Some shots from the weekend

Leo in a cocoon ~ Carrot/ginger/coconut soup compliments of Chef Tom ~ Jo and Leo working on a nap ~ Sunday brunch at the High Point Cafe ~ Lazy Sunday mornings in bed ~ Sunday dinners with Chase

We had an awesome weekend visiting with baby Leo in NYC and relaxing at home in Philly. On Saturday, we hit the road early and were able to have a full day of fun with the Gilmore's. Not only did Tom make us an awesome breakfast, lunch and dinner, we both took turns holding Little Man Leo, and during a nap,  Jo and I were even able to sneak out for a massage/pedicure!

On Sunday, it was amazing to relax in bed and soak up the soon-to-be Spring sunlight in our bedroom. When our hunger became unbearable, we walked to the end of our  block and had crepes (me: raspberry cream cheese, Chase: apple cheddar!) at this great little cafe attached to our train station. To counteract what we knew would be more laziness back at the apartment, we decided to work off our breakfast and took a brisk walk around Mt. Airy. It was an awesome weekend at home, even though our original plans included a road trip, but sometimes when plans fall through it's not always the worst thing.

Dinner for Two

We were able to celebrate Valentine's Day over the weekend, and we decided to tackle a fancy dinner together. Chasen loves steak, and since we hadn't eaten red meat in many many months, I caved and bought 2 filets.  There was also a Valentine's Day special on lobster tails, so we went ahead and made it a surf and turf night.

All of the recipes used for our dinner can be linked below:
Sweetheart salad
Lobster Tails
Filet Mignon and Cilantro Butter
Butternut Squash side
Molten Mocha Cakes

Chase mainly tackled baking the lobster and grilling the steak, and everything came out lovely.  The dessert was prepped before dinner, but the timing of the steak, lobster and squash ended up perfect.  The beets roasted for the entire time everything else cooked, because beets are never finicky about roasting time or temperature.  Just before everything was served, I carved up the beets with a cheese slicer and used a heart cookie cutter to perfect the Valentine's Day theme. I'm not sure if my husband appreciated it, but I love me a good Valentine's Day party!

                                   steak grilling

                                  sweetheart salad

                                  prepared dinner

                                  table for two

The individual cakes with the esperesso filling were delicious, and Chasen made homeade whipped cream as a topping. There is something about champagne, chocolate and strawberries that can never be wrong following a great meal.

Valentine's Day is Still My Favorite.

As a kid, Valentine's Day was always my favorite Holiday. I'd like to think I've evolved beyond my love for paper hearts, glitter and cupcakes, but this is probably not the case. I love everything about Valentine's Day! The Holiday seems to take the one thing I like about Halloween (candy and sweets) and replace the horribly scary concepts of murder and trickery with expressing love and gratitude for those in our lives we appreciate the most.  Instead of scary costumes, we can wear vibrant pinks, purples and reds-splashed with hearts, of course! What is there not to love about Valentine's Day? Even when I was single (I was single for a LONG time), I used Valentine's Day as an excuse to shower friends and family with festive cards and homemade sweets. I urge those of you who hold great disdain for Valentine's Day, because you consider it a Holiday reserved for couples, to go and make reservations for diner with someone you love.  This could be a grandmother, best friend, cousin, etc. Valentine's Day is happy, and why not celebrate a day that gives us an excuse to love and be happy?

I made 2 different variations of sugar cookie recipes found  here and here.  Using 5 different shaped heart cookie cutters, I divvied up all the dough and baked in shifts. For half of the cookies I made a simple icing that yields bright, shiny colors and an easy to spread consistency. From now on, it will be my "go-to" icing recipe. I beat half the icing with vanilla extract and half with almond extract. For ultimate control when icing, I purchased some inexpensive plastic bottles with skinny tips. The second batch of sugar cookies were prepared to become Linzer cookies with jam and powdered sugar.  I used both raspberry and grape jam for variety.

 I also followed the basic Rice Krispee Treat recipe for marshmallow squares, and made a second batch, leaving out the marshmallow and replacing it with chocolate Ghiradelli chips.

 All of the treats were eventually packaged together in cellophane with ribbon, and shipped out to friends and family.

For the Valentines, I created hearts using a needle with thread and supplies purchased at Paper Source.

Because I only had enough thread to make four cards, I also used simple paper hearts, glitter and festive envelopes to create an extra 10. Just as fun as when I was a kid!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Superbowl Sunday!

Chase had to wake up at 3 AM to get to the hospital on Monday, but we still had a little celebration all our own to watch the Superbowl. It was pretty upsetting that the Patriots lost, but I reminded Chase that 3 out of 5 Superbowl wins isn't bad for good old Tom.

A Weekend of Italian

I took advantage of the last night of Restaurant Week with Chase on Friday, and we tried a little Italian restaurant in Rittenhouse Square called Porcini. There were a ton of reviews of Porcini all over OpenTable and Yelp, so I knew it had to be fairly popular.  The reviews were confusing because people either loved the place and raved about the authentic food, or they wrote how rude the owner and his "chef brother" were. There were 2 or 3 reviews mentioning actual fistfights between the owner and patrons of the restaurant. Many people explained that you should never ever be late for your reservation because the owner would publicly humiliate you in front of the entire restaurant. I was intrigued.

Chase and I showed up at Porcini ten minutes early and found the tiny little dining room with no waiting area to be so crowded that they sent us upstairs to drink our wine (Porcini is a BYOB). Chasen and I joined about 15 other people in the upstairs room and stayed there for 40 minutes until our table was ready.  The toothless Italian owner brought us some glasses and opened our wine while he assured us of our table in broken Italian.  We smiled and thanked him repeatedly. Neither of us were looking for a fight!

When we were finally seated, our table was literally sandwiched between 2 other couples. Again, if the food was as good as rumored, I didn't mind the tight fit.  Four courses were served:

Me

1. shrimp risotto

2. goat cheese and fig salad

3. veal medallions with eggplant and fresh mozzarella

4. tiramisu

Chase

1. grilled sweet Italian sausage over pumpkin polenta

2. Caesar salad

3. pan seared diver scallops

4. tiramisu

The food was amazing. My risotto was so good, I would go back for that alone. The best part of the night was before the dessert was served and Chasen beckoned to me that the table by the door was fighting with the waiter. I turned around, and sure enough the four person party had stood up and walked out of the restaurant while the waiter and one of the men yelled at each other. At one point the owner shoved the patron out of the dining room and towards the front door. I couldn't believe the reviews were true! After the group left, the Italian owner proceeded to rant and yell to his brother about how rude they were and how they complained about having to wait, but could only dish it out and not take it. Chase and I couldn't help but laugh, but we also left a generous tip at the risk of being confronted by the Italian brothers.

On Saturday, I woke up early to get to a pilates class and work off some of the dinner from the previous night. My efforts proved to be defeated by the sweetness of my husband who surprised me with breakfast when I returned. I'm a sucker for cinnamon buns!

In the afternoon, we had to make an impromptu trip to IKEA because our cheap Target bookshelf (purchased only a couple of months ago) shattered when we were out at dinner on Friday. We came home to find snapped shelves and office supplies strewn across the room. While Chase set up the new one, I cooked our second Italian dinner of the weekend. I used a highly rated epicurious recipe found here. It was so easy and SO delicious. I recommend adding some paste to thicken the sauce and doubling the cream and tomato measurements. I also baked some bread in the oven and made a simple balsamic/olive oil dip for the side. 

Chase helping with the garlic

I'm off to watch the Superbowl! Go Patriots!