Oh Hey, I'm Alive

Whew! Its been a whirlwind of a couple months.  Let me back up.

In November we were lucky to attend the wedding of one of D's closest friends. It was a beautiful wedding, full of love and laughter, and one happy couple :) It was really special to be there with them as they took that step (leap?). 

Thanksgiving was  spent it in AZ with family and friends, and was pretty low key for both of us. I was able to make it over to D's Thanksgiving dinner as well as my own, which means it was the first big holiday (that we both celebrate) that we've spent together during the entire time we've been together. Go us!

Once December hit I got super busy with school. I was pretty busy this semester with 5 classes, (my program is considered full time at 3), but during finals was the only time it was overwhelming. And oh, was it overwhelming! I had finals to take, papers to write, projects to complete, etc etc etc. I basically locked myself in the house for a week and a half, but I got it all done! And I did well, too: I earned a 4.0 this semester!

After the semester ended I got busy preparing for Christmas! I always spend it with my family, and my family always hosts a big dinner for our friends on Christmas Eve. I headed to my dad's house a few days before and spent a lovely week in AZ hanging out with my fam, spending time with friends, and soaking up the sun. When it started to rain I hopped in the car and headed back to CA, which brings us to the present...

Along the way we had some very exciting things happen: we finally got a dog! We both really love Goldendoodles, but couldn't understand the associated price tag. We scoured craigslist for weeks and finally found our girl. She's about a year old and the sweetest, happiest thing on the face of this earth. She is also SUCH a dog: she loves car rides, bones, chasing her tail belly rubs, and rolling around on the carpet. We're constantly entertained by her antics and just love her. Otherwise we've just been settling into the house and trying to make it our home. Its difficult with how busy we both are but we're making (slow) progress!

Simple Marinara

We are creatures of habit. We wake up at our normal time, do the same things, shop at the usual stores, and eat repetitively. When we find a product, whether it be a shirt, a tool, or a food, we tend to stick with it. So it surprised me the other day when D announced that he was sick of our favorite marinara.

What? I thought the sauce was just perfect. Tomato-y, a little oily (but in a good way), perfect on its own or as a base. I'll admit, I was a little sad at the thought of finding another sauce. That is, until I remembered this recipe, which I had bookmarked a few months before. It was easy to make and the ingredients plain; the reviews promised the taste was anything but. I made it one Sunday afternoon along with some homemade ravioli. It was simple enough to complement the fresh noodles and cheeses, but vibrant enough to jazz up the box o' whatever I threw together later that week in a weekday rush. Turns out I didn't miss that old jar of sauce too much!

Marinara Sauce
Adapted from Marcela Hazan’s Essentials of Italian Cooking

28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Combine the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring sauce to a simmer, then lower the heat. The sauce should be at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of melted butter float. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon.

Remove and discard the onion. Salt to taste.

Spinach, Chard and Ricotta Tortellini

http://homecooking.about.com/od/pastarecipes/r/blpasta51.htm

http://www.annamariavolpi.com/ravioli.html


http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/11813/ravioli-with-spinach-and-ricotta-filling

Homemade Pasta

Italian cookbook

Tri Report

So it wasn't "next week" as promised, but I'm here with the details of the tri!

I took off work early on the Friday before. I had a little time to get my stuff together and headed down to catch the ferry to Catalina. In all honesty this was the most stressful part of the weekend, I was SO worried I was going to leave something important at home.

At the ferry I met up with my friend/training buddy Christina, her boyfriend, and their friends. The ferry over was relaxing and the sunset was absolutely breathtaking. We got in around 7, lugged our stuff to condo we rented for the weekend, and headed to pick up our packets.

We decided to catch a cab for the mile or so, which turned out to be a great decision. There was this giant hill on the way, and we saw so many people struggling to make it up. At packet pick up there was also a course orientation, where they informed us that we would be riding our bikes up the hill the next morning. Grrreat.

We headed out to dinner shortly thereafter. We had reservations at some fancy Grille on the island, but after being told we would have to wait, despite the reservation, and after the bartender was super snotty we decided to go elsewhere. We ended up at a fun Italian place overlooking the harbor. The portions were huge - hello carbo loading! - and the wine was delicious. After we filled our bellies we headed back to the condo, relaxed, and began preparing for the next morning!

Part 2: Race Day! Coming soon :)

Dulce de Leche Apple Crisp

Find that recipe!

Triathlon!

Tomorrow I will get up, go to work, just like normal. Then I’ll come home. And then I drive to Long Beach. None of this is out of the ordinary.

Except tomorrow I will get on a boat instead of go to class. I’ll go to Catalina Island. I’ll spend the night. And Saturday morning I will get up and I will race in a triathlon.

I’m feeling relatively good about my preparation. Between work and school I didn’t get in as much training as I would have liked, but I did enough. I think. I guess I’ll find out for sure in a few days! I was able to average one of each workout a week. I can do each of the events at race distance, and I even had brick workouts where I did two events back-to-back. Right now my goals are to finish, to not be last, and to have fun. And maybe even finish in the top 50% of my age group. Under 2 hours. And look hot in a wetsuit J

I’m not nervous. Yet. I’m sure I won’t sleep on Friday night. But right now I am feeling mostly excited for the challenge.

I’ll be back next week with a race report and results!

Grasshopper Brownies

This is another dish I made and brought to the baby shower. By my own admission, I went a little crazy... but these were really, really good :)

Grasshopper Brownies


Brownies
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
10 1/2 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not extra-bitter or unsweetened and no more than 60% cacao if marked), finely chopped
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

Mint Ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
10 oz white chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Chocolate Ganache
1 cup heavy cream
10 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

For the brownies, first, preheat the oven to 375 with the oven racks in the center. Grease a 9x13 pan, or line with foil for easy removal.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the brown sugar. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla, then the flour, cocoa, and salt. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan and bake 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely.

For the mint ganache, first, bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and pour over white chocolate in a bowl. Let melt for1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract and chill until thick, about 1 hour.

For the chocolate ganache, bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate in a bowl. Let melt for 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Chill until thick, about 30 minutes.

Finally, to assemble the layers, spread a thin layer of mint ganache over the top of the brownie. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes. Then spread chocolate ganache over mint and chill until firm, about 2 hours.

Peach Cupcakes - Nope, Cake - with Brown Sugar Frosting

One of my closest friends is due with her first baby, a little girl, at Thanksgiving. This weekend we celebrated that with a small shower hosted by another of my friends. The hostess put together an amazing pancake bar and I offered to provide some sweets. And it was almost a train wreck.

I live in a different city than where I grew up. I'm lucky, though, because its just a 6 hour drive (or a 45 minute flight) home, which means I get to be there for all the little things. Like baby showers. But the relevance to the story is that when I got to my dad's house on Friday evening I had a lot on the schedule: figure out what to make, pick up what I needed at the grocery store, and make it.

The first thing to do seemed easy enough, but I'm an indecisive girl and just could not decide what to make. I asked my siblings, the hostess, my boyfriend and never came to a conclusion. In the end, I made everything.

I took my brother to the grocery store with me. I knocked over a giant display of spices. He laughed and I bought him horchata.

Then I came home and got down to business. First I stuck some of this in the oven, which I've done plenty of times before, and it threw up all over the place. Which its never done before. I had to turn off the oven, let it cool off, and scrape half-caramelized dulce de leche off the bottom of the oven. Disgusting.

When I got back on track I got on a roll. I started making the batter for this amazing peach cake, and when it was done I opened the cupboards to grab my dad's cupcake tins. I couldn't find them. My bother told me that not too long ago, my dad had thrown away a whole bunch of kitchen stuff that he didn't use. Including the cupcake tins AND all but one cake tin! I ended up baking a three-layer cake using one cake tin. It was special.

The whole story is to tell you people that I worked hard for this cake, and it was worth it. The frosting especially is going to make it into my regular cake rotation because brown sugar plus cream cheese? Count me in!

Peach Cake with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from here


Peach Cake 
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch nutmeg
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, sour cream or full-fat yogurt
4 large peaches, peeled, cored, and chopped small

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare cake tins (I suggest using more than one!).

In a small saucepan, combine peaches with 1/4 cup of water. Simmer over medium heat, stirring often, until peaches being to break down. Set aside to cool.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg and reserve. Cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla. Gently mix in the buttermilk. Slowly add the dry ingredients and fold in the peaches.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes.


Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch and powdered sugar. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the dry ingredients, heavy cream, and vanilla, beating until frosting is smooth and light.

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

My family, like many others, spends our holidays with a few other families. We rotate venues and change menus every year, but some things always stay the same. Christmas Eve, for example, is always at my family's house. We always serve seafood bisque, pork pies, and carrot cake. Its just tradition.

A few years ago at Thanksgiving the hostess served a pumpkin sage soup. I'm usually not one for pumpkin, but this soup was out of this world. Since then, regardless of where we are gathered, she has brought soup over as a first course. And since then, regardless of season, I've had dreams about this soup.

It has finally cooled down - and rained! - in Southern California and I've been feeling fall-ish. I want to wear boots and cute coats and eat soup. I attempted, mostly in vain, to recreate the famous soup. I wasn't successful, but this version is quite delicious all on its own.


Apple Pumpkin Soup
Very Loosely adapted from here

1/4 cup olive oil
1 small-to-medium pumpkin
5 medium apples
2 tbps olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
1 tbps chopped garlic
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper
applesauce
sour cream or creme fraiche

 

Preheat oven to 400F. Peel and roughly chop apples and pumpkin. Toss with 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until soft but not mushy.

Heat 2 tbps olive oil in a dutch oven. Sweat chopped onions, carrots, and celery. Add garlic and saute until all vegetables are soft. Add the stock and the roasted pumpkin and apple. Blend, either with an immersion blender or in batches until the entire soup is smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

Serve with applesauce and sour cream.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille
Adapted from here

1 onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp chopped garlic
3 cups tomato sauce
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large eggplant
3 zucchini
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
4 potatoes
fresh thyme
Salt and pepper


Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Pour tomato into the bottom of a glass 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle the garlic and onion into the sauce, stir in one tbsp of olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.

Slice the vegetables using a mandoline, approximately 1/16-inch thick. Arrange slices of vegetables in rows in the baking dish, alternating vegetables. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the vegetables and season with thyme, salt, and pepper

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for approximately 45 minutes, until vegetables cooked, but not totally limp.

Torta de Mele

Torta di Mele
Apple, lemon, and fig cake

adapted from here

• 50g ground walnuts or almonds, or some plain flour
• 600g granny smith (you must use a tart cooking apple or your cake will be too sweet….trust me) apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• 115g unsalted butter, melted
• 3 eggs
• 165g (3/4c) dark brown sugar
• 110g (1/2c) raw or regular caster sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 100ml milk
• 150g (1c) plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• about 100g dried figs, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Lemon syrup

• about 150g raw or white sugar or 180g honey
• splash (about 1 Tbs) water
• juice of half a lemon (or whole lemon if you want it tart-er)

Generously grease the sides of an 8″ springform cake tin (up to the very top), line the base with greased baking paper or foil (then place greased ring on top), and dust with ground nuts or 1 Tbs flour. Rotate pan and tap to distribute the nuts/flour evenly across every surface of the pan. Set aside.
Combine apple slices and lemon juice and zest in a bowl and toss to coat the slices. Set aside. Preheat oven to 180C (355F)
In a medium sized bowl whisk eggs, 110g of the dark brown sugar, all the caster sugar, and vanilla, until paler, creamy and thick. Stir in melted butter, then flour, baking powder and milk, until fully incorporated, but do not keep mixing once fully incorporated.
Pour a third of the batter into your cake pan and spread gently so the layer is even. Arrange a third of the apples as a single (do not do a double layer all the way around) layer on top of the batter. Scatter with half the figs. Repeat. Top with last third of the batter, then finish with apple slices.
Rub remaining dark brown sugar and cinnamon together, then scatter over the apples.
Bake cake for 1 hour and 20 minutes (check at the 1 hour 15min mark), or until a skewer inserted comes out clear (it will have some moist bits on it). Cool for twenty minutes in the pan before running a knife around the cake and removing the ring. Then let cool completely before removing foil and base.
To make syrup, simmer sugar and water for a few minutes over medium heat in a very small saucepan, until sugar is completely dissolved. Stir through lemon juice. Pour syrup over while hot.
Serve with double cream, ice cream, whipped cream or mascarpone.

Busy Busy

I. Am. Busy.

I've been busy in my life. I've played a college sport. I've gone to school full time and worked full time simultaneously. I've always been the kind of person who thrives on having absolutely no free time. But this time is a whole 'nother ball game, people.

Work is super fantastic. I found the greatest job - I'm nannying for this cute little family. They have 2 adorable boys, ages 5 and 2, and I seriously spend most of my days playing legos and riding bikes. I even get some homework done during nap time! Its amazing.

School is going really well. So far. I’m doing really well on keeping on top of assignments and readings, and I’ve had 3 midterms and done well on all of them. I can’t say the material is hard/easy, its just something I’m genuinely interested in. We are just getting to the point in the semester that we are getting bombarded with midterms and papers and assignments etc etc etc. (Sidenote: tomorrow we’ll be halfway through the semester. Holy shnikes.) But hopefully I can continue to stay on top of things and make it out the next 8 weeks alive!

My triathlon is in LESS than 3 weeks now – yikes! I took last week off, but otherwise I have been pretty consistently getting in at least 1 of each workout a week. I’m able to do all of the race distances already except for the swim, so I have some work to do the next few weeks, but I think between a little more practice and a little endorphin kick on race day that I will be just fine. I’m so excited about this new challenge and I’m already thinking ahead to what my next race will be! I’m debating between just running or sticking with the tri stuff – but I think I’ll wait and see how Nov 6^th goes before I make any decisions!

However – I am looking at doing a half marathon in January, and maybe (BIG maybe) a full in March. And an Olympic or international distance tri at some point in 2011. I am fully on my way to becoming one of THOSE annoying race people. Especially once I finish school!

And, hey. I’ve been thinking it, so I’m going to come out and say it. I want to run the Boston Marathon. And I don’t want to do it because I’m raising money for cancer or something – who does that? No. I want to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Which means I need to run TWO marathons in under 3 hours, 40 minutes. That’s roughly 7:15 a mile. My fastest race pace so far is about 8:30. For a 10k. I have a LOT of work to do.

OK, it’s time for bed, before I make any more ridiculous proclamations. To end on a good note: I started to write a paper and all I did was type the section headings before I got distracted by this post. Sounds like a good night’s work to me!

Roasted Green Chile Enchilada Sauce

Whenever I go out to eat Mexican food I always face a dilemma: whether to order red sauce or green sauce. I always regret that I can't try both! So after I made red enchilada sauce earlier this year, the most natural next step was to make a green sauce. Pretty soon I'll be whipping up special dishes for myself with one half red sauce and the other half green :)

Tomatillo Enchilada Sauce

10 medium tomatillos, husked and washed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large poblano chile
2 jalapeno chiles
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1/2 cup water stock
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup cilantro
1/2 lime juiced

First roast the chiles and tomatillos: Preheat the broiler and put the chiles on a baking sheet. Broil until black and blistered on all sides. Remove from the oven and place in a tupperware. Allow to sit for 5 minutes, then remove and peel. Discard skin, core and seeds.

Heat oven to 450F and place tomatillos on a sheet pan. Roast until lightly browned on one side (about 5 minutes), turn and roast until evenly browned and starting to blister.

Heat a sauce pan until medium and add oil, onion and garlic. Cook, stirring regularly for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Add tomatillos, chile, oregano, water or stock, and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Bring to an easy simmer and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Stir in cilantro and lime. Blend in batches and simmer until the desired consistency is reached.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

There are a few things we've gained since moving back to the west coast. Perfect weather, for example. Good mexican food. Beaches that can actually be enjoyed. On the other hand, there are plenty of things we miss. The walk-ability of the city. Reasonable public transportation. And all types of food; mostly though, pizza and bagels.

I've covered my attempts to recreate the thin crust pizzas of New York City. So far I haven't been successful, but its a work in progress. I've made quite a few pizzas so far and, although they aren't anything like what can be had in Brooklyn, you certainly won't hear me complaining about all the pizzas I've had to eat along the way.

Which brings us to bagels. The bagels in NYC are incredible. There was a corner store just down the street from our old apartment that made bagels fresh, every morning. If we were up early enough we could smell them from our balcony - but we were very rarely up at 4am! 

These bagels were just one of the hundreds of bagel offerings throughout the boroughs - served warm, with a large schmear of cream cheese. After New York bagels, its hard to find a good substitute. So I did what any good food blogger would do - I tried to make my own.

We are an open-bagel household; we love all kinds. Bagels have their place: everything or onion bagels for sandwiches, plain bagels for lox, etc etc. Our favorite bagel, though, is the cinnamon raisin. Its the perfect amount of sweet for breakfast and is good with cream cheese, butter, or even peanut butter. When it was time to decide what kind of bagel I would be making, cinnamon raisin was an easy choice.

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Adapted from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice

Sponge
1 teaspoon instant yeast
4 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
2 1/2 cups water, room temperature

Dough
1 teaspoon instant yeast
3 3/4 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
2 3/4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons malt powder or 1 tablespoon dark or light malt syrup, honey, or brown sugar
2 cups loosely packed raisins, rinsed with warm water to remove surfact sugar, acid, and natural wild yeast

To Finish
1 tablespoon baking soda
Cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting
Melted butter for brushing (optional)
Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling (optional)

First, make the sponge. Mix the yeast and flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the water, stirring only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 2 hours, or until it becomes foamy and bubbly. The sponge should double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped.

To make the dough, add the rest of the yeast to the sponge and stir. Add all but 1/2 to 1 cup of the flour, and all of the cinnamon, sugar, salt and malt. Mix on low speed with the dough hook until the ingredients form a ball, then slowly work in the remaining flour until the dough is stiff. Add the raisins at the end of mixing.

Transfer the dough to a countertop and knead for at least 10 minutes. The dough should be firm, but still smooth and pliable. If the dough is too dry or rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough is tacky or sticky, add more flour. The kneaded dough should feel satiny and pliable but not be tacky.

Immediately divide the dough into equal pieces - 12 (4 1/2 ounce) pieces for super sized bagels, 16 (3.375 ounce) regular-sized bagels, or 24 (2.25 ounce) perfectly smaller bagels. Form the pieces into rolls.

Cover the rolls with a damp towel and rest for 20 minutes.

Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper and lightly spray with oil. Poke a hole in the center of a ball of dough and rotate your thumb to widen the hole. The dough should be stretched as evenly possible around the bagel.

Place the shaped pieces two inches apart on the pans. Mist the bagels lightly with spray oil and cover each pan loosely with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Check to see if the bagels are ready by using the “float test”. Fill a bowl with cool to room-temperature water. The bagels are ready if they float within 10 seconds of being put into the water. Take a bagel and test it. If it floats, return the bagel to the pan, dry it, then cover the pan and put it in the refrigerator overnight. If it does not float, return the bagel to the pan and continue to proof the dough at room temperature. Check the dough every 10 minutes or so until a tester floats

 The following day preheat the oven to 500°F with both racks in the middle of the oven. Boil a large pot of water and add the baking soda. Sprinkle parchment-lined sheet pans with cornmeal or semolina flour.

Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many as comfortably fit. They should float within 10 seconds. After 1 minute, flip them over and boil for another minute.

Place the boiled bagels back on the pans and bake for five minutes, then rotate the pans 180-degrees. Lower the oven temperature to 450°F and bake for another 5 minutes, or until the bagels are light golden brown.

Remove the bagels from the oven and let cool on a rack before serving.

The Mister's Birthday Meal

D is a simple man. He likes what he likes, dislikes what he doesn't, and has clear lines drawn between the two. He isn't overly excitable and he hardly ever gets mad. He wants very little, and what he does want, he gets. I love him for these qualities, but it sure does make his birthday tough :)

Speaking of birthdays, he recently celebrated his 25th. Between his job being crazy, the new house, life, etc we were pretty busy, but I made sure I had time to make him his birthday meal. Its the same every year - baked ziti for dinner, dirt dessert after. The key to a good baked ziti is a good sauce and this year I was able to make the sauce using tomatoes and herbs from our garden! Needless to say, it tasted better than last year.

Baked Ziti

My momma's recipe

For the sauce:
1 onion
3 celery stalks
2 carrots
1 tbsp garlic
a whole bunch of tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
red wine
salt and pepper
oregano
basil
1 lb ground beef, cooked
turkey sausage, to taste, cooked

Chop the aromatics and saute in olive oil in a large pot - I used my dutch oven. When the carrots are starting to soften add garlic and half of the chopped tomatoes. Cook until carrots are soft and tomatoes are bursting.

Remove from heat. Let cool, then puree in blender. Return the puree to low heat and add tomato paste, wine, and water as needed to get to a saucy consistency. Add remaining chopped tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs; add meats. Let simmer for as long as possible to let flavors meld.

For the ziti:
2 boxes ziti, cooked
Parmesan Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese

Combine cooked ziti and sauce in a large, oven safe pan. Stir in a few handfuls of cheese. Top with extra sauce and extra cheese. Bake until pasta is warm throughout, and cheese is melty and bubbly. Serve.

Chocolate Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Swirl

I came home from work after a long, long day and was seriously not in the mood for dinner. I ate some refried beans - you know, for the nutritional value - and whipped up some of this ice cream. I can say with 100% confidence that it was a very, very good decision.




Double Chocolate Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Swirl

Adapted from here

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup smooth salted peanut butter

In a sauce pan over medium heat, stir together cream, milk, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Heat until the milk and boil until thickened. The mixture will look the consistency of chocolate pudding. Remove from flame and stir in the the chocolate chips. 

Place mix in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a lid, and put in the fridge until cool.

Once cool, follow the manufacturers instructions on the ice cream maker to churn ice cream. Once the mixture has chilled and thickened in the ice cream maker, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Don’t over mix. You want a nice ribbon of peanut butter running through the ice cream.

Transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and fold in the remaining 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Cover and freeze until solid.

No matter how trendy...

One should never wear socks with strappy dress shoes.

It is not cute.

The end.

Pizza Sauce

I've talked about my adoration for pizza, and my ongoing project to recreate the perfect Brooklyn pie. I've discussed dough and oven and things like that, but one thing I hadn't delved into, either on this blog or in my life, was pizza sauce. The Mister had been bugging me for a while to make my own sauce and I finally gave in tonight. I'm really glad I did because in the world of pizza making, this is the simplest part of pizza to tackle and it really made a big difference.

When researching sauces I found that traditional Neopolitan pizzas (which are most like the ones you can find in New York City) are generally made with sauces that are not cooked prior to going in the oven. This proved to be an easy way to wade through the millions of sauce recipes available on the web. I ended up combining a few recipes to come up with something that sounded tasty, was easy to make, and used only things I had on hand. It came out really well and truly made a difference in the overall taste.

Pizza Sauce

1 can tomato paste
1 can tomato sauce
dash paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp italian seasoning
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Whisk together all ingredients. Let sit for 1 hour before using to allow flavors to meld. Enjoy!

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Despite my best efforts to get rid of any leftovers, I still had dulce de leche around the house. The situation was getting desperate - something had to be done to get that gooey, caramelly goodness out of my fridge. Luckily, I had this recipe in my pile of things-just-begging-to-be-made and a bunch of hungry coworkers to enjoy them.

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway Books)

8 tbsp unsalted butter
6 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 cup dulce de leche

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square pan with aluminum foil to cover the bottom and the sides of the pan. Grease the bottom and sides of the foil.

Melt the butter and the chocolate over low heat in a medium saucepan. Once melted, remove from heat and whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, and flour.

Scoop only half of the batter into the prepared pan. Then drop one-third of the dulce de leche over the brownie batter and drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Repeat with remaining batter and dulce de leche.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until center is just set.

Challah for Rosh Hashanah

Challah has been on my to-make list for a long while. When the Mister and I started dating he introduced me to challah french toast and I've been hooked ever since. Because he is not particularly observant we usually only have a loaf around the holidays, and my yummy french toast is a special occasion treat.

Last year at this time I worked in an area with a large Jewish population. There was a bakery that I had heard good things about, so I decided to get our holiday loaves there. The day before Rosh Hashanah I stopped by on my lunch break and found a line out the door and around the corner - there was no way I was going to get back to work on time. Luckily, a patient of ours recognized my scrubs and not only let me cut ahead of her in line, but also bought me two loaves of bread!

This year, both to cross an item off my list AND to avoid that line, I decided to make my own challah. I roughly followed a recipe from The Complete American Jewish Cookbook, which has been my lifesaver as the main cook in a half-Jewish household. One change I did make was to add raisins, and I didn't braid the loaf as is tradition at Rosh Hashanah.

The loaf came out very pretty. It was really fun to make and even more fun to cut into and enjoy as a part of our Rosh Hashanah celebration. (PS - Challah + honey = yum) I'm really excited to make it again, and to try braiding.

Shana Tovah!

Challah

2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup hot milk
3/4 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
2 eggs, 1 yolk reserved
3 cups flour
1 cup raisins

Melt the butter in the milk. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and salt and let cool to lukewarm.

Meanwhile, dissolve the yeast in the water. Let stand until yeast has activated. Mix in 1 full egg and 1 white, then pour into milk mixture and mix well.

Slowly pour in flour, mixing well. Knead until smooth and elastic (I used my mixer; the book says it should take about 5 minutes). Place dough in a large greased bowl and cover with a cloth. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours.

After the rise, punch the dough down. Flatten into a rectangular shape and pour raisins down the center. Fold top of dough over and pinch edges shut.

Roll the dough into a long rope. Coil the rope into a 9" cake pan or pie pan. Cover and let rise for 1 hour, until puffy and full.

Whisk the reserved egg yolk with 1 tbsp cold water. Using a pastry brush, lightly cover the dough with the egg wash.

Bake at 375 for 30 to 45 minutes, or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Tent with aluminum foil if loaf becomes too brown.

Apricot Cherry Clafoutis

A few weeks ago a patient brought in some apricots from his tree. He brought several large bags, and any of the staff who wanted some had more apricots than they knew what to do with, including me. After a quick search on the internet (and a trip to the store for some cherries) I knew exactly what I would be making: clafoutis.

I'd had my eye on clafoutis recipes since this time last summer, when cherries were in season. I never did get around to making it last year, mostly because I ate all the cherries on their own before I had a chance to. By using apricots and cherries I had plenty of fruit for the clafoutis, and could still snack on cherries to my stomach's content.

Apricot Cherry Clafoutis

Adapted from here

6 large or 8 small fresh apricots, pitted and cut into chunks
1 cup fresh cherries, pitted
1 1/4 cups milk (low-fat or whole)
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
Powdered sugar for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a pie plate with cooking spray and put the apricots and cherries into the pie plate.

Whisk together the milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract and almond extract. Add the flour and salt and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter over the fruit and slip the dish into the hot oven.

Bake the clafoutis 45 minutes or until it is lightly browned around the edges and the custard is set - it will still be somewhat jiggly, but it should no longer be liquid in the center. Remove the pan from the oven and let the clafoutis cool to room temperature. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Gazpacho

I had gazpacho for the first time almost exactly two years ago. The Mister and I were on vacation at his family's beach house, along with his uncle and girlfriend. They made us dinner one night, and although I don't remember the main course at all, I do remember the meal started with a bowl of gazpacho.

It took me almost a year to move gazpacho out of the "to-make" list. When I did, I used a recipe I swiped from another blog that looked easier than most. It didn't turn out very well. In fact, when The Mister tried it, it didn't stay down very long. If you know what I mean. Another year later, I decided it was time to give gazpacho another shot.

This time I used a recipe from my go-to for the classics: The Dean and DeLuca Cookbook. And although I made some minor changes to fit my tastes, I stuck to the essentials of the recipe. The soup was exactly what I wanted: fresh, simple, and delicious with some home made croutons on top.


Gazpacho

From the Dean and DeLuca Cookbook

1 small can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 tbps olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste

A few hours before serving, combine all ingredients. Let sit in a covered container to let the flavors mellow and combine.

Just before serving, blend 1/2 of the soup (or more, depending on your tastes). Serve topped with croutons.

Peach Ice Cream

I love the dollar store. I could walk around for hours, browsing all the knick knacks and random goodies you can find. And I inevitably end up spending a lot more money than I planned because - oh my gosh! They have frozen peaches here for a dollar!

So, there I was. Home from the dollar store with two bags of frozen peaches. I had big plans for each - the first went toward my morning smoothie, the second, to this ice cream.

Peach Ice Cream

Adapted from here

2 1/2 cups ripe peaches
3 eggs, lightly beaten, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
dash of salt
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)

In a blender, purée half of the peaches. Mash the remaining peaches with a potato masher. Set aside.

Whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt until blended. 

In a large saucepan over low heat, warm the milk and cream until it just begins to steam. Temper the egg mixture with the cream, then pour the everything back into the heavy saucepan. Continue to cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick and smooth. Remove from heat, and refrigerate the mixture for several hours or until well chilled.

Add the peaches to the chilled mixture, stir well, and pour into a 5-quart ice cream freezer can. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions.

My House is Scary

My house intimidates me.

It could be the huge financial responsibility, the weight we will drag along for the next 30 (!) years. It could be amount of space we now have, and now have to clean. It could be knowing that this is it, all our eggs are in one basket, all we've got is each other and these walls. Or it could be the firsts.

Yes, the firsts. This week has been full of them: first night, first shower, first meal, etc etc. And there are many more to come. And I feel like each of these firsts sets the tone for the next stage in our lives. For example, I baked my first cake in my new oven on Thursday. It came out sub-par. What does this mean for the hundreds of cakes I will bake here over the course of time? Will they all be cursed? Or can I break the first curse?

Whats worse is, that, in the grand scheme of things, the cake is pretty irrelevant. What about our first fight? Our first party? Our first hanky-panky? What if they all suck? I can't be condemned to a life of bad fights, lame parties, and sub-par sex just because the first time in the house was terrible.

So, I've been going out of my way to make sure our firsts, however trivial, are good firsts. We had our first guests and had fun. We ate our first meal and it tasted delicious. We mowed the lawn for the first time and nobody lost any appendages. So far, so good.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

I'm not kidding when I tell you I'm on a serious ice cream binge. Since I got the ice cream maker, every flavor I come across is made into mental ice cream on the spot. Unfortunately for my waistline, many of these are also being made into real-life ice cream as well.

I made dulce de leche brownies a few weeks ago for a coworker's going away potluck and I've had some extra dulce de leche sitting in my fridge since then. Rather than attack it with a spoon (like I have been) I found a way to turn it into a caramelly, soft, delicious ice cream. Which I promptly attacked with a spoon. I can't win.


Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

Adapted from here

2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound dulce de leche (about 1 2/3 cups)
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Bring milk and cream just to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then remove from heat and whisk in dulce de leche until dissolved. Whisk in vanilla and transfer to a metal bowl.

Chill mixture well, then freeze in ice cream maker until almost firm. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden, at least 1 hour.

We're In!

Yesterday was the big day - moving day.

During the last week we packed up most of our stuff and shuttled it between the apartment and the house. When the movers came Saturday morning there was very little left to do - they picked up the big stuff and we were on our way. The whole move took less than three hours and was about as painless as it could be.

After the furniture was moved we started unpacking, and we've been doing nothing else for the last twenty four hours. Ugh. But its starting to come together - clothes are in the closet, pots and pans have homes in the cabinets. So far our biggest problem has been that we have too much space! We went from 700 sq ft to almost 1200 so filling out that extra 500 feet is no easy task. But we are making progress.

Pictures to come once its less of a mess!

Grilled Pizza

I've mentioned before that I feel very strongly about pizza. Since moving to California I've been on a quest to find the perfect pie, either in a restaurant or at home. So far I've found a few good places and have made a few good slices, but haven't found anything that measures up to Brooklyn standards.

One of the biggest obstacles to overcome when making pizza at home is the heat. While most home ovens will reach only 500 degrees or so, optimum pizza-making temperatures are 700 to 800 or more. To overcome this home cooks have gotten creative with their ovens, either lining the inside with bricks or forcing the oven into self clean mode. Another option is to fire up the grill and cook pizza over an open flame, which I tried tonight.

Grilling pizza is a little tricky only because its a little more labor-intensive while cooking. Instead of throwing the pizza in the oven and forgetting about it, the dough is cooked plain, flipped, topped, and cooked some more. I made two types of pizza tonight: one with pizza sauce, pepperoni, and cheese and the other with pesto, zucchini, and goat cheese. Both were unbelievable. The dough got nice and fluffy and the toppings were perfectly cooked. I had never made grilled pizza before tonight and I can assure you, I'll be making it again soon.

Vanilla Birthday Cake

Vanilla Birthday Cake
Adapted from here

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken


Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (Alternately, you can use a cooking spray, either with just butter or butter and flour to speed this process up.)

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. (I like to drop mine a few times from two inches up, making a great big noisy fuss.) Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.

Gnocchi

The first time I ever ate gnocchi is one of the most memorable meals of my life. The Mister and I had just moved to New York City, had just moved into our first apartment, and were getting used to our new lives. His parents had come out for a wedding and we went out to dinner with them and his cousins at this little Italian bistro in Brooklyn. It was a beautiful June night and we sat on the patio and talked and drank wine and had a great time. And I ordered gnocchi.

I've spent the two years since that night (two years! holy crap!) working on making gnocchi as light and airy and melt-in-your-mouth delicious as the ones I tasted that night. So far, I haven't gotten it right, but this recipe is the closest I've gotten. I've found that baking the potatoes is the only way to cook them - boiling, while faster, doesn't yield the same fluffy results. I don't have a potato ricer so I've used a hand mixer almost every time with great results.


Gnocchi

Adapted from here

8 medium Russet Potatoes

2 eggs - beaten
1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano - Grated
3-5 cups of flour
handful of fresh basil leaves - roughly chopped
salt/pepper


Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Place potatoes into the oven and bake for until fork tender. Rest until cool enough to work with them and then remove skins. Mash with a hand mixer.

Transfer the potatoes to a clean, lightly floured surface and add the eggs, Parmigiano, a pinch of salt, and 1 cup of flour. Begin kneading together, adding more dough until you have a ball of dough.

Cut the dough into small manageable sections and roll each of the sections into logs. Cut the logs into small 1″ sections.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. When the water is boiling, place the gnocchi into the water and allow them to cook until they rise to the top and swell up.

When gnocchi are done. Transfer them with a slotted spoon into the sauce pan, toss gently with sauce to combine. Garnish with additional basil and Parmigiano Reggiano if desired.

Today...

I'm painting my house.

That's so awesome to say... My house.

Well Hello Again

I'm back, literally and figuratively.

I spent a glorious, glorious week in Boston and Nantucket. I had the best time. I saw some old friends, I went to the beach every single day, I read books, I ate a whole lot of ice cream and I enjoyed pretty much every second. Mostly I just spent time with my grandmother, my aunts and uncles, and my cousins. I love my family so much.

Then I came back and it was back to real life. And it wasn't that bad.

Work is work. I'm getting a new job soon which makes me happy because I won't have to deal with a lot of the same crap I've been dealing with, but makes me sad because I love my coworkers. But the new job will be closer to home and I will be thrilled to spend less time in my car.

We close on our new house tomorrow. Its scary and exciting and unbelievable all at the same time. I'm so excited to paint and move in and make it a home.

I start school later this month. I find it so funny that while in college, all I wanted to do was graduate. As soon as I graduated, all I wanted to do was go back to school. Now that I'm starting again, I wonder how long it will be until I can't wait to graduate again?

Amazing

Dulce de Leche

I'm completely serious when I say that one of my bigger regrets in life is that I didn't come around on dulce de leche sooner. I don't know if this says more about how wonderful my life has been, how well I can let things go, or how really really amazing dulce de leche is. Maybe its all three?

I grew up in a fairly hispanic part of the United States. I grocery shopped at little corner tiendas, buying peppers I couldn't find at the chain down the road or home made tortillas. There's even an adorable little abuela who sells tamales on my road once a month. I've had every opportunity to befriend dulce de leche, but I somehow got it in my head that I didn't like it. I didn't know what I was missing.

There's no epiphany to this story, no one event that changed the course of my dulce de leche loving life. But now that I've come around I crave the stuff. So far, none of the store brands have come close to the rich caramel creaminess I've had before, so I started looking for recipes to make at home. There are plenty out there, but I'm more than a little apprehensive about boiling a canned good on my stove for hours. I found a great recipe from David Lebovitz that calls for baking, rather than exploding simmering, the sweetened condensed milk.



Dulce de Leche

Adapted from here


1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk


Preheat the oven to 400 F

Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a shallow baking dish. Stir in a few shakes of sea salt.

Set the dish in a larger pan and pour water into the larger pan until it reaches halfway to the top. Cover the smaller dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until browned and caramelized.

Remove from oven and let cool. Store in the refrigerator until use.

Almond Joy Cookies

I'm not one to mess around with a good thing. And as far as I can tell, chocolate chip cookies are about as close to perfect as can be. So when I came across yet another recipe that meddled with the CCC I almost rolled my eyes and moved on. Almost. This time, I'm sure glad I didn't.

These cookies take the chocolate chip cookie to a whole new level by adding in almonds and coconut. The resulting cookie is chunky, chock full 'o stuff, and absolutely delicious. I used dark chocolate chips in this batch and they really did taste like Almond Joy bars. Yum.


Almond Joy Cookies

Adapted from here


1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups of dark chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups of flaked unsweetened coconut
1 cup chopped almond

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In your stand mixer, combine the butter, sugars, and vanilla until smooth. One at a time, beat in the eggs.

In another bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips, coconut and almonds.

Let dough cool in the fridge. When ready, drop by the spoonful onto a prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow to cool on the pan before moving them to a wire rack.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

A girl I work with has recently dealt with some pretty scary medical issues. She underwent a small (but pretty scary) surgery to remove a cancerous lesion on her thyroid. Although the surgery is fairly easy, as far as surgeries go, it does have some pretty strict limitations on post-surgical activities. Because the thyroid is located on the neck, my coworker had very clear instructions to not talk for an entire week after her surgery. Imagine, a week without speaking.

Since she would be home from work for a week by herself, I put together a post-surgery survivial kit. I let her borrow some books and movies, bought as many crossword books and sudoku puzzles as I could get my hands on, and other stuff to keep her hands and mind occupied for that week. Oh, and I also baked her cookies.

My coworker has some pretty strange tastes. Ok, not strange, just night and day to what I like. First off, she doesn't like chocolate. Or apples. I don't know what to do with someone like that :) But I had to think outside my normal baking comfort zone, which is to pack as much chocolate into as little square footage as possible. I settled on classic oatmeal raisin cookies because they seemed like a safe bet - no chocolate in sight.

I found my recipe here, which is quickly turning into my go-to for anything I bake. These cookies are everything that Deb promises: thick, chewy, and perfect in texture. Yum.


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and raisins.

Chill the dough for a bit in the fridge for a few hours, overnight if you can.
The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes, taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

Madeira-ish Chicken

I have a problem.

I spend a good amount of my free time searching for new recipes. I read blogs, cookbooks, and magazines. I try to recreate dishes I've had at friends houses and restaurants. And I just don't think I'm capable of following a recipe.

No matter how yummy a dish looks, or how foolproof the recipe, I want to change it. I want to play around with the spices, omit ingredients, made additions. No matter if I'm cooking dinner or - gasp! - baking a cake I just can't help but mess around with it. But maybe that's the beautiful thing about cooking - that anyone can take any recipe and make it their own. What's a recipe, anyway, besides an idea with some instructions?

This recipe was the second in my dutch oven. Can you tell I love my dutch oven? I really do. I love that I can saute the chicken, then the onions, then make the sauce, then put it all together. Then put it in all the oven. Beautiful. The only one more excited than me is my resident dishwasher.


Madeira-ish Chicken


Adapted from here, adapted from Williams-Sonoma

6 chicken thighs, fat cut off
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 lb. sliced carrots
1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme

Season the chicken generously on both sides with salt and pepper. In a dutch oven, heat the olive oil on med-high heat and brown the chicken on both sides. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.

Add the onion into the pan juices and saute until barely softened, about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the wine and Worcestershire sauce.

Return the chicken to the pan, nestle it in between the mushrooms and onions, cover and braise on medium-low heat until cooked through, 20 minutes. Once the chicken is done, put the pan into a pre-heated oven, uncovered, and broil for 5 minutes to re-crisp the skin. Adjust the seasoning in the sauce, stir in chopped thyme and serve.

Thankful

Have I mentioned lately how wonderful my life is?

Here's how this week lines up, so you can see.

Monday: Easy start to the week plus overtime plus ice cream for dinner
Tuesday: Soccer, then D comes home FINALLY
Wednesday: Hump day/hang out with mah boyyyyyyyfrien'
Thursday: Soccer. (It doesn't take much to please me?)
Friday: Date night
Saturday-Saturday: Fly to Boston and spend a whole week on Nantucket.

See? Plus, in this time we should close on the house, set a date to move in, and become real homeowners. Amazing.

Excess

I love living in California for a lot of reasons. The weather, the proximity to home, the local events. Mostly, though, I love the produce. Maybe a little too much.

Right now I have a ridiculous amount of fruits and veggies in my apartment. Wanna know why? First, one of my favorite things to do on Saturday mornings is head to the Santa Monica farmer's market. The produce is all locally grown, usually picked the day before, fresh, ripe, and tasty. Second, my patients brought in a bunch of ripe stuff that they grew at home. That's organic, right? Third, one of my favorite grocery stores from home, Sprouts, just opened a location in Culver City and I went to check it out today for the first time

Here's what I have right now.

3 Oranges
1 Apple
1 Watermelon
2 Cantaloupe
2 lbs cherries
4 kiwi
5 peaches
3 lbs apricots
10 lemons
3 limes
1 bag spinach
3 onions
2 green peppers
1 red pepper
5 tomatoes
6 bananas
4 cartons of blueberries
1 nectarine
4 zucchini
1 avocado

What in the world am I going to do with all of this?