Cilantro, Lemon and Corona Bean Salad a definite keeper. It made me realize the winning combination in my mom's bean salad or Jose's ceviche (woe to those who don't eat shrimp!): lemon juice, olive oil, red onion, cilantro, salt + pepper. As far as I'm concerned, you can't go wrong with those ingredients. I didn't have corona beans so I made this with a combination of fava beans and chick peas.

Fig and olive chicken Chicken Marbella was such a hit that I made this very similar recipe. It's basically a tweaked version of the real one (figs instead of prunes, balsamic instead of red wine vinegar). It was fine but not as good as the original, and left me thinking...

Why change something that's already perfect to begin with?

I like to think that's what God thinks about me when looking down at me, lost in some puddle of regret, convinced I've wrecked everything but might stand a chance if only I could tweak or swap or eliminate a few of my ingredients....