Creamy Potatoes
Posted: November 26, 2014 Filed under: Culinary, Main Course | Tags: bacon, creamy potatoes, delicious potato, food, Friendsgiving, Garlic, heavy cream, Holiday, holidays, kitchen, meal, potato, potato and bacon, potato dish, Potatoes, side dish, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving ideas, Thanksgiving side dishes Leave a commentLast Thanksgiving was the first that I ever spent away from my family in Rhode Island. Not being able to see them, I wanted to make something that would be on my mother’s table at big family dinners. This creamy potato dish has become a staple comfort food for me, so i made it for my small Los Angeles Thanksgiving get together. Like most Thanksgiving dishes, it is rather indulgent and by no means healthy. It’s very simple to prepare, and I guarantee that your guests will love it.
INGREDIENTS (serves 8 – 10):
3 lbs potatoes (I used a medley of different colored small potatoes)
1 garlic head (finely diced)
2 bacon packages (12oz each)
2 pints heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon ground thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS:
Peel all of the potatoes and cut into halves. If you are working with very large potatoes you can cut into quarters. Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water, then boil until mostly cooked through, but still firm (about 30 minutes). Slice bacon into rough squares and fry in a pan until it’s all uniformly crispy. Remove from pan and set on a paper towel to drain and cool. Melt butter in a large pot and add garlic, let garlic cook until it starts to turn just a little brown.
Add cooked potatoes to large pot, then pour in heavy cream. Gently mix it through, trying not to mash the potatoes but keep them in whole pieces. Add the bacon, thyme, salt, and pepper to taste. Let potatoes finish cooking in the cream, until a fork can slide through easily (about 20 minutes).
Remove from heat and serve warm.
This Thanksgiving we will be spending it with friends again and then having our Christmas in Rhode Island with my family. It still feels a bit strange to not be back home for my favorite holiday, but I am excited to begin new traditions as a married couple.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Our Honeymoon: Normandie
Posted: November 21, 2014 Filed under: Travel | Tags: Bayeux, France, honeymoon, Marriage, Normandie, travel Leave a commentAfter enjoying Monet’s Garden in Giverny we continued our drive into Basse-Normandie. This was one of the busiest days on our honeymoon as we had several sites to hit before the day’s end.
We temporarily returned to American soil at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial.
At the cemetery there is a small chapel with a mosaic tile ceiling.
From the cemetery, we drove to Pointe du Hoc which lies between Utah and Omaha beaches. Here I am looking out over the cliffs to the English Channel.
The site is filled with bomb craters and ruins of German gun emplacements that were destroyed 70 years ago.
After visiting the World World II historical sights, we arrived at the city of Bayeux, and explored the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux and the surrounding area.
The light was coming through the stained glass just right to project dazzling colors on the interior walls.
The crypt in the center of the cathedral dates back to the 11th century.
In a nearby museum is the Tapisserie de Bayeux. Commissioned at the same time as the cathedral’s construction, it tells the story of how William the Conqueror won the throne of England. We were not able to take pictures of the actual embroidered cloth, but there were reproductions in the gift shop.
The cemetery and the tapestry were two sites I was able to visit ten years ago when I traveled to France on a school trip. It was wonderful not only to relive those memories, but to also have a deeper appreciation of their significance as an adult. James and I look forward to taking our future children to these locations someday, and share in those experiences with them as well.
Italian Wedding Soup
Posted: November 18, 2014 Filed under: Culinary, Main Course | Tags: broth, chicken soup, comfort food, dinner, dinner ideas, easy dinner, escarole, food, Italian wedding, Italian wedding soup, meatball soup, meatballs, orzo, recipe, soup, wedding soup Leave a commentHaving just had a wedding, and having married an Italian, I thought it would be fitting to make Italian wedding soup for the first time. Italian wedding soup apparently has nothing to do with Italian weddings; it was mistranslated from the Italian ‘minestra maritata’ which means ‘married soup,’ because the ingredients all go so well together. I couldn’t agree more, and it has instantly become a favorite that I plan to make over and over again.
James grew up having this soup made by his grandmother, and always called it ‘scarola soup’ in reference to the leafy green typically used, escarole. Many recipes note that you can substitute escarole with other greens, but I wanted to make sure to include it in my attempt to replicate the soup James remembered.
For the broth:
2 quarts of chicken broth
2 sprigs dry thyme
1 small bay leaf
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 large bunch of escarole (about 3 cups chopped)
1/4 cup orzo (optional)
2 eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
For the meatballs:
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, finely minced
3/4 cup Italian parsley
1/2 white onion
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
Finely chop the onion, garlic, parsley, and oregano. I like to use a small food processor to get the ingredients really finely chopped so that you don’t have any large pieces in the meatballs. Add chopped ingredients to a bowl with ground meats, salt, pepper, cheese, egg, and breadcrumbs. Mix gently with your hands, incorporating well but not overworking the meat. Roll into small bite sized meatballs, set aside. Note: if you find you have too many meatballs you can freeze some and use for later.
In a large soup pot heat up the olive oil and add the garlic and onion, sauté until translucent and tender. Add the chicken stock, thyme, and bay leaf to the pot. Let the broth come to a boil and gently add the meatballs. Let the meatballs cook for about 10 minutes, they will begin to float when cooked through. If you would like to add orzo you can add it at this time. Once meatballs are mostly done add the chopped escarole and let simmer until it has wilted down.
Whisk the two eggs and cheese in a small bowl and slowly pour into the hot soup, whisking constantly to form ribbons. Serve in a large bowl, because you’ll want a lot of it, and feel it warm up your insides with deliciousness.
Our Honeymoon: Giverny
Posted: November 11, 2014 Filed under: Travel | Tags: France, Giverny, honeymoon, honeymoon in France, Monet's Garden, travel Leave a commentAfter touring Versailles we drove from Île-de-France to Giverny in the Haute-Normandie region. This quaint little town is the home of Claude Monet’s Garden, which was my personal favorite tourist attraction from our twelve days in France. We spent an evening walking around exploring, and then toured the famous garden the next morning. Every single area of the enormous garden was filled with lush flowers and greenery, creating an ethereal atmosphere unique from anything we had ever experienced.
Ever since James was a small boy he always wanted to visit Monet’s Garden and stand on the Japanese Bridge. It was pretty crowded, even in the early morning, but we were able to get a few photos.
The water lilies were beautiful in the early morning light.
A few months back, I bought this purse and James commented that it was very similar to the wallpaper in his grandmother’s bathroom. It was the perfect accessory for the gardens.
We toured the house, but photos were not allowed inside. In the gift shop however, there were models of each of the rooms. Pictured above is the kitchen. We purchased a replica of one of the kitchen tiles to use for a coaster as a souvenir.
Giverny is such a quiet romantic town. We took a walk down Rue Claude Monet admiring the scenery.
Paris is often hailed as the city of love, but to us Giverny absolutely trumped Paris on that notion. The charming houses, gardens, pathways and surrounding farmland made for a lovely and romantic day.
Flower Pressing
Posted: November 7, 2014 Filed under: Creative, Home Decor | Tags: bouquet, boutonniere, bridal, Flower Pressing, flowers, honeymoon, Monet's Garden, pressed boutonniere, pressed flowers, pressed wedding flowers, Wedding, wedding bouquet, wedding flowers Leave a commentJames and I flew out to France the day after our wedding, which meant we had no time to ship anything to ourselves from the wedding details and had to leave everything behind, including my flower bouquet. I left the bouquet in water with my parents so that they could enjoy the pretty flowers and their scent, but I did take a few little flowers from it before we departed. I placed the flowers I took from my bouquet and James’ boutonniere flower in some books so that they could press safely in our suitcase during our honeymoon. I also found a couple of loose flowers in Monet’s Garden during our travels that I decided to press as well. When we returned from our honeymoon I gently took out all of the flowers and decided to frame them all together as a sweet keepsake of our wedding day and honeymoon.
I used a blush piece of paper to lay the flowers out flat, and then carefully positioned them in a small frame that we found at a dollar store.
I wasn’t able to keep my entire bouquet, but am thrilled with this little project to commemorate our special day in a subtle and unique way in our home.
Our Honeymoon: Versailles
Posted: November 3, 2014 Filed under: Travel | Tags: bibliothèque de Madame Victoire, Bosquet de la Colonnade, Bosquet de la Salle de Bal, couple, France, Galerie des Batailles, Galerie des Glaces, Grand cabinet de Madame Adélaïde, grand canal, Hall of mirrors, honeymoon, honeymoon in France, King Louis-Philippe I, La Chapelle Royale, La Flotille, Marie Antoinette, Napoleon, romantic, Salon d'Hercule, Salon des Nobles, tourism, travel, treaty of Versailles, trip to France, Versailles, Wedding Leave a commentAfter our two days at Disneyland Paris it was time to begin our planned tour of northern France. We rented a car at Gare de Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy at Disneyland and made our way to our next destination outside of Paris: Versailles. The palace was more lavish and grand then we could have ever expected. Walking through each room and hallway was more than just breathtaking, it was surreal.
There’s certainly no shortage of gold at the palace. So much of the moulding and ornamentation is gilded, such as this representation of the sun god, Apollo.
La Chapelle Royale is spectacular. We were not able to enter, so we had to settle for this view through the doorway.
Some parts of the palace have not been recently restored, and the weathering of the chapel’s exterior roof adds a wonderful bit of character.
There is a series of models showing the evolution of the palace over four building campaigns. We always love looking at models, especially ones as detailed as this.
The Salon d’Hercule is filled with interesting textures including a very grand trompe-l’œil ceiling.
These beautiful chairs are on display in the Grand cabinet de Madame Adélaïde.
The bibliothèque de Madame Victoire is one of our favorite rooms in the palace. It was one of the few rooms with books, and the only one with this many. It also has a certain intimacy that differentiates it from all the other rooms.
Here is James climbing one of the King’s private staircases.
The Galerie des Glaces is probably the most famous room in the château. James could hardly believe that he was walking through the room where the Treaty of Versailles was signed.
Here is a reconstruction of Marie Antoinette’s bed hangings. The bed chamber has been beautifully restored and feels like something out of an opera.
The Salon des Nobles is not so outlandish by comparison. I love the combination of the green wallpaper with the dark wood furniture and gilded trim.
Another one of our favorite rooms is the Galerie des Batailles. The room is filled with large paintings depicting French military victories. The color of the ceiling paint is wonderfully subtle, and the light filters in so softly through the skylights.
The gallery was commissioned by King Louis-Philippe I, and his initials can be seen around the oculus.
Once we ended the tour of the interiors of the palace we walked out to explore the gardens, but first we ate lunch at a restaurant right off of the Grand Canal called La Flotille.
The gardens are quite a sight and they cover well over one thousand acres. We were short on time and could not fully explore them, but we did walk through a few sections.
None of the fountains were turned on, so we could not get the full experience here at the Bosquet de la Colonnade.
The entrance to the Bosquet de la Salle de Bal was closed, but we were fascinated by the tiers of sea shells that we could glimpse through the gate. We would have loved to have seen the water cascading over the shells.
There is so much more that we would like to see at Versailles, such as the Hameau de la Reine and Grand Trianon. We certainly plan on returning to France again at some point in our lives, and Versailles and its gardens prove they are definitely worth another trip some day.