Sylvia's Scenario

Before the month of March comes to a close, I want to dedicate a post to Sophia Elie, a dietetic intern who did a portion of her clinical rotation at our hospital.  On her last day, I did this interview and she agreed to be a guest on my blog.  So, here is my first interview on Sylvia's Scenario in honor of National Nutrition Month. Sophia was born and raised in San Diego, California and she had more experience than most interns we've gotten in the past which made my job a lot easier!  She worked as a physical therapist assistant so she was very comfortable around patients and easily established rapport with the ones in our hospital.  She currently has her own consulting business where she provides individual nutrition counseling for a fee, custom meal planning, and medical nutrition therapy. Needless to say, there was very little we had to teach her when it came to providing nutrition education to patients.  She worked a year in the Washington D.C. area for a hospita

We had our first barbecue of the season the other night to honor our visitors, Peter and Stephanie, who were visiting from Iowa. We had 14 people over from Bruce's office (along with one police officer who dropped in for a bite to eat also known as my brother!) Peter and Stephanie lived here 5 years ago so it was fun to plan a get-together so they could visit with everyone again. We made our   barbecued ribs   on the Treager, along with the above accompaniments.  I was able to use chives from the garden for the  biscuits  and made one of the pies with a gluten-free crust for 3 people who came who eat a gluten-free diet.  It turned out delicious, by using my apple pie  recipe but switched out the crust with this gluten-free flour I bought at Costco as I was shopping there for the ribs. The pie basically tasted like it was made with whole wheat crust but otherwise tasted great (along with some ice cream, of course) Ou

We are getting ready for our   barbecue  tonight and we came up with this special concoction to serve along with beer and wine called a Pimm's Cup, made with Pimm's, a fruity liquor.  My nephew suggested it after I emailed him on providing his expert opinion.  I say expert opinion because he has a blog about cocktails called   Bar on the Windowsill .  Pimm's Cup is popular in England and is one of two staple drinks at the Winbledon tennis tournament, the other is champagne.  It's also a standard cocktail at British and American polo matches.  It's easy to make, a must for me when I serve at parties.  We taste-tested it Tuesday night after I found Pimm's #1 at the liquor store and it was delicious.  There were previously seven Pimm's, each with a different alcohol base but now it's mostly #1 that is around which is gin based.  So, if you want a fruity, delightful cocktail this summer, I would highly recommend Pimm's Cup. Makes 1 drink

Here it is March and I'm already starting to use the garden to cook.  All the cold weather items are coming up like the garlic, onions and chives. In preparation for a barbecue on Thursday, I'm starting to prepare some of the dishes, the first being these delicious  cheesy jalapeño and chive biscuits .  I prepared these for our  summer salmon barbecue   a couple years ago and these were a big hit.  The chives in the garden a really healthy right now so I couldn't resist to go out and cut some to use in dishes for this meal. On Thursday, our barbecue will feature our  barbecued ribs  on the Traeger  We invited Bruce's office workmates over to visit with Bruce's nephew, Peter, and his wife, Stephanie, who are visiting from Iowa.  They lived here for 6 months in 2009 and got to know everyone very well and are looking forward to seeing them all again.  Peter is head of Bruce's company where the main office is in Iowa so I guess you cou

Here's another instagram collage of early signs of Spring around our house.  Happy first day of Spring!

I couldn't wait to get home from work today to our delicious   corned beef and cabbage   for St. Patrick's Day. I bought the Irish Soda Bread on Friday from Great Harvest Bakery , where I am a frequent, loyal customer because it's one of my all time favorite places. I love the sign on their store front:  "I don't like bread - said no one, ever."   And this time I got a free loaf because my bread card was used up, along with a free slice of bread that they always give you when you walk in.   I'm not sure which is better, the big, thick, hunk of sliced Irish Soda bread or the creamy, sweet butter that is always available to spread on it.  I have to eat it before I hit the road because driving and eating Great Harvest bread is very dangerous! DUGH - Driving Under Great Harvest - an accident waiting to happen. Corned beef and cabbage perfectly compliments the Great Harvest Irish Soda bread. (or is that suppose to be the other way around?)  I