I picked up some seafood sausages the other day from Wegman’s, mostly a salmon, shrimp misture.  I don’t know why, but when I saw them I had to have them!  I think it was the challenge.  I thought they would be great with a lemon butter sauce with capers in pasta.  But the other night I didn’t feel like boiling water to make pasta (Yes, I know all you induction people don’t understand why I wouldn’t feel like doing this).  I did have soem Ore Ida hashbrowns, a medium tomato that was ripe, ripe and needed to be used.

So I put 1-2 Tbsp. of Olive Oil in a non-stick skillet, when it heated up I added the diced tomato, let that cook 1-2 minutes and added the leaks and salt and pepper to taste.  I then started the hashbrowns as directed on the package, although they were one frozen solid mass, so I had to nuke them for about 40 seconds first to get them into a workable state.  Then as the leek softened I added the sausage which since it was just me eating this I cut up into chunks.  If you cooked them whole they would probably be jucier and have a nicer crisp, but I just wanted to toss everything in a bowl.  Oregano and more salt and pepper were added and a wee bit more olive oil.  Once the sausage was cooked through it’s done.  I then put the finished hashbrowns and the sausage mixture into a bowl and had a finger liking, quick dinner.  It was acidic, but juicy with a nice crunch from the hashbrown.  I of course thinking this would not be at all tasty did not take any pictures.  I am going to make the worst cookbook author of all time  But I want to make it again for Hubby so I will try to take a picture next time.

It just so happens that one of my absolute favorite persons lives in Chicago.  And this post is a little late, but we traveled there for a conference that Matthew had in March.  I came for a long weekend that happened to encompass the St. Patty’s Celebration madness, which was a hoot.

We stayed at the Sofitel at the Chicago Water Tower.  I really love this hotel, and would strongly recommend it.  It sits a few blocks back of Michigan Avenue, so it is a little quieter, but right in the middle of things still.  It was easy to walk or use public transportation to most everything in town that we wanted to see.  The rooms were nice and very clean, and just minimally decorated in a way I find relaxing.  There were awesome full length mirrors covering the closets so it was easy to style yourself.  And to top it all off the bathrooms were huge, with a wide array of really nice amenities.  What more can a girl want you ask?  A lobby filed with fresh flagrant flower displays, helpful staff and a great lounge and restaurant that’s what, and they got you covered there too.

So the night I landed, Hubby took me to the most beautiful place.  The Bloomingdales Home Store in Chicago… YeeGods this place is awesome.  Four or five floors of nothing but beautiful home decor, in an old Synagogue that itself was amazing.  Not only that, but they had the new Diane Von Furstenburg plates and bedding.  Heaven, heaven, heaven.   Then we had dinner at Moto.  The super modernist, molecular gastronomy restaurant of Chicago.  And it was so much fun!  I can’t even describe the food and the courses, but I have pictures!  If you like fun dining and don’t take your food to seriously I would recommend it.  There are places rated much better food-wise, like Avec, but this was fun and Hubby and I like all the work and creativity put into the dishes.  The staff was so nice, they were low key and down to earth, and it made the whole thing relaxed and fun.

Friday we ate an early lunch at Grahamwich, Graham Elliot’s sandwich shop. This was really, really good. YOU MUST EAT HERE!  I had the jarbrito tacos which had nicely flavored soft meat and crunchy plantain bits, they could have used a touch more acid, but that is a light quibble.  I also had a bite of my Hubby’s Reuben, which was really good, juicy and just succulent as can be. We also got the short rib sandwich and I ate all the guts out of my half. That was fantastic, the pickled onions, chip pieces, short rib that was rich and soft, but not runny and sauce that was creamy, but had a nice acidic balance pull it all together and it was so rich and crispy and tart all together. That was a great sandwich. It was very hipster in terms of scene, but I liked it, a lot.

After our tasty lunch I convinced Hubby we should walk down Michigan Avenue to see some of the great buildings.  This turned into quite a long walk all the way to the Field Museum, but it was a nice day and we needed to burn off all those Grahamwich calories.  On the way we stopped into a poster store that had amazing old vintage posters on the bottom floor that were amazing and rare.  It is one of those big online shops, but just seeing some of their neat, rare art deco posters up close was fun.  We also stopped into the Chicago Architecture Foundation store which is neat too.  After finally arriving at the Field Museum (and as a note if you don’t love to walk don’t try this it was a long walk), we had a great time seeing the exhibits in their neat vintage boxes with hand painted backgrounds.  I felt like I was in another era walking through the botanical section learning what families plants and veggies I love are from.  I did not know the apple tree was in the rose family.  I don’t think this is probably a favorite museum for kids, but I would certainly recommend it for any adult that enjoys art and botany.

That night we had our obligatory Rick Bayless at Frontera Grill. I started with Duck flautos in a tomatillo sauce. This was just fantastic. Slightly spicy, crisp outer shell, rich meat, but the tomatillo sauce with toasted herbs and spices was just amazing. I am sure it is in his cookbook and would be worth it if you had some time to make it. It was an excellent dish. Hubby had chorizo tamales which were good, but it had so much sauce, meat, greans and etc you couldn’t really taste the tamales, so while it was good, my starter was better. For entrees he had an entree with chicken, rice and spinach which had a light sauce that I want to say was tomato based. His entree was really good, I liked it a lot. The spinach was fantastic and the sauce was light but flavorful. I had chicken enchiladas in mole poblano. It was very rich and sweet, but nicely balanced with black beans. The meat and tortillas were very good, the mole was very complex, but good. It isn’t something I could eat often, I couldn’t finish it just so rich, but it was very good. We were too stuffed for dessert. I also had a very good blood orange margarita. The service wasn’t stellar. We waited a long time for drinks, silverware, our order to get taken we ordered second drinks, but finished our entrees before they came so the waiter asked if we still wanted them and we declined. I understand it is exceedingly busy there all the time, but at the same time, it is always like that so I expect them to be able to better deal with the madness.  If you can get the reservation for Topolobampo, I would bet it is well worth it.

Later that evening we had fun catching up with Megan at her very chic apartment.  A place I wish I could just teleport to with a bottle of wine and stories to tell.

Saturday was St. Patty’s madness. We ate breakfast at Cafe Grand Deluxe, which I believe is owned by Cheesecake Factory brand. Places were so crowded at this point we just wanted some food and they could get us in fairly quickly. I had an egg white omlette and it was good, I mean nothing to write home about, hee hee hee, but definitely an adequate place to stop with lots of variety.  The river was green, people were crazy.  But it was fun to see the madness.  We met up with Megan and toured the Chicago Cultural Center which is just stunning.  If I got married in Chicago this is where it would have been.  The beautiful Tiffany domes and detailed mosaics covering the building just make it a magical place.  We walked through Marshall Fields, toured Millenium Park then ended up at the Art Institute of Chicago.  Wow this place is gigantic, we couldn’t come close to seeing everything.  I also found the layout very confusing if you just wanted to pop in and out to certain exhibits and not follow their routes.  The coolest part of the museum were the mini-rooms which shouldn’t be missed.  I love the Art Institute’s massive collection- well worth paying admission (something us DCers just don’t understand).

That night we went to the lounge at Sixteen at the Trump Tower for cocktails and a snack. I love this lounge, I think it is akin to drink at the W Hotel in DC (which used to be the Hotel Washington, but this place has better drinks).  I bet the hotel rooms are amazing too, especially if you get a view looking up or down Michigan Ave.  The view from the lounge is really beautiful, the cocktails were really well done, I had a ginger cocktail, Vodka, Domaine de Canton and perhaps something else, with a candied ginger rim, it was very well blended with a nice mixture of flavors. My friend Megan had a whiskey, maple syrup and bacon cocktail with some other things to balance out the sweet and that was really good. Hubby had the least appealing, I can’t even really remember what it was, he didn’t get a second of it, he had something else. But sitting there drinking cocktails, watching the skyline light up, and catching the fireworks was a great evening. If you want the iconic cocktail with nice view this is the place. We ate samosas and beef satay both of which were really tasty.  We spent a good portion of our night talking, laughing and just enjoying life from that beautiful lounge.  In the summer they open up the terrace there and I am sure then it only gets better.

That night we ate dinner/more snacks at Bin36. This place had a fantastic wine list, a very good selection of wine flights, a huge selection of cheese and was a great place to hang, casual, but buzzing with a great open feel. We all got different flights, I had the Habla Espanol which had wines from the new world and old, they were all very good. We had a lavender and coffee encrusted cheese, mortadella, salami platter which was very good. Hubby had a cheddar flight which was awesome. Then I had a beet and crab salad, which had a touch too many beets and not enough other components to balance them out. But was pretty good. My friend had sausage, polenta and an egg which was like having really good breakfast for dinner. Hubby had fondue with soft pretzels and apples which was good. We mainly just wanted snacks and hangover food to suck up all the liquor from the day. We then drank at some different bars that night trying to find a good St. Patty’s place but they all seemed to be packed to the gills.

Next day we tried to go to Yolk which was packed, so trying to hit up some museums quickly we just ended up at Potbelly. We then headed up to the Museum of Science and Industry.  This is an amazing museum.  It is the place to take kids, or anyone like me, who likes to be a kid whenever possible.  I watched in awe as trains went through the replica of Chicago, walked up  stairways filled with working pumps, motors and machines you could turn on and off, create a tornado, tsunami and avalanche in the lab, and so much more, this place was epically cool.

Later that day we went to Marshall Fields/Macy’s which was a ton of fun. I wish their cafes had been open that day. We got lots of chocolate from the candy department- I had never seen Moonstruck chocolates before and they are so cute, especially the little animals. I got a bunch for my Mom as a thank you for watching Max and a couple for me including penguins!  They had an amazing selection of anything and everything. That store is just nuts! We ended up grabbing a quick dinner before heading to the airport at Flacos Tacos which was surprisingly good, the chicken tamale was incredible and the tacos were really good. In retrospect we could have eaten somewhere nicer, but we didn’t know how long it would take us to get to the airport, through security and all that jazz, but it ended up being a breeze.  The whole trip was so much fun, I wish we had more time, but another trip now that the weather is warmer wouldn’t be bad either.

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So after perusing their selections on One King’s Lane I found this group, the Lost Art Salon.   Their art collection is comprised of over 5,000 works of rediscovered and historically significant artists.   Every piece is researched, reconditioned and catalogued for art historical records at their Salon in San Francisco.  They use restored period frames combined with archival framing techniques. I love this piece, it would go perfect with my dining room wall colors.

If you are looking for interesting and good quality art for your home it is a great place to start that search.  With collections from abstract to landscapes, etchings, illustrations, commercial and everything else.  I have a love-hate relationship with art collecting, I love finding interesting pieces, but it takes so much time to find something- trips to antique stores galleries and there is so much that isn’t my style.   This place has an online site, it’s like a huge gallery at your fingertips.

The best part is that the art is reasonably priced.  Seriously.

This G. Heald oil on canvas board is priced at $315.00, it reminds me so much of hiking in Yellowstone and the Tetons.

Do you belong to One King’s Lane?

If not please let me invite you with this link: https://www.onekingslane.com/invite/KatelinMoomau.  It is one of those online sales sites, but it focuses on home goods, decoration, art and cookware.  Pretty much all things home.  I   know you are probably overwhelmed by sites liked these, I have joined so many I never use, but this one- I love it.  I just bought a beautiful, really nice quality rug for my guest bedroom.  I am always impressed by the quality of art they have on the site, as well.  And the shipping fees and return policies on such big items are so reasonable.  Seriously, highly recommended if you aren’t already a member.

I tried this recipe from My New Roots, a really fantastic recipe blog, and it is simple, easy to make and so good.  I highly recommend adding the Tahini.  Will add a pic, as soon as I take it and upload it.

Simple Mint Pea Dip
3 cups fresh or frozen green peas
zest of 1 un-waxed, organic lemon
3 Tbsp. lemon juice (approx. ½ lemon)
1 large clove garlic
¼ cup packed mint leaves
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1-2 Tbsp. raw tahini (optional, but makes the dip creamy)
¼ tsp. sea salt

Directions:
1. If using frozen peas, leave out to thaw completely, or cook them in step 2. If using raw peas, skip over to step 3.
2. To blanche the peas (this enhances their sweetness), bring a pot of water to the boil, add peas and cook for 2-3 minutes (no more!). Plunge them into an ice bath or very cold water to halt the cooking process. Set aside.
3. Put whole clove of garlic in a food processor and pulse to mince. Add the remaining ingredients and blend on high to puree.
4. Store in an airtight container for 3-4 days, but try to consume as quickly as possible.

Be sure to click through to her blog and see her other recipes they are amazing.  And focus on healthy, but tasty eating.

This past weekend we had a nice diversion to the Main Street Market in Charlottesville.  This is a nice collection of shops and restaurants that are a lot of fun to wander, especially on a rainy day!

We started with lunch at Orzo Kitchen and Wine Bar.  This is a casual destination with small plates, entrees and a great lunch menu.  It is a little dark inside, but the kitchen and staff definitely make you feel welcome and at home.  (My Mother in Law is such a Saint- every time I come down there my diet seems to be even more restricted as my doctor and dietician try to figure out my tummy problems.  Right now I am eating gluten and lactose free.  But note I can’t garauntee anything is completely gluten free as I am just intolerant and there could be possible cross contamination.)  Looking over the bar menu before we sat down I was really excited, not only did all the food look good, they had a lot of things that I could eat!  We sat down and I had a lovely bowl of tomato soup with lamb stock- it was warm and had an intense but fresh lamb taste and scent with great fresh tomato flavor.  I then had a wonderful salad with grilled vegetables, rotisserie chicken and a wonderful lemon vinaigrette.  I loved the roasted veggies, especially the green beans with the warm, juicy chicken.  Looking around Hubby was devouring his meatballs, and MIL’s chicken sandwich looked amazing on really great looking bread.

After lunch I wandered over to the Organic Butcher of Charlottesville.  This is a brother shop to the Organic Butcher of McLean.  Had we not been a day and a drive away from home, and the McLean location being so close, I would have taken home a lot of great items like: rabbit, country style sausage and some fantastic stocks.  If you haven’t checked these stores out it is worth a peruse.  Some things are a bit on the expensive side, but many are really reasonable.  And I really think if you care about where you meat comes from or how it is raised, what things the animals are given then it is really worth a stop.  And if you are trying to find more interesting items such as oxtail, but want better quality than you can get at the Asian grocery store this would be on the top of my list of places to call.

Hedge is a fantastic little shower shop with lots of different stems to choose from, with clean modern pairings.  I found it really tasteful and a nice place to stop in if you want to mix and match stems.  They have a network of local growers, but also get some exotics.  They also do floral delivery and arrangement design.  Click through to see their really awesome, modern, chic, but beautiful and romantic designs on their web site.  If you need flowers in C-ville, this is your place.

Also I had no idea there was a great little spot for some staple Japanese items, and a few Chinese items too at Seafood at West Main.  They also had some incredibly fresh fish and sushi grade fish, as well.  No fishy smell here, everything is super fresh and great looking.

We then wandered through Feast.  This is a great little gourmet grocery with a fantastic cheese and meat counter, sandwiches and lunch items perfect for a picnic through wine country.  It was so warm and inviting.  Hubby and I picked up some salami and pepperonis, pears and Easter candies!  But there is so much more there, dried fruits, nuts and really everything you could need for a day trip or great meal!

I skipped Ablemarle Bakery- no need to add insult to injury, but we did stop by Calvino Cafe for some coffee and tea on the way out!  Anyway great stop if you are in or around Charlottesville.  I can’t wait to go back!

Readers, let’s be honest, I do love the Brits (BUT I am not Royal Wedding obsessive) and their TV.  Especially Top Gear and the Graham Norton Show.  If you haven’t watched it before and would like a sarcastic late night TV host who is flamboyantly gay and makes fun of his guest and audience well this is the show for you.  As just a juicy tidbit to get you through the end of the day here a great clip that I just adore.  Gareth Mason dancing to the James Bond Theme!!!

So… since we are only a couple months away from Wedding madness time, again, I thought I would put  a post out there on wedding cake toppers.  I have seen my fair share of cake toppers and they can range from odd, impersonal to just too girly/ glitzy for my taste.  I also really appreciate something personalized, but not a big initial.  As a modern woman, I am not necessarily celebrating getting a new name, although I have one, as much as I was celebrating a new family.  So I particularly like toppers that focus on the notion of a new couple and their interests.

Here are some places I have come across that I think are interesting:

Middleburg Folk Art Studio has things under the heading cake toppers and then other folk art items which would be perfect cake toppers.  So click through if you like the idea of Folk Art, there are faxes and all sorts of neat things.  Here is a Spring Easter themed one:

Next up is perhaps my favorite.  Star House.  They provide fully customizable cake toppers that are hipster cool while totally appropriate  and super cute.  The big plus is it is something that you might actually want on your shelf at home afterwards.  Star House will make you, your SO and even your pets.  I don’t have a cake to top at this point, but I still want them!

This next one is actually a fake cake, well two tears of it, but I think you could put this on top of a tear of just use the top part.  After living in Annapolis at one point, I can just see this on top of a clean white bottom tear of cake in one of those beautiful row houses in Old Town.  Made by Vintage MagPie.  And the bunting really reminds me of sailboat pennants.

If you are looking for vintage cake toppers then this next one is the one for you.  In many normal vintage toppers they are so-  brown hair, brown hair over the top cookie cutter- but these are so cool. I think they have such a fun idea to them, there are also shadow ones if you click into her site that are really neat too.  Amadalebel, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Last, but not least is Red Light Studio.  Now no assumptions because of the site name, it’s not like that.  Actually she creates completely custom full length or bust toppers, and makes birds and other animals too.  I think these would look great on top of a simple and modern cake.  As a note since she does completely custom work you have to order these out a bit.

Anyway hopefully this gives all of you some good resources.  I think Etsy may be the absolute best place to find a cake topper.  I haven’t found any other site or place that has this close to the selection and originality.

Once again I find myself heavy on cabinet selections, low on produce and quite oddly low on normal meats.  I have pork shoulder, a brined turkey breast, ham hock, but am missing some definite basics.  But luckily I had dried pasta (gluten free for me and normal for Hubby), frozen peas, apple maple chicken sausage, good bacon and thyme and rosemary.  Note this is not a healthy recipe, but it is a good recipe.  And if you eat what we eat most of the time you can splurge on this now and again.

As a tip Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta in the turquoise box is by far my favorite gluten free pasta.  I have also had the Schar fussili which isn’t bad, but Ancient Harvest is my favorite, especially for spaghetti.

So here is how it all went down:

Put pot of water on to boil.  The sauce will take you about 15 minutes so time dropping your pasta accordingly.

Rinse, pat dry and slice two chicken sausage links into rounds.

Cut about 2-3 strips (I think I used three mmm bacon) into about 1/4″ pieces.  Add to a medium to hot skillet/pot (you want the sides to be high enough to be able to make some sauce and toss in your pasta) and let cook.  About halfway through I added just a little bit of spring onion/leek from the garden this is optional.  It was less than 1/4 cup.

While that is working pull and tear some fresh rosemary and thyme from steams (you can also use about 1/2 tsp. dried).

Once the bacon is just crisping lower the heat on your skillet to about medium and add sausage for about 1 minute then add about 1/2 cup frozen peas, you can add more or less depending on the amount of bacon you added and your preference for peas.  Now let those cook till a tiny bit crispy and done, but your bacon shouldn’t get too crispy.  It is important to have good bacon for this as thin bacon is going to not taste as good.

Now that all that is done add about 2 Tbs. EVOO, butter and then about 1/2 cup white wine.  Thyme, rosemary and salt and pepper to taste.  Let the white wine reduce a little and taste, add more herbs, salt and pepper or butter or EVOO to get the sauce where you want it.  Then add your pasta and toss.  (We actually add the sauce to our different pasta pots and toss there so it incorporates into our pastas without contaminating my gf pasta.)  Voila.  Super quick and easy.  Hubby ate it up like I just made a five star dish.

Once again you get no pictures.  I really need to work on that.  But normally while I am cooking I don’t think about documenting my work.  I guess if I put my big camera up there it might promote that…

So….

If you know me then you know that my dog is absolutely spoiled rotten.  And living in Northern Virginia there are a lot of options for all your doggie needs.  But sometimes it is hard to find the best shops for different services.  In particular it took me a while to find a really good groomer for Max.  He is mostly Bichon and I wanted to find a groomer that could do a show cut, that didn’t have a waiting list and was convenient.

As I was picking up some cupcakes at Buzz Bakery on Slaters Lane in Alexandria I found Hairy Situations.  They have a window where you can see pets getting groomed and I noticed how nice the dog being groomed looked.  So I stopped in and found management exceedingly nice and helpful.

Their philosophy is on a gentle grooming process that puts your pets needs first.  You and your pet develop a relationship with the groomer and they take their time so your pet isn’t as nervous or stressed.  At my old groomer, Max would be nervous and happy to get the heck out of there, but when coming out of Hairy Situations he was calm and happy.  Being a Bichon he is very people oriented and doesn’t really like being left with strangers, but he was very good with the groomer.

Plus the end result is fantastic.  I would highly recommend them if you have a breed of dog that you want a specific or show cut for, or a breed that needs more intricate grooming.  They take care to make sure your dog looks really good.  And for once he came home with a bandana that was appropriate for a boy dog!  I was so surprised that not only was so the grooming so much better in quality, but the price was similar to most other inferior groomers.

When we came home Max was on top of the world because he knew he looked good and was getting all sorts of attention.  Look at my little guy as happy as a clam, and the pictures don’t even do him justice.

FYI- They also do teeth cleaning, and on their website they have a coupon for dog teeth cleaning during March.