Everybody Loves the Cubbies

This is my good friend Liza.

We've been pals since kindergarten.

She was super duper awesome to me in Chi-town last week.

She let me share her studio apartment and bed with her and her crazy cat, Vince....

And she didn't even get that mad at me when I returned home from the wedding 

and tried to take him on a walk....

FYI

Cats on leashes being walked (dragged) by drunk bridesmaid = crazy, hissy mess.  

But you know what was REALLY awesome?

She remembered that "Go to a Cubs game"

Was on my Chicago To Do List for like 4 years when I went to school there.

And I just never got around to going....

I studied far too much in college.  

So going with her was awesome!

It was just as good as I ever imagined.

The atmosphere at baseball games is topnotch.

And the pizza in Wrigleyville is pretty good too!

Thanks Liza for this little piece of Americana!

Lord knows I LOVE it!

ps.  Thank you for all the support and prayers. 

My Uncle passed away this morning after a long night of tears and prayers,

but we are all glad he is in heaven now.
pss. My friend Amy just joined the blogging world. 
Show her some love!

Radish Leaf Pesto

Dear Friends,

Fat camp is going OK.  I'm learning how to eat healthy and seasonal food.  Yesterday I made radish leaf pesto.  I thought I hated radishes, but I gave them a try anyways.  Here is the recipe in case you were wondering...

Radish Leaf Pesto

• 2 large handfuls of radish leaves, stems removed
• 30 grams of hard cheese, like pecorino 
• 30 grams pine nuts
• 1 stalk of wet garlic, or one clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Then you just blend all the ingredients in a food processor.  And its done like - bingo, bango, bongo.

Tony Perkins said you can eat it with radish chips or thin it out with vinegar and oil and use it as a salad dressing.  Or you could make crepes with mushrooms and goat cheese and serve it like this...

It is surprisingly delicious.

In other news, it's been raining here so we haven't gotten to go off the blob yet.  But it was OK this morning and we went hiking.  I've also been doing arts and crafts. I will have to show you soon.  Hope all is well where you are.

Love,

Kelly

PS.  Send chocolate.

A Good Sandwich for a Bad Day

So the first time I made this I was feeling rough.  I forget why.  It was just a bad day.  So I let myself go.  I let myself go ahead and eat this gooey butter mess of fabulousness and forget about the fact that maybe I shouldn't be doing such things because butter does nothing for my waistline.  Now I want to have a bad day everyday so I can have a good excuse to devour this....

I'll show you how to make it too in case you need a little pick me up in the form of grilled cheese.  But lets not get too technical here people it is grilled cheese after all.

Apple Cheddar Grilled Cheese

Ingredients

• 1 apple (sliced thin)
• 1 hunk of butter
• A few good pieces of cheddar cheese, I use a mild one, Red Leicester to be exact
• margarine 
• 2 slices of bread
• 1 -2 teaspoons of grey poupon mustard 

In a pan over medium heat, add your butter and apple and cook until it has softened up nicely.  Meanwhile, coat one side of each slice of bread with margarine (duh it's grilled cheese).  When your apples are ready pile them up on your bread (the non buttered side) and then add your cheese and a spoonful or two of mustard.    

Exhibit A:

Place the buttered side down in your pan and add the second slice on top buttered side up.  Cover your sandwich with a lid while it's cooking to help the cheese reach its optimal meltiness.  That is VERY important. Make sure you flip it when its nice and golden and do the same to the other side.

Then be ready for a taste explosion of pure happiness in your mouth.

It is SO good.

When I was a kid I used to make grilled cheese with my best friend ALL the time.  We used to want to open up a restaurant that only served variations of grilled cheese.  After eating this I think maybe we should look into that idea further.  Our other employment idea for "when we grew up" was working as elves in Santa's workshop.  For some reason the grilled cheese restaurant seems more viable.

Valentine's Day Baking Shenanigans

Yesterday for Valentine's Day Nick and I spent the day baking.  We got a lot accomplished.  Look at this spread....

Nothing makes your house smell better than fresh bread.  This is just a basic whole wheat loaf.  The recipe came with our bread machine.

Next I baked brownies for the woman who watched Heidi for us this weekend.  She was a lifesaver.  Our dogsitter pulled out right as I was leaving to drop Heidi off at her house, Nick sent out an emergency email to his entire work and she pulled through.  I even made them homemade.  I've always used a box before but I have no idea why.  These were super easy.  I followed the recipe exactly, and you can find it here.  If I made them again I'd probably mix some chocolate chips into the batter.  Yum.  I hope she liked them.

Finally, I was going to make Nick his favorite dessert, cheesecake, as a valentine's day surprise.  But he decided I couldn't make it as good as him.  So he made it himself.  He's a cheesecake purist, but I needed a little something extra on it, so I added raspberry jam.  I'd post the recipe, but I don't know it.  Maybe if we all ask nicely....?

Please don't judge me for the number of baked goods on this post.  It WAS valentine's day, and the brownies were for someone else (OK I may have sneaked one... or two).  We had so much fun!  We licked the batter and danced like a couple of soiled tweens at a high school mixer.  We didn't do much mushy bull crap, but Heidi and I dedicated this song to Nick when it came on the radio... We'll never let money get in the way.