The Full Kitchen

Culinary Adventures in a Tiny California Kitchen

Avgolemono Greek Chicken Lemon Soup Adventure

December 22, 2022 by Alyssa D in main course, appetizers

Juan told us to pick as many ripe lemons as we wanted from his tree in the yard. I gently liberated three. This was an extra kindness since we’d just said that the house wasn’t quite right for us.

Moving from Colorado to Northern California has been wrenching at times, but the fresh lemons represented a silver lining. Amid the delightful food mashups — a taco truck that sells boba tea, curryritos, Indian pizza — we’ve discovered several eateries that offer avgolemono soup.

When prepared well, this Greek chicken and lemon soup is like a cozy sweater.

Spumoni Frozen Gelato Cake Adventure

September 09, 2022 by Alyssa D in dessert

In what now feels like a remarkably cool childhood experience, my folks and I discovered that the Italian proprietor of a local motel made delicious small-batch gelato during the summers.

For a limited time, she’d take orders at a lower-level window and hand us full containers that we brought over to Yiayia’s to share. This was the first time we heard about spumoni: a delectable combination of dark chocolate, pistachio, and cherry gelato.

With summer supposedly winding down here, I decided to try creating the perfect spumoni cake at home. Big changes are ahead for us, which is why there’s been a brief hiatus from culinary adventures. But the idea of crafting an epic frozen boozy dessert — no cooking required — filled me with excitement.

Flaming Prune Dessert Adventure

June 30, 2022 by Alyssa D in dessert, breakfast

The list of things that Americans fear gets longer by the moment. If you scroll pretty far down, you’ll probably find prunes.

And it’s no wonder, given our unpleasant associations with brown juice usually consumed as a desperate measure. The attempt to rebrand them as dried plums didn’t do much, either.

Living in France changed my perspective, though. Prunes showed up there in luxurious full-fat yogurt, a true gourmandise. Those tiny packs became a favorite, second only to a local bakery’s buttery raisin and chocolate chip pastries.

Recently I searched for prune dessert recipes, hoping we’d made progress stateside. Disappointingly, most were for fibrous bars more healthful than indulgent. Then I spotted one that called for dousing prunes in brandy, setting them on fire, and baking them in custard. Hell yes.

French 75 Cocktail Adventure

May 12, 2022 by Alyssa D in drinks

“Always keep a bottle of Champagne in the fridge for special occasions,” author Hester Browne once said. “Sometimes the special occasion is that you’ve got a bottle of Champagne in the fridge.”

Well, it was actually Asti Spumante sparkling Italian white wine, but we were still excited to open the bottle. The happy occasion was getting together with our wonderful neighbor Jen for the first time since the Marshall Fire.

She brought over delicious appetizers and we toasted to survival and friendship with my riff on a French 75 cocktail. The company was fantastic. The cocktail, uh, needed work.

S’mores Chocolate Bark Adventure

March 31, 2022 by Alyssa D in dessert

For weeks the craving kept popping up. We were staying in Longmont, Colorado, temporarily displaced from home by smoke damage from the Marshall Fire, huddling together at night with our cat, trying to get through each day.

Some food cravings can be an indication that you’re deficient in something, like a vitamin. But I wanted s’mores oh so badly.

Clearly this was a joy deficiency.

Maple Buttercream Adventure

February 04, 2022 by Alyssa D in dessert

Editor’s note: This is the post I planned to publish before the Marshall Fire swept through our neighborhood in Louisville, Colorado, on December 30, 2021.

I needed a little victory, a small win, a bright spot in what now feels like a never-ending pandemic grind.

Most folks we know burned out many months ago and have been mentally trudging along the highway to get to the nearest town ever since. We keep looking for that light in the window.

For a brief moment, maple provided respite.

A Full Kitchen Update

January 02, 2022 by Alyssa D

On Thursday, December 30 my plan was to publish a hopeful little post here about maple buttercream.

Instead, we were escaping a fire driven by 100 MPH winds that was heading straight toward our neighborhood in Louisville, Colorado.

Spiced Cider Syrup Cocktail Adventure

November 18, 2021 by Alyssa D in drinks

The generic apple cider made me angry. Not total Greek rage, but I was definitely frustrated. The cider was watery, tasted like nothing, and had simmered on the stove for hours without turning into anything better.

I also felt upset on behalf of all the people involved in producing the cider — all the suffering that led to such disgusting brown liquid. Maybe it was the pandemic. Supply chain bottlenecks. Labor shortages. Insultingly low pay. Illness. Burnout.

That cider tasted like failure. Pure, unmitigated failure. So I vowed to try again.

Apple Cider Doughnut Cake Adventure

October 28, 2021 by Alyssa D in dessert

Even after more than a decade in Colorado, fall still makes me yearn for Vermont: crisp, tart McIntosh apples, beautifully balanced local apple cider, and warm apple cider doughnuts.

I probably didn’t spell “doughnut” correctly on a consistent basis until high school. A pervasive New England coffee chain might have been partially to blame. Come autumn, I was too busy savoring freshly fried apple cider doughnuts to care much about spelling anyway.

With the pandemic continuing to hamper everything, including Vermont apple shipments to homesick East Coasters, we made do with what we had.

Spiced Potato Veggie Burger Adventure

September 29, 2021 by Alyssa D in main course

The store-bought vegan veggie burgers were a treat during grilling seasons of yore, tasting gloriously like samosa filling. A few years back, we got some after reading rave reviews. Each time we’d visit this particular specialty grocery store chain, a frozen box or two went in the basket.

Then the pandemic rolled in. Curbside pickup wasn’t an option — this store has notoriously small parking lots anyway. Friends in town saw lines stretching around the block during capacity limits.

Not eager to risk all that for a veggie burger, I set out to reverse-engineer it.