Allora…

chicago and san francisco are on the horizon!

details TK

I had a great relaxing 3 day weekend in maryland for memorial day. it was hot and swampy just like summer on the east coast should be. We had the blow up pool in dan’s back yard going in full force, lots of food, drinks, and just hanging out. Ava and Sophie kept me busy and laughing even though they were pretty sick…. Here are the pics:

Ok. So last night I tried to make Pasta Carbonara…or a form of it, which I have never made before. Typically that has pasta, eggs, milk, cheese, and pancetta/some kind of glorious pork fat. Since it was my first time around the Carbonara Block, I consulted my Giada cookbook quickly enough to see “Whisk egg and cream…blah blah blah” and “return drained pasta to pan and add cream mixture”. Well I probably should have read the rest of the recipe. However, what came out of it was actually quite good. really good actually. Would be some great hangover food.

After cooking the fettucine I returned the pasta to the pan, and added 2 eggs and skim milk which i had whisked together. My mistake was that even though the burner was off, the pan was still way too hot for the eggs. It ended up scrambling the eggs. Oh well. I added lots of cracked black pepper (in fact my grinder broke and dumped a whole butt load onto the pasta- nothing went right on Wednesday) crushed red pepper and parmigiano reggiano and salt. It was great.

this looks totally gross, but believe me. it’s no stranger than lo mein or fried rice with scrambled eggs in it.

Recipe TK (tk is publishing speak for ‘to come’ or ‘it’s not in yet’) can you tell i have a ton of chipotle’s in my house???

not really red in this pic, but it was definitely pink…

in totally unrelated news, pedro had a rough week too and decided to sleep it off.

With the weeks now totally and completely filled with work, the weekends are for catching up with friends and cooking up a storm (also filling my freezer/fridge for lunches to take to work). I slept the sleep of the dead the past two nights, and so i’m feeling recharged for the week. Tho the weekend should go on forever. I had a bunch of cilantro from Mom’s garden that I needed to use, so tonight I made:

Shrimp Quesadillas w/ Garlic Chipolte Black Beans

Marinate shrimp in lime juice, garlic, cilantro, 1/2 chipolte pepper, salt and pepper:

Heat 1 can of black beans in a sauce pan with 1 clove garlic, roughly chopped, the other half of the chipolte pepper, salt and pepper. After they are bubbling, smash with a potato smasher.

Grill 1/2 red pepper chopped up, 1 portobello mushroom, chopped up, 3 scallions, chopped. Set aside:

Grill shrimp, about 3 mins each side. Set aside, and chop when they are cool enough to handle:

Throw two tortillas on the grill for 30 seconds on each side. On the second one, keep on the grill, put down 1/4 c monterray jack, then shrimp, veggies, 1/2 avocado chopped, and put a tiny bit of cheese on top so that you can “glue” the top tortilla to it. Press down for 3 minutes, flip. Cut into quarters. Quesadilla serves 2.

I made a little cucumber salad on the side too – 1/2 cucumber, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper.

Pierogies & Kielbasa with Grilled Zucchini & Onions

Boil a pot of water for the pierogies, boil for 6 minutes, drain. Slice kielbasa, zucchini, onions and throw on the grill. As the pierogies are boiling and meat and veggies grilling…mix together 1 tbsp of course grain mustard, paprika, cayenne pepper, and dill in a bowl. When you drain the pierogies, toss them into this mixture. Serve w/ kielbasa and veggies.

Kielbasa, zucchini, onions on ‘the grill’ aka my grill pan

mix together this schtuff

ja!

Well, we pulled it off! We planned a surprise birthday party for dad on saturday and he had NO idea. Scotty was ‘the bait’ and so dad went to go get him for “easter” and pulled in the driveway on his way home to about 20 of us ready to celebrate his 60th birthday!

well this week was a roller coaster of professional highs and lows, but I’m doing my best to keep my chin up and keep myself busy doing projects that are fun/interesting/challenging to me. Current job situation is decidedly not fun/completely boring/and not challenging.

A colleague referred me to a couple getting married this summer. They want a simple postcard save the date. Here is first round. They had pretty specific ideas on what they wanted – which simultaneously makes things easier and more difficult. Please note the copy on the back of the post card is not decided yet. Hehe those wild and crazy kids.