Michael brought over some super ripe and delicious blackberries and made pie. Mmmmm pie.

Fresh garden grown tomatoes, basil from the farmer’s market, olive oil, basalmic vinegar, fresh rosemary, sea salt, pepper. Quite tasty.
And here’s the whole salad, marinating in deliciousness.

The Home Crowd did a really nice write-up of our kitchen countertop project: The Home Crowd: Granite countertop with built-in river using pictures from our Kitchen Remodel Project Photos Flickr set that documented the build process.
Thanks!

Adapted from a traditional recipe:

Michael’s Moroccan Chicken and Prunes

4 large, boned chicken breasts
1 lb high-quality, pitted prunes
~10 T extra virgin olive oil
~3-4 T clear, light honey
~ 2 T grated fresh ginger
~ 1-2 T chopped, salt-cured capers (brined fine, too)
~ 2 t ground cumin
1 small-medium red onion, diced
3 large cloves fresh garlic, minced
1.5 c good white […]

A tasty feast.

And a nice closeup of a kiwi fruit slice lit from behind:

Michael was always threatening to make our beloved cats (Stanley and Stella) into meatloaf. For his birthday, Kristin made him some cat-shaped meatloafs out of bison meat and they were delicious.
You could call this a “LOL loaf”

Kristin’s LOL Loaf Recipe

2 pounds lean ground beef (or bison)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 eggs, lightly […]

Michael came over and made baked pancakes that were spectacular
So tasty, cooked in a bed of golden melted butter in a well-seasoned iron skillet. Each one is baked for 13 minutes, and rises up over the edges of the pan. We made savory and sweet. Sweet didn’t have any additions to the […]

Tonight I made a dish that confirmed for me that sometimes mashed potatoes can be transcendent.Here is my recipe for “Mashed Potatoes of Heavenly Temptation”:

Gabriel’s Mashed Potatoes of Heavenly Temptation

6-8 medium sized potatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 stick of unsalted butter
1/4 cup white onion, diced
1/4 cup yellow pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp fresh […]

A vegetarian stew made with potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, onion, and other goodness topped with leftover honey baked ham pieces simmered in their own juices and vegetable stock. Veg + total not veg. Flavorsome

Salad:

Today I made a delicious soup for lunch — a hearty rustic potato chowder.
Made from this recipe from 101 Cookbooks: Rustic Potato Chowder:

Rustic Potato Chowder

8 to 10 slices Smart Bacon (or real bacon if you’re not-veg)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, chopped
3 shallots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 cups diced, unpeeled new potatoes, any color […]