IT’S MY BIRTHDAY MONTH! That means, I’m in high spirits! To celebrate my birthday, I invite ALL of you to download my debut novel, MOONGLOW, entirely FREE during October! Here’s how:

Visit http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62372 -Initiate purchase. You’ll be asked to register. Do so quickly. Next up, you’ll see a “coupon code” box. Enter LZ69G and complete checkout. You’ll be able to download MOONGLOW in any e-book format, absolutely FREE!

The best gift you can give me is your feedback! After having a read, sound off on MOONGLOW’s official site, Smashwords & Amazon.com‘s comments pages,  here on this blog, MOONGLOW’s blog, via e-mail, on Twitter or Tumblr — doesn’t matter. I just hope you enjoy what I’ve created! Even if you don’t, I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks, everyone! Cheers!

Firstly, goat is an amazing protein to work with. Many don’t brave it because of its characteristic gaminess but, really, I don’t think it’s that gamey at all. Reguardless, to tame out that taste/scent, simply rinse your goat meat in lemon juice and/or use with lemon (or lime) and apple cider vinegar in your marinade ingredients. Marinade should take no less than an hour. Most prefer to marinade goat overnight. Your call.

For this recipe, I marinaded my goat in a puree of the following:

1/2 cup olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp. summer savory
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. fennel powder
generous handful cilantro
generous handful flat leaf parsley

Puree all ingredients in a blender . Set aside.

Your cuts of goat will determine how you marinade. I had a variety of hind, ribs and leg so I marinaded the lot of it in huge ziplock plastic bags. Put goat in the bag(s). Pour marinade in. Seal bag and manhandle the bags to evenly distribute the goods throughout your meat. Place in refrigerator no less than 1 hour, preferably over night. I marinaded for 4 hours.

When it’s time to cook, remove goat from fridge. Let come to room temperature on the counter. This allows the protein to spend its time cooking instead of having to heat up in the pan from a refrigerated state

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

Heat skillet (cast iron is ideal) on stovetop. No need to add fat to the skillet since we’ll be searing with the marinade coating.

When water finger-sprinkled into the skillet rolls away and evaporates quickly, add goat. You know you’re doing great when you hear that SIZZLE! Get all sides of the goat to an attractive golden brown, about 8-10 minutes, all around. Remove meat to a prepared roasting tray, (foil lined works)

Roast in oven for 10-15 minutes for rare (as pictured). 20-25 minutes for medium rare. Longer for anything higher. :p

Remove from oven when done and allow to rest a good 10-15 minutes before carving.

That said, here’s what I paired the goat with!

First, I sauced the plate with a Tomatillo  sauce made from the following:

2 tomatillos, husked, rinsed (must rinse away that sticky residue).
1/2 large white onion
2 serano peppers, halved, deveined/seeded. (Leave veins in if you prefer more heat)
2 garlic cloves, halved

Toss tomatillos, onions, peppers & garlic in good olive oil with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until tomatillos begin to blister.

Remove from oven. Transfer all veggies with any pan juice to a blender. To that, add:

Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tsp cumin
Handful cilantro
Handful flat leaf parsley

Puree. Test for seasoning. If happy, set aside till ready to plate.

For the orange droplets, that sauce was actually made from red tomatoes! Here’s how:

2 medium sized tomatoes, halved and sliced
1/2 large white onion, sliced
1 tbsp. good olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch cumin
pinch sage
pinch red pepper flakes

Sweat onions and tomatoes. Saute till cooked down and juicy. Remove to blender and puree. Allow to cool a bit. Then, strain through sieve and/or cheesecloth. You will stay with the prettiest, silkiest sauce. Reserve till time to plate.

Next, let’s talk about mushrooms! I served a saute of baby portabellos (baby bellas) and sliced shallots beneath the goat. That was prepared like this:

8 oz. baby bella mushrooms, thick sliced
1 large shallot, halved and sliced
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp olive oil

Heat olive oil in skillet. Add shallots and mushrooms together and cover, instantly. Keep heat medium-ish to low and allow nature to do her thing. The veggies will sweat under that lid. After 5 minutes, uncover and check their progress. Agitate a bit but try not to stir everything too much. Just move it around a bit. Recover. Rinse/repeat till mushrooms and shallots are cooked down and surrounded in their own juice. Remove from heat and reserve till time to plate.

As for those white flecks! Those are a mixed dice medley of turnip and chayote squash!.

1/2 Chayote Squash
1 small turnip

Fine dice each. For presentation in this recipe, I mix-matched the fine dice to give plating an abstract art effect.

Steam dice for 30 minutes with fresh tarragon, dried summer savory and finish with a spray of lime to balance the culmination of the recipe with some acidity and tartness. Remove from steam and reserve till time to plate.

Garnish all this with some fresh, lemon sprayed alfalfa sprouts. Plate, serve, enjoy!

For dessert, I made a Prickly Pear infused Flan, topped with toasted coconut & toasted walnuts! I’ll post the recipe for this at a later date.

Fun cooking for a fun friend. Thanks so much for being who you are, Debs! Happy Birthday!

My great grandparents (on both sides) were Mexican immigrants. On my mother’s side, her grandfather LOVED making this! He especially loved making it with her. As a little girl, no older than 8 or 9, she remembers peeking over the kitchen counter to watch her granddaddy, Tomas Zertuche, mash up a can of sardines and mix it up with fresh, vibrant vegetables. As I grew up, mom always made this for us as a snack. We just had this yesterday (hence, the pictures) and it brought back fond memories, as all “family recipes” do. :p No mater if it’s made from scratch or compiled like this, anything we share with people we love is special!

Mash up a can of sardines in tomato sauce. Dump a heap of diced cilantro, serano peppers, red onion over your mush. Additionally, you may add diced tomato, garlic, avocado and lemon or lime juice. But we like it just like this. And you may adjust the heat by adding or taking away serano peppers (or using different peppers. Your call). I used two — one green, one red because it was aged a bit.

Tomato sauce!

Dump that sauce alllllll over your mush! :p

Mix it all up w/ additional powdered comino (cumin) and freshly ground black pepper.

You can see the char marks on my tortillas. I love heating up a corn tortilla over the open stove flame. But you can heat them on an iron skillet, too. An outdoor grill rocks, too! Roll into fire roasted corn tortillas (or whatever tortilla you prefer) or use as chip dip and enjoy!

Sasha Pivovarova & James Dornan in “Autumn Blues,” for Hugo by Hugo Boss, Autumn/Winter 2011-2012.

Images sourced from Fashion Gone Rogue.

Sasha — as always — is flawless here!

A minimalist, sensual spread featuring some of my very favourite girls — Amanda Nørgaard, Dorothea Barth Jörgensen, and Katrin Thormann. I just about died when I saw this in my e-mail this morning.

Stockholm A/W 11
Photography: Kai Z. Feng
Styling: James Valeri

Sourced from TFS: Dorothea Barth Jörgensen – Page 18 – the Fashion Spot http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f52/dorothea-barth-j-rgensen-125457-18.html#ixzz1RL0BxG7m

Going in!

Crazy Roll ($7.95) – 8 pieces of Tuna, Salmon, Hamachi, Tai, Masago, and spicy green onion — deep fried. I really loved the fishy scent and taste. The light batter creates perfect texture; bit crispy but not crunchy. Delicate and delightful!

The Uzura (Quail Egg) ($1.95) was soooo lush and silky. Of course, if you’re a runny yolk kinda person (like me!) this is something you’d enjoy and I recommend it but the lack of nori wrap and no masago (smelt roe) was disheartening. Still quite good!

Hokkigai (Surf Clam) ($3.95)! Chewy, oceany. Love these.

Lunch entree of Formosa Pad Thai (Tofu & Shrimp only) w/ fried rice, egg roll ($7.75) & a munched-on crab flavoured cheese puff (4 for $2.00). Pad Thai really needed more peanuts but they were good enough to hold the chicken in my dish so that was cool. Egg roll went to my best friend. So did my brother’s egg roll. Our best friend, The Rhino, is the boss of all egg rolls.

Spirits! Long Island Iced Tea (6.50)! They even put me a maraschino cherry. :p

Chocolatini ($6.50)! This was really good. Strong, chocolaty, even butterscotchy.

My brother had the Three Delight. Rhino had the Emperor’s Fish and three Long Island Iced Teas. Unfortunately, he dropped the third one and broke the glass! :p

If you’re in town and looking for some good Asian cuisine, stop in for lunch or dinner. They have a full bar, sushi bar & some full blown Hibachi fun. Visit them on the web at http://www.formosagarden.com/index.html to browse their full menu and get directions. Located at 1011 N.E. Loop 410, they’re really easy to find.

Enjoy!

THIS IS SURREAL!

My novel has been 8 years in the making. It brings me all sorts of glee to finally be able to release the world and characters of MOONGLOW onto the world! I self published via Smashwords.com and can’t thank them enough for their excellent, comprehensive service.

Please visit its official site/blog at: http://moonglownovel.wordpress.com

Please LIKE my novel on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/MoonglowRomance

Follow MOONGLOW on Twitter & Tumblr and — most importantly — BUY IT AT A SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY PRICE OF $2.99! Hurry, though! It will rise to its regular price of $6.99 soon! MOONGLOW is available for all eReaders, (Kindle, Nook, Sony eReader, iPhone, iPad, etc).

Smashwords Purchase link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62372

Amazon Purchase Link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0054GZ794

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve signed up for Operation eBook Drop so all deployed service women and men who are part of the program will receive a coupon to download MOONGLOW from Smashwords.com FREE!

Since then, she’s turned me onto some of my favourite music on the planet, including my favourite band of all time, Tegan & Sara. The first time I heard T&S was on Jes’ Facebook page. There was a video link to “The Con” that I could not get over. Also, “Call It Off” which remains my favourite T&S song of all time. Jes is also responsible for my infatuation with Alison Sudol and A Fine Frenzy. Her dancing to “Electric Twist” is probably one of the most fabulous things on Earth. Most recently? OH LAND, who is miraculous. Needless to say, Jes is the best damn jukebox I’ve ever come across.

What I love most about Jes’ music is she sings soul-to-mouth direct, no filter. If it’s a cover, she makes it her own. If it’s an original, we’re gripped with curiosity as to why she wrote what she did. I like to think that the best way to get to know an artist is to absorb what they create. With Jes’ music, we can hear and admire all we want but if we REALLY listen — just listen — we have the pleasure of learning so much. I consider myself among the fortunate who have gotten to know Jes before she’s all ultra famous with tons of records and tours and tear-sheets and editorials and whatever else she feels like conquering. :p

She was also a huge inspiration and muse over the past two years that I’ve worked on my novel. Ohhhh, how I wish I could elaborate for all of you but at this stage of the game, it’s best I say little else. Jes knows what I mean, though! So that’s well enough.

A native Canadian, Jes is a model, a musician and writer for her university paper, The Gazette (at Western). She’s also ultra radiant, cupcake-sweet & blindingly bright. How fortunate are we to have a friend like this in our lives? Oh, she’s also Vegan! Sooooooooooo~

~I decided to shoot a spread of 100% Vegan yummies for this special occasion! (I’ll fill in the recipes later. If I typed those out, I’d never get this posted! So stay tuned!)

Asparagus soup with Crispy Fried Wontons & Caramelized Shallots, Celery Leaf & Sea Salt Garnish

Lentil & Sweet Potato Sauté with Caramelized Shallots

Garlic Hummus Tostadas with Lettuce & Radicchio Chiffonade, Black Olive Rounds, Diced Tomato & Lemon Zest. Served w/ Tomato Slices & Lemon Wedge

Spread shots!

Banana Cupcakes with Lemon-Banana Glaze, Sifted Powdered Sugar & Sweet Banana Chips Garnish (Made these with an awesome fruity organic Olive Oil!!!)

Peanut Butter & Banana Chia Pudding made with plain soy milk, garnished with Grapefruit Zest & Agave Nectar

Jes doesn’t drink so I made a yummy virgin refreshment! This is Hibiscus Tea sweetened with Agave Nectar & Freshly Squeezed Grapefruit Juice, Sprinkled with Grapefruit Zest. Perfect tartness!

Dessert spread!

Lookie! Lilies! ;p (Get it, Jes? hehe!)

Also, I took the liberty of commissioning my artist friend, Virginia Hilton, to put together some Jes-inspired portraits:

This world is full of amazing people; among them, those that leave an impact on others. Jes, you’ve had a profound impact on me — often, without you knowing it — and I appreciate the quality of you more than you know. Many thanks for the dazzling ride your life has been thus far and to many, many more decades to come! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SUGAR! CHEERS!

Keep up with everything Jes is doing at these links:

http://jesicahurst.blogspot.com
http://twitter.com/JesicaAtGazette
http://westerngazette.ca/author/jesica-hurst/
http://youtube.com/jeshurst

And DO check out her song “Save Me” — (a personal favourite) — at her MySpace here: http://www.myspace.com/jesshurstmusic

Clawing the walls over  how awesome this spread is! Called “Diva.” Styled by Melanie Ward. Shot by Inez & Vinoodh for Vogue Paris, May 2011. I’m speechless; reduced to pure staring mode. Photos sourced from Fashion Gone Rogue.

Stay sweet, forever!

These are White Orange & Lemon Citrus Cupcakes w/Strawberry Buttercream Icing & Filling, Wrapped in Strawberry Slices, garnished w/ Sliced Strawberries, Orange Zest, Chocolate Mint & Pink/Lavender/Light Green Sprinkles!