Author: Tracey

The $20 Dollar Dinner Party: Pork Ragú with Creamy Polenta

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Having friends join us for dinner in our home is one of the most fun and positive things we can do with our weekend. Sure, we could go out to dinner, there are more than enough amazing restaurants in Las Vegas to try, but there’s just something special about sharing a meal at home. Personally, I love having dinner parties. If I could, I would have a dinner party every single weekend! This particular weekend, I had a dilemma. I had a nearly empty checking account and four people coming over for dinner. The solution to my dilemma was a recipe for Pork Ragú with Polenta from the March issue of Bon Appetít Magazine. When Bon Appetít arrives in my mailbox, I get as excited as a kid with a Christmas catalog–eagerly dashing away with it and dreaming of all the scrumptious recipes I can make. When I saw this recipe, it lived in the back of my mind for several weeks, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to make it. Living in the West, I learned to cook pork shoulder using Mexican …

The Apollo Cocktail with St. George Terroir Gin

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It’s really, really great when you have thoughtful friends who know you well enough to buy you gifts of gin. Those are the kinds of friends that you hold onto for dear life because a friend who knows your favorite spirit is a special friend, indeed. My dear friend Lori Rice of Fake Food Free is just that kind of thoughtful friend! A few weeks ago, I was surprised and thrilled to receive a package in the mail from her containing an entire set of St. George Spirits Gin as a wedding gift! The set came with their 3 signature gin varieties: Terroir, Botanivore and Dry Rye. St. George Craft Distillers hails from Alameda, California, which just happens to be Lori’s stomping grounds. It’s no secret that Gin is my favorite spirit. I love it because the flavors in gin so easily combine with fresh herbs and I love cocktails that taste like they’re fresh from the garden. Since I was unfamiliar with this particular brand of gin, I was very excited to hold a little tasting for myself in order to get to know …

A Food Photography Workshop and Savory Baked Oatmeal w/ Caramelized Onion and Goat Cheese

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Two weekends ago, I was once again in my happy place, Portland, Oregon. I found the perfect excuse to go: a food photography and styling workshop taught by two Portland-based blogger/photographers, Eva Kosmas-Flores of Adventures in Cooking and Christiann Koepke of Portland Fresh. I virtually met both of these ladies through their Instagram accounts (@evakosmasflores and @portlandfresh), instantly falling in love with their beautifully moody photographs. So much so, that when they announced the Portland photography workshop in February, I signed up immediately without giving it a second thought. The morning of the workshop I caught the number 17 bus from our Airbnb to Tillamook Station, an event space nestled in a pre-war building in the heart of the Albina Industrial District. I was so nervous that I missed my stop and had to backtrack a couple of blocks. I breathed a sigh of relief as I rounded the corner and saw the bright yellow door of the building and other similarly nervous people laden with camera bags heading in the same direction. I tried to …

“W & P” Mint Julep from “Shake”

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It’s been a really long time since I shared a cocktail recipe with you and it seems like Tax Day is a good time to have a nice libation to either celebrate your refund or soothe your nerves if you had to pay! This Mint Julep is another favorite from the book “Shake: A New Perspective on Cocktails” by Eric Prumm and Josh Williams and they call it the W&P Mint Julep. It took me a few minutes to figure out that W and P were the author’s initials…I’m a little slow. It’s a simple, straight-forward mint julep–nothing fancy, just good Bourbon, fresh mint, a bit of lemon juice and sugar cubes for sweetness and lots and lots of crushed ice. Absolutely refreshing. The inspiration for this cocktail came from the abundance of mint and lemon balm we have growing in our garden. It was so healthy and gorgeous and every time I passed by it I thought “I need to make something with this mint as soon as possible”. Well, I’m glad I did because last …

Tagliatelle with Caramelized Orange and Almonds, plus Seared Duck Breast

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I’m beginning to think that there’s some literal truth to this March Madness thing. After a month of family bulls%&t, food failures, photography failures and fights with The Husband I’m really ready to throw in the towel on the month of March. And to think, the month started with so much promise! The weather has been perfect. Absolutely beautiful. It hasn’t even been windy, which is really weird. For once, I had written out a calendar of ideas and recipes to post. And then, as if on cue by a Soothsayer, the Ides of March brought with it a firestorm of crazy. I’ve had quite enough, thank you. Last year in March it was the same thing.  Are any of you having a rough month as well or is it just me? This recipe is probably the one good thing that came out of this lousy month. I was driving to work one day, listening to The Splendid Table podcast, completely engrossed by Lynn Rosetto Kasper’s soothing voice as she coached violinist Joshua Bell through this recipe …

Easy Avgolemono Soup: Greek Chicken Soup with Lemon and Egg

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I live in the desert, where we get less than 4 inches of rain per year, so anytime it rains it feels like an event. When the forecast calls for rain, I immediately go through the five stages of a desert dweller: First, there’s Doubt. I simply cannot believe that it’s going to rain any time soon because the sky is blue right over my house and it is sunny. Hope. A raindrop falls. Then two, then three. Sometimes the rain evaporates before it hits the ground. Yes, this is actually a thing and it has a name: virga. I cloak myself in cautious optimism in hopes that this little bit of moisture will coalesce and become precipitation. When the rain actually starts to hit the ground and the drops come in fast succession I feel myself getting a little excited, which leads to…   Collaboration. This is usually characterized by rapid fire text messages to family and friends: “Is it raining at your house?” “No?” Words of encouragement are sent in reply: “I think the clouds are moving your way!” I check …

The Best Vanilla Tapioca Pudding

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This was supposed to be a recipe for scones. I had all of the right ingredients: the good organic milk, the heavy cream, fresh blueberries, buttermilk and sweet cream butter. In case you’re curious, I had planned to make either this beauty from Tartine or this one from Sally’s Baking Addiction.  I couldn’t go wrong with either one. Bright and early Saturday morning, I stood in front of the refrigerator and the urge to bake just left me. We both had a laundry list of chores for the day–I was still on my wild decluttering tear (still am!) and The Husband had his own list of honey-do’s to accomplish. Hauling out flour and grating butter was a little more than I could fathom so I declared scones a Sunday project because time was ticking and there is no shorter day of the week than Saturday…Sunday being a very close second. Sunday morning came and went and I still hadn’t made the scones. To me, Sunday breakfast requires bacon and eggs, toast and orange juice (I’ve never been able to get …