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.