My hero

Uncle Dick and me, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

Everybody needs a hero and my Uncle Dick is mine. He has been more like a father to me than an uncle and I appreciate him more than he understands. When I was a little girl he would toss me up into the air and always catch me on the way down. He still is always there to catch me when I am close to falling. Tonight he and his wife Irmgard came for dinner and to watch the USC football game. It was a little Saturday night dinner party and we all had a good time. And our Trojans won!!! Besides being a great guy Uncle Dick was a member of the Navy's UDT (underwater demolition team....now referred to as the Navy Seals) and served in the Korean War. After that war he went to dental school at USC and became one of the finest dentists I have known. He was my first employer and he took me under his wing and trained me to be a fine professional like himself. He has been my employer, my mentor, my uncle and my friend and always he has been my hero. He is the finest man I know on this earth and I have been lucky to have him in my life.
Well one of Uncle Dick's favorite meals is meatloaf. So that took center stage for tonight's menu:
avocado grapefruit salad
meatloaf with a tomato relish
roasted purple potatoes and carrots
caramelized shallots
Matanzas Creek Chardonnay
Peach cobbler with French Vanilla ice cream

The dinner was yummy (meatloaf doesn't photograph well and you know what it looks like) Try the meatloaf recipe. I used pork, turkey and veal but you can use any ground meat. Irmgard thought it might be better than her own recipe. No doubt hers is good too.

Quilting and Salsa!!!!!!

corn and black bean salad, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

OK these two ideas don't really go together except at my house today. I "fired" my real estate agent and his broker so I knew I would have no "buyers" coming to my house today so out came the fabric and cutting supplies. I have baby quilts to make for my new "great" niece and my new grandaughter so I got started today. Lots of orange, pink and green! In the meantime I also wanted to make my weekly amount of salad. Here are all of my salsas I made today photographed with some of the fabrics for my upcoming quilts.

Corn and black bean salsa salad
1/2 red onion, "cooked" in
2 Tbs red wine vinegar ( I use William-Sonoma's Cabernet Sauvignon)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 ears fresh corn, microwave cooked and cut off cob ( any form of corn is good....today I had fresh)
1 bell pepper, chopped
1-2 Heirloom tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 large ripe avocado, chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp hot sauce
cilantro, chopped
I make a batch of this fresh salad every week. It is great fresh or added to lettuces. All of my friends and family have been forced to eat this at least once.

Mango salsa

mango salsa, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

One of my favorite toppings for grilled fish (Halibut tonight). It has a kick with the jalepeno pepper.
1 ripe mango, chopped
3Tbs chopped shallot or red onion "cooked" in the juice of
2 limes
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1/2 jalepeno pepper, chopped fine, no seeds please

1-2 Tbs fresh grated ginger

cilantro

Get the grill going!

Guacamole!

guacamole, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

I asked Kate one day if she wanted avocado or guacamole. She said "guacamole". The difference? Chips! Here's my recipe for the green stuff you dip your chips into.
2-3 ripe avocados
1 tomato
1 small red onion "cooked" in the juice of
1 lime
1 garlic clove
a little chopped jalepeno pepper
salt, pepper

lime sorbet

lime sorbet, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

...and for dessert. lime sorbet!
simple syrup made from 1 cup sugar + 1 cup water brought to a boil to dissolve sugar
1 1/4 lime juice
lime zest
place in ice cream freezer...I have a Krups
Serve in a Margarita glass

Playing with sea glass

silver wrapped sea glass, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

This afternoon my friend, Ally, and I got together to make jewelry out of sea glass. Most all of our sea glass came from my friends (Marjorie and Harvey) beach in downeast Maine. Some of the pieces are exquisite! We started with this wrapping technique so as not to damage the glass. We twisted a lot of different wires and laughed at ourselves along the way but at the end of the evening we had these pieces ready for the next step. The pendant is Ally's. The other pieces will be a bracelet. Two small lavender pieces ended up a pair of earrings. We had so much fun! Did I say that Ally is a fabulous cook? We worked up quite an appetite and suddenly out came this beautiful chilled soup. Her avocado citrus soup is a version of the soup from the Elephant Walk restaurant in Cambridge Mass. What a delightful afternoon

lavender earrings

lavender earrings, originally uploaded by cabanagirl.

lavender sea glass