what: craft night.
where: my house
when: this evening
who: becky & melisser
why: cuz it’s FUN!
happy fathers day!
I’ve come to the conclusion that eating is so much better when done outside. We moved into our house almost a year ago (july 4th will be our move-in anniversary). For the first three months, we did not eat a single meal inside. Casey says the food I make for us is always better during the summer. I think it’s just cuz we get to eat it outside! Now that the weather is warmer, breakfast/lunch/dinner will be eaten on the patio. Food just tastes better that way!
Fathers Day Dinner included:
-cheese plate (with marcona almonds)
-tomato/mozzarella/crusty bread with olive oil topped with homemade pesto
-middle eastern inspired ground lamb kebabs
-salad with tomatoes, red onion, italian parsley, feta & cucumber with a lemon oregano dressing
-crispy lavash bread
-vanilla roasted apricots mixed with strawberries, mangoes and cherries on top of a dollop of honey lemon ricotta & marscapone cheese mixture
-4 bottles of red wine!
-vegan food for my brother (indian rice with vegan burger & vegan chocolate pudding)
-laughter, sillyness, and fun moments. Happy Father’s Day Dad!
The Weekend:
-shopping for gifts at Bath and Body Works (i love these!)
-drinks with neighbors/made a potato salad with cilantro & grilled chicken (vinegar based)/drinks with other neighbors
-speaker installed in ceiling of kitchen
-wallmounted touch panel installed in wall of kitchen (means I can listen to music while cooking & cleaning up what a cook! yay!)
-dinner to celebrate a friends birthday at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse (bloody $50 bill fight in the front-don’t ask)
-ice cream at Mitchells (chocolate caramel crackle with another scoop of strawberry) Husband god Toasted Almond & Mexican chocolate.
-grocery shopping at Whole Paycheck…err… I mean Whole Foods
-house cleaning & gardening for parents arrival
-father’s day dinner
-hanging out with neighbors- another neighbor brought over yummy bread pudding with a lemon rum glaze.
i have to stop eating. time to catch up on Big Love & Entourage.
Vanilla Roasted Apricots
make your own vanilla roasted apricots:
-2 tablespoons butter
-12 apricots halfed & pitted
-2 vanilla bean pods
-1/4 cup of sugar plus 2 tablespoons
-half of 1 lemon (squeezed)
-dash of water
-preheat oven to 375 degrees
-butter apricot halves- add 2 tablespoons of sugar and thouroughly coat (i used a ziploc bag to mix it all up in)
-put apricots in a baking dish
-in a small pot, warm 1/4 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of honey, dash of water, 2 scraped vanilla pods & lemon juice (heat til sugar dissolves)
-pour most of the liquid over the apricots- put in oven and bake 20-25 minutes (continue to baste with liquid during baking time)
beets from farmfreshtoyou.com
these beets were part of my first delivery from Farm Fresh to You- Capay Organic Farms. Included in the shipment were: red onions, green beans, apricots, peaches, beets, red chard, cherries, red potatoes and zucchini. So far I’m happy with the service!
to make the beets:
-wash beets & sprinkle with generous amount salt & pepper
-wrap beets up in parchment paper
-wrap parchment covered beets with foil
-put on baking sheet
-roast 425 degree oven for 45 minutes
-peel off skin & enjoy!
teacakes, emeryville CA
i was not born into a family of sweet tooths. my family is big on bread. we will eat bagels, pasta, crackers….carbs galore. My grandma is the first to tell you she’d rather eat bread & butter for dessert instead of chocolates & sweets. It wasn’t til I met Casey that I realized that sooo many people out there are sweet toothers… And in the past year I’ve turned. I now appreciate the delight of a good dessert. I’ve even learned how to make room for it when we are out to dinner.
cupcake trip #2 is done! check out our thoughts on teacake bakeshop in emeryville at melissa’s site!
weekend recap
over the weekend:
-went to Randy’s going away party @ Poleng in SF
-went to coffee late in the afternoon on Saturday
-bought some fun things at Paper Source (dangerous place to go if you are me)
-went to dinner @ Amber-Indian Restaurant on Santana Row in SJ (yummy Mango Mint cocktail/butter chicken/kebab platter)
-saw Knocked Up (still finding myself laughing when i think of parts)
-made lemon cookies & stuffed them with cream cheese frosting (brought some to neighbors so i wouldnt eat them all!)
-made this lovely little open faced sandwich above for sunday lunch
-pulled out bush in the backyard and welcomed our new Meyer Lemon tree in it’s place
-went to Target (fun!) & the Library (where I picked up Magnolia’s Cupcake Cookbook & the book on cd: Heat)
-added mulch to the backyards plants
-ate grilled cheese sandwiches in between recapping last week’s sopranos…and watching the LAST episode
-watched the first episode of John from Cincinnati (not sure if i like it yet)
-read some more of Possible Side Effects, by Augusten Burroughs
Lemon Cookies with Cream cheese frosting
i ripped this recipe out of the magazine a LONG time ago-but it wasn’t until i saw Christine’s post that I remembered I wanted to make them! I had leftover cream cheese frosting from the coconut cupcakes so I decided to make sandwiches. Delish. My house smells like lemons. Yum.
