Completed the Cezanne-inspired pear painting for Shelly and ate celebratory pears, lettuce, dried cranberries, havarti and walnuts dressed in olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pep.

Had the craving for enchiladas. Nice, warm, cheesy, spicy chicken enchiladas. A little guac and rice on the side. These hand-rolled flour tortillas soak in the smoky cumin-flavored sauce forming a crusty cover protecting all those moist morsels wrapped in delicate sheets of layered comfort.

You'll be swingin' in trees when you taste this crisp, light orzo salad. Grilled chicken and sliced almonds and water chestnuts with a little hot and spicy soy sauce dressing curled our tails and put big monkey grins upon our happy little dancey monkey faces. oo oo. Rebecca's inspiration for this salad was a recipe from Paula Dean.

Smilin' Brian Grillin' Panini!

BROWNTROUT BAKEOFF! Sorry, but I was so busy tasting that I forgot to take the blog shots at the beginning of the main event.

It's the green party. Let's eat cheese steaks, fries, salad and cherry vanilla ice cream with frozen chocolate hats, just like the SLCDQ.

one scoop of cold creamy delicious homemade chocolate chip I Scream between rebecca's golden snuggly oatmeal raisin walnut with that slight hint of cinnamon cookies makes a decadent Thursday night dinner.....This is why we grow up.

There's no place like home to cook up Ozma's mac and cheese. Make this yellow brick road and emerald city pasta dish faster than you can click your heels together 3 times. You never knew those little munchkin ears could taste so good by simply adding a little asparagus, bacon, ricotta and lemon zest!

All I can think about is cold pizza for breakfast. (and a latte.)

We were planning a trip to Paris this summer to seek out as many tiny boulangerie-patisseries as we could in 3 short days, but now we need only to travel as far as our kitchen. Rebecca has become le jeune artisan extraordinaire. Her first tart, a pear blueberry, elicits an ooh la la with every bite of its golden buttery crust and care is taken to not lose one rich, fragile crumb. The filling is the perfect consistency and the fruity flavors blend into an indescribable mouthful of summer's essence all wrapped up in its sugar-flaked, melt-in-your-mouth pastry.

Despite my 3000 mile relocation to California cuisine, this little Jersey girl still gets a craving for those arm greasin' cheese steak sandwiches I used to eat at Humphry's in Edison. The west coast version, NY steak, rare, fresh mozarella, juicy organic tomato slices and fresh basil on country Italian bread slathered with olive oil and grilled to perfection, fills all those wistful, childhood fast food longings.

Mi amiga, Karen Witynski, photographer extraordinaria of the libros bonitos, Mexican Country Style, The New Hacienda and Mexican Details, just to name a few, surprised me today by sending me this vibrantly dyed, coiled tortilla warmer from the Yucatan. Needless to say, I had to make tortillas as soon as I got home. A little frijoles colorados added mucho spice, making my day, OLE!

Lots of spicy marinated and grilled goodies piled on creamy orzo brought us back home tonite. Rebecca suggested this hearty dish as she felt like "she had not eaten real food in days." Hail to the Chef! If you want to simplify, just do the mushrooms, which were sooooo juicy and flavorful and the orzo which was herby and lemony, drink a nice big glass of chianti and oh soul o' me ahhhh!

Just returned from a weekend in Niwot. Niwho, Niwhere, Nihow? Niwot, Colorado. Holed up at the Niwot Inn, ate blackened trout at a little French Bistro that left me swooning and uncovered un petit livre by Collette at a used book sale. BUT before I left we had a little backyard birthday bash for Debby. Here is the table I built, set with white and provencal blue. The menu was Italian, pasta, meatballs, sausage and peppers, baked zucchini in a three cheesy sauce, roasted beet salad, and toasted garlicky bread. The secret to dessert was a boxed poundcake saved by 2oz of melted chocolate, a ganache icing, homemade vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberry sauce. Happy Daze.