Date Night Accessory: Pinhole Press Beer Labels

S: After we got back from our epic date night, I told Chris to mosey around in the bedroom for a few while I stuck these personalized beer labels from Pinhole Press on the Summer Love bottles we had bought. Kind of cheeztastic, but also a little rad, right? I recommend using a slightly goofy picture or one from a super great day. Basically the more cheese in the cheeztastic, the better for everyone.

Epic Austin Date: Barley Swine, Henri's, Lick, Rushmore

S: Here's our epic date night, told through Hipstamatic photos.

Me waiting to be impressed at the award-winning Barley Swine.

The pork belly that did it. (Also, the corn soup is made of DREAMS.)

Then wine at the cheese shop Henri's next door to Barley Swine. 

We both had a nice California chardonnay.

And we played some 1980s Trivial Pursuit. (I won big-time.) (Also, it's good to know who Tom Wolfe is, btw. He came up several times.) There is nothing more endearing than an establishment with board games ready to go at every table.

Cheese!

Dessert: ice cream at Lick (a newish all-organic ice cream place in South Austin). I had the coconut, peanut butter, and chocolate swirl.

Finally, we headed to Whip-In (a beer store/Indian restaurant in South Austin) to get some Summer Love, then went home and watched Rushmore. Perfect film to end a perfectly sweet summer night.

Rebecca Wilson Picnicware

S: Gorgeous disposable and completely recyclable picnicware by Rebecca Wilson. A little pricey, but who doesn't want a little fancy in their picnicking time?

Available for purchase here.

(Image via Rebecca Wilson)

Summer Saturday: F & D Bake Sale and Real Ale Anniversary

S: Saturdays in the summer should always be full of pastries followed by copious amounts of day drinking. As such, Chris and I started this past Saturday hitting up Foreign and Domestic's new weekend bake sale. We scored zucchini bread in a can, a giant cinnamon bun with cream cheese frosting, and a ham and Gruyère popover. If the description wasn't enough for you, just look at this:

Our pastry box

Zucchini bread in a can

I've become a little obsessed with the zucchini bread we bought, and I'm hoping to recreate it soon. I found a similar recipe here that's now on my cooking to-do list.

After we were fully sated from F & D, we drove out to Blanco, Texas, around lunchtime to wile away the afternoon at Real Ale Brewing Company's 16th anniversary party. (Blanco is about an hour's ride away, and just about the most perfect day trip from Austin. Head to the tasting room at Real Ale and then drive a few miles to Blanco State Park to swim away the afternoon the next time you have a free day.)

We waited in line for about thirty and were then handed packets of tickets for four beers, a bbq lunch, and a koozie. For free! Love you, Real Ale.

Ticket packet. The anniversary beer (Four Squared) was delicious. 

The warehouse

 

Firemans 4 cans

We ended up back in Austin around seven, STARVING. You would think ingesting all those calories hour after hour would have been enough for us. But no. We showered, threw on some clothes, and headed to Komè, where we shared the awe-inspiring tempura zaru soba special (soba noodles with tempura shrimp, dipping broth, and a quail egg) that basically made me realize that living in Austin is the most perfect and right thing to be doing at this moment in time. Perfect summer day. End scene.

Gruyère, Cremini Mushroom, and Roasted Chicken Lasagna

S: Last night we had a couple of friends over for a little summer dinner party. And I did what you're never supposed to do when hosting a dinner. I gambled on UNTESTED recipes that looked delicious and amazing instead of going with a couple of kitchen standbys. YES. I am a throw-caution-to-the-wind kind of gal. And nothing went wrong! This is how you buck the system, people, one recipe at a time.

The final menu: a Gruyère, cremini mushroom, and roasted chicken lasagna; a blueberry, feta, and pecan salad with balsamic vinegar dressing; and white chocolate mousse with blackberries for dessert.

My pride and joy

The lasagna recipe is from Epi, and I made only a few adjustments. It was perfect in the way that only a creamy lasagna after a long day can be. The white chocolate mousse recipe is lifted from a Claire Robinson cookbook I got on sale at Anthropologie a few months ago called 5 Ingredient Fix: Easy, Elegant, and Irresistible Recipes. Yep, yep, and yep. It's the first recipe I've tried from it, and I won't stop, can't stop 'till I hit the last now.

We ended the night playing Facts in Five (the original category board game!) (which I found recently for ten dollars on our trip to Baltimore!) and drinking a nice rosè our friends had brought over.

The lasagna recipe with my comments in brackets is below.

Gruyère, Cremini Mushroom, and Roasted Chicken Lasagna

1 (10-ounce) package cremini or white mushrooms, thinly sliced [I used cremini.]

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup dry white wine [A chardonnay from Whole Foods.]

1/2 roast chicken, skin discarded, meat shredded (about 2 1/4 cups)

3 1/2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons thyme leaves [I used dried thyme and only 1 teaspoon.]

3/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano [Freshly grated regular parmesan works fine too.]

12 Barilla no-boil egg lasagne noodles (less than a 9-ounce package)

1 1/2 cups coarsely grated Gruyère (3 ounces)

Preheat oven to 425° with rack in middle.

   

Cook mushrooms, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in oil and 1 tablespoon butter in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are softened, about 3 minutes. Add wine and simmer briskly 2 minutes. Transfer mushroom mixture to a large bowl and stir in chicken. (Set aside saucepan.) 

Bring milk to a bare simmer in a medium saucepan. Melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter in 4-quart saucepan over medium-low heat. Add flour and cook roux, whisking constantly, 3 minutes. Add hot milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Add thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and simmer, whisking occasionally, until thickened, 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat and reserve 1 cup sauce. Stir parmesan into sauce remaining in pan, then stir into mushroom filling. 

Pour half of reserved plain sauce into baking pan, spreading evenly to coat bottom. Add 3 lasagne sheets, overlapping slightly, and one third of mushroom filling, spreading evenly, then sprinkle one fourth of Gruyère over top. Repeat 2 times. Top with remaining 3 lasagne sheets and remaining plain sauce, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with remaining Gruyère. 

Cover with foil, tenting slightly to prevent foil from touching top of lasagne but sealing all around edge, and bake 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake until cheese is golden, about 15 minutes more. Let lasagne stand 10 minutes before serving. 

(Recipe reposted from Epicurious)

Mushroom Bourguignon from Smitten Kitchen

S: Smitten Kitchen, I just can't quit you! I recently wrote a post about how I was falling in love with a new cooking blog, but apparently I am wavering. (Or maybe instead of being a blog monogamist, I am becoming polyamorous?!?!? Scandalous!)

I was craving something wintery yesterday night—yes, I know this makes sense in absolutely no way because it's June, and, you know, over 100 degrees out. What can I say that you aren't already thinking? I am a slave to my culinary desires.

And then I came across this mushroom bourguignon recipe I had saved a while back to my Recipes folder, and it just felt right, 100-degree weather be damned. So then all this happened:

For two!

Bourguignoning

Hello, egg noodles!

All for me

The full recipe is below with my notes in brackets. Enjoy! It is delicious and weather-inappropriate for this time of year. So you're welcome!

Mushroom Bourguignon from Smitten Kitchen

Serves 4

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 pounds portobello mushrooms, in 1/4-inch slices (save the stems for another use) (you can use cremini instead, as well) [Portobello all the way!]
1/2 carrot, finely diced
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup full-bodied red wine
2 cups beef or vegetable broth (beef broth is traditional but vegetable to make it vegetarian; it works with either) [I used leftover beef broth from a recipe I did a few weeks ago, and it was divine.]
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried) [Dried for me.]
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup pearl onions, peeled (thawed if frozen)
Egg noodles, for serving
Sour cream and chopped chives or parsley, for garnish (optional) [I opted out of all three. Because I forgot to pick them up at the grocery store...]

Heat the one tablespoon of the olive oil and one tablespoon of butter in a medium Dutch oven or heavy sauce pan over high heat. [Heavy sauce pan for the win!] Sear the mushrooms until they begin to darken, but not yet release any liquid—about three or four minutes. Remove them from pan.

Lower the flame to medium and add the second tablespoon of olive oil. Toss the carrots, onions, thyme, a few good pinches of salt and a several grinds of black pepper into the pan and cook for 10, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly browned. Add the garlic and cook for just one more minute.

Add the wine to the pot [And pour yourself a glass while you're at it. Isn't this what everyone does when they get to the part of any recipe involving alcohol?], scraping any stuck bits off the bottom, then turn the heat all the way up and reduce it by half. Stir in the tomato paste and the broth. Add back the mushrooms with any juices that have collected and once the liquid has boiled, reduce the temperature so it simmers for 20 minutes, or until mushrooms are very tender. Add the pearl onions and simmer for five minutes more.

Combine remaining butter and the flour with a fork until combined; stir it into the stew. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 more minutes. If the sauce is too thin, boil it down to reduce to the right consistency. Season to taste.

To serve, spoon the stew over a bowl of egg noodles, dollop with sour cream (optional) and sprinkle with chives or parsley.

(Recipe via Smitten Kitchen)

Summertime This and That

Mermaid bottle opener.

I have to make this easy apple tart soon. 

Rainbow queen.

These balloons would be great for a party.

And this wooden cooler would be rad for a picnic.

And these ombre wooden spoons would be perfect in my kitchen.

Love the design work of Jordan Metcalf.

Why are Angry Birds so angry?

Need one of these pretty reusable coffee cups.

Minesweeper postcards.

Downtown Abbey silk scarf. Yes, please!

(Image via Kelsey Garrity-Riley Illustration)