Fireworks Cookies

For our 4th of July trip to Traverse City, I tried my hand at making Martha Stewart's fireworks cookies. Basically, they're just round sugar cookies with royal icing swirled into a "firework" pattern. I didn't have high expectations, but these cookies wound up being my new favorite sugar cookies. They were flavorful, stayed moist for days, and the dough was easy to work with. I'm thinking about this recipe again because I'm planning on making these cookies for tailgates, but instead of using red, white, and blue royal icing, I'll be using maize and blue frosting. :) These cookies would be a great addition to any college tailgate if you just change the color of the icing (blue and orange for Florida, blue and white for Penn State, purple and yellow for LSU, etc).

Ingredients for Cookies:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups white sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ingredients for the Royal Icing:
1 cup water
1/2 cup meringue powder (or equivalent amount of egg whites)
2 lbs sifted confectioners sugar
gel paste food coloring in chosen colors

Directions:
Sift flours, baking powder, and salt into a small bowl. Set aside.

Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Add the vanilla extract and mix until combined.

Place the dough into plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

After the dough has rested, dust a clean surface with flour and roll the dough out to approximately 1/4 inch thick. Cut out circles using a round biscuit or cookie cutter. Place cut cookies onto a baking sheet and refrigerate for 30 more minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake cookies for approximately 17 minutes, or until edges just start to brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Once cookies are completely cooled, make the royal icing. Whisk the water and meringue powder until soft peaks form (about 3 minutes if using a stand mixer). Add the confectioners sugar and mix until the icing is the consistency of glue.

Transfer icing to squeeze bottles or piping bags. Tint the icing with the food coloring until colors are as desired. Make sure to leave one portion of icing white.

Pipe white icing in a circle around the perimeter of the cookie and then flood the center of the cookie with white icing. Using colored icings, pipe a dot in the middle and then concentric circles or alternating colors. Use a toothpick to drag the icing from the center of the cookie to the edge of the cookie, creating a "firework" pattern.

Let icing dry completely before packaging.

My cookies...they don't look quite as good as Martha's but they're close!

*Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine, July 2011

Bowtie Baby Shower

Two Saturdays ago my friend Erin, my mom, and my mother-in-law threw a very cute baby shower for JRM III and me. When Erin asked what I would like for a shower I suggested a bowtie theme since I'd seen some cute examples around the web and since Joe happens to have a passion for wearing bowties. Erin spent a lot of time with ribbons and construction paper making all sorts of bowtie decorations.

She even had several custom bowtie onesies made that were part of the decorations, but are also something that JRM III will be able to wear.
For the second time in two years, I had a bowtie cake. (My first bowtie cake was the one I ordered for Joe's groom's cake at our wedding.)

For favors, bowtie sugar cookies were given out. They were made by Erin's Chicago friend Sari's Sweets.

I received lots of wonderful gifts including monogrammed blankets, a custom bowtie quilt that my aunt made, car seats, baby clothing, story books, baby toys, and lots of other items off of our registry. Thanks to everyone who came and to everyone who sent gifts!

Gazpacho

What do I make for dinner when the temperatures are over 90 for a week straight and the humidity is stifling? Gazpacho! This gazpacho recipe is quick, easy, and healthy. It can be served right away, but since I like my gazpacho super cold, I prefer to make it several hours or a day ahead.

Ingredients:
2 cups tomato juice, fresh or canned
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
3 large tomatoes (preferably heirloom and I usually try to use a mix of yellow and red)
1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
1 small white onion, peeled and cut into chunks
1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
1 clove garlic, peeled
5-6 dashes of Worcestershire
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients except the salt and pepper in a blender. Start on low speed and quickly increase the speed to medium. Blend until almost smooth. (Note: Although I use a regular blender, I'm sure you could put all of the ingredients into a soup pot and use a stick blender instead.) Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add a couple dashes of hot sauce or more dashes of Worcestershire, depending on taste preference. Chill until ready to serve. Garnish with finely diced cucumbers, and/or fresh basil, and/or crumbled goat cheese.

Sour Cherry Pie

It's been way too long since I've posted! Between the house, work, travel, and getting ready for the baby the summer seems to be flying by.

Here in Michigan, July means cherry season. Normally, I just stick to eating the sweet, red cherries, but this year I've been inspired by what they have at the farmer's market so I've been using the sour cherries as well. The sour cherry season is short, so I've taken full advantage by making this same pie the last two weekends in a row. The first time I made it just for Joe, my parents, and me. It turned out so well that I made it again last weekend for our block party. I'll definitely be making it again next summer since it's simple and delicious. *Note: I used a store bought pie crust both times since I didn't have time to make one from scratch, but there are tons of good recipes out there for homemade pie crusts.*

Ingredients for the topping:

2/3 cup old fashioned oats, ground to a flour in a food processor or blender (yielding 1/2 cup oat flour)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 cup unsalted, sliced almonds, chopped medium fine by hand or ground in food processor

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

dash of almond extract

Ingredients for the filling:

1 quart + 1 pint of sour cherries

1/2 cup sugar

2-3 tablespoons cornstarch (depending on how juicy the cherries are)

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Remove pits from cherries and place pitted cherries in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine oat flour, all purpose flour, sugars, cinnamon, salt, and chopped almonds in a bowl. Stir well. Melt butter and allow to cool slightly. Add dash of almond extract to the butter. Pour butter into flour mixture and stir until well combined and crumbly.

In the bowl of pitted cherries, add the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Gently stir until cherries are well coated. If there appears to be too much liquid, pour a little of it off, but not all.

Pour cherry mixture into prepared pie crust. Using your hands, crumble the topping evenly over the cherries.

Place in pie plate on a sheet pan to catch any drips as the pie starts to bubble. Bake for an hour and 10 minutes or until the juices are bubbly and thick. If the crust appears to be getting too browned, place a sheet of tin foil loosely over the pie at the halfway point. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

*Recipe modified from Smitten Kitchen

My New Favorite Granola

In the summer one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast is Greek yogurt, drizzled with a little honey, and topped with granola and fresh berries. I never buy store bought granola though since more have unnecessary fats, sugars, and preservatives. I've experimented with several homemade granolas over the past couple of years and this recipe from Baked is my current favorite. It's not totally healthy since it does contain some oil, but it has a great flavor and texture. I'll post the recipe below the way that I make it, but keep in mind that you can always substitute other types of nuts and dried fruit. I happen to like almonds the best, but I've also made granola with walnuts and cashews and liked those a lot as well. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup dried cherries

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine oats, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until well combined.

In a small bowl whisk together the oil, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla until well combined. Pour this mixture over the oat mixture and gently stir.

Then use your hands to combine the mixture (squeeze small fist fulls) until all of the oats are well coated. {Note: using your hands really makes a huge difference in the final texture of the granola. Something about this step results in granola with more "chunks"}

Pour the mixture onto a baking sheet and spread out evenly.

Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the over and add the almonds. Using a metal spatula, flip the granola over and incorporate the almonds.

Bake for another 10 minutes and then remove from the over to stir again with the spatula.

Bake for a final 5 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool completely on the baking sheet. Sprinkle the cherries and raisins over the granola and transfer to an airtight container for storage.

*Recipe adapted from the cookbook Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Recent Reads

The nice thing about spending lots of time on airplanes is that I have time to engage in one of my favorite hobbies, reading. This seems to be the summer of non-fictions reads for me.

I just finished a book called Get Me Out: A History of Childbirth from the Garden of Eden to the Sperm Bank by Randi Hutter Epstein. I found this book interesting not just because I’m pregnant, but because I’m very interested in how our doctor-patient relationships have evolved over the centuries and how ideas about what is “good medicine” seem to always be changing. The book traces childbirth practices from the middle ages until present day and relates stories that show how science has advanced the process, but also how cultural norms, fads, and customs have had such a big influence. Hutter Epstein is a medical journalist who combines sarcasm and whit with medical history into what I thought was a very engaging book.

Currently I’m reading The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. Again, this book speaks to my interest in healthcare and medicine. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is the story of a Hmong immigrant family who was living in California when their three month old daughter Lia developed epilepsy or as the Hmong call it “the disease where the spirit catches you and you fall down”. The book explores the cultural clash between the beliefs of the Hmong regarding illness and the way in which the Western medical community understands illness and chooses to treat it. It’s a wonderful insight into Eastern vs Western medicine and culture. I’m a big believer in holistic medicine and that there usually is more than one way to treat an illness. I’m also a firm believer in a lot of Eastern medicine practices and often feel that Western doctors take a one-sided approach that is all about finding a cure instead of focusing on prevention. (ok, stepping off my soap-box now!) Dr. Dan Murphy, one of the doctors in the book wrote this in his review of the book, “Having experienced Lia Lee's saga personally, and then having read the book, I can only refer to Anne Fadiman's talent as astounding. Anne walks an incredibly fine, and very well documented, line as she describes what happens when American medical technology meets up with a deep and ancient Eastern culture. My team (Western medicine) failed Lia. Never have I felt so fairly treated in defeat, and never have I felt so much respect for an author's skillful distillation of a tragically murky confrontation of cultures.” I haven’t finished this book yet, but I can already say that it’s one of my favorites.

Social Eatz

While Angelo Sosa was not my favorite on Top Chef due to his personality, I did think he came across as a passionate chef. His talent added a lot to the competition. Since Social Eatz is conveniently located one subway stop away from work, and because I like to leave my desk at lunchtime, I headed over there last week for lunch. I tried the Imperial Hot Dog – made from organic chicken with sweet and sour relish. And yes, I know that just because the chicken was organic does not mean that this was by any means a healthy lunch option, but it sounded like the most appealing menu option at the time. I liked the "hot dog" itself and the dipping sauce it came with but the relish was disappointing in that it was neither sweet nor spicy, just bland. I ordered a side of the pickled vegetables and loved them. The dish reminded me of kimchi without quite as much punch. The spice was slow to build, but by the end my mouth was pleasantly burning. I was amused by the fact that all of the waiters were dressed just like Angelo – who I could see in the back – thin, cotton, vneck tshirts and skinny jeans. My meal at Social Eatz didn’t blow me away, but for a flavorful fast-casual lunch in Manhattan it was worth the money.

Traverse City

Tomorrow Joe and I will be headed up to Traverse City to celebrate the Fourth of July and the National Cherry Festival with some of our friends. Traverse City is one of my favorite places to visit and this new "Pure Michigan" video captures the essence of the area perfectly. Happy Fourth of July!

ABC Kitchen

Last week several co-workers and I had dinner at ABC Kitchen. ABC Kitchen is the new restaurant from powerhouse chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten and recently won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. There isn’t much I can say about how incredible ABC Kitchen is that hasn’t already been said by other bloggers and food writers. I had been looking forward to dining there for months and the meal surpassed every expectation I had.
From the outside, ABC Kitchen is easy to pass by when you’re walking along 18th street near Union Square. Once inside though you’re transported into a completely different atmosphere that is rustic yet sophisticated. The place screams “shabby-chic” from the old wooden beams in the ceiling to the mismatched flowered china. If Anthropolgie were to decorate a restaurant, ABC Kitchen would be the result.

We had a group of ten people which allowed us to enjoy a family style tasting menu. We shared 7 dishes, plus a side and three desserts. My favorites were a tie between the sugar snap pea salad and the roast carrot and avocado salad. We then each had our own entrée. I chose the organic fried chicken and absolutely loved the spiciness of the basil and hot butter sauce. It came with spinach that didn’t seem fried, but had a texture very similar to the fried spinach at Rasika in D.C. Everything was incredibly fresh and creative.

Although the menu changes almost daily due to the sourcing of local and fresh ingredients, below is the menu we enjoyed last week:

Shared Family Style Market Table Course:
· crab toast with lemon aioli
· still warm fresh mozzarella, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper
Shared Family Style Appetizers:
· sugar snap pea salad with parmesan dressing and herbs
· roast carrot and avocado salad, crunchy seeds, sour cream and citrus
· pretzel dusted calamari
· strawberries, goat cheese
· spinach and goat cheese with herbs pizza
Entrees (Choose 1):
· slowly cooked salmon with creamed favas and mint
· fried organic chicken, wild spinach, basil and hot sauce butter
· black sea bass with chilies and herbs, baby market potatoes and spinach
Shared side dishes:
· roasted asparagus
Shared Family style dessert
· chocolate cake with malted chocolate ganache and toasted marshmallow icing
· cookie plate with lemon drop, dark chocolate chip cookie, chocolate chip pecan bar and oatmeal cherry
· warm doughnuts with vanilla cream and bacon fudge sauce

Weekend Recap

I knew last weekend would be a good one when my plane from LGA landed only 5 minutes behind schedule on Thursday night. Being that close to on time is a very rare occurrence.

I spent all day Friday breaking in our oven by making granola, cupcakes, a three layer cake, and cookies. I hadn't made anything other than granola since we moved in so it was nice to get back into the swing of baking. The layer cake was for our friends' birthdays which we celebrated on Saturday night. I was really pleased with how the cake turned out (pictured below) so I'll post the recipe later this week.

Friday night we met friends for happy hour at Vinology (club soda for me and wine for everyone else) and then moved onto one of Ann Arbor's newest restaurants, The Raven's Club for dinner. The Raven's Club invokes the feeling of a speakeasy/1920s social club and has a beautiful bar area. It's easy to tell that the owners put a lot of thought and effort into the decor. The menu utilizes recipes from the early 20th century and cocktails from the Prohibition era. Joe had a bourbon cocktail and lamb/pork belly cabbage rolls with an arrabiata sauce. His was so good that I ate almost half of it. I ordered shrimp and grits because I was curious to see how they would put a spin on this lowcountry classic. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. It didn't invoke any of the traditional shrimp and grits flavors and neither the grits nor the okra were cooked to a proper texture. Overall though, we really liked the Raven's Club and are anxious to go back and try more of their menu items.

Saturday morning we made our usual farmers' market trip and then spent the rest of the day doing chores around the house (cleaning the gutters - poor Joe!). This week's market highlight was the organic strawberries from Tantre Farm. In the evening we went to Zukey Lake Tavern with eight other friends for the birthday celebration I mentioned above. For anyone who lives in the Ann Arbor area, I highly recommend making the 25 minute drive out to Pinckney and enjoying some of Zukey Lake Tavern's pizza and beer on the rooftop deck. It's a perfect way to spend a summer night with friends.

On Sunday my friend Katie came over and brought Baby M some adorable new outfits. We then went to lunch at Frita Batidos, a cuban-inspired restaurant by Eve Aronoff. I've been dying to try Frita Batidos since it opened a few months ago. I absolutely loved the chorizo frita and the orange and nutmeg scented churros. The twice-fried plantains were too greasy, but did have a good garlic flavor.

We wrapped up the weekend with a yummy, belated Father's day dinner at my parents house followed by packing for me. It's only Tuesday, but I'm already looking forward to next weekend!

Outer Banks Trip Recap

Last week Joe and I spent some time in the Outer Banks with some of his family and our friend Erin. Mostly we just laid on the beach, went for walks, and ate lots of seafood. Joe, his dad, and uncle went on a couple of fishing expeditions and brought back enough tuna and mahi mahi to feed an army. The town where rented a house, Rodanthe, was pretty quiet, but one food highlight was the amazing apple uglies (aka apple fritters) that we enjoyed from Orange Blossom Bakery. They were crisp on the edges, soft on the middle, and had a thick glaze. Joe's grandfather used to love going to Orange Blossom Bakery so we kept up the tradition on this trip.

We drove to and from the Outer Banks and it was a loooong 14 hours each way. On our way home we stopped for a BBQ lunch at Pierce's Pitt BBQ in Williamsburg, VA. For anyone who likes collard greens, I'd recommend a stop at Pierce's. I know the point of BBQ is the meat and sauce, but for me the highlight is always the sides and the collard greens were an outstanding side.

The best part of driving was that we got to visit a new town, Lexington, VA, and check two more schools, VMI and William & Lee, off our list (sidenote: someday soon I'll have to blog about our mission to visit as many college campuses as we can). Lexington is an adorable town full of Civil War history and natural beauty.

For dinner we went to a cozy little restaurant called Brix. Brix offers small plates of seasonable, sustainable, locally grown food. Everything we tried was delicious from the mustard green and herb salad that was grown in the owner's mother's garden to the potato and cabbage "trichats" with white truffle oil. Our hands down favorite dish was the posole, made with hominy and locally raised pork. I commented to Joe that it was the best thing I'd eaten since our dinner at Husk and he agreed. Although I wasn't able to enjoy any of it, Brix did have an extensive list of wines by the glass, which on a non-pregnant occasion I would have really appreciated. After dinner we headed to a little ice cream shop for black raspberry and mint oreo ice cream.

Overall, I'd say we loved our visit to Lexington!

NYC Bucket List

Today is one of those days where I'm less than thrilled with my transient lifestyle. Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe it's because I've now been out of town almost every week for a year straight. I was in St. Louis from June 2010 until January 2011 and then immediately started traveling to NYC from February 2011 until now. I think I've hit a wall and now all I want to do is be at home during the week and stop missing out on weeknight activities. I felt this way in early 2007 when I was working in Chicago, living in Connecticut, and visiting Joe every weekend in D.C. At the time my friend Erin called my a "gypsy" since I couldn't even manage to be in one place long enough to schedule doctor or dentist appts. As soon as I stopped traveling and started living and working in D.C. I was immediately restless and wanted to be traveling again. The grass is always greener on the other side...

So to keep myself motivated there are a few things I want to make sure I experience before I stop traveling to NYC. There are probably hundreds of restaurants I'd like to try and places I'd like to visit, but to keep things manageable, here's a short list:

• dinner at ABC Kitchen - a few of my coworkers and I have reservations for tomorrow night so this will definitely be accomplished


• walk through Central Park - I've walked through Central Park many, many times on previous NYC vacations, but have yet to visit this summer


• visit to Bouchon Bakery - I'm a sucker for French desserts, especially macaroons, and I've heard that Bouchon has some of the best macaroons in the city


• dinner at Social Eatz - while Angelo wasn't my favorite Top Chef contestant, I've heard great things about his new sandwich place and am interested in trying it


• attend another Broadway or off-Broadway show - my friend and I saw Wicked in April, but I'd like to try and see one more show before leaving


• attend another show at the Comedy Cellar - my favorite comedy club - another visit from my dad will ensure this gets checked off the list

Any other suggestions of places I should try to eat at or things I should try to experience before leaving NYC?

Can you Meet Me Halfway

Yesterday marked the halfway point of this pregnancy! 20 weeks down, 20 weeks (approximately) to go! These 20 weeks have gone by pretty quickly and I hope the next 20 do as well since I'm really looking forward to getting back to intense workouts, sushi eating, and coffee drinking. Joe and I are spending week 20 in the Outer Banks sitting in the sun, walking along the beach, eating seafood caught hours before and hanging out with these guys.

Charleston Trip Recap

So even though I’m about two weeks late, I want to post a little recap of the anniversary trip that Joe and I took to Charleston. From the history, to the food, to the shopping, it’s by far my favorite destination. This trip might have been our best one yet because it was by far the most relaxing. On previous trips we’ve tried to pack in as much as we can because there is so much to see, do, and eat. Leading up to the wedding we also had to try and cram in as many vendor appointments and tastings as possible. This time we enjoyed tons of delicious food and spent a lot of time just walking around, but some of the highlights of this trip were:

King of Pops – since Charleston was hot, hot, hot we enjoyed several gourmet popsicles from King of Pops. We tried the coconut-lemongrass, grapefruit-mint, chocolate-banana, and pineapple-habanero. All of them were fantastic and very unique. My favorite was the pineapple-habanero since it was refreshing with a little kick at the end when you bit into a piece of habanero. A close second was the chocolate-banana . King of Pops is in Alanta, Athens, Asheville, and Charleston and they tweet each day to let people know where their cart is parked.

Husk – Joe and I have been wanting to eat dinner at Husk since we first read about Sean Brock’s concept for a restaurant that uses only Southern-sourced ingredients. After reading countless rave reviews about Husk, we had high expectations and it didn’t disappoint. In fact, I’d say our dinner was one of the top 5 meals we’ve ever had together (with other top meals being our engagement dinner at CityZen in D.C., our meal at FIG in Charleston, and a couple of our meals at McCrady’s). We went to the bar first for drinks and bar snacks. Joe was in bourbon heaven since they have an incredibly extensive bourbon list. He tried a new bourbon, a Southern beer, and was then given a free sample of Pritchard’s rum, which is a rum aged in bourbon barrels. We shared the Giddy Goat Pimento Cheese appetizer and made a pact to start making our own pimento cheese at home because it was so delicious and inspiring. We then moved over to the main restaurant for dinner. Everything about dinner was fantastic, but the highlight of the meal might have been Joe’s cornmeal crusted catfish entrée. It was served with summer squash, zucchini, and tomato broth and as he put it was the “perfect Southern bite”. I also give Husk rave reviews for their pecan pie. I generally consider my pecan pie to be the best I’ve ever had, but Husk’s matched mine in that the inside texture was perfectly smooth without the slightest hint of graininess from the sugar.

McCrady’s – as in past visits and during our wedding, the food and service at McCrady’s was spot on. We went early and enjoyed some of McCrady’s bar snacks, drinks, and bar ambiance. The deviled eggs were the highlight of the bar menu. We then moved to the dining room for dinner and once again Joe ordered slightly better than I did. His appetizer of butter poached octopus with squid ink potato puree had the perfect texture and brininess. I started with a chilled English pea soup with smoked trout and yogurt that tasted like it has just come out of the garden (which it had since Sean Brock has his own farm a few miles outside of Charleston). For dessert we shared a strawberry rhubarb clafoutis. Clafoutis is one of my favorite desserts and I thought this one was perfectly executed.

Shopping – Joe and I tend to do a lot of shopping each time we’re in Charleston since some of our favorite clothing stores are there. This time Joe got some new clothes at M. Dumas and Sons, where we had a lengthy conversation with the sales clerk about what a quality brand Southern Tide is. Another store we found that we had previously never been to was the Heirloom Book Company. Although our suitcases were too full to purchase anything on this trip, we will definitely be going back. The Heirloom Book Company specializes in cookbooks. They had everything from Grant Achatz’ tome Alinea to Martha Hall Foose’s “Screen Doors and Sweet Tea”.

Baked – I think we made 4 visits to Baked during our 4 day stay. From iced teas and coffees to delicious baked goods, a visit to Baked is a must on any Charleston trip.

Kayaking – our hotel concierge suggested we go kayaking in Shem’s Creek since it’s something we hadn’t done on previous Charleston visits. Joe and I are big fans of kayaking so we headed over to Mt. Pleasant and rented kayaks from Coastal Expeditions for Sunday afternoon. We spent two hours going up and down the creek and out into the harbor. We saw several dolphins and tons of birds and fish. It was nice to see an alternate view of Charleston and Arthur Ravenel bridge.

Clothes for Mama and Baby

I have had the hardest time figuring out what to wear now that I have a baby on the way. I am very particular when it comes to clothing and normally really enjoy putting together outfits. However, as my clothing options that fit have become more limited I have started to dread getting dressed in the mornings, especially for work. My biggest issues with the usual maternity clothing stores are that all of the clothes look so cheap! I really wish Lilly Pulitzer and Kate Spade would start maternity lines, but until then, there are only two things saving me from starting to wear yoga pants to work 1) I work in NYC which has infinitely more shopping options than I have in Michigan and 2) I’ve discovered some great online companies (mostly British) that seem to understand that some pregnant women don’t want to wear cheap looking clothes for 9 months.

For future reference for myself and for anyone else who might be looking for more high-quality maternity clothing options, here are my current favorites:

Boden

Isabella Oliver

AG Jeans from A Pea in the Pod

Rosie Pope

While shopping for my clothes has been less than fun, shopping for baby clothes is the opposite. Now that we know baby M is a BOY (he was very cooperative for that part of the ultrasound so there's no doubt of his gender), I've started making purchases for him instead of just browsing. Yesterday I ordered two outfits from Zulily. For anyone not familiar with Zulily, it's sort of like Rue La La or Gilt Groupe for baby and kids stuff. They have wonderful deals on great brands. I ordered two items from the Kate Quinn Organics line. One is an infant footie outfit and the other is a track suit (both pictured below). I'm very excited for the UPS man to deliver these!

Our First House

After signing our names no less than 1,000 times, Joe and I are now first-time home owners. The below picture was taken a few weeks ago, but that is now our little part of Ann Arbor. Now begins endless hours of cleaning, painting, yard work, trips to Home Depot and a host of other labor-intensive, money-sucking tasks. It also means tailgates, dinner parties, kids' sleepovers and lots of other fun.

Wednesday Thoughts

I really need to be better at posting on the weekends! It's tough since I spend Monday-Friday constantly on a computer I tend not to even look at a computer again until Sunday night when it's time to check in for my flight. I will get better though...as soon as I have a weekend when I'm not traveling or moving...hopefully that weekend will come before I'm 30. This week has been incredibly busy so far with unpacking from traveling, packing for the big move, doing work, and visiting family.

For now, here's a few things on my mind this Wednesday:

• I'm spending 13 days straight at home in Ann Arbor - no work travel, no personal travel - this must be some kind of record.


• Being home allowed me to attend the Wednesday Farmer's Market this morning where I picked up some first-of-the-season asparagus and some eggs. Made my morning wonderful, but I realize asparagus and eggs might not sound terribly exciting to most people.


• The University of Michigan added men's and women's lacrosse as varsity sports today! This means Joe will have yet another Michigan team to obsess over. I have to be honest though and say that I'm excited about it too since lacrosse is one of the few sports I'm ok with watching. This also means that Baby M will be given his/her first lacrosse stick at approximately age 2 and pressured to obtain a lacrosse scholarship to U of M. (sort of, but not really kidding here - tuition to U of M is expensive!)


• Our anniversary weekend in Charleston was wonderful and I'll do a detailed post soon about all the amazing, butter-laden food we ate and all the activities we did to burn off the calories of said food.


• One highlight of the Charleston trip was my purchase of a cookbook called "Southern Pies: A Gracious Plenty of Pie Recipes, from Lemon Chess to Chocolate Pecan". This book is the accompaniment to the cookbook Joe gave me two years ago for my birthday called "Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations". To say I'm excited to start baking some southern pies in an understatement!

Cheddar Chipotle Biscuits

On this day last year, Joe and I had just arrived in Charleston for our wedding weekend. We were in the final hours of working out wedding details and were busy welcoming friends and family as they arrived in our favorite city. It's amazing how much has changed in the past year. A year ago we were living in Bethesda, MD and both working as government consultants. Our main focus was on wedding planning and preparing to move to Michigan. One year later I'm working in NYC, Joe is halfway done with law school, we're pregnant with our first baby and will soon be home owners. In this past year we've traveled to Charleston multiple times, Sea Island, GA, Ashville, NC, Lexington, KY, Cleveland, OH, Chicago multiple times, Annapolis, MD, Baltimore, MD, St. Louis, MO (me for work), New York City, Tarrytown, NY, Traverse City, MI, Glen Arbor, MI, New Orleans, LA, Harbor Springs, MI, plus lots of day trips. It's been a busy year!

I have photo records of all the places we've visited over the past year, but I really wish I had recorded all of the recipes I made. Hopefully I'll be better about that this year. In honor of Charleston and our upcoming anniversary trip I figured I'd post one of my favorite recipes that reminds me of Charleston. Cheddar Chipotle Biscuits are a huge hit every time I make them. The recipe comes from the Baked Cookbook. Baked has locations in Brooklyn and Charleston. Joe and I have visited the Charleston location a couple of times since it's right around the corner from where we often stay. As a side note, the Baked Cookbook is hands down my favorite cookbook, but every recipe in there is fairly labor intensive so the recipes aren't the kind that can be made last minute. And now, after that long-winded intro here's the recipe:

Cheddar Chipotle Biscuits

Ingredients:
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp chipotle powder (amount can be adjusted depending on spice preference)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup frozen, unsalted butter
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 1/4 cups lowfat buttermilk
1 large egg
salt for topping

Directions:
Preheat over to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, pepper, chipotle powder, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt.

Grate the frozen butter using a cheese grater and using your hands work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse sand. Add the cheese and stir with a wooden spoon to incorporate it into the flour/butter mixture.

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk. Pour into the flour/butter mixture and stir until just incorporated.

Using a small ice cream scoop to scoop the dough and drop it into mounds on the baking sheet, about two inches apart. Sprinkle with salt.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through the baking time, until the biscuits are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

"Imagining Detroit"

It’s obvious to anyone who knows me well that I love Michigan and I couldn't be happier to be back living there. It took living elsewhere for 4 years to make me appreciate all that Michigan has to offer. When I told my coworkers in D.C. that I was moving back to Michigan and I was excited about it, almost all of them gave me skeptical looks. Even now, my NYC coworkers are amazed that I’m buying a house in Ann Arbor because they find it hard to believe that Joe and I would want to stay there after he finishes law school. Unless they’ve been to Michigan, their impression is of a place with a failing automobile-dependent economy, faced with massive layoffs and rising unemployment and a blighted city of Detroit. I understand where they are coming from because those stories are primarily what the media has chosen to cover over the last few years. In some ways I agree that Michigan is a tough place to be right now. The economy isn’t strong, almost everybody knows several people who have lost their jobs, and it’s difficult to be overly optimistic when local governments are facing bankruptcy. What they don’t know is how beautiful Michigan is and how friendly and resilient the people are. They’ve never seen the vineyards surrounding Traverse City or of the myriad of lighthouses and sand dunes lining the Great Lakes. They don’t know how friendly the people are and in a moderate climate like D.C., they can’t understand how refreshing it is to see green grass and spring flowers after a seemingly never-ending, freezing winter. Whether you see the good or the bad in Michigan, what’s hard to miss is the potential that exists. Detroit is by no means beautiful like other parts of Michigan are. The first word that comes to my mind when driving into Detroit city limits is “devastated”. However, Detroit is ripe with potential for anyone who has imagination and ingenuity and is willing to put in some hard work. This is why I always get excited when I see a positive piece about Michigan and especially Detroit in the news. Yesterday, the New York Times had an opinion piece called "Imagining Detroit" by one of my favorite food authors, Mark Bittman, about Detroit. Bittman talks about how food is central to Detroit’s recovery and can be a piece upon which everyone can unite. In the piece, he doesn’t sugarcoat how Detroit appears, saying, “Imagine blocks that once boasted 30 houses, now with three; imagine hundreds of such blocks. Imagine green space created by the city’s heartbreaking but intelligent policy of removing burnt-out or fallen-down houses”. He points out though that food is an area in which Detroit can take advantage of its vast amounts of empty space and create a unity between residents. I love the example he cites of a woman and her church group who started a fruit and vegetable store in a neighborhood that has 23 liquor stores and only one grocery store. At the end of the piece Bittman includes a quote from a bakery owner that seems utopian considering Detroit’s current state, but also seems entirely possible given the strides that are currently being taken when it comes to urban farming and the local food movement; “’Imagine a city, rebuilt block by block, with a gorgeous riverfront, world class museums and fantastic local food. Everyone who wants one has a quarter-acre garden, and every kid lives within bike distance of a farm’”.

Baby Things

A friend of mine from D.C. recently welcomed her first baby boy. He's adorable so I wanted to send an equally cute baby gift. Since they didn't decide on a name until he was born I figured that he probably lacked items with his name or monogram on them. I've seen Monogram Chick mentioned on several other blogs and twitter so I decided to order something from her website. I was so happy with the results! I chose a burp cloth and bib set. It was reasonably priced and arrived in just a couple of days. I'll definetely be going back to Monogram Chick for future baby gifts.

I am in love with this pink ombre cake. As soon as I get my kitchen put back together I'd like to try to make a version of this. How fun to cut into the white frosting and discover all different colors! This would be a wonderful cake for expectant parents to make in either pink or blue for a gender reveal party. And speaking of gender reveal, in less than 48 hours Joe and I will know if Baby M is a boy or girl! I have resisted buying anyting baby related until we find out so the ultrasound appointment cannot come soon enough in my opinion. My hair colorist told me that while I wait to find out I should look up chinese gender calendars. I don't put much stock in these, but they are kind of fun to look at. Here's one example from here:

And on a final baby related note for today, I'm in love with the blog Lay Baby Lay. She has so many creative nursery inspiration boards.

Weekend Recap

This past weekend Joe and I went to Chicago to visit friends and attend our friend Erin's MBA graduation ceremony. Congratulations, Erin!

On our way to Chicago we made a little detour and stopped in Holland, MI for the last day of the annual tulip festival. I hadn't been to Holland since I was a kid and Joe had never been at all so I was pretty insistent that we turn our 4.5 hour drive into a 5.5 hour drive to see the tulips. It was worth the extra time in the car because the weather was warm and sunny, the tulips were beautiful, and the town was as quaint and charming as I remembered it to be. We walked around the town square looking at all the tulip varieties, visited a few specialty shops downtown and then got back on the road.

By the time we reached Chicago the weather had dropped by 20 degrees and the rain had started. We had planned to meet a friend at a wine bar, but when we found out that was closed, we wound up at down the block at a place called Molly's Cupcakes. I'm so glad we stumbled on this place! Molly's is decorated in a schoolhouse theme and has amazing cupcakes. Joe and I shared a strawberry shortcake cupcake that satisfied a craving I didn't even know I had. I've since found out that Molly's mission is to support local schools and they donate a part of their profits to schools in the community.

Saturday morning we woke up early to fight the freezing wind and walk around Erin's neighborhood since the gym wasn't open early enough. My one criticism of her neighborhood is that nothing opens before 8am! For two people who are usually up in the 6 o'clock hour on weekends, we want to workout and have our coffee and tea early. I do realize that we are the exception though. Anyways, Saturday morning was the graduation ceremony and then we headed to brunch with Erin and her parents at Uncommon Ground. I really liked the look and feel of the place, but I was a little disappointed in what I ordered. I shared granola french toast and mac and cheese with Erin, neither of which were very memorable. Joe on the other hand ordered chilaquiles which I thought were really good. We finished up Saturday by having dinner at Adobo Grill in Old Town with a U of M friend and then headed back to Ann Arbor early Sunday morning.

Wednesday Hodge Podge

I came across this quote on Twitter today and absolutely love it. It really struck a chord with me and I think it would make a great print for a child's room.

"For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again."

- Benjamin Button, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

On a totally different note, I'm thrilled with some of the award results that came out this week. Garden & Gun, one of my favorite magazines, won the General Excellence award at the National Magazine Awards on Monday night. The magazine title might be a little unusual but it has some of the best photos and writing of any current print publication. Also on Monday night, Zingerman's Roadhouse chef Alex Young won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: Great Lakes. After being nominated four previous times, I'm glad to see he finally won (and happy for an Ann Arbor chef to get some great publicity)! I've only been to Zingerman's Roadhouse once, but I can attest to how wonderful the food is. Here is an interview with Chef Young about his win.

"Lamp/Bear"

Last night I was walking along Park Ave after doing some shopping and I came across this guy:

I just had to take his picture since he was huge and totally stuck out amongst all the gray skyscrapers. Turns out he's up for auction at Christie's tomorrow. Normally I don't have a huge appreciation for modern art but this piece was striking both in it's size and uniqueness. My question is, once you buy it, where do you put it??? Here is some more information about the "Lamp/Bear".

Derby Weekend

This past Saturday truly felt like spring in Michigan with sunny skies and highs in the upper 60s. It appeared to be an equally nice day in Louisville where the 137th "Run for the Roses" was taking place. The Kentucky Derby is easily my favorite sporting event of the year. While I do love Michigan football games and all the tradition involved, I probably love the Derby even more. I love getting dressed up, wearing a hat, and drinking mint juleps (for Joe) and bloody Marys (for me) while watching the horses race and the well-dressed people of the grandstands place their bets. The singing of "My Old Kentucky Home" gives me goosebumps and the trumpeter's call to the post is exciting every time.

We've been fortunate to attend the Derby two of the past four years, but since we couldn't be there in person this year we decided to have a Derby party instead. We invited some friends over and served a Southern-inspired spring menu. Drinks included mint juleps with homemade mint infused simple syrup and lemonade and iced tea with Firefly sweet tea vodka. For dinner we served:

Vidalia onion soup
cheddar chipotle biscuits
fried chicken
asparagus, mushroom, and Gruyere bread pudding
Derby pie (pecan/bourbon/chocolate)
strawberry rhubarb pie

The food turned out well and we had a fun time with friends watching the race. I'll probably post all of these recipes at some point, but for now I'll post what might have been my favorite; the Vidalia onion soup. This soup took a long time to make, but was very easy, and well worth the time involved. The recipe calls for the onions to be simmered for 5 hours which leaves them so sweet that the final product tastes almost like candy.

Vidalia Onion Soup

Ingredients:
8-9 Vidalia onions, diced in large chunks
8 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3/4-1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
crisp bacon and chives for garnish

Directions:
Simmer onions in butter and a couple pinches of salt over low heat for 5 hours. Pour onions into a blender or use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Add the heavy cream, salt, and pepper to taste. Garnish the bowls with crispy bacon and chives, if desired.

*Source: Garden & Gun

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

Almost daily I come across recipes that I can't wait to make. I usually hold off though until I have some sort of occasion where I can share my creations with others. Otherwise, I know that Joe and I will eat all of them and that is not a good thing! On Friday night we got together with some friends to celebrate exams being partially done so I made these cookies. They are decadent and comforting and should definitely be shared. I was very happy with both the soft, but firm texture of the cookies, and the smoothness of the filling.

Ingredients for the cookies:
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick cooking oats

Ingredients for the filling:
4 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/2 confectioners sugar, sifted
4 1/2 Tbsp heavy cream

Directions:
For the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and stir until well combined. In the bowl of an electric mixer or with a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the peanut butter and blend until light and fluffy. Blend in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until just incorporated. Add the oats and stir until well blended.

Using a small ice cream scoop, place small balls of dough on the prepared baking sheets. Keep them a couple inches apart to allow for spreading. Try to make sure that each dough ball is approximately the same size. Bake 9-10 minutes, rotating the cookies sheets halfway through baking. Let cook on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.

Once the cookies are room temperature, being matching them up by size until you have all pairs. For the filling, combine the butter, peanut butter, and confectioners sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer or with a hand mixer. Cream together until smooth and fluffy. Add the cream and mix until well combined and very smooth. Using a knife or spreader, spread the filling onto the flat side of one cookie. Sandwich the other cookie on top and press down so that the filling reaches the edge of the cookies.

*Source: Allrecipes

NYC Restaurant Finds

One of the things I love about New York is that you can never run out of new places to eat. Sometimes I find it overwhelming because I want to try them all! There are also so many places that look totally unassuming, but when you walk in are actually very charming and have great food. This week I've stumbled upon two such places.

The first is an Italian restaurant called San Martin Restaurant. It's right around the corner from my hotel on 49th between Lexington and 3rd Ave. This is one of those places that is darkly lit, has clearly been there for years, and has photos on the wall of every somewhat-famous person who has ever eaten there. The decor probably hasn't been updated since the 70s, but that is part of the charm of a place like this. The food is simple, authentic, and delicious. Both times I've been I've ordered the Capellini al Pomodoro. It's a very simple dish of perfectly cooked al dente pasta, fresh tomatoes, basil, and lots and lots of garlic. I consider basic Italian dishes where each ingredient shines to be the ultimate in comfort food and this capellini dish is just that. That being said, the first time I went a friend joined me and ordered cheese ravioli with mushrooms and walnut cream sauce. He shared a bite with me, and it was rich and creamy, but I still prefer my simple capellini.

My other find this week was a restaurant in Queens called LIC Market. I've walked by it before, but since it's situated under a balcony and between two staircases I never really noticed it until today. I knew the minute I walked in that it was my kind of place. The decor was rustic/shabby-chic and I felt more like I was in the South than in NYC. They had shelves of assorted pickled vegetables and a handwritten menu board with fresh, seasonal vegetables. Any restaurant that has a focus on seasonal, local ingredients is my kind of place. Today I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich with muenster-like cheese, apple, endive, honey-Dijon mustard and a drizzle of truffle oil. I also had a side of broccolini with lemon and Parmesan. I'll definitely be going back for future lunches and possibly for breakfast to try their daily frittata specials!

Traveling for Work

There are lots of pros and cons to traveling each week that I could spend days talking about. Usually by Wednesday I’m starting to miss being at home so I’m a little more focused on the cons. Then on Thursday I’m thinking more about the pros as I anticipate working from home the next day and all the things that I’ll be able to accomplish while others are in an office.

I generally feel like I lead two separate lives. There is the Monday-Thursday me who spends long hours in a corporate office somewhere in the U.S., lives out of a suitcase, and has the independence to do whatever I want. Part of me loves this life style because it means seeing new places, meeting new people, and having obligation-free evenings that allow me to do whatever I want. I enjoy not having to make my bed and having fresh towels waiting for me at the end of each day. Plus there are the perks of travel such as the hotel and airline points. The other half of me gets incredibly frustrated by the corporate culture where life revolves around spreadsheets, too much praise is heaped on the person who spends the most hours at their desk staring at their laptop, and thinks that living in a hotel is not normal and sometimes lonely.

Then there is the Friday-Sunday me. Friday-Sunday is when I do the things I enjoy like baking, cooking, cleaning, spending time with my husband, family, and friends, going to my own gym, driving my own car, sleeping in my own bed, and being able to pick from an overfull closet of clothes instead of getting dressed from a small, rolling suitcase. I have the opportunity to do some of my favorite things with my husband like shopping at the farmers market, getting outside to enjoy Michigan’s four seasons, and just being the true me behind the closed doors of my own home. There is really no downside to all this except that when I’m home for too long I get restless. I generally can’t last even a month without feeling the desire to travel, to somewhere, anywhere. So even though there are many Sundays when I resent having to pack my suitcase again, I think I that these two distinct realities create a good balance for me. I guess what I’m saying is that a fundamental part of who I am right now is someone who needs to have two very different realities to really be able to appreciate either one.

Oatmeal Bread

Sunday is usually my bread baking day. Other than occasionally buying a specialty loaf from Great Harvest or Zingerman's, I'm proud to say that we haven't purchased sandwich bread in over a year. I like to make bread on Sunday so that Joe has a fresh loaf for his sandwiches all week. Yes, he is in his late 20s and still takes a pb&j to school for lunch almost everyday. Albeit, his is a much healthier version with almond butter or all natural peanut butter...no Jif for our sandwiches. I have three basic whole-grain bread recipes that I alternate between, two of which are done in the oven and one of which I use my breadmaker for. The oatmeal bread is Joe's favorite. It has a slightly crumbly texture which requires careful cutting, but it's hearty and slightly tangy from the greek yogurt and buttermilk used. I made myself an almond butter sandwich with the fresh bread for my breakfast on the airplane this morning, and was happy with how the loaf turned out this week.

Yield: 1 Loaf

Ingredients:
1 cup + 1 teaspoon whole wheat pastry flour, divided
1/2 cup + 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 cup + 1 Tablespoon old-fashioned rolled oats, divided
7 ounces plain, 2% greek yogurt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat 9x5 inch loaf pan with olive oil spread on a paper towel or rub pan with a stick of butter. Sprinkle pan with 1 teaspoon whole wheat pastry flour. Shake until all sides are coated and then shake off excess flour.

In a large bowl stir together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, and oatmeal.
In a seperate bowl whisk together yogurt, egg, olive oil, and buttermilk.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Pour batter in the prepared loaf pan and sprinkle the top with remaining 1 Tablespoon of oats.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, rotating pan halfway through the baking time, until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow bread to sit in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool the rest of the way to room temp. Store the bread well-wrapped, in the fridge.

*Recipe adapted from Healthy Food for Living

Friday Finds

Friday Finds: some of my favorite things from around the interwebs:

• From Southern Living Magazine, the "Southern Girl's Guide to Pearls" . As you can probably guess, I'm a firm believer that every woman needs at least one classic strand of pearls or pair of pearl earrings. This guide explains why pearls are a classic wardrobe staple and gives some fun alternative pearl styles.

*Image courtesy of Southern Living

• I'm adding these vegetable cutters to my kitchen accessory wish list. I would use these to create a cute vegetable platter for a bridal shower or perhaps an Easter brunch. I also think they might be fun for serving vegetables to kids. Carrots are more appealing when shaped like stars and flowers, right?

• On Wednesday night we had a friend over for dinner and made this delicious Butternut Squash Lasagna recipe courtesy of Brian Malarkey on Design Sponge.


• Green is one of my favorite colors for spring and summer clothing and accessories. I love that Kate Spade has chosen green as their color of the month for April. I'm absolutely in love with this vibrant green bag. I'd probably pair it with white jeans and a navy or pale yellow top for a late spring/early summer preppy outfit.

Birthday Cheesecake

This past weekend marked the birthday of one of my husband's law school friends. We found out through his girlfriend that his favorite dessert was cheesecake and his favorite flavor was blueberry. So, I set off in search of a good cheesecake recipe because despite my husband's boasts that I make "a great cheesecake", I have never in fact made real cheesecake. Normally I make a healthy version that we call "fake cheesecake". When I don't have any recipes in my cookbooks, my go-to recipe site is Annie's Eats. Everything of hers that I've made has turned out really well and this cheesecake recipe was no exception. I figured that individual sized cheesecakes would be best since having an entire cheesecake sitting around is just too much of a temptation.

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the crust:
1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
3 tbsp. sugar

For the topping:
6 oz. fresh organic blueberries
2 tbsp. sugar

For the filling:
3 8 oz. packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 8 oz package reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325˚ F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar until all ingredients are moistened. Press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner and press down with the bottom of a glass or small measuring cup. Bake 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack while you prepare the blueberry puree and filling.

Combine the blueberries and sugar in a blender or food processor. Process until smooth, then pour through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds. Use a spatula to press the juice through.

To make the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy. Slowly blend in the sugar until smooth. Mix in the salt and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

To assemble, spoon 3 heaping tablespoons of the cheesecake batter over the crust in each cupcake liner. Dot a ½ teaspoon of the blueberry puree in a few dots over the cheesecake filling. Use a toothpick or a wooden skewer to lightly swirl.

Bake until the filling is set, about 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for at least 4 hours before serving.


Please excuse the poor photo quality. The cheesecakes were a hit and all of them were consumed within a couple hours!



*Source: adapted from Annie's Eats

The Time Is Right?

After many years of reading blogs, I have finally decided to start my own. I considered blogging to chronicle my wedding planning experiences, but it just didn’t feel right at the time. Now many months later, I have decided that the time feels right. There is a lot going on in my life as I prepare to become a homeowner and first-time mother while still maintaining a full-time career and providing support to my husband as he makes his way through law school. I look forward to seeing where this blog goes and who my readers will be. This blog will not focus on specific topics. It won’t be strictly a mommy blog, a design blog, a recipe blog, or a travel blog. Instead I hope that this will be all of the above and more. I plan for this blog to serve as a way for me to chronicle my thoughts, discuss my favorite things, and be a reflection of what I consider to be the finer things I life.

To give some background, I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan and absolutely love my home state, but take any and all opportunities I can to travel to new places. I spend 16-20 days a month traveling for work (currently I work in NYC). When I’m home on the weekends I love to spend time with my husband, family and friends. My main creative outlet is cooking and baking. My ideal Saturday includes shopping for fresh produce at the farmers’ market while enjoying a soy chai latte and then coming home to cook or bake while watching Food Network. Last, but not least, I wear pearls every single day.