My Hero & My Hunky Hubby

Saturday was a whirlwind of a day. I had the tough job of going to a fantastic chocolate tour to celebrate my friend Lisa's birthday. I know, boo hoo for me. Then we headed to this great bar for more celebration festivities. What could possibly tear us away from celebrating the birth of one of my favorite people I've met since moving to Seattle, a perfectly good party w/ hilarious & entertaining people, yummy bar food and a light beer buzz?

Answer: The Pioneer Woman.

I'm not going to go into detail. If you want to know about her, I suggest you visit her website. Millions of people already have. Her pizza has changed my life. And don't start reading her love story unless you want to get hooked. She's a great writer, seriously.

Back to Saturday, we left the bar half an hour before the book signing started thinking I wouldn't be too late.

We get there right as the signing starts.

Pandemonium.

There are TONS of people. There appears to be a line but lots of other people (read: women) standing around w/ books in their hands. I mill around and catch a glimpse over a bookcase.

It's Ree! And her daughter too. Her daughter is TALL. Like, Amazonian tall. She walked past me and I caught the eye of another starstruck PW groupie and whispered loudly, "Was that her daughter?!?"

By the time I realized I had to go to the cashier and get a ticket to get in the queue, I was holding a ticket w/ the letter "I". Group I. Ok, that can't be that bad - only eight groups ahead of me. Right?

How much longer until I was handing her my book? Posing for a picture w/ the fantabulous Ree Drummond?

At hour 2, Gabe's patience was wearing thin.

This is Gabe putting his foot down. Just you wait, honey. Your patience will be worn to the brink of lunacy. That's saying a lot for Gabe.

I wouldn't leave this chair. Having a chair at this crowded bookstore was like having some sort of beachfront real estate in Hawaii or something. My butt didn't leave the plush leather chair for anything.

Half an hour later..the meltdown begins.

Oh, the drama.

Gabe's foot down, for the 2nd and final time. Notice the pointing. All for dramatic effect. This is some time during group E. Group E was filled w/ a bunch of aholes. They took nearly an hour.

Arms swinging impatiently. I swear, sometimes I think I married a child.

The signing started at 5 p.m., mind you.

Ooh! There's PW's Amazonian daughter. Rockin' the side ponytail. I even ran into here when I got there and told her, "Wow - you're so much taller than I thought you'd be!" She smiled and walked by. I felt like a maroon.

This photo? It's my knee. This is what hours of waiting and trying to calm your impatient hubby down drives you to do.

And this.

Hour 4.5. Evil Gabe rears his (ugly) handsome head. No worries honey, they're on group "H" already.

I've gotta say, my patience was wearing a little thin too. Gabe was knocking over books, talking in a super loud voice and doing generally annoying things. I stood in line thinking to myself, had I known I would've been waiting for 5 hours to get PW to sign my book, I wasn't too sure I would've done it..

Then finally, we met. I made some stupid comment about how I couldn't believe her hand was still attached to her body after 5 hours of signing. Then she replied that she was fine and that she only had an indentation in her thumb. Hahaha. You're funny PW.

I made a comment about how Gabe was cranky and she took our picture - just like the couple ahead of us. Bye Ree, you're my hero and I love you. And Ina. I love you and Ina equally. But Ina doesn't go on book tours.

I left and felt TOTALLY redeemed. Gabe was muttering something about how he had to get home and take the dogs out and how I had to wake up early to volunteer the next morning. No matter. I was in a blissful post-PW haze.

Then it was Gabe's turn for redemption. PW posted our picture on her post in a very apropos post. Thanks hon, for being so patient - I love you more than you'll ever know. And judging from most of the comments - most people agree, my hunky hubby sure can melt butter.

Tien: if this blog post is any indication of how crazy GLD's signing will be, we'll have to get there earlier. :D

Sesame Ginger Steak Salad w/ Ginger Dressing

This blog is making me fat. Did you see the past 3 posts? I have way to any baked goods in this house. Dessert and treat blogs are more fun but now it's time for some sensible food.

This steak is so yum.


Sesame Ginger Steak

this was enough to marinate a flank steak a little over 1 lb.

2 tbsp. sesame oil
2 clove garlic, grated
1" garlic, grated
1/4 c. low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

I like to peel and freeze my ginger so it's super easy to grate on a microplane (Rachael Ray tip, love). If yours isn't frozen, no worries. Just grate about 1 tbsp. of ginger, grate garlic and mix the rest of the ingredients together. Pour over steak in a ziplock bag and refrigerate for at least 3 hours - overnight is better.

Preheat a cast iron skillet on high heat. Take the steak out of the marinade and discard the bag. When the skillet is smoking, put the steak on. My steak was about 3/4" thick. Cook for about 4 minutes on first side and about 3 minute on the other for a medium rare steak. After cooking, let the steak rest for 7-10 minutes before slicing. Slice and serve on top of your favorite salad greens and ginger dressing (recipe follows), sprinkle w/ sesame seeds. I imagine it would be fantastic as lettuce wrap fodder as well.

Ginger Dressing

makes 2-3 servings

1/4 c. low sodium soy sauce
1" ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, grated
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tbsp. sesame oil
2 tbsp. honey (or agave nectar)
2 tbsp. lemon juice (or rice wine vinegar)
2 tbsp. canola oil (any light flavorless oil works)
1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
dash white pepper, optional

Mix everything together and serve over the steak and your favorite salad mix. This dressing is great on chicken or shrimp too. This is a total guideline, make sure you taste the dressing before you dress the salad - add whatever you like if it's not quite to your liking. Enjoy!

Pain au Chocolat

One of my favorite results from starting my blog is seeing exactly how many other people are out there doing the exact same thing. I see all these bloggers that have been doing this for years and years and you can certainly see it reflected in their blogs. Now, I'm not going to get all self-deprecating and harp on how my blog compares, etc. I recognize I'm new at this and it can only get better w/ time, right? (Right, honey? How about that new fancy camera?)

This post is directly from one of my favorite vegetarian blogs - she's local too. I feel like I could run into her somewhere on the street (and no, I probably wouldn't have the nerve to introduce myself). It would be like spotting a reality star while you were out running errands..Snooki at Target buying hairspray or something. Not that I would peg her to have anything in common w/ Snooki. Is that weird? Don't answer that.

Anyways, every time Gabe recalls this trip he took as a child to France (here he is celebrating his 3rd bday one his first trip there - is he picking his nose?), he's forever telling me about how much he loved these pain au chocolat. Gabe's lucky enough to have some family from France and he had the opportunity to visit them for a summer and eat tons of real French bread and pains au chocolat. I never repeat that in person, by the way. I always say 'chocolate croissant' because, well: 1) I'm not French, 2) I don't live in France, 3) I don't speak French, and 4) I've never visited France. I took Spanish in high school. Thanks, Mrs. Gavilanes.

Another awesome thing blogging has forced me to do is branch out and cook things I probably wouldn't have tried to make without explicit instruction. Not because I was lazy (or maybe so, there will have to be a pretty good reason to ever spend my day making one of these again) but because I don't want to mess things up and throw away all that food. I'm cheap. And having a blog recipe w/ step-by-step instructions (something this blogger is famous for) takes some of the mystery and unknown out of the equation. Worse comes to worst, I can always ask somewhere out there in the blogging community and I'm sure I'll get some help.

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Best thing to do is get everything ready then take start working w/ the puff pastry. Get the chocolate cut up, sugar in a bowl, egg beaten w/ a splash of water. Have a baking sheet w/ parchment paper or silicone mat standing by too.

Then bust out the puff pastry - found in frozen foods section at the grocery store. Make sure the puff pastry is 'defrosted' overnight in the fridge. This isn't something you can cheat, you have to defrost overnight in the fridge. Flour work surface lightly and roll out to about 1/8".
Use the creases where the folds were and cut into 3 equal sections. Then cut each piece in half, then half again. Then brush each piece with egg wash.

Place chocolate on one end of the puff pastry. You can use your favorite chocolate. This batch is made w/ some Dark Midnight Espresso Theobroma chocolate my mother-in-law always gets us from her (and Gabe's) hometown of Sitka, AK. Love.

You can use chocolate chips if you want. Another variation is using fruit preserves. I've done fresh blueberries and sprinkled sugar on them too.

You may have to play w/ the position of the chocolate. You ideally want to end up with the seam side on the bottom.

Like this.

Brush w/ egg wash again and sprinkle w/ Sugar in the Raw (which, I didn't know is also know as turbinado sugar). Just any coarse sugar.

Aren't these little things cute? You can make both sheets if you're bringing someplace special.

Bakey bakey.

And 15 minutes later? These gorgeous little nuggets of joy (to quote Carrie).

So adorable. Enjoy!

Pain au Chocolat (Chocolate Croissants)

makes 12 mini croissants

Found on this post.

Make sure to thaw out the puff pastry overnight in the fridge.

1 sheet puff pastry

8 oz. dark chocolate

1 egg

2 tbsp. turbinado sugar (Sugar in the Raw)

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Get all ingredients ready. Beat egg with 1 tbsp water, have a pastry brush handy. Cut your chocolate into 2" by about 1/2" pieces. Oh, get the sugar in a bowl ready for sprinkling too. You want to work quickly with the puff pastry so it stays cold.

Unfold and roll out one sheet of pastry and sprinkle w/ flour. I rolled out a little thinner than how they come in the packaging - maybe a little thinner than 1/8"? Cut into 12 equal squares, they'll be a little rectangular. I just use the creases as guides. Cut there first, then cut each of the remaining 3 pcs in half, then half again. Brush with egg wash. Lay the chocolate on one end of the pastry and loosely roll. It's best if the seam ends up on the bottom. Place on baking sheet and brush with more egg wash. Sprinkle w/ sugar. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Almond Blueberry Lavender Lemon Biscotti

Back in the day (almost a decade, yikes) I worked as a barista for Starbucks. I can still vividly remember the 4:15a alarm clock trying desperately to keep me on time to punch in at 5a. Carrie, my roommate and later bridesmaid slept through the alarm, luckily. That or she was too polite to let on it woke and annoyed her.

I'd get ready and drive to work (half asleep Asian woman driver, very dangerous), it was only about 7 minutes away, I timed it. Those busy mornings (brace yourself, this is cheesy) were some of the best times of my life. No mortgage, no responsibilities, nothing.

Here's a picture of Tien and me at our store. Geez Tien, go wash your apron. Haha, she hates me.

Biscotti always remind me of that time. We had these big glass jars full of vanilla almond and chocolate hazelnut biscotti. After I found a great biscotti recipe I changed it a little to use ingredients I had in my pantry and the result?

Almond Blueberry Lavender Lemon Biscotti.

They're awesome, the lavender and lemon combo really work well together. Seriously though, someone please find a shorter name for these.

Ready? Let's roll.

Start w/ my favorite ingredient: butter. One stick (i.e., 1/4 lb. or 1/2 c. - I think I finally have it now) at room temperature.

I used my stand mixer but you can use a hand mixer or just do it by hand and skip the gym that day. Cream the mixture w/ 3/4 c. of sugar. The only reason I deviated from the full cup in the original recipe was simply b/c that's all we had left. It's embarrassing to admit you went through the whole 10 lb. bag of sugar you got from Costco.

Forget I just said that. Moving on, lemon zest.
Zest of one lemon. Smells like summer to me. Add to the butter an let it go for a sec.

Scrape down the butter/sugar mixture.
Look at all that sugar on the side of the bowl. It needs to socialize w/ everyone else.
Eggs. Original recipe calls for two eggs. You can probably get by w/ just two eggs in this recipe too. It just wasn't written clearly that the last egg white is only for the egg wash. So I just dumped an extra egg in, what the heck. I get eggs from Costco too.
Add them in one at a time and scrape down again (w/ your personalized spatula - ok, promise that's the last time I bring that up).
Then add your flour. 2 c. of the fluffy white stuff.
1 tsp. of each of these characters. You can use almond extract too. I thought of that too late.
Then you get this pretty wet dough.
2/3 c. raw almonds.
1/2 c. dried blueberries, all purchased at my favorite place to shop, Costco.
Mmmm. Why don't I use these more?

All the kids in the pool.
Then, my true stroke of genius: lavender. Just a tsp. please, it's very strong.
Fold all the aforementioned things into the dough. Here's also where you can get creative - dried currants, apricots, dates, peanuts, pine nuts, whatever. Try your own nut/fruit combo. Go ahead, I dare you.

See what I mean about being a super wet dough? Flour your hands well or else you'll end up w/ mallet hand.
Form into logs. Give these guys a little room to grow too, they expand while they bake.

Brush w/ egg wash.

Sprinkle w/ coarse sugar, I used raw sugar. You can get that other fancy turbinado sugar. Oh, the pretense.

It sure is pretty.

15-20 minutes later, here you are. A strange looking cookie log.

Then while the logs are still warm (I didn't wait to let them cool) slice these guys up. I guess try first w/ a serrated knife, then if that doesn't work, use a chef's knife.

It didn't make sense to me anyways when I read that other recipe, the almonds are going to be hard to cut through. I need to write Anne Burrell.

Ok, lay flat and bake again. I had to bake mine for about 20-25 minutes to see any golden brown action.

But then they were. And the seas parted and Moses said.. Oh, wait. NM.

While these were still warm I poured myself a cup of tea and had a nice little break to sit back and admire the handy work.
Check out that blueberry!

Almond Blueberry Lavender Lemon Biscotti

adapted from this Anne Burrell recipe

makes about 20 biscotti

1 stick butter, room temp (about 1/2 cup or 1/4 lb.)

3/4 c. sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. lemon zest (about the zest of 1 lemon)

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla extract (almond would work well too)

2 . AP flour

2/3 c. whole almonds

1/2 c. dried blueberries

1 tsp. dried lavender

1 egg white

2 tbsp. Sugar in the Raw

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream butter and sugar until light & fluffy in a stand mixer. Meanwhile, zest lemon and add to the butter mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and put the mixer on low speed. Crack in one egg at a time until combined - scrape down in between egg additions. Add vanilla extract, flour and baking powder until combined. Fold in almonds, blueberries and lavender - make sure to fold in by hand so almonds and blueberries stay whole and in tact.

Divide the dough in half. The dough will be fairly sticky so flour your hands and form into a log. I used a half sheet baking pan and the log ran about 2 inches shy on each side of reaching the edge of the pan. Separate an egg and mix the white w/ about 1 tbsp. water and brush the tops of each log. Sprinkle w/ coarse sugar.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until set and cooked through, it won't be browned but that's ok. And if you really have a problem w/ it, just bake it for 25 minutes. While warm, remove logs to cutting surface and cut logs on the bias at about 3/4" thickness. I had to cut with a chef's knife (instead of the serrated knife the recipe recommended) since my biscotti were crumbling pretty bad when I got to the almonds. Lay flat (either cut side down) and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden.

Remove and place on a cooling rack until completely cooled before storage in an airtight container.