Summer Status

First, I apologize for this summer's blogging hiatus. In a nutshell: I moved to Brooklyn (finally), went on vacation, partied a lot, set up my new apartment, and hardly cooked anything (sad face). I did make one great meal, though, more about that later.

Now, to update, this is what summer looked like according to my iPhone:

Summer Salad: greens, goat cheese, green apple, and pecans in a raspberry vinaigrette.

Reeses cup in a cookie. Mustgohere.

Vacation hors d'œuvres: Eggs Two Ways. The best vacation days are those in which I am in charge of the pre-meal snacks.

Have you ever had South African food? UH.MAZE.ING.

Vacation not complete without some fried clams. Sand included, of course.

This food:

At this place:

= Just the beginning of the best Monday FunDay.

Did someone say vodka watermelon?

Oh, yeah, THIS is my backyard:

Belgian beer and mussels at Monk's in Philadelphia. Plus french fries? Yes please, thankyouverymuch.

Then......

And fun. ensued

Brunch at Aperitivo. Go there. Immediately. Bottomless mimosas for $4. This is not a joke.

(Plus, the omelets are incredible. Shown is prosciutto, mozzarella, and basil. Also delicious: goat cheese and mushroom.)

Oh! And this is what the new place looks like!

And fiiiinally, here is the ONE meal I cooked!

BBQ spiced salmon with pineapple jalapeno salsa, beer risotto, and goat cheese stuffed tomatoes.


Oh yeah, AND I WENT TO ROCKAWAY BEACH. Labor Day weekend was sufficiently the end of summer.

Now, back to real life. Who's excited?


PS. This blog was intended to include mostly recipes, and I know that the past 3 posts have included everything but. This will change. Soon. I promise.

PPS. Can you tell I've been obsessed with Instagram?

Trip to Portland, OR

As many of you know, my brother Greg graduated from Lewis & Clark College about a month ago. So, I trekked across the country to Portland, OR. I flew out on a Friday- arrived in time for dinner- and left Sunday morning before the commencement ceremony, where MARTY SELIGMAN was the guest speaker. I figure the important part was being there with family for the weekend, right?

Anyway,

Saturday we spent here:

touring the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.  

Here:

Where I bought this:

And here:  

Seriously, I thought winter had ended.

The day ended with dinner at this place called Truss in the Marriott Downtown Waterfront. It was fabulous.

I LOVED the socials we shared:

Smoked salmon, capers, arugula…

And

A jar of goat cheese with tomatoes and fresh basil to spread on toasted crackers.

I obviously also would have loved to try their Bacon Bacon Bacon: house glazed pork belly, bacon jam, and sweet & spicy strips, but I think it would have been slightly too much for my family. My obsession supersedes that of most. 

In between this and the main course, the waiter brought us a palette cleanser consisting of tonic water with rhubarb and grape:  

I am not sure I can describe how amazing it was. A little fizzy, slightly sweet, yet a tad tangy and soo fresh tasting. I have never had anything with grape in it taste so incredible! I wanted to add some vodka and drink it all day.

The menu was full of delectable entrees as well, including lamb shank with tomatoes and toasted hazelnut polenta, rib eye steak with blue cheese butter and duck fat fried shoestring potatoes, and what I ordered: salmon with horseradish mashed potatoes and beets.

It. Was. Exceptional.

All in all, a quick and successfully tasty trip.

On The First Warm Day in May

These past few beautiful days have got me thinking of summer. The following are some summer things. 

1. This hat:

2. Ever had fruit that looked like this?

Seriously, they call it dragon fruit for a reason.

Texture like a kiwi, but sweet and light and oh so summery. I want to put it in a salsa. With jicama. And strawberries. Or something.

3. Speaking of strawberries, I made my first fruit salad of the season. Simple and somewhat random: Asian pear, strawberry, and plum. It was crisp and sweet and juicy and perfect.

(PS. How much do you love that Essie glitter nailpolish?! I'm obsessed.)

4. I ordered these shoes from Madewell over a month ago.

They finally arrived and I was so excited, only to put them on and realize that they are SO small. I’m totally bummed. I had reeeallyy been looking forward to wearing them with white cropped denim.

5. Hipster jokes are no longer warranted considering the preppy nature of #5.

6. Doesn’t this song just scream sunshine? Check out Gaby Moreno here too. 

Anyone wanna come over and make sangria? And pretend it’s really summer? And sit outside in shorts? Good, see you soon. Bring snacks.

Sue G’s White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

I love Sundays.

I think most people love Sundays because Sundays are supposed to be for sleeping in, eating too much for breakfast, possibly nursing a hangover, and watching movies in pj’s. Am I wrong?

Even though my Sundays are spent doing entirely different things—waking up well before noon, rushing to work, chugging some coffee, and proceeding to attempt to help people buy clothes and explain return policies (while usually nursing a hangover)—I still love Sundays.

Despite the fact that many people are appalled that I still work weekends at LOFT while being a full time doctoral student, there’s just something about it that I can’t let go of.

It might be THIS

or THIS

or things like THIS

OR it could be Sue G. Sue G always works on Sundays, and much to my delight, is incredible in the kitchen. She always brings in the various treats she had previously concocted for her insanely lucky family. Whether it be (my FAVORITE) pecan bars, fudge brownies, or these cookies I’m about to share with you.

Now, in terms of desserts, I am usually a chocolate fanatic. I always go for anything chocolaty- especially dark- too rich- with peanut butter- or maybe marshmallow- and caramel- and anything else that is likely to be the end of me eventually. And my opinion about white chocolate? Frankly, I’m not even sure why it’s called chocolate!

These cookies, however, are incredible. Don’t let the non-chocolate and fruity nature of them deter you. Plus, there’s BOOZE in there. That’s gotta make up for some of the non-chocolate/fruitiness, yes??

These cookies are to die for. They’re crunchy and chewy and a little bit tart, but so sweet and rich with tons of flavor from the amaretto.

I followed Sue G’s recipe to a t, and I suggest you do the same. 

Sue G’s White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 T amaretto (Sue G said she has also used brandy or frangelica)

1 stick butter

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. 

Mix soft butter with sugars until creamy, then add egg and liquor.

Blend in flour and baking soda.

Stir in cranberry and white chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoon sized spoon of dough for each cookie and bake for 10-12 minutes. 

Cool 1 minute before removing from baking sheet. 

The only thing I’d maybe change about the way I made these would be to make them more flat. When Sue G brought them, they were crispier (which is usually soo not my taste, either) and that crunchiness just made the white chocolate taste amazingly creamy and rich. (SERIOUSLY, WHO AM I RIGHT NOW?!)

Easy & Quick Late-Night Tofu Dinner

Ever have those nights when you come home at 10P, hardly eaten all day, with no energy to do anything at all but collapse? Yeah, that’s me several days a week. On those days, I hardly ever actually cook anything. Plus, the sink is usually so full of dishes it disgusts me to even go in the kitchen for longer than the few minutes it takes to heat up some Trader Joe’s thing from the freezer. Oh how I love Trader Joe’s.

This is not today, though. Although my love for TJ’s never ceases, today is about that random and rare day I come home late and the dishes are done and even though I have no idea what to cook I am ready to open the fridge and figure it out.

Remember how I’ve been into tofu? Well speaking of TJ’s, on this particular day, I found this in my refrigerator:

I remembered seeing it at the store and deciding to try it out. Already seasoned and ready to go it seemed like a great thing to have around. Cook it like a steak and throw it on some pasta? Sounds like dinner to me!

Easy & Quick Late-Night Tofu Dinner

Ingredients:

One small block of tofu, previously seasoned/marinated

Cooking spray

Whole grain linguine, a handful

1 t olive oil

Splash of balsamic vinegar

Spices to taste: salt & pepper, ground thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, red pepper flake

Boil a salted pot of water and add pasta. I just cooked what looked like enough for me to eat for dinner.

While it’s cooking (usually about 8-10 minutes), heat a small skillet on medium heat. Spray with cooking spray and add tofu. I cooked it like a steak instead of cubing it, mainly for the sake of convenience. I only cooked about 5 minutes on each side- until just browned. This tofu from TJ was pretty firm.

When the pasta is finished, drain and toss with olive oil, balsamic, and spices. I just did a few shakes of each, and a small splash of the vinegar.

Aren’t carbs just the best??

Yummmmm.

Only thing missing was a vegetable. Even from across the country I can’t help but hear my father’s voice: “Jennifer, did you eat anything green today?”