this happened. file under beverages.

i'm taking a break from all things wedding to share what happened of the weekend.
it was a good weekend.

saturday night i talked G into taking me to a movie, like a real date night! we headed out a bit early to seek out a powerball ticket (don't ask). sadly, we missed the 8pm drawing cut off. so, we went to bailey's taproom for a pint. i had a pint of Burnside Berlinerweisse. it was light, citrus-y and refreshing. i could drink it all summer. G had Sierra Nevada Ovila Dubbel. it was dark, he liked it.

we had some time to kill before the movie so we stopped for a drink at The Zeus Cafe, a new spot across the street from our apartment that is quickly becoming our local. don't get me started on why we no longer go to clyde common...... i digress. at Zeus's i had a lavender mojito. i asked for a cocktail low in alcohol and the lovely bartender came up with the lavender mocktail pictured below. it was actually quite nice!

we saw Conan O'brien Can't Stop at Livingroom Theaters, a great theater with food, drinks, and big comfy seats. i would highly recommend seeing Can't Stop. It's very funny, as it should be, it's Conan O'Brien after all.

sunday night i had a killer craving for a milkshake. thankfully G not only tolerates my ice cream habit, but enables me (within reason). we went to The Original for my fix. I had my favorite - chocolate malt, and G had wait for it....wait for it....BOURBON BACON MAPLE. yes, a milkshake. no words.

so basically what happened was we had two date nights. two. how lucky am i?

back to wedding stuff.

pulling the wedding card

yup, i'm doing it.

i'm pulling the 'holy sh*t it's 24 days to the wedding and i'm way too busy to blog' card. 

there it is.

sorry.

be back soon.

promise.

till then check out this awesome site. 

4th of july 2011

we went over to our friends the kramers to celebrated america day. george and i had our garb on, him a USA mens soccer kit and i wore my america shorts. red, white and blue shorts i had gotten at anthropologie years ago, i only wear them once a year and it's on america day.

i decided that i would make a cake, aside from beer, burgers and hot dogs, what better way to celebrate independence than cake?! well, there is this.

i decided to give this a shot. it was actually pretty easy, the assembly of the 3 colored cakes wasn't that bad once i had a visual idea of what i was cutting. the only thing i would have changed would have been the cake recipe, the one i used was on the dry side and it was very crummy. i was low on vanilla extract so i used more almond, i think it tasted pretty good.

thanks iphone

here is a visual on how to cut the layers. i had a 4 inch round cutter that i used, make it super easy.

white cake recipe
adapted from here

makes 2, 8 or 9 inch round (double the recipe for flag cake). all ingredients should be at room temperature.

8 table­spoons (1 stick) unsalted but­ter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 table­spoon bak­ing powder
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 tea­spoon salt
1 tea­spoons vanilla extract
2 tea­spoon almond extract
5 large egg whites
2 3/4 cup cake flour
1 cup milk

pre­heat oven to 350 degrees F. pre­pare cake pans, set aside.
combine the flour, salt, baking powder in a separate bowl.
In a mix­ing bowl, cream together the but­ter and short­en­ing until incor­po­rated and light in color. add the sugar slowly and continue to mix until light in color and fluffy. add fla­vor­ings. add the egg whites, one at a time, it should be light and fluffy by this time.

incorporate the flour and alternating with the milk, add about 1/3 of the flour, and then 1/3 of the milk. continue like this ending with the flour.

divide the batter into 3 bowls. add red food coloring to one, blue to the other and leave one white. you may need a lot of red to get the right color, sometimes a tiny bit of black can help achieve this. pour into prepared cake pans and bake for 25-30 min, depending on your oven. you will probably have some batter left over. no biggie, make a few cup cakes.

when done, let cool 10 min­utes on a rack. remove from pans and fin­ish cool­ing on a rack. when com­pletely cooled, wrap in plas­tic wrap and store flat in fridge.

cream cheese frosting
3 (8oz) pack of cream cheese or neufchatel
1 stick (4oz) softened unsalted butter
2-3 cups powdered sugar depending on sweetness and consistency you want

cream the cream cheese and butter until combined. Gradually add in the powdered sugar until the desired consistency/sweetness is reached.

can be kept covered in fridge for 1 week.

saturday farmers market

yesterday we woke up to gorgeous clear skies and warm sun. it was welcomed and needed in my book. we took a stroll to the PSU Farmers Market to pick up provisions for the week. thankfully we live within walking distance to this great market. every saturday (except for a few winter months) the market is filled with local seasonal produce and tasty food. you can get everything from flowers to baked goods to fried chicken on a biscuit. we brought home yak and boar sausage, grass fed hangar steak, ground elk sausage, huge artichokes, walla wall sweet onions (!!!), dill, fresh caught coho salmon, new potatoes, carrots, blond morel mushrooms, wonderfully sweet strawberries and raspberries. we ate almost all the raspberries before we made it home!

artichoke and cotija cheese tamale from salvador molly's

olympic provisions stand. picked up some saucisson d'alace

lot's of performers, one had a sign that read "cash and produce tips accepted" 

the farmers market is near the Portland Art Museum which has an exhibit on classic cars going on. they had blocked off the street to showcase quite a lot of cars. these were my favorites.

with the sun shining so bright and it being so warm out, we decided to enjoy a few cocktails on our 'veranda'. G was playing bartender and a very good one at that. i made a batch of vanilla simple syrup for the cocktails. the hint of vanilla was unexpected but not too sweet. it was wonderful in the mojito. plus it will be very tasty in soda water later on in the week.

raspberry mojitos

improved cucumber vodka gimlet

we were in need of a few ingredients for the cocktails, so G went out and came back with not only everything on the list but this as well!

amazing fried chicken and biscuit from flogenes home cookin

vanilla simple syrup
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup h20
1/2 vanilla bean scraped

combine all ingredients into a small sauce pan. bring to a boil. heat until all the sugar has disolved. remove from heat and let cool. remove vanilla bean. it can be kept in the fridge for a week or two.

till next time,
amanda

summer pops

we are still in what LA'ers call 'june gloom'. dark, not so warm, rainy, yuckiness. boo.

i keep seeing recipes for popsicles and boy does it make me want to try some. only problem is that i don't have an popsicle maker, posh or otherwise and our freezer is pretty tiny. until one of the two variables change, i will swoon over recipes like these.

via

via

via

via

i hope it's sunny where you are.

till next time,
amanda

daydreaming on a rainy day

the weather this weekend made it feel like summer was here to stay, but when we woke up (super*) early this morning it was raining. ugh. i'm SO ready for some sun. being a colorado girl, growing up in a state that gets more sun in a year than california, the pacific northwest is a bit of a challenge. i just keep looking for the light, the light at the end of the bad weather tunnel. i know summer is coming. it has to, right? right?

on the stereo: the new pornographers

lunch: smashed avocado on toast.

last night we made this for supper.

daydreaming about:
i'd really like to go to a drive-in movie. there is one nearby after all.

next year i'd really like to take my wellies to Glastonbury.

after the wedding, i'd really like to make these. don't they sound/look amazing! do they really belong on that blog though?

this might be a really good way to incorporate a 'man cave' into our future home.

maybe i should do this with my spoon collection (but maybe only to the ugly conquests)

till next time,
amanda

*G had a 6am flight this morning and yes, i am the resident taxi driver.

friday = pizza night

when i was growing up friday was not pizza night. apparently in g's house it was. now i'm not saying we never had pizza growing up, we did, we ate a lot of pizza, lots of homemade pizza! we always had "make your own pizza" parties and my mom made her dough from scratch! in g's house, pizza friday meant going out for pizza. so i guess we've combined the best of both our childhoods into our very own pizza fridays.

to be honest, there has been a lot of pizza fridays in our house, on tuesdays, wednesdays, thursdays.....i pick up pre-made dough at whole paycheck whenever i walk down that aisle with the intention of making rolls or garlic bread, but it always turns into pizza. tuesday last week is was shrimp with broccoli and white sauce. white sauce being garlic, butter and olive oil.

i really need to work on my iphone pictures

friday night we decided to make a calzone instead of a pizza. spicy pork sausage, mushrooms, fresh ricotta, mozzarella and tomato sauce. serve with extra tomato sauce on the side. and it was amazing.

fresh out of the oven

ooey gooey yummy

g is excited

the next morning, i used the left over sausage, mushrooms, asparagus (from the blue cheese risotto) and soft polenta (from last weekends breakfast) to make a quick breakfast. i fried the eggs instead of poaching, i just wasn't in the mood to deal with all that when frying is so quick.

creamy polenta with sausage, mushrooms, asparagus and fried egg

i don't have any recipes because these meals were all pulled out of my arse. basically, you need pre-made pizza dough*, pick your sauce - red or white, pick your toppings, bake in a REALLY hot oven** for about 10-15 minutes, open up some wine and enjoy with your honey. easy peasy.

as for the breakfast - any veggie tastes good when its paired with pork sausage and a runny egg.


*whole foods generally always has it in stock, its in the prepared meals section, if you're lucky they will have whole wheat dough too

**ours only goes up to 475 before it sets off the smoke alarm. awesome.

early birthday celebration and simple roast chicken

on wednesday our lovely seattle friend ms july stopped in on her way to spend the summer in SF with her fiance. not only did we want to make her an amazing meal that would fuel her solo road trip that she was taking the next day, but also because july is her birth month!

we started with roasted garlic, butter cheese and truffle salt crostini. popped open a bottle of bubbly, of course. (sorry, no pictures of this guy but you may remember these.)

the main was thomas keller's simple roast chicken with rogue creamery oregon blue and asparagus risotto

iphone picture by july

for dessert we had strawberry shortcake with fresh whipped cream. the california strawberries have been AMAZING! so sweet and ripe. i've eaten a pint a day for the past week. thank goodness they aren't super spendy, i'm not sure could stop eating them.

iphone picture by july

we always have a wonderful time when ms july comes to visit. it's always bittersweet when she leaves. and to be honest, i was a bit envious of her solo road trip, i wish i could have joined her. i do love a good road trip.


recipes:
roasted garlic for the crostini:
cut off 1/4/ to 1/2 of the cloves of 2 or 3 heads of garlic. you want all of the cloves showing.
place on a sheet of foil, drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.
scrunch up the foil and create a seal.
bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 min until the cloves are golden brown and soft.

blue cheese and asparagus risotto:
3 cups homemade or canned chicken stock - heated
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion finely diced
1/2 cup dry white wine (or dry vermouth)
1 cup arborio rice
1 medium wedge blue cheese (about 1/2 cup, give or take)
1 bunch pencil asparagus cut into 1/4 inch discs
salt & pepper

in a heavy bottomed sauce pan or skillet, heat the butter over medium heat, add the onion and sauté till soft. add the rice and stir with a wooden spoon until all the butter is absorbed and the rice starts to toast just a little.

add the wine (or vermouth) and stir until completely absorbed. add a ladle of heated stock and stir until all the stock is absorbed into the rice. continue this process until the rice is creamy and has just a little bite to it (like pasta cooked al dente). should take about 20 minutes.

stir in the asparagus, cook for about 1-2 minutes. add the cheese, stir until completely melted into the rice. season well with salt and pepper. serve hot.

thomas keller's simple roast chicken
watch this

rolled biscuits for strawberry shortcake:
adapted from the joy of cooking
1 3/4 cups AP flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
6 tablespoons cold butter cut into small cubes
2/3 to 3/4 cup milk (i used 1%)

preheat oven to 450.
combine flour, salt, sugar and baking power. add butter. cut shortening into dry ingredients with a pastry blender, 2 knives or your hands until the mixture is of the consistency of coarse corn meal. make a well in the center, add the milk, (i start with half the amount and add more if the dough is looking dry) stir until the dough is almost free from the sids of the bowl. this should only take less than a minute.
turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. knead gently for about 1/2 minute. form the dough into a disc shape into desired thickness - about 1.5 inches. using a biscuit cutter or similar, cut out desired amount of biscuits. place on a baking sheet*, brush with melted butter or milk. sprinkle with sugar if you'd like. bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

*the joy of cooking says bake on a non-greased baking sheet, but some of my biscuits stuck. next time i will lightly grease the baking sheet.

portlandia

the portlandia statue

last saturday (the 18th) it was g and i's 1 year in portland (i'm over calling him the mr. btw). it snuck up on us but we didn't let it go by without celebration, we headed to whole paycheck and picked up a huge bone-in rib-eye steak. we cooked it up on the rooftop grill (g cooked it to perfection) and we served it with grilled zucchini and roasted sweet potatoes and a lovely yoakim bridge cuvee. heaven.

happy 1st year!

cats in bars

i have always loved a baby in a bar. a preggo lady in a bar. and now cats in bars.

of course i'm not talking about dance clubs, smoke filled grossness or casinos. but good old dive bars and pubs.

image via http://www.martijnsavenije.nl/

image via http://www.martijnsavenije.nl/

image via http://www.martijnsavenije.nl/

this guy knows what i'm talking about.

canned salad - if that makes sense

i've been craving protein the past few days and with not a whole lot in the fridge canned tuna has been on the menu. the other day i made classic tuna salad (mayo, capers and onion) but today i wanted something different. here is what i came up with, a canned salad of sorts.

1 can cannellini beans - drained and rinsed
1 can artichoke hearts - drained and diced
1 can albacore tuna - water packed - drained and flaked with a fork before adding to the bowl
2 green onions sliced
juice of half a lemon or to taste
about 1-2 tbs good olive oil - depending on taste
lots of salt and pepper

mix all together, season and taste, adjust and serve on a bed of undressed mixed greens. a big chunk of olive oil'd toasted bread would work nicely with this too. could easily serve 4 for a light lunch or 2 for a big lunch.

*the acid of the lemon was needed and welcomed, but it might have benefited from some spice too, perhaps red chili flakes?

oh! it also seems that spring has finally arrived in portland! yippie! yesterday it rained on and off all day and then got chilly at night, but when figgy woke me up at 5:30 am (damn cat) the sun was shinning bright! its been a bit cloudy today, but it's warm out! i went for a run along the willamette river in SHORTS! this also means i am more than ready for more strawberries, peaches and tomatoes!!

till next time,
amanda

meet figgy.

also known as mrs figglesworth, the figgster, booboo, snuggles, snugs, mccuddlebutt, and occasionally, jerk.

december 2009, i asked mr if we could get a kitten. he thought about it. we discussed where we would put the litter box in our small sf apt. he thought about it some more. yes was his answer. we purchased a little box and all the fixins to bring home a kitty.

january 4th 2010, we went to Pets Unlimited on Fillmore to adopt a kitty. sadly they were not open on tuesdays. lame.

january 5th, we went to the sfspca and met so many beautiful kittens that needed homes. there was an adorable black and white long hair but short in spots male. very playful and out going. there was a brother sister duo that were white with hints of siamese. and then we came across an orange and white striped kitty sharing a room with a creamy light brown seal point siamese that was hiding in the corner, too scared to come out.

we coaxed her out with a toy, picked her up and fell in love. mr and i knew we had found our new baby. her name was figgy. true love was in the form of a light brown blue crossed eyed kitten.

the sfspca had told us that figgy was a rescue kitten from berkeley. she was born on october 22nd 2009. she was what they call "a cherry blossom" kitten, meaning that she was very shy, quiet and needed a lot of patience and love. they instructed us to keep her in a small room, like the bathroom, to let her get familier with the space, then let her into another small room, and so on until she was comfortable with the entire apartment. given that our apartment wasn't very large, it didn't take very long for her to feel at home.

when we moved up to portland we packed up the 2 seater BMW with 7 cases of wine, my bike, the airbed, our clothes and the cat.

figgy wasn't so happy being in her crate. so not happy. we decided to let her out and let her do her thing. she sat in the middle of us for a little bit. then she'd sit in my lap. toward the end of the trip she found herself a little space in the back and slept all the way to our new home.

she was the best damn traveling cat we could ask for. we even went through in-n-out drive thru (last in-n-out before you leave CA is in redding. just so you know).

till next time,
amanda

weekend recap

once again portland has fallen under grey wet skies. i am trying to tell myself that i am okay with it, even though i desperately need summer to hurry up and get here.

the mr came home friday from his 9 day biz trip. it's always nice to have some time by myself but 9 days is a little too long. there are only so many romantic comedies and british tv series one can watch on her own without going a little stir crazy.

a few things happened over the weekend:
on satuday baby jack turned 1! we ate burgers and chocolate cupcakes to celebrate his pretty eventful 1st year.

the first time i met jack 1 year ago. he is such a dream.

we went to a portland timbers vs colorado rapids game satuday night. sad to report the timbers lost 1-0. i blame the unfit official and his lazy foul calls just so he wouldn't have to run the pitch. lame.

sunday morning i made creamy polenta with soyrizo, sauteed spinach and topped with a poached egg. i have been trying to get the mr to try textured soy protein (tofu dogs, ground soy for tacos, etc) and i snuck in the soyrizo while he was busy doing school work in the office  bedroom. thankfully he didn't even question that is wasn't chorizo and didn't turn his nose up when i told him what is really was. win!

iced lighthouse coffee - heaven

sunday afternoon i put on a big ol'pot of red meat sauce make with ground veal. had it simmering away for over 4 hours till the meat was just tender enough it would melt in your mouth! tossed it with some goofy looking pasta (radiatori) and topped a dollip of fresh ricotta cheese. another win.

while the sauce was on the stove cooking away i tried to make a dent in my magazine stack and came across this:

it doesn't smell to good and makes me sneeze. a lot.

i came across this in my google reader. these need to be made STAT!

i also found this.

and this.

i fell in love with this look.

i am currently coveting a pair of these

today i woke up to this being a complete jerk.

and this was todays lunch:

tuna salad w/capers and onions. mixed baby greens and olive oil toast

i am trying to get my arse in gear and go for a run. tomorrow. i. will.

till next time,
amanda