Author Archive: Elyssa
Cheeseburgers and Championships
Football. Caramelized Onions. Guacamole. Championship Football. Plus, as of this posting, the Packers have just earned their ticket to the Super Bowl. Life is good. For those of you that have read any of my previous posts, you may or may not remember that my husband and I have a little weekly challenge for one [...]
San Diego Beer: A Tribute
My dear Zomppas, today is my last day to be writing to you from sunny San Diego. Over Thanksgiving break I am moving back to DC with my husband and our menagerie of animals. While we are both very excited to be moving back to the east coast, I wanted to take this opportunity and [...]
Figs, Figs the Magical Fruit!
Figs have always seemed so mysterious to me. They are this ancient and mythical fruit that’s found in history from the Odyssey to the Bible and everything in between. This week for my challenge my husband gave me figs, pork and white wine and I set off on my own quest to give the fig [...]
Creating to be Creative
Cooking is one of those rare activities in life that allows us to work with both sides of our brain. On the left hand we have recipes that we work with and defined ingredients to add, but on the right hand we have limitless ways that we can stray from the recipe to create our [...]
Variety is the Spice of Life
My husband and I love food and we especially love to try to challenge ourselves to learn to cook new foods and to use new techniques. Hence why we make our own beer and I am trying my hand at homemade cheeses. Even though we love love love to cook, we often find ourselves falling into [...]
Summer Sun + Corn Chowder = Scrumptious!
I love summer, which is a good thing because here in San Diego it’s summer most of the year. But there’s something extra special about “real” summer when fresh fruit and veggies are being harvested and they’re just melt in your mouth delicious. One of my favorite things about summer is the fresh corn – [...]
Just Like Heaven
Everyone has their own haven of deliciousness, that one spot where they reached food nirvana. For me, that spot is a little restaurant in Florence called La Giostra. Just thinking about it makes me crave fresh Carpaccio, rosemary scented rack of lamb and bold red wine. Unfortunately, I don’t get to my little slice of [...]
In the Land of Plenty
Spring is a marvelous time to live in Southern California. While the rest of the country is still pulling itself out of winter we’re enjoying the first harvests of the year – avocados, strawberries, squash, melons. We are so spoiled with fresh, local food here and I think it probably gives us a warped sense [...]
4: Countdown to Zomppa Y2 – Lys
Counting down 4 days to our one-year celebration of Zomppa on May 3. Here is Lys, she of the ridiculous flourless chocolate cakes and lace cookies! What is your favorite food movie or book? I think that I spend more time reading my cookbooks than actual books…. I love the scene in “French Kiss” where [...]
Queen of Beer
I used to really hate beer, just the smell would make my nose wrinkle. In fact, I when I lived in Germany during the fall of 2002 (fall=Oktoberfest) I didn’t drink a single drop. It took me until about 2006 to actually find a beer that I liked, I was a wine-girl after all, and [...]
