Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

Who knew that cleaning out the fridge could result in a fabulous pizza rich with flavor and great textures. First: The dough-a bright, warm sunny day resulted in a perfectly tender crust with just the right amount of crunch! Second: Food in the fridge that needed to be used up or thrown out. I know . . .but it's a weekend with guests on the way and I need the space. So, So, in to the pot the ingredients flew-fresh tomatoes, pork sausage, black olives, fresh baby yellow peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and on and on it went-including a few tablespoons of leftover penne pasta with similar ingredients! The Results: A fabulous crunchy pan pizza drizzled with the perfect helping of garlic oil and ripe flavor from goat cheese and a young shredded asiago cheese!

Orzo Pasta Salad with Fresh Baby Spinach Blueberry Ketchup Eager to experience a recent gift of Applewood-Smoke Bacon Burgers from Pine Street Market, I saw a chance to create a few of our family favorites. Ron loves blueberry ketchup and I adore Orzo Pasta Salad with Baby Spinach and vine-ripened tomato. My fiery blueberry ketchup with minced garlic and shallot added wonderful texture to the pork with a little heat and sweet! The smokey pork burger was lean and flavorful but called for a strong, sweet flavor! The smooth orzo with mild flavors and fabulous texture kept everything grounded and well-balanced! The final side that put it all over the top was a light summer salad of sweet, juicy Valencia orange slices with paper-thin slices of red onion and a homemade blueberry vinaigrette with a nod to the traditional by use of a scant teaspoon of stone ground mustard. All in all, a perfectly grown-up July 4th picnic menu! Happy Fourth of July, y'all! Stay safe!

Tamale Sauce  Deglazing the Seared Pork  I am a day away from stuffing my first tamales. One of the things that I have learned in this very short span of a few days is not that tamales are labor intensive-but that it's important to create the individual components in good order! Far from being an expert, I received advice years ago from a Mexican friend who made the most delicious tamales. Her voice is inside my head and I am hopeful that I will create a great first batch! My friend regularly made two types of tamales; a delicious pork tamale with a fiery sauce and a second type that was sweet and stuffed with bits of corn. I intend to tackle both. I started my sauce with the final green tomatoes from the garden, added a bunch of garlic, cilantro, my own dried poblanos and dried fingerhot peppers. The tender pork butt chunks were simmered for two hours in the flavorful sauce and added another great dimension to the sauce.  Cooled Pork Ready to be Shredded  I hav...

Ok, I can understand you might not want to stay just yet but things are starting to shape up around our house. The furniture is being upholstered. . .or painted; as is the case here. This is my project today. I am applying a sunny white paint to this 30-something year old chair and upholstering with this pretty red fabric that was just applied to the bar stools. We are excited to offer our corporate guests a less-formal space to catch breakfast on the run. There is a pretty bar with granite and bar stools. And soon; a pretty little chair. All of these are just around the corner from the coffee nook and a nearby cappuccino machine. We hope to open in mid-December-just in time for Christmas guests and family.  Please check back for our projected opening or call us at area code 770-755-6750.  Casa Bella Bed and Breakfast of Newnan, Georgia

      One of the many reasons I enjoy our old house, even though it continues to be too big for two people, is that I occasionally stumble upon old forgotten trinkets. Yesterday, I opened a cabinet under the staircase and enjoyed some of my beautiful keepsakes-artfully displayed for maximum enjoyment. I'm looking forward to cooler weather so that I can make the climb into our 1200 sf of attic space. It's hung with old pictures and strewn with boxes of goodies. Bolts of fabric casually piled in a corner remind me of my decorating days in Atlanta-so long ago! Since I rarely go to the attic it doesn't feel like my space-which makes for a fun afternoon rediscovering box contents and poking through the bolts of pretty fabric. I enjoy the cabinet under the stairs so much that when it's time to wash the contents I take pictures of the arrangement so that each beautiful piece goes back into its rightful place. Over the next few months I'll share the contents of my...

  I love sampling local foodstuffs and around our area we find alot of BBQ Sauces, jellies, bread and butter pickles and occasionally some really great cheeses. Sweet Grass Dairy is one of my favorite artisan cheesemakers and is located in right here in Georgia. I don't see many hot sauces but I have run across a few great ones. Being a Louisiana girl I'm pretty settled on Louisiana Hot Sauce-perfect for my crispy soft shell crab po-boys and consequently I don't tend to look much further. One surprise was a few bottles of Chef Boy Hidy Hot Sauce . I met Gary Waters at a party at the Botantical Gardens in Atlanta, years ago. A passionate foodie like myself, "Chef" introduced me to his hot sauce on an episode of Home At Last! Pleasantly hot with a well-rounded taste, I have used and enjoyed every drop of flavorful sauce. The Senoia Road Kill Hot Sauce is another new one. I found it in a shopping bag after a trip to a friend's antique shop in Senoia....