I got to actually say, “Guess what, we’re having ono for dinner … and I don’t mean Yoko!” Yes, I’m corny that way.

This is another new-to-me fish when it comes to home cooking. I’ve ordered it in restaurants but now, thanks to the sustainable fish delivery program from Hooked on Fish which has made it easy to try many new things, it was time to get hands-on with the fish myself. 

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. 

Dancing Fun Fact:

The longest dance marathon by a couple was performed by Francisco Petatán-Garcia and Joana Salinas-Aviles (both from Mexico), who continuously danced for 35 hours in Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico, on 15-16 November 2008. Francisco and Joana are both professional dancers and were supported by the Mexican Institute of Social Security.

Source: Guinness World Records

Check out the Twirl Playlist after the jump.

One year ago this month Ilise and I took a dream vacation to France. A week in Paris and three days in the Bourgogne wine region. Need I say … heavenly. This trip had been more than a dozen years in the making. Last time we thought we were Paris-bound we bought a house instead. Need I say … hello, home maintenance and bye bye, disposable income.

What an amazing adventure it was, never to be forgotten although it already seems long ago and far away. It’s been quite a year in the interim with events both good and bad filling the time, but when I stop and reflect on that magical, much-anticipated experience I recognize how lucky I was (and still am) to have had the opportunity. May I share some of it with you? We’ll start with Paris first, and the wine country experience will come in a follow-up post.

I’ll start with the Top Trois Takeaways from Paris and then work backwards into a more traditional travelogue. And photos … yes, there will be pix and plenty of them!

1. Apartment rental vs hotel – totally worth it
   
2. Don’t overschedule – allow time for people-watching and spur of the moment decisions 
   
3. Best food we had in Paris = deviled eggs. Yes. Quel surprise! 

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. 

So Dancing with the Stars crowned its new champion the other day. Congratulations to Rumer Willis!

This afternoon dance break stuff … has absolutely nothing in common with that show. That looks difficult and this is pure fun. I think we’re all winners here!

I hope you have a wonderful long holiday weekend … and let’s get it started with the Two-Step Playlist, after the jump. 

I learned a few things during the preparations for this meal and post:

1)  King Salmon is the state fish of Alaska; and

2)  Crispy salmon skin is apparently a delicacy, akin to deep-fried pork rinds or chiccarones.

Confession: I’ve never tried pork rinds. Not sure which will happen first – salmon rinds or pork … place your bets. 

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. 

Dancing Fun Fact:

The largest Soul Train dance consisted of 426 participants and was achieved by Goodyear Ballpark, in Goodyear, Arizona, on July 4, 2014.

Get down to the beat with the Do the Bump Playlist, after the jump.

Cookbook Road Test is a recurring feature in which we try out a rarely used cookbook from my collection. I’ll share my opinions about the cookbook, selected recipe, meal overall, and oh yes – a little music too. Every road test needs a soundtrack, right?!

The Cookbook: This was a gift from my sister several years ago. The Green City Market Cookbook is beautifully photographed, carefully curated, and seasonally organized around what’s available when at this apparently-famous farmer’s market. The book jacket says this: “Green City Market is known across the country as a premier destination for the best in organic, sustainable, and locally sourced farm products.” The cookbook features these ingredients in recipes that appear to be delicious, easy and accessible, their success based largely on the high quality of a few simple ingredients. And there you have the motto of the entire farm to table movement. 

Sample recipes from the Spring and Summer chapters of the Green City Market Cookbook -- commence mouthwatering now:

• Mushroom, Asparagus and Fontina Cheese Strata
  
• Grilled Fish Tacos with Tomatillo Salsa
  
• Heirloom Tomato Salad with Aged Cheddar

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. 

Dancing/Good Health Fun Fact:

 
Flexibility is one of the skills that you will most definitely get if you dance regularly. 


By achieving full range of body motion, you can exercise all the muscles and joints of your body.



This Shake a Tailfeather Playlist will help.

In all honesty I can’t even call these tools. Well, I guess the kitchen shears count but the gloves are really stretching the point.

It’s true though. My life in the kitchen changed dramatically when I realized how these simple items could make such a big difference. 

The kitchen shears: I very rarely use a knife to trim meat anymore; it’s much easier to trim fat from chicken breasts or silverskin from a tenderloin with the shears. Sometimes I’ll use them to segment a large piece of meat or fish into smaller portions. I also use the shears to mince chives and other herbs, to chop dried fruit, plus a million other uses. 

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. 

Calle Ocho – a neighborhood festival in Miami’s Little Havana – earned an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records when 119,986 people formed the world's longest conga line on March 13, 1988. 

The conga line is a Cuban carnival dance that was first developed in Cuba and became popular in the US in the 1930s and 1950s. 

The dancers form a long, processing line, which would usually turn into a circle. It has three shuffle steps on the beat, followed by a kick that is slightly ahead of the fourth beat.

Source: Wikipedia

Get up and sway to the Salsa Playlist after the jump. 

Although this evening’s theme revolved around culinary techniques rather than, say, specific ingredients or a regional cuisine, our meal took on a distinctly French character. (Let’s call this character Henri, dress him in impossibly skinny jeans and of course a scarf. No beret, that’s such a cliché.)

The dishes served were not necessarily French, and in fact included distinctive hallmarks of other national cuisines (opaa!), but the French influence – and the mentoring spirit of Julia Child – was certainly there.

You may recall that the specifics of this theme were revealed at the Fondue dinner party: a knife draw which provided each team with two French culinary terms or techniques that should be in the skillset of any self-respecting Brigade de Cuisine -- chefs and home cooks alike. Each team had to use one or both in their course. Here’s the line-up:

Drinks: Mousse and/or Bâtonnet  (Dan & Greg)

Appetizer: Coulis and/or Flambé (Ellyn)

Main course: Julienne and/or Buerre Noisette (Ilise & Ann)

Dessert: Bain Marie and/or Mirepoix (Kathleen & Karen)

We’ve recently had our first summer-like days here in Chicago. Temperatures around 80 degrees last weekend and again today, with blue skies and a balmy breeze. Perfection!

After yard chores, garden prep and cleaning the grill, this refreshing cocktail is a well-deserved reward and a good reminder that before summer arrives in earnest we should still make sure to enjoy ... Springtime!    

(recipe and tunage after the jump)

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind.

Dancing Fun Fact:

According to Guinness World Records, the oldest dance troupe is The Hip Op-eration Crew (New Zealand), consisting of 23 active members aged 67 to 95 years old, with an average age of 79 years and 197 days as of 10 May 2014.




Check out the Jitterbug Playlist after the jump.

Lately my mother-in-law Ina has come to our house for dinner about once a week which is delightful as she’s excellent company and never fails to praise my cooking. For two reasons I've learned that I should have a snack ready on these evenings. #1- She’s always early, and #2- Lately I’m always late. I always mean to have my prep work done ahead of time so that dinner is just zip-zip-zip-done and on the table. But no, get comfortable, have a nibble, it’s going to be a while. (sips wine at a leisurely pace before checking the recipe once again)

These Pepperoni Pinwheels were a recent snack-time success story. The bold, savory flavors of pepperoni, smoked cheese and mustard wrapped in golden flaky pastry? Yep. I take this as a sign I should plan to be late with dinner more often. 

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. 


I am pretty shy about dancing in public, always sure that I look stupid, sweaty or both. 

Sometimes you have to do it anyway (family wedding receptions) and sometimes imbibing just the right amount of liquid courage makes it easier to stop caring so much and let yourself have a good time on the dance floor. 

But solo dancing to these dance breaks? These are easy, fun, goofy and energizing. If anyone ever saw me I'd die of embarrassment, but so far so good. 

I hope you're dancing to the Afternoon Breaks and having a good time too! 



Today's Groove Playlist will really get you going!

This snacktastic little number made quite an impression at a Supper Club gathering last fall and then again at our Holiday Open House in December. The recipe makes an enormous batch, which oh darn, leftovers. Not for long.

In addition to the bourbon – bourbon! – the biggest surprise is how delicious the dried apple slices are as a mix-in for popcorn. Why didn’t I learn about this sooner? 

It’s a few months now that we’ve been on this sustainable fish cookery jag and, as a former fish non-enthusiast, I have to say that it's been far more satisfying and a lot easier than expected. I’m sure there are many ways to cook fish in a complicated fashion but we haven’t felt the need to try any of those lately. Most of our favorite fish recipes use, at most, 2-3 ingredients besides the fish, often butter and lemon. The other flavor trifecta frequently used with fish – soy sauce, sesame and in this case honey (sometimes it’s ginger) – is featured here. 

“Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangement, that dweam wifin a dweam...” This quote comes, of course, from the cult-fave film The Princess Bride, when the fabulous Peter Cook performs the wedding of Prince Humperdinck and Buttercup.

I’ve spent the past week trying to make the quote work with a salad metaphor (why, you ask? you’ll see) and am not quite there yet. I might go with it anyway. “Mawage is like a sawad. Mawage, that bwessed produce awangement …”

Thanks to the defeat of DOMA and the legalization of same-sex marriage in Illinois and many other states, we find ourselves on the guest list for a few weddings this summer which will honor the longtime relationships of friends who are, shall we say, mature or 'experienced' or perhaps 'seasoned.' Yes, yes, they’re all young at heart, that’s not the point. The point is ... wedding gifts. Not only have these folks already got everything they want/need, they’ve also been well-established in households together for quite some time. There is simply no reason to outfit them with toasters or hand towels or whatever. So what to do instead?

One couple’s friends have addressed the issue by hosting a Creative Arts Shower for the brides, Carol and Pamela. Guests are encouraged to bring/perform/create some sort of “art" for the happy couple – could be a painting for them to hang in their home, or the recitation of a poem, or maybe a living room demonstration of badass break-dancing skills. It’s more about the experiences and the memories, less about stuff. Very cool idea! This post is our creative offering … ladies, after reading further let us know if you’d prefer to have the toaster.  

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. 


This blogging stuff is turning out to be quite educational. I’m learning things right and left. Useful things, that’s debatable, but interesting … you betcha.

I’ve always thought of rock dancing – or dancing to rock and roll songs – as being fairly casual. Two-step shuffle, the occasional hip waggle, a little hair tossing if you’re feeling it, and definitely the head bob. 

Well, come to learn that Rock ‘n’ Roll dance is an actual thing in competition and performance dance, highly athletic with acrobatic elements. I think the head bob-shuffle-waggle is more my speed, frankly, but you do you.

Give a listen to the Rock On Playlist after the jump.