Donuts

How cute is the Carpe Donut truck?!

We were lucky enough to attend a WHTJ event out at the always lovely King Family Vineyards. Along with the spectacular view out back was the Carpe Donut truck. I was saving my appetite for the dinner catered from L'etoile so I sent over my personal taster, Mr. Mark to check them out. He wasn't sure after the first one so he needed to try another one.

 Need I say more. Hot and yummy come to mind.

The cute cart  reminds me of my cupcake truck dream that has yet to come to fruition.

(Imagine a small airstream painted up like a giant cupcake driving around town, stopping at little league games. Calling out, "I've got red velvet, devil dog, chocolate buttercream.......!")

Any investors out there????

End of Summer Eating

I can't quite get my head around the fact that summer is officially over. I'm prolonging it as long as possible with fresh produce. I'm making a lot of trips to Lynchburg these days and have been stopping at the Saunders Brothers Market. Their corn was the best I had all summer. They have a huge selection of peaches and now apples. I tried a couple of different peach varieties and made this peach pie. I was inspired by Evan Kleinman, of KCRW's Good Food,' pie a day' project throughout the summer. I haven't made a lot of fruit pies but peach pie is delicious! I used to listen to Good Food in Los Angeles and now I download the podcasts.

I love substantial salads for dinner during the summer too. This was so easy, fresh and filling. I baked the chicken breasts in white wine and sprinkled them with salt, pepper, fresh basil and parsley. Then steamed the potatoes and asparagus.

Served it over a bed of greens with a balsamic vinegarette.

My other craze this summer was the ultimate BLT. First of all I discovered pepper bacon a couple of years ago and now it's practically all I use. I haven't found anything that calls for bacon that's not better with pepper bacon.

So I have a couple of great BLT variations. First if you ever make garlic aioli for dinner, you always have some left over. Use that for your mayonnaise with toasted white bread, juicy tomatoes, lettuce and of course, pepper bacon.

Or:

Instead of the aoili put a thin layer of pimento cheese on your toasted white bread with tomato, lettuce, and pepper bacon.

Papa's SQUASH SOUP

Capture the last bit of summer cooking! My Dad (aka Papa), who is a wonderful cook, has been making this soup all summer. I'm going to have to make a batch this week, it looks delicious. Here are his steps along with wonderful photographs.

Chilled Yellow Squash Soup

1. In a large saucepan, fry 3-4 strips of smoked

bacon until very crisp.

2. Remove bacon and crumbs and retain about

one tbl. of bacon grease. Add one tbl. of olive or

grapeseed oil and 1/4 stick of butter.

3. Add one med onion chopped and cook

on med heat until soft. You can add salt

and pepper to taste here or at the next

step.

Add one can of chicken stock (which in

this case was 24 oz of home made) and 3-4 chicken bouillon cubes,

keep on med. heat.

Chop four med. sized yellow squash

and add to mixture along with several

fresh basil leaves.

Cook until squash is very soft. Let cool

and then put in blender

Put blended mix into the frig until

chilled. Serve with crumbled bacon

and/or sour cream on top.

Krazy for Korean

One of my favorite nights out in New York this summer was going to eat in Koreatown. I can't believe I've never done that before. A good friend took us and it was so festive for a group.

They barbeque the meat and vegetables on little grills in the middle of your table.

Then all of the relishes arrive. I've read all about kimchi but didn't know about all of the other

pickled items.

PART 2

It just so happens I'm in a book club with a wonderful Korean/American friend. She chose our latest book called "Still Life With Rice" that a friend of hers (Helie Lee) wrote. A true story about her grandmother's life in Korea through the war and occupations. It was such a fascinating story. Then she hosted book club and put out an authentic Korean spread.

We started with a Korean fusion appetizer of rice cakes wrapped in bacon.

Here she is explaining some of the relishes on the table.

She said it was hard to find authentic Korean ingredients around Charlottesville so she drove to DC to get everything.

Besides all of the relishes and barbeque we had a seaweed soup, mi-yuk gook that Korean woman eat during pregnancy and after giving birth.

For desert were these delicious little balls of mango icecream wrapped in a thin rice cake. I need some more of these.

She also makes and sells Palcha which is an amazing and versatile sauce and marinade.

While I'm on the Korean subject: normally I'm not big on writing out a lot of recipes for posting but....

About seven years ago one of my daughters chose Korea for a big school project and she (meaning me) had to make a food item to bring to the class. We contacted her best friend from California who was from Korea for ideas. Her mother who spoke no english wrote this out and sent it to me. I made it for the international day and it was really good. I'm inspired to make it again now.

Korean Bulgogi

1 lb. ribeye beef (thin sliced)

1 med. onion sliced

5 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons chopped green onion

2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Combine ingredients and marinate 1-2 hours or overnight

Grill or saute in oil, med. hi heat

Add vegetables like carrots and muchrooms

Serve with rice.