Here’s to Perfect Day’s & Small Changes

Here’s to Perfect Day’s & Small Changes

It\’s another Monday and I always seem so unprepared for this day. I know it’s coming, but from Friday to Monday morning I seem to put everything behind me in the way of creating. All I want to do is play. That said, I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and a celebratory St. Patrick’s Day.

My St. Patrick’s Day was not wild, but a very fun day. Drove up to the mountains with the top down (town of Blue Ridge), had lunch at “Harvest on Main” (corn beef and cabbage, which was excellent), and went antiquing. Came home relaxed and had dinner of left-overs and a glass of wine. Perfect Day!

Friday was a concert at the Cobb Center – Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, & Joey Bishop. Excellent show!

Saturday was shopping and fixer-upper day. We replaced the outside lights with shiny new ones (my husband did the work & I was the assistant.

Now, something I have been working on is adding and changing things in my blog. It takes me some time to figure out how to do certain things; I have been working on a ‘drop down menu’ so that I can add things to the blog. Well, miracles do happen and it is a work in progress, but it will happen. So look out, I\’m on a roll.

Next on today’s agenda are the recipes for Monday. I am in the 3rd chapter of “The Last Course”; the title is ‘Figs, Melons, & Grapes’. I really love these next two recipes because it could be served as an appetizer or dessert.

Grape Focaccia with Rosemary

(to make this recipe easier you can buy focaccia and top with the grapes and rosemary)

Ingredients for topping the focaccia:

focaccia dough (ready to bake, can get at bakery counter in store)

2 tablespoons melted butter

3 tablespoons butter (softened, cut into bits)

1 cup halved Concord grapes, seedless is easiest, if not remove seeds

1 teaspoon rosemary needles

2 tablespoons turinado (raw) sugar

2 teaspoons coarse sea salt, such as fleur de sel

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Brush dough with melted butter

3. top the dough evenly with the grapes, rosemary, and the softened butter bits

4. Sprinkle with turinado sugar and the salt

5. Bake the focaccia for about 15 minutes or until crust is a golden brown

6. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.


Paired with Roquefort cheese

Yogurt Sorbet

(this sorbet is refreshing and creamy; use a high-quality yogurt)

Ingredients:

Yields: 1 quart

4 cups yogurt

1 1/2 cups Simple Syrup

1. Line a sieve with a double layer of cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel and set it over a bowl.

Spoon the yogurt into the lined sieve and place in the refrigerator to drain overnight. (This

gets rid of excess water, thickening it into a dense yogurt cheese.)

2. In a bowl, mix together the drained yogurt and the Simple Syrup.

3. Pour the mixture into an ice-cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer\’s

directions.

Simple Syrup:
Yield: 2 1/2 cups
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the sugar and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Let the syrup simmer for 1 minute, then turn off the heat and allow to cool. (will keep indefinitely in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator)