1)  I recently subscribed to Saveur magazine and the first issue that arrived in my mailbox was all about Neapolitan pizza. Guess which restaurant was highlighted as a must-visit in Naples? Gino Sorbillo, of course.

2)  Loved the New Yorker’s ”Making Money” series feature last week, which was all about NYC’s produce vendors.  Definitely something I’ve always been curious about!

3)  Randomly discovered interior designer, Urban Grace‘s makeover of a common ping-pong table.  I don’t see myself ever owning one, but if I did, I would totally paint it this way.  Classiest ping-pong table ever.

4)  I don’t really read blogs through RSS readers (I prefer to visit the website and get the full design experience)…but since Google Reader is meeting its demise in a few months, I’ve been looking for a quasi-replacement.  Feedly is a great alternative and allows you to import all your current RSS feeds with one click!

5)  If you’re not following Benjamin Hole on Instagram, you’re missing out!  Absolutely breathtaking peeks into the life of an English farmer.

6)  The epitome of summer on one plate (Nicole Franzen photography).

7)  Cannot wait for peaches to arrive at the farmer’s market so I can have an excuse to make this pie again.  Yum!

See Thursday Tidbits on Blogging Over Thyme.

1)  I’m a sucker for anything vintage or retro–and I recently discovered these porcelain ice cream containers from Anthropologie, which totally fit into that look.  Ridiculously overpriced?  Yes, but it would be pretty awesome gift paired with a copy of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams cookbook.

2)  This Spring Quiche with Butternut Squash, Feta, and Peas (from Desserts for Breakfast blog) looks pretty incredible.  All of those ingredients work so well together–definitely reminds me of my favorite locro dish.

3)  This knock-off DIY tablet holder, made from an old cutting board, is pretty genius.  I would probably be lazy and not bother to paint it, but it sounds like a fun, easy project.  Now, I just need to set aside time to do it.

4)  In the last two weeks, I finally got around to making Jim Lahey’s famous no-knead bread!  I’ve made it twice so far and I’m a huge fan (I prefer substituting a half cup of AP flour with whole wheat–it gives it a bit more dimension, but retains that great crust typical of 100% white flour breads, without it being too brittle).  I don’t think it’s as flavorful as my previous go-to boule recipe–but it frees up space in the fridge and is a bit easier to throw together, which I sort of love.

5)  My parents are heading off to California this week to attend my oldest sister’s grad school graduation and we’re cat-sitting their incredibly large, ridiculous, and highly amusing rescue cat, Smokey, while they are gone.  Even though I’m pretty sure Smokey could care less about hanging out with our cat, Max, it’s pretty adorable when I force them to interact with one another.  On a daily basis.

See Thursday Tidbits on Blogging Over Thyme.

And by treats, I mean, recipes that involved a nice dose of creamy and butter.  My favorite!

It also gave me an excuse to go out and buy some fresh flowers–which almost never happens.  I’m that person that literally stands in front of the $3.99 flower bouquets at Trader Joe’s for several minutes during every shopping trip and walks away empty-handed every.time.

The highlight of yesterday’s brunch were definitely these scones!  In the midst of planning, my sister sent me this recipe with the note, “these look right up mom’s alley!”.   They did not disappoint–and I’m sure they will be made many times in the future.

These Figgy Buckwheat Scones–a creation of Kim Boyce–(and discovered through 101 Cookbooks)–were incredibly light, crumby, and flavored with homemade fig jam–which is slathered on the scone dough and rolled up, similarly to cinnamon buns, to create beautiful rings of jam throughout the scone.

The jam is a reduction of syrup-turned-light caramel, to which you add lots of port and red wine, dried black mission figs, star anise, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and allow to reduce down over a low simmer.  This then gets processed in a food processor until it is nice and smooth, at which point you add a small amount of butter, which really takes it over the top.

(Recipe Notes: I used freshly ground buckwheat flour, ground nutmeg, about double the port quantity (and half the wine–simply because that is what I had on hand), and scaled everything to the gram.  My dough only rolled out to a 8 x 12 inch rectangle (with the proper thickness)–which yielded 10 scones).

Even if you don’t feel like making scones, the jam alone is worth the effort!  I’m planning on slathering the leftovers on lots of things.  I prepped the jam and dough on Saturday and simply popped them into the oven on Sunday morning.  Worked perfectly!

To serve along side the scones, I opted for a savory egg dish.  Eggs are a tricky thing to serve to a bunch of people (unless you go scrambled).  After toying with the making either a frittata or quiche, I decided to try these aptly named “Company Eggs” from a recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

Though you can prep the greens up to a day ahead, I decided to do it the morning of–and avoid the whole reheating process–and it didn’t take long.  The first step involves sauteing thinly sliced onion, garlic, and lots of fresh swiss chard.

I ended up grabbing a few large bunches of rainbow chard from the farmer’s market on Saturday, which were very fresh and tender!   If you plan on making this recipe, definitely get about 1.5-2 times the amount of swiss chard that you think you will need…

Just after wilting the chard, you add a nice dose of heavy cream and allow it to reduce almost completely.  To add some brightness, I also added a touch of lemon zest as well!

After spreading out the sauteed chard on the bottom of a baking dish (which doesn’t amount to a lot, but don’t fret, the eggs bulk it up)–you create little wells to which you add your eggs and a modest sprinkling of sharp cheddar cheese. I ended up cooking eight eggs (two per person) total.

This all pops into a 400 degree oven to bake for about 15-18 minutes until the whites are just set.  The yolks aren’t runny, like a normal fried egg, but are very soft and pillow-y.  We all really enjoyed it!  The cream definitely added a little something to the final dish–don’t skip it.

On the side, I tossed together some fresh berries–which included the first batch of farmer’s market strawberries this season.  They were small, flavorful, and juicy.  We ate them all!

Scones, berries, eggs, lots of coffee refills, and ridiculous cat behavior made for a fun morning.

Overall, it ended up being a really fun Mothers’ Day brunch!   And great way to treat my mom for all that she has done for us over the years.  After all, my sisters and I are quite the opinionated bunch and she puts up with quite a lot from us (right, mom?), so it is the least I can do.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

See Mother’s Day Brunch on Blogging Over Thyme.

I’ve been dying to try this recipe ever since I laid eyes on it in last year’s July issue of Food & Wine magazine. And this past Sunday, I finally got around to it. The name itself was what first caught my attention. Fried Shrimp Flatbreads with Spicy Cardamom Sauce. Um…sold.

This was followed by a quick scan of the ingredient list, which intrigued me even more once I saw that the dish included some of my very favorite foods: cardamom, Thai chilies, avocado, mint, lots of garlic, fried shrimp, and pickled onion. A fancy sandwich that requires lots of toppings? My favorite!

The sandwich is actually the brainchild of Baco Mercat, the famous sandwich spot in Los Angeles. Some of my favorite elements of the dish were the two sauces, which balanced each other out very well–a spicy, lemony-garlic sauce spiced with Thai chilies, cumin and cardamom and a mellow, rich creme fraiche sauce flavored with fresh chives, mint and thinned with a touch of buttermilk.

Overall, it was a really fun dish to put together and a nice change in our dinner routine–the fact that it was relatively simple and time friendly gave it extra bonus points. Although I followed the recipe very closely, here are a few suggestions I picked up along the way in case any of you decide to give it a try:

• I have a sneaky suspicion that this recipe was scaled down from a restaurant recipe. Why? Because it called for pureeing the garlic sauce in a blender. Trust me, no blender will be able to do anything with such a small quantity of ingredients. Instead, try mincing the garlic and chilies finely with a knife and blending it all together in a bowl or using a small (3 cup) food processor.
• Add extra chives and mint to the creme fraiche sauce! I think an addition of some lemon zest would be great as well.
• Don’t worry about monitoring the temperature of the frying oil (for this recipe)–shrimp is a relatively easy food to fry as long as you heat your oil properly over medium-high heat, test it (with a small pinch or clump of breadcrumb batter), and don’t overcrowd the pan.
• Pickle your own red onions! It’s quick and easy.

One of my absolute favorite things about the dish was just how vibrant and colorful it was! Perfect for the summer months with a nice glass of cold beer and squeeze of fresh lime.

See Fried Shrimp Flatbreads with Spicy Cardamom Sauce on Blogging Over Thyme.

1)  This Food & Wine article, aptly named “Sustainable Seafood: The Good News” was really interesting.  I’m dying to head to my local Asian supermarket and see if they have Northern Porgy!

2)  I can’t wait to try this Shakshuka recipe from the New York Times Dining section.  Feta, eggs, tomato, peppers, short prep time.  I’m sold.

3)  Speaking of eggs, while making banana bread, I was lucky to get a “twin” double-yolk egg!  Thank you Google for informing me that you have about a 1/1000 chance of getting one of these.

4)  Need to invest in some of these PrintSmitten cards.  In fact, I should probably buy them for every member of my immediately family, since we are all guilty of “hangry” outbursts on quite a regular basis.

5)  If I was more patient and had a random tree stump lying around, I would totally make these DIY Tree Stump Side Tables from A Beautiful Mess blog.

6)  These doughnuts from Top With Cinnamon blog.  Real {fried yeast} donuts will be making an appearance in my kitchen in the near future–and in the mean time, I’ll just stare at these pictures every other day.  And now you will too…

See Tidbits on Blogging Over Thyme.