Cooking Seasonally

			From: Jcolegrove@aol.com Subject: Reporting In Date: August 3, 2002 11:01:33 PM EDT To: aroundthekitchen@drwoonline.com Reply-To: aroundthekitchen@drwoonline.com Hi everyone! I’m going to share since I actually used some of your recipes and tips..... Tonight John & I had our friends Mary Kay & Fred over for dinner. I followed Leslie’s directions for ‘insalata caprese.’ I got to Fresh Fields too late, however, and they were out of buffalo mozzarella and I had to settle for fresh cow (?) mozzarella. I got a little nervous since deviation is not my thing in the kitchen. Oh well. Live dangerously. My daughter was kind enough to pick up fresh tomatoes at the farmers market in Middleburg. She came home with some yummy yellow & red ones (not beefsteak), but as they would say in the big apple...like sugah! As suggested by Leslie, I did let the prepared dish sit out prior to serving and was pleased with the result. (I would not have known to do that if Leslie hadn’t mentioned it.) I did sprinkle with BV since I just like that stuff. But I have to say, the blue and yellow platter (hand carred by me from the Amalfi coast) was the real kicker. (Presentation is everything.) I served the tomatoes and my own version of orzo w/ fresh spinach as accompaniements to crab cakes. I used Mark Bittman’s crab cake recipe from How to Cook Everything (since I definitely need to know how to cook everything). I’m proud to say, however, that I did deviate.....Instead of adding the curry powder to the flour for dredging, I added it directly to the crab mixture. I’m a crab nut, so I thought they were really good. By the way, I didn’t go to Oxford or any dock, seaport, or wharf for the crab. Just paid a fortune for the lump crab at Fresh Fields in Vienna. Tom, we served it all with a pinot noir (Erath vineyards...Oregon) cause, as usual, I liked the label. (I also just like saying, “pinot noir.”) I followed my sister-in-law’s (Cathie) lead of serving seasonal fruit for dessert and sprinkled lots of fresh blueberries over lemon sorbet. Thank you all for your tips and ideas. You encouraged and inspired me to stick with fresh, seasonal ingredients. It was a fun yet simple meal to prepare. Tasty too. Keep on sending your stuff. See you around the kitchen. Wo, sister!