Cape Weekend

I haven’t been up to Cape Cod in a solid ten years, but it was – incredibly – more beautiful than I remembered – those adorable cottages and hydrangea everywhere, some of the most gorgeous beaches I’ve ever seen, the most amazing sunsets of maybe anywhere. We had great food and conversation in Dennis…it was just a perfect little getaway.


There are really few people I’d wake up at 3am on a Saturday to drive 5 hours with (or, 7 hours behind, if RMBA is at the wheel of the car in front of you) for a quick weekend on the Cape with the “girls” of her family, and come away from it thinking it had been the best weekend of my summer. 


Re’s family has been coming up here since she was little, and now the group is “girls only” – with the exception of 2 year old Henry. Life happens, and so the QT I get to spend with her now is less than what it used to be when we both lived in Philly, pre-moves (for me) and pre-law school (for her). Saturday night after a gorgeous day at the beach, we went driving around the Cape so she could show me the things that she loved when she was younger, and then we literally just sat and split a six pack and listened to music and just caught up for a while. She’s been an incredible sounding board and support system to me for over 20 years now (!!), is one of the people I admire most in the world, and I’m just so lucky to have her as a friend, and to know and love her family, too. 

This summer has been full of really beautiful moments where I sometimes least expected to find them. This weekend was one of the prettiest. 

This basically sums up the ride up there – pop tarts, coffee, gas station-brand water. Sick. Oh and also like a million episodes of This American Life. Standard road trip.

Almost there!

Insanely clear water.
G & Clairey, looking at the hermit crabs.
Cutest.

Wine on the beach at sunset in a Dino cup? What, like you haven’t?
G, totally miz despite being about the eat the best blueberry muffin of anyone’s life from the Merc.
Go here. Get the muffins. Enjoy.


sun-squint selfie
Definitely coming back here next year! This beach felt like the end of the world. It was unbelievable. 

Double Rainbow! Good sign and a perfect ending to the weekend.
Oh, all right. Just one lobster roll.
Thanks for hosting me, ladies!







Tortellini Salad with Red Bell Peppers, Parsley, Parm and a Lemon-Artichoke Tapenade (and also, “Cousin weekend”)

Cousin weekend. <3


Every summer my cousin Erin and her husband Brian host our little group of cousins on my dad’s side at their weekend place in Brigantine, NJ.  We’re all super into cooking, so the weekend is usually a little bit schmorgasboard, a lot bit Erin’s amazing margaritas, beach, boating, catch-up, recipe swap. It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year and this year was no exception.  Even when the power went out (in AC. In the casino. Slot machines were the only thing that didn’t miss a beat).

My contribution was a Tortellini Salad – it takes about 10 minutes to make, keeps really well, and is something you can bring to the beach with you since it won’t go bad if it gets a little warm. I used to eat a version of this all the time when I lived in Bozeman, Montana – their Co-Op Market made this and I loved it – until I realized I could throw it together myself. This even passes the K. Haggs test, which for all of us who know her particular eating preferences, is saying a lot.

TORTELLINI SALAD WITH RED BELL PEPPERS, PARSLEY, PARM, and a LEMON-ARTICHOKE TAPENADE (makes an enormous bowl that will be a good side dish for 7 cousins over 2 days)
– 2 packages tortellini, cooked per directions
– 1 red bell pepper, diced
– 3 tbsp. flat leaf parsley, chopped (approx.)
– thickly grated fresh parm

Lemon-Artichoke Tapenade
– 2 cans artichoke hearts, drained, and chopped pretty thoroughly
– juice of 1 lemon
– solid 3 glugs of EVOO (or more, if the tapenade is too dry)
– freshly cracked black pepper and kosher salt to taste

1. Cook tortellini per directions. Drain and let cool completely. You can toss the tortellini with a little olive oil to keep it from sticking together.

2. Chop up the artichoke hearts, add to a small bowl. Some people pulse this all together in a food processor, but I like the little chunks of the artichoke hearts that you get by chopping them.


3. To that bowl, add the juice of 1 lemon, then the kosher salt & pepper.



4. Add the EVOO & stir well to combine. Taste & adjust. You want the EVOO to kind of bind everything, not have a pool of it in the bottom of the bowl.

5. Chop up the bell pepper & parsley.


6. Add artichoke tapenade to cooled tortellini, mix well to combine. 

7. Add the red bell pepper, parsley and parm. Stir well to combine. Add kosher salt & pepper if necessary.


Weekend highlights:

Boating on the “Cheeky Monkey”. Brian’s playlist for these rides, every time, just knocks it out of the park. Can you link to Spotify playlists from here? If anybody knows how, let me know and I’ll share the one I copied from him.

Margaritas everywhere (the one in the mason jar came with a “two drink max per person” rule):


Erin’s gorgeous garden – this is seriously one of my favorite spaces in America. She does such a beautiful job with it – there are hummingbirds everywhere, you feel like you’re sitting in the middle of the Secret Garden.


Beach – first time this summer!


Revel Casino  – unreal space




“Snacks”
 


Drive in and out – sunshower, Philly without traffic, dumplings from one of my favorite Philly Chinese restaurants, that perfect moment on the way home with the sun shining and a great song on the radio, when you feel like everything is right with the world.


Thanks Erin & Brian – I love you guys & I’ll see you soon!  xoxo



50,000


Thank you. This blog has been one of the coolest/best things, by far, that I’ve done over the last year, and the response to it has been so amazing. Back when I really started doing this last winter, I never imagined I’d reach 50,000 hits. I know I’ve taken some time off lately, but I needed to work through some stuff and get back to me again. I’m so happy to be back.  Thanks again, to all of you.
xo

Simple Lemon Dressing

Sometimes in life, when things seem too complicated, the best things to do or consume are the simplest ones. I haven’t bought salad dressing in maybe 2 years – it’s so much simpler to make it yourself, and so much healthier too.  Lemons are one of my favorite ingredients, and I love how they make everything seem brighter. When life gives you lemons, make this dressing.  Simplify.  Simplify.  Simplify.

SIMPLE LEMON DRESSING (serves 2-4)
– Juice of 1 lemon (approx. 2 tbsps)
– 6 tbsp EVOO
– 1 tsp. dijon mustard
– Pinch of kosher salt & freshly cracked black pepper

1. Combine everything in a mason jar.  Shake it up and adjust seasonings to taste.


2. Lightly salt your greens (I love Organic Seasoning Salt Herbamare, which combines healthy minerals and sea salt).  Add dressing.


3. Top with a little sprinkling of parmesan cheese, if you want (who doesn’t).


— On a side note, I just want to put out there how incredibly thankful and lucky I am to have my family and my friends in my life.  In times of transition, they’re the people who stand behind me and my choices with overwhelming encouragement, support, advice, perspective, and love. I have so many things in my life that I’m appreciative of, but these relationships are at the very top of my list. So grateful.

andwhatiate.com

 My birthday was on Monday, and my little sister bought my domain name for a present!  So we are now…

ANDWHATIATE.COM

Such a great gift – I was so excited.  All the old links will still work, but now it’ll be easier to access the site instead of typing in the longer address I used to have. I feel so official now. Thanks Colly Doll!

So B and I decided to head down to Philly for a late birthday dinner at Amada, one of our all-time favorite restaurants.  The space somehow manages to be enormous but cozy, the tapas they serve is out of this world, their sangria tastes like Christmas morning, and the “little plates” give you an excuse to eat a LOT of some of the best food I’ve ever had:

A ridiculous meat & cheese plate: chorizo pamplona,  serrano ham,  & salchichon; then aged manchego with truffled lavender honey (!!!), ersmesenda with chocolate hazelnut puree, and a garrotxa with a garlic dulce de leche

Ensalada Verde with avocado, asparagus, favas, and green beans/  a spanish flatbread with artichokes, wild mushrooms, black truffles and manchego
parmesan artichokes and lamb meatballs
Grilled calamari with spanish pesto
“Mother and child”: chicken breast, fried egg, mojama & truffles

Combine that with a delicious “breakfast” (yes I know that’s a reuben) at the Downtown Deli, then lunch at Carl Von Luger’s with my Mom, and it was one of the best dining days I’ve had in a while.


And February itself has been pretty great in general: 

Yoga Dance party in one of the rooms at the gorgeous Scranton Cultural Center, hosted by Mission Yoga; The Dinner of Love at The Colonnade to benefit the Sant’ Andrea Society; a weekend yoga workshop with the amazing Pradeep Teotia at Balance (during the Northeast’s biggest snowstorm in decades, which ended up making it an even more incredible experience); a weekend at Moosic Lake with my girlfriends; Philly for my birthday; and a great yoga mat carrier from Green Being Scranton, among other things, to cap it all off.

34 and 2 days…

Family = Love

I went to a bridal show in the Poconos with my mom and little sister this weekend, which was so much fun. Collyn and I have lived away from home (in Boston, Western Massachusetts, Paris, NYC, Philly, Colorado, & Montana, between the two of us) for so long, & being back in the same place as our parents for the first time in a long time is something I really treasure. Wedding planning has been really fun, but one of my favorite parts about it has been, hands down, the quality time I’ve been able to spend with my mom and my sister.

Christmas 2012 Highlights

Christmas tree shopping at Helen and Ed’s Tree Farm, which we’ve been going to since we’ve been kids, and is one of the cutest places in America.


B and I exchanged presents on Christmas morning. We had a great snowfall the night before, so we turned on the Christmas tunes, the tree lights, made some coffee from Hillside, and got fully blissed out – I love Christmas morning.

For Christmas this year B got me these heels (!!!), yoga stuff, and an insane  Cuisinart food processor that I’d been lusting after for months.  Annnnd, that pretty much sums me up!
Colly and I made Christmas “dinner” at our parents’ house – Cornish game hens with cranberry walnut stuffing, the best broccoli ever, cauliflower mashed potatoes, roasted red grapes with thyme, and an awesome shredded kale salad.  We were going to try to make a goose for more of a “Tiny Tim” Christmas, but everyone we talked to who had previously tried goose themselves kind of gave us a series of “that might be a bad idea” looks.  So we scrapped it.  Cornish game hens were much cuter, anyway!  I’ll spare you the details of my last minute search for broccoli on Christmas morning, since for some reason it hadn’t occurred to me that everything would be closed on, you know, CHRISTMAS MORNING, but suffice to say that a fortunate run-in with the owner of Schiel’s Family Markets saved the day.


Christmas day party made even more delicious with a serious wine cellar

Part of the spread at the tree lighting party this year
My mom made a gingerbread bride version of me this year – too cute.

  

 Merry Christmas everyone!

36 Years

Happy 36th Anniversary to my Mom and Dad, who are my favorite love story.  I’m so grateful for the life, the love, and the opportunities you’ve created for Colly and me.  
We love you!