the other summer beverage

hello hello. greetings. ahoy-hoy. hola. a million ways to say hi for the million weeks it seems like i've been missing. blame it on a new job. blame it on being busy looking for an apartment (found one!). blame it on a certain co-blogger's wedding. blame it on cain?

but blame it on booze? -gasp- NEVER! i recently started working in a wine/spirits/beer store, and although lacking the perk of a discount, the relatively low prices and insane convenience of grabbing a bottle after work is usually too good to pass up. i've been expanding my beer knowledge (sorry, PBR) and testing some new juice (that's what we call wine sometimes) all before my new early bedtime.

a recent favorite and perfect for summer: Casal Garcia Vinho Verde - a white from portugal, it is just slightly effervescent, the name literally translates to "green wine", referring to it's "youthful freshness" not it's color, although it does have a slightly greenish hue. super light, crisp, refreshing, low alcohol content and pretty damn refreshing at that. and at 5.69, i'm fairly positive you can't really beat it.

let me know, i'll pick you up a bottle!

xo,

Lauren

hubba hubba

june is the time for swimming, jean shorts, weddings (!!) and iced coffee. i'm no wimp about the heat - i actually love it - but after an uphill bike ride to work, i can't really deal with a steaming cup of hot coffee. now some people (crazy people) don't like cold coffee, but for the rest of us, it's heaven. remember when you were a little kid, and thought real coffee was bitter and gross but were really stoked about coffee flavored ice cream? even 7 year old you knew what was up.

i still love the iced coffee at capogiro (my former place of employment) the best. it's just cold brewed la colombe, but for some reason it's superior to any iced coffee i've tried this side of the schuylkill. however, the capo at 40th & walnut street is a little too far away from my office for a quick coffee run, so lately, when i need chilled caffeine, i've been rocking it at hub bub.

hub bub is a beautiful, cherry red coffee truck located on 38th street between spruce and walnut. they serve stumptown coffee, some west coast shit that's sure to get your brain buzzing, which is precisely what i'm after on these humid mornings. their iced coffee is super good: strong brew, deep taste, and pleasing acidity, perfectly tempered with a splash of soy milk.


bonus: a skinny straw!! have you been noticing the trend of cold to-go beverages coming with bulky oversized straws? that really bugs me. a "little" size of this iced coffee is $2.50, pretty standard price in these parts. they also offer a "big" size for $3, but i fear any more than 16 ounces of this stuff might give me heart palpitations. the small size gets me just wired enough to focus my mind and knock out a bunch of emails, copies, and memos all before noontime.

here's to the sunshine and the summertime,
emily

CSA aka Consuming Squash All Summer Long

when i was younger, just a few years past teenager-hood, i often wondered if i could ever get my shit together enough to meet some of the small goals i'd been mentally compiling. you know, all those things that we think and hope will help us along the road to self improvement. it's interesting to look back from time to time and see which of those have come to fruition, and which still reside on the "well, maybe one day" list.

a small sampling:
stop biting my nails - maybe one day.
take yoga classes - check.
learn to drive stick - nope.
bake bread from scratch - yup.
crochet sweaters and blankets - not so much.
have a photography show - check!
become a master gardener - ...no.
start a food blog - double check!!

you see how it goes? and i try not to get down on myself for those goals not yet actualized; i know there is lots and lots of time to learn new skills and try stuff out. one of the goals that i'd been totally slacking on since my time living in philly is subscribing to a CSA. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and it's a way for farmers to get their crops to larger groups of paying customers. People buy "shares" from the farmers, and then receive weekly or bi-monthly boxes of fresh, seasonal produce all throughout the summer and fall! brilliant, right? in cities (or in philadelphia, at least), this often done by drop offs of boxes of produce at farmer's markets. it's such an undeniably awesome program, i can't really say why i've dragged my feet about it over the past few years.

so this year, finally, the VR team signed up for a CSA, through greensgrow farms, a super rad urban garden in kensington (how cute is the banner on their website with the tiny bottles of beer and watermelons?). this past saturday was our first pick up, and it was a thrill! i drove over there around 10, and the farm was bustling! it was a lovely summer morning, and all kinds of adorable people and their children were shopping for produce, flowers, and plants. a cuter scene, i've never seen. i walked away with a big smile, and a bag full of beautiful produce:

just a few items from our first CSA crop!

aren't those radishes gorgeous? my favorite new little snack is bread with a generous layer of earth balance (or butter), thinly sliced radishes and a tiny pinch of salt. very frenchie.
can't wait to see what our CSA shares for the rest of the summer hold in store!

love,
emily

all the small things

even though i certainly enjoy my fair share of chocolate, i'm not a self-indentified "chocolate person." i like it, i occasionally eat it, but i don't need it. i appreciate high quality craftsmanship and beautiful packaging, but i also love a standard chocolate milkshake from a diner. my point is - i am a fan, not an expert.

i was beyond delighted, however, when lauren gave me this chocolate bar after a recent trip to nyc. yeah, sure, it was delicious, but more importantly, it was tiny - the perfect few bites for after lunch. god, i never tire of small things. this small thing is dubbed "the itty bar," by small-batch chocolatiers Askinosie out of springfield, MO. also, in a way that was hard to tell when it was in the wrapper, there were 2 chocolate bars in there! that realization made me so happy.

with thumbtack, for scale

i don't mean to sell short the really fine taste and quality of the chocolate itself, or all the work that went into it. the folks at askinosie seem pretty dang serious about their chocolate - from farm to wrapper - and they want you to be informed too. see: Chocolate University. it was really, really good. honestly, i don't really have the vocabulary in place to wax poetic about the different notes of the chocolate, but i can tell you that i sort of alternated between little bites of chocolate, and little bites of an almond and indeed, it was divine.

unwrapped, with almond

you know what would be super cute? to tape one of these on a birthday present as a bonus mini present!

love,
emily

stocked & stoked

i don't know about ya'll, but to me, it is one of the best feelings there is to have a fully stocked kitchen, ready and waiting for whatever mood strikes. tacos? go for it! soup? we got soup stuff! a sandwich, perhaps?! SANDWICH YOUR FACE OFF!

i suspect it harkens back to some deep, pre-civilzed animal instincts - to hoard, to have, to feed ourselves and others, to feel safe knowing that at least one basic need is met. a first world privilege to be sure, but one whose pleasure i just can't deny.

last night, after way too long, i revved up the old band van and swung over to the shop rite on snyder ave. i love this place! maybe it's in my blood (my mom is a shop rite lifer), but i just have never enjoyed shopping more in a big grocery store. the sales, people - THE SALES! and so for about money as i could've spent buying a new springtime frock, i filled up the cart with edibles.

brought my haul home and unloaded by myself. i know some people hate the ritual of grocery shopping, but i deeply enjoy it. after schlepping all my bags inside, i turned a record up loud, cracked a beer, and put everything away. then, i stepped back, and took a good hard look at what i'd accomplished. ahhh...satisfaction.

what am i going to make for dinner tonight? the sky's the limit...but honestly, i'm kind of just in the mood for a salad. ooh, and maybe some crackers with roasted garlic. and maybe i'll start a batch of no-knead bread dough for tomorrow...

love,

emily

garces - 2 for 2

you may remember our first GLOWING review of chef jose garces' mexican themed restaurant distrito from last summer. we talk about this dining experience a lot in our normal, non-internet lives as the perfect situation one could hope for when requesting special dishes due to dietary restrictions (whether they be voluntary or involuntary, mind you!). my second go round with garces was at the new garces trading co. on 11th and locust and, let's just say the dietary restrictions are a little more lax this go round.

i was acquainted with only the shell of the soon to be bistro, as i attended an open call for new employees back in january. offered a job on the spot, i ended up turning it down as brighter prospects were on the horizon. i promised chef greg (sweetest little chef dude i ever met!) i'd come back and see him when they opened. and let me say, i'm glad i did.

take the "tour" on the website, and you'll see the welcoming open room, lined with a cheese and charcuterie counter, coffee and housemade cookies and pastries, a PLCB wine store (where you purchase a bottle and then BYO to the restaurant) and a lovely little flower shop in the foyer. as well as bottle your own olive oil station and an assortment of housemade jams, jellies and sauces.

we nabbed a table during a busy lunchtime rush but were still graced with good service. a friend of ours working the line sent us a few treats which ended up sending us into the realm of LOTS OF FOOD. however, we happily ate everything knowing that a sunny walk home would calm our bellies. the meal:

the "chef's mix" of olives

baby artichokes with preserved lemon, olive oil and date walnut cake

Kunik - a soft ripened triple cream cow and goat's milk cheese
from Nettle Meadow Farm in New York, with white sangria honey
ordered as an app, eaten for first dessert.
yes, that's right, i said FIRST dessert.

eggplant antipasti with roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes confit
aged balsamic and microgreens
my dining partner had a pretty insane duck salad
opposite me for this course that i neglected to photograph
it was pretty beautifully presented, i must say

funghi pizza with maitakes, royal trumpets, taleggio and black truffles;
this is one of my favorite pizzas i've had in the city since eating cheese.

i have no idea how we ate all this food, although i suppose i requested a small box for the last piece of pizza. after a meal that took over an hour, we relaxed and ordered coffee. i strolled up to check out the coffee bar when i discovered ::gasp:: cute little pastries! so tiny, so delicate, only two or three bites each, how could i say no? a small tart goes superbly hand in hand (fork in mouth?) with a cup of good coffee.

the marjolaine - almond daquoise, chocolate ganache, coffee buttercream

and so we ventured back into the sunshine. wallet a bit lighter, bellies a bit more distended. one hell of a lunch behind us, and no foreseeable need to eat again for the next 24 to 48 hours...

go go romesco

i'm starting to think all dressings, sauces, purees and dang near anything else that will eventually "dress" another food, should have nuts included. we've recently come into a good quantity of almonds (thanks costco!) and raw cashews (thanks even more, tffac!), and using them up has been glorious. i don't know about you guys, but nuts in this house are a major commodity - expensive, nutritious, and sure to enhance everything they touch.

lauren brought home some lovely little new potatoes from the italian market yesterday, the kind that are smaller than eggs and perfect for roasting. even though the weather has been warmer lately (praise be!), we're still a few months away from the sweltering summer when turning the oven on is nothing short of masochistic.

so we cut the cute taters in half, prepped some zucchini, onions and carrots, and tossed the whole mess with olive oil, paprika, s&p. slid the pan into a 350F oven for 20 minutes. it should always be this easy.

but naked veggies (even ones gently roasted to perfection, thank you a-very much) are for especially lazy days, and we were both feeling more motivated last night. after thumbing through a few cookbooks, inspiration struck: romesco sauce! this almond, hazelnut, and/or pine nut-based sauce is thick and robust, and a super classy alternative to ketchup to accompany potatoes. and best of all, it's so easy. don't let the fancy name or european roots of this dude mislead you; it is not one bit harder than making hummus or bean dip. romesco is a cousin of pesto and tapenade in that it wears many food hats: it can be thinned out and tossed with pasta, spread as a sandwich condiment, spooned onto crackers or extra spicy as a dip for vegetables.

or just eat it straight out of the bowl!

if you have the ingredients in your pantry (and i'd bet you do), consider making an extra large batch - some for tonight's dinner, and some to have on hand for the coming week. believe me, it will give you many happy returns when you're standing at the open fridge pondering "what little snacks await me?"

Salsa Romesco

adapted from "The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen" by Donna Klein

~makes about 1.5 cups~

~takes 10 minutes~

ingredients:

1/2 cup nuts - any combo of almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, or pine nuts

2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 small dried chili pepper or 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (or more to taste)

2 medium tomatoes, fresh or canned (she says to seed them, but i don't think it's necessary)

1 tsp paprika

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil (extra virgin, or not)

1-1.5 tbsp red vine vinegar (i bet red wine + a squeeze of lemon juice would be good, too)

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (fully optional)

-in the toaster oven (or real oven at 350F, if you must), toast the nuts. take care not to burn them! i used to always burn nuts when i meant to toast them. it sucks. let them cool a bit.

- put the nuts, garlic, chili and salt in a food processor and pulse til ground.

- add everything else and let the processor run until you've got a nice, red, nutty sauce. you might need to scrape down the sides a few times to make sure it's well combined.

- if you have the time, let the romesco cool, so the flavors can meld. or if you don't have time, don't worry!

- added bonus: i'm reasonably sure that a small scoop of romesco sauce atop half a roasted new potato counts as "tapas," and would be an awesome addition to an at-home happy hour!

love,

emily