Orphan recipes: Polenta with tomato sauce and chili-garlic sauce over noodles

Hi Kissers! Our email server is down at work so I decided to do a little inbox cleanup of my own. I just unearthed a gem of an email from Jessica, who sent a couple of recipes to me, apparently upon my request. In either September or December of 2012. Ahem.

I have not been able to find what on earth they are from, and don't recall having eaten either one, but here are the goods:

Polenta with Creamy Tomato Sauce

Chili-Garlic Sauce (for Brenda's Noodles)

August KTC: More summertime fare with Meg, Shawn, & Fernando!

OK folks! Once again, reporting to you live, the Ghost of Kiss The Cooks' past! We not-so-recently convened in Fernando, Shawn's, and Sebastian's home for a summertime meal structured around late summer stone fruits and berries! Meg and Shawn organized some snacks.....

...and Fernando took some photos with his new fancy-pants camera! Doesn't that look nice? It's homemade labneh, fresh out of Meg's kitchen, served in a ruby-toned lake of summer berries-Yum!

Spiced olives...

We made a lovely Welcome cocktail: watermelon, vodka, and lime - oh, my!

Joyce and Jessica brought more home-spun summer bounty: Asian pears!

More summer yumminess...

And speaking of yumminess, here's Anne!

Salad...

Green tomatoes!

Besides these pre-dinner treats, our evening's menu would include:

• Peach gazpacho (inspirational recipes here and here)
• Grilled salmon with berry coulis served over arugula salad
• Peach lambic ice cream (Meg? Do you have a recipe?)

We made up a berry coulis for the salmon, with huckleberries, blackberries, and other goodies:

Lardons, yo. For the salad, of course!

Fennel - fresh and crisp, also for the salad:

Shawn asks a wise wine question: "What Would Lyle Lovett Do?"

We focused on easy, quick, non-heat-producing meal prep, so really, after an initial flurry of activity, there wasn't much to do. So we chatted! We visited! We shot the proverbial "Ess Aich I Tee!"

We enjoyed a quickly-growing Sebas:

And spied on Damian, whom we glimpsed through the curtains basking in the sun by the grill. (Frank's around here somewhere, but I didn't like the ones we took that day...Frank, you can thank us later).

Here's Rick and his very-hip new frames:

"What? You got a problem with me?!? I'll break your arm!!"

And so it was.

Not really. But it was a great excuse to show off some fancy martial arts moves.

The aforementioned grill: a birthday gift for Fernando, on its inaugural cooking adventure!

More relaxation ensued. We even put up our feet!

Sebastian decided he was ready for dinner and got settled in:

And the delights began flowing onto the table. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you grilled halloumi cheese and green tomatoes!

Why yes, those are fresh summer tomatoes with an extraordinary balsamic reduction:

Want a closer look. you say?

Our sneaker star of the afternoon: A raw peach-and-yogurt-based "gazpacho." It was super tasty!

And, of course, everything is even tastier with a smile.

We broke bread...

And posed for a group picture...

And then posed again, glasses raised...

Even Sebastian got in on the action, raising his sippy-cup to our proffered "Salud!"

This gorgeous salmon is about to go on the grill. Rick tells us that the trick is to grill fish when it's still just a mite frozen on the inside still. He says this preserves just enough moisture so that the fish does not overcook and dry out. Thanks, Rick!

A lovely arugula, manchego, fennel, and who-knows-what salad accompanied...

Where's papá? Over there!

Meanwhile, fish grills.

And then the skin side grills!

While it cooks, Sebas enjoys some "yums," courtesy of Meg...

And in a flash, the salmon is done!

Sebastian plays catch...

And then WE play catch chasing him around...

Salmon is plated...

It was just as good as it tasted! Before we knew it, it was time for dessert: A peach lambic ice cream with raspberries and gingersnaps! OMG delish!

Next up, a recap of our very-awesome Woodinville wine tasting day in September, organized by the dapper Frank and debonnaire Damian (or is it the other way around?). Stay tuned, Kissers!

July KTC: Summertime Fun with Joyce and Jessica!

October 24 - Recipes added, see the end of this post!

Dear, dear readers.... It's September. Second half. The eve of the autumnal equinox, even. And this post? It's from July. Ahem.

Sooooo....Because of this, and because our September KTC event (wine tasting with Frank and Damian, w00t!) is TOMORROW, I decided to get a proverbial move on to get this post out the proverbial door!

Instead of our normal format, I'll use either single D-word descriptions or haikus. Ready? Here we go...

Dishes!

Ducks!

Doleful!

Many snacks to eat
Most delicious and fatty
Yum for my tum, yo.

Dudes!

Drinks?

Discs! (of meat, y'all!)

Thawed crustaceans await
Life outside their colander
Prettier when cooked.

Derrieres!

Diced!

Dessert-ish?

Cooling quinoa waits

Pallidly, expectantly
Ready for grilled cheese

Dancing!

Darling!

Duo!

Celery and I
Uneasy partnership launch
Crunch! But I'm toothless

Dedication...

Dagger!

Delight!

Ricky stirs and stirs
Smiling for the camera
Shrimp sauce on the way

Dazzling

Decorticated

Deceptive

Dried

Darkened

Dining al fresco
Summertime table is set
We enjoy it so!

Diablo!

Dressed

Delicious!

Dainty

Diente

DUDE.

Ea

Duplicated.

Damage

A few more photos
But no creative juice left
Need more haiku lines

I'll update this w links to recipes soon.....oxox!

• Grilled Halloumi and Quinoa Salad
• Spanish Shrimp Bruschetta
• Chocolate Mousse

White Gazpacho (couldn't find a link)
2.5 lbs cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise & seeded, divided
2.5 C chicken broth, divided
1.5 C plain nonfat yogurt
1/4 C white wine vinegar
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and finely minced (not pressed)
Freshly ground pepper (white is best) to taste
1 or more dashes hot pepper sauce, to taste
1 C finely diced tomatoes
1/2 C chopped scallions

Dice 2/3 of the cucumbers and coarsely process them in a food processor with 1 cup of broth. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in the remaining broth, yogurt, vinegar, garlic, pepper, and pepper sauce.

Finely chop the remaining 1/3 of the cucumbers, and add them to the soup along with the tomatoes and scallions. Chill the soup thoroughly before serving.