another date night dinner for 2

I’ve definitely enjoyed having a hungry guy around because I can make real dishes and have someone to help with the leftovers! While big meals, like my lasagna, meatloaf, turkey burgers, and spaghetti and meatballs are delicious, sometimes a simple recipe for two is just what the evening calls for.

In celebration of my new job situation (I got 2nd, really awesome summer job!), I decided to cook us a nice dinner over the weekend, complete with fancy wine. And when looking for inspiration for our meal, I looked no further than the summer I lived in Argentina.

In summer 2009, I headed way down south to work for my undergrad university in Córdoba, Argentina. Of course, it was winter down there… But what most people don’t realize about Argentina is that Argentina is famous for Italian food. Aside from their delicious beef, the huge population of Italian immigrants that has flooded my beloved Argentina have created what is called the best Italian food outside of Italy — in the big cities, Italian is still spoken by a lot of the population!

I thought of one of the best combinations of Argentine cuisine — the merge of beef and pasta — in beef braciole (pronounced “bra-cho-lay”). Rolls of beef stuffed with parmesan, braised in tomato sauce, and served over pasta? Sign me up! And it makes a perfect dinner for two!

Braciole with Mushroom and Pasta (serves 2)
2 slices beef top round, sliced thin and pounded lightly
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1 T fresh oregano leaves
salt & pepper
olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 T fresh basil, chopped
2 cups diced tomatoes (with their liquid)
1 cup crushed tomato
1/3 cup dry red wine
tooth picks
spaghetti or angel hair pasta
In a sauté pan, sauté the mushroom slices in a drizzle of olive oil until tender. Remove from heat and set aside. Slice the 2 cuts of top round in half, making 4 slices. Pound a few times with a meat mallet (or rolling pin). Using your fingers, rub a small amount of olive oil on one side of the meat as well as a sprinkling of salt and pepper. In a small mixing bowl, combine bread crumbs, parmesan, and oregano together. Using a spoon, divide the mixture evenly onto each slice of the meat, then press it into the olive oil on the meat to help it stick. Roll the meat gently and secure with toothpicks (don’t use broken kebab skewers like me!). Heat a drizzle of olive oil in the same sauté pan that you used for the mushrooms and over medium-high heat, sear the beef rolls, about 2-3 minutes per side. Turn the heat down to medium-low and return the mushrooms to the pan along with the diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, red wine, and basil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and let simmer for 35-40 minutes. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, cook the pasta and drain. Serve the braciole along with its sauce on top of the pasta with a generous sprinkling of parmesan cheese!

a date night dinner

As you may have noticed in my post about these delicious brownies, I have a gentleman friend in my life. Being the good girlfriend that I am I decided to make him sit down and relax after a busy day at work so I could cook him dinner.

Also, I needed blog material. Two birds, one stone y’all.

So I thought I would make a romantic, impressive French dish, Coq au Vin (“Rooster with Wine”). This dish is almost like a stew with a thick red wine sauce. I made it once before for a crowd but this time I decided to make it a bit smaller and lighter, but equally delicious. The traditional recipes serve 4-6, so I worked to change it to a perfect date night dinner for two.

This is a great dish to prepare ahead of time so you can wipe the onion skins and excess flour off your clothes before going over to impress your significant other with your effortless cooking. (I did all the prep work at my place and took it over to his when it was ready for the oven)

But even though this is a lighter version of a classic, men will still love it because bacon and bacon fat are involved. Y’all would disappoint me if you didn’t have a jar of extra bacon fat in your fridge. You do, right? Right.

Date Night Coq au Vin (serves 2)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 slices bacon
1 T olive oil or bacon grease
2 cups mushroom caps, halved
12 small pearl onions, peeled
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 T tomato paste
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 T rosemary
1 tsp dried parsley
salt & pepper
2 cups egg noodles, cooked
In a bowl, combine flour with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss chicken breasts in the flour and set aside. Chop bacon into small pieces (hint: this is easiest done if the bacon has been in the freezer for about an hour). In a heavy bottomed or cast iron skillet, fry the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon pieces with a slotted spoon and set aside; leave the grease in the skillet. Add 1 T bacon grease or a drizzle of olive oil so the skillet is not dry. Place floured chicken into the hot skillet and allow it to brown on both sides (3-4 minutes/side). When the chicken is browned, remove from skillet and set in the bottom of a cooking dish. To the skillet, add the red wine and chicken stock to deglaze the skillet. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, parsley, and rosemary. Place the mushroom caps, pearl onions, and the cooked bacon in the skillet and stir well. Allow the mixture to reduce for a few minutes where it will become more sauce-like. After about 5 minutes, pour everything on top of the chicken in the baking dish and cover with aluminum foil. With the oven set to 375*, bake covered for 35 minutes, remove the foil, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. In the last 10 minutes of baking, boil some egg noodles, drain them, and set them aside. When the chicken is ready, serve over the hot egg noodles, spooning extra sauce from the dish.

big sky adventures

It is official: I’m in love with Texas. I know I’ve said “Austin” before, but now it has branched out to the whole state. I’m sure this is a huge overstatement, but I don’t care. I had a magical day.

The day started by a roadtrip to the original Salt Lick , a famous barbecue joint in Driftwood, TX (the original location). I’d seen it on the Food Network and the commercials on TV here would make even a vegetarian salivate. I went with my usual companion, Mary, and we both loved our sliced beef sandwiches and sauce dripping down our arms.

And after our delicious meal, we were on our way out the door when I smiled politely at a cute waiter and asked if I could snap a picture of the world famous meat pit. It is amazing what a smile and a pair of boots gets you around here, because he let me go into the kitchen and go behind the pit for a great picture!

After traipsing around and taking pictures, we took our bbq food babies back on the road and headed further west into Texas Hill Country. On the agenda? WINE!

Our first stop was at Texas Hills Vineyards in Johnson City. They had an adorable cute dog in the tasting room and you knew the wine was made on sight — you could smell the fermenting in the next room (reminding me fondly of my aunt and uncle’s champagne storehouse in France). There we did a 5 wine tasting where we picked the wines, sticking mostly to reds. They have an award winning 2005 Syrah that I highly recommend!

Next up was my favorite, William Chris Vineyards in Hye where we were greeted by the cutest sign ever!

We enjoyed a delicious wine tasting of 3 wines: 2 reds and a dessert white. I was absolutely smitten with the Enchanté, their blend of a merlot, malbec, and a cabernet franc. It was divine! I’m not a merlot fan, but even their merlot was amazing (and Mary liked it a lot, too!) The William of William Chris chatted with us as we tasted and he was so laid back and nice. The whole environment of the tasting was very relaxed and casual, but you still knew the product you were tasting was of great quality (all natural!) and elegant. Even with Bill’s dirt smudged boots and blue bandana, you knew it was a great wine. Perhaps that added to the character of the place?

Our next (and last) stop was Woodrose Winery in Stonewall. The tasting was in a giant dance hall with some love music, compliments of a guitar-strummin’ cowboy. Mary and I had decided on this winery because of a recommendation from a nice couple we met at the first wine tasting, and we ran into them again at Woodrose! They joined our table and let us know that our tasting was on the house because they’re members of the wine club there… also meaning we got a few extra pours, a free cheese plate, and excellent company! We sat there for a good hour and a half, maybe even two hours, and enjoyed great conversation with fun people. I even have slightly modified career aspirations because of our conversations with this couple! The whites were terrible, but the red wines made up for it and we certainly had a lovely time.

We rolled ourselves out of wine country around 5pm and headed back to Austin. Between the wine, the people, the boots, the big blue sky, and the sense that I truly belong in Texas, I’m sold on this place. Does it get any better than this? Today was a perfect Saturday for adventures in Big Sky Country.

special sauce

Do you have ingredients that are particularly sentimental to you? Or even a dish that is very strongly connected to a memory, person, or place? Well, for me, that ingredient would be none other than Newman’s Own Sockarooni spaghetti sauce.

My special sauce

Yes, jarred spaghetti sauce. This sauce isn’t the most incredible thing I’ve ever tasted, though it happens to be my preferred jar of choice, but it is special to me for other reasons. Growing up, one of our favorite family meals was spaghetti and my dad almost always made the sauce. He always, without fail, used Sockarooni and “doctored it up” with his own combination of spices. I open the jar, smell it, taste it, and instantly can picture myself standing barefoot in the kitchen with him, throwing spaghetti noodles on the wooden cabinets to see if they stick (a sure sign they’re perfectly cooked, FYI), and tasting the sauce. This sauce is a bittersweet one, but not because of its taste. It is bittersweet because, as many of you know, my father passed away in November 2008. Anything I can do to keep him fresh in my memory is so important to me, and when I picked up this jar of sauce at the grocery store, I knew exactly where it would take me back to. So tonight’s dinner of pasta with Sockarooni sauce, is dedicated to my Daddy.

I had a long day on campus doing grad school orientation and that, coupled with me crying as I tasted a spoonful of spaghetti sauce, told me that a glass of wine might not be a bad idea. And in an effort to add more wine reviews to the blog, I indulged.

HRM's Rex Goliath Cab Sav

I have to say, for under $6, this was a kickin’ Cab Sav. Cab Savs happen to be my favorite type of wine because they’re bold, but not too bold. The almost bitter taste of red wines comes from tannin and this has a great balance of fruit and tannin. I did my tasting, ate dinner, and when I got around to blogging I checked the HRM Rex Goliath website out and was shocked to see the wine’s description went right along with my own opinion. I am, by no means, a wine expert, but apparently I’m doing alright. It had a very fruity, almost sweet taste up front and it had the traditional red boldness of the tannin on the back of the palate as you swallowed. Honestly if you’re into red wines and you don’t have a big budget (like me!) I highly recommend it. It tastes more luxurious than it actually is!

One happy camper!

Now I’m going to relax a little and think fondly of the special sauce and the amazing person it reminds me of. I think food is a very important aspect of memory and association — it goes to show how powerful food truly is!

my weekend in wine

I took a low key trip down to the Tidewater region of Virginia, where I grew up, to say goodbye to some family friends before the big move. I haven’t done anything particularly exciting, which is the beauty of a weekend here, and I’ve just been enjoying relaxing time with people I love.

Also, as you may know, it has been 104 degrees or hotter for the past week, so I really haven’t had the motivation to do anything. Heat tires you out!

But in an effort to occasionally put more affordable wine reviews on here, and flex my very small wine muscle, our family friend Megan (my “Mommy Megan”) and I forced ourselves to drink wine. What a chore.

Quara Malbec and Beringer Cabernet Sauvignon

Now, the Quara brand is special to me for a few reasons. It is from the Cafayate region of Argentina, and most Argentine wines that we see in the states are from Mendoza. Mendoza is a little overrated in my opinion. When I traveled to Cafayate the summer I lived in Argentina, I tried the Torrontes (a white wine whose grape only grows in Argentina!) and their Cab Sav but never the Malbec. Well the Malbec was very disappointing. Megan thought the same. We actually poured out our second glasses and still have some left in the bottle. Not sure who we can pawn that off too… But I do recommend the Torrontes and if you like mellow reds, get the Cab Sav, but the Malbec had way too much tannin for us to handle and had a very bitter aftertaste on the palate. Not enjoyable. $9.

The Beringer Founder’s Estate Cab Sav was much better, as I am partial to Cab Savs over all reds. It had the mellow almost sweet taste that I’m used to from Cab Savs and it seriously had a buttery aftertaste, something I’ve only experienced in white wines! Quite a good find for its price and I recommend this one if you’re looking for a cheap but good bottle of red. $10.

Then last night we ordered Chinese and watched “Strange Sex” on TLC, which is best enjoyed with a bottle of wine. We opened up another Argentine Malbec with higher hopes than the Quara.

Callia Malbec

This Callia Malbec was so much better and highly recommended. It definitely had the spice taste that you expect in a Malbec but wasn’t nearly as bitter (less tannin taste) than the other. This bodega is also special to me because it is next door to one that I visited while in the San Juan province of Argentina. San Juan is another great region for wine that is rarely seen in the states. Seriously, look outside of Mendoza! This region has a desert climate and really loamy soil which makes for really awesome grapes and I really enjoyed touring the bodega next door to Callia (which isn’t imported here, sadly) and tasting their wines. I highly recommend this if you’re looking to try out some Argentine Malbecs, which Argentina is very well known for. $10.

So that is my weekend in wine! I’m leaving my family friends’ house today and driving another 40 minutes down to Virginia Beach, where I lived January-May if you remember, to visit my best friend Harris’s parents. I miss living with them and the puppy so much so I’m going to say goodbye before I move. But Mona’s best friend from high school lives in Austin so I’m sure I’ll see her soon! Harris is moving to France for a year, so he’s another story. I might not see him

R&R

I am happy to announce that Spanish Academy is over and I am relaxing a LOT. At the end of the day, even with all the complaining, it is still a great experience and I loved it, just as I did when I attended and last year when I was an RA, I had a wonderful time serving as the Lead RA. I met some truly amazing kids and a few great staff members, too! The hugs of appreciation and tears of sadness that it was over from the kids today made me happy that I had made an impact on their life even if the administration part of the job wasn’t always easy or enjoyable.

I haven’t been eating well and I’ve been feeling pretty awful (ie, yesterday I drank a big glass of horchata — which is traditionally made with rice milk but was wrongly made with 2% milk — and was severely sick). So today I rededicated myself to cleaning up my eating. I’m doing well so far, partially due to the fact I’m spending a couple days with my aunt, who is a chef

Today when I arrived at the family farm, the first thing I did was raid the cookie jar.

Who stole the cookies from the cookie jar?

Then I hopped in the pool with a glass of wine (or 3).

Liberty Farm

Next up was a game of croquet that I watched. At the end I swung around the mallet a few times, but I won’t make you look at those pictures because I’m in my bathing suit and slightly buzzed from wine. You can imagine, I’m sure. After croquet, we cleaned ourselves off and played a couple games of bilingual Cranium (my French cousins Paul & Jason are visiting) and then made dinner.

Fresh salad and personal pita pizza with spinach, onions, and goat cheese.

My aunt knows about my dairy issues and I definitely have less trouble with goat cheese vs. cow cheese, so she made a big homemade traditional pizza with mozzarella and then made me 2 personal pita pizzas with goat cheese. I ate both and they were fantastic! Then came the homemade ice cream. Did you know today is National Ice Cream Day??

My aunt's homemade blackberry ice cream with farm fresh blackberries!

I will sacrifice dairy stomach issues for homemade ice cream. I am sure I will regret this in the middle of the night, but whatever! It was closer to a sorbet actually; less creamy, more fruity.

And I definitely want to add more wine to my blog since I’m slowly becoming more of a wine enthusiast, so here is the wine featured during my day here (we had more than 1 bottle on hand!)

Muga Rosé wine from the Rioja region in Spain

This rosé was a bit drier than some I’ve had and I’m not sure I liked it. As far as I know it was my first Spanish rosé (if I drink rosé, I’m partial to the French varieties) but it certainly was drink-able. I just don’t know if I’d go for it again. It had a really awful taste with the vinaigrette on the salad at dinner, I finished my salad before I went back to the wine!

Off to play another round of French-English Cranium (surprisingly difficult since I’ve been speaking Spanish while working at the Spanish Academy for 3 week straight) and catch up on SLEEP!

What do you do for R&R?

night off!

Well each staff member gets 1 night off during Spanish Academy and I took last night off for my “noche grande”. My mom came down to meet me for a belated birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and my Uncle Chuck & Aunt Josette came down too! I’m not a huge fan of chain restaurants, but this is one I can stand by. I mean, it has the word “cheesecake” in the name!

I was greeted at the restaurant by a lovely glass of red wine and appetizers (chips & guac and sweet corn tamale cakes). After appetizers, I ordered dinner from the “small plates & snacks” menu to save room for dessert

Wild Mushroom Pizette; Goat cheese, Beets, and Apple salad; steamed asparagus.

Delish. I then ordered my favorite cheesecake: Key Lime Cheesecake. Fact: I prefer fresher, fruitier desserts than heavy, chocolately ones.

Shared with my uncle with plenty of leftovers

After dinner, my friend Jess met me and we drove together to Tiffany’s house. Tiffany just started her own Mary Kay business and needs to add pictures to her portfolio, so I got to play dress-up and try out all the face washes, lotions, and makeup! Once I was beautiful, we headed out with her husband to see “Eclipse”. Two words: TEAM JASPER. The end.

I made it back to the dorms where the Academy is hosted around 12:30am and Harris wanted to vent about French Academy, so we talked for a few minutes as best friends tend to do and then we headed over to hang with some of our German counterparts. Then I performed magic.

EPIC

Leiderhosen were worn and many hours of sleep were lost. But at least I could sleep in this morning!

Have a great Sunday!

TGIF

I love Fridays because I don’t work! (Trust me this won’t last for long… I have a summer job coming up and then graduate school. I enjoy it while I can!)

I woke up and made breakfast in bed

Sophie trying to steal my wheat toast with chocolate soy nut butter and banana¡

(Please ignore the mis-matched bedding… the real sheets were in the wash.)

After digesting, I headed to the gym where I did 35 minutes on the elliptical trainer, while reading a book! I can’t think of the last time I took reading material to the gym. I tend to get really focused and intense during a work out but I really felt like relaxing so I took my book and enjoyed it while getting my (major) sweat on. I also did some arm strength training before leaving.

On the way home I may or may not have stopped at Trader Joe’s because I was in desperate want of soy yogurt and spinach. And I had to pick up some tofu for dinner! I also made an impulse purchase of Greek yogurt, dark chocolate, and grapefruit. Don’t you love that my “impulse purchases” include a grapefruit?

Grapefruit; raspberry soy yogurt; sandwich thin with 1 slice light white cheddar, spinach, artichoke hearts, and kidney beans!

Sophie and I then spent a good portion of the afternoon in the backyard on a beach towel, me tanning in my bathing suit and Sophie eating bugs. I wanted to get a little color on me but I also love reading my book outdoors! I took a ton of cute pictures of the puppy on my new camera too! I’m paranoid about skin cancer, as my mom had melanoma, so no worries, the SPF 50 was slathered on heavily. I did get some color though which takes me from albino to a healthy alabaster. Improvement, right?

I totally killed my “limited dairy the day before a race” plan because tonight we had a Shabbat dinner and as soon as the goat cheese stuffed dates came out, I knew I was a goner.

Appetizers (I sampled a bit of it all)

Olives and goat cheese stuffed dates

The Shabbat is the dinner held on Friday night, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath. I’m not Jewish, if you were wondering, but Mona & Jeff (my best friends’ parents/the people I live with and work for) are and they invited over their friends Fay and Charlie for Shabbat dinner (hi, Fay!!!!). Fay kindly explained some of the traditions and prayers to me. It is tradition for the woman to cut the Challah and say the first prayer at Shabbat (Mona clearly did this; my Hewbrew is limited to pretty much 1 or 2 words that I may or may not have just made up).

My wine & some challah

I had 1 glass of red wine over the course of the evening, wanting to partake but not wanting to over do it. Even though I’m running for fun tomorrow, I still don’t want to feel gross! After the challah was cut, we munched on the appetizers where I had 1 or 4 stuffed dates and some assorted cheese, crackers, and dried apricots. Then dinner came!

Veggies, roasted potatoes, mixed green salad, marinated baked tofu

Everyone else had steak and/or chicken so I used the chicken marinade (Soy Vey Very Very Teriyaki) to marinate my tofu. It was super yummy, I loved the marinade!!!

And then, of course, came dessert.

Cookies, whipped cream, and fruit salad

I can always get behind a fruit salad!

Well now it is late and I should be getting to bed for my 5k tomorrow morning! Jeremy isn’t actually running now because he waited too long to register and it closed But Mary Catherine is still coming and I’m so excited to share her first race with her! Tomorrow look for a race recap and some more race tips!

pre-graduation

So if you are reading this, I am most likely parading across campus in a billowing black robe (Snape?) while my mom cries at the very mention of “Pomp and Circumstance”. Yes, today is my official college graduation. While I’ve been done since December, technically, my university doesn’t do a December ceremony so I chose to come back and walk with my friends, those who I started college with. And my pre-graduation day was full of excitement, both good and bad!

This morning I had a Kashi TLC Trail Mix bar before heading out to a picnic with my family! My mom, her husband, my uncle, and my aunt humored me and met me for a picnic/photography expedition in a local Richmond park. They had roast beef sandwiches, while I had a black bean patty we got at the grocery store’s hot bar!

Black bean patty sandwich, butternut squash salad, couscous salad.

I had seconds on both of the salads, a small handful of BBQ potato chips (mmm), and a CUPCAKE!

We then walked around the park and enjoyed the scenery. I took my new Canon Rebel camera with me on a photography expedition. Look at this picture!

So pretty!

I got great scenery shots and some nice ones with my family

We then headed back to campus for several receptions where I munched on the random cheese and fruit trays, but nothing too serious. More family members joined us (another aunt and uncle and their 2 kids) and we had a nice time hanging around campus with my friends and professors.

Between the park and the reception, I was backing out of a parking lot in my car when someone backed into me at the same time. I cried a lot and freaked out, but it is only some structural damage to my car. It mostly just brought up all my pent-up emotions. After the receptions on the way to dinner, I was in the car with my aunt and uncle when their car was hit, too! And my face rash is still going strong (why???) so I was upset and drank some Numero Uno Tempranillo that was awesome.

We had dinner at a Tapas bar, and I wasn’t starved so I got 2 tapas plates as my dinner.

Vegetarian empanada with spicy red pepper sauce

Grilled eggplant with marinara and manchego cheese

I was still rather emotional after dinner so I had another cry and pulled it together in time to find my friends at another campus reception pre-candle light ceremony. There was an open bar so I had a beer and another glass of wine

We then gathered around the lake on campus (men’s college on one side, women’s college on the other) and lit candles and got a little rowdy. I had so much fun hanging with my friends though! It was a great memory for the last night. After the serious part of the ceremony was over, there was a great fire works show.

Fire works!

After the ceremony concluded, let’s just say that parties were attended, the dining hall roof was climbed, and random pictures were taken around campus. But it was a great last night!

This morning my family met for brunch and now we’re at various graduation activities, so I will post details later! Happy Mother’s Day, too!

back on the east coast!

Well sorry for disappearing but yesterday was a busy day! We left the hotel at 5:45am and headed to the airport for our long day of travel back to Richmond from Arizona.

 

Fage 2% Greek yogurt (my favorite), a banana with 1 tbsp PB; trail mix for a snack throughout the day

 

 

Au Bon Pan caprese sandwich on wheat and an apple

 

I usually avoid raw tomato because I think I’m a bit intolerant to it but forgot and ate this sandwich that had a lot of tomato. Well about 20 minutes after eating my whole face started itching and by the time I got to my friend’s apartment on campus in Richmond, the whole right side of my face is covered in a red rash from the tomato. Fail. It looks horrible so I hope it goes away before all the pictures taken this weekend

 

Red curry with pineapple, tomato, and green beans; rice

 

My friend Megan (who I’m staying with) and I went out for Thai food — our usual date.

Then my Mommy gave me my graduation present!!

 

A legit camera!!!

 

The rest of my graduation present is moving me to Texas, something more expensive than I care to think about. Most bloggers use this kind of camera for food pictures, and a few might sneak in this weekend since it is my new toy, but I really wanted this because I travel so much and love to take pictures. We’re going on a picnic later, so hopefully I’ll snap some good ones!

We went to a big graduation party on campus last night and there was a beer truck with $3 beer — but it was only Miller Light so I flatly refused to buy any. I had a glass of red wine before the party and once I got there I found a friend working at the beer ticket table who slipped me a free ticket, and then I found one on the floor, so I ended up having a couple (gross) beers. But I had a lot of fun with my friends last night!

Not hungry in the least this morning so I’m saving it for our picnic! Not sure when I’ll be back, but I will be!