apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I discovered that a local charcuterie sells this really smokey bacon in hunks. I chopped some into lardons and fried them up. Then I sprinkled them over some mixed saladry, quickly fried a sunny-side up egg in the bacon drippings, and plopped that on top. Some fresh ground pepper to finish and it was a delicious meal. The runny yolk makes a kind of dressing for the salad.

I made my own granola last night based off of this general recipe:
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2008/02/consider-it.html
and I cut it in half, thank god. It's nice but I don't know if I can eat it every day, sadly. It will be a good change though, now that it's hot I've been having cold cereal every day so now I can add this to the options.

I tried the "Pata Negra" jamon for the first time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pata_negra

It is quite delicious. It really does melt in your mouth.

This weekend I got our first week of CSA shares. Using some of the stuff I got, I made green garlic/potato soup using garlic scallions, onions and potatoes, and pesto risotto using some thyme, chives, and spinach. The risotto wasn't as flavorful as I expected but was still tasty.

I had my monthly savories and sweets Sunday lunch, and it seemed to be a success! I made clam dip; marinated olives; a tossed salad featuring arugala, grapes, and chicken (on the side, for my non-veg friends, and the arugala and grapes made for happy mouths) and white balsamic dressing; a simple pasta salad with white wine vinegar dressing; fresh croutons (so easy and simple, but with a high-yield impact); and vanilla honey torte. I usually try to make two sweets, but didn't have time to whip up the ricotta mousse recipe a friend had sent for me to try. I have the ingredients for it, though, so it's on tap for this week. One of the fun things about these parties is I try to never repeat a recipe, and I aim to offer things my guests may not have had before.

i made a killer "fuzzy navel" upside down cake - peaches and pine nuts spiked with ginger and cardamom with an orange-scented cake. and i'm not embarrassed to say that i ate most of it myself over the course of the weekend!

http://thursdaynightsmackdown.com/2008/05/18/a-fuzzy-navel-please-baked-not-stirred/

I hit up a market near my apartment (in DC) on the corner of 14th and U Streets...got a beautiful pork loin, which I wrapped in bacon and roasted garlic. I made an asparagus soup from some giant spears, and green garlic (looked like scallions) and topped it off with a sun-dried tomato baguette.
Thank God it's market season!!!

For Sunday dinner I did a spinach salad with red lentils, roasted yellow peppers, feta cheese and nan bread bought at an Indian store.

I made my very first loaf of bread from scratch! An all day process but very worth the effort. I feel like such an adult now. Momma would be proud.

Anne(in Reno)-
I make that granola (a full batch) like every ten days or so! My bf, who used to only eat sandwiches for breakfast, became hooked on it the first time I tried it. Now we eat it for breakfast almost every morning with plain yogurt, a drizzle of honey, and loads of fresh fruit. I credit that granola for increasing our fresh fruit consumption drastically.

Yesterday I made a marinade of coconut milk, Thai basil, lemongrass, chili paste, garlic, fresh ground ginger, soy sauce and fresh ground black pepper. Pork chops sat in the marinade for four hours, then were seared and subsequently cooked in the remaining marinade liquid. Rice cooked with the remaining coconut milk and chicken broth was served as a side, along with quick stir-fried oyster mushrooms, pea pods and bok choi.

Not really complicated (and not at all measured!) but we had a great Thai-tasting dinner in less than half an houri

Oops, forgot to add fresh squeezed lime juice was used in the marinade, too!

I made pizza from scratch. The crust turned out alright, but we didn't have the oven temp high enough as the recipe was transcribed over the phone from my friends mom...

Anyways, the first pizza had homemade alfredo sauce, roasted garlic, chicken and basil (with Mozza)
and the second pizza had homemade tomato sauce, sauted onions and fennel, chorizo sausage and lots of mozza.

they were tasty! I get to enjoy it again today for lunch. Yum yum

I made madelines and snickery bars, greek rice & sorrel soup, & rhubarb strawberry crisp.

angorian,
Your description of really smokey bacon makes me so jealous! I had an appetizer last night at a restaurant that was simply mushrooms, onions and very smokey lardons carmelized together. It tasted so much of the earth....and was the big hit/find of the night.

We have family in from Chicago who requested the classic wursts from the German butcher near our home.

Tomorrow for lunch, we're looking forward to a feast of brats, krainerwurst, landjaeger and lots of saurkraut and cucumbersalat. Yum!

I'm thinking that I'll try to make cupcakes out of the lemon cake recipe I found in Bon Appetite years ago. The cake itself was lovely, the frosting was a royal pain in the butt. Maybe I'll frost them with lemon curd.

Anne(in Reno) and J, yay! More Orangette readers! I'm dying to try the recipe for onion pasta she posted last week.

This weekend will be spinach phyllo feta cheese dish with garden spinach. Also, strawberry rhubarb pie, with garden rhubarb, upon request.