Rosemary Truffle Chips

One of my favorite things about our new place is our kitchen.  It was the first room in the house that was anywhere close to being complete.  We didn't have a couch for a good week and a half, but you can be damn sure we had a fully stocked pantry and cabinets full of pans and mixing bowls.

I love cooking, and I get really excited about good food.  Last week, I had a delicious burger topped with duck confit, sautéed mushrooms, brie and an herb aoili that I haven't been able to shut up about.  Forget what's happening on Game of Thrones - I had an AMAZING burger last week!  (80/20 Burger Bar, Norfolk).

I made homemade burgers about two weeks ago and I accompanied them with these rosemary truffle chips which were highly addictive and ridiculously good.  Here's how I made them...

the Roundhouse at Beacon Falls | Beacon, New York

 A few favorites from a shoot I did over at the Roundhouse at Beacon Falls.  They make some beautiful food, letmetellyou.

the Jewish Mother | Norfolk, Virginia

We decided to take a walk through Norfolk a few Sundays ago to find a brunch spot.  We were looking for something local, but after a good half hour walking in the freezing cold, our only requirement was a place that was open.  We were really fortunate to stumble upon the Jewish Mother.  Having passed it a few times before, I wouldn't have pegged it for a brunch spot. live music venue, yes.  bar, yes.  but brunch?  apparently, yes.

I was a happy girl because they didn't make me throw out my coffee, and my satisfaction with our choice only increased as they brought generous mimosas, fresh fruit, french toast, omelets and hash browns.  

Altamira | Hamburg, Germany

A Tuesday evening at Altamira in Hamburg is my idea of perfection.  A sunny atrium, a table covered in a variety of savory dishes, tasty spanish wines, house sangria and great company.  Katrina, Svenja, Moritz, Henni, Marco and I spent the evening stuffing ourselves full of tapas, drinking and laughing harder than I've laughed in a long time.  It was one of those evenings that made me sit back and smile - I'm so grateful for this life.  And I'm so happy to share evenings like this with such good people.

Katrina knocked over a chair on the way out.  Moritz helped, I documented.

Leaping Lizard | Virginia Beach, Virginia

"Fresh local fare from the farms of tidal Virginia."

- the Leaping Lizard

Guy Fieri was right, the place is kind of amazeballs - and I'm not just saying that because I made friends with the greeter chicken or because I happened to have the best of company or because our table was in pretty fantastic window light.  I say that because I am picky about chicken salad sandwiches and I wish that their's had been endless so that I could still be eating it as I type.  It was a damn good sandwich, and so very photogenic, wouldn't you say?  Also, that seafood gumbo went pretty fast.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, in the case of the guy sitting across from me), the waitress took it away before I had a chance to lick the bowl, but she distracted me with barbecue duck and that delicious chicken salad sandwich so she was an okay gal in my book.

Their mimosas weren't skimpy either, which I always appreciate.

favorite kids, meet favorite burger.

I have managed to get an exceptionally large percentage of my friends completely addicted to Poppy's burgers.  It's become common for friends and relatives to sigh across the miles that separate us, mid-phone chat, "I want Poppy's," they'll say.  To which I'll reply, "uh, ok, but can you finish the story you were in the middle of?"  As for the friends of mine who have yet to sample the Hudson Valley's best burger, they know what they're missing.  "When are we going to get this burger you're always talking about?!" they say, immediately upon seeing me.  "Hello," I say.  "Nice to see you as well.  What has it been, three months?"

If you haven't gone, go.  You won't be sorry.

My go to is the BBQ Bacon Burger with a side of fries.  If you have multiple people with you, get the sweet potato chips, too.  They're delicious.  

I tried a bite of the veggie burger on this trip too and I had the overwhelming desire to serenade it with the karaoke version of this song.

I know.  I'm weird.

Don't say I never taught them anything.

How great is that face?

Swedish coffee in Hamburg

I would be okay with working from this little cafe every day.  And maybe also eating those swedish meatballs that I devoured before I even thought about taking a picture every day as well.

Blueberry Mojito

Blueberry Mojito for Bijou

August 2012

Summer's coming to an end (boo, stop talking about it!) and since I am very reasonable and not at all stubborn, I will most likely be wearing flip flops and pretending that big rubbermaid bin full of jackets doesn't exist in the back of my closet well into October.  If you care to join me in my giant bubble of denial, welcome!  Have a blueberry mojito! 

Here's what you need:

handful of blueberries.

light agave syrup.

a lime.

club soda.

RUM (I use plain old Bacardi).

fresh mint.

Here's what you do:

Throw half of the blueberries, a few leaves of mint (remember to slap them!) into the glass and drizzle some agave syrup over them (a tablespoon or two will do, if you need a measurement, but I just eye it). Squeeze the lime over it and add a shot (sometimes I eye that too....).

Muddle it!  With a muddler!  Or a spoon!

(and then add melon baller and muddler to your shopping list)

add ice, fill with club soda, stir.

Garnish with blueberries and mint.

Denial sure is delicious, isn't it?

Hamburg: Fischmarkt

Fischmarkt

Hamburg, Germany

June 2012

The Fischmarkt opens very early on Sunday morning - so early, in fact, that to a good percentage of it's customers, it's actually considered very late on Saturday night.  There's live music and beer and fresh produce from local farms and handmade goods and fish.  Lots of fish....

I like to travel by immersing myself into the local culture, and one of the best ways to do so is to be open to local cuisine.  Sometimes it's great (puff pancakes in the Netherlands - gahh!) and every now and then, it takes some convincing.  For years, I've been hearing about the Fischmarkt, and in every description, I was told that I had to - had to - get fischbrotchen.

"There's nothing better on a Sunday morning!" I was told.

So when everyone else ordered the raw vinegar-fish sandwich, I begrudging added another to the order.  

It can't be as bad as it looks, I thought.

You love sushi, I told myself.

Shut up and eat it.

So I did.

Never again.

Watermelon Salad

Watermelon Salad for Bijou

August 2012

I'm a big fan of watermelon, so when I saw Ariane Duarte combine it with tomatoes and balsamic on Top Chef Season 5, I decided to start throwing it in the avocado-balsamic salad I made pretty much every day.  It's kind of my go-to meal as soon as warm weather hits.  Of course, whenever I told people about it they'd be all "EW! Watermelon in SALAD?!" which is a little dramatic, but whatevs, I dig it.

After reactions like that, imagine my excitement when my girl Felicia posted a picture of a salad she made on the ol' FB with none other than my good friend, the Watermelon, in it (yes, I am easily excited).

So then, she and I were having one of our awesome coffee dates that sometimes involve coffee, but other times tea, and sometimes wine, and a lot of times sushi, and then sometimes, around the holidays, a nice toasty glass of the homemade raspberry vodka her family makes every year... I digress.  Coffee dates: she and I have them and we talk about the usual things, and then sometimes we nerd out over wedding stuff (yaknow, 'cause she's getting married) and recipes (because we both really like food).  So on this day, the watermelon salad topic came up and she told me that she soaks the watermelon in lemon, which completely changes the flavor of the watermelon (whattt!).  So naturally, I went home inspired by our little chat and within the week I had lemon-soaked watermelon salad and I somehow managed to photograph it before I consumed the entire thing and licked the bowl (may or may not be kidding) and finally, I'm going to tell you what's in it as long as you're not all "GROSS! There's no place for watermelon in a SALAD!"  And if you are, well, I'm going to tell you anyway...

Felicia-inspired lemon-soaked watermelon salad:

1 1/2 cups cubed watermelon.
(it would probably be really pretty if you used a melon baller, but turns out I don't have one of those)

1 lemon.

1 avocado, cubed.

fresh mint, chopped.

a handful of pepitas.

salt to taste.

Chop the watermelon, squeeze the lemon generously over it.

Toss in the avocado and mint.

Salt it until it tastes good.

Top with pepitas.

It's as easy as that, folks.

Bon appétit! 

Bruges: Beer, Chocolate, Waffles, Fries.

I never occurred to me that fries were a Belgian specialty, but they take them very seriously and they do not disappoint.  There's even a potato museum in Bruges.

Katrina and I had spent the morning wandering around Paris and a good chunk of the day traveling, so we were both pretty worn out and under the weather.  That evening, we found a little restaurant a few blocks from our hotel and stared at the menu with zero appetite.  I ordered onion soup to try to knock the chill off my bones and a plate of fries for sustenance.  Our waiter scoffed and rolled his eyes at me.

"Fries do not go with soup," he said after he took Katrina's order.  "Bread goes with soup."

He returned later with our soup and a basket of bread.  No fries for me.

Katrina has hated beer as long as I've known her, so we were all (even the waiter!) pretty excited to find a beer she liked so much.  It tasted like cherry kool-aid.

Oh, Duvel, you are so delicious.

More Pictures // Chocolate and Waffles...

Cafe Habana - Malibu, California

left-right, top-bottom: sangria, margarita, mexican style corn, guac - all of which I highly recommend.

Cafe Habana has long topped my list of New York favorites,

so I had to swing by their new restaurant in Malibu while I was in town.

The look is very different, but the food, drink & cool factor are all right there.

I'm not the only one who thinks so, either.

When I was there in June with friends, we asked a fellow patron to take our photo.

While he was clicking away, we suddenly realized who he was.

Wonder if he loves the Mexican style corn & sangria as much as I do?

below: katrina took a huge bite of chili powder, hence the facial expressions.