Photo Friday! {Plus Foodie Pen Pal Reveal}

This week is another “just testing my camera” week because I am dopey and forgot to bring it to the restaurant we went to for dinner last night. Also, since I am writing this right before leaving for the airport, I have not edited any of these. This will truly be a test to see the quality of pictures my camera gives me. Forgive me for the blurriness in advance, won’t you? Next week should be chock-full of great (edited) photos from this weekend because I am going away to New York for Labor Day weekend!

Spaghetti and shrimp and peas for dinner this week. Easy and fast dinner I recommend you make for dinner one night.

I’ll give you one guess what I used these ingredients for. Hint: the title of these treats is on the blue box.

Found a leaf in my hot chocolate at Four Barrel this morning. So pretty!

Wait! Did you say hot chocolate? I don’t see that on the menu. That’s what you are thinking, right?  Well, I know about the “secret menu”. They make their hot chocolate with Dandelion Chocolate, who, by the way, have a new bar! Now you know!

Lastly, it is Foodie Pen Pal reveal time! I got all sorts of goodies this time. According to my pen pal this month, Sandra, they are all locally made. In case you can’t tell what it is I got, it is Tim’s Potato Chips, Annie’s Homegrown Macaroni and Cheese, Moonstruck Milk Chocolate, Propeller Chocolate chip Energy bar Mix, and Cary’s English Toffee. All good things.

Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend and extra day off of work!

What I’m Reading Wednesday

Today is my blogger friend, Annelies’ Food Poetry Party, in honor of her new website, The Food Poet. For the party, foodies are to share their favorite poems/poets and poets and writers are to share their favorite recipes or chef that inspires them.

So, this week, I have been reading a bit of poetry. For starters, I read the poems that were already shared on the Facebook page for the event. And I will share them with you:

I love
The Guest House by Rumi

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Valentine
by Carol Ann Duffy

Not a red rose or a satin heart.

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover.
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or a kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possessive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,
if you like.

Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.

and now my favorite poem/poet:

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

What is your favorite poem/poet that inspires you? Do you have a favorite recipe or chef that inspires you? Join the party and share in the comments!

[insert CORN-y title here] {Blueberry Corn Muffins Recipe}

If you’ve been around the food blogs this summer, you may have noticed it’s been the summer of corn and blueberries. Between the corn, cucumber, herb and tomato salad that’s become a staple at dinner and the various corn bread and corn muffins, I’ve definitely had my share of corn this year. As for blueberries, I added them to the aforementioned muffins, and eaten them right out of the basket from the store, but have not added them to much else this year, but many other bloggers have.

Here are some of my favorite recipes from other bloggers that use corn or blueberries that I would’ve loved to fit in this summer:

From Joy the Baker: Sweet Corn Biscuits

How Sweet It Is: Hot Blueberry Cheddar Dip

White On Rice Couple: Fizzy Blueberry and Meyer Lemonade

Shutterbean: Blueberry Pudding Cake

Smitten Kitchen: Bacon Corn Hash

and the Blueberry Corn Muffins I made from Two Peas and Their Pod:

Blueberry Corn Muffins

Yield: 12 muffins

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

These tender corn muffins are bursting with blueberries. They are great for breakfast, a snack, or served as a side dish to any meal.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose Gold Medal flour
1 cup course ground yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup blueberries

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Fill a regular-size muffin pan with paper muffin cups or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk, melted butter, canola oil, vanilla, and eggs until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula until combined. The batter will be lumpy. Gently fold in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

4. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and serve.

Photo Friday!

As previously mentioned, I got a new camera. So, this week, I bring you photos of randomness.

a picture of a couple taking a picture (at Bi-Rite Creamery, SF)

I liked these shoes that these guys were wearing, especially the yellow ones.

this helicopter was flying over Dolores park while I was there

the outside of the Curiosity Shoppe…a floor-plan picture on a roof.

outside of the Paxton Gate (Curiosities for Kids, SF)

me and my shadow.

What I Am Reading Wednesday

Okay, so I’ve been away for a week. BUT, I do have a lot to share with what I’ve been reading and what I hope to share in the next few weeks!

So, what I’ve been reading:

I think this is great and that supermarkets should be allowed to do this in the U.S., too. I don’t know why farmers would want to hide what they are doing, if they are doing nothing wrong. 🙂

Speaking of doing nothing wrong, these Americans have been helping out their community.

And, if you are as much of a fan of This American Life & Ira Glass as I am, you would enjoy reading this.

I felt like this article was written just for me; it was just the advice I was looking for. And on a related note: this advice.

Since this is a food blog, I guess, really, I should be posting about food articles I’ve enjoyed recently. Like this one, about what the world eats.

Or, how about this one? For all of you pie-lovers out there. By the way, just a little survey: cake or pie? (Answer in the comments!)

For a more savory treat, (though you could make pie crust with lard) an article about lard making a comeback.

And, since it was recently what would have been Julia Child‘s 100th birthday, let’s all learn to eat the way that she did!

Lastly, great tips on getting your mojo back in the kitchen.

So, that’s what I’ve been reading. As I’ve said before, I have been working on some recipes I’d like to share soon, including some good ol’ American corn. I’ve also been making some things with coffee, and have another foodie pen pal box to pick up from the post office! Of course, I have some test photos I took with my new camera that I’ll share on Friday! Lots of posts coming soon(ish)!