Well, you all know how much I love flowers; flowers of all kinds. The weather was actually cool enough to go walk-about again. I have been missing my walk-abouts because it has just been so darn hot, but yesterday, was the day. There were lots of beautiful flowers in full display. So how could I resist not sharing my flowers with you again? 🙂 So here is another flower for the Flower of the Day Challenge.

http://viewfromtheback.com/2021/08/03/cees-flower-of-the-day-130/

Challenge rules, why not join in?

1.Feel free to post every day or whenever you you feel like it.  You can either post new flower photos or dig back into your archives.

2. Depending on the time of year, you can post any of these types of things for your FOTD.

• Single flowers
• Buds
• Multiple flowers
• Bouquet
• Flower fields
• Wildflowers
• Tree or bush blossoms
• Autumn leaves
• Spring leaves
• Decorative Cabbage
• Berries
• Still life
• Fake or Silk Flowers

Always take time to stop and smell the flowers. It cleanses the soul and makes you feel whole.

Yesterday I took my friend Suzanne out to celebrate her birthday. We went to Elevate Bar and Grill. It was the first time for either of us, but it definitely won’t be our last time. We thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely be back again in the near future. Elevate is a “neighborhood meeting spot for grub & grog offering a variety of delicious multicultural food, lots of craft beers, intense cocktails, a large selection of fine liquor & local artists performing live music, karaoke, trivia every week. [There are] lots of TV’s to watch your favorite sport, or you can enjoy a friendly game of darts & other bar games too”.

There is plenty of room both inside or outside. The rooms and patio are spacious and there is plenty of room to move around as you need to.

We chose to go outside on the patio. Even though it was hot, humid day, you would never know it because we were cooled down with the misters that were strategically placed all over the patio.

When we went, it was the quiet part of the day, which was great for us. It gave us a good opportunity to catch up and visit.

The menu has a wide selection of sandwiches, salads, and general good, fun pub foods.

Suzanne ordered the turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich with sweet potato fries. Doesn’t this look yummy?

I chose the teriyaki chicken sandwich with regular fries. It was very messy, being at least a 3-napkin kind of meal, but it was worth every drip and spill. It was VERY good.

Both were excellent choices. We really enjoyed our lunch and our time out. Our server Nicole helped make our lunch a fun experience too. She was very friendly and helpful, and because the restaurant wasn’t super busy at the time, we got a chance to visit with her a bit as well. Back in my restaurant days, I always enjoyed those little visits with my customers. It makes it more like you are a guest in someone’s house rather than just a paying customer. My rules were always ‘treat everyone like they are a guest in your house”, and they always paid off generously too. That is the art of good customer service.

Elevate Bar & Grill is located at 2831 West 120th Avenue, Ste 200, Westminster, CO. You can always contact them on line at Contact@BarElevate.com or give them a call at (303) 469-3435, but the best experience of all will be to go in person where you can “Enjoy an Elevated experience”.

I am always up for a challenge, but especially the fun photo challenges. This challenge is the

This one was an easy one for me since I love flowers. These are the sunflowers blooming in my backyard. I went from just one to many, with more coming soon.

Challenge rules, why not join in?

1.Feel free to post every day or whenever you you feel like it.  You can either post new flower photos or dig back into your archives.

2. Depending on the time of year, you can post any of these types of things for your FOTD.

• Single flowers
• Buds
• Multiple flowers
• Bouquet
• Flower fields
• Wildflowers
• Tree or bush blossoms
• Autumn leaves
• Spring leaves
• Decorative Cabbage
• Berries
• Still life
• Fake or Silk Flowers

Never stop taking time to smell the flowers in life. Flowers always bring so much joy, and right now, I think the whole world needs a lot more joy around.

YES…YES…THE RUMOURS ARE TRUE – THE BAKE OFF IS BACK!!

Normally I do not re-blog, however, since this is a joint effort between Mel, Gary and myself, I think it is OK to re-blog about our Festival of Love Great Blogger’s Bake-Off Event coming up. This is our 3rd year, and every year it just keep getting better and better. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with this year. And this year, it is all about LOVE.

AUG 2, 2021CARAMEL20 COMMENTS

Wow!!! When I checked into my inbox and saw the amount of enquiries asking when the 2021 GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE OFF would be, I finally realized it was time for the terrific trio of Gary, Jeanne and moi to roll up our sleeves to host the WordPress event of the year!!

I am thrilled to announce that we have something very special, very spectacular and truly heart-warming for you this year. Of all the things we have learnt over the past year, surely it is that what the world needs now is love sweet love!!! So this year, we present to you…

THE 2021 GREAT BLOGGERS’ BAKE OFF FESTIVAL OF LOVE!

It’s all about LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this year. The world needs a lot more love right now. So come on. Show us the love in your kitchens. 🙂

We are having another year of the Great Bloggers Bake-Off and recipe contest. This year’s theme is “The Festival of Love”.

If you have never participated in this event before, maybe you should think about it for this year. YOU, get to submit your favorite recipes to either myself at my email address at ljbjej@q.com, Mel at crushedcaramel@gmail.com or Gary from bereaveddad@yahoo.com. Please make sure we get your entries on or before 8/21. This will be our 3rd year of hosting this fun family blogging event. Mel and Gary sponsor it and I am the judge. You are the guest chefs and you are the stars. Please submit your recipes and photos, with as much background as you like you, I will choose the winners. Here are the links to last year’s winners and entries, as well as to our first year.. And the Winners Are …….. The Results Are In Great Bloggers Bake-off

You can submit as many different entries as you like. The most important thing is to have fun. We even like and have a special category for Great Efforts, so don’t be shy. It is all for love and all for fun. And the winners get the honor and bragging rights of best Great-Blogger’s Bake-Off Winner for a year.

We have had some pretty amazing entries in the past. I am already looking forward to seeing what you all come up with again this year. Best of luck to everyone!

Unless you are eating pizza or a salad as a main, you almost always need side dishes to go with your meal. But even for a salad, I still will have bread or something else to go with it too. This time was no different. I made some delicious asparagus with lemon butter and pine nuts to go with my spicy and zesty steak. A Spicy and Zesty Steak.

Just like my steak, these too were supposed to be put on the grill, but we got a little rained out. So once again, it was time to turn to Plan B. Plan B for the asparagus was to boil the asparagus first then to coat it in the lemon garlic butter.

Asparagus with Lemon Butter and Pine Nuts

1/3 cup toasted pine nuts

1 lb asparagus

1/2 cup olive oil

2 TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp white pepper

1/2 cup butter

1 TBSP lemon zest

Parsley

dash of Tabasco

1 TBSP garlic

You can either grill or boil the asparagus. This time I boiled mine, then drained them before tossing them in the lemon butter.

While my asparagus was cooking, I mixed all the ingredients together, except for the parsley, lemon zest and pine nuts. Brown the butter slightly to give it a bit of a nutty flavor. When the butter is melted, add the Tabasco sauce and the lemon juice. Any variety of Tabasco will do.

Add the asparagus spears and thoroughly coat in the lemon butter mixture. Right before serving, add the lemon zest, parsley and pine nuts. Serve immediately. I tend to like the smaller, thinner asparagus, but you can use any size you like. however, if you are going to grill the asparagus, the thicker ones are better.

This dish is perfect for both Spring and Summer because of the fresh asparagus and the lemony flavors. It goes well with anything. Enjoy.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

We LOVE steaks at our house. Larry grew up in Kansas, which is cattle country, so we eat a lot of steak. Because we eat a lot of steaks, I am always looking for new and exciting ways to fix them too. I mean after all, life would get VERY boring indeed if we ate it the same way all the time, every time. This time, I gave our steaks a South of the Border personality and marinated it in spicy, zesty adobo sauce.

An adobo sauce is a rich, reddish brown, earthy flavored sauce synonymous with chipotle peppers. A traditional Mexican sauce made with ground ancho and guajillo chilies that has the consistency of a thick BBQ sauce. It is made from chili powder, vinegar, sugar, garlic and herbs. This was originally used to flavor and preserve meats and is fantastic in so many Mexican and Tex Mex dishes. As with anything, there are many different variations all around. There is never just one recipe.

Steak with Adobo Sauce

1 1/2 – 2 lbs steak

1 TBSP ground ancho chili powder

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

salt to taste

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 TBSP garlic

1/4 cup olive oil

2 TBSP lime juice

Mix all the ingredients together and marinade the meat for at least 2 hours before cooking. Reserve some of the sauce to top the meat with after it is cooked as well.

I was going to grill the steaks, but Mother Nature had other plans, and not long before I was going to put the steaks on the grill, we had a thunder and lightening show, complete with a heavy downpour, that suddenly changed my plans. Grilling outside was no longer an option. I needed to come up with a good plan B and fast. Searing the steak was a perfectly good plan B. I seared the steaks for 3 minutes per side, then again for another 1-1 1/2 minutes. I used a timer to make sure I did not over cook the steaks. I have cooked many a steak in my day, and this method for searing is hands down my favorite. It allows for the steak to brown and crust perfectly with keeping the inside still nice and tender and rare. In a word – PERFECTION!

Because I marinated the steaks in an acidic marinade, the acidity came from the lime juice, they came out so tender and full of flavor. Grilled or seared, they came out just perfect. A knife really wasn’t even necessary, but certainly preferred. After all, why would I want to mess up this perfect steak in any way?! 🙂

I served my steak with some asparagus topped with a lemony-pine nut sauce, my spicy potatoes and a tomato focaccia. Spicy Potatoes with Tomato Jalapeno Sauce . I bought the focaccia. It just looked to good to pass up, and I was not proven wrong. I made the meal complete with a fruity Grenache on the side. !Delicioso! !Muy bueno!

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

I hear it all the time. So many people think being a chef is living the glamorous life. They think being a chef is so easy. Little do they know they could not be further from the truth. The life of a chef is filled with many long hours, complete with nights, weekends and holidays. The chef and kitchen staff work while everyone else plays. I tell everyone who dreams of this “glamorous” chef’s life to rethink their plans. It has be something you have a true passion for because it is NOT what most people think. You either have it or you don’t, but once that burning passion is inside you, it will always be there too.

Here are some real-life behind the doors looks at life in a professional kitchen. It is NOT for the weak or faint-hearted.

Most of my days in the kitchen were a minimum of 12 hour days. I would go home exhausted, and then would get up early and do it all over again the next day. Personal time is non-existent.

To be a good chef, you need to be humble.

This is if you are lucky enough to sit down. Most of the time, you get a bite or two while on the run.

There will be burns and cuts, and plenty of them too. I cannot tell you how many of each I have had, and a few of them landed me in the ER too. But as soon as I was released, I went right back into the kitchen for more.

Do you still think a chef’s life is filled with glamour? Think again. It is done out of love. It is filled with passion. It is a calling.

We finished up the last of the quiche, and as I mentioned last time, quiche and potatoes go together very well. Spicy Potatoes with Tomato Jalapeno Sauce. I made another spicy potato dish, that was similar, but different at the same time. This round of potatoes was more like a traditional patatas bravas than my last potato dish though. Patatas Bravas. I guess I was still in a Middle Eastern frame of mind, and was perusing through the same Middle Eastern cookbook when I decided upon this dish. When you think about it though, there are a lot of similarities between Middle Eastern foods and Spanish foods, since there are so many Middle Eastern influences all throughout Spain in general, particularly Southern Spain.

Spicy Middle Eastern Style Potatoes

1 lb potatoes, peeled

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced fine

1/4 onion, diced fine

1/4 red bell pepper, diced fine

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped fine

1 TBSP garlic

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

salt & pepper to taste

oil and butter for cooking

1 TBSP lemon juice

Par boil the potatoes for about 7 minutes, then drain and pat dry. Brown the potatoes in a hot skillet with a combination of butter and olive oil. Cook the potatoes for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are crispy and golden, making sure to turn them so they brown evenly.

When the potatoes are browned, add the rest of the ingredients, except for the cilantro and the lemon juice, and continue to cook until the peppers and onions are softened and translucent.

Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, then add the lemon juice and continue to cook for about another 2 minutes, again, until the liquid as evaporated.

When everything is cooked add the cilantro and mix together thoroughly, then serve immediately. These are best when eaten hot.

These spicy potatoes are good anytime you want to eat them. They are perfect for both breakfast or dinner or whenever it tickles your fancy. They have just enough spice to wake up your taste buds but not to much to be over powering. You’re going to love them, this I promise.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Most Middle Eastern foods have their roots dating back for 1000’s of years. Yes, foods have evolved and changed, but many of the foods of today are very similar to what they were back in the early days of civilization.

Since the trade routes and spice routes traversed all throughout the Middle Eastern countries, the Middle Eastern cooks are known for using many different and exotic spices in their cooking. They also use a wide variety of grains and legumes as well. It is said that no Middle Eastern kitchen is complete without several types of grains in their panty. They use all kinds of grains dating from the ancient to the more recent versions. Wheat is one of the oldest grains, and is the root of many classic Middle Eastern dishes. Rice is a more “recent introduction”, yet has still been around since the Medieval times. Rice became widespread in the Middle East after the reign of the Ottoman Empire. Bulgar, lentils, beans and chickpeas are staples in Middle Cooking as well, particularly in the areas of Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, as well as all over the Mediterranean areas of Europe.

My latest Middle Eastern culinary experience was a barley and chicken salad. The recipe called for couscous, but I substituted barley instead, even though I had both on hand. I use couscous quite frequently, but barley is something I don’t use as much of, even though I love it, so I used barley instead. Both barley and couscous are very healthy and are great sources of protein. And of course, I stylized it in my own way, to give it my own unique signature, as I always do.

Barley is another ancient grain that dates back at least 8000 years, and originally hails from the Fertile Crescent areas of Egypt and Mesopotamia. It then made its way to Northwestern Europe and then to China. Today, barley is found in most areas around the world. Barley and wheat are two of the oldest crops known to man, and are even listed in the Bible as food staples. “Two grain crops are prominent in the Scriptures–barley and wheat. … It was always valued less than wheat (II Kings 7:1; Revelation 6:6). Although barley was sometimes used as fodder in Bible days (I Kings 4:28), its main use was as a staple food. It was ground and baked into round cakes (eg Judges 7:13).”

Even though barley was originally grown in the Fertile Crescent area, today, Russia is the one world’s largest producers and users of barley, growing about 20.63 metric tons annually. Other countries that produce a lot of barley are Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Turkey, which account for 58.01% of the world’s barley production.

My idea to go Middle Eastern was inspired by some leftover Costco rotisserie chicken that needed to be used. Larry wanted enchiladas, but it is way too hot to turn on the oven. I chose a simple Middle Eastern salad instead. My pantry is always well stocked with just about everything, so I already had what I needed and I just let the creativity flow. Cooking barley is similar to cooking rice, only it takes longer to cook. I also cooked mine in chicken broth to add more flavor.

Chicken and Barley Salad

2 1/2 cups cooked barley

1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups cooked green beans, cut into pieces about 1 inch in size

1 TBSP garlic

1/3 cup green onions, sliced thin

1 jalapeno, diced fine

1 1/2 lbs diced or shredded cooked chicken

salt & pepper to taste

2 tsp orange spice

3 TBSP olive oil – I used garlic infused olive oil

2 TBSP pomegranate seeds, optional

1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped fine

Combine all the ingredients, except the chicken, with the cooked barley and toss together well. Reserve some of the cilantro for topping.

Plate the salad up and top with the chicken and add the cilantro to finish. Cool, refreshing and delicious!

I served it with some pita bread and hummus, and a rich, buttery chardonnay on the side, to make a perfect summer meal. As usual, this delicious salad only requires a few simple and basic ingredients too. It is simple and easy to make and delicious and healthy to eat. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Stay well and stay safe Everyone. ‘Til next time.