Our Golden Hour Dinner Party

All the way back in June I decided that one of the things I wanted to do this summer was plan and host a pop-up dinner party. Before that day I didn't even know what a pop-up dinner party was but when I read this post I thought, "You know, I could totally do that!" A few minutes later as I scrolled to the end of the post I thought, "I'm definitely doing that!" and started looking at dates on my calendar.

So many things about this concept–hosting a semi-surprise, fancy dinner party outside with friends–resonated with me. What could be better than eating al fresco, for one? We live in a gorgeous part of the country and I was pretty sure we could find a breathtaking venue. I loved the idea of being in nature but using linen tablecloths and real forks and plates and glasses and cloth napkins. The challenge of coming up with a menu and cooking everything myself excited me. And of course, the most fun part was making everything as beautiful and magical as possible and getting to share that with the people I love. (I just hoped I could pull it off!)

We have such a lovely collection of friends here in Charlottesville. We had four couples at the party, plus us and my baby brother (who took all the photos and was incredibly fun and helpful all day long–couldn't have done it without him). In Oh Happy Day style I sent out this slightly cryptic invitation on Paperless Post a few weeks in advance.

I thought that keeping things sort of secretive would add to the magic of the party. The venue we decided on was a quiet public park with a lake and pretty mountain views. We set up the tables in the shade under a collection of old trees near the small lake. The morning of, we emailed directions that my husband had written out old-school style and told everyone that once they arrived, to look for white tablecloths under some nearby trees.

I spent all day cooking. My brother and husband were a huge help with this. I made only things that would be delicious at room temperature and I wanted everything to be fresh and seasonal and look colorful and beautiful on the table. We had poached salmon with a dijon sauce, brown rice with chives, local tomatoes with olive oil and feta, sliced peaches and blueberries, kale and cabbage salad with a balsamic dressing, baguettes with salted butter, and for dessert, lemon pound cake and raspberries. And rosé, because it's so darn pretty.

As we approached 5ish we loaded up both of our cars with all of the supplies. Two 6-foot folding tables, 11 chairs from around the house, a huge tub of tablecloths/dishes/silverware/serving utensils/glasses, the cooler of wine and sparkling water, a metal bucket with candles/bottle opener/twine/lighter/scissors, two vases of wildflowers, and finally the platters of food wrapped tightly in saran wrap. We stopped on the way for ice. 

One thing that was so incredible: as my husband and brother and I set up it was very hot, humid and buggy. This was around 6-6:30ish. We lit tons of citronella candles and sprayed our legs with bug spray and hoped the heat would subside. As we approached 7, which is when we had told our guests to arrive, the sun crept behind the mountain and it became instantly cooler and perfectly crisp and comfortable and the bugs all but disappeared. It was such a welcome relief and I was really able to relax once this happened!

My brother is an excellent photographer and he snapped most of these in the few minutes we had between taking off the saran wrap from the food and when our guests arrived. The light was golden and exquisite and I think he really captured the magic of the evening.

Our friends were so sweet and excited and I think they all loved the surprise element. They didn't quite know what to expect and I think it's safe to say they were amazed when they arrived. It was a marvelous, enchanting evening and I'm so glad we did it.

I Made The Perfect Margherita Pizza!

I brag about this only because pizza-making does not come easily or naturally to me. I've made many a mediocre pizza so when a good one (no, a divine one) comes out of my oven, I rejoice.

I didn't use a recipe but I did do a bunch of research to come up with this method. The key to this pizza, I think, is two different things that have the same purpose. The first key is to use a very small amount of sauce. I mean less than a quarter cup. Spread it very thinly and evenly and don't use too much! The second key is to use low-moisture whole milk mozzarella. The whole milk part keeps the cheese rich and melty but it won't be so wet that it bogs down the pizza. 

A new revelation for me is to make the sauce from fresh tomatoes. Jarred spaghetti sauce just won't taste like the Margherita pizza you're craving—trust me! Take a few smallish, quite ripe tomatoes (or one medium, or half of a large heirloom) and cut them into wedges. Gently squeeze the excess juice and seeds from the tomatoes. (Save the juice and drink it later. It's delicious.) Then pulse the tomatoes in a food processor with a splash of olive oil and a pinch of salt. Scoop the sauce into a mesh strainer and let the extra liquid drain off for a few minutes.

Spread a very thin layer of sauce on your rolled out dough, between 3 tablespoons and a quarter cup. (I cheat and get my dough for a bargain at Trader Joe's because me and yeast don't get along.) Next add thin layers of sliced mozzarella and lots of freshly cracked pepper. Bake on a pizza stone with a sprinkle of flour between the dough and the stone at the hottest temperature your oven will permit. I bake pizza at 550 degrees.

When it's bubbly and browned, take it out and sprinkle generously with torn, chopped, or whole basil leaves. Then eat, and marvel at the delicious thing you just made!

Trick For Creamier Vinaigrette

I make my own salad dressing by adding a pinch of salt and a dollop of dijon mustard to some vinegar (usually balsamic or champagne) and shaking it all up in a jar with good olive oil. I always add freshly cracked pepper to the greens and often a big squeeze of lemon. Easy, delicious vinaigrette.

Sometimes, though, I crave a creamier, thicker dressing. Last night we had a big kale salad for dinner with cherry tomatoes, diced red onion, walnuts, freshly grated parmesan, mandarin oranges, and spicy crisped chickpeas. (We had fried chicken for lunch, hence, the abundance of superfoods for dinner.) I was thinking about the dressing I wanted to make and the chickpeas lent me a flash of inspiration. Why not add a spoonful of hummus to my salad dressing to give it that creamy texture?!

So I did and it was divine. The subtle chickpea flavor played off the chickpeas in the salad very nicely. The taste of garlic and tahini were welcome additions to the vinegar and mustard and most importantly, it was rich and creamy without being heavy or unwholesome.

p.s. We buy this hummus. I've made my own hummus before but I can never get it to taste as silky and perfect as this store-bought variety, so I've surrendered to it.

Curried Quinoa With Raisins

This "recipe" for Curried Quinoa With Raisins (like a lot of my cooking) was born out of a mixture of inspiration and improvisation. The idea came from this photo posted by a lovely lady I follow on Instagram and I thought it sounded and looked so good--light yet warming and spicy and fragrant. I happened to have a few cups of cooked quinoa languishing in the fridge and since quinoa normally doesn't inspire me, I got to work right away before my creative mood disappeared.

First I heated some olive oil and sautéed one shallot and one clove of minced garlic for about a minute. I added the cooked quinoa next along with a healthy handful of raisins and just enough chicken broth to moisten the quinoa and to plump up the raisins. I stirred and cooked this for a few minutes before adding (completely to taste) kosher salt, a good amount of curry powder, and a bit of Garam Masala (this sounds fancy but if you like to cook Indian food every so often as I do, this is a fairly basic and easy-to-find spice blend to keep on hand). 

We topped it with creamy plain Greek yogurt because that's my favorite thing to put on all Indian-flavored food, and I have to say it was delicious. We ate it alongside crispy shrimp and an avocado/grapefruit salad but it could easily be a main dish. 

I could think of pretty much endless variations on this basic recipe--toss in some toasted almonds or pistachios, add some chickpeas, sauté fresh ginger with the garlic and shallot, use dried cherries instead of or in addition to the raisins, throw in baby kale or spinach for a little green. If you don't have cooked quinoa already in the fridge then just cook the quinoa first and proceed the same way. (You might be able to skip the chicken broth addition by cooking the quinoa in broth and not letting all of it completely absorb.)

Yum! I hope you try it!

The Best Everyday Drinking Glasses

The first of the dishes we received as wedding registry gifts have done what most dishes do eventually--they cracked. It happened within a span of about 10 days. A bowl slipped from my hand while I was washing dishes and it landed on a mug. They both suffered small but noticeable chips.
The salad plate wasn't so lucky. A few days after the first incident one of our small plates shattered and we had to toss it. It made me a little sad because they weren't just dishes, they were wedding gifts.

I'm happy to say though that our Duralex drinking glasses have not endured a single casualty (and not for lack of a few swift run-ins with the kitchen floor). I grew up with Duralex glasses and have always loved their classic design so they were an easy choice for our registry. We have the Picardie tumblers in both the small and large sizes plus a few tiny hand-me-down juice glasses from my parents that are probably 15 years old, and still good as new.

Now that I have my own kitchen I appreciate these glasses beyond their classic French bistro look. They are really affordable, especially for how well-made they are. They stack well. The tempered glass is suitable for both hot and cold drinks and they stand in quite elegantly for a stemmed wine glass. They feel nice in your hands, both the shape and the weight of them. And I love the variety of sizes available. The juice glasses are adorable.

Best of all the design never changes, so I'll be able to keep my kitchen stocked with my favorite glasses forever.

Tell me--what in your kitchen are you most loyal to? I want to hear about your favorites!

Homemade Virginia Applesauce

I grew up in apple country which means that the kids in my family were basically raised on apples. When we lived in Ithaca a trip to the Cornell Orchards was an almost daily thing (or at least it felt that way, we were there so often). I remember so clearly the huge barrels filled with just-made cider, pulling the lever and watching it travel down the clear tubes, foamy and fresh, filling a tiny paper cup with freezing cold, tangy juice.

Many of my most vivid childhood memories involve apples actually. I can close my eyes and picture exactly the way my Mom would slice apples for us. Quick and precise, she'd hold the apple in her hand and expertly cut it in half, slice and core the chunks, and that was what we ate all. the. time. There's this hilarious note I wrote as a kid that my parents saved and in it I asked my Mom for a treat if we behaved well, and I wrote, "But not an apple please?"

My brothers and I loved apples, but evidently we sometimes got sick of them.

As a result of all of this I have extremely high apple standards. I'm picky about crispness, I like them tart but not sour, just barely sweet. The ones we've been able to find in orchards this fall have been pretty good, for the most part, but we've also had a batch or two that were a little on the mealy side. We bought a basket of apples on Sunday when we were driving home from a wedding and to make room for them in the fridge, I decided to turn the rejects from the last bushel into a big batch of applesauce.

I've mentioned before that my parents gave us a ton of awesome hand-me-downs when we moved, and now that you know my family's proclivity toward apples you won't be surprised to know that a food mill was one of the things they passed on. This one is probably 20 years old and has made many a batch of applesauce. 

This was my first time using it though and I was so impressed. This tool is sort of magical. All I had to do was quarter a bunch of apples, boil them in just a bit of water, and once they turned mushy the food mill did all of the work. Not only does it separate the apple flesh from the skins and seeds and core but it also turns the cooked apples into this silky, perfect sauce. All at the same time. 

My favorite way to eat fresh, homemade applesauce is warm right after it's made. It's so incredibly delicious, like apple pie filling. (I should say that I didn't add any sugar to this sauce because the apples were naturally very sweet.) For an extra festive, warming flavor, you can sprinkle cinnamon on top. I also love eating it alongside plain Greek yogurt. (Another vivid childhood memory: my Mom spooning scoops of homemade applesauce and plain yogurt into my baby brother's ravenous mouth. It was his favorite thing.)

Homemade applesauce is one of those nostalgic, feel-good foods for me. I'll get in trouble with my Dad if I don't say that my Virginia applesauce isn't as good as the New York applesauce I was raised on. But between you and me, it's pretty darn close. 

Homemade Pizza with Prosciutto, Arugula, and Caramelized Onions

My parents are on vacation out west and on the phone yesterday, my mom was telling me about this incredibly delicious prosciutto and arugula salad they'd had the night before. It was chilled and dressed in a lemony vinaigrette and my mom said it was delightful. 

It must have made an impact on me because I found myself later that day in the grocery store shopping for the supplies to make a homemade prosciutto and arugula pizza for dinner. (Except I forgot the prosciutto. The multitude of mozzarella choices distracted me. My husband saved the day and bought some on his way home.)

My Favorite City

In a week from today I'm jumping on a train and heading up to...New York!!!

I'll be there for about four days visiting both my brother, who goes to school there, and my sister-in-law (two of my favorite people in the world!). I'm so very excited.

After college I lived in New York for two and a half years. I know that isn't a very long time but in those few years this city made such an imprint on my heart. I love New York. By the time I left I was ready, and of course there were crazy things about my life there (the great lengths you must go to for groceries!) that I wouldn't want to have to deal with again.

Turkish Brass Pepper Grinder

Don't you love it when you receive a gift that is just what you needed/wanted/have had your eye on for months? That's what happened with this gorgeous, brass Turkish pepper grinder we recently got as a housewarming gift, and there's a funny story to it too.

The Most Perfect Summer Lunch

Start with real mayonnaise, crusty bread, and juicy, ripe, colorful farmer's market tomatoes.

Toast the bread and slice the tomatoes thickly.

Spread a good layer of mayonnaise on the bread while it's still warm and then top with ruby-red slices of tomato.

Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.

Bring your tomato sandwich outside and relish each perfect bite.

Repeat every single day of the late summer tomato season (believe me, you'll want to).

Another endorsement you can trust for this simple yet sublime summer meal.

And one more: "This is better than pizza." -my husband

Kitchen Sneak Peek

Our kitchen is the room I've had to get most creative with. It has some wonderful features--tons of natural light (there's a window above the sink, a door to the screen porch that lets in light, and a window above the area where we eat), lots of storage and countertop space, and the layout is super functional. It's a great kitchen to cook in.

There are other things (aesthetic things) about it that aren't my favorite--namely the honey oak cabinets and laminate cream countertops. They aren't horrible and I'm grateful that at least the kitchen is neutral, it just isn't really to my taste. What I've discovered though is that the challenge this room presents excites me--it's been fun to figure out temporary renter-friendly ways to make our kitchen feel more modern and beautiful and to make it more "me."

I think painting the walls a deep rich color (maybe a midnight navy blue) would do wonders in here and I may try to eventually get permission to paint from our landlord, but in the meantime I'm focusing on simpler changes.

To bring in a little vibrancy I made this hanging rope planter for the kitchen window. I'd been wanting to try this tutorial for a while! I potted a succulent in a simple white bowl and then followed the instructions on how to tie the knots. I love how the plant spills over the sides, and the bright green lends a welcome dose of color.

Another change I made was taking the doors off of some of our cabinets. I didn't do this on all of them, just the ones holding our glasses, mugs and dishes. I've always loved open shelving and I think this look makes the space both more modern and more eclectic at the same time. If you're proud of your dishes, why not show them off?

I also hung a piece of art on the "backsplash" underneath the cabinet with our dishes to break up some of the beige-ness. I've noticed that having art in the kitchen isn't super common but I love it. It can add so much personality and charm.

I have a few more changes in mind--a DIY rug that I'm making out of a funky vintage piece of cloth, a potential lighting fixture change, and I'm considering making a white backing for my open shelves (do you think that's a good idea?). And I'm dying to try out these Smart Tiles near the stove area.

I'm actually so glad our kitchen looks the way it looks. It's giving me the chance to be creative and clever and really make something beautiful out of a pretty basic kitchen. I can't wait to keep plugging away at it and recruiting my brother to take some higher quality photos when he's here in a few weeks.

Do you have a space like this in your home? One that needs a little extra creativity and love to look its best?

A Whole New Cooking World

Yesterday, I had another giddy "I get to live here?!" moment and you'll never guess where it happened--in a grocery store. I know! Seems silly. But this wasn't just a regular grocery store, it was a local store called Food of All Nations and it's awesome. Here's the back story.

I've been inspired lately by (of all places) the prepared food section at Whole Foods. Normally I'm too frugal and enjoy cooking too much to indulge in prepared foods, but when we were in the midst of moving here there were 3 or 4 days when we lived off of the pre-prepared section at Whole Foods. We were just too crazy and stressed to go grocery shopping until about day 5 after the move, and our cooking supplies were still all packed away. I also reasoned that this approach was much healthier (and about the same cost) as take-out. 

So anyway, I found a few dishes that I ended up loving. They have this delicious Blackened Chicken Salad that has the best flavor--not too mayonaisse-y with just the right balance of salty/sweet/spicy. Their Garlicky Kale is another favorite and I've already replicated it at home (tried to replicate it--they must have a mystery ingredient or two). And the Soba Noodles with Toasted Sesame Oil are simple and light and so perfectly tasty for a summer meal.

Yesterday I was thinking about those soba noodles and experiencing a major craving. For the last few years I've been really interested in making Asian-inspired food at home but in Alabama it was often hard to find the right ingredients. So I did a little Googling and came across this grocery store called Food of All Nations. I really wanted to find the authentic, from-Japan soba noodles and reviews said this store had a fantastic selection of ethnic foods.

Friends, those reviews couldn't have been more right. I was practically jumping up and down in the aisles. I felt like a whole new cooking world was being opened up to me as I browsed the Greek section, the Indian section, the Asian section, the Spanish section. They had all of these incredible ingredients--some that I've read about in recipes but haven't yet experimented with, some that I could get in New York but have been deprived of the past two years, some that I've never heard of. Vinegars and spices and sauces and dried grains and noodles and pastas. I got so excited that I grabbed three different varieties of dried Japanese soba noodles!

(They also carry this special Greek olive oil that my parents got me hooked on years ago. It comes in a gigantic canister and you just bring your bottle to refill each time. They had Harney and Sons loose tea and imported British loose tea. They also had a great array of local Virginia produce and honey and meats.)

When I got home I made these yummy Peanut Sesame Noodles, modified with different vegetables and sans tofu. This is a simple and straightforward recipe and I really can't believe I waited so long to cook with soba noodles. This was also maybe the first time I achieved the flavors I wanted to achieve when trying an Asian-inspired recipe. In between bites I was raving about this grocery store and telling my husband how excited I am to experiment with new and different ethnic ingredients and foods and recipes and flavors. 

Cooking is a creative art and it's so great to feel newly invigorated and inspired. Yet another reason I'm so glad to be here. The blessings and discoveries keep on coming.

Red, White, and Blue

I baked these muffins this morning for a family reunion we're heading to without even realizing how perfectly colored they are for the 4th of July, with those blue-and-white liners and that gorgeous red Virginia raspberry on top. 

And they're delicious. (I snuck one for breakfast, just to make sure they tasted ok, you know.)

Have a wonderful 4th of July, friends! Happy Birthday, America!

Let's Get To Know One Another: Food Staples

With our move less than a week away (!!!) we've been trying to eat up as much of our food as possible so as not to be wasteful. Our pantry and our fridge are slowly getting depleted and I think we will be eating some strange meals over the next couple of days as we try to finish off the perishables. My poor husband has come into the kitchen a few times recently wanting an apple, or some butter for toast, and I've had to break the news that we're out of this or that and that it seemed silly to replace it right before we pack up and leave. Wastefulness makes me cringe, and so does mayonnaise that's been sitting in a warm car for 24 hours! Better to go without for a few days.

Anyway, it made me curious to know: what are some of the things you always have in your fridge or your pantry? Things that your husband would be surprised to find you're out of? Anything unusual on the list?

Image Source

Here are some of ours, a peek into my kitchen:

Half and half for morning tea (I put it on steel cut oats too)
Sweet relish for making homemade tartar sauce
Hummus
Almond milk for my lactose intolerant husband
Several cans of black beans and chickpeas and kidney beans for easy dinners
Bananas, almost always
Fresh garlic
Some kind of raw nuts, usually pecans or walnuts, for oatmeal, salad-making, desserts
Sesame seeds to throw on roasted kale or in stirfry
This Thai peanut sauce (we love it drizzled on vegetables or rice)
A bag of spinach
Ground flax seed, which is so good for you and easy to put on top of cereal or a salad
Jasmine rice (I can buy a five pound bag from the Korean supermarket for 5 dollars!)
A treat or two (usually ice cream) in the freezer
A big block of extra sharp cheddar


What are some of your must-have staples? I find this sort of thing oddly fascinating!

Refresher For Wooden Kitchen Tools

I love my collection of wooden cooking tools. I'll reach for wood over metal or plastic just about every time. It just feels good to stir with a wooden spoon, don't you think? They don't scratch pans, they don't melt, they're a natural material, they are easy to manipulate and the perfect shape for everything from scrambled eggs to soups to sauteéd spinach. Since my wooden kitchen tools get such hard use they are in need of a refresher every so often--especially my cutting board, which I get out at least twice a day. Obviously soap and water is great for regular cleaning, but wood needs a bit of extra maintenance to keep it in good, clean shape. 

So, I did some research on a food-safe cleaning method. Did you know that lemon essential oil is an excellent natural sanitizer? I've recently been using a drop or two on bathroom countertops to disinfect them, and was thrilled to discover lemon oil is food-safe! I grabbed my salad tongs and my trusty cutting board to start, and using a paper towel I rubbed some lemon oil into the wood for a minute or two. I thought about rinsing it afterward but the smell was too delicious, and the wood completely absorbed the oil. No need to rinse!

You could stop there--the lemon oil alone will renew and thoroughly sanitize your wooden tools--but if you want to really pamper and refresh the wood you can apply a food-safe beeswax furniture polish. I recently bought this polish to moisturize a very dry wicker chair but it can be used on all kinds of wood. After applying with a cotton towel and then buffing the wood to a shine, I noticed the most difference on my salad tongs. These were a gift from my husband and I love them, but they've always been a little on the dry side. You'd think that all the olive oil they encounter would have fixed that by now! The beeswax polish instantly revived the wood and now they feel silky smooth to the touch. The extra moisture has brought out the grain pattern in a rich and beautiful way, too.

In addition to being effective I found this little ritual highly satisfying and enjoyable. Over the past few months I've been gravitating toward natural and simple cleaning products--baking soda, vinegar, good old boiling water--and something about rubbing that lovely lemon oil into my cutting board was really gratifying. It's kind of magical that something so delightfully fragrant is also good at killing germs! Also very neat to see the way the wooden tongs absolutely drank up the beeswax. I can't wait to get to the rest of my wooden tools later today.

Thanks for letting me wax-poetic for a minute. (Pun intended!) But really, grab some lemon oil and beeswax polish and try this for yourself. Your wooden tools will thank you and I bet you'll enjoy yourself in the process.