~Comforts of Home~

The weather in San Diego has been very hot and humid this summer.

I just thought I'd stay inside today and enjoy the air conditioner.

I love fresh flowers in the kitchen.

Stock is one of my favorite.

It smells so good.

We made some sweets for breakfast.

Carly made homemade coffeecake.

Chocolate croissants

and heart pancakes.

I wanted to make Red Wine-Braised Shortribs. I found a recipe in Bon Appetit 2011. I love using fresh herbs from the garden.

You can find the recipe on Epicurious.com.

The meat was so tender,

Stan loved it!

I also made 

Good Eats Creamed Corn Cornbread

(Alton Brown's recipe)

Definitely Comfort Food.

The garden has lots of butternut squash this year.

I love the arranging little Fall vignettes from the things we grow.

The princess loves her Jack-Be-Little Pumpkins.

I wanted to share with you our beautiful water lilies.

The bees love them too!!

~Squash Blossoms~

With Summer's arrival soon approaching,

I'm seeing more and more summer squashes in bloom.

I love the dainty, edible flowers from them.

Sold at Farmer's Markets and Specialty Produce Stores,

the bright orange blossoms are from zucchini plants.

But, several other summer squashes may be eaten, as well.

We have some zucchini plants growing in our garden right now.

I'm looking forward to a wonderful harvest this summer.

I found a recipe from Bon Appetit using Squash Blossoms.

I used some fresh chives from our garden.

Ricotta Cheese

~Ricotta Stuffed Squash Blossoms~

Recipe

They were so delicious!!

We also made some Tortilla Soup.

It's a lovely recipe I've used for years now,

by Nigella Lawson. Hope you try it!

Cornish Game Hens with Wild Rice and fresh veggies.

completed our wonderful weekend.

Stan surprised me with a bouquet of Tuberoses.

The whole kitchen now smells heavenly!!