rugged men with shiny cars

I have a weakness. This photo says it all. Just to look, of course. :)

ok so i eat a lot. what.

Today a friend and I went in search of soup and salad for lunch. It's a blustery day here in Seattle and that just sounded good. Cruising down 4th Avenue, we saw a sign swinging in the gusty rain:

We both got bowls of the soup du jour: French Onion (bien sur). They brought it to us in those heavy indestructable white ceramic bowls I remember from my time in Paris, and served the bread on the side rather than toasted and crusted under the gruyere in the bowl where it would get soggy (much appreciated by me).

It was the best damn French onion soup I've tasted. Ever. Run, don't walk, to get yourself a bowl.

That is all.

apple crisp

Yesterday one of the designers, out of the goodness of her heart, made up little gluten-free crackers topped with cream cheese, lox, and capers for me for an afternoon snack. I love food, and I love gifts, and it totally made my day.

So this morning at 7am I decided to make a little apple crisp to bring to the office and share, giving my snack buddy the first crack at it. The prep time was literally 5 minutes (I looked at the clock when I put it in the oven: 7:05am) so this is something even a super busy morning can handle. If you have 5 min to prepare it and another 1 min to remove it from the oven when it's done baking, all you really have to worry about it getting your timing right.

I made it with real flour so I wasn't able to test-taste it, but it got rave reviews so I feel pretty good about it. One of my colleagues asked for the recipe, but this is one I just eyeball so I made some guesses on the ratios for official purposes --even though I often use measurements like "pinch" and "dash" I don't write them into recipes because I know that stresses some folks out-- and since I had it all written down in an email, I thought I'd post it here as well for those of you who are looking for recipes that require little effort and yield delicious returns.

Apple Crisp:

Slice apples thinly (this helps cut down on baking time). I use granny smith; if you use other apples, toss the apples in fresh-squeezed lemon juice (1/2 lemon per apple)

Spread apples in your baking pan, making sure each slice has been separated from one another so they cook better. Leave ½ inch of room at the top

Topping (these are just the ratios – you may want to adjust the amount depending on your taste):

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp – or more if you like – apple pie spice (a combination of nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice)

Stir dry ingredients together

Cut in with a pastry cutter 1 stick butter until pieces of butter are about pea-sized.

Spread mixture over the apples and shake it down into the apples a little.

Bake at 350 for 30 min to an hour depending on how big of a pan you made. My little 6x8 pan that holds two large granny smith apples, sliced, only needed 30 min.

Another variation: Andrew likes it when I nestle little cubes if Kraft (not the inferior Brach’s) caramel within the apples.

cheers to a great costume this year

This year for Halloween we went to a Mad Men themed birthday party. Everyone dressed in conservative attire from the early 1960s. It was amazing to see what everyone found. Before we headed out, Ani came over to get ready (and her beehive was totally worth the effort). That, my friend, deserves a cocktail!

no will-power

I've been trying to eat better and stay gluten-free. So, of course, today at lunch I needed pizza and nothing else would do. A friend and I raced over to the favorite spot at 4th and Cedar: Bambino's. It was delicious; I knew it would be. But was it worth it? I can't decide.

instead of working...

I made this:

into this:

Ahhhh Seabrook

Over the weekend a group of 17 went back to Seabrook for the first time since the economy tanked. It was my favorite lady's birthday, so how could I say no? We had a great time just lounging about, playing games, eating, drinking, hot-tubbing....

It's hard to describe the experience there, so I pulled two of Abby's pictures from that first morning of our mini-vacation to give you an idea. Yep, it's that good.