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After our event at the library I was invited to Carol James’ annual fall party.

The photographs start in the front yard, through the great room/dining room and out to the back deck and yard. Carol attended to every exquisite detail herself. This lady is a gifted designer and her party was as good as it gets – elegant – inside and out!!

Carol’s food was perfectly delicious, beautiful, and extravagant.  What a perfectly lovely backdrop to visit with old friends and meet new ones. It was the best party and I had so much fun.

Wow, I wasn’t expecting to experience world class design and entertaining during my visit to my little home town in Nebraska. Thank you, Carol!!!

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My daughter’s friend Kalem came to visit from New Zealand and Caitlin and I made a pie to welcome him.

I combined peach and blackberry for the filling. Sweet peaches are enlivened with berries along with Meyers lemon juice and fresh grated nutmeg and mace. I also like to substitute half of the sugar with dark brown sugar in peach pies and I always use tapioca rather than flour in all my fruit fillings. These little details add big flavor.

Oh, how delightful are the late summer flavors of fruit from the beautiful Willamette Valley.

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I changed my favorite banana bread recipe after I returned home from a trip to New Zealand. It is so fun to experience food in another culture and bring new recipes home or use the experience to give your old recipes an update.

The food in New Zealand was really tasty and well prepared even in the little road side cafes when we were traveling. Their pastries were home made and banana muffins were a staple. They were a lighter version of our banana bread except for the addition of delicious chunks of dark chocolate.

Also when we had dinner at a friend’s house I was surprised that traditional banana bread was served like a cake and frosted with chocolate frosting – so good.

When I got home I added dark chocolate chunks to my banana bread along with doubling the amount of walnuts called for in my recipe. Well the result was not only reminiscent of my New Zealand eating experiences but mouth watering – just plain delicious!

This is a sweet twist on our American classic banana bread.

Banana Bread

Use your favorite recipe — double the walnuts and add 3/4 cup of dark chocolate chunks. I like the chunks better than chips, but dark chocolate chips work too.

It’s also quite lovely baked in a small angel food pan for a special occasion. No need for frosting this cake with the chocolate chunks inside.

Enjoy!

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I visited my friend Galina’s garden and we picked beets, carrots, fennel, onion and snap peas. I decided to make soup with all these fresh picked ingredients.

I started with white beans, soaked and cooked in organic chicken broth with onion, one clove and a bay leaf. I later added chicken breast chunks, careful not to overcook them. I removed these to be added back in later and then added all the fresh garden vegetables. Again I was careful not to cook them too long, but just so they were tender and still retained their flavor and brilliant color.

What a delicious summer soup. The garden wrote the recipe and I enjoyed the results.

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Just in time for Easter I wanted to share my delicious egg recipe. This is a favorite for our Easter dinner! I also like to serve this all year round – it’s great for a cold summer lunches, with dinner, and for brunch.

Ingredients

6 Large Organic Free Range Eggs
Gray Celtic Sea Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper
Crème Fraiche
3 Spring Onions, sliced very thin
¼ cup chopped Fresh Dill
Grated fresh Horseradish Root – fresh is milder than prepared

Directions

This is such a simple recipe so it is important to have the best ingredients and not over cook the boiled eggs.

1. Bring refrigerator-cold eggs to a boil, immediately turn off the heat and let them cook for 8 minutes in the hot water. The yolks will be cooked but still very moist. After the eggs are cool cut in half and arrange on a serving plate.
2. Salt and pepper the eggs.
3. Add a small dollop of Crème Fraiche to each egg half.
4. Sprinkle the sliced Spring Onions on top.
5. Sprinkle the Fresh Dill.
6. Grate the fresh Horseradish to taste directly on the eggs as the final layer – I use a micro plane.

Enjoy!
Margaret