The Endive Chronicles

Historically, honey has been used as anything from an offering, to medicine and even a celebratory ingredient. This golden ambrosia is a frequent guest in my cooking and I am a big fan of both it’s sweet and savory applications. So, a few weeks ago when Phil’s co-worker/friend Dan invited us to take part in a honey harvest I jumped at the chance.

A few days before we were set to attend the honey harvest my excitement was getting the better of me, so I decided to do a little research on beekeeping. Instead I read every article I possibly could on bee stings and anaphylactic shock while pondering what would happen if bees could smell fear. I haven’t been stung in years, but I had myself thoroughly convinced that during that time I had developed some sort of deadly allergy. All of this just a few hours after I had enthusiastically agreed to don the beekeepers suit.

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In cooking, I am constantly trying to grow and change the way I see food. My feeling is that if you just cook the same thing over and over with no change, the dish looses it’s luster. Instead of the same old soup, deconstruct it. Make that soup into a salad, mixed grill or even a dessert.

I have always been intrigued by how one can make several very different dishes using the same ingredients (aside from one tiny addition), by merely changing the method of preparation and proportion. Take prosciutto and melon for instance, you can wrap prosciutto around the fresh melon, make my crispy melon cups or a melon soup with bits of crispy prosciutto sprinkled liberally over the surface. Caterpillar, cocoon, butterfly.

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This week like so many around the globe, I have been spending my evenings glued to my television watching the Olympic Games. Despite all the scandal, the gymnastics commentators and the fact that I don’t have a sporty bone in my body, I love the Olympics. Most specifically swimming and diving.

Wednesday night we prepared ourselves for an evening of Phelpsian glory, with Phil in charge of the aperitif while I tossed together a few nibbles. Our aperitif was composed of a local Riesling by Holy Cow, cut with local sparkling water by Cascade Ice, it was incredibly refreshing in this 90 degree heat. I made Clotilde’s Dusoulier’s zucchini carpaccio with delicious homegrown zucchini given to us by Phil’s friend Dan (thanks Dan!), pairing it with fruit, cheese and of course my crispy melon cups.  While everything was delicious, the melon cups were the gold medal winner that evening.

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