During our last trip to the Serramonte Farmers' Market, Hungry Bear and I picked up the freshest produce we could find for a light and simple sauté. The corn looked fantastic and the cherry tomatoes were super sweet. Hungry Bear told me that she had never cooked with okra, which surprised me, so that was a must get. The end result of our market bounty was this veggie sauté.

Which brings me to my childhood okra story... one summer while I was in elementary school my dad decided to do some gardening. At that point, my family had been in the States for only 5-6 years and we were still living in an apartment complex in Allentown, PA. So, my dad rented a tiny plot at a community garden. The only things I clearly remember him planting were okra and tomatoes, but I'm sure there were Vietnamese vegetables that we couldn't get at the local Acme supermarket.

These days, I would love to have a garden with fresh vegetables, but back then my brother and I hated going to the garden with Dad to pull weeds and water the plants. At that age, given the choice between gardening or riding our BMX bikes, there was only one good option. But we had to help Dad out and he grew a ton of okra and tomatoes. At first the okra was great, but by the end of summer, I was sick and tired of it. I didn't want to eat okra ever again.

To add insult to injury, some kids in the apt complex made fun of my parents for growing their own vegetables, saying we had to because we couldn't afford to buy vegetables at the store... whatever. It annoyed me because I was trying to fit in with the American kids in the neighborhood. I was thankful the next summer when Dad decided to not garden again because it was too much work at the time. It meant no more okra and no teasing from the kids in the complex.

Flash forward 25+ years, I love okra and the idea of a garden with fresh vegetables sounds fantastic! To the kids who made fun of my family, all I have to say to you is... how do ya like my okra now?!?!

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We rarely participate in blogging events, but when I recently learned about Barbara's LIVESTRONG With A Taste of Yellow event, I knew we had to make something yellow for LIVESTRONG day (May 13th). As an avid cyclist, I'm a Lance Armstrong fan, but I'm a bigger fan of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which provides survivorship services for people affected by cancer.

Over the years, I've had a few friends battle and survive cancer. And I've had a few relatives lose the fight. For the last four years, I've worn a LIVESTRONG bracelet every single day in support of people living with cancer and each year, I make a donation to the LAF. I know it's not much relative to the funding required to fight cancer, but every penny counts. So if you have the means, please make a contribution to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It's a wonderful charity with a great cause.

For our yellow food, Hungry Bear and I made a spicy fresh corn salad. It's a simple salad made with corn, red onions, basil and a vinaigrette. For a spicy kick, I threw in a few Thai chili peppers. We usually make this salad with sweet white corn, but this time we obviously used yellow corn for the Taste of Yellow event. Either way, the corn salad is really delicious. It's a light, refreshing salad that's perfect for a picnic/BBQ or a hot summer day.

Now for true inspiration about fighting cancer, check out Use Real Butter by Jen Yu. She's one of my absolute favorite food bloggers with a great wit, a never-quit attitude and of course fabulous food!

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(We documented the making of SND. Just click on the large picture to advance to the next one.)

Since there were going to be 7 people at SND, I picked up 8.5 lbs of chuck roast from my butcher, Antonelli's in Cal-Mart. Yes, that's a lot of roast but I had to account for Jane's freakish red meat eating capabilities. I originally planned on going on a bike ride while the chuck roast braised in a crock pot, but there was no way the crock pot could accommodate an 8.5 lb roast. So I had to braise the chuck roasts the traditional method (stove top then oven).

The menu for today's SND was...

• Pot Roast with potatoes (fingerling and red), carrots and peas
• Stir fried Chinese long beans with shiitake mushrooms and garlic
• Fresh corn salad with red onions and basil
• Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting

The pot roast recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, The New Best Recipes cookbook by Cook's Illustrated. I liked the results of recipe but I would use all beef stock instead of a combination of stock and water in the future. I think the pot roast would have been a little bit more flavorful with all stock.

The long beans were a simple stir fry with a little oil, garlic, shiitake mushrooms and salt. Jane made the corn salad, which is always light and refreshing. It's a simple recipe with fresh corn off the cob, red onions, basil, extra virgin olive oil and cider vinegar. The fresh corn salad recipe is by Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa.

My favorite part of the meal was dessert. Hungry Bear and I were watching the Barefoot Contessa and saw her make chocolate cupcakes and peanut butter icing. The peanut butter icing was something different than the traditional chocolate or vanilla frosting.

After looking at Ina's recipe, we decided to use Gale Gand's chocolate cupcake recipe instead. Gale's recipe has fewer ingredients, particularly no butter or buttermilk. We did use Ina's peanut butter icing recipe, but reduced the sugar and heavy cream.

I like reducing sugar whenever possible. I prefer tasting the main ingredient, in this case peanut butter, in the icing instead of sugar or sweetness first. I really hate it when I buy a chocolate brownie and it tastes like pure sugar without any chocolate taste. Everyone really enjoyed the peanut butter frosted cupcakes. It's definitely something different to try.

Overall, SND was very good and we had a lot of leftover pot roast. Hungry Bear and I love eating leftovers, so we were pleasantly surprised. This was also the first Sunday Nite Dinner in over a month so it was good catching up with everyone.

SNDsters: Chuck, Hungry Bear, Jane, Mark, Garry, Karen, Ed

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