Hearty Autumn Salad with Bacon, Egg, Cornbread Croutons, and Artichokes

I'm back! It's been a long while, and the weather has changed drastically since I've been gone. But I have good reason - two good reasons, actually - for being gone so long. First, my hubby and I took a two week whirlwind trip to Europe, staying in Amsterdam, Brussels, and Zurich. There was much good food, much good beer, a whole lotta walking, wonderful weather despite it being October, and in general a good time was had by all. I ate lots of delicious new foods (Dutch pea soup! Deer sausage! Stoemp! Waterzooi!), and will be posting the recipes here as I make them and can get them close to what I remember having. But besides being gone, there was a lot of planning. It was my first time to Europe, and I planned it myself. Every little bit. Lodging, transportation, train tickets, local metro passes, museum tickets, everything. It was intimidating, and time consuming, and occasionally stressful! But it all turned out well.

Secondly, I've been devoting time to one of my other passions - namely all things design. I'm a bit of an obsessive when it comes to well-designed cookware and serveware (and decor, and... ok, modern and well designed ANYTHING really), and I've been delving in headfirst scouring through thrift stores and other sources, trying to find the good stuff. The good news: I've been finding good stuff! Though it takes time. The flipside is I've been finding TOO MUCH good stuff, and I can't just let it sit there, so I take it home, and well, I've opened an Etsy shop with all my goodies. If you like unique and modern home stuff, check out my shop at http://kiteless.etsy.com/.

What To Do with Kohlrabi?

Are you familiar with kohlrabi? I sure am not. I have this thing, though, where if I see a new vegetable I've never tried, I just have to pick it up. I can't pass it by. It nags at me when it's unfamiliar, it whispers "why don't you just take me home and figure out what to do with me later". Usually this works in my favor, like with yummy long beans or or bitter-sweet broccoli raab. Sometimes I just don't like it, like with Chinese spinach, although that's rare. So you can imagine that these funny looking veggies were so compelling, with their knobby bases and startling color. I recognized the name kohlrabi, but I didn't even know what they were - root vegetable, or something else? (Turns out they're a brassica - related to cabbage and broccoli - and not a root vegetable.)

I took them home and looked for some recipes. I didn't find much, though I did find several people commenting that they grew up eating them raw. Well, that's a start, so with a sharp knife I carefully topped the long stalks, cut off the bottom, and peeled the outside. I cut a sliver, and was surprised. It was crisp and watery, like jicama or a raw potato. It was mild in flavor, a little bit sweet, a little bit nutty. Another taste. A little like a cross between a broccoli stem, a cabbage, and an apple. Another taste. Truth be told, I was no longer sampling, just eating. It was really tasty!

An Easy, Simple, and Elegant Salad with Corn and Golden Beets

It's early June, and it's raining. Today's high is expected to be a mere 52° Farenheit, a far cry from the normal 68°. I've been hearing lots of record weather in the last few years... record snows two winters ago, record highs last summer, record mild winters, and now, the wettest stretch of rain in the "dry season", or so says the weatherman. All I know is, my outdoor lounge chairs, BBQ, tomatoes, and me, are all crying for some sunshine.

I know, fast forward two or three months and I'll probably be muttering about it being too hot. I can only hope that we don't have a 100° summer like we did last year, us pale and pasty PNWers (without A/C) can hardly take that kind of weather. But I would happily take a few days in the low 70s. In the spirit of looking forward to the warm weather, and the abundance of produce that comes with it, here's a beautiful and easy no-cook side dish.

Endive and Potato Salad with Smoked Trout

Seattle is the land of smoked salmon, but I have a secret: as much as I love the salmon, I really love smoked trout. It's a little milder than salmon, with a sweeter flavor, but it still has a nice, meaty texture and pleasant saltiness. Unfortunately, it's a little bit hard to find - 10 kinds of smoked salmon, or even salmon candy, is readily available, but refrigerated smoked trout (I've tried some in cans and didn't care for it) is only available in the more specialty stores around here.

That's part of the reason I love this salad, it's a great use of smoked trout. Paired with crunchy and slightly bitter endives, creamy potatoes, and a lovely light and lemony dressing, and lots of fresh herbs, this salad hits all the notes for me - crunchy, creamy, lightly bitter in a very pleasant way, meaty, salty, tangy, all good. All this without croutons, which I dearly love (especially when using leftover La Brea ciabatta and frying them lightly in bacon fat), but this salad needs none!