Experimental cooking......

I have (in recent years) become a pretty good cook. And I enjoy experimenting with new recipes, often my friends are the happy recipients (AKA victims) of these experiments. Some have worked out great and been made again, others needing a few more adjustments and have been made again and some are a one time experiment, never to be made again. 

The never to be made again recipes often end up there for three reasons:

1. They are too much work

2. The flavour is bland and I don't think there is a way to improve it 

3. All out failure

So I am making lunch for a dear friends birthday on February 14 and have decided to try something new. I have done extensive searching for a version of what I want to cook that doesn't have bacon, isn't too overly pre-processed and seems fairly simple to prep.......I have found the main dish but we will wait till after the birthday party to tell you about it and about what my victims-ummm-friends thought of this experiment......now to figure out my side dish, and appetizer and perhaps even desert.

Christmas in Palm Desert

For the first time ever we were some place warm for Christmas. It was strange for the first few days to see Christmas decorations and palm trees but now I think about returning to the snow and cold of home and just don't feel ready yet. I think this Christmas in PSP will be the start of a new tradition.

DH and I flew into Palm Springs on Christmas Day, my mom met us at the airport and had a turkey in the oven.  She even had set-up a little Christmas tree for us. It was very festive but nice and warm.  

A few days later our weather changed, down to zero over night one night even. DH and I had to buy some warmer clothing and more blankets for our bed as we were freezing. We had bought clothing for low teens not zero......if you look closely at those mountains in the picture below you will see a slight dusting of snow. This was a sunny day but our high was barley 10 degrees, Vancouver that same day was 6 degrees!

But today, my last full day, it's beautiful again.....warm, sunny and perfect. I return home tomorrow night late so today I am taking full advantage of the weather, I had lunch on a patio on El Paseo and then stopped for an iced tea before walking back up the hill to our villa.

Looking forward to our next visit to the desert.