pricey snacktime.

i was a few minutes early to auntie's house, so i stopped by whole foods to pick up some hors d'ouvres in an effort not to eat all their food... i picked up some olives (a family fave), rosemary & sea salt crostini, and a new (to me) cheese from meadow creek farms in virginia called appalachian tomme. it was reasonably priced ($14.99/lb), and good flavor - not too hard, not too soft, and not too pungent. highly recommended. even the teenage boy who "hates cheese" loved it... check out meadow creek farms' cheeses online.

whole foods also has a lot of coupons for staples (milk, butter, juice) in their bi-monthly newsletter, the whole deal. the coupons aren't available online, you'll have to check the stands by the door or ask a cashier, but their easy-to-make meals are available here. this month they have a coupon for $1 off method products (love them - especially whole food's specialty ginger yuzu scent)!

it was a little pricier than a mcdonald's snackwrap, but delicious none-the-less!

there you go again.

i thought h was going to punch me in the face when i told him we were having squash quesadillas for dinner (not the biggest fan of the veggie). he was little more excited about tomatillo salsa, tho. i got the tomatillos from the farmer's market, and the squash from our local organic grocery store, ellwood thompson's. served it all up with some fried sweet corn with williams-sonoma chili-lime rub (thanks noel!), affectionately called "mexi-spice" at our house, avocado slices with sea salt, and finished with some grape pie, courtesy of our houseguest, matt (& straight from naples, ny) shared with some good company...

this recipe was courtesy of smitten kitchen and it really was as beautiful as it looks! i did everything nearly as she described, with the exception of subsituting anaheim peppers instead of jalapenos & poblanos - just a little more mild! and, at h's wonderful suggestion, added cilantro & a splash of lime to the salsa verde.

i'm even excited about the leftovers!

photo from smitten kitchen. 

h's comments: "don't tell your friends i'm going to punch you in the face... what are they going to think about me?"

new things.

i got this cookbook last year for my birthday from my wonderful auntie who knows how much i love to go to the farmers market & attempt to cook my purchases. although it's divided into seasons (which i like) and a has a few great photos (which i love), i hadn't found anything to cook in it. until last night. i made chicken drumsticks stuffed with lavender chevre (farmer's market pick) and served with cous cous (the food so nice they named it twice) and swiss chard (another farmer's market purchase).

 

i also made a little cucumber and mint (from corey's garden -thx!) salad with feta from eat well, my most recent favorite cookbook.

and while we're talking about cookbooks, let's talk about how much i can't wait for my pre-ordered cookbook from the pioneer woman!

caphill lunches.

i absolutely love capitol hill. the best part about working on the job sites near the nationals stadium is frequenting eastern market & barracks row eateries & shops (where matchbox is; first mentioned here). captiol hill books (7th & c streeets, southeast) is one of my favorite used bookstores, loaded floor to ceiling with the best-smelling used books around. i pass by it nearly everyday as i grab lunch at marvelous market next door.

today i rushed out, salad & empanadas in tow, to get back to the office and realize that my salad was expired (shriveled up lettuce & cucumbers and a horrible, horrible smell). i went back and they quickly exchanged it & felt really, really bad!

i love the houses here! i noticed an extraordinary amount of them were for sale.

and then i found this... doggie beer. no lies. $2.50. there were 2 flavors, beefy brown ale & something chow. we'll see how v likes it... ( :

mint lemonades & normal lives?

i've been at home now (with the exception of a 16 hour day in columbus, ohio on tuesday) all week, and i've been fully taking advantage of all the chores that people with normal jobs have; i.e. laundry, cleaning, taking out the recycling, and best of all, grocery shopping & making dinner at home! believe me, when you travel & eat out for EVERY meal, the last thing you want to do is dress up and go sit in an uncomfortable chair and pay wayy too much for a beer. so last night i made a quick trip to whole foods (and spent way too much for overpriced groceries) and speaking of overpriced, every few months, whole foods puts out a little flyer called the whole deal (the most recent is valid from april 1 - may 31) with coupons and recipes from martha stewart's everyday food mag.

i flipped through, just for ideas for healthy recipes, and ended up cooking a delicious meal. first, obviously i poured myself a drink. santa cruz lemonade (perfect mix of sweet & sour), muddled mint, and a splash of vodka in my most favorite glasses from appalachian spring (my favorite trinket store---they now have an amazing website).


i'm usually hesitant to cook fish in the house (usually opting to grill it outside, or occasionally, broil it in aluminum foil). this recipe calls to "steam" the salmon, which i've never done before. i didn't follow the recipe exactly. i bought one 6-oz salmon fillet with skin (whole foods has a wonderful fish selection, and i'm convinced it's way cheaper than harris teeter, too). i steamed it skin side down with sea salt & ground pepper, a 1/4 cup of water, and a splash of lemon for 7 minutes. then i added lima beans (whatever was in the fridge) and steamed for a few more minutes.


i threw it all together with some pasta & mint. i didn't like the added mint. i would have rather had it with a more lemony sauce, but it wasn't horrible. the salmon was perfectly cooked, and i used it to make a great salad nicoise for work the next day.

(i really love straws)

i love these stacking bowls that my step-mom made for me a few years ago. you can't see them too well in this pic... hopefully i can take some good fotos this weekend while i'm at home. she's really into her pottery and she's amazing. i'd love for her to have a great website, too. trying to get the lil sis to help out with that (hint, hint)!

look what i found.

i'd just like to point out my three best purchases of the day.

#1: slurpabowls. i have no idea what genious person invented these. i've been looking for transportable bowls for baby v for so long! currently, i'm using a tupperware container, which she inevitably spills anyway.

these are foldable bowls made from 100% recycled paper, and are coated, so you can use them a few times before you discard them in your recycling bin! they hold 2 cups, and come 6 bowls/pack. i found them on sale at the container store for $5/pack. AND, you can just slide them onto your leash, so you have nothing to carry! amazing.

isn't she cute? she's been so well behaved on these days when i've been working from home! today at lunch we went to the dog park in byrd park. i didn't even have to walk her with a leash! ( :

#2: avocado cutter (serving the avocado community since 1991). i found this at the grocery store in the avocado section. don't tell, but it was free, so i guess it doesn't count as a purchase. i think this thing is hilarious. i think it just amazes me that you can patent ANYTHING. someone patented this spoon/knife/thing. i'll admit, it does help with getting that gosh-darn pit out! apparently it also promotes the sales of avocados.

#3: ukrops chicken salad & white house rolls. o.m.g. i miss this almost as much as i miss my youth.

april showers bring may flowers.

sorry for the delay--work has been crazy busy and there have been weddings galore! this weekend was absolutely amazing. one of those weekends that goes by so fast that you forgot you didn't take any pictures (shame)!

first i had a hot date at comfort in downtown richmond. it's everything it appears to be & more. great beer (i was drunk off a bell's oberon & a german canned beer that was wonderful). you choose your meat (i got pork tenderloin & h got mahi, but they had everything from fish to fried quail to venison), and then your sides! i tried thier braised greens, a little spicy for my liking, but everything looked good. the best part was we got to sit right in the front on the corner of broad & jefferson and watch the people go by. i felt like the world was flying by--so many people were out b/c the weather was beautiful and it was first fridays. followed by my first game of kings (i'm not very good at it) & me falling asleep mid-conversation w/ h's housemate ( :

saturday we ran errands, i gave h a mohawk, and then buzzed it all off & we got ready for j's wedding. she's a great friend of mine since grade school, so it was almost surreal to see her get married! she was a beautiful bride!

sunday was h's football game where v tried her hardest to run into the field as they were playing. i'm just glad we didn't get kicked out for v crying so loud! then we went to h's dad's for some smoked chicken & i met the cutest yorkie-poo ever, izzy! then we ran home to watch slumdog millionaire with some friends at the byrd.

now it's half-way thru the week! hopefully the weather will hold out for el's bday camping trip on friday. we have lots to celebrate!! ( ;

(my hot date! w/ a hair cut!)

advice.

do not buy candy that you like to display on your desk at work, because you will eat 30 in a day and feel sick and fat.

a gourmet tour of milwaukee.

there are some days when i wish i could be a foodie for the travel channel--i'd let them send me wherever they wish, and i'd fully investigate the food in whatever city i'm traveling to. in a way, my job is kind of like that. we make mental notes of good places for lunch, dinner, drinks, coffee and pass it on to our coworkers. we get fixated on little things like the bluegrass blend from aiken, south carolina's moonbeans coffee (guilty as charged) or raw oysters & chicken-fried chicken from maxie's in ithaca, new york (guilty, again). and then there's the times when you go to an unknown city. say, milwaukee, and you find out bits and pieces as you go. we all know wisconsin is famous for cheese, but apparantly milwaukee is famous for beer, custard, beer, german food, and more beer. there's lakefront, sprecher, miller, stonefly, leinenkugal, and more... i've been trying to do my best to try them all. here's today's activity:

• lunch at beans & barley: sprecher ginger beer and sweet potato black bean burger w/ lime sour cream (amazing). i also picked up some peruvian coffee (rej's fave) for office enjoyment--whole beans only, obviously; and a replacement lunch bag as mine was recently lost. also, i found organic poptarts. probably the highlight of the trip.
• snacktime at the milwaukee public market: blue point (va) and gold band (la) raw oysters and a taste of lakefront's ipa at st. paul's fish company. sniffing some spices at the spice house. and a taste of some beer cheddar cheese (wisconsin's finest) from west allis cheese.
• we walked all the way from the market and trendy new shops in the third ward to german bars & restaurants in old world third street and back again. milwaukee is a neat city, although there weren't many people out, and, well, it is in the midwest. ( ;
• dinner at mo's. not the best service, but the food was okay. i am usually a fan of butter, but their specialty cajun butter tasted like wax. the waiter was pushy, and collected our checks as to get rush us out. i got a filet and a sprecher mai bock--i'd order the beer again any day.

on the list for tomorrow is some custard! i can't wait! if only our project would push forward instead of me waiting here exploring food options through friday...