Day #2

New York City!

Ok, one last time I had to get that out in Pace Picante style. Now I can tell you about our fabulous day #2!

The first half of the day wasn't that fabulous, actually. Scott and I both worked most of the afternoon from our "home" office here in the apartment. He went to get us some coffee and a light breakfast, which consisted of a spinach and feta quiche and an egg and swiss croissant sandwich from the delicious locally owned coffee shop on the block. We stayed in and worked until almost 2:00, at which point we had put out enough fires for the work day. By then we were absolutely starving, so we walked to Cafe Cluny, (the place where we got ice cream the day before) which is 2 doors down from our building. Ah, convenience! Our lunch was SO good. I got a pasta dish, which was ribbons of egg noodles with vegetables in a parmasean broth. YUM!

Look at that creamy, decadent deliciousness! This was full of vegetables- zucchini, carrots, green beans, radishes, peas, celery, lima beans, parsley, and slivers of garlic.... MMM!

Scott got fried zucchini blossoms stuffed with ricotta cheese:

His was very lightly fried, and that ricotta was fluffy and creamy. We'd rate this meal a 10/10.

Besides the decadent food, here is another thing that I loved about this restaurant; the view from the window:

It wasn't that there was anything spectacular to see, but look really closely... the yellow building across the street is another little restaurant. The green building across from that is another one. About 150 yards down the street is another one called Corner Bistro. And right in front of the window covered up by the tarp is the ice cream cart that was going to be opened for the afternoon passers by. In this short distance, there were 4 locally owned, unique restaurants.... that is what we absolutely LOVE about this city! As we walked around our neighborhood, Greenwich Village, I started counting- there are anywhere between 5 and 8 restaurants/cafes on each short block. The food options here are absolutely endless! And, being the Foodies that we are, is just our idea of Heaven on Earth!

After lunch, we walked around for a couple hours, taking in all the interesting people, and just general looking and wandering around. Eventually we ended up at this wine bar called Lelabar. They have 150 bottles of wine, and they are all sold by the glass! So we decided to partake in a glass each, and have a little snack of cheese and olives. Here are our snacks:

I love artisanal cheeses and olives. Look how different those olives each look! And that cheese- the white one on the left was a Buchron, which is a goats milk cheese from France. The smaller one on the right is Scharfe Maxx, which is a cows milk cheese from Switzerland. Both completely different, but totally wonderful.

After that, Scott decided that he was still hungry, so we walked to another place he had read about, called the Highlands Bar, which was a Scottish owned pub. We each had a pint of interesting craft beers. He also ordered a chicken liver terrine, which is basically like a chicken mousse. I know that sounds weird, but it was so good. I just had a couple bites of it, but he scarfed it down, so quickly in fact that I didn't even get a picture of it.

Holly and Jon, Scott's sister and brother in law, were flying in to stay with us for the weekend, so we had some time to kill as we waited for them. We continued to walk around, and did some shopping. We found a designer sample sale, and Scott bought a shirt for $5. When Holly and Jon finally arrived, it was around 9:00, so we met them at their bed and breakfast, which is literally across the street from our apartment! How handy! After some quick hellos, we walked 15 blocks to one of our favorite NYC restaurants, Terrior. It's a wine bar, with amazing food. We each did a small tasting of different wine flights, and ordered some fabulous food to go with it:

On the left is lamb sausage in fried sage leaves, and on the right is fried beet and gorgonzola risotto balls. Y-U-M!

I barely got a picture of this before we all ate it up. This is the best, best, best meatball ever. There were 3 of them, and all big enough to split. That tomato sauce is so rich and just perfect. After eating all this, we decided that we could stuff down a little more, so then ordered the oxtail and cheese (can't remember which) risotto balls, and a chicken liver mousse (we love this stuff)! It was all so good that I didn't even get a picture of any of it.

We had a wonderful time, eating, trying various tastes of wine, and talking. The night lasted until the early hours of the morning, at which point we all went to bed, full and happy.

More to come for Day #3!

New York City!

Whenever you say "New York City" you have to say it like those old Pace Picante commercials, when the cowboys are sitting around the campfire, and some rookie cowboy whips out a bottle of salsa that's not from Texas, but is instead from New York City! Then they run him out of the campsite. Every time I go back to visit New York City, that's what runs through my mind the entire first day or two.. "New York City!" Then I get run out of town by some cowboys.

Ok, not really. But in my mind, it's all "New York City!" nonetheless. So anyway, here I am, in New York City! And it is so fabulous! Scott and I are here for a month to pretend what it would be like to actually live here in the City (yes, I said a month! In New York City!) Ok, it's out of my system... for now :-)

Anyway, for those of you who want to know what we're up to day to day, I vow to be diligent on my blog posts, so you can see what pretend living in New York City! would be like (ok, NOW it is out of my system...until tomorrow)

Scott and I arrived in our 400 sq ft apartment today. We had been nervous to see what 400 sq ft actually felt like when we were in it, but when we arrived we were surprisingly excited! It seems much bigger! Of course, it is decorated in a contemporary style, which always seems larger because the style is more streamlined, with clean lines and no clutter. If you were to add a fake ficus tree, for example, I can imagine that it would definitely make the space seem much smaller. So basically, it's a good thing that I don't permanently live here, because I don't know that I could adapt a "less is more" decorating style. But, with our month long residency, I can learn what it's like to live in a contemporary, modern space.

Here are some pictures of our "spacious" 400 sq ft pad in Greenwich Village:

As you can see, it's plenty big enough for the two of us! I think we will be just fine in this space for the next 30 days :-)

So, after settling in and unpacking, the next thing we did was to go get an early dinner, since we had skipped lunch. We went to this neighborhood place called "Extra Virgin". It was about 1 block from our apartment, so it was very convenient as we were tired from the travel all day.

Here's the great thing about New York... you can go to your average, neighborhood restaurant, and get a meal that is as good or better than all the fancy schmancy places in Lousiville. Scott and I decided to split a dinner of wild mushroom with trufflle oil, goat cheese, and spinach whole wheat ravioli, topped with shaved parmasean. And a side of fries with a gorgonzola cheese fondue. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? How amazing does that sound?!?! That is only something that would be on the menu at Porchini's or Corbett's in Louisville (which are high dollar), and aren't even as good! This meal was unbelievably decadent.... see for yourself:

Look at that french fry. How good does that look? Let me tell you- IT WAS! All that delicious salty goodness coated all over it, perfectly fried and slightly crunchy (not soggy at all!), and that bowl of delicious Gorgonzola cheese fondue.... Oh, my goodness. I've died and gone to Heaven!

We split this meal (thank goodness, because it was plenty!), and then on our 1 block walk home, we walked past another fabulous restaurant called Cafe Cluny. They just so happened to have a cart parked out front of the restaurant on the sidewalek... with homemade ice cream! So, of course we had to get a cone to split. Homemade strawberry icecream, with a homemade waffle cone! The cone was literally still warm from coming off the waffle pan. Here is the ice cream:

Look at those chunks of strawberries! This ice cream tasted like real cream. It was SO good! Scott and I fought each other over it, which says a lot since Scott barely even likes dessert! It was dang good. And, only 2 doors down from our apartment, which is extremely dangerous! As a cone is $4.00, we already set a limit of no more than 3 cones a week. Hopefully we can stick to that budget!

After our phenomenal dinner, we decided to walk to the local grocery store for some basic necessities. That pretty much consisted of 4 cases of water, as we were so stuffed from dinner we couldn't even think of what else to get to stock our apartment. Luckily, the grocery is a half a block from our apartment, so we can just walk on over any time! So convenient!

After our water excursion, we decided to walk 17 blocks to a free comedy show. It was an Improv Show, which was very entertaining! After the show, we decided we could still go for a little snack, so stopped in a carry out pizza place called "Brickyard Pizza Oven". We got a piece of beef, ricotta, and basil pie:

We brought the delicious pie back to our new apartment, and proceeded to devour it. Scott is now fully passed out in a pizza coma, but I wanted to get our first blog entry out! I will do my best to keep up a daily log, for anyone who is interested. Until tomorrow! Goodnight!

All My Children

After months of diligently watering my tomato plants every day, the fruits of my labor have produced these!

Seriously, how cute are these? I just love them!

Here are all my green children:

They smell so good! So rich and herby!

Look at this vibrant, delicious Oregano... Don't you just want to stick your face in there and inhale? Mmm!

Mmm... fresh, woodsy Rosemary. Don't stick your face in here though, it would probably poke your eyes out!

Don't even think about touching your face after you touch one of these babies!These jalapeños are firey hot! They add the perfect touch of heat to any dish.

Soft, delicate Sage. One whiff will instantly transport you to Thanksgiving dinner. Stuffing and Sage, a match made in heaven!

Since I am getting ready to leave for NYC for a month, I figured I had better put some of this fabulous produce to good use. So, what do you do with a whole bunch of tomatoes? Make tomato pie, of course!

This is a very easy recipe, although time consuming. First you have to make a pie crust, which is not difficult, but it has to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before you use it. So there's 30 minutes of prep time right there. After you make the dough and chill it, you can then start peeling and slicing the tomatoes. This is a very squishy, slippery job. Then you have to grate one cup of cheddar cheese. You can never have too much cheese, in my opinion, so I grated one cup of white cheddar, and one cup of sharp yellow cheddar. I also then cut up slices of fresh mozzarella. (So I'm a cheese freak, ok!) Next, you mix the 2 cups of shredded cheese with a cup of mayo. By the way, if you haven't figured this out yet, this is not a low fat dish. But I don't care because it's freakin delicious. And it's made with tomatoes, which are healthy. Moving on...

I also added one diced jalapeño, just cause I'm crazy like that. Oh, and minced 3 or 4 big garlic cloves. (Did you think you would read a recipe on here that didn't involve garlic? Hello!)

So here's the process after all the slicing/dicing prep work:

1. Roll out pie crust. Lay into a 9 inch pie pan.

2. Bake pie crust for 6-8 minutes, just to give it a good head start.

3. Remove pie crust from oven. Layer tomatoes (I sliced up 5) in the pie.

4. Mix the 2 cups grated cheese with the mayo, jalepeno, and garlic.

5. Spread that mixture on top of the tomatoes.

6. Lay the mozzarella slices on top of all that cheesy-mayo goodness.

7. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Then it looks like this:

Cut up some fresh Basil, sprinkle it all over, and sink your teeth into that cheesy, gooey pie. It was pretty good! Although next time I make it, I will probably add beef. I think it just needed a little more substance to soak up all the juice from the tomatoes. But this dish was definitely a hit in my house. Try it in yours!

And then go walk on the treadmill for at least an hour. You'll have to since you have a whole pie to eat. But it's worth it! Enjoy!

Homemade Fettuccine

I love noodles. I crave noodles. I want noodles for every meal.

But then I would have to buy all new pants as none of mine would fit me anymore if I ate noodles everyday. Still, I would say that I do make some type of pasta dish once a week. I just can't help myself!

The other night, I decided to finally use my pasta attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. I received both the mixer and the attachment for Christmas presents this past year, and while I have been using my mixer, I have felt a little nervous about the pasta attachment. It just looks like a huge, time consuming project, one of which I have never found just the right time to tackle. I love to watch Iron Chef on Food Network, and they always make homemade pasta with their pasta attachments. They make it look so easy, so I thought, if they can do it, I can do it... right? :)

I found a pasta recipe in the recipe Bible, otherwise know as the "Betty Crocker". Seriously, for as many food magazine recipes, cookbook recipes, and online recipes that I read, time and time again I will resort back to my Betty Crocker for just the right recipe. It is the fount of all wisdom in the recipe world.... although I'm sure that Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking would give it a good run for it's money. But, I don't have that cookbook (do the French even eat pasta? Maybe I need an Italian cookbook!) so I resorted to my Tried and True B.C.

I could not believe how easy this recipe was for pasta. In summary, here is what you do:

1. Get out Kitchen Aid Mixer

2. Dump 2 cups flour, 2 beaten eggs, 1 tsp salt, 1/3 cup water, 1 TB oil, into the Mixer (I also added fresh basil)

3. Mix with the dough hook attachment for about 3 minutes

4. Remove dough, form into a ball, roll it out a little, then feed it thorough the pasta attachment

That's it! I'm not joking! You barely even have to roll out the dough as the pasta attachment does that for you! After you have put the flattened dough through the attachment 3 or 4 times, it is now about 3 feet long and very thin. At this point, you switch the flattening attachment to a cutting attachment. I decided to make fettuccine, so I put it on the fettuccine setting, and fed the flattened pasta through it. Here are some pictures of the dough flattening/noodle cutting process:

Seriously, the noodles end up being 3 feet long. I cut them in half, and then immediately threw them into a large pot of salted, boiling water:

I had to work in batches as there were so dang many of them. But the cooking time is only 2 minutes! TWO MINUTES! Seriously, could this be any easier? Why was I so afraid all this time?

See how chewy those look! MMMM! That is my favorite thing about noodles... I love chewiness. As you can see, the noodles look kind of stuck together, but when you pour them into a colander to drain, you can just add olive oil and they all magically fall apart from each other.

Now that the hard part (ha-right!) was done, I realized I needed something to go with the basil fettuccine. I had a large, just picked, home grown tomato (the best thing ever! in addition to noodles, of course) so I chopped it up, threw it in a pan with olive oil and garlic, and let it simmer for a couple minutes. I added a few generous splashes of red wine, some salt and pepper, and after about 5 minutes of letting that cook together, I added back in the noodles.

I also had some ground lamb from my CSA, so I quickly cooked that up with some garlic, and then added it to the pan with the noodles and wine-soaked tomatoes:

I added some fresh basil, grated Parmesan, and cracked pepper:

This picture does not do any justice for how delicious this actually tasted. This dish is definitely going to become one of my standard "go-to" weeknight meals. Totally delicious, and so easy, it is just fabulous! I'm telling you, if you don't have a pasta attachment for your Kitchen Aid, RUN, don't walk, to your nearest Bed Bath and Beyond and buy one. You won't regret it. We can then trade many noodle recipes and also trade pants as we will all need to go up a size from all this pasta. But some things are just worth it :-)

No Pain, No Gain

Yesterday was day #12 of MTC. I was saddened to learn that we actually weren't as far I originally thought- I thought we were at day #15 already. Poo.

Megan came over last night for our workout. We did a lot of arm exercises, one of them being a series of lateral pull downs. I don't have the proper machine to do this, so we improvise with resistance bands pulled over doors, which seems to work fine.

At 1:42 am, I woke up with a pain in my neck and shoulder. I assumed that I was sleeping on it wrong and had gotten a crick, so I turned over onto my other side and went back to sleep. I woke up several times after that with the same issue, but was able to go back to sleep each time. When I finally woke up at 6:45, I realized that no matter what position I turned to, I was in pain each time. After giving up trying to be comfortable, I finally got out of bed, and then quickly realized that standing up was much, much more painful than laying down. My right shoulder and neck sent shooting pains with each move... I have never experienced such complete pain in this part of my body before. I went into the bathroom where Scott was getting ready for work to tell him about it. I tried to put my hair up to get in the shower, but I couldn't even raise my right arm above chest level... I am talking INTENSE, SEARING, SHOOTING PAIN like I have never felt before! He went to get me a heating pad, and I went back to lay in bed, but I couldn't even lay or sit without more pain. It was CRAZY! After 15 minutes of general moaning and groaning, I finally drug myself back to the bathroom to attempt to get ready for work, and each movement was followed by sharp, sickening pain.

Somehow, I managed to take a shower, put on makeup, and get dressed for work, but slowly and carefully. I brought my heating pad to work with me (it's the kind that you put in the microwave to heat up), so that helped out while I sat at my desk. My mother in law gave me some Aleeve, which did seem to take some of the edge off. However, it is now 7 pm, and I am still sore and have a dull throbbing pain. But, that's better than the intense shooting pain that I felt most of the morning. Dang you, Jillian Michaels!

In other non-workout related news, here is what I made for breakfast yesterday:

Huevos Rancheros! Mmm... were they good, if I do say so myself! I made steak fajitas on Friday night, with a chipotle/cumin/garlic sauce, so I had some left over to use. I warmed up some red chile tortillas, and then put a layer of refried beans on the tortillas. I cooked some eggs, adding cheddar cheese to the eggs as they cooked, so that the cheese was baked into the eggs. Then I chopped up a home grown jalapeño and banana pepper, and sautéed them in some olive oil, garlic, and a little hot sauce. When they were soft, I put those on the eggs, along with the leftover fajita beef and veggies. I topped it all off with the leftover chipotle sauce, sour cream, a little cilantro, and some fresh home grown tomatoes. Mmm! This dish was muy bueno!

MTC Days 3,4,5,6,7

Jello.

No, I didn't make any for dessert, I'm referring to the way my legs and arms feel after Jillian is finished torturing me. This better pay off after 30 days! I will have to say that my favorite days have been 3, 6, and 7... those have been our days off! I know, I'm pathetic.

In the meantime, Scott and I went to "Cake Flour", which is a locally owned bakery that makes all of their baked goods with natural and organic ingredients. So, on Saturday morning we went downtown to check this place out. Here is what we came home with:

Hmm... wasn't I saying something about eating healthy now that I'm working out more? I don't think the 30 day plan involves eating stuff like this.... But how ADORABLE are these cupcakes? And that lemon tart was so dang good!

Well, at least it's out of my system now, right? Ok, from now on, no more fooling around! I'm really, really going to eat healthy next time. For real.

Making the Cut... Day #2

Jillian Michaels, you are a mean, cruel woman! But if your workouts make me look you, then I guess I'll let you torture me for 28 more days.

Yesterday was Day #2 of our Making the Cut workout. At 6 am, I hadn't yet gotten a text from Megan telling me she was on her way, and a teeny, tiny part of me hoped that maybe she had overslept and wouldn't be coming over. But that hope was shot to pieces at 6:01 when I heard that familiar text ring tone beeping at me from my phone. So, I drug myself out of bed and went downstairs to wait for her.

The muscles Jillian had us focus on for Day 2 were hamstrings, biceps, and lower abdominal muscles. I will have to say, these muscles were not as difficult to work as the group from Day 1, which were triceps,shoulders, abs, and quads. I have very little upper body strength, so doing push-ups (boy push-ups because Jillian says if you can only do girl push-ups then you shouldn't even be doing this program! Meany!) is insanely difficult!

Day 2's workout was a little easier, so we finished in about 25 minutes. So far, today has been my favorite- Day #3 is a day off! Yay! It felt so good not to hear my phone alarm go off at 5:50 am. And since tomorrow is Saturday, we can sleep in and then work out at our leisure.

Last but not least, here is the dinner I fixed on Day #1:

Roasted Red Peppers stuffed with beef, polenta, feta cheese, oregano,and basil. Mmmm! They were delish!