Pasta Salad

Starter

Beet Salad

roasted beets, oranges, apples, basil, orange sage, orange juice (freshly squeezed, of course), olive oil, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)

Pork & Holy Basil

This is a very popular dish in Thailand.  Layer the dish:  rice on bottom, pork with basil next, then a sunny-side up fried egg on top.  Cut into the egg yolk for that first bite!  The amount above is enough for four hungry people.

Click here for a recipe.

Nice & Easy

Asheville's Best Charcuterie Boards

Eggplant Dish

Stir-fried eggplant with chicken and tofu

Crispy Roasted Kale

recipe

Second Batch

 

Thai Tea Cookies

First Batch

 Thai Tea Cookies

Thai Tea

Click here for a recipe.

An Asheville ice cream shop offered this flavor.

Grits with Brisket

In Asia, we eat rice porridge, also known as congee.  And we put some different ingredients in it:  egg, some meat, scallions and even ginger.  I still make it in the USA, and it's a filling comfort food, especially at night.  Recently, though, I started using a Southern (USA) substitute for rice:  grits!  I make them very creamy (almost soupy), using water, milk, cream or even heavy cream.  And don't forget butter!   Not shortcuts.  I then add a raw egg and let it poach in the grits.  Those "lumps" you see in the grits are the egg white.  As for meats, I've used shrimp (already boiled), which is very delicious.  And in this case, I used some brisket we got at a local barbecue restaurant.  Pork and chicken will also do well, of course.  Season with salt (or soy sauce) and pepper, then enjoy about an hour or two before bedtime.  See how well you sleep!

The Other One

The other raspberry champagne cake I did the same weekend as the June 30th one!

A Big One

There's that guy again.

I drizzled on some Champagne sabayon.  For my sabayon, I used 14 egg yolks (a few more than the usual amount) and twice the called-for Champagne to make it extra good.  Made enough for two four-layer cakes, and still have some left over.  The raspberries are glazed with apricot jam.

Each layer has Champagne sabayon and raspberry puree.  The outside is whipped cream mixed with a bit of raspberry puree.

I made this Raspberry Champagne Cake for a special birthday celebration.