ...

A little postscript: The rest of the festival was a blast. After a few trips to the rum tent, Paula Deen even started to grow on me. At the very least she's a great entertainer. Guy Fieri was a great way to end the festivities. And then of course we had the perfect end to a perfect weekend. We capped off the trip with brunch at Emeril's : )

It's the FINAL COUNTDOWN ...

Cue the trumpets from that cheesy Europe song.

Or just forget about the trumpets altogether and start your own countdown.

For me, I'm less than a week away from SoBe.

I was so busy relaxing all weekend and recharging my battery for the big event I forgot to post my weekly installment on the blog countdown.

But yes, there's a decent chance that next time I post it will be photos of the South Beach Food and Wine Festival.

Of course my festival experience would not be complete without the appropriate attire. This time I'm conjuring Rachael Ray. My Yum-O shirt arrived in the mail this week in perfect time for me to have for the food festival.

Everyone sing with me. The final countdown ...

Some housekeeping

A friend of mine recently pointed out that some of the greatest dishes in the world really started as nothing but leftovers. Paella. Stir fry. All ways to get rid of whatever is in the kitchen. Even sauerbraten got its start when the Germans wanted to come up with a way to make a less than stellar leftover cut of meat taste better.

So this weekend I tried my own hand at coming up with the next great culinary masterpiece. Not really. I just found myself once again with a fridge full of ingredients and wanted to reinvent them.

The first thing I made was a white minestrone soup (inspired by Carrabba's) that I've done different variations of before. By picking up a few extras, it proved a great way to get rid of some onions, carrots, zucchini and an extreme surplus of cabbage.

But there were so many veggies they didn't all fit in my soup pot. So at some point I became inspired for my second creation, zucchini and caramelized onion quesadillas with spicy red jalapeno and balsamic sauce. Sounds pretty high-class doesn't it?

Anyway, without further ado...

White minestrone soup

What you need:

4 tbsps. olive oil

1/3 lb. pancetta, cut into strips

2 onions, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, chopped

5 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

About a half a cabbage (green) cut into chunks

1 package of green beans, cut into thirds

2 green zucchinis, chopped

About 2 cups white wine (I used chardonnay)

1 can diced tomatoes

3 cans cannellini beans

1 carton chicken broth (4 cups)

3 bay leaves

2 tbsps. dried thyme

Salt

Pepper

Shredded Parmesan cheese for serving

What to do:

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot and then add the pancetta. Cook until slightly crisped and brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside on a plate covered with paper towels.

Add the onions, garlic and carrots to the pot and cook in the oil from the pancetta until soft. Stir in some salt, pepper, the thyme and the bay leaves. Add the potatoes, cabbage and tomatoes to the pot and stir in about half the wine. Cover and let cook until the potatoes start to soften, about 15 minutes.

Strain two of the cans of cannellini beans. Add them to the pot with the green beans and zucchini and cook until starting to get tender. You'll want to keep some liquid in the pot for the duration of the cooking, so if too much evaporates start adding in the chicken broth so the veggies have a little puddle of liquid to cook in.

Strain the third can of cannellini beans and with an immersion blender mix with about two cups of water to create a smooth puree. After all of the veggies and spices have been added, put the bean puree, remaining chicken broth and wine to the pot and bring to a boil. Let simmer for about 30 minutes.

Note: This is quite a bit of soup, so make sure you start with a very large pot.

Caramelized onion and zucchini quesadillas with spicy red pepper sauce

What you need:

2 tbsps. butter

1 onion, sliced

2 zucchini, cut into matchsticks

2 yellow squash, cut into matchsticks

10 tortillas

6 cups Monterrey jack cheese

5 jarred red jalapenos

1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tbsps. dijon mustard

Chipotle powder

What to do:

Pre-heat the oven to 425.

Heat the butter in a frying pan and when melted add the onions. Cook to caramelize. When the onions are browned, add the zucchini and cook until soft.

Arrange five of the tortillas on baking sheets. Divide half of the cheese in equal parts and put on the tortillas. Top with equal parts of the onion/zucchini mix. Place one of the remaining tortillas on each top. Brush the top of each quesadilla with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle with the chipotle powder. Bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes until tops are brown and cheese is melted.

Meanwhile, use a veggie chopped to chop the peppers and garlic into a relish. Lightly mix in the balsamic vinegar and mustard.

Serve the quesadillas with the sauce, which is - by the way - extremely spicy. Eat with caution!

Unveil, the Valentine

Well the Valentines managed to make it safely to Buffalo, fashionably late for the holiday.

This year's design was inspired by the wine humor t's that have become all the rage among my friends lately, and that I happen to find pretty amusing: You had me at merlot.

HIL-arious!

I saw the phrase on a shirt at the wine store across the way and immediately thought it would make the perfect Valentine message. I cut out little heart-shaped cards with stems to resemble wine glasses, covered them with red foil and sprinkled with glitter. Voila! The 2010 Valentine.

On to next year!

The recipe I'll never reveal

There's one recipe in my family that consistently gets rave reviews from anyone who tries it.

That's the banana bread. The real appeal, so it seems, is that it is not too sweet like many others. It's just sweet enough. You can taste the banana, not all gussied up with sugar.

No one seems to know exactly where the recipe came from, but my family members on my mom's side remember older ancestors making it. My grandmother baked it all the time when we were little. She liked to dress it up with candied fruit at Christmas. Lots of people like it with chocolate chips. I prefer walnuts.

A few years ago a male friend of mine - a particularly big fan of the banana bread - asked me what spices were in it to make it so superior to any other. That's when it dawned on me.

This was like a trade secret. Something that could make me more marketable in social circles.

Why should I let anyone duplicate it?

That was the moment I decided that from then on out the banana bread recipe would remain top secret. Kind of like insurance. And I'm a stick to my values kind of girl. No blog will change that.

So I guess you'll just have to just admire the picture, and if you're lucky someday I might make you some of it : )

Here's to you, St. Valentine

I've always been a big fan of Valentine's Day. I know, not all single people are. Some consider it an exclusive day for couples and put their energy into protest-esque efforts like wearing black, hosting ladies only parties and of course performing the all-empowering feminist Vagina Monologues.

I just never felt the need for such bitterness. (OK ... There was maybe ONE year I coordinated a single ladies only party.)

Perhaps it was the 14 years spent in Catholic schools, each one bringing reminders that the day was really to honor a saint. Sure, we all brought in candy and those cheesy little paper cards to exchange with our classmates. But the nuns never let a year pass without reminding us of its real meaning, before Hallmark got a hold of it.

For me, I always considered it a day to remind the people you love - whether a significant other, your best friends or family - how much you care about them. It's an annual reminder to stop and take the time to do something special for them.

I guess I was a fairly crafty kid (or at least tried to be) so at some point I started putting this expression of love into little handmade Valentines for my family. I even made a little "mailbox" with pockets for everyone to stash their cards in.

I still do it. There's something about the kitschy charm of cutting out little paper hearts and handcrafting glitter-adorned love notes I find endearing. It's become my tradition. And every year there's a theme, usually something that speaks to my life at the time. (I can't, however, reveal this year's because I didn't make it to the post office for them to arrive in a timely fashion. So I'll update on them later, once they've safely arrived in Buffalo.)

Some years turn out better than others. There have been palm trees, fish and turtles, maps, globes and Pulitzer medals. One year I wrote a sonnet and decorated the cards with dried rose petals. Probably my favorite was the Recipe for a Happy Family. My mom liked it so much she framed it and hung it in the kitchen.

So that's how I, a single, independent woman living the good life, like to celebrate Valentine's Day. No complaints.

Except maybe one. I was going to buy myself flowers until I realized Publix DOUBLED the typical asking price. What's up price gouging! Since this year my Valentines will be fashionably late, I figure I'll just go back Monday and see how much they marked down the leftovers.

I'm sure by then I'll still love me : )

Opa! Greek Glendi style

The lure of a baklava sundae got stronger every day leading to the weekend.

I knew it was time for the Greek Glendi, the annual celebration of all things Greek at St. Barbara's in Sarasota. It's pretty clear when you go to this sort of thing that Greek people know how to eat, and party.

The Glendi was one of the first must go to events I learned about when I moved to Florida. The office I worked in was right up the street, and I think we went both Thursday and Friday for lunches of moussaka and baklava.

Since then, I've learned the Glendi is more fun as a weekend event. Especially with this year's discovery that you can buy a bottle of wine for $15 (two for $25, for the avid wine drinkers) and then spend an afternoon strolling through the little bazaar sipping some vino. Despite common thought to the contrary, Greece can actually put forth a few decent wines. Just stay away from the retsina.

For the most part, us outsiders stay on the periphery of the real fun, sitting in folding white chairs and letting members of the parish captivate us with their Greek dancing. We figured they had a hidden stash of ouzo they weren't serving to the company.

We did become fully involved in the festivities when it came to the eating. I spent much of the week contemplating the menu and decided this would be the year to try the lamb shank, what turned out to be a hearty and warm choice for a pretty frigid evening.

And despite the fact the temperature dropped to about 50 degrees (that's pretty cold for us Floridians) I couldn't leave without my baklava sundae. I wandered over to the lonely looking lady charged with manning the ice cream table on this chilly night.

Whoever came up with this concept was brilliant. They pour the honey and nut mixture - the baklava filling - over ice cream and top with a cherry. I find the cream kind of cuts the sweetness of the honey mix, and lets you enjoy the best part of the baklava without all of the flaky phyllo. All it needed was a good dollop of whipped cream.

I even let the little old Greek woman sucker me into buying the church cookbook. I thought it was the most appropriate memento from the celebration.

Of course that leaves the obvious question: What the heck is a glendi? The answer is actually pretty obvious. Glendi is the Greek work for party.

Opa!

12 Days: 7 Hrs: 40 Min.

It's getting close. So close I can practically taste the bite-size South Beach delectables and smell the salty breeze of the Atlantic.

We're down to two weeks until the big South Beach Food and Wine Festival. At this very moment two weeks from now my friend and I will be perusing the tents of the Grand Tasting, scoping out the best sample-sized Miami cuisine and some nice, tasty vinos.

Yeah! What could be more thrilling?

(The countdown in the title, by the way, is for the start of the festival Thursday. We're making a fashionably late appearance : )

My flirtation with oatmeal raisin cookies

I've never been one for oatmeal raisin cookies. In fact, I always kind of hated them. I don't particularly care for oatmeal or raisins.

When one friend requested them a week or so ago, I kind of wrinkled my nose. But when I offered up cookies to my friend's boyfriend as a thank you for driving us to the wine fest last week, I found myself on the hunt for the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe.

On my first go around I used this recipe from Food Network kitchens. I went through two batches before I had one that could be served without shame to others. Part of the problem may have been that I didn't add the pecans. I also think the oven temperature was too hot. My first batch got too thin, almost melted.

So it was trial and error. I lowered the heat on the oven. Added more oatmeal. Eventually they came out all right, but I felt like they could have had more spices.

I ate through the rejects all week, finding that they made a decent little breakfast with my coffee. Come on, they're oatmeal and raisins! That's fairly healthy ... I almost started liking them.

After I ate the last one Saturday, I wanted more. So Sunday I had another go at it.

This time I altered the recipe, largely based on what was available in my kitchen. I didn't have butter, so I used Crisco. I also threw in a little baking powder, hoping they'd get puffy. For the most part, I halved the original recipe but the big tease came when I discovered I didn't have as much oatmeal as I thought, so just threw in what I had.

They turned out pretty tasty. The lack of oatmeal gave them the texture of a normal cookie, with some oats more or less as garnish. This is what I came up with.

What you need:

3/4 cup Crisco

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsps. vanilla

1 cup flour

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsps. allspice

2 tsps. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

2 cups oats

raisins to taste

What to do:

Use blender to mix Crisco and sugar. Start on a low speed and blend until combined, then turn to a higher speed and beat until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and combine. Add the eggs one at a time and combine. Mix in the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients and mix. Stir in the oatmeal and raisins.

Pre-heat the oven 325. Drop cookie dough on baking sheet and cook for about 12 minutes.

Just another lazy weekend, with my old friend teriyaki

Well we all know what happens after weeks of too much fun. It's time for a laid back chill weekend, keeping it simple in the kitchen.

Since I don't really care about football, I was in for the duration. I decided to forego cooking anything too exciting because I had a lot of salmon left over from last week (I froze it... salmon fillets are huge!) and veggies.

The stirfry was calling.

I wasn't much of a cook in college, but one thing my friends and I did a lot was stirfry. It's so easy. Heat some oil in a pan, toss in the veggies and meat. My favorite was always teriyaki.

I don't do stirfrys much anymore, since I've moved on to more complicated and interesting dishes. But it's always good to revisit those old favorites, especially when one finds themselves with a surplus of appropriate vegetables.

It may go without saying, but for anyone whose never tried here's how easy it is to put together a salmon and snow pea teriyaki stir fry.

What you need:

3 tbsps. canola oil

2 cups snow peas

2 cups mushrooms

2 salmon fillets (about the size of a deck of cards), cut into chunks

1/4 cup teriyaki sauce

rice for serving

chow mein noodles for serving

What to do:

Heat canola oil in pan over medium, high heat for several minutes until it gets hot. Toss in the veggies and cook for a few minutes until they start to get soft. Toss in the fish. Add the teriyaki sauce and mix. Serve over rice and garnish with chow mein noodles.

A note on the fish: Fish can get pretty flaky, especially when cut into little pieces and cooked over high heat. I used fish that was still slightly frozen for this. I've read that helps it stay together longer while cooking in stews and soups and such.

I love Luna, and an evening at the jetty

This week my editors thought it was a good idea to send me to Venice to explore why its elderly residents are so opposed to school taxes (I know, it seems obvious). For the uninitiated, Venice is this little city south of Sarasota that has become quite the retirement community. The median age is 65.

I end up in Venice a fair amount, but usually it's a quick trip to a school and back to the office. I don't think I've ever taken the time to really immerse myself in the local culture. Now that I have, let me tell you, these people live in style.

I decided to spend my day like a local, starting with some time in the large print section of the library before strolling through the shops on Venice Avenue. I sat in the park at one of the tables with the checkerboard tile tops listening to bluegrass music and talking to residents soaking in the sunshine. What a life!

I've always enjoyed Venice. Over the years I've visited a lot for work or to meet up with friends for dinner. It has this quaint, kitschy old Florida charm that has disappeared from so many other places. The beaches are great. There's a wine bar and decent little restaurants. Sure, I don't exactly fit into the demographic this time of year. But that almost makes it more interesting.

Anyway, no trip to Venice is complete without a visit to Luna Ristorante. It's this homey Italian restaurant that operates out of a cute Venetian-style building. Inside, the decor is more like a sports bar. But on a nice day - and there are plenty of them - you can sit at one of the metal tables on the patio surrounded by a hedge of rose bushes and overlooking a fountain. They play Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick, Jr. They're old school. They don't even have a Web site.

One of the best things about Luna is the fresh baked white bread they bring to the table with this spicy (note the spicy) pepper relish. A friend of mine noted on a recent trip that it's so good she could just eat that as her dinner. The other best thing is the lasagna. It's the kind you can tell is homemade, its layers of beef, Italian sausage, noodles and ricotta cheese wrapped in gooey mozzarella and blanketed in thick tomato sauce. It's simple, not overdone with a lot of execssive spices. It's the simplicity that makes it so appealing. This time I noticed that the sauce kind of tastes like the one my mom makes (awwww).

The portions make Luna all the more worthwhile. I easily get two meals from the lasagna (unless I'm really hungry). One time I ordered spaghetti with veal, peppers and onions and had so much left over I had to freeze a bunch of it.

I capped off my dinner at Luna with a trip to Brindley's wine shop, which has a surprisingly nice selection of carmeneres from Chile. Then it was on to the jetty. The jetty's a fun place to fish, but this time I was just going to take in the scenery.

I busted out one of the plastic wine glasses in the back of my car, made friends with the baby seagulls and soaked in the sunset.

That's what I call a lovely evening (and workday for that matter)!

On a final note, this post, like the corresponding Facebook photo album, is dedicated to Emily, a faithful reader of my blog with whom I look forward to many splendid evenings at the jetty when she returns from Senegal.

Happiness is ...

... good friends, the beach, a mommy apron, some paella and plenty of vino. Blissful!

A lovely Sunday!

I think I've decided that my new favorite day of the year is the annual Forks and Corks food and wine festival at the Ringling Museum.

I've gone every year since they started doing it in 2008, and every time it seems like it gets better - more food, more wine, better music. It's just so lovely to spend the afternoon leisurely strolling around the courtyard of the Ringling. One of the pourers from Miami said it's probably the best venue he's been to for that kind of festival anywhere in Florida. Cheers to the Fresh Originals!

Anyway, there were a few big winners of the day. Michael's on East had the same ginger and garlic flank steak with fresh ground horseradish they had at the Lakewood Ranch festival. Delicious. Ceviche represented with a paella, made in the traditionally giant paella pans you see in Valencia. Probably our two favorites were the Mayan chocolate cupcake (nice kick of heat and cinnamon) from The Bijou Cafe and the braised kobe beef from Ophelia's. By the time we got to Ophelia's I had really reached my full stomach capacity, but the flavors were so great (think mushroom ragout and white truffle cream) I stuffed every bite of it in.

On the wine front, there was a lovely tent with Pinot Noirs from the west coast and lots of California representation. I got to try the Swanson Alexis cabernet sauvignon that my friend Melissa raves about.

And honestly, we really didn't have a bad sample. Sure, there were some things that could have been better, but by and large the restaurants really stepped up to the occasion and put their best flavors forward. LOVE it!

Oh, and yes those are wine humor t-shirts my friend Melissa and I are wearing in the picture. Surprisingly, they were a big hit! We got a TON of compliments, a photo taken by one of the pourers and an invite to some upcoming wine events (and some decent pours from people who presumed we take our vino seriously!) Talk about a conversation starter.

A simple, light meal for a simple, light Friday

So I've been exhausted all week. I guess that's what I get for having too much fun lately.

Since part of that exhaustion likely stemmed from the fact I had an abbreviated weekend last week (I spent my Saturday at a writers training) I managed to score a comp day. You might have guessed as much from the blogging madness this morning.

Anyway, I was all set for takeout to top off my easy, breezy Friday, when at some point I started fascinating about this salad that I get when I visit Buffalo. My friend Sarah and I have taken a liking to the Creekview restaurant, where we get this salad with roasted red peppers and mushrooms, and goat cheese over greens with balsamic vinegar. We kick it up a notch and add some salmon, always one of Sarah's favorites.

I figured the salad would be simple enough to make at home on my little day off, and refreshing with all of those yummy veggies. One of the things that makes this salad so delicious is how the warm veggies and salmon melt the goat cheese, allowing it to coat the salad with their juices and sending the salmon swimming in a sea of deliciousness. For the most part, you can just throw everything in as you like it.

What you need:

1 red bell pepper

1 package portabella mushroom caps

Asparagus

Capers
Pine nuts

Goat cheese

Salmon

Spring greens

Quality olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

What to do:

Heat the oven to about 400 degrees. Coat the whole red pepper and asparagus in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally. Take the pepper and put in either a bowl covered with plastic wrap or a ziplock plastic bag and let sit for about 15 minutes so the skin loosens.

While the pepper sits, season the salmon with olive oil, salt and pepper and then put in the oven for about 12 minutes (until cooked through). Slice the mushrooms and coat with olive oil, salt and pepper and let roast about five minutes, until slightly tender, but still firm.

Toss the spring greens with some pine nuts, a little more fresh ground pepper, olive oil and some balsamic. Add the roasted veggies when they are done. Put on a plate, place a piece of the salmon on top. Warm chunks of goat cheese in the microwave for about 15 seconds and place on top.

Sarasota Forks and Corks

OK ... I can already hear Emily laughing from her little hut in Senegal.

Yes, I'm all dorkily excited about another food festival.

This time it's the Forks and Corks food and wine festival right here in Sarasota. A group of local restaurateurs started doing it two years ago at the gorgeous Ringling Art Museum.

I can think of few better ways to spend a Sunday afternoon than sipping wine, eating food from some the area's best restaurants and strolling around the grounds of the museum.

And I expect this to be the best festival yet. The first year they had the festival in June, a terribly humid and miserable time of year for eating and drinking in Florida. Last year they moved it up to May, but it didn't make much of a difference.

Finally, they got the picture and we're on for January.

Some of the girls and I got special wine humor t-shirts (think sayings like "Drinks Well with Others"). We've got our tickets.

Now, less than two weeks and counting ... I'll have a drink for you Emily, you smart ass : )

Sunday Mimosa Brunch

Every so often my friends and I come up with a bright idea for a themed party. Most of them revolve around food and wine. There have been so many of these bright ideas that I now have a list in the back of my planner. Perhaps it's a bucket list of sorts before I turn 30.

This weekend we crossed one of the items off the list, the Sunday Mimosa Brunch. The idea came out of a wine tasting about a month ago as we tasted some delicious sparkling wines and heralded the virtues of a good bubbly.

If there's one thing better than a good mimosa and some hearty egg dish on a Sunday morning, it's sharing it with good company.

The best thing about a brunch party is that most of the dishes you can make the night before. I whipped up the Paula Deen hashbrown casserole and the Tyler Florence blueberry scones (both things I mastered before). So Sunday morning I merely rolled out of bed, made a few last minute preparations and then hit the mimosas. My friends brought an assortment of quiche, pound cake and little toasts with salmon and cucumbers. It was all delicious.

And what better entertainment for a ladies Sunday brunch then dreaming up the next party. We probably added a half dozen items to the pre-30 bucket list of food and wine fun during the party alone. Next up, a paella party at the beach. Stay tuned ...

Today, I just wanted a snickerdoodle ...

... It was Monday. A good day for a good baked product.

A few hours into the afternoon, when I started to get a little bored and thinking I needed some more coffee, I thought about heading out to Main Street to find a good one at some random bakery.

But I've been disappointed by baked goods too many times. Take for example the red velvet cupcake at Starbucks last week. It looked so perfect in the case, the rich red color carefully topped with a nice swirl of frosting...

It sucked. It was stale, like so many once-frozen products. And the frosting wasn't even cream cheese.

I wanted a snickerdoodle so bad and I didn't want to be disappointed. So I decided to make my own.

A quick search of the Food Network web site produced this recipe from Emeril, obviously a winner.

And thanks to the beauty of a well-stocked fridge and cupboard with plenty of basics ... and then some, all I needed to stop and pick up was some Crisco.

For $2.69 - probably the price I would have paid for one crappy cookie at some shi shi bakery - I had dozens of them within an hour of making it home from work.

Now that's what I call a good way to end Monday : )

Scones, revisited

So a few years ago I picked up this little scone habit.

I don't remember quite how it started. A friend of mine in high school seemed to eat them a lot. Then I started buying them at Starbucks with my Americano nearly every morning.

But after a while those dollars add up, and one tires of the hard, frozen and over processed taste of the Starbucks pastries.

I figured I might as well just start making them.

Thus opened the door to my scone obsession.

I started with a blueberry scone with lemon glaze, courtesy of Tyler Florence. I then moved on to create my own cinnamon scone recipe, determined to get a one up on Starbucks. I tried raspberry, peach, peppermint chocolate. Some Sundays I just set up my own little scone test kitchen and baked all morning.

As with many obsessions, this one turned out to be somewhat passing. At some point, I tired of making scones every Sunday and their creation in my kitchen became more and more infrequent.

But apparently the memory of the scones still lingers, particularly in the mind of the locally famous weatherman who works at the TV station in our building. A few weeks ago he reminded me how much he loved the blueberry scones, so I promised to make some for him.

So that's what I did Sunday. I dug out the original Tyler Florence blueberry scone recipe that started it all.

One thing about these scones: they're more like biscuits. Or the really, really fresh scones you get at some independent bakeries. They're moist, not hard. My British friend actually said he liked them better than the traditional scone you find at stores (now that's an endorsement).

And a note on the recipe: You might want to try your own luck coming up with the lemon glaze topping. I find that if you follow Tyler's instructions, the glaze is really runny and watery. I like mine thicker, so tend to just melt the butter, use less lemon juice and then add in the confectioners sugar until I reach the desired consistency.

I forgot all of this however, and went with Tyler's method. I ended up adding a ton of confectioners sugar to thicken it up, and then had a serious glaze surplus.

So I went with the obvious solution. I made an Ina Garten pound cake to soak up the rest of it. This worked out well since I had all of the ingredients in my kitchen except for the buttermilk, but found recipes on line for a substitute that involved about 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to three quarters a cup of milk.

And that was the culmination of my Sunday morning baking. Who knows, maybe this will jump start another scone revolution and I'll end up sharing my recipe for the cinnamon ones ...

47 days and counting ...

With my ticket in hand and hotel reservation made, needless to say I was thrilled when I checked the South Beach Food and Wine Festival web site and saw they have posted the schedule for the Grand Tasting.

The day my friend and I picked to go (Saturday) is sold out (not surprising...but you can still get tickets for Sunday). The schedule is packed with celebrity cooking demos by some of my current and former favorite Food Network stars - Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray, Emeril, The Neelys ...

Of course I'm expecting long lines and waits for the demos, so we will have to be selective with our choices. I'm thinking Rachael Ray and Emeril will be priorities...

The rest of the time we can spend wining and dining our way through the food tent. I can't wait! This trip has been years in the making ...

Rachael Ray's Drunken Tuscan Pasta

OK... Next time it comes down to drinking a bottle of wine or boiling pasta in it I'm going to go with my gut instinct.

Just drink it.

Rachael Ray's recipe for Drunken Tuscan Pasta has always kind of intrigued me. The pasta recipe was in her Express Lane Meals cookbook

Surely, pasta boiled in a bottle of red wine must be packed with plenty of flavor. She actually made a risotto version of this dish on her Iron Chef appearance (she and Mario Batali went up against Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis... Mario and Rachael won).

But is it really worth a bottle of vino?

I caved on this belief over the weekend, and only because I had a nearly full bottle of wine I opened before my Christmas vacation and never finished. After it sat about a week, what else was I going to do with it?

Maybe using wine that's been open that long detracts from the flavor. But aside from turning the pasta a magnificent fuchsia color, the flavor I got wasn't worth a full bottle.

Don't get me wrong. The pasta is tasty, with the peppery flavors of escarole and pancetta. But I don't think it was any better than other pastas I've made with this ingredient combo.

Can't blame me for trying.

Game Highlights

After discussing the big Iron Chef battle with some of my friends today, I realized my post last night was rather cursory. Perhaps it was the shock of my team's loss. Perhaps it was the vino.

Either way, I wanted to come back and share some of my favorite highlights from the event, most of which involve Mario Batali getting snarky with Bobby Flay. The other one involves sweet potatoes.

To be fair, I do like Bobby. I did drive three hours to spend an entire day waiting for an hour-long cooking demo and a signature in my cookbook. But Emeril trumps Bobby Flay any day. If Bobby was on Emeril's team, I would have been cheering for him.

Besides, I'm a sucker for sass.

Without further ado ...

Memorable moment No. 1: Mario Batali practically running into the White House garden proclaiming he was going to take all of the chiles and tomatillos, staples of the Bobby Flay menu.

MM No. 2: Emeril telling Mario Batali about two nice looking cauliflower in the White House garden, and asking whether they should take one of them. Mario's response: Grab them both. Bobby Flay later was caught yelling back "Did you guys take all of the cauliflower?"

MM No. 3: Mario proclaiming his plans to make tacos and burritos while heading back with his garden bounty.

MM No. 4: Sweet potatoes. Apparently an Obama favorite (we learned as Bobby tried to kiss up to the first lady before the battle). Both teams used the sweet potatoes to make what I think were the best looking dishes of the night - a ravioli from Emeril and Mario and a sweet potato tart with marshmallow topping from Bobby and Cristeta Comerford.

So there you have it. It sure does seem like Mario has a bit of a chip on his shoulder about the Food Network. This article from the New York times says a lot.

"They don't need me," Batali is quoted as saying. "They have decided they are a mass market and they are going after the Wal-Mart crowd. So they don't need someone who uses polysyllabic words from other languages."

Which raises an interesting question ... Were Emeril and Mario in on the fix? Did they realize the odds were against them? Why bother?

My guess is the publicity from the hugely marketed event was probably enough to entice the two chefs to return to the Food Network. After all, we are in a recession, and both could probably use some advertising for their franchises.

I did make me kind of want to eat at one of Mario Batali's restaurants...

Well ...

... I think it was a fix.

I figured it from the beginning. There was no way Food Network would let the White House chef lose an epic Iron Chef battle. Especially when paired with poster child Bobby Flay, and up against two Food Network castoffs - Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse.

But I had hope when the chefs walked across the White House lawn. I thought maybe, just maybe, this would be a fair fight of some of popular culture's biggest culinary giants.

Hope that was shattered.

To be fair, it's hard to say who should have been the champ when you can't taste the food. And I have to say, I'd probably be hard pressed to top any of the dishes put before the judges.

I'll give Bobby and Comerford that their dessert looked the best, a sweet potato tart with marshmallow on top. And any time I hear Bobby Flay talk about chipotle or chiles I feel a little tingle. I love those flavors.

But Mario and Emeril's American birds two ways also looked good. So did their scallops and radishes.

Either way, I'm a little disappointed.

I guess there's no way to know for sure whether Emeril got a fair fight.

And at the end of the day, it was a good show. Maybe one that will inspire America to get cooking.

An epic culinary battle ...

Brace yourselves. Now, consider the following:

Iron chef ... White House ... EMERIL LAGASSE!!!

That's right, many of you who talk to me on a fairly regular basis or watch the Food Network have probably caught wind of what's being billed as the greatest night in culinary history. An Iron Chef battle at the White House featuring Bobby Flay and White House Chef Cristeta Comerford versus Emeril and Mario Batali. They will be cooking their dishes with ingredients from the White House garden.

It takes my breath away a little just thinking about it.

Anyway, it may not be the greatest night in culinary history, but will sure be a good one. Show starts at 8 p.m. Jan. 3 on the Food Network.

I'll give you one guess who my money is on : )