Weekend in San Francisco

There hasn't been much cooking going on around here. I've just started a new job and Lee has his testing period at Boeing where he works crazy hours, plus May was one of the busiest months we've had in quite a while. Tonight we had KFC and Cozy Shack Rice Pudding for dinner--it's not always healthy, but it sounded kind of good. I'm excited our garden is growing by leaps and bounds, which means I'll be eating lots of vegetables this summer and from our own garden. It looks better this year than last and I've got lots of ideas for next years garden to make it better, such as an irrigation system and different varieties of veggies. Maybe I'll grow that green thumb yet.

Lee and I haven't been away from Seattle since la

st October and I don't remember the last time I haven't gone anywhere for that long. So what is close, a big city and some place I've never been before? San Francisco! We took a quick trip down there last weekend and it was just what I needed. To get away, relax, be alone with my honey, eat lots of seafood, see some new things and feel very excited to come back home. We really liked it for the most part, not sure we'd go back since there are so many places we love and more we'd like to see. I think we saw

the majority of that huge city in 2 days, but we are a good team and seem to like doing similar things, so it makes traveling easy.

I don't know if Lee and I have this amazing good luck angel hanging above us when it comes to food, but we had another great experience. We dined at the 2 star Michael Mina restaurant and had an incredible meal, probably the second best meal next to Joel Robuchon. Lee asked for a copy of the menu when we were done eating, which he usually does at fine restaurants where we have a memorable meal--it's like a little picture of our evening that we will ne

ver forget. Very romantic I think. Well, this evening in San Francisco Michael Mina himself happened to be cooking in the kitchen. This is very rare for such a well known chef who has several other restaurants and is somewhat of a celebrity in the chef-y world to be cooking in their own kitchen. Our waiter asked us if we'd like our menu signe

d and of course we said yes, then asked if we'd like to meet him! So we went back to the kitchen, yes we did, and met Michael Mina and made small talk-found out he is from Ellensburg and found he's a really nice guy. Most people look up to athletes or actors or whatnot, but my guilty pleasur

e is following well known chefs. I do watch Top Chef, and way too much of the Food Network, so this was a fun experience for me.

My new job at Spa Scotta is so great! It's so great that it d

oesn't feel like I'm working. I can actually talk to my friends and have lunch with them on breaks, we can go for coffee (!!), I have input in all the decisions that are made and no one watches over my shoulder, I get to listen to and dance to every fabulous 80's song, plus I still touch tootsies and love on people all day. I realize these things are normal for most people, but I've been working for a large corporation for many years now and laughing and

hanging out and having large amounts of input in the company weren't possible. It's incredibly refreshing and I am happier than ever at work.

Some of the places we went to eat in San Fran were John's Grill, Boudin, R@G Lounge, Michael Mina, Quince, Buena Vista, Ghiradelli Chocolate Shop and the crab vendors at Fisherman's Wharf.

Best Memorial Day Weekend Ever

Here's a great one of Katie modeling my Mom's Roberto Cavalli jeans with Swarovski Crystals that she bought in Europe. I think they are very Eurotrash so I had a lot of fun making people try them on--now I'm selling them on Ebay!

Lee and David BBQing.

This is the kitchen storage unit Lee built so we can make room for cooking. It has rollers so we can move our cooking station around the kitchen.This is Lee and I at the University District Street Fair-the official weekend start to every summer.

This past weekend was awesome. The weather was so amazing and I think Lee and I got more done in one weekend than we ever thought was possible. We went to the Abney Park concert on Friday night--a steampunk band that we love. Lee was being an assistant DJ at 89.5 last Sunday since he made a donation to them last year and Abney Park ended up showing up at the studio for an interview, which made the concert even more cool. On Saturday we went to a BBQ at our friends house on Capitol Hill, we really like that neighborhood. Sunday was our day to landscape our front parking space, and 33 bags of beauty bark later, we were finally done. On Monday we had a huge BBQ ourselves, complete with both beef and dork (duck and pork) sliders, handmade lumpia (Filipino eggrolls) and Mexican Coca-Cola (no high fructose corn syrup). We also did a little retail therapy this weekend for a few things we've been wanting for quite a while since we have now sold the condo. We bought a new TV for the bedroom, a BBQ and a Playstation 3. In addition, we got a wine fridge from my Dad-it's our first wedding gift.

I've also found my second favorite restaurant in Seattle--Quinn's. It's up on Cap Hill as well. Harvest Vine is my number one restaurant so far. There are so many to choose from and many that I really like, but for some reason I really like the food at Quinn's. It's unique, but it's pub food (well, high end pub food) and I crave it all the time. This last time we went we had the foie gras terrine (while the foie gras protesters were right outside the window!), the pork belly cobb salad, the oyster po boy, the poutine with veal demi glace, fonduata and 3 oz of foie gras on top, the meatballs with polenta and the asparagus with poached duck egg. Yum!

Pictures from our big auction dinner

Goat Cheese Quenelle with a Black Pepper Strawberry Sauce and an Almond Tuile
Short Ribs Braised in Coffee and Wine served over Polenta with Frizzled Leeks. A Salad of Fennel, Pecorino and Grapefruit on the side.
Cube of Watermelon with Aged Balsamic and Kosher Salt.
Tomato Tartar with a Gruyere Chip, Basil Oil and Shallot Dressing.
Our Send Home Mignardise of a Caramel Salt, Chocolate and Sea Salt Covered Pretzel.
Tempura Fried Shiso Leaf with Tuna Tartar.
Fried Pork Belly with a Garlic Herb Coulis.
Gougeres Stuffed with Crab, Avacado and Chives.
Our Menu Printed By Kimberly.

The dinner was great! We had so much fun planning and are excited to do it again next year. I'm thinking miniature comfort foods, hmmm.

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