Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Lovely List

June 30, 2012 –

K and I went on a date this week. It was fantastic. We saw Moonrise Kingdom and loved it! I keep thinking about it. So dreamy.

How about you? Any dates? Good movies? I hope to have many many date nights in my future.

Speaking of romantic things, how do you like the above picture? I adore it. It’s from K’s most recent engagement shoot.

Here are some more fun links.

Alphabet cookie cutters.

An extremely sweet handmade wedding card.

Who knew ottomans could be so darn cute?

A set of nesting bowls. Everyone needs some.

Sometimes, I dream about being a farmer.

I made ricotta again this week. Have you made it at home yet? You should. It’s delicious.

Can a steak sandwich possibly be better than a burger? Hmmm . . .

I saw a woman at the airport last week attempting to get through security with a bucket of coke. I’m not kidding. There was a handle on that thing. Is this normal soda consumption? What do you think?

Fava beans without the work of peeling and shelling? Hooray!

Oh, and I nearly forgot. What do you think of the new look around here? It was really a team effort to spruce up the blog and I have to give MANY thanks to Rachel. She was the real workhorse on this project!

Have a great weekend!

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books breads Uncategorized whole grain

Home Again + Some Biscuits to Share

June 27, 2012 –

When I was a teenager, I could sit on my bed for hours with a stack of fashion magazines and a bottle of fizzy water. I didn’t do it everyday. I was far too busy on most days dividing my time between angst and working after school. But, on the days when time permitted, it was my quiet respite from the world. I think back to those afternoons and feel warm and wonderful with memory. It’s funny to think about, really. Those weren’t life-changing afternoons, but they were important. Those tiny moments stolen whenever possible are life’s greatest indulgences. But certainly things change. I can no longer imagine being confined to my bedroom for hours without being terribly stricken with illness. I also don’t have a single subscription to a fashion magazine although I might change that as soon as I finish this post. I still do enjoy copious amounts of fizzy water, sitting still, and reading. On those rare evenings when everything works out perfectly, I might find myself on the couch in the early evening with a cup of the good stuff and a stack of fresh cookbooks.

A good cookbook can reel me in just like a good novel. It’s just as addictive, I find. But it’s not the rough cut pages, gorgeous typeface, and mouthwatering photos, over which I fawn. Those elements are wonderfully seductive, but they are merely the icing on the cake. All too often, such things are distractions. You peel away the icing and find little substance beneath. Every now and then, however, I find a true gem on my hands. That’s what I found in Good to the Grain. This book is a lovely tome of baking written in a truly generous manner. Boyce shares much about her world and the tools of her trade. She does so matter-of-factly without flowery writing or fluff. And, although the book is bursting with imperfectly gorgeous food photography, it’s the recipes and helpful discussions that are the real deal here. This is a concise manual of baking written by a mother who, in the quest to feed her wee ones healthy foods, developed a groundbreaking collection of whole grain baking recipes. I was riveted and not the least bit disappointed.

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beef easy soup stew Uncategorized winter

Food for Snowy Days | Beef Stew

January 16, 2012 –

I am no expert in dealing with snowstorms. In fact, I typically do quite poorly when it comes to inclement weather situations. I lived in Chicago for one year and the weather really took its toll on my personal freedom. I wasn’t willing to dig out my car from its parking spot and I didn’t dare take a clear spot from a neighbor for fear of revenge. I was privy to all sorts of stories of tire slashings and neighbor brawls over snow-free parking spaces in the dead of winter. The work that goes into a clearing a space is notable and, thus, the spots are prized possessions.

I managed to get around without too much difficulty. I took the train. I trudged around in weather proof boots. However, I didn’t cook. The grocery store was an unreasonably long trek. I worried I might just freeze dead in my tracks with my sorry lot of vegetables and tortillas. It wasn’t worth it. I was lucky, however. Chicago is a city where you can order whatever you want whenever you want. Snow? Blizzards? No one, apart from a sad little Californian with a tiny beater pick-up truck, is inhibited by 10 inches of snowfall in a day. They deliver it all right to your door. It’s a beautiful thing.

Seattle is a far cry from Chicago. We have no idea what to do when it snows here. It’s mayhem. Bus drivers nervously pull over in the middle of their routes unable or unwilling to continue. Cars are abandoned everywhere you look. The city stops dead. Everyone is a delirious home-bound wreck. Hungry too. No one has the guts to drive to the grocery store and no restaurants will deliver you anything apart from a doughy pizza pie.

Around this house, we don’t take our chances any more. When the weather gods warn us a snowstorm is near, we hit the grocery store and stock up on essentials. I learned my lesson when, at 9 months pregnant, I was stuck in a car for 3 hours on the drive home from our studio. Imagine the horror! Imagine my bladder!

Never again.

This year, I wasn’t about to starve or get stranded. I am breastfeeding. I eat billions of calories daily to keep up with the demand. I hit the store the night before the storm and nabbed all I would need for a good hearty stew. I am so glad I did because I am sitting here at this computer while the world falls white and silent around me. I’m trapped in this house temporarily, but I don’t care one bit. There is a big pot of delicious beef stew in my refrigerator that is ready to be reheated and enjoyed. A snow day for Maeve is just another day to play about the house and enjoy her first tidbits of beef stew. It’s anything but a day of meager meals and spinning tires.

I hope you are all keeping warm this week. What do you do when the snow is headed your way?

Beef Stew

3 lbs. boneless beef chuck
2 Tbs. olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
6 Tbs. all-purpose flour
6 cups beef stock or broth
2 Tbs. tomato paste
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tsp. dried sage
1 bay leaf
1 cup cooked white beans (I prefer cannellini beans)
1 cup barley

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 325°F. Cut the beef into 1 1/2-inch cubes and set aside. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 Tbs. olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the beef cubes with salt and pepper. In batches to avoid crowding, add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch. Transfer the beef to a plate.

Using the same pot, add the onion, carrots, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens, about 5 minutes. Stir in the butter and let it melt. Sprinkle with the flour and stir well. Gradually stir in the stock, and then stir in the tomato paste, the 1 Tbs. rosemary and sage, and bay leaf. Then add the beans and barley. Return the beef to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover, place in the oven, and cook for 2 hours.

Serve warm with freshly baked bread or biscuits.

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easy mushrooms northwest pasta Uncategorized

Old Friends | Mushroom + Paprika Pasta

January 13, 2012 –

You know you are dear friends with someone when you can sit at her home for hours letting your lipstick fade and tendrils of your hair cascade down out of their cute pins and onto the nape of your neck. You sit and talk so long your clothes get wrinkled and the muscles in your legs get tight and creaky. You can drink wine and nibble on stinky cheeses for hours or even just sit across from each other flipping through cookbooks and magazine and reminiscing about old times. You might bring up the time you each told your parents you were staying at the other’s house because you thought it would be cool and fun to be out all night. Instead, you ended up at a depressing all-night restaurant with flourescent lighting, which wasn’t the least bit cool or fun. Or, what about the time you got stuck in a blizzard on the way to Lake Tahoe and wound up staying with a kind soul who picked you up in a beat up pick-up truck as you traveled through the snow in your cute Esprit sandals? You marvel you are still alive and hope with every last fiber of your being your own daughter will be far wiser and less adventurous.

Nevertheless, it is fun to sit and talk about those times and new things as well. This was how our weekend in San Francisco went. It was lovely and relaxing and the sun shone the entire time. The sparkly pavement of the Mission District and sea air captivated me in a way I haven’t experienced in a great many years. I felt, surprisingly, home again. It’s so strange to feel that way after so many years away from there. However, one must give in to the seduction and daydream about the possibilities of big life changes from time to time. Life is too short, right?

While most of our time away was spent in the throes of a family wedding, we managed to have one of those fabulous marathon meals on Sunday evening. It was the kind of meal that takes hours to prepare. It was the kind of meal you never forget. It was good company and boisterous discussion. And, in another lifetime before my wee one existed, it would have stirred some vague aspirations of fancier meals around here.

However, whatever fleeting thoughts I may have had of recreating the evening and the lucious food, reality is a completely different affair. We are home now to our lives with Maeve and, while we want to continue to eat well and engage in lively talks, we can only do so much. So, with limited gas in my tank, I took inspriration to make something new and hearty. I took inspiration to make a meal that didn’t require a great deal of effort, but I suspected the payoff would be great.

I was right. For once, I was correct that I didn’t need to slave all afternoon. For once, I read the recipe correctly on the first go and my sleep deprivation didn’t accidentally cause me to gloss over the line about roasting or soaking an ingredient for 24 hours in advance of cooking.

This mushroom and paprika pasta is a noteworthy addition to our regular rotation of meals around here. It’s easy. It’s delicious and it’s wintery in the best possible way. A rich bowl of pasta loaded with a deep earthy and creamy sauce can delight you after a cold day of skiing or long day of battling the utter dampness of deep winter. The paprika adds a tangy kick. The egg noodles are the perfect thing to soak up the creamy sauce on your fork. The mushrooms are so tender, but crisp enough to make you completely forget about meat. Even Maeve loved her helping of this dish.

It’s true we were spoiled while we were away, but we can spoil ourselves here as well. That might be a good resolution, I think.

Mushroom Pasta with Paprika and Sour Cream

1 and 1/2 tblsp. each salted butter and olive oil

1 bunch scallions, including some green parts, finely chopped

1 lb. white mushrooms, quartered

Salt and freshly milled pepper

1 teaspoon flour

1 tblsp. sweet Hungarian paprika

1/2 cup mushroom stock/ broth

1/2 cup sour cream

1 lb. egg noodles

Heat the butter and oil in a wide skillet over hight heat. Add the scallions and mushrooms and saute until the mushrooms begin to color, about 6 minutes. Lower the heat and season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the flour and paprika over the mushrooms, add the stock, and simmer, covered, for 3-4 minutes. Stir in the sour cream and gently heat through.

Add the pasta to a pot of salted bowling water. Cook until al dente. Drain. Pour sauce over top and serve in individual bowls.

Adapted from: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

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