Practice Makes Perfect

A gougere, stuffed with crab, avacado and a mixture of heavenly things.





Roasting tomatoes for the Tomato Tartar from 'Happy In The Kitchen'. A beautiful book by Michel Richard.








Lee and I did a test run for the charity dinner we will be cooking for in a couple of weeks. I don't like to go into things blindly, at least when I'm serving a bunch of people that paid good money for a fabulous dinner. Thankfully, Lee feels the same way, plus it's really fun for us to plan these dinners out and cook together. I'll post more pictures and the official menu after the actual dinner on May 2nd, but for now, here are a few of them to let you know how it all went the 'first time around'. We did a good job, but it took a lot of prep and hard work. And love of course.


The colorful Le Creuset pots on our stove. We made a special trip up to the Marysville outlet mall to get another of the shallow yellow pans that April let us borrow.


I picked fresh flowers from our garden and put them above our new wine cabinet. On the wall is our personalized menu from Joel Robuchon, the first and only 3 star restaurant we've been to. I plan on going to another on our honeymoon!


This is the mignardise I made, hoping I'll get to make these for our wedding favors if I can perfec them. It's a salt caramel chocolate covered pretzel, a bit savory since I don't like super sweet things.




In the food processor, a mixture of herbs to be added to some olive oil. This will be served alongside the deep fried pork belly amuse bouche.

I'm a slacker

My posts are getting fewer and far between, but I'm still here, still busy and still doing VERY well. Consider busy as being good for me, because it really is. I might be looking forward to writing my novel when I'm 70 and therefore not writing so much at 34, or that's how I like to think of it.

The place that Lee and I met through, Culinary Communion, closed a few weeks ago. It was really sad to see them end, but they had a great run and my culinary skills have flourished. I've made friends upon friends and traveled through France. And of course, I was introduced to Lee by these friends, so they will forever have a special place in my heart. They ended up having a sale in order to move on with a lighter load of cooking supplies and I scored a fabulous omelet pan that I've been using nearly every day with fresh eggs from April's chickens. I had the most incredible breakfast this morning! A still warm croissant from Cafe Besalu, in my opinion they have the best croissants I've ever sunk my teeth into. Some Oikos Greek Yogurt with honey on the bottom. And to top it off, a fried egg from April's chickens. I think it was the perfect breakfast, I love eggs for breakfast!


We celebrated Easter with Dad and Step-mom who came to visit from Michigan. I made up a scalloped potato dish with goat cheese, sauteed criminis, herbs and roasted garlic. Turned out really well (very rich though). We also went on a wine tour of Oregon, and since I've never been on a wine tour before, it was a learning experience. The food and restaurants in the Willamette Valley were so good, very fresh and local. The wine?? Well, I'm not so sure I like Oregon, or for that much, any New World wines. At all. I'm sticking with my French and Italian reds until I find something just as good. I also have a suggestion for the wineries offering tastings--serve some water and snacks. That might help with the headaches and drunkedness. It's good we did this trip--I did feel a little weird about being a food lover from Seattle that had never been on a wine tasting trip.

We are hoping to sell the condo, so keep your fingers crossed. We've got a wedding to pay for! :) I'll post some pictures of the big charity dinner Lee and I are doing for Schmitz Park Elementary. Should be really fun.

Spring Cleaning

Hi guys. I know I don't blog much anymore and I'm sorry about that, but I really just haven't felt like sitting down at the computer lately. That's what happens when the weather gets better and your computer decides to die, making every move extremely slow--and I have to admit I don't have much patience for slow technology. If I have to wait 5 minutes for my computer to get online, I'm already off and doing something else around the house and when it does finally function, I'm just not feeling it anymore. Someday I will get myself a pretty Mac laptop, but that will take some saving on my part. So until then, I'll spend time reading, watching movies and enjoying life.

This past month I've accomplished quite a bit--got a beautiful wedding dress for myself, fitted all my bridesmaids in cute 50's style black dresses, spring cleaned the whole house, worked in the yard, started training for my job tending suites for the Sounders games at Qwest (yes, I'll have two jobs now), spent lots of time cooking and planning for our big auction dinner in May and did lot's of pedicures outside of work. I'd also like to add that although I'm kind of exhausted from the time change, I haven't been sick since October of '08. This is big for me because I get sick every time someone around me is sick, and I've been around sick kids and sick co-workers, and yet, I've been super healthy. I have this wacko idea that someone told me once to put vaseline in your nose to prevent colds since we get many colds through the cracked veins in our nostrils. I've been doing this and it seems to have worked. I know Lee is laughing at me right now. It's cooky.

I had my first attempt at homemade pasta this month and it was.....chewy. It was really good and I could eat it every day, but it wasn't delicate or light as some pasta is. I did roll it out thin, but I don't think I know how to get it lighter, so I'll have to keep trying. I made a mexican coleslaw with cabbage, onion, cilantro, avacado, mango, jalepeno and a yogurt dressing. Very tasty, but after eating it for leftovers 4 days in a row, I don't think I'll be eating that again any time soon. I tend to make too much, but I try not to, and I simply can't throw food away until I can't stand to look at it anymore. And even then, I might make something else out of it. I made a whole wheat crust pizza with kale, mushrooms and goat cheese. I like the Trader Joe's whole wheat crust best. And I made paninis with turkey, sundried tomatoes, arugula and swiss. I could eat like 10 of those.

Yesterday I finally made it to Pies and Pints--I've always wanted to go so I was super excited. The ads in the Stranger, my favorite local paper, show ladies all tattooed and pierced presenting you with lovely pies in their hands. It's an Irish that serves beer and pies, but pies as in chicken pot pie, and lamb potato pie and beef curry pie. With optional beer cheese smothered on top. And it comes with homemade soup, which was corn jalepeno. They also serve mini reubens in puff pastry with a side of Russian dressing and mustard. And for dessert?? Yes, it's Guinness cake. I was in heaven. You've got to go if you come up our way--I'm drooling now.

What's in Our Bellys

Yes, it's another installment of Kelley's Food Photography because it seems that we've had a lot of parties to go to lately at other peoples houses, or we are just cooking at home. I've been doing some spring cleaning since the weather has been so beautiful and I even saw some flowers out today and new bulbs coming up. Yay for spring!


Avgolemono soup I made from Food and Wine Magazine. It's very easy and one of Lee's favorite soups. Also, there is no cream, milk or oil in here, yet it's a creamy looking soup because I pureed the brown rice I put into it. Interesting way to thicken soups or not use milk.


This is a pasta I made based on one we had at Sitka and Spruce. It's one of my favorite I've ever made or had out--it's got red cabbage, shitake mushrooms and goat cheese. This isn't the best picture, but the combo is really excellent.

This is the box of chocolates Lee got me for Valentine's, along with a very sweet love letter in the Stranger. I think it's the prettiest box of chocolates I've ever seen!

Nutella tart I made for April's Valentine's Day party. It was an organ meat party with lots of pate and foie gras. So good!

A huge platter of chocolate covered strawberries--I think eating these says Valentine's Day to me. Even if strawberries aren't in season.Jello shots that Lee made in strawberry, rasberry and mixed berry--made with Vampire Vodka.

This perfectly crusty, chewy and soft bread is not from France or from a local bakery--it's from April's oven. I was shocked, but I gues if you bake the bread in a dutch oven and do it correctly, it really can turn out like this.
Foie Gras on a rosemary waffle with Calvados ice cream. Yum.

Super Bowl Munchies

I had the glorious goal of making a fabulous goat cheese cheesecake with a cherry balsamic glaze for our Super Bowl party, but the best part of that ended up being the lovely picture. Yes, it looks good, but don't be decieved--it tasted like cardboard. Very dry, overcooked and pretty awful. The cherry balsamic glaze was very good, but without the cheesecake to go with it, I got frustrated and ended up throwing it out this morning. I WILL try again!! I also never received the cheese curds from Wisconsin. I failed to read the shipping rules and apparently it only takes 2 days to get them if you live in Wisconsin. So we are still waiting on them and I've prepped for poutine, possibly the worst thing you can ingest, but definitely one of the tastiest. And you can only get the good stuff in Canada, unless you are willing to make it yourself, so that's what I do. Sounds illegal, but it's not.

We had other excellent hits, like pigs in a blanket, Lee's guacamole, old family recipe of artichoke dip and April's famous pulled pork mini sliders. I had a good time watching the commercials and I'm fairly sure that was the highlight for most people, although it was a good game. We also had a great salad the other night with roasted chili chicken, granny smith apples, some really stinky blue cheese, lemon and arugula. I really love warm chicken fresh out of the oven on a cold salad.

Tonight I'm going to work and then a party at Culinary Communion that showcases their trips to France, Italy and Germany, plus they will be serving local foods from those regions. I'm going as 'one that has already been on the France trip' with CC, so I guess I'll tell people how much I loved it. Should I leave out the fact that you can meet the love of your life through these sorts of adventures?? That would be quite the pitch and I'm not sure Gabe and Katie want to travel with ten single women looking for love. Could make an interesting reality TV show though.

Issues with Eggplant

I just have to tell you that right now I'm roasting vegetables. This is supposed to be a level one, easy culinary task and yet I can't seem to get it right. One of my favorite veggies is eggplant and the reason why I only eat it when I'm at a restaurant is because I can't seem to cook it correctly. Right now the majority of my veggies are roasting well, but the eggplant has turned to mush and not only that, but it's sticking so badly to the pan that there is no way to salvage it anyway. And yes, I coated it in oil before baking. So frustrating! So once again, I'll have to order eggplant at all Chinese and Indian restaurants until I get it correct.

Lee's Dad, Terry, had his birthday this week so we invited the family over for a really simple, but tasty dinner. I had just gotten off work so the dinner had to be quick, and I found a great way to throw dinner together quickly while still having a homemade meal with a few courses. Now I couldn't do it without Lee prepping everything before and helping out, but together we can whip out dinner in a minute. This should come in handy in the future. We had traditional swiss fondue with apples and bread, green beans with shallots and pinenuts, endive 'bowls' with beet and blue cheese salad inside and Lee's famous bananas foster for dessert. I tried to get a picture of him lighting it on fire, but I must have been caught up in the moment, so I just got a picture of him after the fact. It was very French and I always love being with Lee's family, my soon to be in-laws. I'm very lucky.

We had an excellent cheese plate this week, you all know this is my favorite food. I also went to the How How shopping center on 12th and Jackson--it's the less expensive version of Uwajimaya. I got a ton of things I haven't tried before (like fresh water chesnuts) and came out with two full bags of food for $18, which is pretty good these days.....but, it took me an hour to get through the line and there were so many people pushing me and staring at me that I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. It was sort a big ordeal, but it was definitely a good way to save a buck-and I made some amazing chow mein and stir frys out of it. That's one thing I've always wanted to do checked off my list.

This weekend we are having a Super Bowl party and I wasn't planning on making anything at all, but instead have a potluck, and well, I'm sure you all know how that is turning out. I can't help myself--I really do love cooking. My friend, Kyleen, and I got on this goat cheese kick and now I'm attempting to make a goat cheese cheesecake with a cherry balsamic sauce. I'm making up the recipe, so we shall see how this goes. Then I started thinking about other things and now I've got this whole menu of stuff I want to make--I even lost my mind temporarily and am having some fresh Wisconsin cheese curds sent to me by mail. They better get here before the super bowl!

I am now guest blogging for a Greenwood blog and my first entry was a review of Gainsbourg, one of our favorite new places. Check it out here: http://www.greenwoodblog.com/archives/213

A Walk Around Greenwood

One of my favorite things to do on my day off is to take a walk around my neighborhood. Lately I've been working nights and the weather has been nice, so I've gotten to do my walks more often. I walked out the door this morning with a light hoodie and a knit hat, and after a couple blocks of slow jogging I was so warm that the rest of my walk was nearly balmy. Winter in Seattle is the absolute best time to walk!

There were a lot of things I wanted in a neighborhood when we were looking for homes and one of the most important was to be within walking distance to parks, grocery stores, the library, restaurants and anything I might need to visit doing everyday errands. And when I say walking distance, I mean within a couple of blocks. I like knowing that if I need a cup of coffee or a late night drink and happy hour, that I can walk there and back within 10 minutes. In a weird way this has always made me feel safe, which is probably why I never felt at home or why I thought that I was the crazy lady in town when I lived in more rural areas. My Mom always felt safer living in the boonies and having a car to get away, or perhaps a gas mask or two (love ya, Mom). I feel safe knowing that if something really awful happens and our world is going down quickly, I can head down the street to buy some groceries and die surrounded by others. Maybe we'll sing songs and and reminisce about when the earth had humans on it, but at least we won't be alone. So it may be sort of morbid, but I'm not one to be afraid of death, and living in the urban core of a city makes me feel safest. I know, I know, you are all wondering how I lasted so long in Montana and Wyoming. Honestly, humans can adapt to anything, but I'm just really happy I found where I belong in my 30's. Could be worse.

I took pictures of some of the cutest homes I walked by and Sandel Park, which is a great local park with lots of swings. Then I headed to the store to pick up some tortillas and onions for making enchiladas this afternoon. Headed over to the library to get a book they had on hold for me. I took my time to notice how pretty it is here in the winter--almost like spring is in the air. Then I came home to see that there was a plane that went down in the Hudson River, and it truly is a miracle that everyone survived. Now I'm done with those enchiladas, which happen to be low carb and low fat--we shall see how that goes. You all know I'm not into that kind of stuff, but I've got our wedding coming up and I'm not paying the photographer that kind of money to take pictures of me busting out of my dress. Wait a minute, even if I do lose a few pounds, I'll still be busting out of my dress. Anyway, I'm just trying to eat a little healthier, no big changes and if Lee takes me out to a wonderful restaurant, I'm still eating something fabulous. And if I go on vacation, then I'm going to enjoy myself to the fullest. But I'm trying, a bit. I even made a no sugar, whole wheat pumpkin cake yesterday and everyone at work said it was amazing and ate it up quickly. I think I have a talent for cooking healthy, but I also know how good things can taste, so I'm always comparing it to the best of the best. Just don't make me eat light yogurt with that fake sugar--soooo gross.

The Planning Has Begun

I thought you might like this picture of Lee. Last night he babysat my godchild, Ryan, and I met him when I got off work just in case he needed me to help out (aka diaper changing). As usual, he found a way to entertain himself by writing no less than 25 phrases on Ryan's Magna-doodle. I am so thankful she's not able to read yet, to say the least. I chose the tamest of the words he wrote---but he did crack me up all night.
We went to the University District Farmers Market on Saturday and found quite a bit more than I had thought was growing in the winter, this is typically the 'chef's' weekly market because of the abundance of local fruits and veggies. There are even two mushroom stands with beautiful black trumpets out this week. And today we went to the Ballard Sunday Market, which is typically the one we go to, and checked out the colorful potatoes and kale (one of my favorite veggies, by far). And the newest and best arrival to the markets?? There is this lady who makes fried egg sandwiches with local eggs, cheese and fresh bread--this is possibly the perfect breakfast, so I'm happy she set up shop.

I edited and added a few links to the right of here as well. The Slog is the Capital Hill and alternative news source that I've been getting plenty of my news lately. Nancy Matthews Blog is a personal blog of a high school friend of mine who recently had a double lung transplant due to cystic fibrosis--it's just amazing to see the progress she is making. The New York Times, All Recipes and Epicurious are some of my favorite websites.

And wedding planning well underway, thanks to all the help I've got from sisters and mom's and Lee and friends and so on. We've got the reception and ceremony site, the photographer, the florist and the honeymoon place. Oh, and I've got the groom. That's the most important part.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and everything else that has happened in the last month.

I had the perfect opportunity and plenty of time to blog for a good week during the Seattle winter storm of '08, but some horrible alien invaded my computer and I got my first virus. I found out quickly that I can live without TV and movies and music, but living without a computer is much harder than I had imagined. So instead of blogging or just looking up every question I ever wanted answered, I hung out at home with Lee and watched movies, played games, talked a whole lot. I don't like the snow at all, but I must say that being snowed in with Lee made it much better and aside from simply getting cabin fever, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Being stuck with your best friend isn't so bad, and we laughed a lot. I heart Lee.

So Christmas was very laid back, even with home made gifts since we couldn't get out to go shopping. And New Year's was at El Gaucho with friends and then off to a party at Culinary Communion. Now we are off to a new year--which always puts me in a good mood-and I'll be celebrating my 34th birthday in a few days. I think we are going out for sushi at Maschiko, which I haven't had in soooo long.

We've been doing quite a bit of cooking and also Lee surprised me after work one evening and took me to Poppy. I've been wanting to go there for quite a while. Jerry Traunfeld is the chef and he used to be the chef at the Herb Farm, probably the best place to eat in this area during the 90's and early 2000's. Anyway, I always wanted to try his food or at least meet him. To my surprise, since chefs of his caliber don't actually cook at their own restaurants, he was cooking the night we went to Poppy. I compare this to going to the French Laundry and having Thomas Keller actually behind the line that evening (this kind of thing never happens). Although Jerry is not Thomas Keller, but anyway. I got a shot of him in the kitchen on the sly then he came out to talk to us and signed our menu for me. He's a very small guy, tiny, and I asked all the questions--Lee and Kyleen just sat there and didn't know what to say. My review? Well, it was really unique. Odd pickles and relishes, a very bitter endive salad, excellent short ribs and a grapefruit/avacado/shrimp salad that stole the show. It all had an Indian flavor undertone, and the best thing there are the appetizers and the desserts by Dana Cree. I really liked it, but it was so interesting that you wouldn't necessarily crave those flavors often. Next up for Lee and I? A special trip to Rover's for the Grand Degustation--my Christmas gift from him.

Here are a bunch of pictures of the past few weeks. My adorable niece Cypress, some friends from CC at a party, apps we made in class and a dark pic of Jerry Traunfeld.