Ignore the weather! Channel SPRING!

In an effort to deny that the weather has totally abandoned its spring-like ways, I picked up a bundle of cherry branches from our local flower shop. These guys, which started out as basically bare branches, have slowly burst with blossoms over the past week, in such a lovely, day-brightening spectacle that I felt like I had to share them. You've got to have a little patience, as it take a couple of days for them to open, and initially everyone who walks into your house will question the presence of sticks-in-a-vase. Just ignore them- they've got no vision! 

Another perk to the blossomy branches: They make me feel like I'm living in a photo shoot every time I walk into the apartment. (I guess photographers must love them as much as I do, because you always see them in home design spreads...) Check out a couple hits below:

As Mummy says, this one looks like they took down an entire tree.
What a sacrifice for beauty!

Something to keep in mind when you're building and placing a flower arrangement, especially one with 42" sticks in it: Don't place said fabulous flower arrangement on the center of your dinner table despite how tempting it might be. Instead, position it on a console table, cocktail table, sideboard, or kitchen island. If you don't, you'll find yourself moving it perpetually or talking awkwardly around it whenever you sit down to dinner. The photo below is not a good example of this advice.... : ) 

In addition to having a crick in your neck at the end of a dinner at this table, I think the odds are good you'd hit your head on these branches standing up... A tad precarious, if you ask me. : ) 

A winner emerges!

After completing my rigorous stain test on all three fabrics, a winner emerged. Actually, three winners emerged. It seems that all three indoor-outdoor fabrics were well-equipped to be squirted and smeared with ketchup, spot cleaned with water and air-dried. I'd be hoping this process would eliminate a candidate, making it easier to chose a final option, but no.


(*NOTE FROM THE TRADE: Whenever you're spot cleaning fabric, you should always use FILTERED or BOTTLED water. According to the "experts", tap water has minerals and schmutz that will leave a residue ring once they dry, giving the appearance of a stain that hasn't disappeared. But it's not the ketchup, it's your water!) 

I was down to age-old conundrum most women encounter every time they go shopping for shoes or hand bags. Buy the one I'd like more, or buy the one that was least expensive? I hemmed and hawed, and then said, "F--- It" and bought the one I liked the most (of course--- the expensive one.) I figured this is probably the only time (at least in my foreseeable future) that I'm going to really splurge and have someone else do the upholstery work for me, so I might as well go all-in and get the fabric I really wanted too. God willing this will all end well and I'm going to be thrilled with the outcome and not miss the money for one second. Or I'm going to be sorely disappointed and considerably lighter on cash to show for it. Uggghhhhh. When you actually add it all up, it's A LOT of money. Don't look now.

The good news is that my upholsterer works with the speed-of-lightning, and there's a faint possibility of me getting the chair back early next week, which I'm beyond excited about!

Let's be honest. There's nothing better than making a spontaneous and expensive decision and then getting the immediate gratification of enjoying the results! 

Yes please! 

In the meantime, Mummy has arrived and we're headed up to Fox Ridge for the weekend. Fingers crossed the forecast will take a turn for the freakin'-fabulous, because right now the predictions include rain and possibly a little snow too. What? SNOW? How am I supposed to enslave Mummy into a weekend of garden repair if it's snowing outside. My evil plan for labor in exchange for food may be scuppered... I guess worst-case-scenario, we'll just have to focus on the food. : ) 

Narrowing in on a candidate...

As you may recall, a couple of weeks ago John's incredibly generous aunt donated their weather-worn Eames Lounge Chair and Matching Ottoman to the cause that is our apartment. I've been dating different fabrics, trying to determine the best, most versatile material for the chair, and I think I've narrowed it down to a fist full of options.

I wouldn't say they are obvious candidates, nor are they "true to the history of the design" exactly (at all) but I'm pretty sure any of these fabrics are going to look fantastic with our existing orange and blue oriental rug, and if we decide to bring it into the guest room later on, I'm pretty sure the colors should flow easily into the color scheme I'm thinking for that room too...


Plannin' ahead folks! See it in action! 

In addition to wanting the fabric to look terrific, I've also been hunting for a highly durable fabric that will respond well to spot-cleaning, in case anything gets spilled on the chair. Having washable cushions on our sofa has been an unbelievable blessing (Thanks not only to the dog, but also stains occasionally attributed to a clumsy John or a clumsy me.) Since you can't really machine wash an armchair (or shouldn't), I wanted to make absolutely sure that this material would be easily to clean, in situ.

I've contacted my upholsterer, and he's offered to cut me a particularly good deal on the labor (It's good to have friends in high places!) Now I just have to make my final decision on the fabric, get the materials ordered, and lickity-split, we should have a fabulous, new-to-me, revitalized Eames Lounge Chair on our hands.

I'm particularly loving the one at right because it incorporates the pale blue colors from the sofa pillows and the rug, the beige tones from the sofa upholstery, and enough pattern to hide any unexpected staining as it happens. It's listed as a heavy-duty fabric, so I feel optimistic that this could be a serious contender.

Other options in the running: 

This lovely IKAT pattern, with more navy, less beige, and no blue. The perk to this fabric is it's mega heavy duty, treated with a teflon finish, and is notably cheaper than the fabric above.

I don't actually love it as much as the first possibility, but there is something to be said for the hard-core durability and the more accommodating price point.

But then something to take into account... considering I'm paying for the cost of professional reupholstering, it doesn't really make solid economic sense to use a less expensive fabric that I like less, just to save a couple of dollars.

Another option I liked, but I think I like less for all the same reasons... Robert Allen's High Performance fabric called Tami Nadu in Sapphire. This material would actually survive a nuclear holocaust. That's what it says on the label "WILL SURVIVE NUCLEAR MELT-DOWN." Also intended for indoor/outdoor/commercial applications, treated with a stain repellant, and made from a material I've never even heard of before (100% Bella-Dura Olefin...)


Even as I'm typing it, I think it's clear I've made my decision aesthetically, but before I make my decision permanently, I am going to do one more act of due-diligence. I'm going to run all three pieces through a couple of stain-test-trials, just to see how they hold up when subjected to various substances and the water used to clean them. I should have final results tomorrow, and then I'm ordering the fabric for this bad boy!

Very exciting! 

Spring Blooms in Brooklyn!

Inspired by the beautiful spring weather and some impending out-of-town visitors, I went on a planting spree in Brooklyn this past week. I'm especially chuffed with a little indoor arrangement I created for the kitchen, so much so that I was prompted to write about it. I picked up some cheap little ranunculus at Home Depot ($3.97 a pop) and potted them in a lovely ceramic basket we received ages ago as a wedding present from John's grandmother Babbi. (Thanks again Babbi!)

Not to boast, but our ceramic basket came from Tiffany & Co. (Does it go without saying that this is the only thing from Tiffany's in this apartment?) however, I found a bunch of fantastic, far more affordable alternatives online. The ones shown at right are from Jayson Home and William Sonoma Home (top to bottom).

As demonstrated by the folks at WS Home, this is  the accessory that keeps on giving, as you can also use it as a bread basket when it isn't acting as a planter. I think there is something fun and playful about putting planted flowers into this "abstracted basket" which gives it a little more panache than just an ordinary wicker basket.

The process was a simple one... I lined my basket with a couple layers of tin foil to keep the soil and water from leaking out, stuck those bad boys (my ranunculus) in, filled in a little extra soil where needed, and ba-da-bing, I had a flower arrangement that looked like far more than the $16.00 invested, and which will hopefully keep blooming for a couple of weeks...

What's not to like?

Hope you're all enjoying a springy weekend too...

Even slower, even more cooked pulled pork.

I was originally considering seeking a new job working for a company that manufacturers slow-cookers. I was sure that once the people at Cuisinart or KitchenAid read my rave reviews and lengthy testimonials, they would see that I would be an indisputably valuable addition to their staff, and they'd hire me on the spot. I'd get to loads of slow cooking, and hopefully be plied with free appliances in lieu of payment. However, while doing a google-image search for Cuisinart Slow-Cookers, I discovered the image above, actually from their website. I realized, dreams dashed, that I am not the domesticated lass Cuisinart is seeking, nor does John resemble the mindless fellow supposedly helping her cook. I mean seriously-- doesn't that picture look like it's from Betty Crocker's Cookbook, circa 1956? Oh well... I guess I'll just have to keep my day job. : )

This past weekend, in exchange for Julia's blood, sweat, and tears (mostly sweat to be honest...) John churned up another slow-cooked pulled pork recipe. This was a new recipe he found online, and once he finished cooking it, he proclaimed that it was "Far superior to every other recipe we've tried." This was confirmed after we devoured every last morsel, first for dinner and then again as lunch, in the form of pulled pork sandwiches on toasted sesame rolls with red cabbage salad as a slaw. This was ludicrous. There is no better way to say it. It was the perfect balance of tart and sweet (vinegar vs. brown sugar and molasses) the perfect balance of crunchy and chewy (crisp red cabbage vs. tender melt-in-your-mouth meat) and the perfect balance of healthy and guilty (lying... pretty sure this is all bad for you.)

John's Latest & Greatest Texan Pulled Pork (via AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 (4 pound) pork shoulder roast
• 1 cup barbecue sauce (*We highly recommend Bull's Eye Original BBQ sauce. Well regarded by chefs far and wide. We know one chef who used to skip homemade sauce in favor of serving this BBQ sauce whenever he catered summer events. But that's just our secret.)
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon chili powder (*John said to skip this, but to each their own...)
• 1 extra large onion, chopped
• 2 large cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme (*He also nixed this out of the recipe.)
• 8 hamburger buns, split
• 
  

Directions: (John combined two different sets of directions to create these 3 simple steps for the ultimate pulled pork recipe.)

1. Pour the vegetable oil into the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the pork roast into the slow cooker; pour in the  apple cider vinegar, and chicken broth. Stir in the brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, onion, garlic, and thyme. Cover and cook on low until the roast shreds easily with a fork, 10 to 12 hours.
2. Remove the roast from the slow cooker, and shred the meat using two forks. Strain off all of the fat and liquid. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker, and add the barbecue sauce . Cook for another 5 hours on low. 
3. Spread the inside of both halves of hamburger buns with butter. Toast the buns, butter side down, in a skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Spoon pork into the toasted buns.

Spring Arrives in Fox Ridge!

The first of the crocus have begun to poke their lovely heads from the earth this weekend, thus announcing the official start of Spring at Fox Ridge! 

With this announcement comes the guilt-inducing realization that it's probably time to take down the Christmas garland from the picket fence out front, pull down the Christmas lights strung across the house, and start tackling the wildly-neglected flower beds that were left to their own devices last fall... Let's not even talk about the leaves that still need to be raked. (Note to self: Don't go out of town for three weeks in late September when you should be getting the garden ready for winter. You will have to face the consequences, soggier and worse for wear, in the spring.) Lesson learned folks-- and we've got a lot of clean up ahead of us...

Another motivating factor: the Mother-Figure is coming out to New York for a visit at the end of March, and it would be a perfect time to start getting the garden in tip-top-summer's-a-comin'-shape. Mummy's got a green thumb like I've got blue eyes, so it would be a major waste not to put her to work while she's here. This is all the more incentive to get some of the grueling manual labor out of the way, so that she and I can focus on the fun stuff like planting some hardy annuals, cutting back the things I'm not sure if I'm meant to cut back, and getting some new early-bird plants in the ground...

Mummy always says she should lose five pounds when she comes for a visit, since I'm essentially running a weight-loss-work-camp disguised as a country cottage.

Maybe I should start charging visitors a nominal fee, and making a forced "exercise" (aka. labor) schedule for their visit?
Monday: SCRAPE WOOD TRIM ON HOUSE
Tuesday: PAINT WOOD TRIM
Wednesday: PAINT PICKET FENCE
Thursday: MOW LAWN AND WEEDING
Friday: CLEAN GUTTERS
Saturday: Rest? For the weak! BACK TO WEEDING!
Sunday: Supervised venture into town... (We can't have anyone trying to make an escape!)

Based on that schedule, everyone should be dropping a good 15 pounds over the course of a few weeks. An interesting new way to earn a living while simultaneously improving our house as well?? Maybe....

Somehow, I managed to con Julia into just such a "vacation" this weekend, and quickly put her to work on the leaves. Note that Julia and I both tackled the leaf raking manually, while John used the "manly" leaf-blower for much of his work session. I'm confident that Julia and I burned off way more of our pulled-pork dinner** than John did, but he looks pretty satisfied with his duties in the photo above. Julia looks less so... : ) 

As usual, we could count on William to pitch in a helping paw.  (Note how his funny buzzed square patch is slowly growing back in, but you can still see the last remnant of a bald spot. )

**We also tested out a new slow-cooked pulled pork recipe this weekend, which we ate in sandwich form with my tried but true red cabbage salad and cuban roasted sweet potatoes. This was a totally ridiculous meal, so check back later this week when I'll include all the details for this new recipe. It's definitely worth a try!! 

Another dinner delight!

On Tuesday night, we had a terrific group of friends over for dinner, to celebrate all sorts of great things.  We're all a hungry bunch, but one friend is a pescaterian, so I wanted to come up with a menu that quenched the appetite of the blood thirsty carnivores without making the fish eater feel like the odd-man-out. 

I turned to my trusty friend "norecipes.com" for inspiration, and latched onto the idea of build-your-own carne asada and marinated shrimp tacos. I also found a tantalizing recipe for Salsa Verde made from tomatillos, which I'd never made before... Very exciting! All of the recipes were pretty straight forward and easy to make, though the marinade for the carne asada required a little bit of planning ahead. (We're talking a couple of hours and you're diamonds...) Let's start with the Salsa Verde recipe, which I followed to a tee. Try not to be daunted by the number of ingredients and instructions included in this posting... Everything was really very easy, and most of the ingredients are duplicates from one recipe to another. Don't be discouraged! If I can do it after work on a Tuesday night, you can too! 

Salse Verde

5 medium tomatillos 
1 medium serrano chili
3 cloves unpeeled garlic
juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 medium onion minced
10 sprigs of cilantro minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt

Peel the husks off the tomatillos and wash thoroughly. Score the bottoms of the tomatillos with a knife. Move the oven rack to the top position and turn on the broiler. Lay down a piece of foil onto the rack and turn up the edges to prevent juices from running off. Place the tomatillos, chili and garlic on the foil and broil until the skins charred. Flip everything over and char the other side. Remove everything from the oven with the foil, being careful not to spill any of the liquid. Remove the core excess char from the tomatillos and mince with a sharp knife. Mince the chili and garlic and add to a bowl with the tomatillos. Add the lime juice, onions and cilantro then salt to taste.

I happen to love making an excessive quantity of condiments whenever we're eating mexican food, so I couldn't resist making my go-to red cabbage salad, and the recipe for this pico de gallo that John found online. I tend to apply a ridiculous-is-more approach to mexican food, but I've been disappointed by how "not mexican" it's often tasted in the past. Neither of these recipes were anything less than delicious however, so hopefully I've turned the corner on lack-luster homemade salsas from here on! 

Pico De Gallo:

• 4 vine-ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 green onions, white and green parts, sliced
• 1 Serrano chile, minced
• 1 handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients together. Toss thoroughly. Let it sit for 15 minutes hour to allow the flavors to marry.

Yield: 2 cups

Now for the details on the main course! My plan for making this meal a pescaterian-friendly endeavor was to use the same marinade for both the beef and shrimp dishes, so everybody was essentially enjoying the same taste sensations in different forms. Very diplomatic, no? Once again, I made this recipe exactly as described, to fabulous results. In fact, John declared this the most successful in-the-apartment-without-a-BBQ steak we've ever made. The shrimp were equally tasty, though prepared slightly differently than the carne asada. I marinated them for much less time-- about 30 minutes-- and then sauteed them in a pan with just a little bit of the marinade to keep them nice and moist. Consult the recipe below, and you too can enjoy a fiesta all your own! 

Carne Asada

makes 8-10 tacos

1 skirt steak or 2 hanger steaks

marinade
juice of 1 limes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1-2 Serrano chillies, minced (to taste)
1 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoons ground coriander seed
1/2 teaspoons Mexican oregano
1/4 teaspoons ground cumin seed
2 teaspoons kosher salt (less if using table salt)
black pepper to taste
1 tablespoons pureed kiwi (optional)

garnish
1/4 cup sweet onions minced
1/4 cup cilantro minced

1 batch of homemade tortillas

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a container with a lid that will fit the meat. Kiwi has a powerful enzyme called actinidin that breaks down protein, making it a great addition to the marinade if you don’t plan on letting the meat marinate overnight. Taste it and add more salt or sugar if needed. It should be relatively salty, but not so salty that it burns your tongue. The sugar is a personal preference thing. If you like it sweeter, add more sugar.

When you’re ready to grill the meat, remove it from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking to allow it to come to room temperature. This helps ensure the Carne Asada will cook evenly. If you’re using a broiler, move the rack to the top position and turn the broiler on high, with a grilling rack on top of a baking sheet. Scrape any excess marinade off the meat and place the meat on the grill. Cook until nicely browned on one side, flip and brown the other side. Skirt steak will cook much faster than hanger steak, so be careful not to overcook it.

Transfer the Carne Asada to a cutting board and let it rest for at least 5 minutes. Use a sharp knife to roughly chop up the meat then add it to a bowl with the sweet onions, cilantro, and any juices that accumulated on the baking sheet or cutting board. Serve the Carne Asada with fresh tortillas and Pico De Gallo. (Or in our case: Serve w/ tortillas, pico de gallo, salsa verde, guacamole, and red cabbage salad.)

Enjoy Folks! Eat Up! 

Busy-Brooklyn-Bees...

We've actually been busy as can be(e) in Brooklyn too... whittling away at our apartment, trying to get every last detail perfected. If you've ever renovated a home yourself, you know that is a laughable goal-- by the time you finish in one room, it's almost time to repaint the rooms you painted before.

Add a rescue dog of boundless energy to this equation, and it's a never ending cycle of psychotic home improvement. It's possible it's another manifestation of personal improvement, but I suppose at least it's more constructive than just reading lots of self-help books, and you end up with a great looking house in the process.


Or at least that's what I tell John every time I propose a grand new idea... 

This latest wave of change was prompted by an inherited Eames lounge chair and ottoman, that I managed to stealthily peer-pressure out of John's (extremely) wonderful aunt Irene. It had been sitting in their family's basement television room for the last couple of years, and a couple of weeks ago, I casually mentioned just how much we'd really love to use the chair in Brooklyn. Remarkably, Irene was heading into Brooklyn the next weekend, and like a real trooper, she threw it into the back of her minivan, and lickity-split! We have a sharp lookin' Eames lounge chair of our very own! (It is a long time dream of mine to own an Eames chair.

If you're not familiar, check out this link to see one in pristine condition.) Next on the to-do list: We've got to decide what fabric we want (aka. can afford) to recover the chair with, and then I'm sending it along to my favorite upholsterer to work his magic. (I know I've done reupholstery projects in the past, but this is a genuine Eames chair, and deserves a "professional's" touch.)

In the meantime, it's sitting tight in its rather worn mustard-green leather, but even as is, I'm loving the new addition! I'm also loving the reconfiguration of the art work that was prompted by the addition of the new chair and ottoman. We shifted over the giant portuguese theatre poster, and then added a couple of other pieces from the ever rotating "Salway-Moskowitz Art Collection".

I think I might be one of the few people who genuinely enjoys moving around their art work. I have no fear of holes in the walls (nothing a little ready-patch can't rectify!) and am always excited to break out favorite pieces that have been cycled temporarily out of circulation. An oldie-but-a-goodie, the sculptural piece John lovingly calls "Sharp Art" has rejoined us under a vintage french poster and a framed salvaged "piece o' taxi" from John's youth. All tremendous additions to any living room gallery! 

The "Sharp Art" is a running joke in our house-- I originally bought it from someone on Craig's List for $40.00, for no real reason that I could explain at the time. It has circulated around our apartment for the last couple of years, and somehow John always manages to bump into it and scratch himself. (Even when it was over the fridge!) I recently saw a similar piece on the 1st Dibs website, after seeing another one featured in Architectural Digest. Apparently it's not just Sharp Art, it's also a "1960's Brutalist Sculpture", and the price tag on the 1st Dibs sculpture was $1,700.00, so that made my (somewhat agressive) impulsive art purchase seem like a particularly good deal! Too bad for John-- it's staying! 

Check back on Wednesday for my latest recipe posting. 

We're having a dinner party tomorrow night and I've promised to cook up something fun and new! Here goes! 

Finally-- Phase Five! (Is it five?)

We spent some of yesterday and today doing the finishing touches in the bathroom at Fox Ridge, and things are really looking spruce. I woke up yesterday morning and reassembled our odds and ends, re-hanging the vintage medicine cabinet, and putting the shower curtain back up.

My faux-ancestors are back in their rightful location above the toilet (they aren't my real relatives, just a pair of very serious looking people in snazzy antique frames that I found at a thrift shop) and my TJMaxx bargain beige-y towels are looking pretty darn sharp.

Things are looking so jazzy, in fact, that we decided to splurge and buy $50.00 worth of new hardware at Lowe's.

New towels bars and a new toilet roll holder were purchased to replace the rickity, scratched (cheap!) stuff that was in the house when we got here, and what a treat! What a surprise! This is another perfect example of spending a little bit of money and getting really big results. If I'd realized how different it would look, I would have gladly spent the money three years ago... Oops! (They say hindsight is 20-20 for a reason, right?)

John even started in on the kitchen ceiling, so hopefully by the end of this weekend, we could officially be finished with this project. Fingers crossed, people, because we are SO OVER THIS PROJECT! : ) Good thing we like each other so much and the results are looking so good, or this process might really have pushed us (me!) over the edge.

I think the moral of this renovation story is that having a good partner in crime is as important as having the right tools or the right ideas. Because if you're going to be in it up to your eyeballs, you might as well have good company while you wade through it.

The perils and perks of home improvement! 

They say patience is a virtue...

...so clearly I am not that virtuous, because I've had just about enough of waiting for the "big reveal" of our bathroom renovation. 


Granted, we have only ourselves to blame as we didn't exactly hunker down and "get-it-done" this weekend. (It's possible John and I focused a fair amount of this weekend on napping and cooking instead of painting...) so once we'd finished priming and painting the bathroom walls and trim, it was time to head back into the city, and everything was still too wet to put back our odds and ends. Oy. Another weekend of tweaking and perfecting awaits us!  


That's not to say that all of this work hasn't been worthwhile. Despite all our groaning, grumbling, and moaning, we're totally thrilled with the outcome so far: we love the new tile floor and think the new paint color is perfect too. The whole thing is feeling incredibly bright and springy-- it kind of gives me hope that winter will end just being in there-- however I think I'd feel even more hopeful if I didn't see a visual to-do-list every time I walked in. Hopefully the last things will be officially ticked off as of next weekend, and then I'm going to settle in for a long, relaxing bath! 


Sadly, while I'm taking said relaxing bath, John's going to be slaving away down in the kitchen, patching the colossal hole in our kitchen ceiling which was created by the leaking toilet from above. 

No rest for the wicked, eh? 

Easy Dinner for Guests!

So obviously Julia and I have become completely reliant on norecipes.com for all of our culinary inspiration, so when I discovered late yesterday afternoon that I would be hosting an impromptu dinner for five, that's straight where I headed. I'm not sure that I've found a site before where the recipes have been so consistently consistent. Julia's Pasta Fazool: winner, Thursday night's Niçoise Salad: major winner, and now another winning recipe! That's a 3-0 batting average. Whoa! I know nothing about baseball, but I think those are strong stats.

It should also be mentioned, this fella is an incredible food photographer! He makes every dish beckon to you. "Cook me....Eat me...Love me...", they say. And then I oblige.

I've been courting many of his Italian-inspired recipes since discovering the website, frequently visiting them just to salivate over the photographs, and contemplate the deliciousness of eating such yummy things. Well, last night the opportunity presented itself and I jumped at the chance to make his Pasta Amatriciana. The recipe was a breeze, and the cook-time isn't long or requiring of much attention, so whether you're having company or just cooking for fam-a-lam, this is a great one to keep on hand. I was actually able to use guanciale since my local fancy-pants cheese store carries it (two different kinds, believe it or not!) but I'm sure that pancetta or bacon would merrily suffice if you can't be sodded to seek out the fancier pork product. 


Here's the scoop on the Pasta Amatriciana: 

Pasta Amatriciana

8.5 ounces (250 g) Guanciale cut into 1/4″ batons
1 medium shallot minced
2 tablespoons finely grated carrot
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup dry white wine
26 ounces (750 g) stewed tomatoes (preferably from San Marzano)
1 ounce (30 g) pecorino romano, finely grated
16 oz spaghetti

Seriously, the guy has a major gift for food photography. Have you ever tried to photograph your food? It usually ends up looking like worms or larva or something wretched...

Heat a saute pan until hot. Add a splash of olive oil along with the guanciale. Fry until the guanciale turns translucent and browned around the edges but do not cook until crispy like you would with bacon (you don’t want to render out all the fat). Transfer the browned guanciale to a plate and set aside.

Drain off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil, and add the shallots, carrots and red peppers. Fry until the shallots are browned (about 3 minutes). Add the wine and continue cooking until it has completely evaporated.

Puree 3/4 of the tomatoes with juices then hand crush the rest. Add the tomatoes into the pan, turn down the heat to medium low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Boil your spaghetti slightly less than what the package directions say (my pasta said 12 minutes, I cooked it for 9) as it will continue to cook after it’s added to the sauce.

Meanwhile, add the guanciale into the sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld.

When the pasta is done, reserve a bit of the pasta liquid in a bowl then drain the pasta. Add the cheese to the sauce, stirring to combine, then toss the pasta with the sauce, adding in pasta liquid as needed to evenly coat the pasta.

So that's the scoop... I pretty much followed the directions verbatim, except that I used extra long fusilli in lieu of spaghetti, which was a tasty but not necessary substitution. Whatever pasta you use, it's going to be devoured... In an effort to offset the nutritional perils of the guanciale, our pasta was served along side a simple arugula salad with the same "master dressing" from Thursday night, and a side of roasted asparagus. Everyone definitely went home full and happy-- the sign of a good dinner party! 

Picking A Paint Color!

Last night we had a bunch of friends over for dinner (menu to be discussed in my next posting), and then after our delicious and delightful dinner, which ended around midnight, we had the steam to hop in the car and zip up to Fox Ridge so that we could wake up here this morning. I tell you-- I am DETERMINED to put this bathroom renovation behind us, come hell or high water, and if that means driving through the foggy hills of New Jersey at 1:00 am, SO BE IT I SAY! (I don't fool around when I've got my mind set on something.)

First thing this morning, I busted out my Benjamin Moore paint wheels and I have already picked out the wall color for the bathroom. It's a perfect match with our existing bath mats, works nicely with the bathroom rug, and I know that I like it, because it is also the color of our three-season porch! 


I'm a big fan of bringing colors from room to room, manifested in many different forms, to link the spaces together. Our stairway is painted this terrific cheerful green (pictured at left), which also reappears on the trim and moldings in our living room, inside the kitchen cabinets, on a bedside table in the guest room, and on a shelf in the master bedroom. And-- that color originated as the trim on the outside of the house! Talk about tying it all together!! I have examples of this all over the house, where a color starts in one room and then reappears room after room, in the form of chair cushions, throw pillows, wall color, or what-nots. I think it gives a sense of continuity to the space-- especially a space as tiny as the house at Fox Ridge-- and makes the house feel like one idea, executed in many different forms, rather than lots of separate, scattered ideas that are linked by proximity alone. File that away folks! Those are the words of a design professional! : ) 

Anyway... back to the task at hand... So, I decided on a color, and now we're going to get cracking getting this bathroom painted. The color: Benjamin Moore's Glade Green. Bright and light so it's good for a teeny-tiny space like our bathroom; with enough color so it has definition against the white tile floor, trim and ceilings; and it looks terrific with both our existing bathmats and our new beige-y towels. The color sample on the Benjamin Moore site makes the color look more muted and muddy than it does on the chip or on the porch, but I have great faith in liking it... You'll just have to wait and see when I finish painting our bathroom! Patience is a virtue! (That I sadly don't possess...)


Onwards people! Onwards!