I fell asleep last night while watching a travel show about Paris, a place in Europe I’ve never been to. That evening I had just composed and served my first classic French multiple course meal. It was a wonderful experience and an excellent time to enjoy a date night without spending extra money out on the town. Here’s what I did:

• Entree Course - This is the appetizer - in the US we mistakenly call the main course the entree, but it is really the appetizer. For me, I had soup. My husband had meatballs.
• Releve - I didn’t serve this course but thought I’d share it with you. It’s the fish course, and we weren’t hungry enough for it. Whole fish is usually served accompanied with vegetable.
• Main Course - I had roasted chicken with roasted potatoes and carrots.
• Salad - The salad gets served after the main course in a French meal, not before.
• Cheese course - I actually didn’t feel like eating cheese but I brought out a plate of strawberries garnished with mint. You can substitute yogurt for the cheese.
• Dessert - I had these wonderful dark chocolate dipped cookies from Germany that I served.
• After dinner coffee - I put hazlenut kahlua in this coffee with a little sugar and milk. Yum! If you do this, heat the alcohol in a microwave or with a creme brulee torch.

And of course, wine and bread were out at the table at all times. I served the meal with a red zinfadel. The bread was boring and last minute. Bag a bread slices of whole wheat. But I understood this to be a symbol of my hospitality -  without the bread on the table, the meal would have been missing a traditional element.

I couldn’t resist the urge to have some fun with my food today. I found a recipe in a cookbook for a salad where all the ingredients spelled something out. So I decided to put together a salad based on the name of my cat, Panther. He won’t eat it of course - it was just for my own amusement.

Panther’s Salad

No measurements. I just through the ingredients together at random, in random amounts, and arrange them so they look pretty on the plate.

Peas

Arugula

Napa Cabbage

Tomato

Hearts of Palm

Endive

Radish

What kinds of acronym salads can you come up with? If you need help, here are two sites that offer alphabetical lists of vegetables.

• Christ and Nic’s Recipes 
• List of Culinary Vegetables on Wikipedia 

Those are the two lists I used. The N really had me stumped and so did the H. But it worked out. I was thinking of garnishing it with bacon pieces, but it didn’t fit into the acronym! I may just do it anyway, but don’t tell.

Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies so it’s only natural that I love to sample what I make. But this isn’t always a good habit, particular for the waist line. In fact, I have some extra weight I need to lose. So, I’ve come up with a plan:

• Only sample in small amounts, and only when necessary.
• Drink lots of water with lemon which is great for the liver.
• Drink a few cups of green tea a day.
• Take a multivitamin and extra vitamin C daily.
• Exercise on a regular basis. I like walking, tae kwon do, dancing, and lifting weights.
• Only eat when hungry (a seemingly obvious thing that is often hard to implement!)
• Avoid mindless eating while cooking.
• Cook only healthy foods - sweets are okay every once in a while.

You see, it is possible to still love food while dieting. View my progress at my online weight loss journal.

I’ve been enjoying the late summer harvest, particular the foods out of my dad’s garden. We’ve gotten a lot of rain this year so the cucumbers have been doing well. No bitterness as is the case with the cucumbers during near-drought years. The tomatoes are still tasty, but not as good as last year.

For me, that’s part of the fun of gardening, planting, and eating treats from the farm stand. What is going to be extra good this year? That’s what I ask when I shop or enjoy a home garden harvest.

My favorite way to eat garden veggies is to make a salad. Since cucumbers have been extra good, I’ve been making salads with tomato, cucumber, pepper, and garden herbs such as parsley and scallions. Add some feta cheese and Greek olives and I feel as if I’m visiting Greece all over again.

I also love making pasta sauces out of the fresh tomatoes. A good way is to take cherry tomaties and split them in half and toss them in with whole wheat penne, chopped garlic, and olive oil. A little garden parsley or basil acts as a fresh garnish. It’s quick and easy and rich with flavor because the ingredients are so fresh.

How do you enjoy your garden vegetables?