The Power of Two

Sometimes the greatest dishes are also a gift of simplicity. My husband happened upon this 'recipe' for the grill about a year ago and we've enjoyed it many times since. Chorizo infuses green cabbage with spicy goodness and tasty moisture in this no-fuss dish.

Chorizo & Cabbage
Makes two to three servings

1/2 pound ground chorizo
1 large green cabbage

foil


1. Remove and discard core from cabbage. Roll and shape a piece of foil into a coil that will fit the base of the cabbage and keep it level during grilling.

2. Heat chorizo briefly in a frying pan to release natural juices - about five minutes.

3. Pack chorizo tightly into cabbage opening and place on foil coil, in grill. Cook on medium low heat for approximately 50 minutes until chorizo is lightly charred on top.

4. Let sit for five to ten minutes. Cut in wedges and serve.

Winter Respite

Beyond my open door and balcony railing, tall palms rustle softly above manicured golf greens and grass-decorated beach as gulls sail above gentle swells. On my first morning at Amelia Island Plantation, the fireball sun cast a rosy glow across my wall, as purple surrendered to pale blue. The next morning, murky fog hid two-foot swells that crashed against the beach. On this last morning of my vacation pink and orange rays illuminate a pale blue sky and cast golden light across calm, still-dark water.

I snuggle into my robe, sip piping hot coffee and pull out my camera. Half a dozen shots later I turn towards breakfast - a fluffy frittata with perfectly cooked asparagus, baby carrots, and broccoli flowerets, and a generous serving of lightly cooked and seasoned red potatoes. A fruit plate bears eight slices of cantaloupe and honeydew, plus a handful of incredibly plump raspberries, blueberries and strawberries.

After breakfast I begin my final walk beside the ocean, calves straining against packed and shifting sand as my toes squish through liquid beach and dodge shell fragments strewn along the high tide line. By this evening, I'll return to Midwestern ice and snow.

Better Butter

In an effort to avoid trans fats we had switched from margarine to a soft spread that was loaded with omega-3 fatty acids – long before this became the prevailing nutritional wisdom. That the spread also had loads of omega-6s didn’t mean much to us - until I found information that omega-6s actually produce more inflammation in the body, which could possibly lead to increased incidence of blood clots.

Then I noticed there were far more omega-6s than omega-3s in our soft spread, which didn’t sound good because a family member had previously undergone heart surgery. Butter looked like a better option all the time, especially since we wouldn’t use a lot of it, but refrigerated butter was difficult to spread and butter left at room temperature might grow rancid.

Enter the butter keeper, a small crock that you fill with a little water before upending the butter-filled inner piece of the crock into it, to form an airtight seal. Change the water every two or three days, keep it closed unless you’re using the butter, and the all-natural spread remains sweet, fresh and, most of all, highly spreadable.

It was the best $10 I had spent in ages.

Flight Pattern

There's nothing like bubbly and donuts after your first hot air balloon ride. Our 'driver,' Brooke, offered both as he distributed flight certificates and lapel pins, and read the Irish Balloonist's Prayer aloud:

The winds have welcomed you with softness.

The sun has blessed you with his warm hands.

You have flown so high and so well that

God has joined us together in laughter and set us

gently back into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

A whoosh of hot air and whisper of breeze had ushered us into the early morning sky outside Albuquerque. With arm muscles bulging, Brooke deftly adjusted heavy-duty synthetic ropes that secured the rainbow-striped balloon to the passenger basket, and the burner that helps change the air pressure and balloon shape. Cameras clicked and whirred in every direction.

A smaller balloon to our right shimmered silver and blue against wispy clouds. The Rio Grande snaked below us, across the fall-colored landscape, and beneath a highway bridge where passing cars resemble ants. The balloon nearly skimmed the river’s surface before it rose to the treetops and traveled within several yards of upper branches.

Fifty-five minutes, three ground miles, and 1,700 feet in elevation later, Brooke slowly allowed hot air to escape through a vent in the balloon's crown so it could land in a field near where we started. We gently touched ground and departed the basket. Several passengers helped the crew squeeze air out of the spent balloon and then the festivities began.

Tasting Sonoma

Beginning in the late 1800s many Italian immigrants settled in the Sonoma Valley, which reminded them of their home country, and transplanted their wine making expertise to their new country.

Since that time, dozens of wineries have sprung up across the verdant valley where much of the wine experience is about small operations, small batches, and a family’s dedication to producing the best wine possible from one generation to the next. Today, travelers may visit hundreds of wineries throughout the region, for experiences that are as diverse as the wineries themselves.

Morning sun warms my face as I savor a heady Cabernet and watch the pruning of the vines, on a dew-kissed hilltop at Passalacque Winery – a fourth-generation operation. At Seghesio Family Vineyards, I taste and purchase a crisp and rare white Arneis from the Italian Piedmonte grape, as spunky matriarch, Rachael Ann Seghesio, tells the story of the family operation, which began five generations ago in 1895.

At Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves, owned by Scott and Lynn Adams, I sip a full-bodied syrah in manmade caves amidst 400 oak barrels and a rock-walled tasting room. At Dutcher Crossing the ’05 Merlot combines a weedy nose with soft tannins. Although I’ve barely scratched the surface my brief trip has ended, leaving plenty more tasting opportunities for my next visit.

Sweet Cranberries

The recipe contest required that entries use at least one cranberry product from the company sponsor and my wheels began to turn. No doubt I would enter a dessert recipe, and cranberry and chocolate would make a natural pairing, but plenty of other people had already used that combo. I needed something really different.

What about cranberry and white chocolate? Hmmm – okay. Now, should I make a cake, pie, cookies or cheesecake…? I decided to create a cheesecake with whole berry cranberry sauce in the filling and also as a pureed topping. I hoped to nail it within three tries and my neighbors agreed to be guinea pigs.

Since I’ve never liked side crusts on cheesecakes mine would only have a bottom crust – with nuts. I imagined a bright red, translucent glaze atop the white filling, and maybe some curls of white chocolate too.

Three tries and several weeks later, my neighbors and I had chosen the second version. Dense yet moist, the filling showcased a big dose of cranberry flavor and a whisper of melted white chocolate. Finally, white chocolate curls peeked out from between two layers of glaze, thinned with a bit of cranberry juice cocktail.

Somebody else won the contest but I gained a spectacular recipe that I'll forever enjoy sharing with friends and family.

Cranberry White Chocolate Cheesecake

At least 12 servings

1 cup finely crushed graham crackers

1/8 cup finely chopped walnuts

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

2 Tablespoons butter, melted

1 1/2 pounds low-fat cream cheese, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

5 large eggs

12 ounces Ocean Spray Whole Cranberry Sauce

4 ounces white chocolate, melted

¼ cup heavy cream

12 ounces Ocean Spray Whole Cranberry Sauce

6-8 teaspoons Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice

1 ounce shaved white chocolate

Crust: Combine crushed graham crackers, walnuts and cinnamon.

Stir in melted butter. Press crust onto bottom of springform pan to

just above lower lip inside pan. Refrigerate until filling is ready.

Filling: Stir cranberry sauce in a small bowl until it breaks apart and

becomes slightly liquid. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat

cream cheese until smooth and then beat in granulated and brown

sugar, a little at a time, until mixture is fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a

time, beating thoroughly after each egg. Beat in cranberry sauce

and white chocolate. Pour filling into pan and bake the cheesecake

in the middle of the oven at 325 degrees, for 1 1/2 hours (times may

vary with individual ovens). Allow cheesecake to cool on a wire rack

before refrigerating, covered, overnight.

Topping: Puree cranberry sauce to make a thick, smooth sauce,

and the spread half on top and sides of cheesecake. Top with

shaved white chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Spread

remaining sauce over the entire cheesecake and serve.

Make Me One

It’s early Thursday morning near the fog-shrouded piers of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. After walking for 20 minutes in the chilly morning air, The Buena Vista Café and its legendary Irish coffee beckon me. When I order the signature beverage my server simply says, “Make me one.”

Legend has it that in November 1952, then-owner of the cafe, Jack Koeppler, and international travel writer, Stanton Deleplane, tried to re-create the popular beverage served at Shannon Airport in Ireland, without much success. But Koeppler was so determined that he visited the Airport to taste the real thing and, many tastings later, he nailed the legendary coffee and whiskey mixture, while a local dairy owner helped him recreate the foam.

As the fog thins, cable cars spring to life, cars douse their headlights and dedicated cyclists challenge the city's famed hills. The foam on my Irish coffee lasts for more than 20 minutes in its special six-ounce glass – enough time to make a major dent in a steaming plate of Crab Benedict. It's worth $7.50 to taste a bit of history with my meal.