So what have I been up to?

Well.

I've been doing a lot of this:

that is to say, reading (although I have been playing with my DSLR, I'm just not...how do you say...confident enough to start talking about that Just Yet). I'm reading a three-novel volume of Stephen King's earliest works. This is Jim's copy and, I think, was picked up at a thrift store, but you can find it here if it interests you--and it should. I'm reading Carrie now (just started, actually) but I found The Shining disturbing and intriguing--and much different from the movie in some very important ways. Salem's Lot was a wonderful example of how rhythmic King's writing is, it just carried me away. I loved it.

(The same table, a few days later.) I've also been working very, very hard on some projects at home. Keeps me out of trouble.

I have a new-found love of my iPhone camera and, more importantly, the incredible view of the sky that Jim and I are lucky enough to have from one of our many windows. I mean, look at that.

(An aside: I vow to teach myself at least enough Photoshop to be able to erase that telephone line from these fantastic pictures. And failing to do that, will bake enough chocolate chip cookies for the Comcast people that they will move it for me.)

I'm glad we had this talk.

Here are some more lovelies:

This pink and blue one kills me. It's like cotton candy on fire. Stunning.

I've been up to some fermenting. Jim's mom and dad bought me Canning for a New Generation for Christmas this year, and while I've been eying the jams, I haven't gotten around to testing any out. I did, however, jump headfirst into making kimchi!

More details later. (Spoiler alert: it was a success!)

In "apartment improvement" news, I've been sloooowly updating my frame collage wall:

(Apologies for the photo quality...will get a better one when conditions allow). I'm taking my time because, well...frame are expensive! Buying one is no biggie, but when you have a larger space to fill, it gets pricey. It's a work in progress, but every frame that I add makes me grin as I walk by.

I've also taken up my wings again and started working Saturdays in the bakery to help out during the busy season. The cake fairy has returned!

And she's tempted to wear costume wings to work.

And now, what we've all been waiting for:

Fall is coming! Although not as soon as this tree behind my apartment seems to think it is. It was 84 degrees when I took this photo, but smells like crunchy leaves. The anticipation for fall weather is killing me, but so is the absolute dread of winter commutes.

Let's not talk about it.

And finally, I've been hanging out an awful lot with this elegant lady:

Just kidding about the elegant part. She was off the couch and rolling around on the carpet within moments of this grainy photo being taken. But I love her!

I think, before, I got a little too caught up in the bigness of what starting a blog could mean, and not enough in the funness.* So my sincerest apologies for not being around. Change is in the air!

More soon. Much more.

*That's me, making up words since 1987.

I love lamp

If you recognize the movie quote in the title of this post, you and I are going to get along just fine.

Having lived in our apartment for more than a year now, I've come to the point where "getting settled" has been upgraded to the more adult "decorating," and let me tell you, I'm very excited! I'm getting to know my style, and getting to make my space more comfortable and unique in the process.

Thankfully, my style is very much compatible with Jim's, and I've been trustingly granted artistic license to follow my every whim in making this apartment a home (famous last words on his part I'm sure). But let's be real here. I'm operating on a strict just-starting-out-with-massive-student-loan-debt budget. It's cringe-worthy, but in an effort to see the silver lining (glass half-full and all that rosy stuff), I'm seeing this as an opportunity to be creative.

So I started with a lamp. In a design sense, I've never really liked lamps. Don't get me wrong, I like being able to see what I'm doing. Curling up in an oversize armchair with a lamp at the perfect angle for tucking into a good book is my idea of a good time. But decorating with lamps just seems so...technical to me. Lamps have cords and need to be plugged in to offer any function, which confines them to walls and corners.

But what I had was a lamp. Specifically, one of those dingy, heavy, curvy, brass structures sporting a burnt, dusty, beige lampshade that does nothing for the aesthetic of a room--and in my case, did not even work for lack of a light bulb. It was free, donated to our cause by Jim's generous sister Amy, and while I was initially less than thrilled with how it looked in our place, I saw potential! I've been learning, as I go, to see the bones of a piece of furniture and to appreciate what could be, instead of what currently is.

Here is the lamp, artfully displayed on my parents' driveway atop some leftover cardboard boxes:

  

Not much to look at, but the bones! They look good. So I got to spray painting (after taping up the electrical equipment), oil rubbed bronze as my color of choice, and was left with something much improved:

 

It's always hard to see oil rubbed bronze in photos for what truly does, but let me tell you, it looks deep, shimmery, and elegant. I was already thrilled at this point in the process, and I couldn't wait to get it home, slap a new lampshade on its head, and start admiring my handiwork. 

I have to say, the result is much more impressive than I could have imagined (if I do say so myself). The oil rubbed bronze paint makes the lamp look so classic, and so much more polished than the dingy brass. Thanks to Amy and some spray paint, this little corner of the apartment has gotten a serious upgrade!

If it weren't for those cords...

A delicious experiment

I've never been much for sweets. You can say I take after my dad (whose constant and often mimicked response when asked to share dessert is "no, thank you"), or you can say I just have a salty tooth (if "you" are me, that is), but either way, I'm generally very happy to pass on the desserts. It seems strange, given the number of years I have worked in the pastry arts. Maybe I just exhausted what little sweet tooth I had, or maybe it was never there at all. 

Whatever the case, it makes baking for dinner parties something I truly look forward to. That stack of recipes I've cut out of magazines or bookmarked in my browser? Those get put to use when I'm planning on dining "chez amis." I get to make something I would normally have only a little taste of, and share share share!

I was browsing on FoodGawker a few weeks after my anniversary visit to Mezon (a delicious tapas restaurant just over the border into Connecticut), when I discovered something wonderful: a recipe for chocoflan.

From the picture, I knew it was just like the devilish dessert Jim and I had enjoyed on our anniversary, and I had to try it.

The magic here is that the layers of cake and flan reverse during the baking process. I'm sure there is a simple scientific explanation.

Yet magic it remains.

I used my very first (fancy red) bundt pan and a shallow roasting pan.

Added some cajeta and then the chocolate cake batter.

Then poured over the flan mixture.

The chocoflan bakes in a water bath, which is where the magic happens.

(Do I sound like an episode of MTV Cribs? Mah bad.)

The layers have reversed when the cake has baked

leaving you with a very impressive looking dessert!

This masterpiece is dense and moist, as if the creamy texture of the flan laced itself through the chocolate cake on its way to the bottom of the pan. It's good.

So good, in fact, that I've emailed (by insistent request) the recipe around to friends who weren't even present that night. It's a winner. Click for the recipe and try it yourself.

And share share share!

Love the Place You Live

Design Mom has recently started (or continued?) a series called "Love the Place You Live" and I am loving it. It's all about appreciating what your town or city (or those around you) offers, and seeking out the cozy, cool, or exciting places just down the road. Because there are so many!

(I promise.)

The Friday after our anniversary, Jim and I went to Mezon in Danbury, CT. We missed the delicious tapas we had discovered in Miami! Here are the highlights:

Tangerine and chamomile sangria. Delicious and very interesting with a spring of tarragon as garnish!

The butcher's block. I have to be honest, it looks simple but it.was.divine. Serrano ham, chorizo, manchego cheese (a favorite!), grapes, and guava cubes. It was my first time trying guava...it was unexpected, but I loved it! A little chewy, a little sticky, and sneakily sweet.

Latino wings. Who knew you could stuff a chicken wing with roasted red pepper and manchego? That's a talent I need to acquire. Crispy, flavorful, fun.

Carpaccio. First time trying, and I'm hooked. Beef has always had a strange texture for me, but this was cold, refreshing, and crunchy with the incredible watercress.

The cubano sandwiches. Not my favorite. Maybe I'm just partial because what we had in Miami was so authentic and so you-can't-get-this-at-home, but I wouldn't order these again. Made me miss Miami!

This was a flatbread with roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, chorizo, and manchego. It was a wonderful combination of crunchy and melt-in-your-mouth. Fun!

And finally, dessert. Chocolate cake topped with a layer of flan. Devilish. I am not much for desserts, but this had my eyes rolling in the back of my head. The dulce de leche drizzle...killer!

We will be going back to Mezon, of that I am sure. It was a great spot for a date...dark, lit with candlelight, and loud with the conversations and laughter of other people having a good time. Plus, sharing your food can be romantic, and that's what tapas is all about!

A pitcher of sangria doesn't hurt either...just sayin'.

the first day of everything

Yesterday was not only the first day of spring, but also the anniversary of two years with my guy.

Talk about a day to celebrate, right?

Two years ago he and I were out with friends when our adventure together began. Last year we spent the evening fiesta-ing at the place we first met. And this year? This year we made this:

And it was delicious. Pasta with Caramelized Cabbage, Anchovies, and Bread Crumbs. I found this little gem one morning while I was paging through the New York Times in the office kitchen, and it was so so so good that I'm confident it will become a staple. Who knew cabbage was so versatile?

For the time being, I am surrounded by fresh flowers in my apartment. I am simultaneously admiring them and calculating how much it would cost to be this surrounded everyday.

(Not in the budget. Bummer!)

 

  

This Friday, as part two of our anniversary celebration (two years deserves two celebrations right?? I can see this logic getting out of hand), we are heading to a relatively new-to-the-area (and completely new to us!) tapas restaurant. Our date night in Miami was at an incredible tapas place called Tapas y Tintos...the food and ambiance were just magical. Fingers crossed that we will be discovering an equally magical and delicious tapas restaurant much much closer!

absence makes the heart grow fonder

Remember when I said I would be back later in the week to post a recipe?

Oops.

Forgive me?

To make amends, I will catch you up on my life of recent weeks. And then I will try, with little baby steps, to make this blog less of a desert and more of a lush rainforest.

I ventured to Miami in the middle of February to spend some sunny time with some great friends, and to celebrate a wedding.

 

 I cooked some things, and tried to take pictures of them.

I kept running, and kept enjoying it, and then bam! my shins started to hurt, and now I look like this most evenings:
 

So now, I work, and I stretch and try to heal my troublesome shins (while filling my late afternoons with other feisty things like yoga and Jillian Michaels), and I read (currently The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest), and I cook. For my love, for my family, and for my friends.

The weather is getting warmer, and I can feel the world starting to come out of hibernation (myself included). More fun to come.

normal human interaction

I promise that this little blog of mine isn't just about books. I really do! I have plenty of good food to be shared from recent days. I'll bring a little of that later in the week!

Truth is, I've been getting over being sick, and there's nothing better than reading a book in bed to get you well again. Except watching a movie in bed with popcorn and your love. Or sleep.

That is to say, I started reading Medium Raw:  A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain while I was sick, and I've just finished it this past weekend.

I like that this book was more of a modern social commentary than Kitchen Confidential. While the first was about a restaurant kitchen and his experience, the second had a much more worldly feel to it...which makes a lot of sense, given that Tony has done an awful lot of traveling in the interim.

I know, don't you just hate him? Slash want to steal his job right out from under him? Just me?

Shhh.

The book felt a little disorganized to me, but I just followed it where it led me. I now have a long list of references that he made that were familiar to me, but leave a lot of understanding to be desired, so I'll be doing a little "suggested reading" on my own in the coming months.

And. And, and!

Can I just say, that after reading his description of pho, I needed a bowl. How much are plane tickets to Hanoi?

As a matter of fact, that whole "Lust" chapter, with its brief anecdotes of a situation, an environment, and a dish, make me insanely jealous. I know Tony feels--slightly--ashamed sharing this food porn, but damn if it doesn't want to make me travel. Isn't that his point?

The passage I marked, and felt most like sharing, is about hipness and beer:

"Order a Heineken in Portland or San Francisco--or just about anywhere, these days--and be prepared to be sneered at by some locavore beer-nerd, all too happy to tell you about some hoppy, malty, microbrewed concoction, redolent of strawberries and patchouli, that they're making in a cellar nearby. Unless, of course, you opt for post-ironic retro--in which case, that "silo" of PBR will come with a cover charge and an asphyxiating miasma of hipness."

Hipsters love their microbrews. Hell, I love microbrews. But I love PBR and Heineken too. I drink microbrews with the rest of them, because I like to try new things and new tastes. I drink PBR because it's cheap and it tastes good to me (to each her own). I appreciate that he called the hipsters out on their holier-than-thou attitude, because I think it's a little silly to sneer at someone's beer choice. Just clink your glasses and take a gulp, we're all here for the same thing. I'll reserve my right to try a new microbrew...and then switch to PBR, to keep the bar bill down.

Just sayin'.

One of the big questions, and something that he brings up on his show fairly often, is this: is he helping to kill the things he loves? By exposing the uniqueness, the you-gotta-see-this-for-yourself of other countries, is he ensuring that there will be an influx of tourists that will forever change it? By enjoying the unique qualities of certain meats, veggies, beers, liquors, etc., is Anthony Bourdain encouraging the boutique-ness of what has happened to staples like the hamburger and the cupcake?

I don't know. Maybe.

For me, being shown these parts of the world and their flavors makes me want to learn to cook more things. If anything, I think it's a positive sentiment to take away from the book.

...Although I HAVE paid $50 for a hamburger before. But just once!