My Birthday Feast!

August 11th, 2010


Well, it has happened… I’m another year older and apparently, wiser? mmm… I have had a lovely day thanks for my friends and family. It culminated with a delicious Asian inspired feast and a Peach-Vanilla Pie… We started with Vietnamese Vegetarian Spring Rolls followed by Singapore Chili Shrimp and Chicken A La Nueces De La India. For dessert, they put candles on top of my Peach-Vanilla Pie made with Tartine’s Flaky Pie Crust.  Thank you for making this birthday wonderful!

Happy 10,000th day birthday!

May 23rd, 2010


Last fall, Juan sent me an email that his 10,000th day birthday is May 21, 2010 and mine is December 28, 2011… I love randomness and celebrating quirky days (we did celebrate Valentine’s on Flag Day last year) so I put the dates on my calendar…

of course, as the date got closer I did not know what to do… luckily, I was in town but Juan had been saying how he was sick of sweets (yes, he’s odd) so no cupcakes… He loves my quiches though so I made little breakfast “cupcake” quiches.  I couldn’t find the cupcake holders anywhere…hence the improvisation but they tasted good and Juan loved them…


but that was just the beginning of my plan (can you tell I’ve had a lot of time on my hands since school ended?)… while Juan was at work, I hung this awesome half-homemade banner… and I made dinner…

Now, I would have made this dinner regardless of any special occasion. I have this very elaborate idea for a dinner party but it involves some techniques that I have not mastered… such as handrolling pasta…

My first pasta attempt was not very successful (hence, it never made it up here) but this time I used this pasta recipe and was very pleased with the results.  I couldn’t find the rolling pin (it isn’t my kitchen and sometimes it is hard to find things!) so instead I used a SIGG.  It worked great and, of course, I promptly found the rolling pin after I finished.

I let the pasta dry for about an hour and put it in the fridge until dinner time.  I served it with Sun-dried Tomatoes Pesto with Slow Roasted Tomatoes.  I added some more garlic to the pesto and a few of the slow roasted tomatoes.  It was really good… Juan said the best part was the pasta…

So, yes, it was a very successful 10,000th day birthday celebration… plus, I feel more comfortable with my pasta technique… next, mastering Carolina BBQ…

Spring Cleaning…

April 2nd, 2010

… the sun is shining in Chicago! It is beautiful! I can’t wait to run my errands and dance around outside… This morning I was doing some spring cleaning. I cleaned the apartment, reorganized the closet and did some laundry. I opened the windows to let the breeze in… It feels great!

On the theme of spring cleaning… here is a picture I took a long long time ago and never posted… this is how I like my eggs… I slice a tomato, make some toast and make two sunny side up eggs. I like to flip them over at the end just to semi-cook the top but keeping the yolk runny. I sprinkle with truffle salt and pepper… also, sometimes a little olive oil. It is a very delicious combination for a quick dinner- in fact, I had it last night.

Enjoy the sun!