October 2024 “In My Kitchen”

It’s been a bit of a roller coaster around here. I won’t go into detail but when you work for a grant sometimes you have to gamble and hope for the best. My co-workers and I went through about three weeks of not knowing. I can safely say now that we do know what our next seven years look like. That’s a very good thing.

On to the food and all things kitchen-y.

Well, maybe back to the job thing…. Our boss always has a few door prizes at our staff meetings. Needless to say (although everything is peachy now), the September meeting was a bit of a downer. I did win the prize however so that at least brought a smile to my face.

She always brings her newest favorite things. That 21 spice from TJ’s is definitely on my fave list.

Soon after the staff meeting, we all traveled to Anaheim for a work conference. I LOVED the weather.

We really didn’t have a lot of time, but the afternoon after the conference ended (before we flew out), we were able to visit Downtown Disney where I had a couple of standouts:

I LOVED the cup but they were out of any to purchase. I think this was a pomegranate based margarita. (I really can’t remember and it’s not on their menu as it was a special for Latin American Heritage Month.)

Don’t turn your nose up yet. Above is a dip of pear and blue cheese ice cream. It was so subtle and delicious.

I also had this cocktail at the newish Hotel Laguna.

It combined beeswax washed gin with wild berry and tarragon jam. Not sure about the ratios but I do want to try to replicate it AND make some berry tarragon jam next summer!

The night after I got home from this trip, my in-laws came to visit and I made them this lemon chicken dish from Edy’s Grocery.

This is a keeper and was a quick and easy meal. The rice (from Edy’s Grocery as well) was fabulously flavored with a bay leaf. That is a killer keeper of a hack.

The garden…. It’s mostly dead. I have managed to keep some peppers alive. Luckily, we brought some tomatoes home with us from our recent trip to mom and my sister’s in Iowa.

My mother was going to pull out all the cherry tomato plants. WHAT!?!?!? I picked as many as I could and brought home some Kellogg’s and pear tomatoes too. I roasted enough for about 2 quarts of frozen sauce for winter eating.

Like I said, all I’ve managed to keep alive are some peppers. I picked enough jalapenos recently to experiment with a new pickled pepper recipe. (Hopefully, more about that later.)

And, I’ve been picking enough habaneros to make some ultra spicy oils.

Hope to post that spicy oil recipe soon as well.

I was so excited to find this Day of the Dead kitchen décor at TJ Maxx.

Thanks for listening to me and my work and garden travails.

“In My Kitchen” is hosted by Sherry’s Pickings. Check it out to see what other’s have going on in their kitchens.