Easy Asian Sesame Slaw

This Easy Asian Sesame Slaw is a crisp and tangy side that pairs perfectly with a heaver main dish on a hot day. It's really simple to make, too, and the leftovers make a great lunch the next day. 

Tapas Sunday: Eggplant Caponata

Robust and rich, this flavorful eggplant dish makes a wonderful appetizer with flatbread or toasted baguette. Eggplant is cooked with onions, tomato, garlic, olive oil, capers, olives, and fresh herbs until soft, then sprinkled with toasted nuts and served hot, room temperature, or cold. It seems like every cook has their own version of caponata. I looked at several caponata recipes for reference, but in the end I relied mostly on  my personal taste. The resulting eggplant dish was savory and oh-so-satisfying. I can't wait to try the leftovers with pasta!

Cantaloupe Fruit Salad with Mint, Lime, and Honey

 These luscious, juicy cantaloupe spheres would have been impossible for me to make before last night...when I finally acquired a melon baller! I feel like melon ballers have gone out of style, but I told Nate that I would definitely use it if we got it. So, last night I balled and froze half of a cantaloupe to use for cocktail making tonight, and this morning I woke up and balled the second half for this light, refreshing breakfast fruit salad.

Persian Tomato and Cucumber Salad (Shirazi)

This salad couldn't be simpler or more refreshing. It's quite tangy from the lemon, and the cucumber and tomato are cool and crisp — the perfect antidote to a hot summer's day.

BBQ: Orange-Ginger Marinated Chicken and Honey-Soy Marinated Steak

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I am kind of obsessed with barbecuing. Nate and I don't have a grill, but the state parks here have small grills that anyone can use, provided you bring your own charcoal. We went to the Santa Monica Airport Park after a long day of lounging at the beach and to our surprise there were open grills - that were clean! Usually the grills are caked with charred food remains and various debris, so it felt like quite the treat to not have to spend the first 15 minutes scraping and brushing it clean.

Miscellaneous Food Stuffs

Sometimes, I make something or eat something that is really, really good - but I wasn't planning on blogging about it. I often manage to snap a picture or two, and I wanted to share with you some of the tasty morsels I've had but haven't written a full blog post about.

Epic Canning Adventure: Homemade Ketchup, Tomato Sauce, and Green Tomato Relish

Tomato Sauce, Tomato Sauce, Relish, Relish, Ketchup!

Last year I had the pleasure of going to Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark, CA, and picking Roma tomatoes for a mere 25 cents per pound over Labor Day weekend. It was amazing both how many tomatoes I got for so little money - and how little food I got from so many tomatoes!