pasta maker

as i've mentioned before, my husband dave is a killer cook. he made some pasta the other day that was delicious.

while he was making pasta, i was watching. and maybe drinking a little jack and coke. actually i'm lying, it was evan williams and coke. haha. 

i'm a lucky girl. 

random

just because he's the cutest.
and check out the beauty at the glenside farmer's market. we bought a ton of stuff, i'm making one of those butternut squashes tonight.

around the house

dave made a killer dinner last weekend.

homemade gnocchi with beef in a delicious sauce.

and the vintage "b" i bought for my craft room has decided to stay in the living room for the time being. it is sort of odd (or very cheesy) of me to have just a "b" in our living room, but i think it looks cool. and the trophy beside it dave won for being awesome. the award was for being the happy hour planner at work. seriously. haha.

happy vday

we spent valentines day at home, eating a delicious steak dinner made by dave. i made chocolate chip bread pudding for dessert, but forgot to take photos of it.


i bought us tickets to the philadelphia orchestra and reservations at barbuzzo. i finally got to wear my blue tights that i bought about 3 years ago.


the kimmel center is such a rad building.



and barbuzzo was even better than we imagined.

if you don't count pizza actually in italy, it was the best pizza i've ever had. and the budino was killer. just make sure you mix it up a little and don't have your first bite include only the caramel, because it'll taste a bit like a salt lick.


all in all an epic weekend.

happy thanksgiving

we had such a wonderful, long weekend. lots of cooking was involved. first i tried to make pie dough, which was a disaster. i used the food processor for the first time and think i used the wrong bowl, so it was hard as a rock and never came together. but thank goodness for the ready made pie crust, it was a life savor to the apple galette....

...and pecan pie.

then lots of things with the leftovers. stuffing/potatoes/turkey/gravy balls (aka thanksgiving balls)...

and turkey pot pie.

the real PA dutch way.

how was your thanksgiving?

pumpkin picking

a couple weeks ago we went with some friends to this great farm near us, none such farm. we intended to only go there for the market, which sells delicious meat that is raised across the street. but they had a pumpkin patch so we went there first.
i've never been to one before, it was really cool.




then dave made this killer beef stew for dinner.

i could eat this every day

philly is a foodie town, a serious foodie town. and we go there as much as possible, usually making our plans around seeing friends and eating. the suburbs where we live are a different story. it's a dining wasteland. there are mediocre places, but none too great. within the past year a vietnamese place opened, pho and beyond, and we have been going ever since. it is seriously FANTASTIC. here's a picture of their cabbage soup, which has the most amazing broth ever.

st. john: the food

we ate lots of great food in st. john. although, i was surprised that there wasn't more local food. i guess when your island is that small, it's hard.

first up, fish taco's at the tourist trap. this place was adorable and had good food. we got fish tacos and a lobster roll.


oh and presidente beer.


surf and turf at spyglass, which had a great view of the sunset.



and some local cuisine at windy level. the chicken curry was delicious and the cabbage side was even better. i don't have pics of the food we ate at a food truck before this. it wasn't very good at all, and then i slid down their steep driveway on the way to the car and cut up my leg and hurt my finger. it sucked :-( my finger actually still hurts. but the kid watching got a kick out of it.


and some caribbean lobster at morgan's mango. i thought I was splurging on this, but then my parents picked up the check and i felt really guilty. :-)

cucumber and a pickle martini

we got our first cucumber out of our garden the other day. not everything is surviving in the garden, but we are harvesting a few things! jalapenos and cucumbers have been a success.

i made dilled cucumbers. the recipe basically consists of 1 large cucumber, 1/2 cup white vinegar, 3 tablespoons of sugar and dill. first slice the cucumber and add salt to it and let sit 15 minutes. wash off the salt, mix the other ingredients together, then toss in the cucumber.

delicious.


and if you want to be adventurous, make a dirty martini with pickle juice replacing the olive juice. dave wasn't a fan of his, but i liked it. (i could only drink one though.) thank you to craft night (or just eat, drink and talk night) and specifically jenni for coming up with that excellent idea :-)

lazy sunday

we had a free sunday all to ourselves. dave made our favorite dinner, short rib ragout and we even made some cavetelli with the cavatelli maker we got for christmas. i can say we because i turned the handle a few times. it was heaven. heaven on earth.

our christmas

dave and i decided to have our own little christmas dinner sunday night. it was a delicious steak and lobster feast. i made chocolate creme brulee, but it didn't turn out and made dave sick. oops. everything he made was great though!

pappa al pomodoro or delicious tomato soup

i have this recipe book that i LOVE that friends of mine got us one year for christmas. it's called seriously simple by Diane Rossen Worthington. and look, i just did a google search and she has lots of recipe books HERE.
believe it or not, I actually made dinner the other night. well, not completely by myself, dave chopped the onions and garlic, but i did the rest! shocking, i know.

so this is the recipe, adapted from the recipe by Diane Rossen Worthington, from seriously simple.

i'll just call it:

seriously delicious tomato soup (with the optional sausage addition)

ingredients:
-1 28 ounce can san marzano tomatoes (splurge on these, they are worth it)
-a few tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (eyeball it, this isn't rocket science)
-a small onion chopped
-4 garlic cloves minced
-1/2 cup fresh basil chopped, plus garnish if you want to be fancy
-1/4 cup fresh sage chopped, plus garnish if you want to be fancy
-4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
-a loaf of delicious bread, italian, or a baguette, cubed (whatever you have around, stale bread works too)
-salt and pepper to taste
-parmesan cheese
-sausage (optional, we used turkey sausage)

directions:
1) in a medium soup pot, saute the garlic and onion in olive oil for a few minutes
2) add the fresh herbs and continue to saute for a few more minutes
3) add the tomatoes and broth (crush the tomatoes up in your hand before hand, in a large bowl, this part is fun and messy.)
4) bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 min.
5) if you want sausage involved in this recipe (it really is just as good without it), fry up some sausage in a separate pan, then add it to the simmering soup.
6) season with salt and pepper
7) ladle the soup into bowls, and add the cubed bread. toasting it first is nice too. garnish with herb leaves and parmesan cheese.


it is SO GOOD!!!

apple fest

a few weekends ago we went to the apple fest, we go every year. the weather on the way looked like it might storm all day, but ended being perfect.
there were lots of apples involved.