Magnolia's Red Velvet Cake Tutorial on Epicurious

I had to post it because I love Red Velvet cake...

Wildbirds and Peacedrums

Opener for Lykke Li....

Fiance of the Year Award

"I think he deserves the Oscars of Boyfriend Awards for that one!" - Jess S. 

Jason is a wonderful fiance. He is also a wonderful cook. Now, we can add wonderful surprise planner to that list!  For some time now, Jason has been working on a "surprise weekend" for me. I had been thinking that it would be a weekend in Boston or Providence, imagine my surprise when we boarded the plane for a weekend in Washington DC! He brought me to eat crabcakes at the Eastern Market, the we window shopped around Georgetown before eating a delicious dinner at Palena. Afterwards, he brought me to a Lykke Li (my favorite artist of the last year!) concert. 

Sunday Brunch at the Tabard Inn.... perhaps the best brunch I have ever eaten!

Dinner at Palena

Party dresses at Betsy Johnson - totally impractical but fun to try on!

Go Obama! 

Collard Greens, Hand cut fries and mmmm...crab cakes at Eastern Standard. 

Everything we ate was fantastic and fabulous! DC is an awesome city!

Ole Ole Ole!

Last Friday, Jess and I met up for dinner at the Ole Mexican Grill in Inman Square. Simply said, it was FANTASTIC!  It was the best Mexican food I've had up north in a long long time. I'm a big fan of grilled Mexican corn - as you can see - it was mouthwatering good! 

Click here to preview the menu! 

Sunday Soup-Day

During the month of January, I have been spending time on the weekends trying out new recipes, and making soups (Jason likes soups a lot), and food that will carry through the week. The first weekend, I make Potato Leek Soup, last weekend - Chili, and this weekend .... 1) Italian Wedding Soup and 2) Quiche Lorraine.  I got the recipes off of www.allrecipes.com today, and tweaked them a bit to my liking. :)

Italian Wedding Soup - Felicia's version: 

(serves 8 - on weekends, I make big portions to share, for lunch and to freeze)

A. Make the meatballs by combining the following ingredients then rolling into small 1 cm diameter balls.  This was the most time-consuming part, but worth it because it's so delicious! The trick is roll it into a long strip and then chop it into little cm segments.  Bake at 350 for 10 min. 

• 1 lb meatball mix (ground beef, pork, veal)
  
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
  
• 4 tsp Italian seasoned bread crumbs
  
• 2 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
  
• 1 tsp dried basil
  
• 1 clove of garlic 

B. Make the soup by putting it all together!  First bring the broth to a boil, then add the rest of the ingredients, including the meatballs. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer 10 min or until the veggies are tender!  

• 2 large boxes of all natural chicken broth (about 8 cups) 
  
• 2 cups beef broth
  
• a sprinkle of dried parsley
  
• a large package of Spinach chopped
  
• 1-2 cups of small pasta (add to your liking)
  
• 1 cup finely chopped carrot
  

Poutine and Montreal Meat Sandwich

It's been a while since i've posted. But, I couldn't help but share this ingenious dinner plan created by my Jason! He is really becoming a fabulous chef - lucky me! :)  This past week, he surprised me with a Montreal themed dinner - Meat Sandwich (Rye bread, Corned beef -sliced thickly, saurkraut, mustard  and Poutine- a delicious mess of fries (oven-baked from frozen section) topped with gravy (McCormick seasoning package), and cheese (mozzarella - though they use "curds" in Montreal).   It was simple and it was delicious - perfect for the cold snowy weather we've been getting! Try it sometime! 

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope 2009 is off to a fantastic start!

Jason and I had a lovely and low key new years eve in Worcester. We kicked it off with a 3 course beer dinner at our favorite local brewpub ...the Armsby Abbey! 

 After an amazing dinner, we watched a couple of movies (The Feast of Love (A) and Margot at the Wedding (B-), and watched the ball drop on TV in times square! 

2009 is going to be an exciting year! For those of you who read my blog, you probably have noticed I haven't been posting as often. While blogging is fun, I have too many projects going on at this time... and have been trying to decide whether I would stop altogether, or continue posting. For now, I think I will try to keep things going... even if it is a couple weeks between postings, I will continue to share the good music, movies, foods, and adventures I experience. 

Cheers to another year full of love, happiness, and good food!