MY YEAR Started Tuesday Night

NYC part deux

2012-01-26T16:03:00.000-07:00

Well, it took me over a month but here are the rest of my pictures from my trip to NYC. I've been on a real blog drought as of late. I got nothin' to say! But I figured I could at least share some photos. So here you go.

2 of my 3 favorite buildings in NYC

(the Chrysler building is my absolute fav)

checked out the new marimekko store - so many bold colors and patterns

I finally made my way to ABC Carpet & Home - huge store, huge! I came across the cabinet on the left which looked crazy similar to the one I bought off Craigslist for around $200. It's been awhile so I forgot the price but I think the new one was a few thousand $$$'s. I like mine better, especially the price!

ABC's carpet store is across the street from the home department and is full of Madeline Weinrib goodness. I spent a decent amount of time sifting through the sale pile and wondering if I could drag one of her rugs onto the plane. If I found the right rug, believe me I would have made that shit happen.

I had to stop at the new Ladurée.

The macarons might taste the same, but the store wasn't nearly as pretty as the ones in Paris.

I waited in line forever, but it was worth it.

view from the cab ride to the airport, I wish I had a pic of all the santa's I saw on my way to the city

no editing on this photo, just cool natural lighting and a great skyline

I used CameraBag to edit the photos, was playing around with the 2.0 beta version which is FREE

Blog in Review

2012-01-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

I've read a lot of Blog in Review posts this week and I honestly had no intention of doing one but then I checked my "stats" and saw I just passed 20,000 page views! I know that is probably a few hours worth for some of the über popular blogs out there, but I thought it was a pretty big milestone for my little ole blog with a whopping 45 followers (help a girl out, let's make it 50!!!). Here are my top 3 posts according to Blogger:

Our Tiny Basement Bath Remodel

the place where I bought the stencil put pics up on their website, check it!

I'll take that as a compliment - thanks!

The Builder's Special Remodel From Our Last House
I spent all day searching for the damn "before" pic!
We made the best of a bad situation for not a lot of money

Dining Room Before and After

still very much a work in progress

I can't believe I've written over 250 blog entries! It has been just over 2 years so that is not a ton but still, 250!!! I took a look back to remember some of my favorites. I've shared plenty of our house and garden, favorite recipes, detox, my challenges with braised beef, etc. But I'll always be partial to my first post, it was probably the most personal. Some of my other favorites:

The beautification of our front porch.

My weekend with Jillian Michaels.

My first trip to Paris, all 12 hours of it!

All the hard work we did restoring "Bernie's Room".

Becoming reacquainted with my grandparent's china.

Not the most interesting for some, but I enjoyed researching the old City Park fountain.

Our Paris vacation here and here.

Cute pics of Cooper here, here, and here.

thanks so much for reading & encouraging me to keep on writing
goodbye 2011. hello 2012!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T14:15:00.001-07:00

We spent our third NYE at Barolo Grill, and honestly (to our surprise), it wasn't nearly as good as past visits. I've always thought the service and wait staff knowledge at Barolo was some of the best anywhere, but not this time. Not a single person came to ask us how our food was, not once. One waiter practically threw one of the courses down and was walking away before the plate hit the table. The wrong item was brought out for two of my courses, no apology to be found. The owner was walking around talking to many tables around us, but not ours. An acknowledgement of the errors would have went a long way to keeping our opinion of Barolo high.

The wine pairings were unusually small pours, and weren't a great compliment to the food. And while it might be unusual to complain about being served too much food, with 5 courses, the portions should be smaller. I was stuffed before the Secondi Piatti was served. Overall, it was still a good time. It's always fun to get dressed up and go out and there was some very interesting people watching. But I think next year we might be on the hunt for some place new.

my Insalate - spinach salad with pancetta and braised pork belly

Bernie had the roasted beet salad with goat cheese

Bernie really enjoyed his Secondi Piatti - roasted pheasant

I had a wonderful beef tenderloin that was served with

some pretty unappetizing lentils

the Dolce was pretty awesome - espresso cake,

pineapple relish, and a killer salted caramel sauce

very fancy presentation

I got a little behind in my wine pairings…how is that possible?

Did I mention we were sleeping by 11:45? We are so wild.

Happy New Year!!!

Paris Sparkle

2011-12-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

I told you to expect pictures from Paris for the next year or so…I thought these ones were pretty and sparkly as we approach New Year's Eve where everything should be a little sparkly. These pictures were taken of two different repetto stores we just happened upon walking back to the Marais after dinner. So magical!

Christmas Eve Dinner

2011-12-25T22:00:00.001-07:00

We got loads of snow just before Christmas

City Park was gorgeous!

a family friend sent us a centerpiece just in time to set the table

we had dinner on Christmas Eve with our great friends the Trahey's as we do most years

Stefanie and Bernie enjoyed extra large martinis

note Bernie's fugly xmas sweater, his xmas gift last year from Marija

yes, those are kittens

their girls - Grace and Eve - they're getting so big!

my favorite wine, Chateauneuf du Pape, cheese, and charcuterie

dinner was braised boeuf, mashed potatoes, and brussels sprouts

Steve made an incredible salad and Stef made an awesome chocolate cake

I might post the beef recipe later, it wasn't awesome

Cooper had too much fun and passed out by the tree

I think he was drunk

Pinterest Inspiration

2011-12-25T21:04:00.000-07:00

I've been avoiding Pinterest like the plague. But then I saw that people I didn't even know were "pinning" pictures from my blog so I got nosey. I caved. Now I'm on there all the time, yet another computer time suck that I don't need. But there is an upside. I saw this picture of the candles in the fire place and thought, I can do this! I know this isn't a new idea, but until we get our old old old fireplace working, at least there is a little pretty going on in there.

here's our fireplace

I think it turned out pretty good!

It doesn't glow that obnoxious in person I swear

It's my fault, I need some photography lessons

Thanks Pinterest!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Walking Around Denver

2011-12-20T18:47:00.000-07:00

We took a walk a few weeks ago around our hood - City Park South, East High, dog park

Cooper played with joy and abandon

life is ruff

2011-12-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

when I work from home this guy is constantly shoving his

big schnoot under my arm wanting some love

those sweet eyes are pretty hard to resist

New York City

2011-12-10T21:49:00.001-07:00

I spent the week in New York and Connecticut for work which is great because I get to stay with one of my very good friends, Danielle, and her family. She made me green juice every morning and dinner each night and she has the best guest bed of all time. But for some reason her daughter and I weren't seeing eye to eye on a few things. Maybe I took too much of Mom's time. She's 4. They are hard to argue with. But I forget I'm 27 and should know better.

So we went out and got Elf on a Shelf (just learned about it last week, thanks ladies!!!) and things got straightened out in a matter of minutes. It was amazing. Marija called him the KGB of Christmas and she was totally right. Best. Idea. Ever. Reese was in a time out and coincidentally Santa called. He sent the Elf. Help had arrived. Danielle is an awesome pretender. Reese found the Elf. We read the book. We named the Elf. And all was right in the world. She kept one eye on that elf from then on. He was watching.

After a week with too much work and too little sleep I got 9 hours of sleep Friday night! Unheard of. Incredible. Saturday Danielle and I went antique shopping in Connecticut where I had the best pain au chocolate of all time. It was so awesome we just kept making the yum yum noises the entire time.

Afterwards I headed to Manhattan for the weekend to do a little Christmas shopping. I had an early dinner at Café Boulud and it was excellent. The restaurant was fancier than I expected, everyone (but me) was super dressed up. The table next to me was French so it was like being back in Paris.

endive salad - beautiful but the flavors weren't well balanced

did I just say that?

braised beef short ribs (what else did you expect?)

incredible flavors, beautifully presented on a slate board

I didn't like it at all

dessert? why not

molten chocolate cake

they served these warm little donut puff thingies

the subway was packed, this guy was awesome

not gonna lie, I ran and pushed to get into a stuffed car

Bloomingdale's

I'm on the Upper East Side, gotta love Marriott points

p.s. depending on when you read this and whether or not I figured out how to fix it…my blog header may still be fugged up.

Random

2011-12-04T21:05:00.001-07:00

I have so much saved up, but I have had ZERO time to blog. I just made 1k status on United (100,000 miles this year, the highest you can get). That means I've traveled more this year than I ever have in my entire life - 3 trips to Europe. Hawaii. And lots of trips cross country - Virginia, New York, etc. One day I'll finish the posts on our trip to Paris, recent recipes, the finished spare bedroom, etc…but until then, here are a few random things…

my secret Santa gift - a beautiful wreath from Bernie's dad

We had a snow storm this weekend. I dusted off my truck but didn't realize how high the snow was on the hood. I could barely see over it. I did some Dukes of Hazard shit in 4WD to try and shake it but it wouldn't budge.

Our Uncle David sent us Peace Corps shirts all the way from Tonga. Awesome.

I saw these Douchey coasters at Z Gallerie

DIY at Anthro - repurposed light bulbs (it looked prettier in person)

Cooper got a new fur lined hat

Bernie has been drinking giant martinis…you might think it is the perspective of the photo

but you would be wrong, these are the biggest glasses ever

No pictures…but I got a great hounds tooth scarf that makes me look like money,

and jeans that don't give a muffin top and I don't have to hike up. Ever.

All is now right with the world.

That's all for now…off to NYC tomorrow for the week.

Gobble Gobble

2011-11-26T15:49:00.001-07:00

Hopefully everyone had a great Thanksgiving. We spent ours with our friends the Trahey's at their house in Colorado Springs. Food was eaten. Wine was drunk. Fun was had. Gobble gobble.

Save The Harvest!!!

2011-11-12T12:27:00.000-07:00

In addition to Operation Save the Tomatoes!, I went into crazy Save the Harvest! mode this year. I was compelled to save all that I could before the first freeze wiped out our garden which is strange since I eat mostly fresh food and turn up my nose at things in the cupboard and freezer. I still have leftover pesto and tomato sauce from last year for crying out loud. But preserve I must. So here's what I whipped up.

Pesto

I made the same Mario Batali recipe I made last year but this time I used my own garlic and man that shit is strong! Be prepared to smell it on your hands for a week no matter how many times you wash them and no matter what fancy tricks you employ. Pesto takes a crazy amount of basil, luckily I grew a crazy amount of basil. I made a 4x batch - some went in the fridge, some into the freezer. Still haven't eaten any.

Garlic Confit

Food&Wine mag had a French Classics issue and my heart was all a flutter. What better way to use the garlic I grew than with this garlic confit recipe? I'm not sure why I thought it was a good idea to whip this up the morning before an international flight, I guess I'm not happy if I'm not rushing for the plane. I had to bring Bernie in to help peel all the garlic. I cannot wait to try this.

6 heads of garlic, cloves peeled (2 cups)

6 thyme sprigs

3 small bay leaves

3 dried red chiles, such as chiles de arbol

2 cups pure olive oil

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan and simmer over low heat until the garlic is tender but not browned, about 30 minutes. Let cool.

2. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic, herbs and chiles to three 1/2-pint canning jars. Pour the cooking oil on top, seal and refrigerate for up to 4 months.

Spicy Herb Salt

also from the Food&Wine French Classics issue.

use it as an herb rub on meat or mix in with a little butter and Garlic Confit, yum

everyone take note - I used my food processor TWICE this week!!!

1 cup rosemary leaves (1 1/2 ounces)

1 cup thyme leaves and tender stems (1 1/2 ounces)

2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/2 cup coarse sea salt

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

In a food processor or blender, pulse the herbs and garlic until chopped. Add the salt and pulse until finely chopped. Add the crushed red pepper and pulse to blend. Spread the mixture in an even layer on a large rimmed baking sheet and let stand, stirring occasionally, until dried, about 2 days. Transfer the mixture to a jar or manual spice grinder. The herb salt can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 year.

Roasted Tomatoes via David Lebovitz

(keeping with the French theme)

I bagged these and froze them to add to pasta or pizza this winter

Roasted Tomatoes

Tomato Confit

don't know what confit is? yeah, me neither

We are still eating fresh tomatoes although that will be coming to an end soon. I've got one more batch of swiss chard in the fridge. The two basil plants I brought in are hanging in there thank god because I can't live without a lot of basil yet I don't really want to pay $5 for a mini pack at the store. So there you have it - the end of our 2011 garden. It feels like it is paying for itself but who knows.

Versailles

2011-11-06T20:35:00.001-07:00

One of these days I'll get through all of the pictures from our trip to Paris. Here are a few from our day at Versailles. The excess in which these kings lived is unimaginable. We didn't come close to seeing it all even after walking for hours. It rained most of the day but at least our time in the gardens was dry. I can't wait to go back and spend a day just wandering the gardens.

the main gate shot from inside the ministers' courtyard

egg & dart crown molding just like we're doing in our home, très chic

Chapelle Royale

can you imagine living here looking out the windows each day? I die.

every room in this hall was a different colored damask

I guess this makes our dining room très French

the hardware had such detail

and so did the ceilings

a little break for lunch at Angelina's before heading out to the gardens

Fountain of Latona

The Grand Canal

the gardens behind the Grand Trianon

the Grand Trianon was my favorite - those gardens!

and you can't go wrong with pink marble

sometimes I just can't help myself

a bientôt!

Grow Dammit Grow

2011-11-04T11:22:00.000-06:00

As if the update on the North Garden wasn't excitement enough…I present the slightly less exciting, yet still productive, South Garden. The garlic was the big star here. At first I thought maybe it wasn't worth the time and effort but I was way wrong. The quality of home grown garlic is unbelievable. The South edge of our yard gets the least amount of sun so I planted things that can tolerate some shade - green beans, kale, chard, lettuce and basil.

April 18

May 30

July 3

August 1

September 24

We ate beans a whopping one time. Won't be growing those again anytime soon. And as much as I like the idea of planting lettuce to eat whenever we want instead of buying it (and throwing it out half the time) we hardly ate any lettuce. There was something spicy in the seed mixes I used which I didn't like in my green juice. So the lettuce just kind of sat along with the beans. The kale however, just kept on coming. I don't think I've bought any kale, chard, cucumber or basil since at least June. So I had awesome green juice for the last 4 months and it hardly cost me anything. I would fill the entire sink with kale and chard for each batch and my supply never once ran out. I cut the remaining kale and chard before Wednesday's snow which will last me for 5 more green juices. I don't know if juices is even a word, whatever. I'm sad to have to go back to the produce section at the store, it's just not the same. Next year I need to look into getting a cold frame.

If I could grow apples and citrus I would have all the juice ingredients right in my own back yard. What month does one plant apple trees anyway?

Save the Tomatoes!!!

2011-11-02T12:25:00.000-06:00

Operation Save the Tomatoes is finally complete. Supposedly we're going to get our first real freeze tonight and lots of snow tomorrow. I'm sure they've already cancelled school even though there isn't a single flake to be seen (yet). Bernie brought in all the tomatoes he could gather last week when we got our first frost and I grabbed all that was left this afternoon. We had so many green tomatoes and we all know they taste better when they ripen on the vine so I left them out until the last possible second. Last year the tomatoes I had leftover rotted so this year I'm trying something new - I have a 3 phase ripening plan. You heard me.

Phase I - green tomatoes start to ripen on

the sunny yet cool back porch

one last rose tomato was hiding on the vine

Phase II - almost ripe tomatoes head to the

kitchen windowsill which isn't too sunny

Phase III - ripe tomatoes hang out in a dark corner

and wait to be eaten or roasted

It might seem crazy, but so far it's working.

update - looks like operation Save the Tomatoes happened just in time!

we woke up to cold, snow and no power

Ambien Anyone?

2011-10-29T08:37:00.002-06:00

It's been awhile since I've posted about our trip to Paris but consider this fair warning, I still have a lot of pictures to share if I ever get caught up. I dropped a few references to an incident I had at the end of the trip and I promised I would tell all…just took me awhile.

So on our last night in Paris we wandered le Marais looking for a place to eat dinner and stumbled upon the most perfect bistro filled with locals. They were a little off put by our lack of reservations but we were very polite and once we were seated they were very warm and friendly and thankfully spoke excellent English. It was a great last night, pretty uneventful.

I think this was beef tartar

my dinner ended up being a huge side of beef, wasn't my favorite

Bernie loved his dinner - pork with the house specialty whipped potatoes

I would have killed for those potatoes

Now back to the story…we were pretty much packed before we left for dinner. We had an 11am flight and decided that night we would take the metro to the airport so we used our remaining euros to pay for dinner. Cut to the next morning, again, non eventful. Finished packing, had some baguette and preserves for breakfast in the apartment. Minutes away from leaving for the subway I took my thyroid pills. Nothing unusual with that. Or so I thought. Within minutes I was sleeping sitting up in the dining chair. Bernie woke me up and I tried to walk across the apartment and instead fell to the floor. This went on for a little while, I had NO idea what was happening. I was seeing double, I couldn't walk, did I mention we had to leave for the metro in 5 minutes?

Bernie figured it out pretty quick. It seems I did not take my 3 round white thyroid pills, I took 3 round white Ambien. Three. Ambien. Still don't quite understand how this mix-up happened. To cut a very long story a little bit short, Bernie decided it best to continue with our plan of taking the subway to the airport. ????? Well, we didn't have money for the cab but in hindsight a trip to the ATM would have been the smart idea. Or maybe even a trip to the hospital. But no. I remember me and my suitcase walking down the flight of stairs from the apartment. I think I was maybe moving 1mph at the most with not a care in the world. I remember parts of the walk to the first metro station. Did I mention we needed to connect to a second train? Bernie was walking soooo fast! I remember walking down the long flight of stairs to the metro and some nice man offering to "carry" my suitcase as Bernie ran back up the stairs yelling, "NO NO NO NO!!!!" I still think this man might have been nice, but I was like the drunkest person on earth so my judgement was off. Bernie said two other men followed me onto one of the trains not realizing I was with someone and when Bernie got on they jumped off - now that is scary!

Did I mention I was seeing double? Everything was blurry and I had to close one eye just to see. So here I am walking as slow as it gets with one eye shut tight, an easy target. Next thing I remember we were on another train and as the doors closed I knew we were going the wrong direction. Not sure how I knew but I was right. We have to flash forward to standing at the counter at the airport because I don't remember anything between knowing I was on the wrong train until I was talking to the ticket agent. Now, I don't know if I sounded like a wasted person, but I did all the talking since I handle all our travel and have the status on United. We had totally missed our flights at this point. There was another flight available but it was going to be a $500 change fee. I handed the lady my fancy new no foreign transaction fee credit card and luckily for me it doesn't have any numbers on the front of the card so she didn't know what to do with it and instead said, "that's ok, don't worry about it, we'll waive the fee." We got our tickets, made our way to customs and got right on the plane. I think anyway, I don't recall waiting at all and I only remember customs because another woman was balling her eyes out. Lucky for me that they focused on that lady and not me.

Next thing I remember I was eating lunch on the plane. Even had a glass of wine. Everything was metabolized and it was like nothing ever happened. I was no worse for wear. It didn't cost us any money and we got home just a few hours later than planned. Bernie was frustrated beyond belief but whatever, it was a fluke accident. Prior to that morning I had taken exactly 1 Ambien my entire life and comparing the pills when we got home they looked EXACTLY alike. So there you have it, the crazy end of our trip to Paris. It could have been worse. At least we got a good story out of it and I didn't, you know, die or anything.

Grow Dammit Grow

2011-10-23T21:55:00.000-06:00

Wow, I haven't posted anything on our garden in months! It turned out to be a pretty good year albeit much different than last year's garden. I got a late start planting my seeds, Spring was weird, then we had a hail storm that just about ended everything. It seemed to take forever for the tomatoes to grow and then, Whamo! tomatoes everywhere.

Here is a year in review of the "North Garden." Everything did very well except the carrots, we didn't give them the kind of soil they like so we got stumps. But it turns out some of them were supposed to be stumpy and we just didn't know it (Paris Market carrots). The Swiss Chard was incredible and is still going strong. I keep cutting it and it just keeps growing. Makes for great green juice! I kept the tomatoes under better control this year with lots of pruning so people didn't gasp in horror as they walked by our fence. The cucumbers didn't survive our trip to Paris, too much water. I didn't plant any squash this year so our grass was able to recover, you can see from the brown spots how far out into the yard they crawled last year, just two plants.

April 18

May 30

June 5

July 3

August 1

September 24

We got our first frost last week when I was in Amsterdam. Bernie brought in about 100 tomatoes and the remaining tomatoes survived the frost but the plants are pretty much toast. I'm trying to leave them out as long as possible to ripen but snow is coming soon, not that you would know it given the beautiful weekend we just had.

Next up, the South Garden and what two people do to use up the tomatoes from 9 plants….hang on, it's getting crazy up in here!

Beef Stew in Red Wine Sauce

2011-10-10T22:32:00.000-06:00

I have been eyeing this Food and Wine recipe by Jacques Pépin for quite some time. The weather got chilly this week and I figured this was a great time to braise some boeuf. Plus, I love any reason to use my pretty Le Creuset french oven. And I needed something that didn't take too long to prepare because we had friends coming over for dinner and we planned it last minute - some of the braised beef recipes I have tried literally take days to prepare. Days! I used a descent bottle of Pinot Noir for the braise, it is the most important ingredient other than the beef since the sauce depends on the flavor of the red wine.

INGREDIENTS
2 pounds beef from the flatiron part of the shoulder
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Pepper
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon flour
1 bottle of red wine
2 bay leaves
1 sprig fresh thyme
15 cipollini or pearl onions
15 cremini mushrooms
15 baby carrots
5-ounce piece of pancetta
1/4 cup water
Dash of sugar
Chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

1. Buy about 2 pounds of beef from the flatiron part of the shoulder. Remove the skin or sinew from the top. Alternatively, use lean beef chuck in the same manner. Cut the meat into 8 pieces.

2. Preheat the oven to 350°. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a cast-iron pot that is attractive enough for the table. Arrange the meat in one layer in the pot, and season it with salt and pepper. Cook on top of the stove over high heat for about 8 minutes, browning the meat on all sides.

3. Add 1 cup of finely chopped onion and 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic. Cook over moderate heat for an additional 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 1 tablespoon of flour. Mix in well so that the flour doesn't form lumps. Stir in 1 bottle of red wine. Add 2 bay leaves, a sprig of fresh thyme, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir well and cover.

4. Place the pot in the oven and continue to cook for about 1 1/2 hours; the meat should be soft and tender and the liquid properly reduced. The recipe can be prepared to this point up to a day ahead.

5. For the garnishes, peel 15 cipollini or pearl onions, wash 15 cremini mushrooms and peel 15 baby carrots. For the lardons, you will need one 5-ounce piece of pancetta. Bring the pancetta and 2 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan and simmer for about 30 minutes; drain. Cut the pancetta into 1/2-inch slices and then cut the slices into 1-inch-wide lardons.

6. Combine the onions, mushrooms, carrots and pancetta in a skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/4 cup of water and a good dash each of sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes; at this point, there should be practically no water left. Uncover and cook over high heat, sautéing the vegetables until nicely browned on all sides, about 4 minutes.

7. To serve, mix some of the vegetables and lardons into the stew and sprinkle the rest on top as a garnish. Add a little chopped fresh parsley and serve.

Like every good meal I had in Paris, I started eating before I snapped a pic. Look how gorgeous that dish looks! Before the beef we had an awesome salad that our friends whipped up. As for the recipe above, that is Jacques' recipe exactly. I give it 4 stars - easy enough and a rather impressive dish. Very rich. I will definitely make it again.

Here are my tips and things I would do differently next time. First, read the recipe all the way through. Prep the ingredients ahead of time. I typically do both of these things but this time I was in a rush and once you start getting into it things move fast! You need to have your chopped onion and garlic and wine on hand ready to go. It said to cut the beef into 8 pieces, no way! They would have been gigantic. I cut them into very large stew like pieces because you still want the meat to be tender (this does require you cut your meat as you eat the dish). Things get confusing around step 5. I read that part over and over and was still a little confused and ended up missing the part about putting the lardons in with the veggies. Ooops, still turned out yummy.

We went to two stores and couldn't fine the cipollini onions. An ironic twist since last time I made Boeuf Bourguignon I had the onions and forgot to put them in the stew. I just cut up an onion instead.

Next time I think I will try short ribs instead of the flatiron steak. The flatiron turned out tender but it seemed quite lean. The sauce had so much richness but the beef itself wasn't extremely flavorful. I would also cook more veggies as I found the meal to be mostly meat with just a few veggies. Bernie would have liked to see some potatoes in there, not sure how to properly work that in. They call this a stew but really it is beef in the red wine sauce with a few veggies mixed in - more of a knife and fork dish rather than a spoon. Maybe I reduced the sauce too much? Nahhh, it tasted too good to be wrong.

You can find a couple versions of this recipe online, replacing the wine with either Belgian pale ale or dark ale. It would be fun to try the variations and compare.

Bon appéttit!

charcuterie and fromage and vin...Oh My!

2011-09-22T18:57:00.002-06:00

I don't know what Bernie's favorite meals were in Paris, but mine were the simple ones we had in the apartment - charcuterie, fromage, bread and wine from the local shops. It was our very first meal in Paris at a random cafe we happened upon after browsing the menu at a local restaurant recommended in Goop and deciding it wasn't for us. See below, heaven on a cutting board and bistro table is what that is!

The cheese, OMGeeeee. I will search out the small round of gooey goat cheese we had for the rest of my life and will breathe a sigh of relief if I find it state side. The same cute young lady helped us pick out the best French cheeses. I didn't know goat cheese could be so creamy or Brie so stinky. I thought I knew a lot about cheese, I was wrong. Who can think about being vegan when there is beauty like this in the world. (that's not even a question, it's a statement!)

The salami "only in France!" was to die for. But the jambon (ham)…the Italian jambon was better according to the young guy that helped us each day. He was right of course. I was in Anthro today and giggled when I saw a French copy of Green eggs and Ham….Oeufs Vert et Jambon. I can read French!

It was like taking a step back in time and dinner never tasted so good. Funny but I bought the same jar of cornichons (pickles) in Paris that we eat at home but I swear they save the biggest cornichons for France. As for wine we started with a few bottles of Bordeaux and some Crozes-Hermitage before settling in on a relatively inexpensive Chateauneuf du Pape.

Le Fromages (below): the big cheese on the top of the pic stunk up the apartment (Coulommiers). The little round on the left was the best cheese of my life (Pélardon). The oval on the right was thyme infused and was a crowd favorite (Brassie au thym). The pyramid is the famous Valençay - an ash covered goat cheese from the Loire Valley. We've had it before and it tastes so much better than it looks.

seriously, shut the eff up with this cheese, look at that pe'lardon! perfect ooze!

Everyone has asked me what my favorite part of Paris was expecting me to say the Louvre (we didn't go) or Notre-Dame (words can't describe), but my favorite part was really the little things like sitting outside at a café drinking a coffee and watching the world walk buy….albeit a stylish world where everyone is wearing skinny jeans and great shoes.

Four Americans in Paris

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Our good friends Danielle and Boyd spent a couple days with us in Paris. We all went to college together at Michigan Tech and most of us have known each other 20 years! gasp! Boyd is the relative newbie to the group, we've only known him 15 or so. Although we planned our trip to France together we realized early on that we wanted two completely different vacations: Bernie and I stayed put in Paris while our friends started in Amsterdam and then came to Paris for a few days before hitting French wine country and ending up in Monaco and Nice. I most definitely want to hit those places someday! This worked out great because we all got the vacation we wanted AND got to spend time together in France. I could have used another day with them but otherwise it was perfect. Looking at that first picture it kind of looks like we're still in college.

Notre Dame

drinks in St-Germain-des-Prés

breakfast in the Marais

Trocadéro

drinks at les Ombres

dinner at buddha bar

This vacation was great for people, bad for dogs…Cooper had his emergency surgery and one of Danielle and Boyd's pugs ran away. For like a week. He's home safe and sound now and Cooper seems no worse for wear. Happy Endings.

Our New Paintings!

2011-09-17T08:43:00.001-06:00

A little break from all the Paris pictures…

So exciting!!! The big reveal!!! Here are our two new paintings from Michelle Armas for the parlor and guest bedroom. Since these paintings were commissions, here is a little insight into how it all went down. The whole process was exciting and easy breezy. If you want to commission a piece, check out the post So You Want to Commission a Painting on Michelle's blog and also this latest post because she has made a few changes to her policies.

The 3' x 4' painting for our parlor had one revision. With the First Draft, for lack of a better term, my first reaction was - I love it! The colors were perfect. But. But there was a face staring at me in the upper right that reminded me of Wilson from Castaway. I was so conflicted because how do you ask an artist to change their vision? But the more I looked at it the more I knew my crazy brain would zone in on that face every time I looked at it so I asked Michelle if she would change it, and maybe add a little more turquoise if the mood struck. She was completely understanding and totally open to changes.

Parlor Painting First Draft

Final Painting - no more Wilson - perfect!!!!

Just as we were finishing up the parlor painting, I found myself being so drawn to a sold painting called Float Away so I contacted Michelle about a second painting for the guest bedroom that doubles as my dressing room. The First Draft of this 30" x 30" painting was a little cooler than I was looking for so Michelle put that one up for sale and painted an entirely new painting. No changes - it was perfect! I love the blues and pinks and grays and well….everything!

First Draft - looking for more warmth, depth

My new painting - perfect!

Michelle Armas is an Atlanta artist that has been featured on a lot of great sites recently

My Favorite and My Best

(where I first learned of Michelle - thanks MFAMB!)

S&L had a few of Michelle's paintings for sale in their Bazaar last month

I hope you've enjoyed Michelle's work as much as I have

Next up - I'll post some pictures once the paintings are up on the walls

Stay tuned…they should be arriving in less than a week!!!

les Bouquinistes

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Based on a recommendation from Marija, Bernie and I went to dinner at one of Guy Savoy's restaurants when we were in Paris - Les Bouquinistes. Since I wasn't aware of the unofficial rule that Parisians wouldn't be caught dead eating out before 9pm our reservation was a little early and the restaurant was fairly quiet. The service was great and the food was even better. I literally made yummmmm noises with every bite as my eyes rolled back in my head. We drank incredible red wine that was on special by the glass.

Starters

cold cream of sweet peas (Bernie) and stew of spring veggies with chorizo (moi, pictured)

Entrees

Roasted cod fish, braised leeks, sautéed chanterelles mushrooms mussels (monsieur)

Aiguillettes of beef, smoked betteroots and mashed potatoes (madame)

I started eating before I remembered to take a picture

it was the best bernaise sauce I've ever had in my life

Dessert

this chocolate yummy was all mine

Bernie had a foursome of mini desserts with coffee

what we ordered en français

Pont Neuf

all lamp posts should be so beautiful

a meal to remember, so good!

Les Bouquinistes est très bon! Merci!

le Marais

2011-09-14T20:43:00.000-06:00

Thanks to a suggestion by Shaboom when I was in Paris in January, Bernie and I rented an apartment while we were in Paris. Another friend had just stayed in the Marais in the 3rd arrondissement, and I'm all for taking a referral. We ended up staying in two apartments because everything had booked up for our stay. The first apartment was incredible, the second was okay, but still pretty incredible by Paris standards. We loved being right in the middle of a neighborhood away from all those pesky tourists. ahem.

Our apartment was just a short walk to le Marché des Enfants Rouges, the oldest market in Paris. It dates back to 1615 and is called the Market of the Red Children because of the red uniforms worn at the nearby orphanage. Most days we went to a café for breakfast or lunch and then went to all the wonderful little shops around the market. I bought bread, cheese, charcuterie and wine most days in case we wanted to have dinner or a snack in the apartment. The cheese and the salami, OMG so good. Eating in has never tasted so good.

we spent most mornings at La Pierre

overlooking the Square du Temple

drinking café creme

random wall "art", how does one say "WTF?" in French?

Everyone was so friendly. I spoke enough French to get by and when they say they speak "a little" English it is way more than a little. The only grief I got was at the patisserie when I changed my order from 2 to 4 pain au chocolats and then got flustered and reverted to Spanish - "quatro!" Fail. Mostly I didn't even try to speak any English unless I had to ask a question. I must say I loved the politeness and respectfulness of it all.

Paris

2011-09-13T22:10:00.001-06:00

fair warning, you're going to be seeing a LOT of pictures from our trip, and I don't mean just from this post, there will be many more, deal with it. merci.

a few more pics from our first day in Paris spent wandering Ile de la Cité

Notre-Dame

Pont au Change

Pont Neuf - the oldest bridge in Paris and my favorite

the tip of the Ile de la Cité: Square du Vert-Galant and the Pont Neuf

words and pictures can't do this city justice