cod + prosciutto = love

4.30.2012


File this recipe under: so easy, so good.

Sometimes I get lost reading old blog posts and remembering different experiences. This past weekend I stumbled upon this posting from agreat dinner at Oro and developed a rather strong urge for the prosciutto wrapped cod. Can’t be too hard right?

Answer: no. not in the least.

On Saturday I had picked up 3 bunches of asparagus for a dollar at Haymarket. I also picked up 3 pounds of plum tomatoes for a dollar. While I am not quite sure what to do with all of the tomatoes yet, I knew what I wanted to do with the asparagus. Shave it. Weird right? But amazing. I had seen a few recipes for shaved asparagus salads and figured it would be a pretty decent base for the cod delight… and it was.

Double bonus? This whole meal came together in 15 minutes. I’m not even lying to you about that at all.

(Step 1) Take out your fish and season both sides with salt and pepper. Lay each cut of fish in the middle of 2-3 slices of prosciutto. Then wrap the prosciutto around the fish rather snugly. The more secure the prosciutto is the better it will stay together when you sear the fish in the skillet.

(Step 2) Heat a skillet with olive oil to medium-high heat. Place the cod pockets in the skillet for four minutes on each side …. Pretty much until the prosciutto is crisped up.

(Step 3) While your fish is cooking, you can prep the asparagus. Trim the asparagus ends accordingly and then using your vegetable peeler, just shave the asparagus. Essentially mimic the action of peeling carrots or a potato… not hard in the least. I kept the heads of the asparagus and added them to the shaved bits. It’s a little challenging to try and use the whole spear of asparagus… so don’t try. It’s not worth it at least at the price I paid J

(Step 4) Once your fish are out of the skillet, toss the asparagus into the pan with as much butter as you want. Sautee that business right up and add in maybe about a teaspoon of fresh lemon zest.

(Step 5) Oh, and you are done. Put the fish on the bed of asparagus and admire your good quick work. I added a little grated parmesan and pine nuts as well, but if you don’t have those around no biggie.

Seriously delicious. Seriously quick.


Shopping List (for 2 people)
2 fillets of cod (6 oz each)
6 slices of prosciutto (not too thinly sliced)
olive oil
kosher salt
pepper
2/3 of a bunch of asparagus (or so... this is really up to you)
1.5 T of butter
grated Parmesan
pine nuts

sunday amazing-ness

4.29.2012

It's days like today that make me wonder why people stay inside. I mean seriously. It was gorgeous.

Sometimes I try to remember what I used to do on nice days when I lived in the Back Bay. I think I went to Crate & Barrel. Don't get me wrong, I love window shopping at C&B just as much as the next person .... but today I took a nap in a park and it was pretty great.

All in all the day was a giant win.

 My Dad came to visit his favorite (and only) daughters today. So it was only natural that we take him on a tour of all our favorite places. Do you know how amazing it is to sit on a bench and watch barges hang out in the harbor? I do. Because we did that.
 
 
Every day needs a little history ....
 
Sitting in the North End Park with a pile of magazines, a new book, the Alabama Shakes album on my iPhone... and an iced green tea from Boston Common Coffee. Oh, and I took a nap. I woke up with my blanket all cozily wrapped around my feet courtesy of the wind. Rather perfect ... and now my cheeks are a little pink from the sun. It's okay. 
 
Taking my first Hubway ride to someplace other than the Aquarium ... and crossing lanes of traffic. This is was a big accomplishment. 

   
Meandering afternoon run through Chinatown. Sometimes it's really nice to try a new route and get a little lost. Happened to stumble upon the Gourmet Dumpling House ... which must be super popular given the crowd outside.
 
Boston, you are crazy handsome.
 
   
A poor picture of an incredible meal. Prosciutto wrapped cod on a bed of sauteed shaved asparagus. And wine. There must always be wine.  

I'm almost okay with the fact that tomorrow is Monday. Almost.

ricotta and chive gnocchi (and quitting)

4.28.2012

I'm not a quitter.

I finish bad books. I eat bad meals. I never leave a bag of Tostitos alone, especially the lime ones.

But gnocchi made me crazy. For three reasons.

Reason One. It was one of those moments where you get too hungry, the meal isn't ready, and your entire kitchen and half your body is covered in all purpose flour. Oh, and perhaps you ran out of flour at one point.

Reason Two. I will ... without fail ... always pick a bowl / cutting board / pot that is too small for the activity intended. 

Reason Three. I've cooked for 'one' during the majority of my experimental culinary adventures. I'm not afraid of leftovers. I relish in them. Bring it on freezer! Hi Wednesday lunch! But, apparently this recipe was for 4-6 people. Spoiler alert. That's a whole lot of potato flour ricotta business. I nearly died.

I had originally tried to make this recipe at least 3 other times this week - but each time I realized how long it was going to take, I got too hungry, or the meatballs in my freezer were too irresistible. But today, there was no more running. Gnocchi, meet Jen. Jen, meet piles of potato.

So gnocchi actually in theory isn't terribly difficult. I'm sure there is an art to 'perfecting' it ... and I'll get to that the next time I make it ... but attempting gnocchi isn't going to kill you. There are no complicated skills to master or tools required. It's really quite great. I found the recipe on my new favorite site Food52 and procured all the necessary ingredients without hassle. Come on, its like potatoes and flour. Easy peasey.

The challenging part is when you attempt to roll out gnocchi on your apartment friendly cutting board ... as opposed to real life size culinary life cutting board. And once you've managed to make the dough, then you need to kneed it (still easy), but then you divide it (getting a little more tricky), and then you start to roll it again (annoying at this point), and of course you need more flour (terribly messy everywhere) ... and just now you are ready to cut it (sense of relief).

But then.... you realize flour is everywhere. Your hands are worse than when you make gingerbread cookies and you have only cut up 25% of the dough. So you keep going and when you are done, you have to COOK IT.

Long story short. Here's what happened to my gnocchi for 4-6 people. 
  • After realizing 25% of the way in that I was making gnocchi for 6, I decided to push on. I was a survivor. I could make it. 
  • Sweet jesus. I need to boil water? Water takes forever to boil in this apartment. Its like the pots reject the concept of being heated
  • It takes about 35 minutes to boil a sizable tall pot of water. I spent this entire time rolling and cutting the remaining 75% of the dough. With 25% left, I nearly ran to my bottle of wine and took a "gatorade" break. It was worth it.
  • With all the gnocchi cut, I realized cooking all of this was dumb. So I elected to cook 75% and attempt to freeze the other 25%. I've never frozen gnocchi before but if Trader Joes can do it, so can I. Right? Maybe, we'll see soon.
  • With the water boiling, you dump in all the cut up gnocchi bits. After about 5 minutes they are done... but now you need to essentially sear them in a skillet. My skillet is the size a person requires when they make the occasional omelet.... not gnocchi for 4.
  • After 15 minutes of skilleting some gnocchi, my hunger was getting to the rage state. I looked at the two plates in front of me. One with freshly boiled gnocchi bits .... and one with delightfully seared gnocchi. Then I looked at the couch. Couch wins.
So yes, I made gnocchi for 6. Froze gnocchi for 2, ate gnocchi for 1.... and threw out gnocchi for 3.

You would have done the same ... that is unless you had three gnocchi loving guests in your apartment. Lucky for me, I was alone.

How do you make gnocchi successfully? Either get a friend or cut the recipe in half. You'll be a million times happier. Also, start drinking wine at the beginning. Don't wait. I'm not telling.


(Step 1) Boil water and add the russet potatoes. Boil for 45 minutes and remove the potatoes to cool.
(Step 2) Once your taters are cooled, peel the skin off (any way you like) and mash the potatoes. Ideally, this mixture looks like silk. In real life it probably won't but use your immersion blender / mixer to get close. Then, add the eggs and stir into the mixture. And then, add in the ricotta, parmesan, and chives.

(Step 3) At this point, the mixture should be very thick. You might even question what you are making here. It's fine. Remain calm and add flour. Add the flour until the mixture gets to be maliable like dough. It'll still be sticky but thats fine. 

(Step 4) Now, Take a handful or two of flour and scatter it on a smooth surface. Roll the dough in the flour until your hands don't look like they have suffered an acid burn (i.e. flour stuck everywhere and peeling off)

(Step 5) Now divide the dough as you please and roll like a snake until they are about as wide as a quarter. Using a knife or your fingers, break apart the snake into gnocchi bits (1/2 inch-ish). Set all the finished gnocchi on a large plate to the side.
(Step 6) After you either finish rolling the dough or quit, dump them into a pot of boiling salted water. Boil for 5 minutes and pull from the water with a slotted spoon or colander.


(Step 7) In a saute pan over medium high heat, add two tablespoons of oil and butter. Depending on how many you want to cook at a time ... pick a larger pan. Cook the gnocchi until they get a light, brown crust around them. Obvious point? You'll want to flip them to "crisp up" more than one side. 
(Step 8) When you are ready to eat, season the gnocchi with whatever you want really. I added a little brown butter, dried chives from my spice drawer, grated parmesan, and fleur de sal. 

This. Was. Delicious.

Shopping List
3 Russet Potatos
2 eggs
1 cup of Ricotta
1/2 c grated Parm
1/3 c finely cut chives
2 cups flour (to start ... you need a bazillion more for rolling / cutting)
4 T Butter / Olive Oil

definitions

4.27.2012

junior year of college

You know that point in the social interview process where someone asks you to "describe yourself"? 

In the last few months I've been through this exercise a few times, specifically this time. Then there was this other time that I was on a flight back from Phoenix and made this phenomenal list of things that also made me happy.

I have a LinkedIn profile, a Facebook, a Twitter .... and this blog that I guess are all used to express (I don't like that word here really...) who I think I am, want to me, try to be, etc. And given the amount of time I spend in stretchy pants and the discussions I'm willing to have in public it is quite clear that I don't really care what people think of me, provided they don't describe me as gross. I'd take offense at that.

But, yesterday I was cc'd on an email of a friend describing me to a new acquaintance that I should know. (Read this as, meet my fellow old girlfriend who is also interested in a roommate for this wedding.) Now, get ready for some narcissism and self-promotion. 
Jen is my first friend and best friend at/from Boston College. She loves to run, cook/bake, drink wine, wear fleece and sweatpants, and visit the New England Aquarium. She sailed on the varsity sailing team at BC. She went to BC business school and now she works for <redacted> and lives in the North End. The first summer I lived away from home, I worked in New York City, and she baked a batch of cookies and mailed them to me in a pretty box. That's the kind of girl she is. 
For the record, on my personal "business" cards, I describe myself as "bacon addict. interweb fan. coffee lover."

Carrie doesn't need a roommate for the wedding since... duh she's the BRIDE. But if she did, I would tell people this:
Carrie is my first friend that I met in college. For the record, she tricked me into joining the sailing team  our freshman year and backed out. I think another friend promised her a Snickers bar to say yes initially and I'd like to note that the during the first sailing practice it was snowing sideways. I'll never forget a lot of memories that we have created over the last 11 years; however, I'd like to call attention to the following:
  • ... gently pulling me to our philosophy class all of sophomore year despite the fact that the grad student was totally stoned, didn't have a TV and Golden Girls was shown at the same time
  • ... pulling our first all nighter writing terrible sociology papers our freshman year. I think we took shots of Mylanta? This is true. I was clearly wild.
  • ... when she told me at a Dunkin Donuts on Rt 9 that she was transferring to Harvard. I cannot drive past this DD without remembering sitting at that little table for two and assuring each other we'd manage the "distance" between Cambridge and Brighton. I think we did just fine.
  • ... never making me watch the ending of "A Walk to Remember" because she knows I like to be happy and hate watching sad movies
Carrie and I have had some really great times together that range from attending a Britney Spears concert to eating her mom's lemon cake on Nantucket. One time we went out to get a Nintendo Duckhunt gun and came back hours later having spontaneously visited all the historical sites on the highway between GameStop and BC. I will also never forget that when she found out I had been through an inevitable yet bad break up, she hoped in her car and brought me a care package that included all the things she felt I needed. That's the kind of girl she is.
Man, we are getting old. I'm totally okay with it.

worth waiting for

4.26.2012

 Check out these babes.

On Monday’s rainy morning, I adored them in their pre-bloom glory. I loved them then.

And each day this week, they’ve gotten more and more yellow. Maybe that’s my imagination. I do have a pretty baller imagination. It’s why I start to laugh / cringe / gasp the instant someone starts to tell a story or joke. It’s probably the result of long car rides as a kid when we made my mom make up stories about the family cats smoking cigarettes behind the local CVS.

Anyway, yesterday I moved the tulips from my kitchen to my bedroom. I wanted to gawk at them as I got ready for dinner. So this morning, I woke up to a blue sky day and glorious yellow tulips on my bedside table. Pretty great if you ask me. I took a quick run to see the seals and then spent the rest of the pre-work morning drinking coffee on my bed, watching Italians in the street, and perusing the news on my iPad.

This weekend, I’m going to a floral “class” or something at West Elm. Double crossies for some peonies or other beautifully layered flowers. 

P.S. You can't see it.... but I was drinking out of a Snood coffee mug. HELLO COLLEGE FLASHBACK!

patience and tulips

4.23.2012


I bought myself tulips yesterday at Whole Foods.

I was standing in front of their poor excuse for a “floral department” and sizing up my options. What I really wanted were peonies because they remind me of girls dinners during business school. 

Let me set the scene. My friend Meghan would invite me over to her apartment and present some phenomenal meal that she just felt inspired to make. There would be wine, perhaps some light fluffy popovers, drool worthy meat / chicken / etc …. and excellent company. Oh, and there would be an adorable dog named Dixie that would only want to eat brie. 

In the end, I selected some yellow tulips that had not bloomed yet. My thought process was that by the time they bloomed it’d be Wednesday, which would mean it was that much closer to the weekend again. 

It’s my way of teaching myself to be patient.

(simple) amazing day.

4.21.2012

baby sister lounging on our picnic blanket in the North End Park

I had an amazing day.

The facts:
- Visited the seals
- Coffee with some new company and a lovely walk
- Saying hi at my favorite North End establishments
- Eating my first BLT in 8 weeks... on my roof... in the sun...
- Chatting
- Ice Coffee

... and I checked a lot of items off my weekend to-do list.

I simply love days like this. No big activity, no specific plans. Just a win all around.

That is all.

long short week

4.19.2012


taken on Anna Maria Island in FLA one glorious morning this week

I don't have much to say today.

I'm pretty pooped. I rode "my" Hubway bike three times. I also went to the Aquarium twice.

It's actually been quite busy. I knocked out several errands before 8:30 AM including getting my blood checked and going to the Post Office. I did manage to forget to bring my Drivers License with me during the course of the entire day. Oddly enough the Post Office is satisfied with my work ID as a form of identification ... but I can visit a doctor and get blood taken by simply reciting my birthdate. 

I'm thankful it's Thursday. It's been a long short week. I was on vacation for 40% of it but I'm still craving making a giant pot of coffee and pretending to organize my office.

I'm planning on spending the entire work day tomorrow building a killer "at home" playlist. And by killer, I mean I'll probably just ask my sister for help, maybe. What do I plan on doing with the playlist? I'm going to have a cozy home night and organize my life a bit tomorrow. It's that time when everything seems to require a touch-up... and by touch-up I mean I need to remove the piles of clothes and fleeces that I've piled into my cozy chairs. 66% of chairs are currently affected with this "pile" issue.

Goals for this weekend?
- De-clutter my chairs
- Eat pistachios while I do my laundry like a cool kid
- Visit the seals
- Deep condition my hair (and drink some wine)
- Make / Cook something edible for my landlord
- Think about maple syrup
- Investigate when I'm quitting cable
- Buy myself some flowers

Seems like a reasonable list no? I feel like it's going to be a great weekend.

vacation buzz

4.17.2012

gif maker

I have this really weird habit about wanting to wear my bathing suit to the airport.

It just feels like it makes the vacation last longer. But, then it leads to me trying to change in the airport ... and that's just borderline terrible. Although I'm great at it after all my time traveling to Philadelphia. Not to brag or anything.

The All Girls Vacation in FLA was pretty great. My aim is to edit pictures on the plane home so they don't linger for weeks and weeks.... but we'll see. After a day in the sun my body wants to curl up, hug my ipad, and fall asleep.

If I was to summarize the trip in 10 phrases / words / experiences they would be:
morning beach walks.
sunset.
drinks by the pool.
card games on the deck.
the jasmine arbor ... that smelled amazing.
watching two turtles consummate their love.
loads of lizards.
family time.
hair braids.
simple fun.

Spoiler alert.... the summary of this trip (if there is one that is. sometimes I get lazy. we know this.) will be picture heavy and text light. But that's what happens when you don't wear shoes for 4 days and alternate between bathing suits.

No complaints here.

sneaky surprise

4.14.2012



I realized a few weeks ago that it has been probably months and quite potentially a year since I watched MTV.

For someone who used to love a solid marathon of faux-reality stars challenging each other in dance duels or poking each other with sticks as they try to balance while terribly hungover….. this is a long time.

I am quite sure that I can thank my time with Big Blue for removing MTV from my life. For some reason the majority of the hotels I stayed in over that span of 14 months found MTV / VH1 to be too expensive, trashy, culturally insensitive, or perhaps all of the above.

Well, I just watched 1.3 episodes of “The Jersey Shore” and I feel like I’ve mentally regressed a few years. I regret breaking my streak. See, as I write this I’m on a Jet Blue flight from Boston to Tampa to surprise my mom and Aunt on their “Girls Only Vacation”. Long story short, my mom asked me to go on this vacation and I couldn’t, then I could, then I figured it’d be easier to lie about it all and just make it a surprise. I actually thought it’d be my way of teaching my mom that I have real work responsibilities and need more advance planning for surprise vacations. As I was telling this proudly to a friend, she piped in “wait, you really think you can teach your mom a lesson?”. I stand corrected. I’m teaching nobody anything except how to surprise relatives with your presence in Florida.

The best part about this surprise might be the cover-up. My dad called me no less than 3 times this week to tell me how he wanted me to video tape the reaction. I also had to “unfriend” my mom and my aunt on Foursquare so they wouldn’t see that I had checked into Logan Airport before sunrise. Yesterday I inadvertently checked-in to the Spray Tan place and then had to quickly check into 4 other places so I could cover my digital tracks.

You might be wondering why I didn’t just not check-in, but I couldn’t do that. I strongly believe that one day I’m going to be accused of a crime and I’ll be able to use my Foursquare history as an alibi.

So, long story short. I’m in Tampa. I am planning on drinking a lot of ice coffee, falling asleep in the sun, and annoying my mom by practicing yoga on the beach cottage’s deck in the mornings.

light off, light on.

4.09.2012


For about 4+ months, I lived in darkness. Closet darkness. I thought the light was broken or the bulbs were dead or a gnome lived in it .... whatever... the light in my closet "didn't work". 

Then I fixed it. With the magical power of light bulbs. See, the issue was that there were not any in the light. (Dummy).

Well, today. I came home from work and yoga... and my kitchen was dark. I lost a light bulb. This is all well and good since I obviously can fix this myself.... but due to the slant of my floors and the height of my ladder, I still can't quite reach it. In the near future, this will lead to me standing precariously on my counter top and hoping that I don't fall over.

It'll all work itself out.

Anyway, I was watching the news this morning (instead of running) and saw the interview of Bubba Watson post winning the Masters. At some point in one of his million interviews he said, "I never had a dream go this far, so I can't really say it's a dream come true".

Interesting right?

I'm not quite sure how to interpret this but today (maybe I'll think differently tomorrow) but I think it means he's living beyond his dreams. Which is amazing right? You work hard, dream and aspire and then one day you open your eyes and find yourself wildly beyond your expectations. 

As much as dreams are big aspirational thoughts, they are in essence based on expectations. I've written a few times about my expectations (here and here) and I still want / aspire / hope / dream / live for all of those things .... but let's be honest. Life works in mysterious ways and brings us detours, roadblocks, and shortcuts. Aspirations and dreams change after we react to those lovely detours and shortcuts ... and fundamentally, these days.... I'm so thankful for all those detours because it's brought me to all the great things that I have going on.

I'll admit it. Sometimes it's hard to be thankful.

But, that's why hindsight is 20/20 right?

Happy Monday.

weekend update

This is my weekend in six pictures. Ready set go.

The sun through the Cherry Blossom trees in Christopher Columbus Park. I went home on Friday night and thanks to daylight savings and the whole planets rotating.... it was still gloriously light outside. Perfect for a quick stop to see the seals, enjoying the park for a minute, and grabbing Auntie Annie's pretzels before getting on the train. BTW, when did these pretzels get so pricey? 

Light in my life. Candles, fire, and couch time. Boston College was playing for the national championship on Saturday night and so it seemed natural that we have an indoor tailgate. My special hotdogs, some burgers, potato salad.... and eating off throw away plates. Baby sister made a delish strawberry shortcake like dessert that really hit the spot. The evening was great, but it was made even better by capturing the big W. (Remember the last time BC won?)

Lots of relaxing lazy time. Just like Rabbit the Cat soaking in the afternoon sun.

I enjoy running by myself but that is really due to the fact that I'm very self-conscious when I run. On Sunday when I announced I was going for a run. My little brother said he was coming and there was no changing his mind. Well, he did a great job and put in a solid 4 miles (!) on his first ever run. Oh to be a teenager again. Just kidding, those days were miserable. I'm happy being 28.

Thanks to the efforts of the ladies that live in our yard (chickens....), we never have to buy eggs as a family except for Easter. Hopefully they appreciate our efforts. My favorite egg is the Irish one... I need to work on my wax skills for next year.

Sunset on the water in Boston. Baby Sister and I took our first Hubway ride yesterday and managed to capture sunset, see the seals, and try out the bike lanes. All in all a raging success. Can't wait to do this more often on warm summer nights. 

blooming delight

4.04.2012


Oh man. I love myself a blue sky day and blooming trees. I mean who doesn't right? 

Crazy people.

I was on my way to yoga class tonight and walked down Prince Street as opposed to Parmeter Street... which took me past these glorious Magnolia trees by accident. Amazing accident. Look at those amazing big branches. Perfect for climbing on right?

Now a days my parents live in a house by the beach. It's great. But, when we were growing up we lived in a house that was not near the beach but had a killer backyard .... and an amazing magnolia tree. I'm not sure how long these suckers bloom for but it isn't for a super long time. And when the blooms are gone, its just like a pile of brown weird petals on the ground. Anyway, back to the good stuff. Those branches. 

I loved to climb them. But of course not very high because ... well that'd be dangerous. I prefer to be a safe distance from the mulch or freshly fallen snow. Thankfully, I can show you evidence of this because last Fall I scanned about 1200 family pictures while watching endless amounts of How I Met Your Mother and Friends. 

check out our sweet early 90s brightly colored snowsuits. Holla.

I challenge you to find a more adorable blonde in Oshkosh jean "shortalls". If only I could still pull that look off.

You can see that I clearly had a favorite branch.... and a maximum climb height. And since 3 pictures of magnolia trees isn't enough.... here is just one more that I took today:

soul food sunday

4.03.2012


I’m trying to be better about posting my recipes more timely. Especially since I still haven’t written about the miso carrot soup or the sweet potato sausage soup ….. or the cinnamon book bread from last JULY. 

Yep, July. 

But since I’m still eating the leftovers from this risotto that means it is pretty recent right? 

Since I’ve made risotto before (remember this mushroom asparagus artichoke one?), I did not really photograph the event all that much. But that was really because I was majorly cray cray hungry and trying not to eat Twizzlers from my candy jar. Regardless, this risotto is amazing. Its like the perfect combo of fancy and soul food. Buffalo chicken fingers are a weak spot for me (and all female members of my family) and so is mac and cheese … oddly enough this recipe was like a combo of that in a weird way. Creamy like mac and cheese but the satisfying flavors of buffalo chicken. 

So just go with it. It's the perfect Sunday dinner.

(Step 1) Bring broth to a boil in a pot. Keep the broth at a bare simmer. Don't get rid of all that hard boiling work you just did.

(Step 2)  Cook shallots and garlic in olive oil via saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Then pop the rice in the pan and cook, stirring, 1 minute. 

(Step 3) Add in the white wine and stir until its just about dissolved. Now, pour yourself a glass of white wine because you have to stand by the stove pretty much for the next 20 or so minutes. You’ll want a drink.

(Step 4) This is when you start to do some serious work / stirring / nothing else in your kitchen. Ladle in 1 cup simmering broth and cook at a strong simmer, stirring, until absorbed, about 2 minutes. Continue simmering and adding broth, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and letting each addition be absorbed before adding next, until rice is just tender and looks creamy, 18 to 20 minutes. Since I never measure anything.... I just kept going with the broth until I liked the consistency. You may end up having to add a little water to the chicken broth from earlier to get extra. No biggie. Also, you will want to save a bit of leftover broth for thinning in a bit.

(Step 5) Almost eating time I promise. Remove from the pan from the heat and stir in the blue cheese and torn kale. I popped the lid on the skillet for a few minute to try and get the kale to wilt a little faster. I’m not sure it worked, but I’m also not sure it didn’t. So, just do it.

(Step 6) Now you can eat! If desired, thin risotto with some of remaining broth. Scoop some of this business in a bowl and toast to your hard work. You won't regret it.  

Adapted from this recipe on We Are Not Martha

Shopping List Olive oil
3 shallots
4 cloves of garlic
1 .5 cups of Arborio rice
¾ cup of white wine
6 cups of chicken broth
6 oz-ish blue cheese
5-6 leaves of torn kale (essentially half of a bunch)

anatomy of my weekend

4.02.2012


The weather today is bipolar. One minute its sunny, the next minute it is raining. On my walk back from the post office during lunch, it did both. I love a good rain shower with the best of them…. Because it tends to lead to some fabulous rainbows. Aren’t those just the best?

Answer is yes dummy. The upside of the rain was that I used it as an excuse to stop into Lulu’s Sweet Shoppe on Salem Street and buy myself something sweet. I have an undeniable weakness for chocolate covered pretzels. Especially ones that are made in candy stores.

When I woke up this morning, I thought it was Sunday. Maybe it’s just because I was wishing for another day to do just whatever I wanted and treat myself real nice. This weekend was a little bit of that sprinkled with couch snuggles, some downward dogs, and countless cups of coffee. Amazing right?

Some bullet point highlights?
  • Nice and sweaty Friday night yoga… followed by Kraft mac and cheese with baby sister. And wine. She recently told me that her philosophy is that “its okay to drink alone as long as you are cleaning or packing”. Her apartment is often quite spotless. 
  • Saturday morning drizzly yoga. There is something really great about watching my yoga mat unfurl itself when I know most people are still tucked in bed. It’s like the best way to wake up on the weekend.
  • Kitchen adventures that you can eat… or use to exfoliate. Making homemade body scrub was a great decision and not to brag, but I smelled amazing. My friend LA Kristin always has the softest skin. Like fresh out of the womb soft. This body scrub gets me one step closer to that. 
  • Palm Sunday mass with loads of Italian women. No better occasion for your hairpiece and best fur that a holy day in the North End. 
  • Taking up all the pedicure chairs at the local salon. Nothing quite says “we come in force” than occupying 100% of the chairs. Holla.

Besides the body scrub, the other kitchen attempt was blue cheese kale risotto. It. Was. Amazing. So good that I had it again for lunch today… and might even have it for dinner. I can’t control myself around leftovers.
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