WELCOME ~ E KOMO MAI
Eat,Travel, Live.......Passionately.
The promise and glorious renewal of Spring, the lazy, hazy, crazy patio-lingering days of Summer, the bounty of overflowing roadside stands and colourful beauty of Autumn and the sheer, homespun warmth and nostalgic comfort zones that Ol' Man Winter heralds.
Oh, the delicious and auspicious possibilities, as the seasons unravel.
But let's not rush. Instead let's welcome and linger in our favorite flavour zones as they present themselves to us.
HONEYED SRIRACHA WINGS ~ The Winner! of Food Network Magazine's Secret Ingredient "Cook with Honey" Contest. They said think like an Iron Chef and dream up a dish using this month's secret ingredient. So I did.
Now, as we roll out those golden-oldie infused, cloud-animal daydreamy, flip-flopped days of Summer, it's time to sing in the sunshine, get grilling and savour the delicious pleasures of things like happening upon a crazy-delicious, blackberry patch; licking up, licking down, the frosty goodness of homemade fudgicles and backyard, peach margarita blasted, patio dinners that go on until blue skies turn starry.
Sometimes I sense our forest and veggie garden not-so-secretly smiling after a welcome summer rain. Lakeside picnics beckon and tiny specks of brilliant colour shoot through the air, like a bullet, moving from one hummingbird feeder to another. Aaahhhhh.....
The aroma of backyard barbecues drifting in on warm breezes, strawberries macerating in Grand Marnier and menus strewn with garden fresh goodness beg for attention. Crispy edged, lemony potatoes cooked to tempting perfection in little foil packets on the BBQ; spice-coated, honey-shoyu glazed, tender, juicy beer-can chicken; just-picked Green Zebra heirloom tomatoes tucked into grilled ciabatta with crispy bacon, garlic aioli, and chilly butter lettuce; parmesan and black pepper blasted pasta boasting juicy beef tenderloin and peas just popped from their pods; and of course just picked, sweet, tender, peaches and cream corn on the cob, hot grilled and slathered with lime, jalapeno butter and Fleur de Sel
I can't wait to throw on some great tunes (because cooking without music is like a bee without a buzz) and play with some sumptuous new flavours and ingredients, not knowing where they might take us……Into the Mystic......perhaps....
Though, as we go, please be patient with this Forest-Dweller, as I continue to learn the blogging ropes.....as I figure out how to make my blog good lookin', with lots of what I like best and even more of what you like best.
Stay tuned, much more to come. Goodies from here, recipes from there. What I'm cookin' up these days in My Okanagan Kitchen, as I gaze upon the beautiful forests of Trepanier, up above the lakeside hamlet of Peachland in BC's beautiful Wine Country. Family feasts, down home comfort and tasty little treats.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the
things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover."
~ Mark Twain
Summer view from my kitchen in the forest in the Okanagan Valley.
On the other hand, I'm going to sweep you away to far off tropical islands with my memoirs of what I conjured up in My Hawaiian Kitchen a few years back when I was lucky enough to call the amazing Big Island of Hawaii home for a few years. And these days too, when I'm blissed out to be vacationing to my 'Home Sweet Island Home". Bountiful island ingredients, local specialties with my own little twists and ono (delicious) new revelations on old stand-bys and of course Hapa tunes to fill my spirit and kitchen with luscious Aloha.
"And the sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses."
~ Joni Mitchell
Sunset view from the lanai just off one of my favorite Hawaiian kitchens.
So come on in! I'm here waiting for you with a big warm invitation to pull up a stool along my kitchen counter, plunk down at my dinner table, or just hang out with me while I do what I love best. Alo-ha!
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THE LAST WONTON RECIPE INDEX
THE LAST WONTON TRAVEL INDEX
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"My kitchen is a mystical place, a kind of temple for me. It is a place where
the surfaces seem to have significance, where the sounds and odors carry
meaning that transfers from the past and bridges to the future."
~ Pearl Bailey
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