Weekend Recap

This weekend was one of those rare ones where we didn't have much going on. Weekends like these always end up being my favorite. My husband had been in Toronto all week, so we decided to go out to dinner on Friday night. (I sacrificed attending the STLWed GNO for this...I swear I'm going to attend one soon!! It looks like so much fun!) Sidney Street has always been one of my favorite restaurants, but it was always reserved for special occasions. It's really not much more expensive than many of our other favorite date spots, but it always seems more special because you have to make a reservation so far in advance. That, and it is just so darn romantic in there. Maybe I'm biased--that's where we ate dinner the night we got engaged.

Here's a pic from that night in November 2006. I love that I had no idea what was going to happen later that evening....

Anyways, recently I discovered the Sidney Street bar area....and now it's getting dangerous. We live pretty close by, so it's no big deal to run by and see if we can't sidle up to one of the bar tables and eat dinner in there. (No reservation necessary.) We've started doing this WAY too often. I can't help it. Have you ever had the piping hot profiteroles with the sweet butter?! The melt in your mouth lobster turnovers?! The sea bass that cuts like butter? Irresistible! On Friday I wasn't starving so I just had the green salad and and order of the honey mustard bacon wrapped shrimp. (And like 3 profiteroles, of course.) Afterwards we went to Sqwires for a delicious chocolate martini for dessert. (Ok, I had the martini while my husband had a beer. How boring.)

Saturday I went to my grandparent's pool for a bit, but the sun wasn't cooperating and I got a little chilly. After returning home and showering we decided to go to the zoo for a little bit. The weather was so wonderful. We had to do something outside. The zoo was great. I hadn't been there yet this year and the animals were very active. Probably because of the nice cool breeze. I love the flamingos and the moneys were especially entertaining. 

Everything was lovely until I saw this...

Seriously? I haven't seen one of these things since the 1980's. Weren't they outlawed or something? The poor little girl was noticeably exhausted and the mother would just give a quick tug of the "leash" any time the little girl stopped for a breath. The kid was young enough that she could have been in a stroller. Very disturbing. 

After the zoo we stopped by the Central West End for a cocktail. (It was early evening by this time...I'm not one of those daytime drinkers. Well...maybe occasionally..) I ordered a mojito at Brennan's and out came the largest one I've ever seen...

Don't worry. I managed to finish it. 

We then returned home to make some dinner. My husband grilled and we relaxed on the patio. The weather was just too incredible to stay inside. 

Sunday we went to church and I took another cooking class with my sister at the Kitchen Conservatory. (I'll save that for another post.) Afterwards we went over to my Mom's for dinner.

All in all, a very relaxing weekend. It was so nice to spend time together. This coming holiday weekend is packed with stuff to do, so it was nice to take some time for ourselves. 

A Sammy Update- You've Got to be Kidding Me.

So I came home at lunch today to see this...

(For those who have already read my previous "Like a Good Neighbor" post...)

That's Sammy's yard with MORE new bags of mulch. I guess his landscaping isn't quite done yet. Oh..and those lovely stepping stones are new too. And see in the background of the picture--that little sprout of a banana plant by the pole? Well that pole is a street sign...and that grass is not part of Sammy's yard. I'm sure then that banana plant grows up to be huge the people trying to maneuver around that corner will none too pleased by the vision obstruction. 

My Favorite Room in the House

Is the bedroom! Oh god...now I sound like one of those guys on MTV Cribs that jumps onto his animal print adorned bed that appears to be up on stilts and proudly proclaims, "This is where the magic happens," which is of course followed by the ginormous flat screen tv that rises out of the floor. That is not what I was getting at. 

What I meant was that the bedroom happens to be the room in the house (appearance wise) that I like the best. It is pretty large given the overall size of the house. It also has a large wall with tons of windows---a real rarity in a house built in the early 1980's. Most of the neighbors have shutters or something the little top windows. Not us, we are those really annoying morning people. We like being awakened by the intense sunshine of a southern exposure bedroom. The 13' vaulted ceiling isn't a bad feature either. (Except when it is time to paint, of course.) Speaking of paint, we  painted the room Sherwin Williams "Lemongrass Green." I think it's an unusual pick and very spa-like. I'll have to find some old pictures of this--before we painted it the room was cranberry red. It looked pretty neat with all the white trim, but the red was just too intense for a bedroom. (IMO)

My other favorite feature from the bedroom is the furniture. The two dressers and armoire are over 100 years old and belonged to my great-grandmother, Anna. (My name sake) They sat gathering dust in my grandma's basement for years until I pulled them out. A little Murphy's oil soap and Voila! I think they look great. The set used to have a sleigh bed to match, but that was lost over the years. I wrought iron substitute just had to do!

Cooking Class

Last week I took my first class at the Kitchen Conservatory. I am calling it my "first" because I already have another one scheduled and I'm sure that won't be the last. They have a huge variety of classes to choose from, but my friend Kristin and I decided on a Tuesday night class called "Pizza de Resistance." Here is the description:

"This hands-on class will certainly not be able to resist the fabulous pizzas from the delightful bread maker Margi Kahn! Learn to make a standard pizza dough, multi-grain dough and a fresh herb dough, then create a mozzarella-parmesan-arugula-prosciutto Mediterranean pizza, leek-scallion-bacon-goat cheese pizza and potato-radicchio-rosemary-gorgonzola "red and white" pizza."

Just reading over that made my mouth water. The class definitely focused on the dough making. (A given since the teacher of the class was an artisan bread maker.) One thing not included in the description that I was thrilled about is that we got to grill the pizza dough rather than bake it. (Although both methods would work.) All 17 people in the class worked together to make the doughs and everyone got to throw their own rolled out pizza dough onto the grill. After that we broke into groups of two and got to top one of the individual pizzas. (Because the class was so large we got to make like 8 different kinds--not just the ones in the description.) Kristin and I chose the leek-scallion-bacon-goat cheese pizza. After we topped the pizza we put it back on the grill for a little while until the cheese melted. 

After all the pizzas were made the class got to sit around a large table a with a glass of wine and sample all of our creations. It was so much fun! There was quite a variety of ages there too. Young and old, male and female. The class was from 6-9 pm. Unfortunately the pizzas were quite a success and I wasn't able to take photos before they were all gone. 

Overall the class was a success and I highly recommend taking one. The Kitchen Conservatory has quite a few selections of both "hands on" and "demonstration" classes for those that don't want to be quite as involved. They also have "Girls Night Out" and "Date Night" classes which sound like a lot of fun. 

www.kitchenconservatory.com

Anniversary Trip to Greece!!!!

I have never been to Europe and Greece has always been my #1 dream destination. We had originally planned on doing the Greece trip for our honeymoon, but with the stress of the wedding and limited vacation days, we decided that it was just going to be too much.  We recently decided that there is no better way to spend our first anniversary!! (Ok, our anniversary is actually September 29th, but the way the flight schedules worked out we have to depart on the 30th, but oh well.)

So...I decided to brag shamelessly and post a few pics of what we are going to see in just a few months in Athens, Santorini and Naxos. I  can't wait!!!!!

Entertaining Meal #1

I really like to experiment with different recipes. On average we only eat at home like 2 or 3 days a week, so it really doesn't feel that draining to make a really nice, new meal on a weeknight. As for the other 4 or 5 days of the week, we usually go out on Friday and Saturdays, over to one of our parents homes on Sundays and there are always one or two weeknights that we just have other things going on. If my husband has to work late there is no way I'm cooking for myself. I just settle for a bag of microwave popcorn. If I'm out and about he will go for a nutritious can of Chef Boyardee raviolis. (The thought of which makes me gag, by the way.)

So, with all of my experimenting my favorite thing is when I find a recipe that would be great for entertaining. If I'm going to have a dinner party of course I want the food to be delicious, but I also want it to be easy enough that I'm not spending the entire night in the kitchen or making a gigantic mess. Often this means that I can do a lot of the prep work before any guests arrive. I'm going to occasionally post recipes (and photos if I've got them) of meals that have got all of the qualities listed above. I've made each of them for company and have yet to disappoint. (Knock on wood.)

Lemon Gnocci with Spinach and Peas

Gourmet - December 2007

The zing of fresh lemons enhances both the peas' sweetmenss and the natural flavor of the spinach. The whole quick, creamy dish is bolstered by soft pillows of potato gnocci. 

Makes 4 servings.

1 cup frozen peas (not thawed)

1/2 c heavy cream

1/4 t dried hot pepper flakes

1 garlic clove, smashed

3 c packed baby spinach

1 t grated lemon zest

1 1/2 t fresh lemon juice

1 lb frozen gnocci

1/4 c grated parmesan

Simmer peas with cream, red pepper flakes, garlic, and 1/4 t salt in a 12-inch heavy skillet, covered, until tender, about 5 minutes. 

Add spinach and cook over medium-low heat, uncovered, stirring, until wilted. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest and juice. Meanwhile, cook gnocci in a pasta pot of boiling salted water according to directions on package. Reserve 1/2 c pasta cooking water, then drain gnocci.

Add gnocci to sauce with cheese and some of the reserved cooking water and stir to coat. This with additional cooking water if necessary. 

OK--I must admit...I have never made this specific tilapia recipe. When I make Parmesan Tilapia I just throw some ingredients into a bowl and spread it on top of the filets. My "recipe" looks a lot like this one though...but I add a little bit of mayo and some white wine to the crust as well.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

Rachael Ray 30-minute meal

3/4 c freshly grated parmesan

2 T paprika

1 T fresh chopped flat leaf parsley

2 t onion  powder

2 t garlic powder

1 t garlic salt

4 tilapia filets

1 lemon, cut into wedges

extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a shallow dish, combine the cheese with paprika and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle the fish with olive oil and dredge in cheese mixture . Place on a foil lined baking sheet and bake until the fish is opaque in the thickest part, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve the fish with lemon wedges.

I also make an easy green salad with balsamic dressing to go with this meal. the yummy gnocci is definitely the star!

Like a Good Neighbor...

We live in a townhouse. One thing that I love about living in a townhouse (and the city in general) is the close proximity to my neighbors. Whether I'm taking out the trash, working in the yard, or enjoying a beer on the patio, a neighbor is always close by. We have a lot of interaction with them and I count many of them among my friends. 

Now that I have gone on about how great my neighbors are...I do have a small complaint. Being that we live in a townhouse, the front yards of each individual house are really close together. The only thing that divides them are the walkways up to the front doors. So....we have this neighbor two doors down. We'll call him Sammy. (Although his real name isn't Sammy, he reminds we looks-wise of a gay Sammy Hagar.) Sammy is a "house husband" who really enjoys working in the yard and gardening. There is only one problem here...he is the world's worst gardener. He goes around the neighborhood looking in yards and gardens for plants that he feels are in need of dividing. (For the non-gardeners like me-- that means that the plants are growing too close together and need to be separated so they can continue to flourish.) When he finds these plants he will actually dig them up and take them to his own yard to plant. Yes, even though it might be for the greater good of the plant, I'm talking about plant theft. The owners of these gardens have no idea what he is doing. 

In addition to plant theft, Sammy also plants these items all over the yard with little rhyme or reason.  Then, in an effort to add to the aesthetics of the yard, he mulches around the plants. One problem here...he just dumps the mulch on top of the grass. This has been going on for quite some time now. Being the city dwellers that we are, I'm not talking about a huge amount of space here. I really do like variety and the day that everyone's yards look identical would be a sad day for me, but there are four townhouses in a row with tidy little yards and gardens...then there's Sammy's. Don't even get me started on the cement lions perched on either side of the door, or the fountain that he pulled out of someone's trash pile...or the random Queen Anne style upholstered chair that was sitting out in his walkway for a week and a half during that rainy deluge known as Spring in St. Louis. 

Oh--And lastly...Sammy tries very hard to be a good neighbor and last summer he started to water all of my plants for me. Very nice and generous, right? Wrong. Sammy prefers to water plants during the heat of the day. By the end of summer my geraniums and begonias looked like fried weedy bits. By watering them at 1 in the afternoon on a sunny, smoldering day in St. Louis he essentially boiled my plants. Luckily, with all of the rain that we've had this year I haven't had to deal with that yet.

Whew! needed to get that off my chest. Thanks for reading. At the top of this post (because I still can't figure out how to make them stay at the bottom) are the pics. The first one is of my yard. Not exactly the Botanical gardens, but I think it looks nice. The other three are samplings from Sammy's yard, Please appreciate how hard these picture were to get as Sammy is usually hanging outside "working in the yard."

Why Start a Blog?

When I first began reading the blogs of several of the women I know "online," I thought that there was no way I would ever start a blog.  I hadn't started reading blogs until after my wedding, when life finally got to slow down a bit. I for one find my life and everyday activities fascinating, but I figured that there was no way other people would find it nearly as interesting. I mean, I love to hang out with friends, cook, entertain, decorate my house and just obsess over little things in general. Who would be interested in that, right? Well, shortly thereafter I became addicted to reading the blogs of other twenty-something women like me that were chronicling their lives as well. I figured, what the heck? If I find other people's activities and opinions this interesting, then maybe, just maybe, other people would feel the same about mine.

Another thing that pushed me over the edge into the "blogosphere" was the idea of creating a journal. I have never kept one and even if I had, my handwriting is absolutely atrocious, so after a few years I probably wouldn't even be able to decipher what I had written. The blogs that I enjoy reading are really like online journals. I think that "Taking a Moment" to write in a blog was similar to writing in a journal. A little bit of self reflection and the process of writing about something that is important to you, (regardless of the "ordinary" subject matter) is a great thing for anyone to do.

And  thus..."Taking a Moment" was born. 

Oh...and the obligatory photo to make this post a little more interesting. This one was taken on our honeymoon in Sonoma wine country. Would anyone like to tell me why the photos I add only appear at the top of the page when I try to put them at the bottom? Thanks!