Before & After

Kitchen Remodel...The right brown for the wall?

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Dinner for 20

A week late but Saturday was AWESOME!!!! Every year, McCormick puts together with celebrity chefs a flavor paring called "flavor forecast". McCormick publishes this "Top 10 flavor parings to come in the next year". With this publication comes recipes of the pairings.
On Saturday, a friend and I coordinated a dinner party of 20 of our friends where each couple was assigned a recipe. Here is a snapshot of what was made. Now if you will recall we were suppose to also pair wine tasting on top of this but we didn't quite get that far. Maybe next time!
Lychee Lemongrass
Lychee Lemongrass martini
Orange and Wood
Maple wood Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Applies and Tart Cherries
Wood Smoked Chicken Burgers with Orange Peel Aioli
Chili and Cocoa
Braised Mole Beef Mole Tacos
Heirloom Beans and Oregano
Scarlet Runner and tomato orzo Salad with oregano Lemon Vinaigrette
Cuban Spiced Heirloom Bean Soup with Mint Crema
Poppy seed and Rose
Rose infused Goat Cheese with Caramelized Onions and Poppy seeds
Red Curry and Masa
Red Curry Chicken with Masa Dumplings
Rye Whiskey and Sage
Butternut Squash Ravioli with Whiskey Sage Cream sauce
Vanilla Cardamom
Vanilla Cardamom Milk Shakes
Shrimp with Vanilla Buerre Blanc and Cardamom Coconut Rice
Vanilla Bean and Cardamom Whoopee Pies

Let me know if anyone wants recipes!!

A child's intuition

I know that I don't need to tell you all this but sometimes I wonder if the things children say are meant to mean so much more than the words that actually come out of their mouths. They are so honest and we know that often that honesty is not meant to hurt our feelings but tell us something in the most direct but kind way.

Near our home on E. Baltimore downtown is a huge park, Patterson Park. The best in the city, it's about 5 blocks by 8 blocks. In the evenings and on weekends it is filled with people playing sports, running, and walking dogs. During the days however, it is rather quiet with a patch of kids here and there walking in groups either to and from school or off to the children's fenced in play area or the duck pond. Giggly, laughing and hitting one another, they couldn't have a care in the world. Here and there is a college student sprawled out on a blanket or park bench studying. Today, being a Friday, Halloween, and the afternoon before my big dinner party tomorrow night, I decided to take the afternoon off. It has been a beautiful day, finally reaching into the 60's after a very cold week. I decided what better time to take advantage of a three mile run in the park. Running casually by myself, smiling at dogs and children, I came across a woman who was clearly a nanny of some sort walking with three children about 3 to 4 years old. The oldest was at the front holding onto a rope that had at it's end, the youngest child, a cute little blonde girl. As I ran passed them, I smiled at the woman and which point the young little girl said..."look, it's a mommy!"........"Hi", I waved back. Now it probably holds true that the little girl's mom was a runner in a pony tail, however, I couldn't help feel that somewhere, deep down, someone was trying to tell me something. The warmth in my heart filled for the little girl as I ran the rest of my run with a smile. To think she actually thought I could be a mommy....

Much like when Sally played "I spy", I guess children are always trying to tell you something. Enjoy your little messages in costume tonight. Just today, I may look at them a little bit more sweetly.

(P.S...for all your wondering minds...I'm not p.g., for now we will leave it to the experts!)

Freezing Softball, Pumpkins & Apple Pie

So every year I like to get out for a beautiful fall hike. This year, I am not sure if I'll get to it before the fall comes and goes. This weekend fall colors are said to peak in Maryland, however today is filled with a forcast of thunderstorms. Tomorrow, being the only nice day, is set for installing a new door on the third floor. Therefore, the fall hike, I hope to accomplish next weekend will likely be too late. We will see. In talking with a friend up in Toronto Canada he sent me some beautiful photo's. One I have used for my screensaver at work, the other I have posted here. Just beautiful. I am not sure why death of leaves is so inspiring too me.

Anyway, last weekend Darrell and I "went to the country", an Apple Farm a friend recommended. Filled with little kids riding hay rides, picking out pumpkins, and running through a straw maze, it was fun to pick out apples for apple pie and pumpkins to carve together. It was difficult to pull Darrell out of the city but I think he was happy once he got out there.

All the fall docorations are out in the house. I have more fall decor than Christmas! My house is pretty much filled with these colors anyway. We painted the kitchen a couple weekends ago and I am trying to figure out a way to delicately tell D that I want to do it over. The color is just not what I want. I saw this kitchen picture in a magazine with a really dark brown (almost cherry wood color). This is what I want. The color now is just too tan. I have three days vacation left and I very well may just take a couple days off and redo it myself. Darrell is a MUCH better painter than me. It must have been all those days in college when he worked for a painter, painting Victorian homes in Davis to make extra money for us.

Inspired by fall and working for a spice company, I thought that I might share a spiced apple pie crumble topping that I created. Inspired out of a recipe from a cookbook from G.Fish! Even better, throw in a cup of fresh cranberries in with the apples...Yum!

Dutch Apple Pie Crumble Topping

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 rolled oats

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/8 tsp ground clove

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1:41:10...

Well, another one down. Completed my fourth Half Marathon this weekend in 1 hour, 41 minutes and 10 seconds. My second best time overall.

Here is a lovely shot of me taken by my better half.

It was a good race. Having run the course before as a last leg of last year's relay team it was nice to know the course finish. Fun day. I'm not quite up to 100% yet. Sitting for more than 30 minutes is a little difficult on the quads getting up and do not ask me to go down stairs. Going up is fine but down..yikes! a little stiff still. Should be fine tomorrow. The excitement of it all is placing 9th in my age group. Here are my stats..302 out of 6224 overall runners, 65th woman out of 3673, and 9th woman in the 35-39 year olds..this is the only good thing about getting older! Tonight it is off to the same ol' same ol'..softball. We are pretty much a wreck as the whole infield either ran the half or is suffering from some injury. Should be interesting!

Hope you are all well!

The first of my favorite season

So by now you all probably realize that fall is by far my favorite season. This week was full of fall firsts. Here are just a few:
Brisk cold mornings with dew on the car
Sipping coffee outside while waiting for a concert
A big cold, windy rain
Falling colored leaves
Sitting at a baseball game in a sweatshirt
Playing football & baseball in a sweatshirt
Mums!
and finally........I have a cold and we are having soup and bread for dinner!
Here is one of my favorite recipes. Serve with buttered french bread.

Mediterranean Chickpea Soup

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 1/2 cups water
1 (16-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 (15 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced Italian tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup uncooked ditalini (very short tube-shaped macaroni)

Saute onion in olive oil in soup pan until tender. Add water through tomatoes. Cover and let simmer 5 minutes. Add pasta and simmer until pasta is tender, about 9 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Answer is "Yes"

Happy Birthday Darrell!!

And "yes" I have fallen off the edge of the earth!...head over heals in love with my honey who turns 35 today.

A busy week last week. The weekend was full of painting the kitchen and the finale of the baseball season. Here is a picture of our final day at Camden Yards. A little dreary and a loss..Oh well, maybe next year.


For now...Go Cubs!