Cilantro Lime Butter

Have you ever had a compound butter?  Chances are, if you have ever gotten a steak at a restaurant in the past two or three years, you probably have.  I tried making my first compound butter when I got my Julia Child cookbook.  I served it on grilled steak and fell in love. 

It had been a while since we had grilled steak or even compound butter.  I decided to make some since we had good enough weather to get in a chance to grill some steaks for dinner, over the weekend.  Here's what I did.

Cilantro Lime Butter

Ingredients

1/4 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
Approximately 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
Approximately 1/4 tsp. lime zest
juice of 1/2 lime
salt, to taste

Directions

Mix ingredients well and then refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.  Serve over grilled steak.  Could even work over vegetables.  Maybe even grilled chicken or fish.

I'm going to try it over green beans soon.

I Think I Want to Blog, But What Do I Blog About and the Friends Who Inspired Me

I have 4 Friends who were my primary inspirations to blog. I've known Theresa for about the past 14 years or so. We met through our husbands who grew up going to camp together. It's only been in the past 6 years or so that we've really had the opportunity to develop our friendship to the point that I now consider her a sister. I met Peg through Theresa about 4 years ago. Peg taught me how to knit in August of 2008. I have learned that knitting with friends creates a special bond that's hard to explain. A little over a year ago I learned that both Theresa and Peg were blogging. I was interested, but unsure about blogging myself. So, I enjoyed following theirs.

Then I joined Facebook and loved it, thinking that it could sort of fill that desire to blog. It sort of did, but not completely. During the time since I joined Facebook, I reconnected with 2 sisters that I grew up going to camp with, Beverly and Betsy. Beverly and I were the oldest in our families and as far as we can remember we started playing together at camp somewhere between the ages of 8 & 10. Betsy was/is Beverly's younger sister. It has been a lot of fun reconnecting with them! Betsy has been blogging for a while too, so I started to follow her blog. The blogging bug bit again. Betsy just moved to France, so Beverly asked her if she had seen Julie & Julia. Lo and behold, she had and she also has Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. I had wanted to see the movie but now had even more reason to, because of this new connection and understanding that Betsy had of Julia from this movie. Beverly told Betsy to blog about it, so she did. If you are curious, you can check out her blog. After reading Betsy's blog, I decided that I just had to see the movie sooner than later. The blogging bug bit again! Especially since Beverly was now considering blogging!

So, I finally made the decision. I REALLY want to blog! But, what do I blog about? I can't do what Julie Powell did, but that is a good starting point. What am I going to blog about then? Well, I am a homeschooling mom who likes to read, knit, bake and cook. Mostly I'm going to blog about my culinary adventures and maybe a bit about the other stuff I like to do too. I wanted to get MAFC so that I could connect in another way with Betsy while she is in France. Who knows, it may be the only way I'll get to experience France in this lifetime. I bit the bullet, so to speak, and ordered MAFC along with Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, which was recommended by another childhood friend of mine as well as a co-worker of my husband's. They are due to arrive this Tuesday and I can't wait!!

Why Kristi's Kafe Around the Korner? Well, the way I think about it, when friends get together at a local Kafe (changed the C to a K to match my first initial) they not only eat and drink coffee or tea together, but they also talk about their hobbies, what's new in general and what's going on the the world. A big thank you to Beverly and Betsy for the help in picking a name for my blog. And a big thank you to Theresa and Peg for the encouragement to go for it and have fun! I love you guys!

And there it is. Now you know why I want to blog, what I will blog about and who inspired me. I hope that you will enjoy this as much as I think I will! As soon as Beverly gets her blog set up, I will add her to my Blog List!