apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

For a birthday party on Monday, buttermilk cupcakes with burnt butter icing and raspberry frozen yogurt. I think I ate a bucket of frozen yogurt as I was baking, just to stay cool. The burnt butter frosting was awesome and had me brainstorming ways to make it ice cream-able, but I have my doubts about whether or not it would work.

After finding the most perfect bunch of basil at Fairway over the weekend, I knew I had to turn it into pesto before it rotted. I made a batch of sunflower seed pesto, (roasted/salted, with the basil, some export-quality fresh shaved parm, salt and EVOO).
As I was transferring to a container I decided to leave a bit in the bowl and make some chicken meatballs for lunch. Mixing in some ground chicken and sun dried tomatoes, I quickly panfried and then added a little water, and covered to steam. Adding a large handful of stringbeans to steam at the last minute turned my flavorful, high-protein lunch into a (mostly) healthy meal!

Burnt butter icing (or ice cream for that matter) sounds amazing. If you figure it out please post it! I will be a happy tester...

I made two cakes over the weekend - one a massive German chocolate cake for some friends' going away party, and the other a bright Winnie the Pooh cake for a three-year-old's birthday. I bought one of those edible images to put on top, shuddering to think of the chemicals involved, but boy, was she happy. We had to cut around Pooh's head. Click my name for pics.

I want to work on something for the ice cream event, but I have to wait until the weekend so I can hand the results over to other people to eat. Mainly I'm just looking forward to adding a whole lot of new ice cream recipes to my collection...

omg faith, that's so cute!!
i made harissa marinated lamb leg steaks with a yougurt and cucumber salad which my boyfriend immediately declared best. Dinner. EVER! and ordered me to stop cooking anything else for the rest of my life
it was pretty darn tasty and it was only after cleanup that i relised i had seen that meal before and then finally realised that i had seen it on Grant's blog, but in a far more complicated fashion!
lol

Sat night was salade nicoisse -- sliced grilled tuna over baby arugula with new potatoes, string beans and cherry tomatoes. Sunday we made ground lamb burgers with crumbled blue cheese tossed in, and a salad of fresh tomatoes with english cucumber and dill -- served some tsatsiki on the side form topping it -- mmmm! Last night I made pesto with basil from our garden.

I've been messing with this for a few meals now, and now I'm out of mustard ...

Just take a couple of boneless chicken breasts, and slather them with a mixture of

-Dolops of a good, creamy dijon mustard
-lime juice
-Tarragon

You don't have to let it sit for any longer than a few minutes. Just cook it in a pan with the mustard sauce, adding what's left from your slathering at each turn of the chicken till done.

I've served it on a bed of baby spinach, and cubed as part of a salad.

Total side note: but Martha Stewart is taking sign ups to go see taping of her daily show. It's taped in Chelsea, NYC.

Even if you're not a huge Martha fan, you might enjoy seeing her amazing working kitchen set. And somedays they have some pretty interesting celeb guests and give aways.
http://www.marthastewart.com/page.jhtml?type=learn-cat&id=cat20042

I got a new fridge last week and tonight I just ordered from Fresh Direct for the first time. But I'm unsure about one thing - is tipping standard? My home is street-level, so they're not climbing stairs, only walking a few steps from truck to door. Just wondered what would be appropriate.... any advice?
p.s. I'm bummed that they don't offer that nice discount for first-time users anymore.

Well, it's not really hot here in San Francisco, but there's plenty of summer produce from my CSA box. In an effort to use as many of the vegetables as possible and not go to the store, I made dinner from the refrigerator and pantry last night. Roasted fingerling potatoes, blanched green beans, raw zucchini cut into tiny shreds with the mandoline and good quality canned salmon all tossed while still warm in a mustard shallot vinaigrette. Mighty satisfying and quick.

I have been *very* bad about cooking for about 2-weeks and I'm being slow about getting back into the cooking rhythm. And my fridge is empty with the exception of old food that I need to toss.

Breakfast: PB&J on multigrain. Cantaloupe.
Lunch: Downtown foodcart.
Snack: Cantaloupe. Trail Mix.
Dinner: Tomato and cheese sandwich on multigrain. And more cantaloupe.

I console myself that at least I'm eating fairly healthily and haven't resorted to fast-food...

Back this week after spending last week in the country/mountains (Laurentians). Had access to a a full-sized bbq. So, highlights of the week were:
Steaks marinated in mirin, ginger, garlic etc
Tandori-style chicken (put chicken legs into lge freezer bag with the marinade--yogurt & spices, froze it & took it frozen to have on the bbq mid-week - it was good!)
Pork tenderloins, marinated with adobo sauce etc and stuffed with chopped chipotle, then bbq'd.
Vegetable skewers: cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, chunks of pepper and white onion; all brushed with olive oil + zucchini cut lengthwise

The last 2 mornings, for breakfast I made all buckwheat crepes, served with maple syrup and a mountain of local peaches and nectarines, crowned with a few wild blueberries.
(There were wild raspberry bushes everywhere & wild blueberries as well-2 types! Oh & about 10 types of mushrooms; I really wished I'd had a mushroom book with me! I did recognize oyster mushrooms, did'nt pick any. There was so much!)

I know some of you are still looking around for local strawberries. There are strawberries at the farmer's market at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (47th and 2nd), sold by Samascott Orchards in Kinderhook, NY.

Any suggestions for a "temporary" backsplash? I've read the thread http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/appliances-small/pottery-barn-stainless-steel-backsplash-003312 but I was wondering if there are any other solutions. I just want to cover the area behind the cooktop and, since I rent, something removable (and easy-to-clean) would be good...
Thanks!
Ana

LOL, chris! i went to school with those kids (the Samsscotts that is)

their corn is possibly the best in Columbia County now that they've combined with the Brosens to make one superduper farming powerhose family! (my mom says a Samascott married a Brosen hence the combining of powers... don't you just love small town gossip!)

i had one of their honeydews last weekend and it was amazing, look for them too!

one last bit of (non-food) trivia... Kinderhook is the actual place where the Legend of Sleepy Hollow (aka Ichabod Crane & the Headless Horseman) "occurred" :-)

Ana, I put up flashing behind my stove and sink - flashing usually is used under roof shingles and comes cheaply in these big rolls at the hardware store. You can cut it to any size you want. The kind I bought has a slightly weathered look - galvanized. It's magnetic so I put up all kinds of things on it.

I rent too, and I hope it comes down well! I used small sharp tacks to put it up, and hopefully the holes can be filled in with paint. Click my name for pics...

I think some people here follow cooking and design shows as closely as I do. Does anyone else watch Tyler's Ultimate?

He seems to have a wooden cannister that he keeps his salt in? The lid is on a hinge or somehow easily swivels? He reaches in, pinches the salt he needs and he's on to the next thing.

I love how it looks, a modern take on the old salt box thing.

Any one else notice Tyler's wooden salt container? I think I want one.

This is totally random, but, Sara Kate, have you ever gone just by Sara professionally? I ask because my son has a children's book which was designed by someone named Sara Gillingham. Might that be you pre-marriage? If so, kudos, because its one of his favorites!

Ana, as an interesting take on backsplashes, I saw somewhere the idea of putting some kind of patterned paper (removable wallpaper, perhaps?) on the wall, then putting clear plexiglass over that.