Oh my Deer! It's a turkey convention...

Deer, "Single, file, single file....come on!'" Deer, She will shot you!... Turkey,"Okay....okay...I'm coming"

Living in rural area on the Central Coast of California it is not uncommon to come across a wild pig or two, raccoons, crows, many a deer and even a cow in the middle of the road.

We even have a family of quail that come by each morning and early evening. The beautiful males lead the pack with the babies following behind. Mama and another male quail brings up the rear. I still can not understand why anyone would want to eat these darling creatures.

Yesterday when I was working on my blog I heard a commotion outside my window. When I got up to look there was a turkey convention going on along side the meeting of the deer.
I quickly grabbed my camera for these Kodak moments.

It's Labor Day Weekend....Strawberry shortcake...

Time to celebrate with food, friends and family. Why not have a strawberry shortcake too?

Gourmet Cheese Platter with Ahi Tuna

This gourmet cheese platter is made up of a selecion of four cheeses that accent one another.

Sage Derby (pronounced "darby") is a green veined, semi-hard cheese. It has a mild sage flavor, which gives the cheese almost a minty flavor.

Sage Derby production began in the 17th century in England and was only made on special occasions, such as, harvests or Christmas but it is readily made available today.

On the platter (top right) is a wedge of Stella Blue Wisconsin cheese that is "nicely balanced and has a nice sweetness about it". This is the best blue cheese to use in salad dressings.Even though this blue is somewhat "wet" in texture I think it still makes for a nice table cheese because the flavor appeals to most people.

Included is also a triangle shaped wedge of goats milk cheese, known as chevre in French, which means goat. This soft cheese melts in your mouth. This is te secret cheese I use inmy quiche to make it smooth and creamy.

Topped off with small triangle pieces of provolone (meaning large Provola). Provolone is an Italian cheese that originated in southern Italy around the end of the 19th century. Today provolone is a whole milk semi-hard cheese with tastes varying from sharp to very mild.

This platter is accompanied by a seared ahi tuna along with wasabi.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.....

What can I say but "YUM".

Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad...

This cold penne pasta salad is made up of finely diced yellow and red peppers, snow peas, yellow and green squash, regular peas tossed in a creamy balsamic vinegar dressing topped off with asaigo cheese.

Whole New Twist to a Classic Ham Sandwich...

This croissant sandwich, even though it is served cold, is prepared hot to meld all of the flavors together in harmony.

First the croissant is cut in half. Both sides where spread with a djon mustard mayo combo. Next the ham was layered on top, along withthinly sliced tomatoes and red onion, accented with capers. On top of that a layer of thinly sliced provolone cheese.

On the other half of the croissant, shredded asaigo cheese was sprinkled on.
Bake until the cheese is melted and when cooled, add spring lettuce and sprouts.

What is Crostini?

In Italian it means "little toasts". Normally crostini's are made from thinly sliced white bread, drizzled with olive oil and salt, which is then toasted or grilled until crispy.

The crostini pictured above is sliced a little thicker and is made from a ciabatta bread (Italian Slipper bread). Since this crostini has a topping and served cold, the bread was not toasted prior to adding of the roasted garlic spread, beef, provolone cheese, tomato and green onion, otherwise it would become too chewy upon serving.