just another day

Yesterday started as a normal day.  It was Valentine’s day, I had a plan for my day – go grocery shopping on my way home from work and also pick up a gift or two.  The day did not remain normal.  Having expectations for things sometimes comes with its downfalls...things happen.  Life happens.  Clearly, it was nothing catastrophic.  Work was hectic, the interweb was down and I had to use my phone to do follow-ups, forgot my phone charger, no one had one at work...by the end of the day, I was dead.  Out of touch with any and everything.  The mister knew I was going to the grocery store before I got home, but he didn’t know I was going shopping – as he wasn’t supposed to b.c it was a surprise for him!  When I got home, an hour later than expected, he frustratedly left for an audition, an important one where an important person specifically requested to see him...think I'd feel the same.  He was expecting to be on a certain schedule.  Nothing wrong with it, we all do it.  I try to remind myself to “hope for the best and expect the worst.”  It limits the disappointment, or so it seems...sometimes.

14.feb.2012
Yo, DJ!

I was just having a conversation (read shared blog post) with my best girl friend about telling stories with points.  [Side note: she’s really the best, I’m like totally in love with her.]  I’m not very good at it.  Rory give me a hard time about it too...I tend to ramble and get lost in my details and tangents...which, sure, is good from time to time...but all the time?  I don’t know, maybe I will take a story telling class and get my points all lined up.  Or maybe I just accept that that's the way I work after 30 years.

Back to yesterday, while there were some let downs there were also total positives...it was Valentine’s Day after all.  It was also our mini-celebration of our 7 year anniversary.  Seven years!  Man.  It doesn’t seem like that long, or it doesn’t feel that long.  I guess that’s what happens when you fall in love and decide to spend the rest of your life with someone and that someone if the right someone.  Everything just sort of fits.  It works properly.  Even when there are problems, you work them out.  I’m glad to say that we don’t fight all too often.  When we get mad at each other, we’re typically able to come to common ground and we just don’t disagree on a ton of stuff.  I’m a lucky girl who’s madly in love with the man she’s going to marry.  That’s all.  A friend of mine tonight, after I said Rory was off for a whole month, told me I was "so understanding."  Sure, I am but that's also just part of what our relationship is.  We've learned to make it work.  It's very hard from time to time but I think it's also good for us.  It's made us value each other, everything about each other.  The good's, the bad's and even the ugly's.  In the end, I think it makes us love each other harder and fuller.  That's what I feel, full.  So cliche, but Rory kinda completes me. He makes my life full.  When he's not around or off on one of his distracted ways its hard but in the end, at the root of it all there is so much love and patience and kindness and joy and positive emotion that the good truly does outweigh the bad. Really.

Now on to the food!  Yes, it’s a recipe post.  I’m excited, it’s been FOREVER.  Plus it was my instagram yesterday so, even better. (Actually I had two, both in the post)  I made lamb with a yogurt mint sauce, broccoli rabe and hasselback potatoes. Then store bought pound cake w. strawberries and homemade vanilla whip cream. Delish.

14.feb.2012
Nom, nom, nom

Lemon-Garlic Lamb Chops with Yogurt Sauce

Slightly adapted from epicurious

For yogurt sauce:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 garlic clove, minced
a big handful of chopped fresh mint

For chops:

fresh lemon juice from 2 lemons
4 large garlic cloves, chopped
a good shake dried oregano
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 (1/2 to 1 inch-thick) shoulder lamb chops (I asked my butcher for shoulder chops and he sold me a whole shoulder, thought of roasting the whole thing but just ended up cutting my own pieces – I guess you could do the whole thing but think you’d need to increase the marinade)
1 tablespoon water (plus whatever you feel like you need, probably used ~ 1 cup)

Make sauce:
Put a cup of yogurt in a doubled up piece of cheesecloth, make sure you have enough to tie this up.  Then tie the lose ends to a spoon and rest the spoon over a large pot, be sure to put a bowl under the cheesecloth/yogurt concoction so you catch the liquid.  Recipe calls for 20 minutes, I did it for like 30-40 minutes…so worth it.  Mix in the garlic, mint, and salt and pepper to taste.  You can do this a day ahead of time if you want to, just make sure it comes to room temp before serving.

Prepare chops while yogurt drains:
Stir together lemon juice, garlic, oregano, and 2 tablespoons oil in a shallow baking dish. Add lamb chops, turning to coat, and marinate.  Recipe calls for 20 minutes, I did it for a little over an hour (I had the time) just be sure to take the lamb out of the fridge so it comes back to room temperature.  Remove lamb from marinade, reserving marinade, and season with salt and pepper.  Heat remaining tablespoon oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté chops in 2 batches, without crowding, about 2 minutes on each side for medium-rare.  I had to go back and heat these a little longer, so be sure to check the meat and do sauté to the appropriate done-ness for you.  Transfer to plates. Boil reserved marinade in skillet with water 1 minute and pour over chops.  Serve w. the yogurt sauce.

Now for the potatoes…so yummy, they were sweet and spicy from the pesto.  Rory doesn’t like pesto, I knew this and still made this…he even LIKED the pesto.  Goes to show you can’t judge all pestos by the cover...wait, what?! Oh, before potatoes, I really didn’t do anything to the broccoli rabe.  I blanched it, then sautéed it with olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes until they were done.  Easy-peasy!

Hasselback Potatoes with Spinach Cashew Pesto
Barely tweeked from Joy the Baker

For the Potatoes:
4 russet potatoes
4 garlic cloves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
coarse sea salt
olive oil for drizzling
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Thinly slice garlic cloves – try to keep them consistent, this is near impossible for me…just try to get them pretty thin.  Set aside.  Clean the outside of your potatoes well.  So your potatoes don’t slip around and you don’t slice off a finer, cut a small part off the bottom of the potatoes…I picked the wonkiest side. (You can do this with onions too so as to not have the onion roll around while you’re sobbing through your slicing)  Slice into the potatoes creating ribs, don’t go all the way through the potatoes, so everything stays connected.  Slide garlic slices in between potato slices.  This is a lot harder than it seems, you may have to be a little rough with these buggers, but not so rough that you break them apart.  End goal, keep them in original potato shape!

Put 'em on a baking sheet, salt them, well.  Put a tablespoon of butter on each potato and drizzle with oil.  Bake for about 1 hour. Every 15 minutes, baste the potatoes with the oil and butter deliciousness that is happening.  (When I was doing this, I wished that I had put the potatoes in a deeper dish, I kept fearing that the mixture would pour over onto the bottom of my oven, so...a suggestion?) When cooked through and crispy, remove from the oven, top with spinach pesto and serve.

For the Pesto:

2 loosely packed cups of spinach

3 garlic cloves

1/4 cup toasted cashews

juice from one fresh lemon

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup olive oil

Put everything (sans oil, salt & pepper) in the bowl of a food processor.  Blend until spinach is broken down and, whiles still blending, slowly pour in the olive oil.  Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. 

Cook's note: this makes a TON of pesto, after dinner I grabbed a piece of parchment paper and put 4 globs (about the size of a silver dollar pancake) of pesto on it and put in the freezer.  I meant to grab them last night, but just put them in their own ziploc bags in the freezer.  These are perfect for a pesto pasta dinner down the road...now you don't have to make the pesto!

I hope you enjoy these recipes, it always makes me so happy to cook. To cook something I've never eat but have read about somewhere else that someone else tried...I always want to know what I can do with it.  

What'd you make (do) for Valentine's day? 

xo

Homemade Vanilla Extract

I just decided to make whisky vanilla extract.  I used two big Madagascar vanilla pods split in two then a cup of Irish whisky and popped it all in a jar.  Shook it once or twice and stored it under my sink, I'll be back in a week to check on it but it's supposed to take a month or so...so, we'll see.

Ever made home vanilla extract?Better luck with vodka or bourbon?


xo

Double Celebration!

First of all - Rory has done it again!! Check out his most recent Land Rover commercial:

Pretty sweet huh!? And secondly, he proposed to me this weekend at an Explosions in the Sky Concert! Song. Ring. YAYAYAYYAAYAYAYAYAY!

 

xo

busy bee

So, maybe I didn't get the "adult" things done I was supposed to today, like, look for a job, research agencies...I will. I promise, however, I have to catch you up with the progress I am making in the kitchen! (yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!)

[Also. I just realized I never posted about my candies I made for the holidays.  What. Is. Going. On. Jordan. FOCUS. I will get to that later.]

Right. Catching you up: braised cabbage - um, incredible and topped with a poached egg, duh, loved it! Then there was the fudge I made for the Super Bowl. So easy and so good! And tonight, I roasted garlic, made a beet puree (which was okay but not great), and kale sauteed with roasted garlic, and an awesome pork chop...and, get this...I made roasted garlic butter. !!! So much. Picture and recipe of the cabbage to follow and the fudge recipe, do try it out. It's so easy and so good.

 

Braised Cabbage, adapted from Orangette 

Makes enough for dinner and a few meals after that

• 1 medium head green cabbage
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced into rough 1/3-inch slices
  1 large carrot, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 egg, poached

Preheat the oven to 400, position a rack in the middle of the oven.

Get rid of the bruised and beat up outer layers. Rinse the cabbage under cold water quickly, dry lightly. Cut it into 8 wedges. Arrange the pieces on a baking dish. Try to get them all flat in the dish, if they overlap, that's okay but not preferred.

Add the onions and carrots to the dish, pour the water and oil over everything. Season with some salt, a bunch of pepper, and a few pinches of red pepper flakes. Cover the dish with foil pop it in the oven. Cook the veggies for 30 minutes; gently turn the cabbage wedges. Cover the dish, and return it to the oven to cook until the vegetables are very tender, about 20 more minutes.

When the cabbage is completely tender, remove the foil over the baking dish and continue cooking another 10 or so minutes.

Serve warm, topped with a poached egg and sprinkled with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

-----------------------------

The fudge guys...the fudge. Oh man, try this.

Cinnamon-Chocolate Fudge, from Giada De Laurentiis

• Butter, for greasing the pan
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound (about 2 cups) bittersweet chocolate chips
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, at room temperature
• Kosher or flake salt, optional

Butter the bottom and sides of an 8 b 8-inch baking pan. Line the pan with a sheet of parchment paper, set aside.

In a medium glass or stainless steel bowl, combine the condensed milk, cinnamon, and vanilla. Stir in the chocolate chips and butter. Put the bowl on a saucepan of barely simmering water and mix until the chocolate chips have melted and the mixture is smooth, about 6 to 8 minutes (mixture will be thick). Using a spatula, scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with salt. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours until firm.

Run a warm knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the fudge. Remove the fudge to a cutting board. Peel off the parchment paper and cut the fudge into 1-inch pieces. Store refrigerated in an airtight container or freeze.

cali-forn-i-a. part 2

california. california. california. and off i go: after monterey, we drove on US-1 some more. it was so pretty, so many mountains and so green. it was wonderful being out of the concrete jungle for a bit and smelling the fresh air, having the windows down and just sitting. rory made a mix (2 i might add) that we played the entire, well, most of the trip. 

it was fabulous. and all that ocean! beautiful. most of these pictures were taken from the car, so, pardon the blurr here or there. then we stopped in big sur, we wanted to walk amongst the redwoods, sadly, there wasnt a grove that we could hang out in. i think thats all rory wanted to do, was hang out with the trees and when it wasnt a possibility, we both were sort of ready to get back on the road.

le sigh. then, we drove s'more. there was so much fog rolling off the ocean. it looked like if you jumped you'd land in a big piles of cotton candy. yum. 

we breezed through much of the remainder of the drive, trying to get back to LA by 9 to get our car. but we definatly stopped to see the sea lions, how could we not?!

then, it happened. we stopped for dinner. and do you know what that dinner was?!?!?! 

yes! yes! yes! in-n-out, in-n-out!! that's what a hamburger's aaaall about. i love in-n-out. like a lot. and i used to argue that in n' out burger did a better burger than five guys. i had to stay true to the las vegas roots...but, on this trip...i consented. five guys, you win. you do a damn good burger, and in-n-out, its not that i dont love your burgers, but if i had to choose. id have to go with five guys, there. i said it. and then we were in LA and the weekend began.

friday: now, let the LA food begin. rory was crashing in a weho (west hollywood) which was nice. LA is an interesting place. its a dirty place but nice. its breezy and sunny. and there's tons to do. breakfast. we went to freds, in los feliz (? i think)

it was good. i had a breakfast sandwich and rory had crusted french toast.

clearly, we liked it. fred's is a really cool, hip place. its got drawings of famous actors and actress's all over the walls, its sort of a 50s diner with a rockabilly vibe. well, maybe more a calendar girl vibe. lots of tatted up folks enjoying breakfast on this fine friday. it was quite lovely. rory had some meetings and i was able to go hiking with one of my dearest friends. we haven't see each other in a long time, so it was nice to have the time to catch up. whats so great about really good friends is that you dont feel like you missed a beat. you pick up right where you left off. you already know the other persons tempo. you cant do it with everyone, but when you can. its brilliant. (she really is fabulous and i cannot wait to see her on a more regular basis. misses!) while we were hiking, she caught this

we went to a show at the fermosa cafe that night. i met some LA comics.  the guy who ran the show was really nice. when we got introduced he asked me if i had ever had Jordan wine, I had not, and that seemed to be it. When we went into watch the show, he asked me to sit with his girlfriend and told me he had a present for me...then then proceeded to pull out a bottle of Jordan 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. it was one of the most generous things anyone I had just met has ever done for me. it blew me away.  the four of us shared the bottle and have since become friends on facebook. :) it was pretty sweet. and it was a really good bottle of wine. we then ate at the restaurant attached to the bar. rory got fired rice and i had truffle mac n'cheese. rory liked mine, i thought it was bland. is that bad? i just wasnt impressed. i wanted a stronger cheesiness...such is life.
saturday: oh saturday. for brunch...cause come on, people...brunch is one of the most important meals of the day...we went to square one. to die for. all organic and all local (i assume). it was really good. it was also next to one of the 8thousand scientology centers in la. (!) i had a breakfast skillet and a fruit bowl. i couldnt resist the fruit bowl, though i'm sure i didnt need it, but i was looking at everyone elses table and i couldnt resist.  my skillet was so good, i forgot to take a picture until i had all but finished it! it was grits, collard greens, farm fresh eggs and some mushrooms. yum!

then we went to get a cup of coffee in sliverlake at intelligencia. maybe some of the best coffee in LA? not sure, i will have to find out...it was the best cup of coffee i had while in LA. then we went to melrose to shop. duhnuhnuhnuh duhnuh nuh nuh clap clap. it was cool. and a lot cheaper than i expected. noted LA. you have cheaper clothing then NYC. which is sort of weird, but okay. i bought a sassy shirt i cannot wait to wear this summer, i did (of course) wear it that night to the party we went to. see how cute it is...

i meant how cute we are. 
sunday: so. i did it. i went in the tank. rorys been talking about it since he did it the first time. it was weird. it was an interesting experience (side note: this seems to be the year of trying new "types" of things for me thus far...i went to acupuncture last week and am going again on friday, but thats another post). crash the guy who runs the place was awesome. he was nice and walked me through the steps of being a "first timer" gently. basically, you take off all your clothes, put in ear plugs, get in the shower and then climb in the tank. the tank is pitch black and theres about 2+ feet of water in a tub thats big enough for you to lay down in. the water is full of epsom salts, so you are buoyant and seemingly have to do nothing to just lay in the water and exist. rory had explained how it had gone for him in the past, so i had some expectations, not a lot. i was in the tank for an hour and 20 minutes. i sort of thought i would be in there for much less time. its very meditative. i just let my mind go. literally. just let my thoughts pass and tried to get to a blank canvas. i dont think i ever fully got there...i think that may have been b.c i was always aware of where i was and what i was doing. (thats how my first acupuncture appt. went...maybe i'm a second-go-rounder). it was cool and i would for sure do it again. we had lunch in santa monica and then headed home. rory and i just hung out that night and ran lines. it was nice. 
monday: all things have to come to an end. sadly. LA was fun. i wasnt ready to go back to NYC without rory, but, a girls gotta eat. (ha!) before i left we were able to go over to Mosaic and hang out a bit. Then we went to waffle.

NO ONE was there. i guess thats what happens on a monday morning. everyone went back to work. the waffles were good. no where near great. blame it on monday morning? and then, rory took me to the airport. we hugged for a long time and said see you in april...and that folks. was california.

cali-forn-i-a, part 1.

i just got back; well not just, i've been home almost a week and i've been busy so i havent had a moment to upload my pictures.  the trip was lovely. it was nice to be in the sun. i met my bf in san francisco for his final show, he's a comedian and very funny.  if you don't know him you should check him out. i'd say he's hilarious. there's really never a dull moment and i giggle all the time, its wonderful. 

thursday: i got to san fran on st. patty's day. a gentleman on the tram to my terminal scolded me for not wearing green...shame on me. five hours is a long time to go with out food. i kept resisting buying something on the airplane. i flew virgin and they let you swipe your card on a little tv basically plugged into your brain directly in front of your face so it was very, very tempting. i resisted. we landed 45 min early and my ride was far off...so i wanted to get food. a girlfriend of my assures me that ANY airport is international waters so McDonald's, etc. is of course fair game. i went looking...jordan, its san francisco, WHY would they have McDs or anything of that nature in the airport?! did i mention how nice and swanky this airport felt? it was like everywhere was 1st class. (only later did i realize that i was at the international terminal....) i was blown away by how nice it was. and since there was no McDs...i got sushi. who knew you could get really yummy (read fancy) sushi at an airport?

we walked around san fran a bit. went to philz coffee. if you live in or near or ever plan on going to san fran EVER...go here. they do one cup at a time and have great coffee. i had, i believe, julie's ultimate. with a name like that, i really couldnt pass it up. it was a bold, dark, smooth cup of coffee. they call it their classiest coffee for their classy coffee drinkers (me, duh!). we also went up to twin peaks and got a pretty amazing view of san fran. its really a beautiful city. id like to spend more time there. we met up with a friend of ours, actually they gentleman who played rory's wingman the night he first asked me out. the three of us, plus another friend went to Toms for pizza. i wish i had taken a picture of it. it was a bed of arugula on top of a pizza covered in Parm shavings. OH MY GOODNESS. it was so good. this may have tied for the best meal on my trip.
friday: we woke up at 7am to get to the airport to rent our car that we were going to drive down highway 1. albeit it was early, but i was still on east coast time, so when that alarm chimed, i easily got out of bed and into the shower. grant, rory's friend that we were staying with, had an orange tree in his front yard. AN ORANGE TREE, PEOPLE. i know, nothing unusual for ca folks, but it was pretty sweet. i picked two. and ate them on the road.

they were not as ripe as i was hoping. the smell was tastier than the bite. oh well. next time, maybe? 
we decided to get the heck outta the san fran area before we pulled off to eat breakfast, smart move on our part. i think we would have sat in rush hour morning traffic or gotten stuck in the daily morning commute someplace. in dc people used to drive 40+ minutes to work - blows my mind. thats a luxury of living in nyc. we can walk and take the train. granted it may take 45 min as well, but still, you can at least lose yourself in people watching, music or a good book. or if you are super skilled, all of the above. but i digress...breakfast! yums. so we stopped at a place in santa cruz called cafe brasil. 

 best decision we made. the food was awesome.

polenta, portabellas, spinach and a poached egg. SO good. i think this was my best meal while in california, so way to go santa cruz.  (side note: i love poached eggs. i cant tell you how often i eat them. have i gone off on this yet? i think its part of the reason i wasnt posting as much. b.c i was busy and my dinners have consisted of poached eggs and spinach and a grain, like every night. so why keep telling you that? but maybe i should. if you have yet to embark on a love affair with poached eggs...i'd be happy to help.) 
then back on the road. the drive was really really nice. there were so many artichoke farms! so many. i tried to take pictures of them but they all came out blurry and not good. they are large bright green bushes with leaves that look like they might have spikes on them and the jutting out from the center of the plant are these huge stalks with artichokes on the ends. every time i saw a big one, i giggled. they made me so happy. these fields and fields of artichokes. i love to eat them. i cant wait until they are in season. i'm not lying though, i sat facing outside with the window down, pointing and giggling. it was awesome.
we stopped in monterey next. on cannery row. stienbeck, anyone? we took these pictures there:

and thats all i have for now, there's more, but times a wastin'!


xo

lead on

i am on my way to california to visit my bf. i'm excited to be out of the city for a few days and i'm in need for some fun and inspiration. so, this girl goes on vacation! yay! i will track my trip with photos....so many your head will explode. well, thats not a promise. i will try to take a lot.

i recently stumbled upon anthony bourdain's 'no reservations' on netflix. he's hysterical. he's craaaaazy. there's this mean in him thats so much fun. watch it. enjoy it.

more one a days

the day after

work

the best cake i've ever made

snowed in

spicy clean-up

one a day

day seven : morning light

day six : duh.

day five : bits of me

day four : window pain

one a day : just for kicks

day three: snow locked.

day two: men. note.

day one: from: me; to: me