I own over 500 cookbooks, but I usually don't cook directly from a recipe unless I’m baking.  Baking is a science.  The balance of chemicals to make that cake rise is important, so I tend to follow the recipe with only minor changes.  When it comes to food in general, though, I love to look for recipes for inspiration and then strike out on my own. 

For instance, this weekend my husband and I went over to a friend’s house for dinner.  My friend and I both decided to make appetizers, and I was to bring a salad and my friend would cook some soup.  I dug out a cookbook—Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeurves Handbook—to figure out what to make.  This cookbook was the perfect inspiration—the first half of the book is filled with color photographs of every recipe in the book; you figure out what you want and like and THEN you go and find the recipe that suits your tastes and degree of difficulty. 

I wanted my dishes to be uncomplicated but delicious, so I settled on crostini and some simple toppings—caprese and some hummus.  While there were recipes in the cookbook for all of this, I was looking for ideas rather than recipes, and once I decided on my menu, I didn’t look back. 

These items aren’t difficult in the first place, but I went to the store to try to make it something a little special.  I found a rustic kalamata olive bread and decided to make it into the crostini instead of the plain baguette.  I found some marinated mozzarella and some Splendido tomatoes from Mexico.  Yum. 

For my salad, I wanted something with substance, so I decided to make a roast chicken salad.  I picked up a couple of roasted chickens at Costco to make my salad construction easy (if you haven’t tried these, you should—they’re fat, tasty and very juicy).  I also found some really beautiful blackberries, some candied walnuts and some blue cheese.  Along with my own citrus balsamic vinegarette, I was all set.

The nice part about these dishes was the prep work ahead of time.   I wanted to spend time with our friends socializing—not cooking.  I grilled the olive bread with a bit of olive oil and prepared all the ingredients for the crostini and the salad hours before the party.  I assembled and broiled the caprese (mozzarella, tomatoes and a chiffonade of basil after broiling) within five minutes of arrival.  I gently heated the chicken breasts in the oven while we were enjoying the appetizers, and when I was ready to plate, I just tossed the salad greens with the vinegarette I had made earlier and assembled the salad.  Easy.

We had a great time munching on our goodies and sipping on Mumm’s Napa Blanc de Noirs sparkling wine.  I had tasted this at the Mumm Napa cellar some years ago, but had forgotten how pleasant and fruity it can be.  The blush pink color was pretty in the glass, and the hint of cherry and the slight sweetness of the wine gave it a softness that you don’t often find in sparkling wines.  It went well with the crostini—enhanced by the sweetness of the tomatoes—and was gone very quickly.

I have noticed that many people cook directly from recipes, while I tend to improvise with what’s on hand, what’s fresh, what can provide a little personal touch.  Recipes are chefs’ personal interpretations of a particular dish or flavor…don’t be afraid to put your personal touch in everything you make. 

Wow! I've just returned from my first visit to the Fancy Foods show and I am still amazed.  For those of you who haven't heard about it, the Fancy Food show is a 3-day event where more than 1000 specialty food companies exhibit their creations.  That's a lot of food and a lot of eating.  I think I've seen and tasted more variations of olive oil, olives, tea, chocolate, sauces and spreads than I ever imagined possible. The sauces and spreads, with so many diverse tastes within each, quickly overloaded my senses. 

The show also had an enormous variety of cheeses but since I am particularly drawn to cheese I did not mind at all tasting so many. Many of the cheeses were outstanding.   Two that were my favorites include one from Ireland and one from Wisconsin. The Irish cheese is Cashel Blue, a cheese I’ve wanted to try for a while. Blue is probably my favorite cheese and this one did not disappoint.  The Wisconsin cheese, from Sartori Foods, is a domestic Parmesan called Sarvenccho Parmesan. Generally, domestic Parmesan's do nothing for me and are often simply not good. As a result, I generally will not buy domestic Parmesan.  The Sarvenccho Parmesan, however, was exceptional and surprisingly had many of the characteristics and flavors of the imported Parmesans

A few of items simply caught me as particularly tasty.  Among these were some new all-pork sausages from Niman Ranch.  First, I must admit I didn't know Niman Ranch produced sausage but now that I do I want more!  The new sausage products included a Gouda-cheese apple pork sausage and a spicy cheddar sausage.  I wish I had more of the Gouda sausage - it was so well balanced it practically melted in my mouth. Yum - hopefully it will be out soon so we can grill it once the weather turns. 

While a lot of sauces and spreads were present I was drawn to Sting 'N' Linger.  The creation of Ken Smith in Tempe Arizona, they  have a variety of salsa's and you can really see and taste his passion in them. 

The last item I want to mention is a candied nut with a twist,  from Nutorious. It is called Cha Cha Chipotle and consists of a walnut, almond, and pecan mix encrusted with a Chipotle confection.  It did not overpower either in sweetness or heat and I really liked it.

Looking back, the show was great.  I not only got to taste some really good items but I also learned a lot. Sadly, I probably also missed some really neat and great things because at some points I got tired of tasting! I know, hard to believe a Foodie who can't eat but I do think the show got the better of me in that respect.  Well - I'll just have to practice so next time I last longer...

Now if you don't know what white tea is then you can look here for details.  But essentially it’s a light, often slightly sweet, tea that has the least processing of all tea types.  It is also characterized by having a large portion of buds mixed with the tea leaves because it is picked just before sprouting. 

White tea is currently one of my personal favorites.  Prior to my current white tea cravings, however, I was a devoted black Assam tea drinker.  Black Assam tea is a heavy tea with a somewhat malty flavor.  It’s great for holding milk and I used to drink it with a good amount of milk and some honey.  White tea and milk don't mix - the milk would overpower the tea and you don't need honey because white tea is somewhat naturally sweet.  Given these vast differences I'm still amazed that you can get white Assam tea.  In fact, I was so amazed that I had to try some first hand and recently purchased a white, green, and black Assam tea for comparison.   I was surprised at just how unique each of these tea were given they are all Assam tea.  I haven't decided which my favorite is since the white and green Assam’s are different compared to the more traditional Chinese white and green teas I'm used to but I have definitely added more tea varietals to my stash of tea to enjoy! 

Seriously though, most people at some point or another have had decided on foods they don't want to eat.  Some people have many foods they won't eat, some people have less, and yes some people will literally eat anything.  What is it that hinders our food diversity?  Is it a bad experience with particular food when we were young?  Or being forced to eat things at some point or another?  Food poisoning?  Fear of the unknown? Or simply dislike of specific tastes? For me and Brussels Sprouts, it was mostly bad experience (no offense mom!) which had led me to believing I disliked them.  I'm not sure how we can over come these notions but I'm very glad I tried the Brusells Sprouts recipe; turns out I really like them. 

In this particular recipe, the Brusells Sprouts themselves are roasted with some oil, garlic and salt.  Roasting enhances nearly all vegetables and with Brusells Sprouts the charred outer leaves are so good you could eat them like candy.  Combined with the roasted Brusells Sprouts was a mixture of sautéed wild mushrooms and crispy fried shallots.  The flavors went together wonderfully and although I can't believe I'm saying it I really liked the Brusells Sprouts and will make it again.

So as we enter a new year, I will strive to learn from the Brusells Sprouts experience and try more things I "think" I don't like!