Liv Louise

There is a certain sensitivity that I have developed with my blog. It is guilt, mixed with pleasure, topped with the pressure to represent myself correctly. I have not made the time to write a post in months and I am coming to terms with it. This is the need-be opener to my conscious effort of starting to write again.

In the past four months I have pulled it together and made the much anticipated move to Austin, Texas. “Texas! What is there in Texas for you?” exclaims all the regulars at my old brewery. I tell them of my thirst to drink in an urban lifestyle, of the need for inspiration, of the lack of patience I have to wait to start a new career path. A customer told me the other day, “Austin is a blueberry in a big bowl of strawberries.” I feel complete satisfaction from this statement, not only to mention the political metaphor, but also in a way that illustrates Austin as the place that allows me feel like an inspired individual.

The blueberry that I am now has led me to back to my blog with pride. My thought is that if I continue to collect and post, collect and post about all the things that I am interested in than soon there will be cohesive, visually pleasing representation of what my view point is. From there I can build better relationships with my career, my people, and myself. This is accomplished solely with a D.I.Y. attitude. 

Now there is it… “D.I.Y.”… the plug that ties this whole abstract, emotional though bubble together. Doing it yourself. My ‘it’ being defined as the intangible journey over a summer’s time to get to my next goal. Saving, more saving, purging material things, packing up, saying good-byes, moving on, and trying to take it all in with my cat in the back seat. The tangible representation of this journey over a summer’s time is my depicted old shirt made anew. My favorite thin, white, button-up shirt that I ripped the sleeves off of is now newly spruced up with lapel points taken from an oversized Good Will men’s shirt. I love it as my latest D.I.Y project. I love it as the physical representation of my new life.  

An everyday lunch that provides a crunch, a tang, protein and whole grains. Tuna salad that simply uses sweet and hot mustard, scallions, and splash of good olive oil. Get hearty whole grain bread, good sharp white cheddar and a crisp Fugi apple. Make sure to slice the apple thin and taste the tuna salad to make sure it is season to your liking. Viola! Enjoy & repeat. 

There is a period of time when I just start to feel under the weather that I feel like there is hope. Hope to fight off the evils of getting sick. Vitamin-C, water, more water, and rest. My newest, tastiest vitamin-C weapon I have in my arsenal is dipicted above. Clementine segments, sliced organic strawberries, Clover Stornetta’s Pomegranate Strawberry Acai Kefir, & dried cranberries over top. Though as the consecutive mornings went on that I exercised this breakfast as my strongest tool against The Sniffles, I found I like toasted walnuts much more than the dried cranberries. Enjoy & repeat!

There are nations inside of California that are very distinctive in their landscape, local products, lingo, and traffic patterns, to name just a few facets of their definitions. One of these nations is the Northern California coastal area of Tomales Bay. Tucked in a bit from the rugged Pacific, the conditions are ideal for oyster beds. The beds harvested by Hog Island Oyster Company, are 160 acres of over 3 million Pacific, Kumamoto and Atlantic oysters per year as well as Manila clams and mussels. The jewel Kumamoto must be tried raw with no toppings. They melt in your mouth with the fresh bite of salt water; they are my favorite. Larger oysters can be good for grilling but the over all goal of this recipe it to try each oyster in different combinations of preparation methods and sauces. Visit the Honest Cooking badge above to see more!

Roasted Vegetable Tart. There are no rules for a tart like this one. Start with a savory pie crust, add a few beaten eggs and milk, and add all of the vegetables you need to use up. Okay wait, maybe I told a white lie in saying there are absolutely no rules… always use salt and pepper when roasting veggies, don’t use ice berg lettuce in this dish, and to be as satisfying as possible, add cheese! My craving for goat cheese is what inspired this tart so the vegetables came as a compliment to the cheese. Sun dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, butternut squash, onions, Italian seasoning, kale, red bell pepper and fresh sliced tomato on top. Roast/grill/saute vegetables first and bake the tart to marry all the flavors, melt the cheese, and crisp the crust. Enjoy & repeat!

My craving for balsamic chicken came on a great day. I had gone out for a run in my home town; along the beach trail and up to bluff then back again. It felt like the turn of summer and I was feeling great! The “what’s for dinner?” questions was floating in the air when I got home and I knew what I wanted. Chicken because it is light and satisfying, balsamic because it had a sweet richness. I started to look up a few reference recipes starting with my go to girl, Giada de Laurentiis. This is a take on her recipe for balsamic chicken and you can find it by clicking on the badge above. Enjoy & repeat!

When I think about situations where a person is making meals at the beginning of the week, I think of Moms or overly-responsible college students or parents that are leaving it all up to the babysitter. The truth is, making a few big batches of something delicious on the one day you have time should fit best for the overstressed people in the world or the health conscious in terms of diet or in terms of Slow Food.

Quinoa with roasted vegetables is the perfect fit for anyone making meals ahead. It is a meal-in-one with the protein from the quinoa and a healthy dose of veggies cooked in the most delicious method, roasting. This dish is good for lunch, dinner and a snack. It can be reheated or devoured chilled. Start with a box of quinoa and follow the directions to cook, roast off whatever veggies look great to you that day at 400*F for about 30 minutes or until tender and slightly browned, mix it all together with a balsamic dressing and you ready to enjoy & repeat through out the week!

Ridiculously good Petaluma Creamery vanilla ice cream, check. Quality booz, check. Pure brown sugar and butter, check. Adding my own flare by changing up a classic, check. This is my take on the New Orleans dessert of Bananas Foster with a switch up to plantains and banana liqueur to Gran Marnier. A dessert that packs a punch in presentation when lighting the liqueurs a flambe! Check out my recipe, featured this past week on Honest Cooking, by clicking on the badge above. Enjoy & repeat!

Cooking for the season with dates. Medjool dates, better known as the king of dates, are very sweet and just asking to be filled with the perfect compliment. Having extra homemade caramel, pecans and a ready-made pie dough on hand I was inspired to glorify these dates in an even sweeter fashion.

Always start by preheating to oven, this time to the direct temperature on the pie dough package. Take the date and make a small incision at the end to then reach inside and pull out the pit. Toast the pecans and warm the caramel. Dip a piece of toasted pecan in the gooey caramel and tuck it inside the date; repeat. Take the defrosted pie crust and cut into strips the width of the date. Place the date on the end of the strip and add an extra dollop of caramel on top. Roll the pastry dough around the date until wrapped once and cut off excess dough to later piece together with other ends; repeat. Beat an egg and brush each date package with the egg so they come out more golden and crispy. Sprinkle with a little brown sugar and bake until browned, about 12 minutes. Remove and drizzle with melted semi-sweet chocolate to add that little something it needs.

These pillows filled with dates are delicious but HOT when taking out of the oven. Take it from my learning experience, I know how good they look but resist your urge to bite into one and let them cool. If I were to make them again I would also try using puff pastry, chocolate instead of caramel or any other combination of flavors that sounds good that day. Enjoy and repeat!

Two postings ago, I made Sir Kensington’s Blue-Collared Meatloaf. You can now find the recipe on Honest Cooking dot com, just click the badge above! It is a kicked-up take on a classic which, inspired me to not have a leftover serving of meatloaf but rather to developed a new dish the next day. With the help of my good friend Michelle, we did as any Californian girls would do and made tacos!

Always start with good tortillas. To give life to the meatloaf again, we put a bit of oil on a skillet over medium heat and gave a new crust to one side of a meatloaf slice while melting pepper-jack on top. A lid over the pan during this step lets heat penetrate to the center of the meatloaf while efficiently melting the cheese. Toppings we prepared included roughly chopped cilantro, crumbled blue cheese, fire roasted salsa and chopped white onion. The onion really added a great bite while the blue cheese gave a flare to make it even more original. Enjoy and repeat!