friday!

• Run, don't walk to the Whole Foods organic strawberries sale!  Today only, Whole Foods will sell strawberries for $1.99 a pound (while supplies last).  I've never had an organic strawberry, but I've heard that they taste infinitely better than non-organic strawberries.  Can anyone attest to that?

• So you want to be on The Sartorialist, huh?  Here's a step-by-step guide.  Or you can find out how straight from the man himself.

• I haven't been watching American Idol this year, but I found 10 things you didn't know about Idol to be pretty interesting.  Never knew that Randy and Steven were so bromancey with eachother.

• Martha Stewart's greatest hits (the cookie edition), according to Delish.  Bookmark these for guaranteed-to-please cookies (because really, you can't go wrong with Martha).

• Hipsters not wanted!

• And a happy weekend to you!

-jillian m.

the classic chocolate chip cookie

there are few things better and more comforting than a warm chocolate chip cookie made from scratch.  and i was reminded of this when i bit into the first cookie fresh from the oven.  heavenly, heavenly, heavenly...

the classic chocolate chip cookie (adapted from smitten kitchen, but with my own modifications)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips (or chunks)

preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.  set aside.
using a medium bowl, mix the sugars and softened butter until completely blended.
add the eggs and vanilla to the sugar-butter mixture. mix until blended.
add in the sifted ingredients until blended and doughy.
add in chocolate chips (i used my hands for this.  clean, of course!)
scoop up teaspoon to tablespoon-sized cookies and place them on parchment or foil,  evenly spaced.
should take about 10-15 minutes, depending on size.
when done baking, allow cookies to cool for a few minutes.

must have a cookie dough fix before they go in the oven!

ready for baking...

 

and now ready for eating.

i baked these for easter and they were a hit!  cakes and cupcakes were in abundance and my cookies were gone by the end of the night.  what can i say?  the classics always prevail.

-jillian m.

adventures in weekending

last weekend was one of those when i didn't get a moment of rest.  i went to bed late, woke up early and was on energizer bunny mode in between.  and i'm paying for it now.  so...exhausted. 

but in retrospect, i think, it's worth it.  because monday through friday is work time. and saturday to sunday is me time (read: fun time).  so i always try to make the most of it.  here are some noteworthy snippets:

a visit to breeze, a trendy thai-french restaurant that me and bob happened upon.  the food was outrageously good and beautifully plated.  here, we have crisp golden bags with sweet chili sauce and duck breast de paris with butternut squash dumplings (my taste buds did a little happy dance!).

finally finding the perfect peach blush at the mac counter made me very happy!

rain makes for very lovely pictures.

and in honor of national grilled cheese month, i made a grilled gruyere and cheddar cheese sandwich.  gruyere is my new favorite cheese.

found this bracelet at target for less than $7.  love my bargains!

-jillian m.

easter fun

our easters aren't typically eastery.  there are no bunny decorations or egg-painting activites.  there is, however, a backyard egg hunt for the kids, although this year was a washout (literally--it poured).  but to me, none of that matters.  what matters most is having friends and family get together for a good time.

dinner is served!  my dad's famous rice with gandules and pernil for the main course (translation: rice with pigeon peas and roast pork).

janey and aida being silly!

they love eachother.  then they hate eachother.  then they love eachother again.  2 of 3 nephews: mason and branden-charles (love mase's shirt!  shiver me timbers!)

pretty pretty cupcakes (baked by my sis, janey)!

attempting to take a nice picture, but my brother wasn't having it.

jax is on top of the world!

did you get to spend time with family this past weekend?  any special happenings?

-jillian m.

friday!

• yet again, i was left with overripe bananas, so i made a banana bread out of it (and forgot to post it).  so here it is (i used only 1/2 cup of sugar).  home-baked banana bread is best consumed when warm and with a glass of milk or coffee, don't you think?

• happy earth day!  and in celebration, here are some free deals you can score today.  i'll be taking advantage of the origins offer--i just so happen to have an empty bottle of moisturizer that needs replacing!

• and since we're in the spirit of things, here are some uncommon uses for eggshells.  if you're feeling extra creative (and craving something sweet), then try this.  one word: drool.

• really, taco bell? 

• bizzare beauty treatments from around the world.  ok...i  think i'd try the nibbling fish pedicure and the beer bath, but the bird poop facial?  that's a little too "modern" for me.

• happy weekend to you!

-jillian m.

day at the museum

i haven't been to every museum in nyc (there's a bunch!), but of the ones i have visited, the museum of natural history is my consistent favorite.  true-to-life forms, rich cultural sustenance and the ever-changing variety of exhibits and displays excite me.

when you come here, you need to dedicate an entire day to this because there's so much to see and learn.  i just wanted to share with you just a few things that caught my eye this time around.

the arapaho women buffalo society's highest officer is known as the "white woman".  after dancing, the members walk around in a circle with the white woman following and supporting herself on 2 wooden sticks.  i think she looks so powerful and almost menacing.

i have a thing for owls.  they're such beautiful, regal creatures.  and they look as if they have a thousand secrets to tell!  fun fact: did you know owls have 3 eyelids?  one for blinking, one for sleeping and one for cleaning the eye.

these footprints belong to the lizard-like barosaurus.  these dinosaurs were enormous with super long neck and tails. 

this here is depicting the green corn dance that was practiced at the first ripening of corn by a few different tribes.  this ceremony of prayer and dance marked a time of thanks and forgiveness of sins.

much to my surprise, the hall of minerals was filled with cool treasures of all sorts.  i even made a sarcastic joke to bob, "i know where you want to go...the hall of minerals!".  but it's actually one of the most interesting exhibits in the museum.

i didn't even bother reading the description under this one. all i could do was stare.

nor did i read the description for this one.  all i thought was, ooooh shiny!

don't you just love museums?

-jillian m.

things i learned from michael pollan

i'm so late to jump on this bandwagon, but i just finished reading michael pollan's in defense of food (he also wrote food rules and the omnivore's dilemma).  initially, it read a bit textbooky to me, but about half way through, i started getting really into it.  what i like about this book is that it's not preachy and he's not telling you exactly what you should be eating.  it's more of a guide to helping you make the right choices.  pollan tells you what to look out for and what not to be fooled by.  there's a lot of useful and important information in this book, but there are a few lessons that have stood out to me:


1.) though the french typically eat fatty foods, they have lower rates of heart disease and diabetes than americans (or western dieters) because the portions are smaller and they don't go back for seconds.

2.) always check the ingredients.  if you can't pronounce it or recognize it, then it's best to steer clear.

3.) people of all cultures around the world have managed to have completely different eating habits and lifestyles and stay much healthier than westerners.  for example, mountainers in switzerland consumed a mostly meat diet and showed no signs of tooth decay.  people in the hebrides existed mostly on seafood and oats.  what they had in common was that they were eating real, fresh and nutrient-rich foods.

4.) foods that go out of their way to make health claims are not as healthy as they claim.  "low-fat" or "no fat" usually means an extra boost of sodium, sugar and/or other additives.

5.) the best foods at the supermarket can generally be found on the outskirts (fruits, veggies, yogurts, milk, eggs), while the worst are usually sandwiched between these aisles (potato chips, cookies, artificial fruit juices, sugar-packed cereals).

6.) we should be eating real food.  period.

at times, pollan's advice can be hard to follow (i.e. buy a whole hog, chop it up into pieces and freeze them).  but the overall message is quite powerful and yet so simple.  common sense!  and sadly, not so common.

highly recommended read for anyone who is looking to better their diet.

-jillian m.

asian food week

looking back at last week, i noticed a theme in my dinners.  wednesday was chinese food, thursday was sushi & dumplings and saturday night was spent devouring a thai feast.  i have a bit of a thing for asian food.

saturday, i celebrated my best friend tanya's birthday with dinner at the mini thai cafe.  it was definitely a stay-at-home kind of day-- it was pouring buckets!  but i'm really glad i made it out because we spent hours just laughing, drinking lots of sake, making up words to thai music and reminiscing about what dorks we were in high school.

i came upon a (very short) moment when it wasn't raining to snap a photo of this wet, dreary day.

cheers to the b-day lady!

hearty thai roti and 2 plates of soft, flaky curry puffs (not pictured).  we like our carbs.

 crispy duck and pineapple in tamarind sauce for me and pad see yue (flat noodle with broccoli and egg) for tanya.

 thai iced tea and hot sake are musts.

 
in our circle of friends, birthdays are usually a big celebration with tons of people, loud music and dancing.  but this year, keeping it understated was just what we needed.  something low-key, but just as much fun as any other birthday.  maybe this means we're getting old?  eeeek!

-jillian m.

friday!

• i told bob i wish i could be like alice in wonderland and have a conversation with the flowers.  he just laughed at me.  i think he thought i was joking.

• attention men!  please stop wearing these (take a look at the comments...hilarious!).

• as part of the movement for healthier school lunches, a principal in chicago has banned brown-bag lunches!  now, i completely understand wanting kids to eat healthier.  i think it's a worthy cause, for sure. but there is no reason why you should not have the choice to bring your own lunch.  what do you think about this?

• r.i.p. flip cam!

• fun things to do on a rainy day.  love this list!  i would intentionally stay in on a sunny day to bake cookies, have a film festival, play the one-word game and have an indoor camping trip all in one day.  because i can!

• happy weekend!

-jillian m.

spaghetti with extra virgin olive oil and lemon

so you'd think with a simple recipe like this, i'd be able to whip this up seamlessly in no time.  it's pasta, right?  easy!

well...things didn't go quite as smoothly as i'd anticipated.  now, don't get me wrong.  the finished product was good.  it was just getting there that was a pain.  literally, a pain.  i'll explain after the recipe.

spaghetti with extra virgin olive oil and lemon (adapted from smitten kitchen)

1 lb. whole-wheat spaghetti
3 lemons
1/4 extra virgin olive oil, plus more for serving
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
salt, black pepper and italian seasoning to taste (i didn't have basil or arugula, so i improvised with the seasoning)

cook spaghetti in salted water to your al dente tastes in a large pot.
while pasta is cooking, zest lemons until you have a little less than a tablespoon of zest.  juice lemons — you’ll have anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 cup lemon juice.
drain pasta, reserving 1 1/2 cups of the pasta water. 
dry out your pot, then boil the olive oil, cream, zest and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water together for 2 minutes over high heat. 
return pasta to pot and stir until coated. add the cheese and 1/4 cup lemon juice and toss everything together. add more pasta water, 1/4 cup at a time. taste a strand of pasta and see if you want to add the remaining lemon juice. stir in italian seasoning, basil or arugula and season generously with salt and pepper.

i'm such a genius!  instead of just buying grated parmesan, i decided to buy a block of cheese to grate myself.  bad idea.  do you have any idea how hard and time-consuming it is to finely grate 1 cup's worth of cheese?  by the end, my arm was throbbing with pain (did i mention i've diagnosed myself with carpal tunnel?) and i went to bed with a wrist brace on.  oh, the lengths i'll go to for a pasta craving!  many lemon juice spills and other klutzy hijinks ensued. i won't bore you with details, but it was quite a sight for an onlooker.

spaghetti...all dressed up

despite the heavy cream and cheese, this has a fresh and light flavor that i really like (thumbs up!).  it was a bit on the lemony side (i prefer it to have a stronger cheese taste) but that was because i didn't follow directions and ended up pouring all of the lemon juice, as opposed to a little bit at a time (it just wasn't my day, ha!). so next time i try this, i'll have to take it easy with the juice.

and buy pre-grated cheese.

-jillian m.

free cone day at ben & jerry's!

you may know this already, but today is free cone day at ben & jerry's!  woooh yeah!  be sure to stop at your local ben & jerry's for a scoop of any flavor on a full-size cone.  it's running from 12pm to 8pm at participating locations in the u.s.  if you see a huge line going out the door, then you can probably guess it's participating.

i'll probably go with a scoop of cookie dough ice cream.  or cherry garcia. maybe brownie batter.  hmmm...but cake batter sounds good, too...

which one are you going to get?

and here's a sprinkly, happy ice cream cone to get you in the mood...

{image 1: ben & jerry's; image 2: d.sharon pruitt}
 

a fabulous find and fresh food

another day scouring the flea market for random goodies.  this is becoming my favorite routine.

found one!  i fell in love with this necklace the moment i saw it.

bob and i capped off the day with some fresh, wholesome dining at josie's.  we absolutely love coming here.  it's a bit on the pricey side, but so worth it (once in a while) if you're looking to eat out healthfully and deliciously.  we usually save the weekends for "sinful" eating, but we were good this time around.  i had to get back on track after a week of leftover nutella brownies (so good and yet soooo bad).

ancho-rubbed salmon over pecan mashed sweet potatoes, mango salsa and grilled asparagus.

and filet mignon medallions with wasabi-infused mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.

milk and cookies aren't exactly "healthy", but at least the milk was organic, right?  i say that counts for something!

and you may think that the blueberry-peach pie wasn't any better, but i count the blueberries and peaches as my daily servings of fruit and the vanilla ice cream as my dairy.  whatever i have to tell myself to feel better, right?

i can't remember why, but we started talking about carl winslow and that got us into singing the theme song from family matters.  the sweet 2 year-old boy at the next table started laughing and singing with us!  obviously, he wasn't singing the family matters song, but don't tell him that.  too funny!  then, he serenaded us with renditions of the "abc" song and "old macdonald".  i wish i would have snapped a shot of him--he was such an adorable, smiley baby! 

-jillian m.

friday!

• although i wish i could, i can't take credit for these.  my boyfriend took them. aside from food pictures, i like shots like these best. action shots.  when no one is paying attention to you.  and you're free to click away.

• it's national grilled cheese month (oh, you didn't know?)!  and in honor, here are some not-so-standard grilled cheese recipes from martha.  aaaah, comfort food at its finest.

• just a few days ago, i found out that vanilla extract doesn't expire (this was very exciting news for me, by the way).  check out 10 foods that can outlive you.  and while we're at it, have you ever wondered how long dried spices will stay good for?  find out here.

• a mother wrote this blog post about how she thinks she loves her son more than her daughter.  needless to say, it's been causing a commotion around the web.  i'm not a parent, so i can't even begin to understand or judge this but i'm shocked she had the nerve to tie her name to this!  one part of me thinks, wow that's really messed up!  another part of me thinks, do most parents feel like they have a "favorite" (whether they show it or not)? maybe she's being brave in her honesty? i don't know.  read it and let me know what you think! don't forget to read the comments people left her.  provocative stuff!

• and on a lighter note, i love just skimming through the pictures on this blog.  charming and glamorous.

• happy weekend to you!

-jillian m.

the story of me and nutella + nutella brownies

before i say anything, watch this short video and you'll understand.

do you see how duncan keeps eyeballing hanna's treat?  he's yearning, aching...can't keep his eyes off it!  well, this was me and nutella yesterday (and in case, you haven't figured it out, i was darty eyes and nutella was the treat).

i brought the entire 26 oz. jar of nutella with me to work yesterday.  and my mistake was leaving it out on my desk, instead of putting it away.  needless to say, i was mad with gluttony and my eyes were shifting from my computer monitor to nutella...monitor...nutella...monitor...nutella...

i may or may not have taken a few spoonfuls straight from the jar.

so what did i learn?  it's a very bad idea to leave nutella in direct sight.  very very bad idea.

now, onto business.  initially, i wanted to give nutella whoopie pies a go, but they seemed so much more complicated than nutella brownies.  and in the end, easy will always win over difficult.  and anyway, how can you turn down brownies?  you just can't!

nutella brownies (recipe adapted from my food blog)
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup nutella

preheat oven to 350°F. 

in a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together. set aside. 
on low heat, melt the butter in a pot. add the vanilla and sugar while stirring the mixture until combined. remove from the heat and cool.  
add the eggs one at a time, making sure to mix each time before adding the next.  
add the sifted dry ingredients to the egg mixture gradually.
heat the nutella container in the microwave until it has a runny consistency (about 30-40 seconds). add the nutella to the batter and mix.  
pour the batter into a buttered  pan. bake for about 30 minutes.  
remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.


*you may have noticed i made a few adjustments to the original recipe.  i used about half the sugar it originally called for (and i'd dare to cut it down to about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup next time i make these).  also, i only used 3 eggs, instead of 4.  i like my brownies fudgier and more dense. and i found that the chocolate chips aren't necessary.  these are already super chocolatey without!

don't be fooled by his seemingly reluctant look.  mase loved them!

i'm going to make a bold statement and say these are the best brownies i've made to date (this has been confirmed by a reliable source).  delightfully fudgy pieces of nutella brownie happiness.  there's just nothing else to say about it.

oh! except that if you make these, be sure to not to eat all in one sitting.  i believe these are best the next day.

-jillian m.