What I've been busy cooking elsewhere

Tomorrow I'm flying to Boston to enjoy a mini solo vacation. I thought I'd leave you with some photos of what I've been cooking lately as part of my freelancing for Robyn Webb. Robyn comes up with all the recipes, chooses either kitchen tools or specialty ingredients, and then I cook the food and take photos. Here are some of my favorites.

Pear and walnut salad with Goldenberries: this salad definitely screams FALL! I love the combination of Gorgonzola and pears. You can do the same with apples and blue cheese. Toasted walnuts add a bit of a crunch, and the entire salad gets some surprising flavor from goldenberries. This was the first time I've tried goldenberries, which reminded me of a raisins, but somewhat crunchy and a bit sour.

Lemon cranberry scones: this is not the first scone recipe I've baked for Robyn, and as always, it's a success--lemon zest is always great in baking. Don't have cranberries? Add dried cherries or raisins. Don't like triangular shapes? Make the scones round by using a biscuit cutter. This is a great basic recipe you can use to adapt to your wants/needs. I'm yet to make a savory scone though.

Tuscan bean, eggplant & tomato salad: This salad reminds me of summer. Perhaps you can no longer make it with the farmers market tomatoes, but I liked the combination of the roasted eggplant, cucumbers and white beans. And I also love the dark nail polish ;) (yes, that's my hand)

Black bean and corn salad with lime: this recipe is from Robyn's 13th book. I did quite a bit of testing for it and this salad was on my list of favorites. Look at the colors! Using black beans, red peppers, corn (either fresh or frozen or even canned), this is a hearty salad to make any time during the year.

Pork loin with garlic and rosemary: not only do I get to make the recipes and take the photos, but I am also lucky to keep the kitchen tools. In this case, I got to keep the pretty pink silicone food loops.

And I'll leave you with grilled panzanella. The main idea in this recipe is to grill your bread before adding it to the salad. This way, the bread doesn't turn into mush as it mixes with the juicy tomatoes and the flavorful olive oil.

To all of you who get Monday off for Columbus Day, have a great 3 day weekend! I'm going to try my best to document all of my eating adventures in Boston and share them with you when I get back.