Mother's Day Recap

It's been almost two weeks since Mother's Day, so hi & sorry this is so late!  Despite the delay on showing some pictures, I had a really wonderful first Mother's Day.  My family came up from NY & DC and we celebrated at our house with Jesse's family as well.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I had a great time.  As usual, Will tolerated a few photos:

Not much doing on the craft front except for these little cards which Jesse and I made for the mothers in Will's life (two grandmothers, one great-grandmother, and one godmother).  You'll need:  one baby foot, some paint, a card, and colored pencils.  It was messy, but there were surprisingly no tears and I think they ended up super sweet.

After a tasty dinner, we ate the flourless chocolate cake made by my mom & sister.  They have an AMAZING recipe which I will be sharing here soon.  In the meantime, I've been making it on my own... you know, for research purposes.

After the crowds left, Jesse snapped a few photos of Will and me.  You can't really see it, but in the background of this shot is our tiny fish pond that I have a love/hate relationship with.  If I ever work up the energy to clean it out, I'll take some pictures.  For now, our three year old goldfish lives out there in squalor.

With Father's Day quickly approaching, I need some ideas on what to do for Jesse to celebrate!

Grilled Wedge Salad

I've really out done myself this time.  I know, I know, I shouldn't toot my own horn, but TOOT TOOT. 

This is one of those salads that you make for company.  Or for yourself, because you love yourself.  And bacon. 

Speaking of the bacs, you want to buy thick cut bacon and slice it into chunks, or as I like to call them, bacon croutons. They will shrink as they cook, but really good wedges have really good pieces of bacon so don't screw this part up.  Please...and thank you.

Holy cow.  I was swatting Charlie away with our broom.

Now, I'm fully aware that wedge salads are usually served with a wedge of iceberg lettuce.  The only problem with that, is that this is a grilled wedge.  Iceberg is the flimsiest of lettuces and would never hold up on a grill.  Not only is romaine better suited for the grill, but it's also prettier.  I mean, it's ombre for goodness sake. Oh, and it's healthier.  Win, win, and...win.

Anyway, remove the rough looking leaves from the outside and trim the top, so all you're left with is super firm pieces of lettuce.  Next, slice down the middle lengthwise.

For any flavorful dish, you need to season every component...including the lettuce.  So, after slicing down the middle, brush with olive oil (or with bacon drippings, like me) and sprinkle a little sea or kosher salt and some fresh cracked pepper.

I handed this part off to Charlie.  On a super hot, clean grill, he laid the lettuce cut side down.  DO NOT CLOSE THE GRILL.  Otherwise you'll have limp loose losery lettuce.  All we want are the grill marks, the grill flavor, but still super crispy lettuce.

Boom.

....

To serve, cut each half of lettuce sideways.  I found these beautiful mini heirloom tomatoes, so I served the salads with those.  Top with a spoonful (or two or five) of homemade blue cheese dressing.

YUMMMMMMYYYYYY.

Stay hungry!

The Great Map Wall

I've posted here & here about the biggest decor project we've taken on at our house thus far... the living room's two story map wall.  The project started in 2006 with a map of Vieques we bought while vacationing on the island.  Seven years, many countries visited, & lots of maps later (plus some printed from the Library of Congress site & purchased from antique stores), we have a full map wall in our living room:

It's tough to photograph with the light coming in from skylights & reflecting off of the glass on the frames, but the photo above gives you an idea of the scale.

 We started out with a (very tall) ladder (note my cat on top) & a program called Google Sketch Up.

Google Sketch Up allowed us to map out exactly where each print would go (it looks messy & required a lot of measuring beforehand, but helped us plan a spot for each map):

Some of the maps are traditional, some are artsy (or Etsy), and some are perhaps not what you would think of when somebody says "map":

We have old maps and new maps, one from a wedding in Cooperstown (annotated with landmarks near and dear to the couple), a few postcards, Jesse's dad's old fishing maps, and maps in German, Thai, English, Czech, & Spanish.  We have a Super Mario NYC map.  We have a map of Little Compton, RI & a map of the seas of the moon.

When we hung everything up, we knew this was an installation that we'd keep up for a long, long time.  This wall is one of the first things you see when you walk into our house and it's made a huge difference with making the house feel like it's ours.

We still have two tiny frames to fill, as well as a key that will show what each map is of for easy reference (people often ask "What's that one?" when looking up at the wall).  It's tough keeping the maps straight and more or less impossible keeping them all dusted, but I'm still loving how it looks and will for a long time.  Let me know what you think & stay homey!

Dill and Chive Blue Cheese Dressing

There's this newish place in Chicago called Bavettes.  Charlie and I have been there a million times to eat their wedge salad.  In fact, we've crawled out of bed at 10:30pm on a Saturday to go get one because we couldn't stop thinking about it. The dressing makes it.  It's SUPER herbaceous, creamy and sinful.  To dies fors. 

I made a grilled wedge salad this weekend (salad to be posted on Wednesday) as an homage to one of my favorite dishes in the city.  The most important part to any salad is the dressing (duh) so we'll start with that. 

There are several fresh herbs you can use for this, but my favorites are chives and dill. Chop them up as fine as you want - I give them a rough chop because I think the herbs look super pretty.

If this looks like a lot...it's because it is.  I doubled the recipe because Charlie puts this on everything.  Really.

After you add your sour cream and mayo and other good stuff, you could stop here and have a delicious dip...

Or, you can add milk to thin it out and have an amazing dressing...



Either way, it's absolutely divine.  Here's the recipe (doubled):

2 Small Containers (4 oz each) of Blue Cheese Crumbles 
1 Pkg of Fresh Dill (3.75 oz), large stems removed, finely chopped
1 Pkg of Fresh Chives (3.75 oz), finely chopped 
2 Shallots, Minced 
1 Cup Sour Cream 
1 Cup Mayonnaise (Hellman's please) 
2-3 Tbs of Apple Cider Vinegar 
1/4 Cup of Milk 
1/2 Tsp of Garlic Powder 
1/2 Tsp of Kosher or Sea Salt 

Mix everything together in a bowl.  If it's too thick, add additional milk slowly.  Note: It will thicken as it cools in the fridge.  Also, taste for seasoning.  If it needs additional acid, add a little vinegar, 1 tbs at a time.

Stay tuned for the salad on Wednesday...it's ridiculous!

Stay hungry!

Sonoma: Lauren's 30th Birthday

My bff Lauren (aka L'Ron, L'ronimo, etc) celebrated her 30th birthday this year and we went to Sonoma to party it up.  Lauren, her husband Zan, my husband, and Colleen and her fiance Bill all went.  It was seriously a trip of a lifetime.  We laughed our butts off and drank so much wine we were all hungover for a week.  Here are some of my favorite pics from the trip...

Here is Lauren with her husband Zan at Benzinger Winery.. 

This is what happens when I ask Colleen to hold my camera while I use the restroom.  Clowns.

Here they are at Unti winery...

Here is Mr. Unti himself...

 Oh hello hubby...

This is when the wheels started to fly off the wagon...

Aww... lovebirds.

We pre-ordered a picnic for the ride.  I got the brie and prosciutto sandwich.  It was crazy good.  It was so good it hurt me. I cried a little.

Lauren and I... you know... just taking in the sights.

I loved it at Unti.  It was like being in Tuscany.  Just beautiful.  THE WINE and the wine.  The wine was so good.

The last winery we went to, Bella Vineyards, was frickin sweet.  The winery and the tasting was underground in a cave.

As we were waiting for the gate to open, I came across the most heavenly smell...BACON.  I tracked it down like the little pork hound that I am and found this lady.  Prepping for a big event.  It was SO DELICIOUS.  Thick cut with a hint of brown sugar.

Okay, back to the trip.  Here's Charlie in the entry of the cave.

...here we are inside the cave in the coolest tasting room ever.  It was amazing and such a cool experience.  We felt like royalty.

I absolutely can't wait to go back.  Next adventure...Napa???  Stay drinking hungry!

Cracked Pots in the Herb Garden... Again!

If this seems like déjà vu, it's because this is a redux of my herb garden post from last year.

Last April, using my dad's idea for repurposing old pots and some herbs I picked up at the local nursery, I planted a small herb garden in a garden bed outside of my kitchen - here's the original post.  It worked out so well (and I loved how it looked), so I found no reason to try to get creative with a different style of herb garden this year.  Here goes year two of using cracked terra cotta pots as herb garden markers...

First up this year was digging out the weeds that had taken over the garden late last summer and this spring...

A few herbs survived the cold New England winter - oregano, thyme, and sage.  My rosemary lasted through at least February, when I grabbed a bunch to make Jesse a pork roast, but I must have picked too much because the plant was dead when I went to weed.

Speaking of weeding, it was done over a couple of 45-minute sessions while Will snoozed in the shade.

Fred was there, too...

Once I had excavated the little plot, I turned the soil, added a bit of fertilizer, and planted the new herbs alongside the hardy ones from last year.

I've already picked leaves from many of these herbs for a herbed quinoa that I made this weekend (SO good... recipe to follow) and can't wait to cook with them all summer!  Here's to tasty basil, salsa, marinades and more!

Super Simple Grilled Asparagus

I hope you guys like grill recipes because that's basically all that we've been doing around these parts.  It's summery and beautiful in Chicago and I can't get enough of it.  

There isn't anything that quite compares to grilled asparagus.  It's tender, yet crunchy, smokey and super healthy.  Healthy and yummy?  BONUS.

Simple, yet so delicious.

Here's the recipe:

1 Bunch of Asparagus 
2 Tsp of Lemon Juice 
Lemon Zest 
Olive Oil 
Kosher or Sea Salt 

Squeeze fresh juice over asparagus and add lemon zest.  Drizzle olive oil over the asparagus and toss to coat.  Sprinkle sea or kosher salt over asparagus and grill for 5-7 minutes or until skin begins to blister and char.

Stay hungry!