Crafty February: Felt Ball Garland

Last week was a crafty February fail. First, homemade ricotta came out like a bowl of cooked milk (ew). Then my fabric covered box project turned into a lumpy mess (boo). So! I am showing you this felt ball garland.

I whipped this up in under twenty minutes. I've had a bag of little felt balls for a long time. I picked out the pastel colors and stung them together using embroidery floss and a big embroidery needle. It will probably go on my Easter tree in a few weeks, but for not, it's strung up on the mantle.

Have you ever made ricotta at home? I'm tempted to try again if anyone has a recipe they've used with good results!

A Tale of Two Dinners: The Best of Times

We had my sisters- and (brand new!) brother-in-law over to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. There was deep sadness about the Patriot's loss - and we aren't even really fans! I think the local angle got to everybody.

But the food and snacks were on point. Peter made chili, and he claims it was his best batch ever. His secret ingredients? A splash of balsamic vinegar and a pinch of curry powder!

Inspired by Joanna Goddard's post, I put together a baked potato bar with all kinds of toppings. Above you see bacon, butter, grated cheddar cheese and chopped chives. I also sauteed mushrooms and steamed broccoli, and of course, people could put chili on top, too.

For dessert, oh my. Compost cookies! I've wanted to make these for a looooong time, but I guess I was waiting for some sort of over the top eating and snacking event to justify potato chip + candy cookies. I should not have waited! These are so good. For candy, I used chopped Heath bar, chocolate chips and peanut M&Ms. I made the dough on Saturday, and baked up a sheet of cookies after half time so they would be warm and gooey.

All week, I've been making a couple of cookies each night for dessert. I was always v. skeptical about people who keep cookie dough in their fridge or freezer to do this. Such restraint! But I've drank the cookie-dough-in-the-fridge Kool Aid. Having a single warm cookie on a Wednesday night while watching Inspector Lewis is one of life's great pleasures.

This whole meal was a winner because I followed the rules: make things ahead, and repeat old recipes. Peter, you have my permission to remind me of this when I start pushing for us to try turducken for the first time next Thanksgiving.

And I think on another level, it was fun and successful because it was so easy. For a normal dinner with friends, I wouldn't serve potatoes and cookies and call it a day. That's so silly, though! Those things are delicious and (almost) everyone likes them. I need to treat more gatherings like they are the Super Bowl, even if we eat at the dining room table and don't get to gush over E*Trade baby commercials.

A Tale of Two Dinners: The Worst of Times

On Saturday night, Peter and I hosted a couple friends at our house for dinner. Between me and one of our guests, I worked around allergies to beef, cheese, eggs, gluten, tomatoes, sage and soy. Ha!

I carefully planned my menu: Dorie Greenspan's chard-stuffed pork, roasted domino potatoes and green beans with toasted hazelnuts. Sounds pretty good, right?

Well, it was no where near our best work. The meat thermometer wasn't reading right, and we kept checking (and cooking!) the pork longer than it needed. The domino potatoes turned into charred potato chip-like things around the edges, and dry potato disks in the middle. And the green beans? I overcooked them until they became a grey-green pile of ick.


I tried to follow Julia Child's golden rule of entertaining - “You should never apologize at the table. People will think, ‘Yes, it’s really not so good.'" But I couldn't stop myself! We all knew it was really not so good. I didn't follow my own golden rules, either: never cook something new (domino potatoes) and always have one thing completely ready ahead of time (i.e., kale salad instead of green beans). 


I know these things happen to the best of us, but it's still annoying, yes? I need to be better at letting these (very tiny in the grand scheme of things!) disappointments go. 


Anyways, tomorrow I'll give you a peak at a Best of Times dinner we made for family just one night later! Proof that the best remedy to culinary let-down is to brush yourself off and get back in the kitchen.

House Tour: Guest Room

The guest room, like our bedroom, still feels a bit incomplete, so I've been hesitating to finish out the house tour. That's silly, though, because this is my best pitch for you to come and visit me! I have a real bed for you to sleep in, and there are doors that you can close!

I've never had a guest room before. A lot of people complain that an extra bed takes up lots of space that's hardly ever used. I quite like it, though. I usually call this bed the "vacation bed" and will take an afternoon vacation there to read and hang out in a room not my own. That sounds super weird now that I write it.

Do you have a guest room? Please tell me you like to visit it on the reg. for cheap vacations :)

Here Comes the Sun

I bought a tiny bouquet of daffodils and a big pile of forsythia branches at Trader Joe's last weekend. They both slowly opened up throughout the week. I'm not usually drawn to yellow, but this shot of sunshine throughout the apartment is absolutely delightful.

That middle photo is an artichoke tart with polenta crust - basically the best thing I've made in a while. It was inspired by this recipe posted on The Wednesday Chef, but I'm not good at following recipes exactly. I subbed out the goat cheese with blue, replaced the scallions with leeks, and threw in a handful of grapes just for fun. Holy moly, this was good.

Happy mellow yellow Friday!

Valentine's Day Crossword Puzzle

Last year, I made Peter a set of itty bitty love notes for Valentine's Day. These were so fun to put together (and they went over really well!). But I didn't want to do the same thing this year. After scouring the internet for another sweet and inexpensive idea, I found this puzzle maker program on Discover Education. Jackpot!

There are a bunch of different puzzles to choose from, including a few I'd never heard of, like crypographs (?!).  I went old school with a crossword puzzle (they call it a criss cross puzzle). In the blank field, you write the answer, then add a space and write the clue on one line. I also put this information in a Word doc so that I have a key, just in case I forget my own crafty answers between now and then. Though I will never forget the answer to number 3 across! (My self-esteem is thriving!).

We'll see how easy or hard it is. I tried to mix in obvious things with some inside jokes that I thought he'd really have to think about to guess right. I hope it will be fun!

Do you all have plans for Valentine's Day yet? I know it's sort of a silly holiday, but I (obviously) love it. We're doing a fun dinner at home with lobsters!

Crafty February

After I gave up my arts and crafts column in the Examiner, I basically stopped doing little projects (outside of the odd sewing job). I've gotten in the habit of coming home, cleaning a little, doing laundry, reading, making dinner. You know, normal stuff. But I'm happier when there are extra little projects mixed in with all that jazz.

For the next month, I'm going to try to share one new project each week. I'm hoping this will help get me back in the saddle. Making things is so fun!

I have three of the projects already figured out, but still need to settle on the last one. Have you made anything awesome lately?! Please share - I'd love to hear!

Early favorites: Boston restaurants

(Boston Art City Heart Map, via Etsy)

We haven't been in Boston very long - just over six months! - and we're slowly trying new restaurants around the city. Here's a little list of early favorites if you're ever in town and find yourself hungry. Also, come visit me! It's yummy here.

Craigie on Main: A splurge-y spot that makes ordinary things extraordinary (think roast chicken, pate, Brussels sprouts).

Island Creek Oyster Bar: Dinner at the bar is the way to go here. You get an amazing view of the whole place, and have an up-close view of the expert oysters-shuckers and and fancy cocktails-makers.

Paddy's Pub: Perfect Friday night spot for us. Cute decor with inexpensive, superior pub food. The Local used to serve this purpose for us, but we've since moved on. The Local's Parmesan fries remain amazing, though.

Russell House Tavern: A fun spot near Harvard that works equally well for lunch and dinner, groups and a date. Also, excellent opportunities to listen to pretentious Harvard undergrads if you go on a weekend night!

Strip T: The young (very handsome!) chef is a Momofuku Ssam Bar alum, and he came back to Boston to run his Dad's diner about the same time we arrived. The food is truly amazing. But during our dinner there, I couldn't help but compare the crowds from his old establishment to the new. In NYC, ironic huge glasses and lots of vests. In Boston, completely un-ironic huge glasses and vests. Oh Boston!

The Publick House: Fab fish and chips, fancy mac and cheese and many, many beers on tap.

These are all high up on our to-try list: Oleana (thanks to a long-ago recommendation from Ms. Curieuse!), Hungry Mother and Toro. Any suggestions to add to our list?! This is basically my favorite game ever, so please don't hold back!

Lately

We got another dusting of snow last night. I'm not mad because it's going to be in the forties again today and should all disappear. Plus, excuse to wear my snow boots (aka knee high slippers) to work.

Winter vegetables can be boring, but I thought these looked so pretty before I put them in the oven to roast. The pink stuff is radishes. Have you ever cooked those? They lose their peppery zing and really mellow out. Delish.

This little desk was in my room growing up, and we brought it back from my parent's house a few weeks ago. The lamp is a little large in scale for the space, but eh. It's evolving!

And in my final bit of unnecessary news, Peter and I played an epic game of Jenga last night. The box says you are expert if you build it up to 32 stories (double the starting size). Ours was 35 stories high! Don't be shy with the praise, I know you're in awe right now :)

Hope you guys are having a lovely week!

Arctic Char and Gnocchi with Creamed Greens

Idlywood, a cozy, Mediterranean wine bar nestled in an unassuming strip mall, was a favorite of ours when we lived in Northern Virginia. Partly for sentimental reasons, to be sure. It was here, while having a glass of wine at the tiny bar in the back of the restaurant, that we first discussed moving in together. We had been dating for eight months, and I was just twenty-two. It probably have felt quick to our parents, but it didn't feel  scary to me at all!

My favorite dish - an often appearing special, if I remember correctly - was salmon with pesto gnocchi. We haven't been back to Idlywood in years, so I can't vouch for the food now, but this dish has stuck with me. I tried to re-create it last week with more winter-y vegetables, and it was just as good as the original I remember so fondly.

Arctic Char and Gnocchi with Creamed Greens

You will need:

5-6 leaves of kale, washed and torn
1/2 cup cream
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving if you wish
One package potato gnocchi
1 tablespoon olive oil, or a combination of butter and oil
2 small fillets of Arctic Char or salmon
Salt and Pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil, or a combination of butter and oil
Squeeze of lemon

In a sauce pan, add a splash of olive oil and heat at medium high. Add in sliced garlic and cook for one minute. Add torn kale leaves and toss to coat with oil. Cook for one minute more. Reduce heat to medium low and add in cream. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes, until soft and completely wilted. Remove from heat. Once cool, add kale mixture to a food processor. Give it a few whooshes until it has the consistency of pesto. Return to the sauce pan and stir in grated Parmesan cheese, and more cream if it looks a bit dry.

In a large sauce pan or wok, heat a tablespoon of olive oil (or combination of butter and oil). When melted and hot, add the gnocchi. Toss them around every minute or so, until they are slightly golden and crisp on the outside. Add in the creamed kale, reduce heat to low and cover. The gnocchi will absorb the cream and finish cooking.

Heat a grill pan to medium high. Brush fish with a bit of oil, salt and pepper. Cook four minutes per side if they are an inch thick. These were slightly smaller, so I cooked them four minutes on one side, two on the other.

Plate gnocchi and place fish on top. Generously squeeze with lemon juice and enjoy!