monavano

Sounds terrific so far. Speaking of pork, this reminded me of a great presentation for squash (or pumpkin) soup which I had at a local restaurant last Fall. The bowl was presented with shredded pancetta and the soup was poured over. Toasted pumpkin seeds were sprinkled on top. The salty pork accented the sweetness of the squash nicely. Or, accent the soup with a fancy creme fraiche design on top. In my opinion, you can transition from the soup to the entree without something in between. Pork sauce: port cherry reduction or an brandy apple sauce (applejack brandy) would be perfect and seasonal. Amuse ideas: Grilled fig with mascarpone cheese and proscuitto. Carries the pork theme. Polenta and mushrooms A small slice of artichoke frittata with creme fraiche Seared scallop

Pille, you are continuting to inspire me! I made Polish mushroom soup last night (post here), and now I have to make something with pears and blue cheese .

Look at that gooey cheese. Yum!

Polish mushroom soup made with dried Borowik and button mushrooms. A glass of sherry to splash in the soup! I'm so happy it's soup season!(soup challenge and book giveaway here)

These dishes look amazing. The colors just jump off the screen.

I agree ce'nedra, your dish looks and sounds delicious. Good to see Domestid Godess's food again. Keep them comming!

gorgeous! our corn season is late here but it is in full swing now- 10 ears for $5! last night was a green salad, herb and garlic bread and the best corn & bacon chowder!! served with a very pretty WA Chardonnay ← Yesterday,I defrosted a container of cheddar corn chowder that I made in August. It held up well in the freezer. It's one of my all time favorite soups. I've been cutting the kernals off of summer corn and vacuum sealing them for winter. One very cold day this soup will remind me of summer!

Dinner last night was leftovers, but dessert was prune plum upside down cake. Recipe and post here..

All this talk of mushrooms made me remember that I have a package of dried Borowik mushrooms (Polish "king of mushrooms") in my cupboard. I'm going to make my mom some mushroom soup today. I love farmers markets and enjoyed the pics. Here, apples are pumpkins are everywhere too. We are very big on corn in the summer, as well as tomatoes and peaches. They are the real highlights in August and into September. I do wish we had sauerkraut barrels, though.

Mad knife skills, nonblonde! PS...glad you're horses came back. Guess they know where the chow is... pps...horses....love...am so jealous

Hang in there, it'll be worth it. Looking forward to seeing your new kitchen!

Beautiful golden color on that cream cake. The dollop of sour cream really makes it!

Polish Barscz is usually made with sour cream and accented with dill. Yours looks absolutely beautiful and I bet it tastes just as good!

My DH and I recently spent a few glorious days in Cape May, NJ. We stayed at the Sandpiper Resort instead of a BNB for the first time. Since it was equipped with a full kitchen, we were able to enjoy the local foods and do some cooking. On the way there, we stopped at a roadside farm stand and picked up some Jersey tomatoes, corn, lima beans and nectarines. Everything was amazing, especially the Jersey tomatoes. We had a few good meals out too. Union Park Café in the Hotel Macomber has a lovely old school hotel dining room, with very nice service. Our two meals were a bit of a dichotomy, however. I ordered the asparagus soup with crab, and the Chilean sea bass over sautéed spinach and a manchego cheese potato pancake. Both were delicious and plated nicely. My DH was not as fortunate in his selections. His appetizer was shrimp served with a tamarind dipping sauce and pineapple. It was cold and skimpy. For the main, duck breast was complimented nicely with a red wine reduction sauce but was plated as if it were meatloaf with 2 sides. The sides, greens on one and corn on the other looked heaped onto the plate and did not make any rhyme or reason sitting next to the duck. We shared a creme brulee with berries and it was a great way to end the meal. Gecko did not disappoint once again. I'm so glad this restaurant has become a perennial figure in Cape May's dining scene. We shared an order of mussels vera cruz which came in white wine sauce with olives, capers, tomatoes and onions. It only needed crusty bread to sop up the delicious liquid. Chile rellenos camerones came with homemade black beans, jicama, pumpkin seeds, cheese and a roasted tomato cascabel sauce. DH's fajitas came with a huge amount of perfectly medium rare skirt steak. It made for tasty huevos rancheros the next morning. My only regret is that there was no room for dessert, which they get from a local German bakery. We visited the raw bar at The Lobster House a couple times as well. The shrimp cocktail was a good deal at $8 for a dozen large firm shrimp. The crab cake sandwich is a shredded wad of under seasoned crab, deep fried with Sysco fries so bad they reminded me of the "low grade but edible" specimens I ate in high school. On the upswing again was the cream of crab soup, laden with crab in every spoonful. Oysters Rockefeller and a 2 1/2 lb. lobster (for $26) served with corn and a baked potato had us rolling out. We also did a little pizza comparison. Blue Moon pizza serves very thin cracker like crust pizza, toped with dabs of a slightly sweet tomato sauce and cheese. Louie's pizza (apparently voted best) was also very good, with a more doughy thicker crust and sauce topped evenly with cheese. We preferred Blue Moon. And my favorite is Fudge Kitchen's chocolate covered salt water taffies. Like little foil wrapped crack, they are!

The soup looks wonderful. i would absolutely love that cooking class. I am looking forward to your blog this week, and learning about Estonia's culture and food. I'm Polish and love rye bread so I'm looking forward to the recipe. I hope I can do it justice.

So tell me: how do you manage to eat the crab in the soup with those plastic spoons? On the basis of your review, I believe Mr. Rosebud and I would be available to continue the exploration of the menu with you and Mrs. Waitman. ← We cracked the crab with our fingers and sucked the meat out, though I have no idea if this is the traditional strategy. ← That soup looks amazing. Thanks for covering these places. The little ethnic places are trully gems.

I use Marcella Hazan's recipe (is that the one you're referring to?) that calls for tomatoes, canned or fresh, to be cooked gently and uncovered with a couple pats of butter and an onion

More recent dinners. Southwestern meatloaf with succotash and smashed red potatoes. Roasted lemon rosemary chicken with braised rainbow chard, sauteed mushrooms and red potatoes.

Lovely looking meatballs monavano, what spices did you use? I definitely fancy making these for myself. The brown crabs at the moment are so fat with roe i just can't resist them! You know i love my fresh crab and I know you all like my Crab linguine, so enjoy : ← Thank you, Prawncrackers! I finally got around to posting my recipe. Rigatoni with Meatballs Enjoy!

Roasted lemon rosemary chicken and pan gravy with rainbow chard, sauted button mushrooms and smashed red potatoes.

Spotted my first this morning just as I was leaving.... ← And who might that be???

Mmm...that fried egg soup looks incredibe. It's quite chilly tonight, and that would hit the spot! I love soup with eggs.

Sounds like you're back in business! Looking forward to your posts and pics.

At Kingstowne, these little beauties looked too good to pass up. Got the last of the peaches from Allenberg Orchards as well. Cenan's Bakery:

Recent breakfast made while on vacation in Cape May NJ. Poached egg on toasted rye, spread with an herbed chevre. Breakfast sausage and Jersey tomatoes picked from a roadside farm stand in NJ.