Pixelated Crumb

As I said last time, since my knee surgery I’ve been pulling my weight around the house by suggesting to Joseph what he can make for me. And when I opened my weekly e-mail from Food52 last weekend, I immediately clicked on their menu suggestions for 4th of July and stopped scrolling when I got to the “Seriously Delicious Ribs.” I was so excited that when I called out to Joseph, well, we’re lucky he didn’t call an ambulance, thinking there was something wrong with my knee.

We were supposed to go to Burlington, VT for 4th of July weekend, including one of my favorite places on earth, the Restaurant at the Inn at Shelburne Farms, to celebrate our second anniversary. Our anniversary was June 19th, but between traveling and people traveling to visit us, we hadn’t had time to properly celebrate. My grandparents lived in Burlington and we used to go every summer so besides being a really nice town, it’s a very nostalgic place for me and I was really looking forward to it. When my doctor’s office called and told me that the doctor could squeeze my surgery in on July 1st, I panicked. I talked it through with Joseph and my boss at work, and finally decided it would be better to just get the surgery over with. I was so sad that it took me a few days to get around to canceling the reservations. Oh well. I’m sure we made someone on the waitlist very happy, and hopefully we’ll still be able to get up there later this summer.

Continue reading

Now that I’ve given you a full overview of all the cocktails I drank while I was visiting Ohio (here, here, here, and don’t forget the DIY Cocktails giveaway!), I thought I would  give you a little snapshot of the rest of my time in Columbus and Athens, OH because it was so much more fun than I thought it would be! After my sister and brother-in-law treated me to a lovely lunch at Rigsby’s Kitchen, they took me to Jeni’s Ice Cream. It. Was. Amazing. If you live anywhere in the Columbus vicinity, you have to check it out. My absolute favorite ice cream place in the world is Toscanini’s in Boston (if you weren’t aware, New Englanders take their ice cream very seriously), but Jeni’s gives them a run for their money.

Jeni’s is a little bit cheaper (you may need a small loan if you go to Tosci’s more than once a month), they make all their stuff from scratch, and they just have a fun, quirky sense of humor (just watch their video on their website). They have a number of standout year-round flavors, and the summer seasonals they were featuring when I was there are spectacular. The Salted Caramel, Buckeye State, and Bourbon Butter Pecan were my favorites of the signature flavors, but they also have some really interesting flavors like Bangkok Peanut. I truly loved all the seasonal flavors that I tried, but my favorites included Rhubarb Cardamom, Rockmill Golden Ale & Apricots, and Brambleberry Crisp. But don’t take my word for it, try them out for yourself! The staff were incredibly friendly and accommodating and I think between my two visits, I tried at least two-thirds of the flavors. Don’t foresee a trip to Columbus anytime soon? I just found out Jeni has a cookbook that just came out and can’t wait to try it out! Continue reading

It’s amazing to me how quickly fall came.  It’s like it was 90 degrees one day, and 50 the next.  I like fall a lot, but I hate how short it is.  But when it cooled off, I was thinking about food (as I very often do, especially when I’m consoling myself over the weather) and about how I can now make pasta (thanks to our wonderful new pasta roller), and I suddenly had this craving for a warm, cozy dish that I haven’t had in years.

Continue reading

Joseph insisted that instead of going out for his birthday, he wanted to make a nice meal at home and break open a bottle of wine that we brought back from our honeymoon in Napa last year.  One of the restaurants that we went to on our honeymoon was Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc (French Laundry wasn’t quite in our budget, not to mention it’s really hard to get reservations) and I gave Joseph Keller’s new cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home for Christmas.  Now, Thomas Keller’s cooking at home isn’t quite what we do at home on an average weekday night (I wish).  In fact, we hadn’t made anything from it yet, although Joseph has found the book to have really helpful tips, for example, how long to let meat rest before serving.  I mostly like to look at all the pretty pictures.

Anyway, while many of the recipes are bit more involved, Joseph found a very simple recipe that he wanted to make and oh my goodness, you need to do yourself a favor and try it in your home right away.  It’s very, very simple, and very, very tasty.  A perfectly caramelized scallop is pure perfection – a sweet little treat from the sea. We served them with roasted broccoli and some rice, threw in a cheese course (Camembert that we brought back from the French airport highrollers that we are), all served with Joseph Phelps’ 2007 Sauvignon Blanc. The result was a meal that tasted so good it felt like we’d spent a small fortune at a great restaurant and the cleanup was pretty minimal so we weren’t left with a mess wishing that we had gone out. Continue reading