summer foodie

Drunken chicken with coconut almond green beans, Adriatic Fish Stew over Angel Hair Pasta, Swordfish with Mango Salsa, Louisiana Style Ribs with Baked Stuffed Potatoes.... these are just a few of the new dishes I've whipped up recently while enjoying the sunset view in my summer kitchen.  I'm inspired.  It's not that I have been afraid to try new dishes, it's really just about having the time to discover and decide what to try, and the time to gather the ingredients to have on hand, so I guess the little break from the normal non-stop full-time work flow has given me the chance to develop my culinary skills!  The joke of the house, as the kids know, is that I never really measure when I cook - which makes it hard for me to pass along any recipes and it's also an issue when I'm trying to re-create something I've cooked before, but it has always seemed too official and involved to actually measure and follow a recipe.  So when I want to try a new dish because I have to force myself to take out the kitchen 'measuring tools' and foray into a land of 'precise', at least for the first attempt.  But just as I do all my salad dressings 'by feel' with some of this and that, I will eventually do the same with my new menus items and I look forward to evolving them further! fun foodie times ahead right along with the most unusual, beautiful (and sometimes even phallic) sunsets...