A Good Dinner at Home

After some thought, I decided this would be as a good a time as any to start a new blog. In the past, I've been known to keep it pretty silly, but I am aiming now for something a little longer term and more (gulp) serious. Don't worry, though, as I'll try to inject humor whenever possible.

I want to preface this venture with a warning of sorts. This is not necessarily going to be the typical food blog (if there even is such a thing). I don't have the time or inclination to post incredibly detailed accounts of the newest restaurant visit, but I will instead attempt to keep the posts lively and varied. While there may be weeks between posts at times, I'll try to keep my entries fairly regular.

I don't know about you, but, if these are the dog day's of summer, I'm ready for the hamster days of fall. It's been a crazy summer around the Erickson household. When I'm not busy breaking my leg or injuring my back, I really enjoy good food. (In fact, I enjoy it too much, but we'll save the dieting blog for next year.) One of my favorite meals at home lately is really relatively simple.

The central dish features slices of fresh tomato in balsamic vinegar, crowned with fresh mozzarella, garnished with garden basil, and seasoned with freshly ground pepper and a dash of salt. The second entree is pickled asparagus gently wrapped in quality salami. (We were pleased with Freybe's Gypsi Salami, which we found at a local Roths.)

Of course, as I always ask, where's the carbohydrate? We selected a good Italian bread, sliced it down to a smaller size, buttered each, then toasted the bread in the oven. You could always use margarine, but why would you? I'm afraid I am a fan of the real flavor and texture that only comes from butter.

Last, but not least, we just enjoyed an extraordinarily good sparkling grape juice from RW Knudsen company, but wine is always a wonderful compliment to this meal. May I suggest one of our favorites? Saracco Moscato D'asti is a white Italian wine. It's not expensive, but it yields as rich and full a flavor as some of those more pricey wines. It really compliments this particular meal very well.

This is a simple meal for home in which the preparation of the meal seems to lend itself to building anticipation and bringing family members together. It's especially good with garden fresh tomatoes, but ours aren't quite to that stage yet.

Let me know how it works for you. Until next time, keep the kitchen light on for me!