Thank you all for the great response to my Blog. A lot of you are asking great questions (all questions are great). One that was asked was about Coconut Macaroons and how to keep them from weeping and from falling apart.
My recipe is really simple. So I am going to share it with you.
I am going to make these cookies, also. I will post the pics so you can see what I am writing about.
Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons Continue reading
Welcome to my “Camille Cooks For You” Blog. I have been thinking about doing this for a very long time and just kept putting it off until a friend told me to “Just Do It”. Well, here I am doing it.
I decided to write this blog because I have a great deal of knowledge about food and everything related to food. I want to share it with you. I can help you with all you want to know about food, recipes, entertaining, products, service, wine, cook books, restaurants (near and far) and so many more food related topics. I believe sharing all I know with you will give you a greater sense of how wonderful food and cooking and entertaining is.
I am working on writing a cook book and know it will take quite some time to get it finished and published. I don’t want to wait that long to give you all the food related information I know .
My blog is in the beginning stages and as I go along I will add a lot more to it: Pictures, recipes, insights, guidance. I am writing my blog with the same love and passion I have for food.
Please send me your questions, comments, input and whatever food related subjects you would like to discuss.
Check out the few articles I have written on the blog and read “How it Started.” The articles were published in a local community news paper this passed summer.
You can always comment directly on the blog or feel free to contact me by e-mail. camille@camillecooksforyou.com
Pickled Veggies I made for July 4 BBQ
Whenever I cater an event, or host a party at my home, I create a different menu each time to serve to the guests. I do this to keep my customers, as well as myself, interested in my food. Many of the parties I cater have “crossover” guests. By this I mean a lot of the same people are at each others’ parties. This is one of the countless things I love about what I do as it keeps me on my toes to create new food to cook and serve. The only time I repeat is when I am asked to do so. Not only do I create different menus for each event, I often put on something extraordinary that no one expects.
A perfect example of this is the BBQ I had on July 4. All of my guests were friends and family for whom I have cooked numerous times. Not one item I made was a repeat from past parties. On the menu were fish tacos and pulled pork, both with several very interesting accompaniments. But the something extraordinary, for this menu, was the array of pickled vegetables I served as an appetizer: Curried carrots, jalapenos, green beans, asparagus, bread and butter pickles, cauliflower (brains as it is called in cook books of old) and cherries. (Yes, pickled cherries. Great served with charcuterie.) Continue reading
My sister’s comment about our Mother being our Julia Child is so true. Mom was a huge fan of Julia Child. We would watch her early shows together and many times mom would make the food Julia was preparing on the show. What was so interesting about that was she would make the recipe and adjusted it to suite her taste. Unbelievable how it would turn out so perfectly perfect.
After Mom passed away I was given all of her cook books and in one of the cook books was a letter she received from Julia (most likely someone on her staff sent it). Mom wrote to Julia for one of the recipes she prepared on her PBS show. She got the recipe along with a reprimand. That reprimand was concerning her lack of sending a self-addressed envelope in which the recipe should have been sent. Needless to say, I still have that letter along with the recipe.
With today’s fast pace we often find ourselves eating on the run and eating food that is not very good for us. Sitting down with family and friends to share a meal is, in today’s world, so very hard to do. It is all but impossible to get everyone together, at one specific time, to gather around the dinner table to eat a good meal, talk about the day and generally enjoy being together.
When I was growing up in Chicago, it was important to be home for dinner each evening at 6 PM. It was an event we all looked forward to. This time was important not only because we were going to be together to enjoy each others company, to talk about our day, or solve the problems of the world, but most importantly, to eat my mother’s wonderful food. She was the catalyst for this time together. We were not the kind of family that would sit around in the living room after dinner to discuss topics of the day. Once dinner was over, we would each go our own separate way; studying, practicing the piano, dad finishing up drawing plans for his construction business and mom embroidering (she had a side business of embroidering hats for the Shrine’s).Dinner was the only meal we shared each day. My father left for work before we got up in the morning. He would make his own breakfast and quietly leave for a long hard day not returning until just before dinner. My mother made dinner truly special as it was the time all five of us were certain to be at the dinner table. Mom always set the table with a tablecloth, linen napkins and never disposable dishes or flatware. Continue reading
