Friday Flower Find: Freesia & Garden Goodies

If I wasn’t a chef I surely would have been a floral designer.  Flowers are a favorite of mine; especially freesia.  The elegance, color, simplicity and soft scent of this flower brings a smile to my face always. 

This is an arrangement I made for a good friend as a housewarming gift.  The best part about it is that I only had to buy the freesia.  All the other leaves, stems and flowering plants came from my yard and gardens.  

Choosing plant life from your garden for  arrangements is something that I don’t think comes as second nature to most.  Look around your own yard or garden, really look and I’m sure you’ll find some gorgeous leaves, succulents, cacti, flowering plants or even small tree limbs to use for your own special arrangement.  

This is my Friday Flower Find and an inexpensive way to share the gift of flowers and plant life.  Enjoy!

p.s. And you’re own floral/plant arrangement will always be a super special center piece for an intimate dinner party!

Tuesday Tip: How to Dry Herbs Gently

It’s really no big secret! Drying herbs, no matter if they are fine (like cilantro) or hard (like rosemary), is extraordinary simple.  Once washed just scattter them about on clean toweling.  Roll from the bottom up gently until you’ve reached the top. Do not roll too tightly leaving breathing room for the herbs.  Set aside on the counter or in the fridge for about 15 minutes.  Unroll and use.  Just a quick Tuesday Tip for you and yours!

Friday Food Find: Stock Rotation — Beach Style

“It’s stock rotation night!” exclaimes Tim O. 

It’s morning time here at beach. We’re not too spread out reading the paper, drinking coffee, catching up on work  and listening to great music.  Inevitably over a bowl of Special K or granola someone asks, “What are we having for dinner?”  While many of our friends are coming off a long work week and looking forward to a weekend of cooking non-harried and thoughtfully cooked meals, we’ve been doing that every night this week.  Let’s see, we’ve had pasta with fresh basil pesto, salads, smoked chicken, fresh-caught sweet shrimp, fresh toasted breads slathered with cheeses and the last of the garden vegetables.  And there are left-overs! 

Left-overs here at the beach are fodder for tonight’s dinner.  Tim’s process is to take stock of these left-overs and put them into rotation; thus, stock-rotation.  He defines stock-rotation as  “using the most perishable foods in your refrigerator first”.   And for this Friday Food Find we’re going to do just that! 

Bet you never thought a left-overs night could be so fab - did ya? Now it’s our turn to exclaim to the world that, “stock-rotation rocks!”

p.s. stock-rotation picture to come later…in the meantime here’s what we’ve been doing when not eating!

Tuesday Tip: Make Some Beach Waffles — With Your Shirt Off

Wow…we’re finally here. The beach with our good friends the Ozor’s. It’s our first morning and there’s been quite a bit of conversation about this week’s Tuesday Tip.

There’s a new gadget in the kitchen this summer. It’s a waffle maker. So, it was decided by Gracie (who loves to cook and is my #1 blog fan) we should have some sort of Tuesday Tip around yummy waffles.  Dad, Tim, is the official waffle maker of the family.  After a long island run with my hubby, Mike, he was in the kitchen gathering waffle making ingredients for our first beach morning breakfast. 

Since this isn’t a recipe blog post (that’s for Friday’s Food Find)  I’m going to just say find your favorite base recipe to make a waffle batter.  Here’s one from King Arthur Flour for a whole wheat waffle batter. 

Tim likes to use a combination of whole wheat and white flour in his own waffle recipe.  Here are several tips that Tim works by when making batter and cooking cooking his waffles.

1. Mix waffle batter thoroughly.  

2. Use a 1/4C measure for pouring batter into waffle iron.

3. Cook until golden.  

4.  And always cook with your shirt off.

For a Tuesday on our summer beach vacay with favorite friends and my #1 blog fan, I think 4 tips for making some fab breakfast waffles can’t be beat!  Now it’s time to go to the beach.  See you on Friday.

Friday Food Find: Japchei — A Noodle Bowl

“My mom started this restaurant because she hates to cook!” Fine words written on the side of a little unassuming building on 7th Street in downtown ATX. 

It’s a restaurant named Koriente and it’s probably one of Austin’s best kept secrets…especially for noodle bowls.

And I love Asian noodles.  Whether served cold or hot I can’t get enough! So when my husband said, “Let’s meet for lunch at Koriente”.  We did just that. 

I ordered a bowl of cellaphane noodles or as they describe them - sweet potato.  And that just means that the noodle is made out of sweet potato starch. 

The name of the dish is called Japchei.  And for a mere $7 you’ll get a whole bowl of Asian seasoned and sauteed noodles along with some vegetables.  For another $2 dollars you can have a protein on top e.g. tofu, mushrooms, chicken.  It was delish, inexpensive and one of the best noodle bowls I’ve had in our little corner of Central Texas. 

Let me just say, I’m glad that “mom hated to cook” otherwise I wouldn’t get to enjoy such a fabulous dish or share it with you.  Here’s to Japchei - Friday’s Food Find!