Color Me Pink - A Quick Strawberry Sauce + Strawberry Panna Cotta

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Buying strawberries at this time of year can be a crap shoot. They look gorgeous but often taste more like cardboard than the sweet juicy fruit of summer shortcake memory. I was happily surprised today when the Silver Fox brought home several quarts that actually tasted as they should. I think we all have special recipes that we keep to use when certain ingredients become available. Strawberries fall into that category for me, and my problem is deciding which of the many in my recipe cache I actually should use. I settled on these two for tonight's feature. The first recipe is making its debut appearance and the second has been brought back for an encore performance because it looks so pretty on a plate. Both recipes are easy to make and if you have a source for tasty berries I urge you to give them a try, perhaps for Easter Sunday. The effortless fresh strawberry sauce is wonderful on ice cream and the panna cotta is a perfect way to end a special meal. I urge you to try both recipes. You really will be pleased. So will your family and friends.

Pumpkin Panna Cotta - Away A While Recipe Favorites

Pumpkin Panna Cotta with Orange Caramel Sauce

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I suspect I might be a bit early with this recipe, but I love Thanksgiving and  the memories associated with it. Our first Thanksgiving was spent below street level in a l-shaped  apartment in the Hyde Park region of Chicago.  Papa and Mama S. lived above us and while Papa embraced us quickly it took Mama a bit longer to warm up to the Silver Fox and me. Once the barriers came down, we became family and she was determined to pass on those life skills she thought every girl should know. Mama's world was full of ghosts, border guards and fears held, just barely, at bay. I made the mistake, that first Thanksgiving, of sharing with her my desire to leave school. Oh, my! I have an ear for languages and dialect but I won't use either to color portraits of the people I've loved. It can, too, easily be seen as sport, so I'll share only the anglicized version of the advice I received from Mama S. In her world babies did not have babies, women wore all their jewelry all the time (as bankable as cash) and those fortunate enough to receive an education did not leave school because they were tired. The keystone of her argument..."assure your future lest you have to move your tent to another village." God bless her; that wise old survivor, whose tent had moved to many villages, predated the women's movement by a decade. All of this was said over the components of a custard the night before Thanksgiving. Mama made a pumpkin flan that was not to be believed, but the flan, unusual back then, is common now, so I thought I'd share this with you instead. Pumpkin custards --- made rich with cream, flavored with orange and spices, and stiffened with gelatin --- are served with a sauce of brown sugar, butter, and orange. It's an easy, elegant alternative to pumpkin pie, it's gorgeous to look at and the recipe can be doubled. What's not to like? The recipe can be found here.

                    

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                   One Year Ago Today:                                                                  Two Years Ago Today:

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               Three Years Ago Today:                                                       Four Years Ago Today: 

             Banana and Carrot Muffins                                                     Toasted Coconut Bread