You guys know I love our little weekly trips to the farmer’s market – and once more, I have a “Here’s Why” for you~ Amongst many other delicious little things, colorful produce, artisan producst and funky veggies and fruit you’ve never seen before, you might also discover the odd PRODUCE GUY, caps intended, of the mad-scientist variety. With his own greenhouse and parapenalia just waiting to either scare you and your tastebuds away or jump-start you and your winter-hibernating tastebuds into a madcap tapdance at a moments notice.
Continue reading “Venison Steaks with Black Salsify & Blueberry Salad”
For the last 3 or 4 weeks, Mother Nature has given us her best Confetti Parade impression – an artist gone nuts wih a palette of yellows, reds, browns and greens… and everything in between. All the while, the sun was giving the scenery her best smile in support of the shenanigans below. Hiking through our put-professionally-photoshopped-autumn-postcards-to-shame forests has been an absolutely breathtaking blast, let me tell you!
September, golden September! Wine Harvest, anything involving grapes and related outdoorsy things you can do during these times, hikes, excursions and picnics – all asking for delicious little bites to recharge hike-depleted batteries or soak up some of the liquids that may have been sampled along the way!
For some reason, even after all these years, it still surprises me how people manage to make a whole city smell like a ginormic BBQ pit for weeks on end once the weather has found a stable routine during the Summer months without burning the whole town into a pile of smoldering ashes. After all, the use of open fires, coal-fired BBQs and all their gizmo’ish relatives are, at least in the densely populated areas of town, forbidden by law for exactly that reason.
Welcome to the typical progression of my personal gaming-related groundhog… Summer, I suppose. Every year, my time spent in Tyria is cut short by the temperatures outside turning sauna’esque and the need to keep the PC running on an all-time-low-duration (aka: off.) to keep the inside temperatures at a bearable level. Of course, while not roaming the Tyrian countryside on a regular basis, my mind tends to wander off into Tyria’s kitchens – and comes up with long-forgotten things that would be perfect to cook and eat, and pronto!
Alright, with all the unsettling hubbub that’s going on around us at the moment, it’s getting harder and harder to stay relaxed and calm 24/7. Of course, if we take a couple of moments to actually settle down and listen, the foodie-part within us, may have something to say that might just save the day.
Whenever there’s a lot going on around us, the first thing usually being intentionally skipped or unintentionally pushed around up and down the timeline is lunch. Sure, it’s not the most important meal and most certainly not the heaviest in the thought-and-effort-department, but as time goes by and dinner-time starts to feel days away, keeping focus and motivation up at work is… well, seriously hard work.
Time for the edible version of a one size fits all sort of deal… One base idea fits all tastes and seasons, to be precise~! Dark gamey meat, stone fruit and my favorite type of rice base: a spiced, slightly middle eastern number my grandma used to make when I was a kid!
Sometimes, you just have to treat yourself and/or your most loved one. Just because. And, for once, I have absolutely nothing to add to that, apart from the following: Once everyone involved is inside the house, lock the door, pour yourself a glass of whatever you’ve picked to accompany the steaks – a Brunello was our pick for this particular dinner for two – and start with…
December is a rather busy month for us – as I suppose it is for most of you guys. With the holidays and their cloud of satellite-events lining up on the horizon, this is the perfect time to dig a bit deeper into my box of quick-and-easy-prep dishes that are even better if left forgotten for a few hours or even over night~
Nahdala's Kitchen 