My St. Patrick's Day involved some delicious "Irish car bomb" cupcakes and Irish soda bread (recipes found thanks to Mom and Mary Ellen!), a tea and smoothie date, and some nice time with our St. Francis community. I think I've said "we're so lucky" about a dozen times this week to Paul. We have so much love (and so many delicious baked goods) in our lives. Must be the luck of the Irish!
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Last night's dinner combined two things I enjoy: things in the shape of pie and things that sound French. I had a delicious tart for brunch in San Francisco and decided to try to make one myself. I found a solid recipe for a Mushroom Onion Tarte with Fig Goat Cheese from one of my favorite blogs: Reading my Tea Leaves. I couldn't believe how easy this was to make. I had been intimidated to try cooking something that sounded so French-fancy, but the tart was so tasty it will now be one of my go to recipes - especially since it's so simple to do variations on the basic recipe. Ingredients:
Pie crust (I pre-cooked my store bought one for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees) Olive oil 1 large yellow onion, sliced (I cut mine in fun circles) 1 regular sized container mushrooms, sliced 3 sprigs of thyme (I used about a half teaspoon of dried thyme) ½ cup cream 2 eggs 4 oz. fig goat cheese (I used 4 oz plain Costco goat cheese) (Borrowed from Reading my Tea Leaves) 1. Heat olive oil in heavy bottomed saucepan and add onions. Coat onions evenly in olive oil, turn heat to medium, put lid on pan. Lift lid only to stir every few minutes. Cook about 15-20 minutes or until onions begin to look golden-brown. 2. Add mushrooms and thyme to pan. Cook on med-low heat with lid on for about 10 minutes until brown sauce begins to develop. 3. Pour onion/mushroom mix evenly into pie crust. 4. Combine cream and egg in separate container. Pour cream/egg mixture evenly on top of onion/mushroom mix. Filling will not go to top of crust - which is a-o-k. 5. Add dolops of goat cheese on top of cream mixture. If you can find fig jam, add tiny spoonfuls of jam onto tops of goat cheese spoonfuls. 6. Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes, until tarte is firm and top is golden brown. Let cool a bit, then slice up and enjoy. I served my tarte with some roasted garlic rosemary potatoes. Delicious! *I couldn't find any fig goat cheese or fig jam at my grocery store, so I improvised and just added a little raspberry jam to my slice of tarte after it baked. I thought it tasted pretty good, but I imagine the fig jam would match the mushroom and onion flavors a little better. Drizzling balsamic vinegar over the top of the baked tarte might also be worthy a try if you have to improvize. *Happy Pi(e) Day! In honor of the holiday, I'll be making a tofu peanut butter pie for dessert tonight! I like to pour a little melted choclate onto a graham cracker crust before adding the tofu/peanut butter mixture. Perfection! My tastbuds are excited. This weekend, we travelled to San Francisco to visit friends and get a break from the Wisconsin winter. We stayed for a night in the Mission District at the coolest Bed and Breakfast called the Inn San Francisco: a huge Victorian house that survived the 1906 earthquake and fire. After our dinner outing, we came back to the Inn and drank port and played cribbage (we're that cool). For breakfast we enjoyed a huge spread of fresh fruit, quiche, muffins, and pie. Happy belly. We also... climbed this curvy staircase to the roof for an amazing view. soaked up the sun in the Inn's backyard oasis. ventured out into the city and saw palm trees. PALM TREES! survived a drive down Lombard street. explored the city by foot and caught glimpses of the city's famous bridges. reunited with old former Jesuit Volunteers friends. breathed in fresh air under baby redwoods here. enjoyed tea and gelatto in one of San Francisco's most famous districts... the Haight Ashbury! (pronouned hate ashbury) experienced Full House nostalgia with another former Jesuit Volunteer friend. stumbled across an urban farm complete with a seed library. walked through the Palace of Fine Arts. and enjoyed lots of walks, food, and catch up time with another old friend.
This was probably one of the best weekends of. my. life. These four days felt like everything just came together so nicely, and the rejuvination that several days in the warm sunshine brings after a Wisonsin winter cannot be over exagerated. Let's hear it for Vitamin D, fresh air, exercise, and fresh food! Not pictured here: connecting with family over sushi and being mesmorized by the new Bay Bridge lights. Life.is.so.good. And we're back! Paul and I spent the weekend in San Francisco sightseeing, visiting friends, and enjoying the beautiful weather. I was too tired to organize my pictures to share with you today, so you'll have to check back tomorrow to see them. Hopefully you'll be satisfied with my new favorite picture of Paul and me. I love that you can tell that we're so happy to be in the sunshine without winter coats on! Nothing like it after months of cold and snow.
It's that time again - time to start planning my summer garden and sign up for my CSA box. That's what everybody does in March right? For those of you thinking I actually just meant I'll be signing up for some cable box that lets me watch CSI 24/7 - here's a little more about CSAs. Community Supported Agriculture is designed to connect farmers in need of stable livelihoods to urban dwellers in need of healthy, fresh produce. Farmers sell "shares" of their produce, and city folks who buy the share receive a weekly box of vegetables throughout the growing season. Urban folks invest at the beginning of the season in local farms, sharing in the risk and reward of a farmer’s harvest. If the summer is good, there will be a large benefit to CSA members in the form of lots of delicious vegetables. If there were say heavy rains, droughts, or a plague of locusts, the harvest will not be as good for farmers or for CSA members. This also means that the amount of food reaching a CSA member will align with the season. In the Midwest, the amount and size of food in a CSA box will be much larger in August than in June. Regardless of how much or how little the CSA member receives, they still pay the same flat rate and the farmer will be guaranteed a livelihood. This is the fourth year that I’ll be participating in a CSA program. This year, Paul and I will be splitting a 26 week share through LotFotL (Living Off the Fat of the Land) Farm with three friends. This farm is fairly progressive for a CSA program. We can pay for our CSA thoughout the season (with online payment options) and can opt out for weeks we may be on vacation. We also have the option of paying a little extra to receive fresh eggs throughout the season. The best part of the CSA is pick up day - when we get together with our friends to prepare and share a meal from that week's harvest. It's community at it's finest! Here's a few tips for first time users: - Pick a convenient pick up location. Farms will offer a central pickup location where participants can pick up their CSA box each week. Remember, you don't want to waste tons of energy just to pick up your vegetables each week. It would be a drag for you and for the environment to have to travel long distances to get your food! To find a CSA near you, check out Local Harvest's Community Supported Agriculture page. There are explanations of CSAs and a zipcode search to help you find a farm close to you. To sign up for a CSA box, pick a farm that feels right to you, and follow the instructions for applying for a share. Then, once the season starts, get ready for a steady influx of delicious fresh food!
I'll be sharing photos from my CSA box throughout the summer. Feel free to share yours too! I am woman, hear me roar.
I think today will be a good day. I know what I know (Paul Simon). I wish that Spring would hurry up. I hate having to give people bad news. I miss my grandparents. I fear not being able to find a long term home I hear coworkers talking. I smell cream of wheat for breakfast! I crave sugar, pretty much all the time. I search for my calling. I wonder what the future will bring. I regret times that my worrying has gotten in the way of enjoying life. I love so many things including friends, family, flowers, new babies, books, food, and sunshine. I ache to feel settled. I am not currently hungry. I believe in a thing called love. I dance when I clean our apartment. I sing as loud as I can when I drive by myself. I cry at movies all the time - especially at cute old couples in love. I fight with Paul, and I've learned that's a good thing. I win at Settlers of Cataan. I lose my temper from time to time. I never thought I'd live in Milwaukee, but I certainly enjoy it. I always say "I've always wanted to ..." I confuse lack of conflict with peace. I listen to Kishi Bashi to cheer me up, Lady Gaga to get pumped up, Bon Iver at work, Katy Perry when I clean the house, and Carla Bruni when I'm feeling French. I can usually be found reading, working, painting, or watching Netflix. I am scared of what will happen if we don't take care of our environment. I need a lover that won't drive me crazy. I am happy that we're going to San Francisco this weekend!! I imagine a world without poverty and injustice. Many of you already know that I am huge book nerd. I used to carry books around with me everywhere I went as a child and even slept with a huge stack of books in my bed; now, I limit my obsession to just listening to books on tape wherever I drive and keep the stack of books next to my bed instead of in it (Paul appreciates this change). My latest hobby is picking out pretty books to dress up our living room coffee table. I like these little things that help make everyday life special. I've been enjoying the rotating inspiration - and of course love the thrill of picking up new pretty books from the library (I saved $170 getting borrowing these books instead of buying them!). Here's the three books that are gracing our table now: David Hockney, Kate Spade, and Parisian Chic. I've included links above if any of them strike your fancy, and I highly recommend the Anthropologie website for additional coffee table inspiration. 1. David Hockney: A Bigger Picture a book full of impressionist/modern/coloful nature paintings. 2. Kate Spade New York: Things We Love -- another colorful book full of fun, inspiring, random things that Kate Spade loves. My favorite section was 17: Handwritten Notes. 3. Parisian Chic: A Style Guide -- A Parisian guide to all types of style - fashion, home, beauty. I enjoyed the fashion ideas and hope to check out some of the featured boutiques and shops when we visit Paris this summer! (P.S. Recognize this image from pinterest? I was pretty excited when I saw it.) The highlight of my weekend was hosting a sushi making party. I had helped make sushi once before, and I really enjoyed it - I decided making sushi with friends would be a good thing for a cold weekend. It gave me an excuse to use the beautiful sushi (above) and sake (below) sets we received as gifts for our wedding. They came from Ten Thousand Villages which makes me love them even more.
The night of the party, my friend prepared most of the rolls because she had actual experience making sushi, but I did make at least one roll that stayed together - so I can officially check 'learn how to make sushi' off my 101 list! While we waited for the sushi rolls to cool in the fridge, we sipped sake and enjoyed each other's company. Then we stuffed ourselves silly with California rolls and had some Mochi ice cream for dessert. YUM. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of the actual sushi making process, so I think I'll have to do a follow up post with ingredient info and directions. Guess that means I'll have to make sushi again. Oh shucks. This Wisconsin news reporter made me smile AND summed up my feelings about this cold weather: "it sucks."
One of my New Year's resolutions was to get back into painting. Strangely, I had been avoiding this hobby that I really enjoyed. But you see, I have a little problem called "perfectionism." I have a difficult time letting myself paint for fun without worrying about the end result being a perfect masterpiece. I started small with projects like this and this and this simple little winter painting above. I've been doing very easy pieces that don't require a lot of sketching or thought; great paintings to make while watching Downton Abby and listening to books on tape. The paintings aren't perfect or even that memorable, but I've been having fun. It's refreshing to be doing something again that brings be a lot of joy.
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