Day 13: More Smoked Salmon Ideas

The other day I was reading a food blog that I check into occasionally and was so disappointed to discover that the writer had posted links to recipes on the web that she had not ever actually made. She couched the links with comments like "from one of my favorite bloggers" and "this recipe looks delicious," but I saw right through the ruse. I get it... you're a published cookbook author, working on your second book while living a very busy life and you had no time to write an original posting that day. (Keep in mind, this is not a person who blogs everyday anyway.) But really, as an avid foodie-follower, I was insulted. If I want a list of untried recipes, I will go to google, thank-you very much.

That said, I wasn't sure what to write about today. Wednesday nights I have supper with my Bible study group from church and while I could have whipped out my camera and taken pictures, I just wasn't "feeling it." But the suppers that we have together are definitely worth writing about. Each week the group picks a theme and then everyone contributes something. We've done Italian and many other ethnic cuisines, laid out a hoagie bar, had soup night. Last night was a Baked Potato bar.

I'm not a potato person but the way our gracious hostess prepared the potatoes was divine. She rubbed them with olive oil and then rolled in sea salt before baking. They came out crusty and salty and divine. (I know, I used that adjective in the previous sentence but there really is no other word suitable for this.) I ate three potato halves, each loaded down with different toppings.

The potato bar included chili, cheese (cheddar and Stilton), sour cream, chives, and salsa. I was trying to decide what my contribution should be, and since I am not a potato person, could not think of anything that other people had not already signed up to bring. When I googled "potato bar," I found genius where else but from Martha Stewart. While I love the idea of pizza-like toppings on a baked potato (ricotta cheese, spinach, pepperoni), many of the members of our group do not eat pepperoni and I did not have any of those things in my pantry or freezer. What I did have was smoked salmon, thanks to The Geek. I loaded up one of my potato halves with sour cream, chunks of smoked salmon, and capers and it was delicious.

No blog posting is complete without a picture but since I didn't take any tonight, I offer a photo of my all-time favorite way to eat smoked salmon: with cream cheese, slivered onions and capers, on a bagel.

My Shopping List

Nothing - I made do with what I had on hand.

The Tally

• The day's tally: $0
• Total this week so far: $0
• Total this month to date: $0