Easy Guacamole

    Nothing feels fresher to me than making homemade guacamole.  You truly control the quality of each ingredient and it's so easy to put together.  Below is the recipe for my take on the classic guacamole.  It has a touch of smokiness.  Keep in mind I like my guacamole a little spicy. 

Easy Smoky Guacamole Recipe

3 avocados, halved, seeded and peeled

1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced (seeded if mild guacamole preferred)
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 clove garlic, minced 

Juice of 1 lime, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Combine juice of 1/2 lime and avocado.  Mash lightly with a fork to desired texture.  Add remaining ingredients and fold to combine.  Top with juice of remaining 1/2 lime, immediately cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.  Let sit for 1 hour.  Restir before serving to incorporate lime juice. 

     The key to this recipe is the division of the lime juice.  Letting your guacamole rest is an essential part of the process.  It lets the flavors combine to make your guacamole even that more delicious!  However, when entertaining, most people feel like they have to make it up right before the crowd arrives so that it won't turn brown.  The trick is to add the second half of the lime juice to the top of guacamole just before wrapping it in plastic wrap and sticking it in the fridge.  This slows the browning process and keeps your guacamole fresh and green.

    A couple of other methods for keeping your guacamole from browning:

- Place the pit of one avocado in the bowl 

- When wrapping in plastic wrap, allow plastic to touch surface of the guacamole to reduce air exposure

    When it comes down to it, you probably won't need to keep it green for days because it will probably be gone!  With that said, I've had it keep for at least 48 hours with the lime method alone.  Enjoy!

St Germain Margarita

    This week I'll be featuring five of my favorite Mexican recipes.  Call it Cinco Recipes for Cinco de Mayo if you will.  First up, a twist on the standard margarita.  Lately I've been into St Germain Elderflower liqueur.  Maybe somehow I'm preparing myself for our trip to Paris in the fall or maybe the stuff is just crazy delicious.  Or maybe both.  While St Germain usually finds its way into complicated artsy cocktails, it works just as well in the classic margarita.

St Germain Margarita Recipe

1 ounce blanco tequila
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
3/4 ounce St Germain

Moisten the rim of glass with lime juice or water and dip into coarse salt 

  Tip: I love a salted rim but if your limes are particularly tart, a sugared rim would work well in this recipe
Place ice cubes in a cocktail shaker and add the rest of the ingredients and shake
Pour into glass and garnish with a lime  

    This margarita would also be delicious on the rocks but I think the subtlety of the St Germain would be drowned out in a frozen one.  Just my opinion.  Check back for tomorrow's Cinco de Mayo preview recipe!

Food Demo: Sur La Table

    Last weekend a friend and I went to a cooking demonstration at Sur La Table.  The store does cooking classes all the time that are more hands-on, but this was a demo that cost us only a $5 donation to charity.  The demos are held once weekly, so check your local calendar here for more details because I highly recommend these events! 

    Sur la Table's cooking class locations are state of the art.  As you can see, the appliances alone are what kitchen fantasies are made of.  (Hello there double oven, stainless steel pot filler, and KitchenAid Stand Mixer!)  Besides the beautiful aesthetics, the technology is on point too.  The hood contains a small camera that captures the stovetop so you have a bird's eye view of everything the chef is doing.

    This month's demo was on homemade pizza, something I make all too often.  But I was really interested in getting more tips on making homemade crust, which is the part that I normally cheat on for the sake of time and effort.  I wasn't disappointed.  The crust was light and crispy, and I can't wait to try it at home.  The chef made both a margherita and a blue cheese pear pizza which were both delicious!  That was the other thing, we got quite a bit of food to sample.  Not too bad for five dollars! 

    After class, the instructor answered questions and gave advice.  She even helped my friend perfect her pizza peel skills.  The store was opened early for us to shop, so we poked around for awhile.  I didn't end up buying anything, but I did see something I liked.  This wall of oils and vinegars = my idea of heaven.

    We were sent home with a packet full of tips, tricks and recipes.  Below is the blue cheese and pear recipe just for you!  Check out more recipes here.

Grilled Pear Pizza with Crumbled Blue Cheese, Walnuts, and Honey
(Recipe adapted from Sur La Table Chef Lord-Norton)

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 or 3 large, ripe Bosc or Bartlett pears, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
Your favorite store bought or homemade dough
1 cup walnuts
10 ounces creamy blue cheese, coarsely crumbled
2 tablespoons honey
4 thyme sprigs
Wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese for grating

Place a pizza stone in lower third of oven, preheat to 500 degrees.  

Place a medium grill pan on stove over medium heat.  Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil and cook pear until golden (about 3 minutes per side).  Set aside to cool.

Lightly brush dough with olive oil and spread pears over surface evenly in a sunburst pattern.  Sprinkle with walnuts, blue cheese, and freshly ground pepper to taste. 

Insert pizza into oven and cook until you have reached desired crust.  Remove from oven and grate Parmigiano-Reggiano over top.  Sprinkle with thyme leaves and drizzle with honey.  Serve and enjoy!

Happy Earth Day

    Happy Earth Day everyone!  In celebration, yesterday I planted some herbs on our deck for me to use in my cooking for the season (and hopefully longer!).  Two years ago when I planted my first herb garden, I started everything from seeds.  This year I cheated.  Truthfully, the growing season in New England is just too short not to get a head start by buying plants that are already started for you.  Some people may disagree, but I did not get my mother's green thumb.  I need all the help I can get.  Plus, these little cuties were only $1 more per herb than if I had started them from seeds.  I thought long and hard about which herbs I use most frequently and would love constant access to and came up with the assortment below.

{From left: rosemary, sweet basil, sage, cilantro}

    We bought a solid wood window box with drainage holes that is long enough to accommodate four different herbs.  Note: I planted some mint too but put it in its own pot because I heard that stuff can take over like a weed!  

    Again, I will reiterate that I cheated on this process.  I didn't even get plants that needed to be transplanted.  I got the ones in the biodegradable pots that just become part of the soil.  Let's pretend that this move was all about decreasing the amount of waste that I threw away on Earth Day and not out of pure laziness, but isn't it so nice when you can kill two birds with one stone?
 

    In just a few minutes, the window box was installed and the plants were all settled in their new home.  They look so adorable.  I really hope I can keep them alive and green!  Who knows, in a couple weeks my new Banana Republic jacket may be the only green thing I own.  How fun is this spring jacket?  It was my other tribute to Earth Day yesterday.  While everyone is going pastel mint these days, I think this kelly green makes such a bold statement.  It's currently sold out online but there is a similar one here, on sale at Nordstrom.

Feeling Sentimental

    Today marks 10 years that Kevin and I have been together.  We have no big plans to celebrate it because our wedding anniversary has of course replaced our dating anniversary in importance, but it's still a landmark that deems mentioning.  To commemorate it, I thought I'd share few pictures from our wedding anniversary trip this past December.  We went up to Stowe, Vermont for a weekend ski trip and stayed at the beautiful Stowe Mountain Lodge. 

     {View from our hotel room}

    
     Of course, while we were there, we had to stop by the Ben and Jerry's Factory for a tour.  Please excuse the grainy cell phone photos.

{Left: Ben and Jerry's Factory Menu. We chose the Butterscotch test batch.

Right: Me with our gigantic cookie sundae. It was amazing!}

    This was our second (or cotton) anniversary.  Technically we had just bought a brand new mattress as a big cotton gift to each other, but I still wanted to do something special since we wouldn't be exchanging gifts the traditional way.  So to go along with the theme, I brought along some cotton candy (surprisingly hard to find in the middle of winter) and used it to create some cotton candy champagne cocktails.  I got this idea from Pinterest and in all honesty it wasn't all I thought it would be.  I don't know if I did something wrong or if the champagne wasn't good to begin with or this is just a terrible idea, but I wasn't a huge fan.  They were cute though!

 {Cotton candy champagne}

    I also baked some cotton candy cupcakes and packed them up for the trip.  Keeping these a secret from Kevin was nearly impossible, but it was so worth it.  He so surprised when he saw how I tied them into the cotton theme.  I used the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations line of products, and I was really impressed.  I usually try to make things from scratch, but I was on a time crunch here.  To make these at home, all I did was use boxed vanilla cake mix, stick a piece of cotton candy in the middle of each cupcake when pouring them into the muffin tin, then follow the directions for mixing the cotton candy flavor pack into the icing.  So simple but so delicious. 

 

{Cotton candy cupcakes}

    Happy Friday everyone! 

Tribute to Boston

    My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the attack at the Boston Marathon yesterday.  It obviously hit very close to home, and is only compounded by the fact that today we mourn six years since the tragedy at Virginia Tech.  Our hearts are heavy in this house today, but also filled with hope and love.

 

Buy or DIY: Kitchen Cabinet Edition

   After the floors were changed to a darker hue, the cabinets knew what was coming.  They stuck out like a sore thumb. 

    Their yellow tones just weren't working for us, and luckily we had found an amazing deal on a Rust-oleum Cabinet Transformations Kit at Home Depot as I mentioned here.  But a real dilemma arises in situations like this.  How do you know when to buy versus when to DIY?  

    1) Money
    For us, the decision was easy.  Brand new kitchen cabinets would have cost us $5000 whereas our DIY kit cost us just $30.  Easiest decision ever.

    2) Time
    While DIY cabinets are extremely time consuming, the worst part is really the amount of time that the kitchen is unusable.  I love to cook, so minimizing the amount of time we had to spend out of the kitchen was extremely important to me.  Having new cabinets installed by professionals can also take alot of time but the difference is you end up at the mercy of the installer's schedule rather than your own which as a DIYer at heart, didn't sound that appealing to me.  Last but not least, my time was minimally important here.  Why?  Because Kevin is awesome and told me that he would start the project on a long weekend when I had to work.  While I love DIY, I also love walking into a room and being totally surprised by the reveal, a thrill that do-it-yourselfers often miss out on.

    3) Confidence
    This is piece might be the most important of all.  Obviously, there is always a bit of trial and error with a new project, but if from the get-go you are doubting your ability, you might as well go back to re-evaluate money and time.  Why?  Because you may have to spend them both again.  If you chose to do the project just because it's cheaper and your heart isn't in it, there's a good chance you'll end up paying a professional to re-do it.  That's why all three of these factors have to be evaluated, not just one out of three or two out of three.  We felt pretty confident that we could get this done based on alot of tutorial watching.  Also, the bright yellow cabinets were cramping our style and we were really motivated to get started.  

    The Rust-oleum Kit broke the process down so easily.  Here is a picture from the Rust-oleum site that shows you just what is included in the kit.  

    First, you watch a video tutorial that shows you what you're about to get yourself into.  To prep, we removed all of the hardware, cabinet doors and drawer fronts, put down plastic drop cloths, and taped areas that needed to be protected (ie. the fridge, countertops, and walls).  The prep was time-consuming but is imperative in making sure that the final product comes out flawless.  

    The official step 1 is a liquid deglosser which cleans the cabinets, removes grease and grime, and eliminates sanding from the process.  After that dries, you apply the bond coat (or base color).  We used two coats to get full coverage.

{Kevin touching up on the base coat}

    By this time, I was home from work and wanted to participate in step 3: the decorative glaze.  Kevin was fine with it since it was the part of the project that required a bit of an artistic eye.  Rust-oleum also recommends that only one person participate in this portion to keep the look of the cabinets as consistent as possible.  Below is a picture from their website of our color Rustic and the difference between the base coat step and the optional glaze step.

        Here is the extremely professional set-up that I used to glaze the cabinet fronts.  Yes those are cans and spice jars holding everything up.  I used a foam brush to apply to glaze and the included cotton cloths to rub off enough to achieve the desired effect.

     After the glaze dries, step 4 is to apply the protective top coat.  It is extremely important when working with poly to make long even strokes and to touch things up as little as possible.  Usually when using poly, two coats are better than one to add an extra layer of protection, but strangely enough with this kit I found that a second coat actually made the cabinets look a little cloudy and less shiny.  So I backed off and just did one coat as the instructions stated.  So far they have held up well.  Only time will tell if they will ding or chip easier than traditional cabinet finishes.

    Here is the official before and after shot.  You really can't tell unless you look closely that these cabinets are painted!  We love the finished product.  And more kitchen surprises are still to come!

Adventures in Fish Sauce

   My husband is an alumni of Virginia Tech.  To say he is a big fan is an enormous understatement.  If you haven't been to the south, then you may not know that school spirit is on a whole different level there.  Besides the beautiful campus, amazing sense of community, and insane love of football at Virginia Tech, the food on and around campus is some of the best college fare out there.  

    

    This Christmas I gifted Kevin with the cookbook "A Taste of Virginia Tech" by Gallagher and Schoels and promised to bring some of that VT food right here to Boston for him.  My first crack at the cookbook was a basic Thai dish made in just one pan which is always a plus for me.

{Ingredients. Anytime I can use fresh basil is a bonus}

    This dish included fish sauce, which I have never worked with before.  In fact, it took me some hunting to even find it.  I love making foods from scratch, so I considered making it myself.  Heck, I've made vegetable and chicken broth before, could this really be much different?  The answer is yes-- completely different.  Let's just say as soon as I heard the words "fermenting" and "anchovies" I realized I was out of my league.  So I finally tracked it down in one of our local supermarkets that has a really extensive international selection.  A word of advice: if you've never used fish sauce before, do NOT smell it!  You will not want to use it.  There was a point right after I added it that I thought I had ruined the dish.  With that being said, don't be afraid of it.  Once it blended with the other ingredients, it took this dish from an everyday stirfry to something that tasted much more authentic.

{Simmering away}

    I rarely, if ever, make recipes exactly as printed.  I also hesitate to copy a recipe directly from the book and share it here.  If you hope to duplicate the recipe at home, I highly recommend the book, especially for VT alum that are feeling a little homesick.  For others, it bares a striking resemblance to this recipe from Food and Wine Magazine.  Consider adding red curry paste for even more spice!

{Success!}

One Year Ago Today

    It's been exactly one year since we moved into this place we call home.  So much has changed, and we have so much to look forward to.  Here is picture of us celebrating with a shot right after we closed last year.  Of course I had sweet tea vodka.

    Here's to loving our first place--then, now, and forever.

Visiting Our Nation's Capital

    Because my husband and I grew up in Richmond, going to Washington DC (just two hours north) always feels a bit like going home.  We've become pretty familiar with the city and always love to go, as we have both friends and family that live in the area.

    First stop: Good Stuff Eatery.  As a huge Top Chef fan, I love to visit Spike Mendelsohn's restaurant whenever we are in DC.  This time I enjoyed the Blazin' Barn Burger with pickled daikon, carrots, mint, cilantro, thai basil, and spicy mayo.  Kevin pointed it out knowing that it was filled with things I love (my obsession with herbs runs deep!).  On the side were the Village Fries which are a must.  The rosemary and thyme add so much flavor!  Then last but not least, this place has amazing milkshakes.  The toasted marshmallow milkshake is always a hit with me.  I have plans to try and replicate it at home.  Details on that to follow once the weather warms up!

    The next day we went to The National Harbor with a friend.  This was a new spot that we hadn't checked out before.  It is a really cute area with lots of shops, restaurants, a pier, and play area.  Below is a picture of me and Kevin down by the water.

 

       The following day we took a tour of The US Capitol Building.  We didn't get to see as much as we expected, but The Rotunda is just gorgeous from the inside.  It was surely a preview of some of the beautiful art and architecture that we will be seeing when we visit Europe in the fall.