I made the recipe exactly as is, except for the fact I substituted the fresh thyme leaves with fresh mint leaves. While I usually use Pillsbury pie crusts in the red package, this tart dough – made with vinegar and ice water- was actually quite easy to make and it tasted delicious.

There are many upsides to this recipe:

1) You can make it ahead and bake at the last minute.

2) It looks beautiful, but isn’t hard to make. Your guests will be impressed!

3) It tastes delicious.

I tried to have a “Summery” meal for the Book Club and zucchini is definitely one of the “Vegetable Stars” of Summer (along with corn and tomatoes). While it says it serves 6, I cut it into smaller portions since we had Shrimp Salad and bread to go with it. It’s Summer until September 23rd, so enjoy these last couple weeks with this summery dish.

Zucchini & Goat Cheese Tart

Recipe by SergioCourse: EntreeCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Medium

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) cold unsalted butter, 1/2 diced

• 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar

• 5 tablespoons ice water

• 1 1/2 pound zucchini, unpeeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick

• 2 tablespoons good olive oil, divided

• 8 ounces plain creamy goat cheese at room temperature

• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves

• 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions

• Place flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt and the butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse 12 to 14 times, until butter is the size of a pea.
• With the processor running, pour the vinegar and ice water through the ffed tube and continue to process and pulse until the dough just comes together.
• Dump out on a floured board, form into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, place the zucchini in a colander set over a plate. Toss it with 2 teaspoons of salt and set aside for 30 minutes.
• Spread the zucchini out on a clean dish towel, roll it up and squeeze gently to remove some of the liquid.
• Put the zucchini slices into a bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
• With a fork, mash together the goat cheese, thyme, lemon zest, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and set aside.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll the dough out onto a floured board to a 11-inch circle and place on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
• Spread the dough with the goat cheese mixture, leaving a 1/2 inch border.
• Lay the zucchini slices in tightly overlapping circles, starting at the very edge of the pastry. Continue overlapping circles of zucchini until the whole tart is covered.
• Drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the dough is golden brown. Cut in wedges and serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Notes

• Choose zucchini that have similar diameters so the slices will be uniform. Slice by hand or with a mandolin.
• To Make It Ahead: Roll out the dough and assemble the tart. Cover and refrigerate for up to 4 hours. Bake.
• To make an 11-inch circle, roll the dough to 12 or 13 inches in diameter, fold in quarters and trim the edges with a sharp knife. When you unfold the pastry, it will be a circle.

Looking back at this recipe, it’s a lot of steps but the tart comes together quickly. You could make the dough the day before, assemble in the morning and bake right before serving, which is what I did for my Book Club Party. The other nice thing about this dish is you can serve it cold, hot or room temperature.

Up Next: Girl’s Weekend in the Keys

Roasting is the process that brings out the most flavor in the nuts, and serving them warm is a particularly nice touch.

Ina Garten

Serving them warm would be a nice touch, but I just served them room temp, as I’d made them the day before. As they sit, they stick together so you may need to break them apart a bit before serving. The hardest part about this recipe is assembling the variety of nuts. I recommend shopping at Trader Joe’s for the nuts, as they are fresh and relatively inexpensive.

*As I mentioned in my previous post, check the nuts roasting after about 18 minutes. I found the instructions for them to roast 25 minutes to be too long. I also made half a batch for my Bookclub’s 10 members. You can make the full recipe for bigger crowds and the leftover nuts keep well.

Chipotle & Rosemary Roasted Nuts

Recipe by SergioCourse: AppetizerCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy

Servings

10

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Calories

300

kcal

These easy-to-make roasted nuts from the Barefoot Contessa’s How Easy Is That? Cookbook are addictive.

Ingredients

• 3 cups whole roasted unsalted cashews

• 2 cups whole walnut halves

• 2 cups whole pecan halves

• 1/2 cup whole almonds

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

• 3 tablespoons squeezed orange juice

• 2 teaspoons ground chipotle powder

• 4 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves, divided

• Kosher salt

• Vegetable oil

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Brush a sheet pan generously with vegetable oil (I used Parchment paper to avoid clean up mess).
• Combine the cashews, walnuts, pecans, almonds, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, the maple syrup, brown sugar, orange juice and chipotle powder on the sheet pan. Toss to coat evenly. Add 2 tablespoons of the rosemary and 2 teaspoons of salt and toss again.
• Spread the nuts in one layer. Roast the nuts for 25 minutes, stirring twice with a large spatula, until the nuts are glazed and golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and sprinkle with 2 more teaspoons of salt and the remaining 2 tablespoons of rosemary. Toss well and set aside at room temp, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking as they cool.
• Serve warm or cool completely and store in airtight containers at room temperature.

Notes

• Check the nuts at 18 minutes to see if they are done.
• This recipe can be cut in half.

These nuts were so good, everyone at the Book Club asked for the recipe. I had leftovers, so I served them at my Girl’s Weekend in the Keys the following weekend; Kelley liked them so much, she made them at her Girl’s Weekend in the Keys last weekend. Like I said, this recipe is a keeper!

Up Next: Girl’s Weekend in the Keys

Labor Day we had to go for our “free” Hot Dogs at Riviera. Emma and Guillermo, A.J. Wyatt and Phoenix joined us for the buffet of Baked Beans, Coleslaw, Potato Salad, Pasta Salad and Chips and then A.J. took the boys swimming.

Dinner was an easy one of creamy Burrata, sliced Fresh Tomatoes (from Pennsylvania!) and Arugula with toasted garlic bread for dinner. We’d stopped to get tamales at our favorite tamale place in Homestead on the way home from the Keys on Monday, but alas, they were sold out. So, instead, we got Shredded Beef, fresh Corn Tortillas and salsa, which is what we ate for dinner Tuesday night. They weren’t tamales (my favorite!), but they were good. I served them with Spanish Rice and an Avocado Salad with corn and feta.

I used to belong to the Cookbook Book Club at Pinecrest Library, but it was suspended in the Pandemic, so lately they’ve been doing Virtual Events. This Thursday they had The Art of Charcuterie with Vegan author Ellen Kanner. While charcuterie is, by definition, meat, Kanner is vegan, so hers had different vegetables and a tahini dip. She also made a beautiful Foccacia, decorated with vegetables and a dessert board with S’ Mores and fruit. While I like the convenience of Virtual Events, nothing can replace in-person events. At our Cookbook Book Club we got to sample all the dishes the participants had made and talk about them. Hopefully, they will bring this fun group back into live events in the near future.

Friday I met friends at True Food Kitchen in the Falls for lunch. Since I’d already tried (and loved) the Turkey Burger, I got the seasonal soup (Butternut Squash) and the Edamame Dumplings. Both were delicious. My friends got a Chopped Salad with Shrimp and an Ancient Grain Bowl with sweet potatoes, avocado, charred onion with a pumpkin seed pesto. They both really enjoyed their dishes. The service was good and the place has a clean, fun vibe. When I return, I will definitely get the Edamame Dumplings again.

I was so excited to have my first Miami Spice of the season Friday night with friends I haven’t seen in a while at Michael’s Genuine. Alas, Foodie in Miami screwed up! Michael’s Genuine, newly remodeled and revamped, doesn’t offer Miami Spice on Fridays. Oh well- we still had a lovely night, with good conversation and food. Some of their signature dishes- Pig Ears anyone?- are still on the menu, but there are also new items. Prices, like everywhere else, have jumped, but that’s to be expected.

We ordered a bottle of Albarino wine, perfect for a hot night (and we were seated outside), which the waiter poured judiciously throughout our meal. I love when they do this, because the wine doesn’t get hot. Warm Sourdough Bread was ordered, with whipped butter and black salt, as well as Crispy Pigs Ears, which were thinly sliced and fried, for the table to share. They sound weird, but were good.

I got two appetizers- Prime Steak Tartare and Wood Roasted Octopus– for my meal. The tartare was chilled, came with an egg yolk on top and toasted bread on the side. The octopus was beautifully plated with cilantro sprigs and sliced radishes; while it wasn’t a big portion, it was delicious and perfectly cooked. We ended the night with a Sticky Toffee Pudding with Ice Cream we all shared (6 spoons please!), which was on the house because it took a while coming out. It was delicious, with refreshing, candied ginger topping the ice cream. Yum!

The next day, we went to our first U.M. game of the season. We got to go into the Black Parking Lot, that had a bunch of booths, a DJ, games to win prizes and free samples of food and drink. It was fun and then we went into an air-conditioned suite (thank the Lord) to watch U.M. beat Southern Miss. We met up with A.J. at halftime. She’d used our regular tickets to attend the game with Wyatt and Phoenix. We had to hurry home, because I had my Hy Vong pick-up at 5 p.m.

I drove over to the house where the pick-up was located, which is only a couple blocks from mine, and rang the doorbell. No answer. I called and texted the phone number. Still no answer. A van pulled up, with a woman in a headdress and a man carrying a small child. I assumed this to be the Afghan woman who is cooking with Tung and Kathy. Shortly after, the man emerged with a box filled with my order. The food came in paper boxes, which made it easy to heat up in the microwave, as per the instructions on the label. The sauces came on the side.

We started with the Papaya Salad. It was a huge portion, with jullienned green papayas, carrots, cilantro and peanuts. Next, the Barbeque Pork with Vermicelli Rice Noodles. It made me so happy to eat this! Besides being delicious, with complex flavors, it reminded me of eating at Hy Vong. Lastly, we sampled the Mantoo– Afghan Meat Dumplings. The meat in question was lamb and it came with garbanzo beans, a tomato sauce and fresh mint leaves. Very interesting and the dumpling skin was the most delicate I’ve ever tasted. We finished everything off but the salad, which I ate the next day for lunch. I will definitely order Hy Vong pick-up again. Zeke was already asking when the next pick-up date would be.

On Sunday, I had my Mom over for a Belated Birthday Dinner. She was in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for her actual (undisclosed) birthday. I set the table with my wedding china and the flatware setting of Newport Scroll my Mom has gifted me over the years. I got flowers at Trader Joes- daisies because that’s what my mom carried in her wedding bouquet- and put out a framed photo of her as a toddler in cowboy boots. Our first course was lobster-topped deviled eggs. We’d had them at a restaurant in Maui (it was their signature dish) and since I had two lobster tails in the freezer, I thought- why not? Surf-N-Turf Dinner.

Zeke helped me broil the lobster, which I chopped up and chilled. I made my Mom’s Deviled Egg recipe, topped them with lobster chunks and sprinkled them with Old Bay. An easy, yet impressive, appetizer. Since the U.S. Open Men’s Final Tennis Tournament was on, we went into the Family Room to watch it, bringing the Deviled Eggs with us. Zeke grilled the New York Strip Steaks (a tad too much) and I assembled the first course- a Romaine Salad with grapefruit wedges, avocado slices, feta cheese and a Dijon Viniagrette. It was a recipe from a catering company in L.A. and is one of their signature dishes. It was very good- a summery salad with delicious creamy avocado, refreshing grapefruit, some salty feta and. a punch of Dijon.

Dinner was New York Strip Steaks with Ina’s Coffee Rub, Baked Potatoes with butter, chives and sour cream and Cheesy Stuffed Mushrooms. For dessert I served Lemon Delice, a pound cake frosted with Lemon Buttercream, and Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream. It was the perfect combo!

You’ve made this before.

My Mom said about the cake.

Yes, I had, more than thirty years ago for another Birthday Dinner for her. It’s a dessert that looks pretty, isn’t too sweet but is easy to put together because you use a store-bought pound cake. My Mother loved her Birthday Dinner. I think cooking for someone is an act of love and spending time with them, the best gift, for all involved. So Happy Birthday Mom! And many more…

Up Next: Lemon Delice

The good thing about this recipe is that you probably already have all of the ingredients in your pantry, and, if you don’t, it is somewhat adaptable. I didn’t have chipotle chile powder, so used plain chile powder and, since I was out of brown sugar here in the Keys (what?), I used regular sugar. The other plus is, the more you let the rub sit on the steak, the more flavorful it will be, so you could rub it on the day before and let it sit overnight.

Add a baked potato, grilled asparagus (or other veggie), Caesar salad and your Dad’s favorite dessert (either homemade or purchased) and you’re good to go! Cooking at home is so much meaningful, intimate and less expensive than eating out on Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day to all fathers out there and if you’re not celebrating, this is still a good, easy steak rub to have in your back pocket of recipes.

Spicy Coffee Rub

Recipe by Ina GartenCourse: CondimentDifficulty: Easy

6 steaks

6

servings

9

minutes

Ingredients

• 2 TBL Kosher Salt

• 1 TBL Freshly Ground Pepper

• 1 tsp ground coffee

• 1 tsp granulated garlic powder

• 1 tsp chipotle chili powder

• 1 tsp crushed red pepper

• 2 tsp light brown sugar

Directions

• In a small bowl, combine all the above ingredients.
• Pat steaks dry with paper towels and brush with olive oil.
• Pat rub all over steaks, cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

Recipe Video

Notes

• Silicone brushes are easier to clean.

Up Next: Jennifer Aniston Salad

Around the time I made this I also read an article in the New York Times Food Section of cooking tips to make cooking easier (and more foolproof!), so I incorporated them in making this Beef Bourguignon as a practical teaching tool.

“Always Mise”

This means to get your stuff together. Referred to as “mise en place” by chefs, pull all the ingredients you need out before you begin cooking. It stinks when you start to cook, only to have to stop in the middle to run to the store for a missing ingredient. Also make sure all your ingredients are fresh and ready-to-use; you don’t want to find your yeast or baking soda has expired in the midst of baking. This also means to chop, dice and generally prep all the ingredients that will be going into your dish to make cooking easier.

For this recipe, mise meant I chopped the bacon, ground the pepper, sliced the onions, carrots, mushrooms, diced the garlic and measured the other ingredients before I began. The butter should be taken out as well, so it’s room temp.

“Taste as you go”

Kind of self-explanatory, but taste as you are cooking to make sure it all tastes correctly. If you have to add different components together and one part is bad, the whole dish can be ruined by ignoring this advice. It’s especially important before serving the finished dish. I tasted the sauce for this dish to determine if it needed more salt, flavoring etc…

“Don’t Crowd the Pan”

When searing the meat cubes for the Beef Bourguignon, I made sure there was space in between. If you crowd the meat, it steams versus sears and you want the sear on the meat to get a nice depth of flavor.

“Read the Recipe. Really.”

Super important and I did read this recipe through, but still messed up. I used less meat than called for, but didn’t cut back on the cognac (1/2 cup) or red wine (a whole bottle!) and after I did that, it was too saucy and I was still supposed to put beef broth in. I was afraid my family was going to get bloody drunk on this beef stew. So, make notes of reductions of ingredients, if cutting back on the recipe. Doing math in my head was never my strong suit, it’s better if I have it written out.

“Use a Garbage Bowl”

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. I usually just throw vegetable scraps and skins into any available vessel and throw them into my compost after cooking, but this is a better idea, making cooking more efficient.

“Buy the Best Ingredients Possible”

This is my own addition and is the basis of Tuscan cooking in Italy. I couldn’t find the specific beef (chuck) meat specified in this recipe, so out of laziness grabbed some pre-cut stew meat. When I got it home, the cubes were different sizes and some of the meat didn’t even look like meat, but like pork. While my Beef Bourguignon was good, the meat was a little on the chewy side.

“Clean As you Go”

I don’t always follow this rule, but I always feel better when I do. First of all, make sure your kitchen is clean before you start and if you clean as you go, you won’t be left with a giant unmanageable mess at the end. I sometimes set the buzzer for 10 minutes and make myself clean until it goes off, as a motivator.

Beef Bourguignon recipe by Ina Garten

Level: Intermediate

Yeild: 6 servings (more like 8)

Total Time: 1 hr 45 min

Prep: 30 min

Cook: 1 hr 15 min

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon good olive oil
• 8 ounces bacon, diced
• 1 1/2 pounds chuck beef cut into 1-inch cubes
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch chunks
• 2 yellow onions, slice
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup Cognac
• 1 bottle good dry red wine such as Cote du Rhone or Pinot Noir
• 1 can (2 cups) beef broth
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp, divided
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 pound frozen whole onions
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, stems discarded, caps thickly sliced

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

2. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch Oven. Add the bacon and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is lightly browned. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon to a large plate.

3. Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper. In batches in single layers, sear the beef in the hot oil for 3 to 5 minutes, turning to brown on all sides. Remove the seared cubes to the plate with the bacon and continue searing until all the beef is browned. Set aside.

4. Toss the carrots and onions, 1 tablespoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of pepper in the fat in the pan and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the Cognac, stand back and ignite with a match to burn off the alcohol. Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with the juices. Add the bottle of wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the meat. Add the tomato paste and thyme. Bring to a simmer, cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for about 1 1/4 hours or until the meat and vegetables are very tender when pierced with a fork.

5. Combine 2 tablespoons of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. Add the frozen onions. Saute the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter for 10 minutes until lightly browned and then add to the stew. Bring the stew to a boil on top of the stove, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Season to taste.

6. To serve, sprinkle parsley over the top.

I followed the recipe with the exception of the fact I couldn’t find frozen pearl onions, so got fresh and had to peel them. I also didn’t have the full amount of beef, so should have adjusted the recipe to accomodate the change. But otherwise, it turned out great and tasted better the next day. I served it with mashed potatoes, sauteed peas and French bread.

Tres bien!

Up Next: Food Trends for 2021

When I started dating my husband Zeke, a widower with three little girls, I asked him “Why did you wait so long to have kids?” Emma, Rachel and Lauren were 4, 5 and 8 years old when I met him and he was 41. My kids- Brad, A.J. and Chris were 22, 16 and 14- I’d had them all before I turned 30. “Why did you have your kids so young?” he asked me, in turn. On our second date, when I told him I finally saw “the light at the end of the tunnel” regarding raising kids, he feared that light was a train coming to hit me with his kids. He was right. I fell in love with him and his three little girls and we got married in 2004.

Before he proposed he asked: “Doesn’t this scare you?” meaning his young daughters. “Teenagers scare me,” I answered. And I have to say, going through the teenage years with three girls and their hormones in the house, at the same time I was going through my own havoc-wreaking hormones in menopause, was quite hellish. But, I survived, our marriage miraculously survived and we were both starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as Emma, the youngest, prepared to graduate from High School and leave for Tallahassee and FSU the summer of 2017.

But, that didn’t happen. Lauren, who’s had her own apartment since she graduated FSU is now in D.C. at Georgetown. Emma moved into an apartment in the Gables with her boyfriend Gui in June and Rachel, the middle child most anxious to leave, just got an apartment on Brickell with a friend. As Zeke and I sat outside last night with a glass of wine, listening to music by our newly resurfaced pool I said “Wow- we’re really empty nesters.”

The house seems so big and quiet without kids. I’ve been waiting for this day for ages and now that it’s here, I just feel… empty. At least I get to see Wyatt once a week. I pick him up from school, he stays for dinner and sleeps over and I take him to school the next day. When I get sad I have to remember, I have two new grandsons to look forward to; Emma visits quite frequently and we have her over for dinner about once a week. Lauren will be home soon for Thanksgiving, staying through till the new year, so the house won’t be totally vacant. As a friend said to an empty nester feeling withdrawal pains recently, the thing about kids is “they come back.”

As I enjoyed an Orange Crush cocktail, Zeke smoked the most delectable Ribs Sunday night. They were so good, I didn’t even want to try the Grilled Chicken Thighs, but they were also delicious- moist and flavorful. We ate it with boiled corn and baked beans. I like my corn boiled, as opposed to on the grill. I used to know a lady that was married to Shorty’s son and she said the secret to Shorty’s corn (it’s so good!) is that they “boil the hell out of it.” Ha! Also, it’s swimming in butter. I tried to get her to give me the recipe for their coleslaw (my favorite) but she didn’t.

Monday we met friends Brooks and Sharon at Sea Siam. This was the last place we ate before the Pandemic hit. After sushi and a bottle of wine, we invited them to join us in the Keys for the weekend, to go out on our new boat. Vital Signs came Friday morning to put the name on our boat- ‘Bout Time- and it looks great. Friday night we did a sunset cruise with wine, cheese and crackers. We returned home and had dinner at Sharkey’s Bar and Grille, one of our favorite hole-in-the-wall joints. Of course, we had to get Fish Dip and Conch Fritters, two Key’s favorites. Saturday, we took the boat out for lunch at Marker 88. Every time we’ve gone out to eat on the boat, we’ve tried a different restaurant, so now we have the tracks set on our Garmin GPS system, kind of like the crumbs Hansel and Gretel left, leading the way back to our destination.

Marker 88 had a delicious Hot Crab Dip that we noshed on with fried won tons. I ordered a Perfect Margarita which was very good (not that easy to find in the Keys) and a Seared Tuna Salad, with rare, sesame-coated tuna and lots of greens. We all enjoyed our lunch and I asked the waiter for the Hot Crab Dip recipe which he brought to me on slip from his waiter’s pad. After we returned home, we all napped (except Sharon). Dinner was Grilled Yellowtail Snapper with a lemon butter sauce, Uncle Ben’s Wild Rice and Broiled Asparagus. Zeke had made a yummy appetizer of sautéed Shrimp and Lobster with some Yum Yum sauce.

Emma was having her boyfriend’s family over for dinner on Friday, so she came over Thursday so I could help her make Baked Ziti, Meatballs and Salad Dressing. Emma said I was going to be “horrified” at the recipe she’d chosen. Actually, it was fine but sour cream in a pasta dish? And Emma wanted to make it with Vodka sauce, which is already creamy. We made my Grandmother’s meatballs, golf ball size, but I showed Emma a little trick to testing the meatballs. You make a tiny one and cook it to make sure the seasonings are correct. Another secret to making successful meatballs is baking them, versus frying them. My grandmother always fried them in the salt pork and onion mixture for her sauce, but my meatballs fall apart with this method, so now I bake them. 375 for 20 minutes on parchment paper or a silpat mat. I flip them after 10, so they brown on both sides.

We got everything done and Emma was on her way. “How do you time everything?” Emma asked, so I sent her an Ina Garten suggestion from one of her cookbooks. It’s called “foolproof game plans” and it’s an “excruciating detailed” game plan of what to do the day of a dinner party. Having a game plan takes the guess work out of dinner parties and you’ll be less likely to forget something if you write it all down. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve forgotten a dish in the fridge- this plan will eliminate that from happening and also relieves hostess free-floating anxiety. Emma’s dinner went well. She texted me the next day and said: “I don’t know who you do it so often.” It’s nice to be appreciated! I told her the more you do it, the easier it gets, but we’re probably all a little rusty in the entertaining department with the Pandemic.

I planted my little herb and vegetable garden last week and it looks great. I have some tomato plants from my tennis partner (she has a farm in the Redlands), a Japanese eggplant, some cucumbers (never tried them before), a Poblano pepper, some Spinach, Kale and lots of herbs. I also planted marigolds throughout my garden for two purposes. One, they look pretty and two, they repel insects. When people ask me what to plant in their garden, I say plant what you want to eat and will use. There’s no reason to plant eggplant or cilantro if you hate them. Also, try to choose varieties that work in your climate (South Florida’s 10b zone) for best results.

Two genius ideas I’ve discovered lately. One is Prosecco ice cubes. When I don’t finish the whole bottle of Prosecco (it happens!) I pour the remainder into an ice cube tray. The cubes don’t freeze completely solid, they’re a little slushy so I pry them out with a butter knife and they are perfect for plopping into my Prosecco to make it ice cold. The other genius idea I’ve had is putting an arugula salad on pizza.

This idea was based on an Ina Garten recipe for White Pizzas with Arugula, but honestly it could work on many types of pizza, including Proscuitto or Fig and blue cheese. Make a simple vinaigrette of 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup lemon juice and salt and pepper. Make your pizza, take it out and toss enough vinaigrette on a bunch of arugula to moisten. Then, pour the arugula salad on top of the pizza. It will cool it down, make it pop and turn a freezer pizza from ho-hum to amazing! I did this to a little pita bread pizza I made for myself when Zeke was in the Keys and I was home alone, and it was great.

I made the cutest Stuffed Peppers that looked like Jack-O-Lanterns for Wyatt when he came over Wednesday night. It was inspired from a Trisha Yearwood recipe on the Food Network and had macaroni, with ground beef, pasta sauce and shredded cheese. You stuff the pepper (with cut outs like a Jack-O-Lantern) and bake them; they turned out great. Wyatt, however, wanted his pasta out of the pepper and then he wanted plain pasta, not the one with meat and sauce. As a wise Gigi, I’d already anticipated this request and had some plain macaroni in the fridge waiting. Oh well, I tried to broaden his horizons!

According to Whole Foods, the Top Food Trends for 2021 are: Banana Jerky, Chickpea cereal and alcoholic Kombucha. Weird, weird and weirder. This sounds positively awful to me. If 2021 is anything like 2020, I want comfort food, a big fat weighted blanket and lots of wine, (not alcoholic Kombucha) to numb my pain. Creamy soups, gooey Mac ‘n cheese, Strawberry Pop Tarts, Cap’n Crunch and a big bowl of Pistachio gelato sound about right to me in my Pandemic, hibernation mode. God forbid I actually have to show this body in public.

Last week was an eventful week in the Guilford Household!

• Garden Planted. Check!
• Pool Resurfaced. Check!
• Boat Named. Check!
• Empty Nesters. Check!

As Zeke noted, the name of our boat, ‘Bout Time, can mean many things. ‘Bout Time we got a boat, ’bout time we spend more time relaxing, ’bout time this election season is over, ’bout time we have an empty nest. ‘Bout Time Zeke starts chasing me around the house (caneless) and we go skinny dipping, I guess! It really is ’bout time!

Remember when, we said when we turn gray, When the children grow up and move away. We won’t be sad, we’ll be glad, For all the life we’ve had. And we’ll Remember When.

Alan Jackson

Up Next: Easy Appetizers.