NOT THE SUNDAY ROAST!

Julia's brother and niece are visiting from London, wanted to try to give them some 'taste' of our lives.  We have had some freakily warm weather recently which probably affected my decision to do Beef Salad with Asian dressing.  This is a very short recipe I cut out of the NY Times some years ago, have made it maybe 6 times, and it is always good.  Makes me think of my nephew, Sean, because I did it for him and his Dad & brother a couple of years ago and he really enjoyed it. Anyway, back to the present - it was a chilly, rainy day BUT this only takes about 10 minutes on the grill,  Alan was stoic and it was wonderful!  Good dish for a dinner party, all the prep can be done in advance, all you need to do is grill the meat and toss the salad.  I change up the lettuce, today it was a mix of cos and baby arugula. Very important not to overcook the meat, it turns into leather!  Alan cooked it perfectly and ours was sumptuous!

Dessert for the boys!

BLOOD ORANGE POLENTA UPSIDE DOWN CAKE:

Was going to be a gorgeous day, who would have guessed after that big storm just one week ago! Another wonderful dinner planned at Julia's, with good friends, Iain & Rick who we just do not see often enough.  Bamfords were joining too, so, OK, a few few girls present but the boys visit was the reason for the gathering.
As happens so often, leafed through the current Bon Appetit and decided to make this cake.  Was thrilled with it, pretty easy, looked good (presentation always important!), and the fact that I was not allowed to bring home the left-overs is proof that it was delicious!
Not much to add to this recipe, don't fuss too much over making the orange slices too perfect, the baking covers the imperfections. The first layer should look good, choose your  best slices, after that don't worry too much.  Also, recipe said to bake for 45 mins, mine was done after 35.
One thing to add, I really still enjoy reading the actual magazine, rather than 'browsing' on line.  I also love that I can then save the recipe in my own file on Epicurious, so much easier to organise recipes that way.  I wish that all the recipes in the many cook books I own, were available on the Author's web sites.  Some are but many are not.  As I have already paid for the book I feel I should be able to use the recipes  from the site.  There has to be a way to figure this out.  Maybe I should start a group on Facebook to see if anyone else feels strongly about this, perhaps we can affect some changes!!

YOUR CHICKEN MY CHICKEN!

It has been a stormy weekend!  My good friends were without power and we discovered that we both had a chicken in the fridge, planning to do a Sunday roast chicken.
I was going to do the standard sage and sausage meat stuffing, not sure what Julia was planning with hers.  As we were prepping we (she would say 'I'!) starting talking about my chicken vs your chicken! MINE was a Bell & Evans and HERS was a Stop &Shop, Natures Choice.
Turned a routine Sunday into fun almost dinner party,  relaxed, family style.
Here are the equally delicious chickens, photo does not do them justice, sorry! Let me know if you need 'recipe'.  Few roast veggies to go with, of course!