Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! With the big holiday weekend coming up we're on a foodie related vacation today! We were invited to a big foodie event about 3 hours north of here, an Abalone Dive and Foodie Picnic! We've been super excited about this for months and now the day is finally here (well okay, it'll be here around 5AM tomorrow when we leave the house). Unfortunately with all the prep work (2 dishes for 100 people! Yikes!) we haven't had the chance to get a post prepared for today. We're hoping to get a post prepackaged to show up on Monday morning, but we might not be able too. Instead we've decided to provide you with some pictures from a local farm around here called Hidden Villa that we took about a month ago. Also, we wanted to take this chance to announce a new feature that is

One of Eric's favorite pastimes is hockey, going way back to the late 1980s around the time of The Trade. Eric's love of the game (Charisse considers it an obsession, Eric doesn't argue that point much anymore) has him played a few times a week over at Sharks Ice - San Jose, the San Jose Sharks practice facility in the adult league there. Its through these teams that we've made a number of new friends many of whom are becoming quite dear to us. Its for one of these new friends Erik and his wife Kendra that we made this dish during a little backyard BBQ. Eric's been itching to have some people over, light up the grill and enjoy the back patio and for once the weather co-operated (cold rainy weather in May? Who knew?). We were doing turkey burgers and wanted some kind of fun veggie dish to

We first had this chocolate dish at our good friend Jen's house. It was her birthday and being a chocoholic she had made several desserts featuring this ingredient. By the time Charisse made it to the dessert table she was disappointed to see all the chocolate cobbler was gone! This didn't stop her from stealing a few bites from her darling husband, but it wasn't enough! So this weekend Jen and Charisse planned a girls night in and neglected to mention to Eric that Jen's husband was working and not coming until it was too late. So Eric had to resign himself to a chick flick movie and girl talk night. Actually the night wasn't that bad, everyone agreed on Avatar and Chocolate Cobbler. While Avatar was a little disappointing , basically Pocahontas under blacklight the cobbler went well. No, not just well, it was amazing and we had it

Breakfast is the only meal that can be had at any time of day, and never feels out of place. 10 AM or 10 PM, a bowl of cereal, some eggs and bacon, or a  home cooked waffle fills an empty stomach or a tired soul. We try and have breakfast and coffee together as much as possible, but these days our mornings together are few and far between. With our work schedules, we get the breakfast chance about once every other week, usually Saturday mornings. On those wonderfully special days we sleep in a little later, make a pot of french press coffee (infinitely better than using the machine) and whip up something to eat. Figuring out what to cook is always entertaining (Eric's suggestions usually start with "well we can cook up some bacon and..."). Last Saturday started with a request for bacon (denied) and turned into thoughts

Sometimes you need something sweet to get through the week, so to help you over the weekday hump, today is brownie day! Double Chocolate Chunk Brownie day to be precise. For a chocolate lover what is better than brownies? Being choco-holics ourselves, we can answer that question.... more chocolate! These brownies are super easy to make and will satisfy your coco craving without a doubt. Here in the Petruno household dessert is always a major food group and we are always looking for yummy treats to serve after a hearty meal. After making complicated tarts, upside down cakes and custards, we wanted something simple that could be thrown together and tossed in the oven yet still be mind bendingly good. These brownies bended the mind and easy to throw together, in other words these brownies were just the ticket. The key to these tasty treats are the chunks of chocolate

This was probably the most beautiful pasta we have made so far. With amazingly fresh vegetables in the stores right now we want to incorporate them into every dish we make. Zucchini is Charisse's absolute favorite vegetable and pasta is her favorite food, so any time we can combine the two, Charisse is a happy happy girl. The only problem with having a favorite food that is healthy for your, inexpensive and easy to cook is that you end up cooking it a couple of times a week and after awhile sauteed zucchini gets boring. This is where a couple of kitchen gadgets come in handy. Somehow, cutting your veggies differently (julienne for example) creates an entirely new texture and gives the same old veggies a new kick. We decided on some beautiful thick zucchini ribbons to serve with our shrimp and pasta. If you have a potato peeler in

This burger was designed especially for Eric, yet another victim of the food network (DARN YOU CABLE!). After watching "Burger Paradise" the other night, we were gearing up to make a simple every day weeknight salad for dinner. Unfortunately Paula Dean came on. With more burgers. Really good looking burgers. At that moment Eric decided he just had to have a burger "right this second..." and of course for Eric, it had to be topped with bacon. Now Charisse likes to stack her burgers with all kinds of veggies like lettuce and tomatoes and whatnot. She even prefers to skip the bacon (primarily because she doesn't like it when you bite into it and all the bacon comes out in the first bite). So Charisse engineered a compromise. Bacon stuffed the right into the middle of the burger. That's right, bacon with every bite. And she didn't stop there, she

Here is our second beautiful spring salad from the weekend, a Thai Peanut Slaw. We came across some brilliant red cabbage at the market and decided this was a perfect ingredient to base a dish on and what better dish to make from red cabbage than cole slaw?  Now you also have to factor in that Charisse loves Thai food, and is obsessed with anything peanut based. So when we were talking about what to make, Charisse said she wanted to recreate a slaw from a popular local restaurant, a Thai Peanut Salad. There are not many ingredients in this slaw, it's pretty basic full of crunchy cabbage, fresh cilantro and crushed peanuts, the flavor really comes from the dressing. No most cole slaws are identified as being a big pile of white goop, with some cabbage tossed in for color. Growing up neither of us really cared for the

Spring is here in California and that means amazing fresh fruits and veggies. The farmers markets are jammed packed with colorful carrots, ripe strawberries and tons of other goodies that inspired this weeks recipes.  We were in the mood for salad this weekend and vegetable creations were a hit. This weeks decisions were destined for a series of pot luck style dinners, and these brightly colored creations fit the bill perfectly, we didn't even worry about them getting cold! We started off our weekend with a bright Red Beet Salad with Greens. We were a little bit worried that everyone would wonder where the hearty dishes like Potato Leek Gratin or the Ricotta and Spinach Gnocchi were, but the group was happily surprised by the lite but tasty side dish. The original plan was based around golden beets, but after scouring the markets, we there was not a golden beet

Who says you can't have eggs for dinner? In fact we find ourselves facing breakfast for dinner on a regular basis.  Waffles, french toast and bacon are always appropriate in this household, any time of the day. A fritata is a great way to satisfy those breakfast craving and still get your veggies in and great protein too. It's also a great way to rid your fridge of any left over veggies, which helps prevent waste, and gets the kids to eat them too. Have one zucchini left? throw it in! Some chard and half an onion.? throw it in! Pretty much anything will work. For this version, we used a base of caramelized onions and cremimi mushrooms (which are one of the best mushrooms). I also used some fresh chevre broken up into small pieces and floated throughout the egg mixture. This is making my mouth water for more