A Girls' Weekend in Iceland; or, The Hangover, Lady Edition

Thinking peaceful thoughts at a goat farm in the Icelandic countryside

Full of Scotch and taking chaotic selfies on the streets of Reykjavik, 4 am or thereabouts

An Icelander, a Canadian, and an American walk into a bar ...

No, that's not right. Let's start again. How about:

This is the tale of three very smart, somewhat silly, food-loving women and their exhausting, unlikely, and unforgettable weekend in Iceland. Like the ancient Viking sagas, this tale contains feats of strength (drinking large quantities of alcohol),  endurance (staying up all night), and bravery (riding Viking horses over black lava fields). And, like any good epic story, there's a lesson to be learned here: Every now and then, throw your good sense out of the window and do something completely spontaneous and quite possibly ill-advised, whether you can afford to do it or not.

Herby Chicken Verde: A Summer Plateful of Green

Color. That is the theme of this month's Creative Cooking Crew challenge, hosted as always by the lovely and talented Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks. That is, color, singular, not plural - as in, participants have been tasked with creating a dish featuring one and only one color as the primary focus.

I had big ideas. I wanted to make a moody and mysterious dish of all black or blood red, inspired by my preoccupation with the brilliant series Hannibal. (My dish, however, unlike Dr. Lecter's creations, would have contained absolutely no human.) Alas, a hectic travel schedule for the first part of June put the kibosh on my plans and so instead I opted for this cheerful green number, complete with a cutesy name: herby chicken verde. My dark Hannibal-inspired dish will just have to wait.

Cool Summer Borscht (Barszcz) from "Polish Classic Recipes"

I fell in love with Polish food when I visited Krakow a few years ago. While there, I ate my weight in sausages, wild boar, Hunter's Stew, zapiekanka (Polish pizza), and, of course, pierogies.

So when I was offered review copies of two new books - Polish Classic Recipes and Polish Classic Desserts, by Laura & Peter Zeranski - of course I accepted. There aren't a ton of good Polish cookbooks on the market - particularly ones with photos of the dishes - and I thought it would be fun to recreate some of my favorite meals from my trip to Poland.

Socca Pizza with Arugula Pea Pesto, Yellow Tomatoes, & Ricotta

I did not invent the concept of the socca flatbread pizza, though I wish I had, because then I could brag about what a genius I am. Alas, the inspiration for my pizza came not in a dream, but in the form of this gorgeous spring pesto flatbread at the Kitchn. In place of the original version's salad and mint pesto topping, I topped my flatbread with an  arugula and pea pesto, yellow heirloom tomatoes, ricotta cheese, pea shoots, and Parmesan.

Eric Ripert's Clams with Spicy Sausage from The Perfect Protein: The Fish Lover's Guide to Saving the Oceans and Feeding the World

When it comes to the environment, trying to do the right thing can be exhausting. And confusing. So much so, in fact, that I sometimes find myself experiencing what I call "sustainability burnout."

Is this tomato local? Does it matter? (Not always, as it turns out.) Does this beef come from a grass fed cow? Is it okay if it's a cow from California or New York State? Is that organic? Can I recycle this? Are there hormones in that milk? It's enough to make me just give up and subsist on a diet of popcorn. Oh wait ... what if it's genetically modified?

Spiked Strawberry Rhubarb Lemonade

Ah, summer picnics. Humidity, sunburn, flies, mosquitos, ants, warm beer, screaming children, and the threat of listeria in every mayonnaise-soaked bite. When it's a million degrees outside, I would really prefer to eat inside. There's only one way to get through these sweaty ordeals of Americana: drink.

And so this is why, when the theme of this month's Creative Cooking Crew challenge - hosted as ever by the lovely Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks - turned out to be picnic foods, I knew that my "food" was going to be of the potent liquid variety.

A Surplus of Tapas: Small Bites Across Madrid for (Nearly) Wordless Wednesday

First stop: Mercado de San Miguel. A bit touristy, but worth it. 

Inside the mercado ... so many choices

First tapas in Madrid: cheese, cheese, and more cheese (Not pictured: wine, wine, and more wine)

Given that my last blog post was written entirely in sonnet form, I thought it might be a good idea to give the verbal portion of my brain a bit of a rest and attempt a Wordless Wednesday post summing up the mountains of tapas that Poppa Trix and I consumed in Madrid in just six days.

I say attempt a Wordless Wednesday post because look!  I have already failed at keeping my virtual trap shut ... but I will reign in my wordiness as much as is constitutionally possible. Captions don't count, right?

Salmorejo: A Spanish Soup Recipe in Sonnets

If you have not experienced the intense pleasure of perusing Trevor's haiku posts over at Sis Boom Blog I suggest you do so immediately.  They are quite brilliant, and he really outdid himself for National Haiku Day: He even rendered his entire recipe in haiku form.

To add to the fun, he encourages his readers to leave haiku comments. I am usually glad to oblige, but for Haiku Day I decided to do something a bit different and I left my comment as a sonnet. (Per Sherlock: "Of course I'm showing off. I am a show off. That's what we do.")

And so I thought - why keep my sonnets confined to Trevor's comment section, worthy outlet though  it is?  After all, coming up with some clever prose about every dish I make can feel  a bit ... forced sometimes.

And well, there's nothing contrived or forced about a sonnet recipe is there? I thank you in advance for your indulgence.

Mother's Day Macaron Giveaway from Sucre {Ah, Alliteration}

Like a lot of food bloggers these days, I regularly get requests from publicists asking me to share their respective products with my readers.

"Please review this flavorless processed snack food!"

"I think your readers would love to hear about the latest innovation in microwave dinner technology!"

"Here are some uninspired recipes featuring [insert food product here]. Please share with your readers!"

"We are offering one lucky reader a chance to win this coupon for gum, valued at 25 cents!"

Do a cursory search through the Tasty Trix archives and you'll notice that I invariably ignore these requests. They tend to display a staggering lack of understanding of what I write about, what I cook, and who I am.

But exceptions prove the rule. Case in point: The email I got from Sucre in New Orleans, offering to send  one of my U.S. readers  their signature 15-piece macaron collection in time for Mother's Day.

Well. This was more like it.

Bravas Sauce & Leek Tortilla Pinchos, An Altogether Different Sort of BLT

This month's Creative Culinary Crew challenge, hosted as ever by the lovely and talented Joan of Foodalogue and Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks, was deceptively simple: Come up with a new version of the classic BLT sandwich. The catch? Participants were forbidden to use bacon, lettuce, or tomato to fulfill the BLT requirement.

Right, then. That's as easy as plugging in any old foodstuff that begins with a B, an L, and a T, yes? Ah, but there's the rub: such a random approach would not only (in my opinion) lead to an uninspired kitchen-sink mess of a sandwich (barnacles, liver, & turmeric, anyone?) it would result in a dish completely lacking in context.