Fourth of July at our house

By -
What do you do with a holiday in the middle of the work week? It seemed weird, and yet who is going to argue with any day off in the year, really? We went to the Tailored Tea for lunch because I am in love with it. I went in Hobby Lobby for the first time. I thought it was a cool store. It was huge. The merchandise seemed of good quality and reasonably priced. They have party decorations, cake decorating supplies, nice picture frames, and even some furniture items. I liked the selection a lot better than the Michael's across the street.

For dinner, Scott made a delicious salad. He cooked up some flank steak in a cast iron skillet, made a dressing with shallots, lemon, and Sierra Nevada mustard, and threw in some olives and giardiniera. It is one of my favorite summer dishes because it is light and refreshing, but still satisfying for dinner. Check it out.



Then, I did an art project. Last time, at the From Scratch Club food swap I literally got off the train from Michigan about an hour before. I hadn't wanted to miss out on the fun, but I knew I wouldn't have any time to make anything. As a way to solve the problem, I made trivets and mosaic frames with food themed quotes on them. They were crazy popular, and one girl even asked for my business card (which I didn't have). I made a few more today to take to the next food swap, and I think they turned out pretty cool!




Hopefully people will like them, but if not I wouldn't mind keeping them for myself. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

TWD, Baking with Julia: Pizza Rustica

By -
Image
I'm thrilled to be one of the people chosen to write out the recipe for this week with Tuesdays with Dorie using the book Baking with Julia . If you check out what other people are saying about this recipe , they've summed it up pretty well - it is a sweet crust with a savory filling with the salty bite of prosciutto. Could it use some vegetables? Possibly some nutmeg? All the other bloggers who said that may be right. I do think though that the ricotta filling (I did buy ricotta made with skim) mixed with eggs is probably lower in fat than a quiche filling made with heavy cream - so that is a bonus. Overall, we liked it and my husband even immediately got up for seconds. It is a nice hearty dish that seems ideal cut up in slices and served at room temperature for a dinner party. It would probably be good for a brunch dish with a nice green salad. The other bloggers are right to point out that the fillings can easily be changed up. One problem I had: I read in Thomas Keller
Read more

French food at Chez Nous, Schenectady

By -
Image
This past spring I went to Germany for the first time on a work trip. It felt good to see some world, the arts people we were working with were incredibly hospitable, and I left with a warm impression of the German people in general (despite pretty much constant reminders of certain grim parts of their history in the forms of monuments and memorials all around the city, which I wasn't sure how to deal with). I also don't know a lick of German, which was fine because the German people often know English, but the Turkish people only know German so at some Turkish restaurants and second hand shops I had to resort to awkward gestures, which was all in all makes one appreciate what it is to be a foreigner in any land - a foreigner in this country for instance. It's certainly not easy. Anyways, on the way back I unexpectedly got stuck in Paris for a night. It's hard to explain what a natural and easy connection I have with French culture/food/language. Part of it might be t
Read more

Wedding Food

By -
Image
Today we are picking out the food for our wedding next month. While I totally trust the venue , I don't have very high hopes. My lack of high hopes was creating by an essay by Julie Powell in this book . Powell states that: "Hundreds of guests + unreasonable expectations + catering - billions of dollars = rubber chicken. " She also goes on to say: "Very long names for things should have set off the first alarm bells. The long-name thing is something that works for fancy restaurants. But when caterers employ the trick, it's to try to convince you that they are fancy restaurants rather than what they are, which is caterers. Unlike chefs, caterers do not cook to order. Caterers cook great huge batches of things, then pack them into large tin containers and carry them in vans to church basements or the grounds of local art museums, where they reheat the food on chafing dishes. Many foods can be eaten very satisfactorily this way, but these foods usually
Read more