Cee’s Photo Challenge: Contrasting Colors
Here’s a yellow and blue cat that I found in a ceramics shop in Hong Kong. I just couldn’t pass him up, and he now sits atop my Chinese red cabinet. See him above in my blog masthead photo?
Another yellow cat! This one is from a peasant painting I purchased in Hong Kong.
Yellow butterfly on a butterfly bush in my backyard
On her blog, Where’s my backpack?, Ailsa challenged us to post multicolored travel photos. Here is my “kaleidoscope of colors” all found while on a trip to Italy in 2012.
A colorful candy shop in Rome
Multicolored scarves for sale in a tiny upstairs shop in Siena
Classy shoes in a shop window in Rome
Yummy veggies in Campo de’ Fioro, Trastevere, Rome, Italy
Three friends in colorful outfits enjoy gelato in San Gimignano
For another peek at these three sweeties, see It’s 4 P.M. Have you had your gelato yet?
Colorful atmosphere and multicolored painting in Piazza Navona at night.
The Last Meow
Colorful? You want colorful? Well, how about the colorful kitties in this blog masthead? Take a look at the complete picture. Now those are colorful kitties. Not only that, they have traveled from such places as Japan, Hong Kong, and China. And not to be all snooty about it, there’s an American cat down in the right hand bottom corner. This is an international household, after all. Just saying.
Colorful international kitties
Meow for now. =<^;^>=
Take a look at these entries from other bloggers. Exquisite!
http://confuzzledom.wordpress.com/2013/09/17/travel-theme-multi-coloured/
http://smallbluegreenfotos.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/travel-theme-multicoloured/
http://lagottocattleya.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/travel-theme-multicoloured/
http://annarashbrook.wordpress.com/2013/09/13/travel-theme-multicoloured/
WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge
[Sign in ceramics shop in San Gimignano, Italy]
Maybe this cat is calling a general meeting to discuss world issues like the over abundance of cat-less homes, the ratio of tuna to grain in canned cat food, the lack of cat parks, the need for regulations to control nap interruptions, and many other cat grievances.
A recipe for Chicken with Herb Roasted Tomatoes and Pan Sauce posted by Epicurious (recipe here) reminded me of a delicious Peasant Chicken dinner that I had in San Gimignano, Italy this past May.
Peasant Chicken is similar to Hunter Chicken (a cacciatore), but the unique feature of this dish is that it includes green olives.
Here is my photo of the dish as served in San Gimignano.
I searched the Internet as well as my own vast collection of cookbooks for recipes for peasant chicken and came up with several possibilities.
Epicurean.com has a recipe for Chicken with Green Olives that sounds like the dish that I had. That recipe is here.
I checked The Tuscan Sun Cookbook: Recipes from Our Italian Kitchen by Frances Mayes and Edward Mayes and found Chicken with Olives and Tomatoes. Mayes’ recipe uses both black and green olives. I am sure that the recipe varies with regional preferences.
I will try the Frances Mayes’ recipe today and see how my rendition compares to the original in San Gimignano.
Grocery list: Chicken, wine from the Chianti region of Italy, Jersey Fresh cherry tomatoes, broad leaf parsley, black olives, and green olives. I already have extra-virgin olive oil. Consult the cookbook for exact quantities for these ingredients.
First, oven roast the cherry tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half, season with salt and pepper, and toss in garlic and herbs. Roast for a few hours on low oven heat. Here’s a peek at a bowl of the tomatoes (half the batch).
Now brown the chicken in olive oil and add a bit of chianti. Move the chicken and wine to a baking dish. Cover with a mix of the olives, parsley, and roasted tomatoes. Bake for thirty minutes.
Serve over nests of angel hair pasta or your own favorite pasta.
This is how my dish turned out. It smells so good, and it is delicious. It looks similar to the San Gimignano version, but I think the San Gimignano recipe uses white wine and more olive oil. Regardless, this recipe is definitely a keeper.
Next week, I will try the Epicurean.com recipe and see which dish comes closer to the one Mama made in Italy.
YOUR TURN: Have you tried to duplicate a dish from another country or another area of our country?
Janice Hall Heck 