Treats from the Tipsy Turtle

Ruth Reichl is one of my favorite food writers. Not only does she spin great tales from her vast wealth of experience in the industry, her recipes are easy and accessible to novice cooks and really tasty, too! This is an easy one to tweak to your family's preferences, which I do, and I also deviate a bit from her process.  Here's today's cast! The recipe calls for one head of cauliflower but I had two--I separated them into florets, gave them a good drizzle with avocado oil, then seasoned with salt and pepper. They went into the oven at 400F for about 35 minutes.  In the meantime, I heated oil and butter in a small pan. My family really likes capers so I add much more than the recipe calls for. Since they are so salty, I drain them and give them a quick rinse. Chopped garlic went into the hot oil and butter mixture. I turned the heat down to low after about a minute so it wouldn't burn. I drained a can of anchovies and added that in. I used the wooden spoon to mash them...

Not only am I blessed with good friends, I am blessed with friends who love food as much as I do and, who are also good cooks! Pre-COVID we had regular gatherings that focused on themed meals but even before that, my friend, Naomi, often brought this orzo salad to our potlucks. It had such a bright, lemony taste that I nicknamed it "sunshiny" orzo salad and the name just stuck. I wasn't able to duplicate it to my liking since the measurements aren't exactly precise, but when we had a small gathering a couple of weeks ago, Naomi gave me details on how she made it at that time.  Here's the cast--I forgot to include the sugar though! I zested two lemons into a dressing shaker. Then I juiced them.  Since I got approximately 1/4 cup of lemon juice, I added the same amount of avocado oil, 1/4 cup of sugar, and a generous pinch of salt. I shook the mixture vigorously and put it aside for a while. In the meantime, I cooked the orzo according to the package's direction...

My family is very fond of soda bread and I really like Asiago cheese, basil and sun-dried tomatoes. When I found this recipe was the June Baking Challenge for one of my favorite baking websites, Sally's Baking Addiction, well, I knew I had to bake it. And soon. Here's today's cast. I didn't have buttermilk so I did the usual mixing of white vinegar with milk. It never takes long for the curdling to begin. I had nice, large leaves of basil that I rolled into a cigar. A rough chiffonade and then I did an additional quick chop so the pieces weren't too big. I have a weird relationship with tomatoes. I love cooked tomatoes a lot but raw tomatoes can be hit or miss depending on how they are presented. Sun-dried tomatoes are great--it's like they take all the things I like best about tomatoes (the sweet tartness) and magically eliminate the stuff I don't (the pulpy seediness and occasional blandness) into a sweet, chewy, and more intensely flavored fruit. It's...