We had a really delicious dinner last weekend - grilled romaine, tuna and peaches. Yum, yum and yum

It fits in perfectly with Joelen’s food blogging event Tasty Tools - the theme this month is Basting Brush, and of course, you need to oil up most foods before grilling them, so they don’t burn or stick to the grill grates. So here’s Dan ready to take the food out to the grill:

And, not my best photo, but here’s the tasty result:

This really doesn’t even require a recipe. For two servings, cut one romaine heart in half, keeping the root end intact, to prevent it from falling apart. Cut a ripe peach in half and remove the pit. Sprinkle the about 8 oz. of fresh tuna with Paul Prudhomme’s Blackening Seasoning (we didn’t really have enough - time to get some more), and brush it and the romaine and peaches with olive oil. Then, while Dan was grilling, I made a balsamic vinegar reduction - took about 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, brought it to a boil in a small saucepan, and simmered till it was reduced by half.

Then we cut up the tuna, put it on top of the romaine and topped that with salad dressing - Italian for me and bleu cheese for Dan. We drizzled the balsamic reduction over the peaches and that was dinner. As I said - yum, yum and yum

We had a good crowd for the TNT dinner on July 17. We went to our favorite Mexican place - Tortilla West, on Orapax Avenue near Lamberts Point Docks. It’s more of an upscale Mexican restaurant - one of the waitresses told me they have trained chefs who like to do Mexican-inspired dishes rather than the typical Mexican. It seems to me that most of the Mexican restaurants around here use a version of the same menu - the same Speedy Gonzales Lunch #1 and so on - which are fine for what they are, but Tortilla West has their own delicious dishes.

So, to help us keep track of what we’ve tried and not tried, here’s what we all had that night:

• Barbara - Chicken Enchiladas Mole
• Kim - Fish Tacos
• Susan - Chicken Enchiladas Mole
• Martha - Chicken Fajitas - a very generous portion!
• Randy - Spinach and Goat Cheese Quesadilla
• Duane - Chicken Enchiladas

All declared their dinners delicious

A few days ago, I received the Thai ingredients I had ordered from A Taste of Thai. Most of them were in good shape; some of the Thai peppers were not as fresh as they could have been, but many are usable, and I have Kung Pao peppers in the garden, so that’s not a problem.

The really great part is getting the kaffir lime leaves and galangal, which I could not find in local grocery stores, even Asian stores. So soon I will make tom yum soup again, to see if it tastes as authentic as what I’ve had in restaurants.

Here’s a pic of the ingredients that came in the kit:

I cook mostly with olive oil, but we do use butter from time to time. Some time ago, I wrote about wanting to get a butter crock. Where we live, it gets quite hot during the summer, and if I leave butter out in the traditional butter dish, it gets much too soft. If I put it in the fridge, it gets too hard and tears the bread when you try to spread it.

Dan often likes to have cinnamon-raisin bread for breakfast, so this can be a problem. Then I saw the butter bell, which is supposed to keep butter spreadable, yet cool. You put the butter in the top, then put a few inches of cool water in the bottom. When you put the top into the bottom, the water forms a seal that protects the butter from the air, so it lasts longer and doesn’t absorb odors, and the water keeps the butter cool and spreadable. That’s it.

I wasn’t crazy about the butter bell I linked to above, because it’s French and my new kitchen is Tuscan-looking (that’s not a political statement, just an aesthetic one ). Then on Amazon, I found this - an Italian-looking butter bell with graphics of herbs around it. Bought it right away, it arrived earlier this week, and it works just as advertised. Love it and recommend it highly.

On Sunday, Dan and I took Pippen and a picnic lunch on a day trip. First we went to an outlet mall in Williamsburg, where I used my 35 percent off coupon at Le Creuset to buy a 5.5-quart Flame-colored enameled cast-iron Dutch oven (finally! yay!), a green pepper baking dish (I already have a yellow pepper, pumpkin and garlic), and a new spatula. All that for less than $150, because they had a Dutch oven in the size and color I wanted that had been a floor model, so the man at the store gave me the seconds price on it. The only flaw is that the bottom was scratched some. I promise, I won’t turn it over

After shopping, we drove along the James River where there are a lot of places to stop and enjoy the river. We found one place that was pretty private and quiet, right along the water. Dan and Pippen went to play in the water while I took pix.

Here’s a still:

I’ll have to upload the movie later - it’s too big and it’s too late now to start editing it. See ya.

Just wanted to show off my herb garden I did a quick-n-dirty blur on the background, to make it easier to see the herbs. The tree on the left is a Japanese maple and there’s another tree on the right, in the clay pot - can’t remember what it is. And the other tree in the middle right is bay laurel. Yup, it grows as a tree here.

This started off as a flower garden in the middle of the back yard. Then we moved my herbs into it, expanded it, and just keep adding more things to it. I think it needs to be expanded again And next year, I’m definitely moving the fennel somewhere else (that’s the tall, gray-green stuff to the right of and behind the birdbath). It just takes up too much space and shades some of the other herbs.

Off the top of my head, we have thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, sage, tarragon, Italian parsley, bay, purple basil, sweet basil, Thai basil, Greek oregano, dill (still going, although I have to pick off flowers almost every day), cilantro (almost done) and mint in a strawberry jar on the patio, to keep it from taking over.

Joelen of Joelen’s Culinary Adventures, teaches cooking classes and hosts cooking-related meetups in Chicago. She invites food bloggers to join in by posting a recipe on the many themes she offers each month. One coming up this month is Thai food.

Dan and I both love Thai food, and I’ve been making it more myself lately. Recently, I made tom yam kung (aka hot and sour) soup. It turned out pretty well, but you really need to have authentic ingredients for it to taste right.

I was able to find lemongrass (and now I have it in my garden) in the grocery store, but no kaffir lime leaves or galangal (Asian ginger). So I’ve found an online source that I ordered from and will hopefully have these ingredients soon, so I can try it again and see if it tastes more authentic. It was good, but it just didn’t have the same flavor as the tom yam kung soup I’ve had at local Thai restaurants. btw, Rama Garden in downtown Norfolk is my favorite local Thai restaurant.

This recipe is from “Madhur Jaffrey’s Far Eastern Cookery.”

Tom Yam Kung (Hot and Sour) Soup

1 lb. medium shrimp, shelled and deveined (reserve the shells)
2 sticks fresh sliced lemongrass
4 fresh or frozen kaffir lime leaves, or 1 tbsp. finely grated lemon rind
1-1/2 quarts chicken stock
1 tbsp. fish sauce
3 tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. chili paste (nam prik pow)
1 15-oz. can straw mushrooms, or 12 medium fresh straw mushrooms (found these at American Asian Foodmarket, corner of Great Neck Road and Virginia Beach Blvd., Va. Beach)
3 fresh hot green chilies
3 tbsp. fresh cilantro

Rinse shrimp, drain and pat dry. Cover and refrigerate. Cut each stick of lemongrass into 3×2-inch pieces, starting from the rounded bottom end. Discard the strawlike top. Lightly crush the 6 pieces with a skillet or flat side of a heavy knife.

Combine the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves or lemon rind, stock and shrimp shells in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Strain, then add the fish sauce, lime juice and chili paste. Mix and taste, adding more fish sauce or lime juice if you need it.

Drain the mushrooms and add to the seasoned stock (if using fresh, quarter them and blanch in lightly salted boiling water, then add to the seasoned stock).

The soup may be prepared in advance to this point. Cool, cover and refrigerate for up to several hours.

Prepare the garnishes shortly before serving the soup. Cut the green chiles into thin slices. Heat the stock with the mushrooms in it. When it begins to bubble, drop in the peeled shrimp. Cook on medium heat for about two minutes or just until shrimp turn opaque. Put soup into a large serving bowl or individual serving bowls. Garnish with green chiles and whole fresh cilantro leaves and serve hot.

I think it’s pretty cool, anyway

Any idea what it is? Make a guess in the comments.

Kung Pao Peppers

I was talking to some friends about how our garden is doing - we have seven different kinds of peppers going right now, including four hot varieties, so I’m listing them here for our, and their, reference. I’m sure when they’re ripe, they’re going to be prolific, so make your requests now

The number after the pepper type is its measure on the Scoville scale, which measures the hotness of a pepper. The scale goes from 0 for sweet bell peppers to 15-16 million for pure capsaicin, which is the chemical that supplies the heat in a hot pepper. In 2006, the habanero pepper, with a Scoville range of 350,000–580,000 for heat, was overtaken by a new variety: the Bhut Jolokia from India, with a Scoville range of 855,000–1,041,427. That’s scary hot.

By the way, “hot” and “spicy” are not the same thing; hot is heat (duh) and spicy has a lot of spices in it. Spices are the dried seeds, fruits, roots, bark and other parts of plants (not including the leaves, which are herbs); examples are cumin seed, peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and saffron. So food can be spicy but not hot.

• Anaheim - 500–2,500
• Cayenne - 30,000–50,000
• Jalapeno - 2,500–8,000
• Kung Pao - 7,000-12,000
• Pimento - 100-500
• Sweet bells - 0
• Tabasco - 30,000–50,000

Here’s a hot tip (groan ): If you eat something that’s too hot from chiles, drinking water, beer or wine won’t help. Capsaicin is not water-soluble, so those beverages won’t reduce the heat at all. Instead, have some dairy ready, maybe as a dip or sauce - milk, sour cream or yogurt will counter the heat.

Chile peppers are an ancient crop that originated in what is now Mexico and South America. After European explorers found the Western Hemisphere, peppers spread around the world and now are found in cuisines everywhere. There’s lots more information on chile peppers at the Chile Pepper Institute, a program of New Mexico State University.

Now that I’ve written all this up, I thought I’d submit it to Weekend Herb Blogging, a weekly blogging event begun by Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen, and hosted this week by Simona, who writes Briciole.

Dan and I have been watching the HBO miniseries “John Adams” on DVD through NetFlix. I think it’s very well done - we’ve enjoyed it a lot.

Have a great Fourth - I’m making all-American brownies and Southwestern potato salad to take to a cookout tonight.