last week in review

I did have the best intentions this past week. I told myself I was going to be better, write more often. But here we are on a Monday night and I just now having the time to write thoughts and share pictures from last week. (I am totally writing this during commercials of The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother.)

Highlights from the week:

Monday, I made Pistachio-crusted Halibut. Result: FAIL. Complete ridiculous failure. I was hopeful about this recipe, very hopeful. And I am a pretty good cook, so this was very disappointing. I was so upset with the halibut, I didn’t even take a picture of it. Here is the recipe, incase you have better luck with it. 

Pistachio-Crusted Halibut with Spicy Yogurt
Four servings, from www.epicurious.com
For Halibut:
- 4 (1 1/4-inch-thick) pieces skinless halibut fillet (about 6 ounces each)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup shelled pistachios (preferably Turkish), finely chopped 
- 3 tbsp. cornmeal
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

For Spicy yogurt (I used Tzatzki that I had in the fridge):
- 1 cup thick Turkish or Greek yogurt (8 ounces)
- 1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced (3/4 cup) 
- 2 tbsp. chopped fresh dill
- 1 tbsp. finely chopped onion
- 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp. dried maras pepper
- 1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste 

Put fish in a shallow baking dish, pour milk over it, and chill, covered, turning over once, 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir together pistachios and cornmeal in a shallow bowl. Remove fish from milk, letting excess drip off. Transfer to a plate and sprinkle all over with salt and pepper, then dredge lightly in cornmeal-pistachio mixture. Transfer to a clean plate as coated. Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté fish, turning over once, until golden and just cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes total. While fish cooks, stir together all ingredients for spicy yogurt. Serve fish with spicy yogurt on the side.

Cooks’ note: If you can’t find Turkish or Greek yogurt, use regular plain whole-milk yogurt drained in a sieve or colander lined with a double thickness of paper towels, chilled, 1 hour.

After the dinner failure, I focused my efforts on my Thursday night dinner party. On the menu:

Gougeres

Home-made Rustic Bread

Salmon baked in parchment with spinach, potatoes, shallots and caper/parsley butter

And for dessert: a Flight of Ice Cream which included Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, Vietenamese Coffee, Roasted Pistachio, Strawberry-Raspberry, Honey Nougat Provencal, Chocolate Mint-Infused Chocolate Chunk. 

It was a wonderful dinner party celebrating a new engagement. You can read about the proposal here.

I didn’t have a chance to take pictures of the salmon because everyone consumed it too quickly. It was a very successful dinner party and Boyfriend and I are looking forward to traveling to Boston sometime next year!

Last Friday, Mom arrived in town! She is out on Whidbey Island this week taking a weaving class. I am hoping the good weather will continue for her. We spent most of the weekend working on a secret project for a certain pregnant friend. I will be able to share the surprise in a few months, right around the time the pregnant friend has the cupcake baby. 

After a long week and a busy weekend, Boyfriend and I have been enjoying an evening of TV, pizza, wine and ice cream!

Here’s to a great week!

last week: a new company, egg salad sandwiches and a haircut

A lot  has happened in the past week but I haven’t had the time to sit down and write about them. So here it is, all the things I would have posted in the past week if I had more hours in the day. 

- Formed a new company and started a new job.
I am working again! I officially started a day job this week as a Event Producer on a upcoming conference for Intel. For the next six months, this will be the majority of what fills my life. To start working, I formed a new company so I could officially become an independent contractor. Very very exciting and overwhelming all at the same time. I have a business license, filled the paperwork with the secretary of state and submitted my articles of formation for the LLC. I already developed the logo and an invoice template. All I need now is a business banking account and a paycheck. (minor detail of course!)

It should be known that for however much I complain about work for the next 6 months I am thrilled to be working again. My role has not be set in stone yet but we are getting close. Either way, I know I am lucky to working again. And, my own company!!! That has been the scariest part of the whole bit.  I spent more time over the logo and invoice template than putting the time to research how to really set all financial stuff up. Oye, well we learn as we go. Right?!

Oh, and for anyone interested, the name of my new company: Silver Spoon Creative, LLC.

- Used up my hard boiled eggs.
You may remember my hard boiled egg story from last week. Well, I made egg salad sandwiches this week. And they were YUMMY.

6 hard boiled eggs diced mixed with 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 1 1/2 teaspoons of dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste. Served on whole grain bread, it was a wonderful lunch. I am hoping Boyfriend remembered how Oma made hard boiled eggs because I might be craving another egg salad sandwich soon. 

- Haircut
I was able to get away on Friday for something I love and dread at the same time – a hair appointment. I only get my hair cut about twice a year (maybe three, if I didn’t plan my appointments correctly). I had a bad haircut experience a few years ago and it has made me a nervous nelly ever since. I will admit I found a wonderful man named Vernon who I adore and does a great job on my hair. He spends extra time massaging my head and does a great blow dry job at the end.  It was the most wonderful hour Friday afternoon. I don’t think anyone could really notice that I cut my hair but I did and I am very happy about it. 

- Snow!

It snowed last week. A nice thick dusting everywhere in our neighborhood. Today though: High 70 degree with no clouds. I don’t get Mother Nature! I just don’t get it!

- Ice Cream making bender
Not sure what has gotten into lately but I have been an ice cream making machine. Last week I made: Coffee Heath Bar Crunch (for my friend who is coming for dinner this week), Chocolate Ice Cream with Mint-infused chocolate chunks, Honey Nougat Provencal (with lavender, honey, orange, almonds and pistachios) and Vietnamese Coffee. Still on deck to make this week is Roasted Pistachio and Strawberry-Raspberry Ice Cream. Thank goodness we have a second freezer. 

- Its not a competition! (I continue to tell myself!)
My friend Bari was really the one who insisted I start a blog. She has been a roll lately with blog posts as she goes through the trials and tribulations of pregnancy. You can read them here. Now I know its not a competition as to who posts more, but if it was, she completed beat me last week! 

- Top Gear
Has anyone ever seen a BBC show called Top Gear?! If you haven’t I can’t make a strong enough recommendation. You can catch it on BBC America here in the states or they have episodes of the show on iTunes. They have a great segment where they put stars in a regularly (piece of shit) car and make them go around the track. They got the London mayor to come on the show and his segment is pretty funny. I am not a car person but this show is hilarious.

It has also introduced to a song called “Grounds for Divorce” by a band called Elbow. I am completely addicted to it. Also addicted to the song “Her Morning Elegance” by Oren Lavie. Can’t get enough of that one either. 

 

Happening this week: Pistachio-crusted halibut for dinner tonight, dinner party Thursday, and Mom in town on Friday.  We also went on our first Geo Cache adventure this weekend and I hope to share the stories and pictures this week. 

Happy Monday everyone!

donkeys, deviled eggs and chocolate brownie cookies

We are in the midst of Passover and Easter weekend and I awoke this morning to a microphone test (“Let’s get ready to rumble” echoed through buildings) from the community Easter egg hunt outside my window. Also helping the wake up call was the donkey from the petting zoo. It should be noted he is not at all happy and insists that everyone in the neighborhood know it! But the petting zoo does have the longest line – seems longer than the bounce house line. So, how much of a bad jew am I this week? Let’s review: Did I have a sedar either night? No! Have I attempted to keep Passover by not eating bread? Absolutely not. Did I wait until the last minute to buy matzah from the store? Yes, I did – in fact I bought the last box. I did make a Matzah, Mushroom, Onion kugel that left me with TONS of leftovers that have still not been eaten. Yeah! But as any jew knows, the week of matzah eating is not met with excitement especially when it comes to our digestive system. Damn matzah!

But the real excitement of the morning was making deviled eggs with Boyfriend’s Oma (grandmother in German). I should admit that I can’t make hard boiled eggs. I can make everything else in the world – difficult breads, cakes, tough recipes, etc. I would like to think of myself as a decent cook but with hard boiled eggs – I HAVE NEVER BEEN SUCCESSFUL. Ever.  So Oma was in charge of making the eggs. My job included peeling the shells and cutting the eggs in half. That is all I was to be trusted with. So sad, I know. So here’s my handy work:

And the finished product:

Do I have a recipe for what she did? No, but I do know she put some mayonnaise, ranch dressing, yellow mustard, salt and pepper in with the egg yolks. Other than that I was just trying to keep up. She was also not thrilled that I did not have a deviled egg tupperware carrier. I fear that I will be receiving one from her around the holidays. 

But here is a recipe I do have to share. Super yummy, light and crumbly Chocolate Brownie Cookies. A big hit last night after dessert.

Chocolate Brownie Cookies
found on Sanctuary for the Mad World

Ingredients:
35 g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
2 large eggs
135 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
30 g unsalted butter
140 g semisweet chocolate, chopped 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer, briefly whip the eggs to break them up. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat on high for 10 minutes, until thick. 

While the eggs are whipping, melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler and stir them until smooth. Gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until partially combined (there should still be some streaks). Add the flour mixture to the batter and carefully fold it in. If the batter is very runny, let it rest until it thickens slightly, about 5 minutes. Drop the batter by the teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets and bake until puffed and cracked, 8 to 9 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before removing from the sheets.

 

The rain has increased since I started writing this post and the donkey has only grown increasingly loud and obnoxious. And there is still a long line to get a up close peak of the grey donkey. 

Best wishes to everyone this holiday weekend. 

kissing in the photo booth

Just a quick post to share the photo booth picture from a wedding this past weekend in California. You can’t tell from the photo but Boyfriend and I were dressed to the nines!

The best part of the photo booth was the monitor outside the booth. Many in the beginning didn’t know that your actions INSIDE the booth were broadcasted for everyone to see. 

And on the list of things to do this week: April header for the blog. Promise I will get to it soon!

Yeah for Thursday – the weekend is in sight!

back home, finally!

I just arrived back in Seattle after being away for all too long. In past week I was in Pearisburg VA, ATL, Charlotte, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, Livermore, Pleasanton and finally today, back at home in Seattle. And I am exhausted and have nothing to show for it. No pictures, no recipes, no new header for the blog, nothing! Just exhaustion and jet lag.

I do have this though: a sore right foot/ankle, a ridiculous stack of mail (yeah for Magazines!), no food in the house, piles of laundry and a new job to start tomorrow.

I will leave you with this though, from Design*Sponge, which describes everything I feel at this moment! Happy Monday!