A few weeks ago, my husband and I had dinner at our favorite local sushi restaurant. While there, we sat at our fave seat in the upper balcony of the restaurant, overlooking the sushi chefs as they prepare various rolls. One item that particularly interested me was their beautiful garnishes. The sushi chefs had a large bowl of raw beets and carrots cut into delicate and colorful strings. They used these vegetable strings as garnish to all the platters of sushi they prepared. I knew before we left that night I just had to ask about how they made these strings.... and the sushi chef was so kind to tell me that they used a Japanese turning slicer.
I just had to get my hands on one so I could create some strings of vegetables! I researched and asked around among my foodie circles until success! My husband and I came across them at our favorite asian market, thanks to my friend Colleen, author of The Mere Mortal's Guide to Fine Dining. She tipped me off to check at our fave market and there is was in all it's glory!
I soon learned that this tool has been used by contestants on Top Chef and was thrilled to have it in my kitchen too! This turning slicer is used for making spiraling fine cut carrots, potato strings, beets, daikon radishes or cucumbers and more. It comes with 4 stainless steel, interchangeable blades (slice blade, and fine, medium & coarse blades) to make different sizes and cuts for different foods.
One of the things I've already made using my turning slicer is potato chips! This tool makes it super easy to have curly potato spirals or even slices... all within a matter of seconds. To make, I just attached the potato into the slicer, turn the crank and drop the spiral sliced potatoes into hot oil to fry. I double fried them in small batches to they came out crispy. After the second fry, a simple seasoning of garlic salt was all that was needed before enjoying!
Stay tuned to more things I'll be doing with my new kitchen toy! It certainly makes cooking with vegetables fun and interesting!
I just had to get my hands on one so I could create some strings of vegetables! I researched and asked around among my foodie circles until success! My husband and I came across them at our favorite asian market, thanks to my friend Colleen, author of The Mere Mortal's Guide to Fine Dining. She tipped me off to check at our fave market and there is was in all it's glory!
I soon learned that this tool has been used by contestants on Top Chef and was thrilled to have it in my kitchen too! This turning slicer is used for making spiraling fine cut carrots, potato strings, beets, daikon radishes or cucumbers and more. It comes with 4 stainless steel, interchangeable blades (slice blade, and fine, medium & coarse blades) to make different sizes and cuts for different foods.
One of the things I've already made using my turning slicer is potato chips! This tool makes it super easy to have curly potato spirals or even slices... all within a matter of seconds. To make, I just attached the potato into the slicer, turn the crank and drop the spiral sliced potatoes into hot oil to fry. I double fried them in small batches to they came out crispy. After the second fry, a simple seasoning of garlic salt was all that was needed before enjoying!
Stay tuned to more things I'll be doing with my new kitchen toy! It certainly makes cooking with vegetables fun and interesting!
I took the book's recipe for Cream Scones and put my twist on it by adding fresh blackberries and lemon zest. The end result was a light, fluffy, creamy and perfect scone bursting with blackberries and a nice hint of lemon.
2 cups (10 oz) unbleached all purpose flour
*I'm also submitting this recipe to the Bread Baking Day blogging event! Check out the event round up at 
Karen sent us this great package from 
So what's for dinner? How about a taste of the swamp? A couple months ago I celebrated my birthday. One of the gifts I received was a homemade spice mix called, "Swamp Dust." In fact, my friend Marlou and her husband Bill made this mix and I was waiting for the right time to use it. Today just happened to be the day!
Here's my preferred way of preparing ribs:
- fresh Florida Oranges
As I'm working here at home, the doorbell rings and a surprise comes for me! Leave it to 
Her surprise package for me was a fabulously French basket of goodies. Aside from the beautiful wicker basket packaging, inside were some wonderful food items including Shallots Confit, French Mustard, Fig & Walnuts Confit, Olive Tapenade, Sesame Crackers, Spreader, cute Rooster themed tea towel and a French red wine (Le Vieille Ferme). This was absolutely a gorgeous surprise and a big thank you and hug to Stephanie!
For this culinary adventure, my group received a wonderful presentation on spices. We learned the origins of common spices including vanilla, nutmeg, peppercorns, saffron, ginger just to name a few. After their presentation, we got to browse their shop and indulge in the amazing aromas and textures. 
Here are pictures of the great purchases I made...
