Monday, December 9, 2013

Eataly!

When we visited in the grandest city of them all, that being New York, we stopped in for lunch at a little place called Eataly. I had heard of this place from my sister, who also loves all things gourmet and Italian (together if possible!) and after a bit of research, we decided to hoof it up to the Flatiron District to take a peek.



It was amazing!
 


The place reminded me a lot of the outdoor markets we visited in Florence, Italy and even Quincy Market, in Boston. We were lucky to have arrived just before the hectic lunch crowd and had the chance to walk all around, perusing the wares and even listening in on a cooking demo and tour.


The candies were arranged in the prettiest packages and tins!

Say "cheese"!


Meats galore.


This way to the most incredible meal!


I was intrigued by the inky black linguine.


And loved the smell of the garlic wafting everywhere.

If you haven't tried Panettone for Christmas, you should this year!


 For lunch I ordered at the vegetarian cafe-- a divine eggplant caponata. If caponata can be described as "creamy", this one was. The meal literally had layers of flavor!



We finished off our lunches with a doppo espresso, a mini chocolate "Bacio" and walked away warm and content... off to our next NYC adventure!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

See you soon

I have so many awesome recipes I've been saving up, including pumpkin custards and gluten free spaghetti carbonara with butternut squash...so get ready!

We just returned from NYC and Long Island, what a beautiful, whirlwind trip we had!

For the time being, here's one of my favorite New York pictures... they're right, it is the greatest city in the world.




Monday, October 14, 2013

Welcome, Fall!

Hello friends!

Well, after taking a month or so off, relaxing and enjoying the gorgeous summer, I'm back with some healthy, fresh, and satisfying treats!

Here's a little preview... Pumpkin custard! It's gluten free and paleo friendly.

We only have two weeks until we set off for New York, the Hamptons, Brooklyn, and more! I'll have so many food adventures, I can't wait.

In the meantime, I'll be watching New Girl and Homeland, and eating this delicious dessert. Recipe to come!


Saturday, August 17, 2013

Picklin'

We were gifted some sweet little cucumbers, so I thought I'd pickle them!


Thursday, August 15, 2013

gin bucks

I can't remember the last time I made my own cocktail. Oh, well, yes I do, it was when we visited my parents on the mystical San Juan Island. It's pretty wonderful there, all you want to do is stick a piece of hay in your front teeth, kick off your shoes, and sit in a rowboat with the love of your life. It's pretty nice, I'm just saying.



Anyways, I've recently fell in love with Moscow Mules. They're refreshing, summery, and can put you right to sleep after one or two. My favorite one can be found at The Sexton these days.

Moscow Mules are made with vodka but the favorite cousin is a gin buck. Lime, ginger beer, mint, and gin. That's it!




(this is chocolate mint!)



Ingredients:

for two cocktails-
1-2 shots of gin, per drink
1/2 lime, squeezed and sliced
1 tbsp. mint (I used chocolate mint!), sliced and crushed in your glass (so the juices release)
2 c. ginger beer

                                 

Method:

Roughly chop your mint leaves and place in the bottom of your glass. Add gin, lime, and mix around with a teaspoon or some snazzy cocktail tool, pressing your mint against the side of the glass. Next, pour in your ginger beer and top with a few ice cubes. And... insta-relaxation!

Monday, July 29, 2013

pretty produce

I've been so inspired by the abundance of beautiful fruits and vegetables everywhere! I hope you are too!





Saturday, July 13, 2013

summer salad

I just love summer. It's a season that has always been overshadowed by Spring in my opinion. But this year, maybe because of the giant (green) tomatoes in my garden, I've learned to appreciate it a little more. A week or so ago, I whipped up this salad when I was craving some fresh fruits and vegetables. Obviously after a long day of work + gym + dog walking + who knows what else, I had to add a little lean protein. So I threw in some chicken breast that I had cooked the night before. (I'm really  getting into food prepping on Sundays!)


This salad reminds me of one I had a couple of months ago on a vacation to the Washington coast. We stayed in the beautiful town of Pacific Beach, WA and got some sand between our toes. There was a charming little restaurant, called Mill 109 that we visited for dinner and brunch.



One night I had a starter salad with pears, almonds, and a honey vinaigrette dressing. It was divine. I tried to recreate that dressing here. Although it wasn't spot on, it was very close, and in my opinion, perfect for summertime.

Another inspiration for the salad was from one of my favorite blogs, Iowa Girl Eats. I know I've said it before, but I just adore that blog. I've made so many recipes from there, I think I've lost count. The Triple Berry Salad made my mouth water just looking at it! I'm usually not a huge fan of mixing fruit in salad, but fresh berries and spinach is definitely something I can get behind!

This salad is very simple with loads of good nutrients to get you through your next adventure!


Ingredients:

2 cups fresh spinach
2 cups fresh kale 
1 cup organic raspberries
1 sliced pear
1/2 c. sliced almonds

for the dressing-

2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
1/4 c. olive oil
3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar


Method:

In a large bowl combine the salad ingredients, in no particular order. Next, in a mason jar or bowl, whisk together the ingredients for your dressing, mixing well.

It's that easy, now get started!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Share

I recently (as in today) got back into sketching. I've spending some time on Etsy, and thought, hey! I could draw that. So here's the first two. Our new goal is to start an indie greeting card company and travel the world on our Etsy profits. Career schmareer. Obviously my first sketches had to do with Julia.



Sunday, June 23, 2013

garden update.

There must be something special about Seattle rain. We complain about it, whine about it, want it when the temperature rises above 75 degrees, and it makes our garden greens grow like weeds!


This is been our first foray into the gardening scene, which happens to be huge in our neck of the woods. People fit their tidy, colorful, and bohemian gardens wherever they can, in nooks on their porch, on their rock ledges, or even hanging from the side of their house. Our neighbors a few blocks away have a beautiful vegetable garden, and document their adventures on their blog Eatin' Your Yard. Most days when Molly and I go for our morning run or walk, we check out the newest greenery springing up in our neighbors' raised beds. While we're not quite at that level of expertise, I have to say the garden in our rather giant backyard has yielded wonderful results! There's two tomato plants that are growing by leaps and bounds every day, rows of spinach that multiply overnight, butter lettuce, and strong, hardy, purple kale.


Oh yes, and arugula and basil. I couldn't live without those two, I love arugula mixed green salads and the thought of my own basil in our caprese salads makes my mouth water.

Now, on to our Farmer's Market for some new raspberries. Happy Sunday!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Sunny Days Sangria

Just a quick post on my recent obsession. Since the weather has been so great, we've been sitting on the deck in the evenings and well, drinking! Today and this weekend were especially perfect.


My husband had just mowed the lawn, I had just weeded the entire vegetable garden, and we were cooling down. This sangria has oranges, lemons, and a tiny bit of ginger ale.


I made lamb burger sliders for dinner, that spinach & purple kale salad is my newest crop!


Tonight we had white wine with pomegranate seltzer and blueberries tossed in for good measure!


For dinner we had this. It's amazing and tonight I made it with leftover pulled pork, black beans, tomatoes, salsa and a little sharp cheddar. Try it, you won't be disappointed! You can easily make it vegetarian as well.

Here's to the (almost) weekend; I'm planning on hitting up The Flying Apron!




Sunday, June 2, 2013

A few things

Aaand, I'm back!

After almost a month of a blogging break, I want to share some more words and recipes, if you'll have me! You know what they all say, life has been busy, work is super slammed, etc. etc., but, when I stopped to think about it, I truly missed writing and taking pictures of my food. I mean if only 3 people in the entire world read my stories, I've reached out to someone, right? And best of all, this is a journal of sorts, that allows me to express my creativity, yada yada yada. Even though I do a ton of research and writing at work, it is always good to think outside the box sometimes and write about tastes, thoughts, and well, feelings too.

Another reason that I took a few weeks off blogging is I was training for this. I have been riding or running five days a week and my zest for photography dwindled a bit. I finally did the race yesterday; 15 miles biking, followed by 3.1 miles of running. Boy, was crossing that finish line ever amazing! I've ran races before, but never involving dual sports. It was awesome. I had a little team of my husband and dog waiting for me at the finish line, and it turns out they took some videos and photos as well (not super flattering!)

                                                                  Beginning of my run.

                                                                           ...and after it.

I know on my last post I mentioned something about these fish tacos I made, but that's too boring for my first post back. Instead, I'll present to you my own creation, an Apple Rhubarb Strawberry Crumble. And it's not half bad for you either; it has only a little butter, a teeny bit of flour (we're nearly flour free in my household), and only a little brown sugar and natural agave nectar for a little sweetness. The lighting in our kitchen was so divine yesterday evening that my husband fired up the camera and we took some shots. Lately the weather has been too perfect. Today I found myself standing barefoot, in shorts, picking some purple kale and baby spinach for our dinner. Guess living on an island did rub off on me after all!

Anyways, lets get started. I picked this rhubarb from my backyard, used strawberries (organic) from our market, and added Pink Lady apples. They are a little pricey, but definitely worth it. Plus they're so darn pretty.


Looks good, right? Not to pat myself on the back, but... it is. It's delicious. I'm actually going to get up from the couch and eat some while I write this; I'm finding it hard to believe there are leftovers.

My crumble cooling by the window...

A little onlooker...hoping for a crumb.

Ingredients:

for the crust-

3/4 c. oat flour (I put about a 1/2 cup or so of old fashioned oats in the food processor, and presto! Oat flour.)
3 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. self rising flour
pinch of cinnamon

for the filling-

1 large Pink Lady Apple
1/2 c. of sliced rhubarb
1/2 c. of sliced strawberries
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 c. diced crystallized ginger
1 tsp. agave nectar
1 tsp. corn starch

for the topping-

1/4 c. of old fashioned oats
1 1/2 tbsp. of brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. butter


Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then, in your food processor, combine all ingredients for the crust; puree until moist and the consistency of pie crust. Press into the bottom of a pie pan and bake for about 6 minutes. Next, combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl and mix gently. Allow to sit so all the juices can combine well. Finally, make your topping; combine all ingredients in the food processor, whizzing it for a minute or two. When your crust has baked for a little while, pour your filling in and crumble your topping over it.


Bake for about a half an hour, or until topping begins to turn golden brown. Your kitchen will smell amazing!


Voila!

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Cinco de Mayo

We just got back from a glorious weekend at the coast! There truly is nothing like waking up to the sound of the ocean and going for beach runs every morning. We came back to a warm and sunshine filled Seattle day.


This is a preview of my fish taco recipe!


We had canned margaritas on the back porch.