link love: our 7 links

fresh Chinese eggplant

We’re so thrilled to be nominated by Heavenly from donuts to delirium to participate in My 7 Links, an exciting chain-letter kind of thing for bloggers of all sorts. The rules are simple: you get nominated by someone; then you write a post with links to seven of your favorite published stories based on various categories; finally, you nominate up to five other bloggers who haven’t participated before to do the same. What a cool idea!

Since ours is a collaborative endeavor, Hegui, Jasmine and I met to ponder the possibilities over several glasses of wine the other day. I made some snacks as we debated the pros and cons of various posts. We laughed a lot together. At the end of this post I’ll announce the five bloggers that we’ve tagged to be next. There were many more of you than the measly five that we wanted to name, but them’s the rules. So here’s what we thought. Can’t wait to here your feedback about our choices.

Our most popular story has to be vegetarian Szechuan eggplant. The three of us all love this dish. There’s something so elegant about the Chinese eggplant, too, don’t you think? We published this one in 2009 and it has remained the most popular on our site since then.

Mireille Guiliano and me!

So really, this could be in the category of “success that surprised you,” though that one, we all agree, has to be Jasmine’s dinner and meeting with the celebrated lifestyle guru, Mireille Guiliano, of French Women Don’t Get Fat fame.

Portion, pleasure and planning was a wild success that almost wasn’t written. This dinner happened on the same night that the weirdcombo tasting crew had engaged to attend a South African wine tasting event. She couldn’t do both, so almost didn’t meet Mireille to hang with the guys instead.

We’re lucky to live in Northern California. Aside from the graceful benefits of San Francisco, we can easily travel to Wine Country. Sipping vino on balmy sunny days, having charming picnics and enjoying the company of friends and loved ones has to be one of our favorite past times. Inevitably these are beautiful experiences, whether or not we actually appreciate the wine. So for our most beautiful post, we’ve elected Rochioli Vineyards and Winery in Sonoma County.

obviously, this is how rosé got its name

The wines here are quite good, but more importantly for a wine country excursion, this place is stunning. The gardens are spectacular and the views of the Russian River Valley; sublime. This winery has already made a name for itself, and doesn’t really need our two cents. So in the category of “didn’t get the attention it deserved,” I immediately thought of spaghetti with Roman style tomato sauce.

spaghetti with Roman style tomato sauce

I know that every cook has a recipe for tomato sauce for pasta, and we all argue intensely for the merits of our own, but, listen, this one is kick-ass. It is not the tomato sauce of my childhood. This recipe was taught to me by a great friend, Kristen, who had the good fortune of living in Rome for three years with an Italian family that liked to cook. I have no idea if it is authentic or not, and really, I could care less. It is a snap to make and is really yummy. Truly, I make this every Friday for dinner at my house, I like it that well. Of course, nobody else seems to have noticed…

discrete love on a Chaing Mai temple door

But that pasta “controversy” is minor compared with anything related to Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.

Right around the time we began weirdcombinations, I was completely obsessed with Twilight. If you care to know, I’m obviously “Team Edward.” I just love the series, and have read all four novels several times each. They’re not just for pre-teen girls. Anyway, I ended up writing a bunch of stories looking at various aspects of the books, movies and fan-frenzy connected to all things Bella-and-Edward. The most controversial, of course, has to be sex with Alice and Jasper, as adult themes are involved. When I was in the middle of writing these stories, by chance a met a woman at a party who lives in San Jose, CA. We had a long chat about Twilight and she gasped in pleasure and abruptly hugged me when she learned that I’d written these posts. I was incredibly flattered and a bit freaked out, truth be told. We were complete strangers.

Our nomination for most helpful post might freak you out a bit: edible fish bones. Most people associate these with stinky garbage or perhaps a snack for a tomcat.

edible fish bones

Well, live and learn. These tasty morsels get deep fried, which everyone knows makes all foods taste better. But there’s something delightful about their crunchy goodness that is impossible to resist.

So that just leaves the post of which we’re most proud. That is a toughie, since we’re proud of so many. But after some soul-searching, we’ve decided to end this trip down memory lane with something sweet.

Manjar de Côco com Ameixas

Manjar de côco com ameixas AKA coconut & prune pudding has to be one of the most fabulous desserts ever. This Brazilian classic is gorgeous, incredibly tasty, and will leave you haunted, dreaming of the time when you can have another piece.

So now that we’ve arrived at the end, here are the five bloggers that we wish to nominate for My 7 Links: Devaki from Weave a Thousand Flavors, Karen from Gourmet Food Blog, Lisa from HamptonToes, Tom from Tall Clover Farm, and Wizzy the Stick from Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Punch. You folks are all great.