A Song for My Daughter

This one brings tears to my eyes every time I play it (and I've been playing it practically nonstop). Eleanor remains unimpressed by it so far.

The Cookie Fairy

One of my goals on my life list was to take cookies to a nursing home, but when I tried that last year, I was told in no uncertain terms that they couldn't accept strange food from strange people because that was a health risk to their patients. I'll still try to meet that goal sometime, but it becomes a bigger goal because I'm going to have to make friends with someone at a nursing home in order to bring them cookies personally (that's still allowed).

In the meantime though, I wanted to do something nice that was related to this goal. A few of our neighbors are older (one just turned 92!), so I thought it would be fun to make a batch of cookies each week (or month, I'm not going to be a stickler about how often I do it) so that I could take a few to the neighbors.

This weekend I made some Oatmeal Carmelitas (though I used more chocolate chips and more nuts than this recipe), which are pretty much the best cookie bar ever invented. You should definitely make a batch tonight. SO GOOD.

I wrapped them up in individual largish servings and dropped them off with a handful of neighbors. It's pretty hard to walk quietly up a wooden staircase when you're six months pregnant, so I'm not sure this Cookie Fairy went completely undetected, but it was nice to think of their pleasure upon discovering their cookies as I munched on the remaining cookie bars.

My Favorite Vegetarian Dinner

This is my favorite black bean recipe. It is so good that I look forward to the leftovers all morning long the next day (and I am not a leftover eater). Start your rice before you begin the beans so you don't have to wait on it.

15 Minute Black Beans

1 medium onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 can diced tomatoes (use 1 1/2 c. fresh tomatoes, diced in summer)
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. garlic salt
1 can black beans, save liquid
2-3 T. cider vinegar
1/2 - 1 t. hot sauce, to taste

Sauté onions in pan with 1 T. olive oil. When translucent, add peppers. Sauté until tender, add tomatoes, thyme, garlic salt, and beans (save liquid). Cook 3-5 minutes. Add bean liquid, vinegar, and hot sauce. Cook 5 minutes or more until desired consistency. Spoon over rice and top with a squirt of fresh squeezed lime juice, green onions, fresh tomatoes, cheese, and jalapenos.

Hello, Baby!

Look who's coming to live at our house in a week or two!

After a grueling search for a club chair to replace the fraternity house love seat formerly in our living room, (which we sent home with my parents after Memorial Day weekend,) I finally settled on the Brooklyn Club Chair from Pottery Barn.

It's definitely an investment, but it is absolutely lovely and so, so comfy. (That leather is like buttah. I cannot even tell you how excited I am to curl up in there with a book!) I have been researching everywhere from Craigslist to local antique dealers, but finally settled on a new, old-looking chair instead of an old, new-looking chair because of its sturdiness and reasonable price (believe it or not, leather club chairs are hella expensive, no matter their age).

This chair has good bones, which is important in all furniture purchases because then you know they will never go out of style, and it will always be worth it to just recover them instead of having to buy a whole new chair again.

In her defense, the fraternity house love seat also had good bones (Is that just asking for someone to make a lewd joke?), which was why I recovered her, and why she stayed in our house almost 10 years after we graduated, but she had way too many cushions and Nathan couldn't deal with straightening them anymore.

My Favorite Summer Cocktail

This vintage English cocktail is the most delicious, refreshing summer drink that, to my surprise, includes gin! What really makes this perfect is the cucumber, so don't leave it out.

Pimm's Cup

3/4 c. gin
1/4 c. Pimm's no. 1
1 lemon, cut into half slices
1 orange, cut into half slices
1/2 cucumber, cut into half slices
1 c. strawberries, cut into small chunks
2 large sprigs of mint, muddled

Add just before serving:
2 cans of sparkling lemon soda (I used La Croix Lemon and added a few tablespoons of sugar)


Add all to a pitcher and stir well. Let steep for an hour, and then add the sparkling lemon soda. Serve with ladle so that you get all of the fruit bits in your glass too. If you have any Pimm's Cup left over, cover the pitcher with plastic wrap and reuse it later in the week. Time only makes it better. Just add a bit more gin and lemon soda before your next pour.

Oh Happy Day!

A couple of years ago, I bought a pair of red and white polka dot flats from Old Navy. I loved them. I wore them almost everyday. Now they're more of a pink color and separating from the sole, but I hated to get rid of them because I love them so much. I looked everywhere for them last summer, but no one had anything similar. But today I came across these!

Women's Polka-Dot Canvas Flats, $24.94, Old Navy

Almost the exact same shoe as before. Yay!

Lucky Find

I have so many things I have been wanting to share that it's hard to decide where to start! I suppose the crafty Lucky Jackson of 365 Lucky Days is on my mind because I can't imagine getting a sewing project a day done over the holidays. I have spent a few weekend days tackling some fun sewing projects to give as gifts this year so I'm certainly feeling the spirit of craftiness. But she is amazing for tackling such a huge goal and for making such amazing sampler vignettes every single day.

I eagerly check in everyday to see her latest post. So glad to have found her so early in her year of crafts so I have this to look forward to for the next 10 months...


365 Lucky Days discovered via Eat Drink Chic

Chevrons are the New Stripes

Chevrons, which is usually used as a highbrow word for zigzags (though they're not exactly the same thing), are everywhere! Thought I'd do a little Photoshop practicing with some of my favorite finds.


1. Oversized Chevron Clutch, $28, Pieces by Jen
2. Ziggy Chair, $279, Urban Outfitters
3. Organic Chevron Bedding, $24-109, West Elm
4. International Concepts dress, $79, Macy's.
5. Note Card Set, $7.50, Wit and Whistle

My Favorite: Biscotti

Biscotti used to be one of those baked goods that were so intimidating I never even contemplated making it, kind of like cannoli, petit fours, or macaroons. I'm not sure why I finally tried it, but it is surprisingly easy to make, very tasty, and much cheaper than anything you can buy in stores or coffee shops. (Also, dipped in chocolate, they make very impressive Christmas gifts for people.)

I regularly make this biscotti at our house because Nathan likes to have something small to eat in the mornings while he drinks his coffee. And there's nothing better suited to coffee dipping than biscotti. This recipe is very easy to tweak. Sometimes I add pecans and chopped dried apricots, sometimes lemon zest and pistachios, occasionally dried cranberries, walnuts, or almonds. For a very special treat, dip plain ones halfway in melted dark chocolate. (One bag of dark chocolate chips should cover a whole batch of biscotti with very little leftover.)

I am sure I originally found this recipe online, but it's been a few years, and now I can't find it again to give proper credit. I've tweaked it a bit too. This is the base recipe, but you can add any of the ingredients I mention above, just throw those extra ingredients in at the end before you form the dough into logs (except the zest, put that in around the same time as the eggs).


Almond Biscotti  
 (Don't forget: T=tablespoons, t=teaspoons)

3 1/4 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1/3 t. salt
1 1/2 c. sugar
10 T. melted unsalted butter (1 1/4 sticks)
3 large eggs
2 T. vanilla extract (make sure it's pure, not imitation)
1/2 t. almond extract (don't increase this amount or it will taste bitter)

Sift the flour, b. powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Beat sugar, butter, extracts, and eggs together in a large bowl. Add dry ingredients to large bowl gently, blending gradually. Optional: Mix in 1 c. almonds,other nuts, or dried fruit.

Form two logs, one per biscotti pan. Bake in 350º oven until golden, about 40 minutes. Cool logs. Cut diagonally with sharp knife. Return biscotti slices back to oven on cookie sheet for 12 minutes or until lightly toasted. Turn over and toast for 8 minutes on remaining side.

See? It's actually pretty easy; the most time consuming part is the baking time, but I've started these at 9 pm before and still headed to bed at 11, no sweat. You can see why I have two biscotti pans; it certainly cuts down on the baking time. You can bake one log at a time if you only have one pan. You can even bake the loaves on cookie sheets, but I've found that the dough spreads too much if it doesn't have the sides of the pan to stop it. Not really a problem exactly, it just means your individual biscotti slices will be very long and thin and everything will take less time to bake.

My Favorite: Kitchen Tools

 

 Totally odd post, I know, but I really really love my mango splitter, so you must be informed of this love, and while I'm at it some of my other useful lesser known kitchen tools. I decided to go with a baker's dozen just because I was having a hard time narrowing it down and a baker's dozen just seemed so apt for a kitchen post, right?

First, of course, the aforementioned mango splitter (lower lefthand corner). Fabulously useful. One of those one shot tools that is actually well worth owning if you make mango salsa as often as we do. It takes a wee bit of practice to be able to pick up a mango and choose correctly where to cut it, but after awhile you can identify the slight indention that tells you where the pit lies. This cutter leaves very little flesh on the pit and cuts the mango evenly into two large pieces. I recommend peeling the mango after cutting because it makes it less slippery. Also, you should know that this works slightly less well on the smaller variety of mangos you occasionally find in the produce section, so don't buy those.

Above the mango splitter is the ever-useful mortar and pestle, which was once an anniversary gift from Nathan. It's a nice marble one that has a lovely heft to it and has survived its share of knocks and tumbles. I firmly tout that there's nothing that adds better depth to a dish than freshly ground spices, and it's really satisfying to grind them to a powder with the little mortar (plus you get to feel a bit like a mad scientist).

For bigger spices like cinnamon and large amounts of peppercorns, I turn to my spice grinder (top left). Yeah, sure that may be sold as a coffee bean grinder, but it is fabulously useful in grinding my spices. I would certainly recommend buying a separate grinder for spices than the one you typically use for coffee beans because your coffee may end up tasting like cinnamon (yum) or tumeric (seriously yuck).

I really only use my biscotti pans to make biscotti, but you really can't make biscotti taste as good without them, so in my opinion it's another one of those one use tools that really are worth it to own. Still, I think these pans would be great to make some interesting shaped cakes or brownies if I ever have the urge.

The parchment paper you see in the pans is super useful to have on hand for practically anything in your kitchen. Not only does putting it in/on your cake pans and cookie sheets make clean up so much easier, but you can use it in making patterns for sewing and other crafts and as a disposable surface to save wiping up. Also, you can mimic the fancy bakeries by cutting this into squares and using in as muffin liners for baked goods. I haven't tried this, but I should. Actually, I'm pretty sure I just used up the last of my muffin liners, so in fact, I will be trying this.

Below the parchment paper is the difficult-to-find-in-stores garlic twist. It's kind of ridiculously expensive right now, but I cannot emphasize enough how useful it is to have. We use it for both garlic and fresh ginger; it takes seconds to mince three cloves of garlic and then even less time to clean. The cleaning part is what makes this hands-down better than a garlic press. I believe so firmly that this is worth having that I have given it as a gift in the past though every time it has been met with puzzled and dubious looks. Still, I persist.

If I had to use only one knife for the rest of my life, it would definitely be a  7-inch santoku knife (it practically already is the only one I ever use already). It's the perfect size to tackle anything in the kitchen without feeling like any second I'm going to chop off one of my fingers. Perhaps if I had better knife skills, this would change, but better knife skills don't seem a likely development so I will continue to turn to my favorite knife.

I use my kitchen shears for everything from cutting parchment paper to snipping herbs to trimming the fat off of meat. Sometimes even in preparing the same meal (though I end with the meat and always wash them very well after).

I actually grew up with this cake tester in our kitchen, so I asked for it when I had a kitchen of my own. It sort of reminds me of a oil dipstick, but I am reasonably sure that it's only use has ever been in the kitchen.  Using a metal cake tester, as opposed to a toothpick for example, makes it easier to see if your batter is set, and it's reusable so you're saving on waste. Sure this is another of those one use tools, but it doesn't take up any extra room.

A mini whisk is a surprisingly handy tool to have around. I find myself searching for it when I'm making small batches of batters, when I'm making mixed drinks, and when I just need to mix the salt and baking powder into the flour quickly before I add it to the wet ingredients.

We got the silicone muddler for a wedding gift, so we've really only had this a short while, but it is turning out to be a go-to kitchen tool. I use it for everything from squishing berries for toppings to actually muddling drink ingredients. The little waffle pattern on the bottom makes it very effective in squishing things.

I use my fine cheese grater for grating cheese, of course, but also for grating carrots for my tuna fish salad, and nutmeg (and less successfully, cinnamon sticks).

Finally, last but not least, I use my flour sack towels for everything in the kitchen. I tie them around my waist to use as an apron, use them as my surface for dusting raw fish or chicken with flour and spices, and even use them as actual towels occasionally.

There you have it, an immensely long post publicizing my love for kitchen tools. Like I said, odd, but hopefully helpful. Did I miss any tools or gadgets you can't live without?

*All pictures by me at night with the flash on, so forgive the poor quality. Perhaps I'll get around to replacing these with better ones, but it's about as likely as improving my knife skills. So. Well, don't bet a finger on it, I guess.

My Favorite: Picture

I adore this picture.

Nathan making introductions at Burns Night