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Entertaining

Rosemary Cornmeal Pine Nut Biscotti

It’s Tuesday night.  The gorgeous Asian pears are gone, except for a half, the blueberry muffin from Craftsman and Wolves but a memory, the husband is sick and watching Corner Gas somewhere he can’t infect the rest of the household, and I had my dad’s Sloppy Joes for dinner.  It involves Campbell’s Chicken Gumbo soup. Don’t judge.  It’s back to real life.  It’s a relief.  Being on the road, dining out for every meal, sounds glam, but it is tiresome. I’m not 25 anymore. But believe me, it’s not a complaint.  I had a fantastic time in San Francisco, catching up with folks I see once a year. Italian and Cal-Italian dominated our restaurant choices over the course of the week and Tim, the friend we hung out with at the market, and I chatted about lavender biscotti, so naturally I’m diving back into posting with these little Italian cookies on the brain. So, Rosemary, Cornmeal and Pine Nut biscotti.

Don’t Call Me Shirley Raspberry Spritzer

  Drinks named after celebrities seem to belong to a bygone era. One of the thrills of going out to dinner with my parents when I was little was ordering a Shirley Temple. With its delicate pink hue and a maraschino cherry floating on top, a Shirley Temple made you feel like one of the grownups. I think I even ordered one at dinner before junior prom. Today, if I ordered a Roy Rogers or an Arnold Palmer, I expect most people would know what I was after without explanation. But some where along the line, drinks named after celebrities fell out of favor. Can you imagine ordering a George Clooney, a Justin Bieber, or a Tiger Woods? The idea for this raspberry spritzer started as a spin on a Shirley Temple, which I’ve always thought of as 7-up and grenadine, but Wikipedia claims the soda is actually ginger ale. Made with a fresh raspberry syrup brightened by lemon, this spritzer is sweet but not cloying. And yes, it takes 3 half-pints of berries, but it’ll put any Italian soda made with bottled syrup to shame.

Sweet and Spicy Nut Mix

I don't really know why I started thinking about spiced nuts this weekend. Must be something about the sun being lower in the sky, and the cooler weather settling in...and the smell of anything roasting, whether its chiles or chicken or nuts, just feels like fall. I didn't think there was anything that could make pecans and almonds taste even better, until now.