The Good Girl Gone Blog: Food

My weekend job: Domestic Goddess

Jul 25, 2010

Around the G3B + Zooey apartment, Sundays are always cleaning day. Now that I have a dog, Sunday clean up days are increasingly important. Let me tell you, there is dog hair everywhere. Even though you don't necessarily see it right away, it shows up in the vacuum canister. It's disgusting, but it's not Zooey's fault.

Usually, I pay special attention to the bathroom: I swiffer the floor and disinfect the toilet. I clean out my bathtub. Sometimes, if I'm feeling especially motivated, I'll wipe down the sink.

This Sunday was a little different though. Instead of just cleaning, I went grocery shopping! Not knowing exactly what I was looking for aside from a box of Berger Cookies, I grabbed two sweet potatoes, a package of wonton wrappers and a container of ricotta cheeseand prayed I'd be able to turn it all into ravioli.

And guess what? It kind of worked!

Ingredients:

Wonton wrappers
Sweet Potato
Ricotta
Red pepper flakes
Fresh Rosemary
Olive oil
Freshly grated rosemary asiago cheese

I'd be more specific, but I didn't really follow a recipe. It was good, although not fabulous. My motto? Practice makes perfect!

Baltimore like tourists

Jun 3, 2010

Eric came down from Boston to hang out with me, see Baltimore, and do a little design work on my blog (coming soon). Though we were confined to the apartment for a good amount of time waiting for Comcast to arrive, we did make it out to Fell's Point for some window shopping and a delicious meal.

Eric and I definitely recommend you try Meli- an American bistro in Fell's Point. Meli, which means "honey" in Greek, offers a variety of different dishes, most of which include a delicious touch of honey. They also have amazing drinks, like my "adult" blueberry lemonade.

This weekend included a lot of alcohol, so needless to say, I made Eric do most of the driving.

After our trip to Fell's Point and the long wait for Comcast, we drove back downtown, this time to Canton, where we had THE BEST DINNER EVER. You should definitely check out Blue Hill Tavern the next time you're in town. Their food is both beautiful and delicious, service is quick and the drinks are amazing!

Eric has vowed to come back at least once a year...not because he wants to visit me, but because he wants to have Blue Hill Tavern's silken pie. It was just that good.

Aunt Sonya's Lemon Squares

May 4, 2010

If there's one thing that the women in my family are good at, it's baking. Sure, my Bubby wasn't the best baker, but her sister, Sonya, definitely was. Aunt Sonya's baking talents definitely went to my mother and I like to think that my mother's skills have been passed down to me. Unfortunately, I sometimes like to ignore the fact that baking, unlike cooking, is a science and therefore requires precise measurement. This often gets me in trouble.

As I told you before, my mom and I baked a batch of lemon squares last Thursday evening. (I wore that really stylish apron, remember?) What I didn't tell you is that we actually made two batches, but only ended up eating one. The problem with the first batch? Someone (not to name names or anything) forgot to put the sugar in the lemon topping. As I said before, baking is a science, so leaving out two cups of sugar did not bode well for our lemon squares.

Fortunately, the second batch turned out great! My mom thinks our bottle of lemon juice must have been a old, because the lemon squares were lacking a bit of a kick. Still, they ended up tasting really yummy, just not super lemony. We'll have to buy another bottle or use the real stuff next time!

These treats are especially tasty in the summertime and are a real crowd pleaser. I definitely recommend trying them out- Aunt Sonya's recipes are the best. I can only imagine how much fun we would have had baking together!

Aunt Sonya's Lemon Squares

Makes 3 dozen squares

Ingredients:

2 c. flour
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. butter-melted (we used margarine to make the recipe pareve)
4 eggs- beaten
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. flour
4 tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:

For crust:

Preheat oven to 350°
Combine flour, powdered sugar and butter- mix until crumbly.
Pat onto bottom of 13x9 inch ungreased pan
Bake for 17 minutes

For filling:

Combine remaining ingredients
Pour over baked crust
Return to oven and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or longer until filling is set
Cool and cut
Sprinkle with powdered sugar

Joey and Janice's day of fun!

Apr 12, 2010

(Title stolen from Friends. If you get it, Thibault and I are both very proud.)

You know those annoying couples who hold hands all the time? The boy can't stop kissing the girl's forehead and the girl continues to snuggle in the boys arms when she's cold? You know, the couple who is completely oblivious to everyone else? Well, I must admit, I was one half of that couple yesterday.

You see, Thibault is leaving for Switzerland on Tuesday. I don't know when, if ever, I'll be seeing him again. So, we've tried to fit in as much fun this weekend as possible.

We started the day off taking some photos in the park and making our way over to the lake to rent a paddle boat for an hour. I've never been on a paddle boat, so it was an amazing experience...especially because Thibault took over the pedaling half way through.

We then had a delicious pizza/calzone lunch at an Italian bistro (which I thought was French...I'm not very cultured, apparently). And then we took a long nap and tried to get tickets to Les Miserables...and ended up seeing a different show. In Thibault's words- "We went to a gay show." Yes, yes, there were some homosexual characters, and we did see a man's butt, so I guess it was kind of gay, but definitely good.

I started crying during intermission, which only made Thibault cry. We then burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation- we were crying during a comedy.

After organizing and editing photos, Thibault and I realized that our eyes are the same color. Pretty awesome, no?

Anyway, I'm off to enjoy our last 36 hours together. There will definitely be a lot of tears, but right now we're going to watch Arrested Development.

To check out the rest of the photos, click here and here.

Welcome to Watchland part 3: small town glory

Apr 2, 2010

Here are the last of my Switzerland photos. They're all taken around Thibaut's home in Neuchatel. The weather managed to remain yucky in all of these photos, and by the end of the day I was so frustrated about taking photos/schlepping my big camera that I made Thibault take over. So basically, most of these photos are his.

On another note, Thibault has to go back to Switzerland in just two weeks and won't be returning to London until after I'm already back home in Baltimore. I looked into changing my flight so I could stay in London for a few more days, but it's going to cost more than 1/3 of the flight's original price. It just didn't seem worth it. Whether I stay the extra few days or leave on time, the goodbye will still be difficult. So, I guess we're just going to have to make the most of the next two weeks!

Thibault's lake

A really old church. I was trying to do the whole "I know everything about architecture because I'm taking one silly class" thing and guess when it was built. I was off by around 4oo years.

How NOT to pose in an umbrella photo.

The CORRECT umbrella pose.

Tea break!

The lake was very violent due to the bad weather.

This is my favorite photo.

I snapped this photo out the car window on the way to the airport, and then proceeded to fall asleep for an hour

Welcome to Watchland part 2: Sea Bugs

Mar 30, 2010

Yesterday, I showed you a few photos from my first day in Switzerland. Here are the rest of my favorite Geneva shots:

The photo above is a real-live clock made out of flowers.

How pretty are these mountains?

Note the abundance of watch ads- they're all over Switzerland!

After walking around for a bit in the rain, we ducked into a cute restaurant overlooking the lake. We had a really yummy pizza lunch. Of course, I couldn't understand practically anything on the menu as I know about 10 words in French, so Thibault had to explain the pizza toppings. At one point, he was trying to explain an item on the menu and asked me if I liked "sea fruit."

When I looked at him quizzically, he responded by saying:

"Oh wait, that's not it. Sea bugs! Do you like sea bugs?"

Because I don't like sea creatures or bugs, it was safe to say that particular pizza wasn't for me. (I got mushrooms.) We later discovered the word he was looking for was "seafood."

Check out my amazing napkin folding skills!

Note the blue sky on the left of the fountain and the clouds to the right.

Neuchatel photos coming soon!

Pink spandex and sparkles

Mar 15, 2010

Armed with a cute outfit, a sweet boy and Mr. Pointy (aka my camera), I entered the roller disco ready for anything. As I've described to my kitchen mates, going to the roller disco was sort of like attending an 8 year old birthday party...with alcohol.

The music was energetic and fun (Donna, you would have loved it), proving that my listening to the 13 going on 30 soundtrack pre-disco was a good idea. They played a mix of 70s and 80s favorites perfect for singing along while skating.

Seeing everyone's creative costumes was probably the best part- I loved that boys weren't afraid to wear short-shorts over tights (gasp!) and that many girls wore colorful tutus. It was like an American Apparel explosion. I started to recognize my cheap pink tights from Primark on many other skaters, both male and female.

Though many people got pretty drunk, I remained conservative and had one beer. Seriously, I was already scared enough about being on wheels. I will admit, it got a little sloppy when I spilled half of my beer on myself, not due to drunkenness, but due to wrist guard induced bottle gripping impairment. Hard plastic = not helpful.

Mom, the above photo was taken for you. These wrist guards were worn the entire night.

Yes, that is my scarf he stole borrowed

Would I do it again? Probably not, but it's definitely something you should do once. It's safe to say I was enticed to leave at just 10:30 by my favorite chocolate ice cream . This girl cannot refuse Sommerfield's chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup and chocolate shavings. Seriously, all that goodness is prepackaged and soooo wonderful!

Vintage Stella

Mar 3, 2010

First of all, I'd just like to say that I've been enjoying a diet of soup, yogurt, muffins, rice and cheesecake for the past few days due to the fact that I'm having dental issues. Literally, it hurts to open my mouth very wide. I had to use a fork to eat my muffin in tiny bites, which is a lot harder than it sounds.

Right now, all I want to eat is a nice pizza bagel, but my teeth/jaw won't allow it. Here's to hoping my British dentist (who has the nicest office ever!) can fix whatever is causing the pain.

But enough about me.

I came across an awesome vintage Stella Artois poster while waiting for the Tube on a trip with my architecture class. (I can't find the actual one I saw. Fail) I think these posters are just fabulous. In terms of "man drinks" I'm more partial to grabbing a pint of cider, but these adds make Stella look glamorous and feminine.

1 and 2 via, 3 via

Some Vday Cheer

Feb 12, 2010

Hi everyone, thanks for bearing with me and my extended absence. I've been working my little tush off writing papers and um, eating cookies and watching How I Met your Mother. Needless to say, I've truly missed writing for you. I have tons of photos to edit and quite a few good stories to share, but for today, I thought I'd just wish you all a happy Valentine's Day.

A few days ago, I received an adorable Vday package from my mom containing photographs of my brothers, puppy and parents, as well as some yummy candy and cute little cards I can give to my friends. Oh, and an article on Jennifer Garner, one of my favorite actresses. (If you ever see my gchat icon and get confused by the red hair, know that it's not me, but rather J.G. as Sydney Bristow.)

Strangely, my mom forgot to include pictures of my sisters (oops), so I think I might just have to draw some stick figure representations and put them up on my bulletin board. Don't worry Soph, I'll make sure your hair looks really pretty, and maybe I'll even draw a picture of Daniel ;).

Here are a few random shots of my friend Joe snacking on some Vday peeps he received from his mom. I thought they were particularly funny and somewhat fitting, although I'm sure Joe will be embarrassed to see himself on the Internet. Whatever, he's great.

What a star, what a star.

Whoa, black betty, bam-a-lam.

Feb 10, 2010

I know, I said no blog posts this week, but when I put out a plea on twitter for guest posts, I got an overwhelming number of responses! The first post is from Katie @ An Old Fashioned Girl. Wow, this girl is fast- she got this post to me within just a few hours of the request. I love the Internet!

(Just 2 papers to write, 1 paper to edit and 2 tests to take and then I'm off to Spain!)

Interested in becoming my new best friend/have some extra free time? Consider submitting a guest post to me by next Tuesday. Send submissions to alanadanielle88@gmail.com.

Wine in a box reminds me of my mother: just like her, it’s usually inappropriate. I couldn’t even bring myself to buy it in college, I’ll take the giant jug of blush wine by Carlo Rossi, thank you very much! I’m not exactly a wine snob by any means, I just prefer my grapes to come in glass, not cardboard.

A few weeks ago after a long night of work, I was looking forward to a nice glass of Yellow Tail Cabernet/Shiraz before bed. I was less than pleased to find out that Brian (my husband) polished it off while consuming a frozen slice of pizza and watching college basketball.

A couple days later, Brian texted on his way home from work that he had a treat for me. Imagine my disappointment when he came in with a box of wine (I was hoping for a chocolate frosted donut). Out of a paper bag he pulled a six pack of Bud Light Pounders and a Black Box of Cabernet.

“This is it,” I thought… “I’m at the peak of my late 20’s and somehow I skipped ahead to 52.” Just give me a leopard print top and some pink lipstick and call it a day.

I settled the box on the edge of the countertop, opened the spout, and poured myself a stemless wine glass of Black Box Cabernet. Much to my surprise, it was absolutely delicious! Rich with flavor, a bit on the spicy side, the wine spills across your tongue like cream into coffee. We’ve been keeping it in the kitchen ever since. One box is equal to FOUR bottles of wine. And the best part? It costs about $25! Now we never run out of cab.

Black Box comes in Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling. The grapes themselves come from around the world to produce what Black Box calls a “high-end box wine.”

You can find Black Box at your local adult beverage provider, or check out the where to buy page. Because even if you think you’ll never be like your mother, you always will.