koko's corner

Last week I found myself at the Continental European Deli in La Jolla. 

I picked up a few interesting things. 

On the left are pickled garlic sprouts, in the middle are cookies. and in the jar on the right are pickled tomatoes with dill cucumbers. 

I've never seen pickled tomatoes that I'm aware of in my life, so of course I had to buy them. No I haven't tried them yet but the cucumbers are wonderful. 

In this case, pickled does not mean tart or sour, as a matter of fact,  they are anything but. However, they are better not tart because the full flavor of the ingredient shines through. 

The garlic sprouts are my favorite, I could eat the whole jar in one sitting. They are mild, tender and are a little reminiscent of asparagus.

The little cookies are crunchy and taste like vanilla wafers. I love 'em. 

I like how they strung the cookes with a ribbon. 

I'll be going back in a few weeks and am looking forward to getting something  new and unusual. 

And that's that

Potatoes, chorizo, mushrooms, onion and cheese baked to a golden brown. 

I topped mine with a poached egg. 

Come see how to make this delicious breakfast/brunch dish. 

Juicy, tender pork chops with a nice crunchy coating. 

Served with potatoes. Oh yummm

I'm participating in a photo exercise put out by Paint The Moon Photography.  NO, I'm not in any way affiliated with them, nor do they know I even exist. The weekly themes and rules are on their blog. 

The theme last week was to take photos using "white space" or the second alternative "everyday tools."

My kitchen counter this morning hit me as the perfect picture for everyday tools. 

This was the second sink full of dishes that got washed last night but these did not get put away. Putting my feet up and having a nice drink was more important to me at the time. :-)

Everyday Tools

I don't know what this weeks ideas are but I'm looking forward to the challenge. 

Also, MCP Actions has a photography exercise going also. It's called Project 12 with a monthly theme. Again, I'm in NO way associated with them, nor do they know I even exist.

For the month of January the theme is "resolution" this is pretty challenging and I'm not quite sure yet what I'll submit, but I'm confident I'll come up with something. 

I will be adding links to both of these web sites on my blog. They both have been very generous with their free photoshop actions and photography tips and tricks, I think it would be a nice thing to do to show appreciation. 

And tha'ts that

Mexican chocolate, warming spices, and masa harina make for a perfect drink on a cold rainy day. 

I've been wanting to make this for the longest time. Today provided the perfect cold rainy day in which to make it. 

C'mon, lets wrap our cold hands around a warming mug of Champurrado. 

Meat filled ravioli finished off in a spicy sage butter sauce. 

This is a big hit using mostly leftovers. 

Have you made yours yet? I think I first heard about this on the food group RFC on Facebook. 

Here's the link to the process 

Get your Clementines, aka Cuties and some olive oil. It's a lot of fun and they are so cute all aglow at night. 

What I did different was to cut the clementine in half before seperating the peel from the flesh. Also, on the wick end, when you turn the peel away from the flesh, I was much more successfull and ended up with longer wicks if I removed the flesh, section, by section, rather than pulling the peel away from the flesh. 

I've eaten a lot of Cuties lately.

I think it's a southern thang to eat black eyed peas and greens on New Years Day for good luck throughout the year. What ever the origin, it's a wonderful combination be it New Years Day or not. 

I have the greens nailed, not by any genius on my part, but because I was lucky enough to follow the recipe on the back of a bag of mixed greens. I've not wavered from the recipe ever since a co-worker told me that they were as good as the "church ladies make" if not better. I figured she should know what she's talking about since she's from the south. 

Here's the link to my Mess O' Greens that I'm eating as we speak. I cook the greens much longer than the recipe calls for though. Taste them after about 20 minutes, if they are still bitter tasting, keep cooking until the bitterness is gone. I think it depends on the greens how long they should cook. 

I love black eyes peas pretty much, "as is." I only add a little onion and a bay leaf when I cook them and I cook them in ham stock. Deeelicious!

Hope you have a wonderful, healthy and prosperous New Year.