To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats at Hobby Lobby, but it was hard to resist the 75% off price tag. You can’t beat it for five bucks, and it turned out to be just the bit of extra sunshine I needed. Sometimes you don’t know what you need and it finds you anyway. 💛
Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over agai Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over again. He falls asleep on top of me and then I feel bad waking him up if I have to get up. 😂
My oldest is working today at a food truck festiva My oldest is working today at a food truck festival that a friend runs so we popped in for a quick visit to support both of them, and of course we can’t leave without the amazing Crab Poutine Fries from @angry_archies! The @justjerseyfest is on Main Street in Chester until 7 pm - stop by and strap a feed bag on! Bring a blanket and listen to the live music while you’re there - it’s perfect festival weather. ☀️
Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See also: I was influenced by an IG ad and I’m ok with that. ✨
This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday come This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday comes as we wrap up family summer birthdays so she is included too. 🥰 She loves lululemon, fountain Coke, and long hugs. She is a fiercely loyal friend, is the best debater I know, and sleeps later than I ever did when I was a teenager. 😂 She is quiet and loud all at once and is forever the biggest cheerleader her brother and I could ever have. My rainbow baby is growing up before my eyes and I love it and hate it all at once. Love you to the moon and back kiddo. 💛
“Everything good, everything magical happens bet “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." Jenny Han
The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a ho The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a hot minute but when it starts showing off at sunset, how could I move it anywhere else? ✨
Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Ba Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” just run through your head or are you young? 😂 I despise Parkway traffic in the summer but love that our kids get to have a Jersey shore summer just like we did when we were their age. 💛
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Sweetnicks

Food and Life

Weekend Dog Blogging #77

March 19, 2007 · Narrative

Guests are gone and the kitchen is back to normal. One more load to go in the dishwasher, and I am done. I feel like it’s been awhile since I spent so much time cooking, and I definitely made up for it this weekend. Two dinner parties, and six new recipes. Not too shabby.

For tonight’s menu, I stuck with tried-and-trues, with a lean towards comfort food. Only one new recipe, the rest were long favorites.

One of of my favorite go-to salads, which is perfect for entertaining but super simple to make, is Barefoot Contessa’s Red Leaf Lettuce Salad with Balsamic Onions. The most time consuming part is the onions part, but other than that, it’s quick work and presents nicely. For the main course, I went with John Zaccaro’s Penne with Vodka Sauce and Stuffed Garlic Bread. Dessert? Creme Brulee, which I haven’t made in awhile, and a batch of Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. The cookies were a new recipe and while the yield may be off, the name does not lie. I got about 18 cookies out of the batch, but because they were called “big,” I used an ice cream scoop when doling them out onto the cookie sheet. They were slightly crispy on the outside, and slightly chewy on the inside, delicious and definitely will be a repeater. The recipe comes from a new food blog I stumbled on last week, Technicolor in English.

All in all, a simple but satisfying meal, and a nice close to an incredibly busy weekend. It’s almost going to be more relaxing to have Monday and work roll around again, but it was a good kind of busy.

Before I forget, tonight’s pasta is perfect for Ruth’s weekly Presto Pasta Round-Up, since I keep forgetting to join in. Check out her site for weekly round-ups of pasta inspiration.

And now for the pups. Not many this week, but all adorable. Until tomorrow…

First up this weekend is newcomer Peanut and Goldie from Ash Lane Farm:

Bessy from Pulau Yue-Li is back, and things are finally on the upswing:

Two more newcomers this week, it’s the very adorable twosome, Beefeater Maximus and Sequoia, from Plants and Animals. How cute are they?

And even more newcomers, this time it’s a pair of snow-covered pups from Shrike and Whozat:


The trio from Rob Wonton enjoy some fresh sunshine and clear, blue skies:

And lastly, our own Eli. Only in New Jersey can we have this kind of crazy weather, and even for us, it’s a little odd. Wednesday, it hit 80 degrees, and I was seriously contemplating putting the air conditioners in the windows. But a mere two days later, this is what it looked like … seven inches of snow. Eli and Nicholas sure were happy though.

Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe courtesy of Technicolor in English blog

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat the oven to 165ºC/325ºF. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 7cm apart. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 38-40 cookies

Red Leaf Lettuce Salad with Balsamic Onions
Recipe courtesy of Barefoot Contessa

3 small red onions
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good balsamic vinegar
1 cup good olive oil
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons minced shallots (about 2 large)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup good red wine vinegar
2 heads red-leaf lettuce, washed, spun dry and torn into pieces
Crumbled blue cheese, for topping

Preheat oven to 375. Cut onions in 1/2 and slice 1/4-inch thick, place on a baking sheet and toss with 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until onions are tender. Remove from oven and toss with 2 more tablespoons balsamic vinegar and cool to room temperature. Whisk together shallots, mustard, red wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper in small bowl. While whisking, add 3/4 cup olive oil until emulsified. To assemble, toss enough lettuce for 6 people with dressing, to taste. Place the lettuce on 6 plates and arrange onions on top. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper and crumbled blue cheese. Serve.

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Posted In: Narrative

Comments

  1. Claire says

    March 19, 2007 at 3:07 am

    I saw those cookies, too. They look good and make me think of the famous chocolate chip cookies around my home town. I can’t wait for my one year blogiversary, because I’ve saved that recipe for then. Should be fun! Glad you had such a successful weekend.

    Reply
  2. girl from florida says

    March 19, 2007 at 12:42 pm

    I just found your blog while searching for some Key West food posts, since my husband & I are moving there in August and I’m obsessed with food! I stumbled across your KW post and am totally hooked… love your food pictures, descriptions & kiddos. I will be back!

    Reply
  3. Willa says

    March 19, 2007 at 1:37 pm

    You can have that kind of bizarre weather in PA, too!

    The cookies look great- my husband made some oatmeal chocolate chips ones this weekend, but they turned out very strange.

    Reply
  4. Patricia Scarpin says

    March 20, 2007 at 6:07 pm

    Hi, Cate!
    What a lovely way to mention my blog, I appreciate it.

    Your cookies look amazing!! I love their color, it was that I was aiming for when I made that recipe.

    Your blog is fantastic, too. I’m glad you left a comment there, so now I found you too!

    Hugs from Brazil,
    Patricia.

    Reply

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To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats at Hobby Lobby, but it was hard to resist the 75% off price tag. You can’t beat it for five bucks, and it turned out to be just the bit of extra sunshine I needed. Sometimes you don’t know what you need and it finds you anyway. 💛
Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over agai Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over again. He falls asleep on top of me and then I feel bad waking him up if I have to get up. 😂
My oldest is working today at a food truck festiva My oldest is working today at a food truck festival that a friend runs so we popped in for a quick visit to support both of them, and of course we can’t leave without the amazing Crab Poutine Fries from @angry_archies! The @justjerseyfest is on Main Street in Chester until 7 pm - stop by and strap a feed bag on! Bring a blanket and listen to the live music while you’re there - it’s perfect festival weather. ☀️
Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See also: I was influenced by an IG ad and I’m ok with that. ✨

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To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats To be honest, I didn’t love any of the doormats at Hobby Lobby, but it was hard to resist the 75% off price tag. You can’t beat it for five bucks, and it turned out to be just the bit of extra sunshine I needed. Sometimes you don’t know what you need and it finds you anyway. 💛
Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over agai Having Leo is like the newborn stage all over again. He falls asleep on top of me and then I feel bad waking him up if I have to get up. 😂
My oldest is working today at a food truck festiva My oldest is working today at a food truck festival that a friend runs so we popped in for a quick visit to support both of them, and of course we can’t leave without the amazing Crab Poutine Fries from @angry_archies! The @justjerseyfest is on Main Street in Chester until 7 pm - stop by and strap a feed bag on! Bring a blanket and listen to the live music while you’re there - it’s perfect festival weather. ☀️
Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See Happy Friday, friends, cheers to the weekend! See also: I was influenced by an IG ad and I’m ok with that. ✨
This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday come This is 14-1/2. I love that her half birthday comes as we wrap up family summer birthdays so she is included too. 🥰 She loves lululemon, fountain Coke, and long hugs. She is a fiercely loyal friend, is the best debater I know, and sleeps later than I ever did when I was a teenager. 😂 She is quiet and loud all at once and is forever the biggest cheerleader her brother and I could ever have. My rainbow baby is growing up before my eyes and I love it and hate it all at once. Love you to the moon and back kiddo. 💛
“Everything good, everything magical happens bet “Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August." Jenny Han
The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a ho The disco ball was hung there temporarily for a hot minute but when it starts showing off at sunset, how could I move it anywhere else? ✨
Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Ba Did the lyrics to “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” just run through your head or are you young? 😂 I despise Parkway traffic in the summer but love that our kids get to have a Jersey shore summer just like we did when we were their age. 💛

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