The Weepies!

Posted on by anna

Well friends, it has been a hella long time. In the last six months, I have gotten a new (awesome!) job, and had a really busy summer, so I’ve not had a lot of time to sit down in front of the computer. You can check out my blossoming food blog and my husband’s blog here.

But this post is about The Weepies! Husband and I flew down to NYC for a whirlwind 30 hours of tourism, excellent food, and most important, a concert by our beloved Weepies. We arrived about an hour and a half before doors opened, so we were about fourth in line to get into the standing-room-only venue.

After making some friends in line and sending Husband on a Starbucks run for reinforcements, we got in and beelined for the front of the venue. We ended up right at the front of the stage! It was a great spot to be able to watch them play.

They mentioned that their goal of this tour was to play like they do at home, sitting in their bedroom or living room, hanging out and playing together, their kids dancing in the background. And it was just that. It was comfortable. It was homey. They sat on vintage-looking white kitchen chairs and played the most heartfelt show I’ve ever seen. They glanced at each other during the songs and made jokes between numbers. They were charming.

Some may consider some of their songs “hokey,” as their songs can come off as being overly cute. But seeing them perform, it was clear that they believed every poetic phrase, and it made us all believe.

I would highly recommend going to see them if you get the chance, though I suppose I am biased. I sang along all evening. It felt like singing with old friends, and as we sang, and I could hear Husband singing along too, I realized how intertwined their music is with our love story, and it made my heart just swell.

Enjoy some photos of the evening below (all taken and edited with Camera+ on iPhone 4). Thank you, Deb and Steve, for making music that lets us know it is ok to believe in love.

[slideshow]

Welcome!

Posted on by anna

Welcome to the Flour City Girl blog! I have a passion for things that are baked homemade, eaten by people I love. I hope you’ll join me as I do my best to chronicle some of the things that come out of my kitchen. I have a need to feed, if you will, so no one goes ever hungry at my house (…even if that means whipping up a tart a few minutes before friends arrive).

A little background: I’ve been baking since I was old enough to stand on a chair and hold a measuring cup. I have memories of many Saturdays spent in my grandmother’s kitchen, mixing up cookie dough, pinching pierogi, and decorating cakes together. “The Beetle,” as I call her, inspired me to all manner of tasty cooking, and I knew from a young age that it was always better if you made it yourself and if it was made with love.

My day job has me administrating and assisting, but by night and weekend, I freelance cakes and other goodies when I can, and I love to experiment with new recipes! Fortunately, my wonderful husband and friends are good guinea pigs. I hope you enjoy the recipes I share here. I will do my best to keep up posting!

bake, eat, and love.
-anna

some things i like

Posted on by anna

In lieu of any words that could potentially be encouraging, inspiring, or just thought-provoking, I’d like to share some things that I’m particularly enamoured with lately.

Music:
Brave at Sea – Some people I went to summer camp with. Sort of old-timey, soulful, beautiful harmonies. Can. not. stop. listening.
Einsley – I just found out about these guys (thanks Cool Fam!). A family band of sorts, with interesting and catchy tunes!
Joni Mitchell (as always) – Uh, duh. She is amazing. Forever. The end.

Books:
 Dori Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours” – Great cookbook.
Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” – Really enjoying reading this so far. I feel myself sighing in agreement a lot as I read, but I haven’t finished it yet and refuse to form an opinion until I do.
Sundry other cookbooks such as Baking Illustrated and the Bon Appetit Desserts book that came out last fall. I’m a little obsessed.

So that’s a fairly small list. I’ve pretty much been spending every spare minute in my kitchen baking fiendishly, hence all the cookbooks on my book-list. How very practical of me.

I feel vastly uninteresting. Every time I sit down to type it’s like every interesting thought gets zapped out of my head. I’ll have to try a little harder going forward. Sleep tight, friends.

i’m here.

Posted on by anna

I’m here. Thinking about what I possibly could have to add and how I could possibly sum up the last 4 months.

…beautiful…

I love being married. I love learning about flour and sugar. I love life. I love genuine-ness.

There’s more coming friends. I just need to start again. I want to share recipes. I want to share my love for this beautiful world.

There’s more coming. I promise.

One week to go!

Posted on by anna

What’s up, peeps? Elliot and I are just chilling, putting some stuff together for our wedding. He’s working on our programs, and I’m working on printing out some brochures for our out-of-towners. They. look. awesome. The programs and the brochures. I’m getting really excited!

Last night was my bachelorette party, and it was hella fun, if I may say so. Fabulous mexican food and margaritas, cocktails, and more cocktails at a drag show! Finally we ended the night with a champagne toast in a certain garden in our neighborhood. It was a wonderful, awesome time! Those girls really know how to party!

So anyway, we are having a pretty exciting Saturday night. You know, all kinds of productive and stuff. Pretty soon I think we’re going to watch some West Wing and eat some Chubby Hubby. LIVING ON THE EDGE.

Next week at this time, we’ll be married folks. 🙂

Hello again!

Posted on by anna

I forgot how much fun this was! I get to be all narcissistic because this is MY BLOG. And this is us saying hello again:

I enjoy it, even if no one else does. We’ve been doing computery things all evening, and I got into my pajamas today at 8:15! It was glorious. If it seems like we have nothing to do, we are fooling you. But an 8:15 pajama time? It was like a gift.

If you’re reading this, I hope your day has been lovely. You look great today.

Time flies

Posted on by anna

Elliot and I are getting married in two weeks. That is crazy.

Someday I will write more interesting things on this site. Like recipes. And things I learn. My goal this fall is to get all of Dorie’s “necessity” recipes under my belt. I think it’s achievable but challenging. I am going to try to memorize them. So I’ll let you know how that goes!

Yesterday I made a chocolate cake with caramel buttercream frosting, and it kicked ass. Just saying.

Here we are saying hello:

Toodloo! Next time you see us (most likely), we’ll be MARRIED.

the best saturday

Posted on by anna

…ok, so maybe my wedding will win out over this one, but it was pretty damn fun spending all day cooking and baking and serving our friends what my accomplice and I were sure was a splendid meal. We were supposed to go to Toronto to see U2 this weekend, but with Bono out with a bum back, we made the best of it state-side.

The menu was:
Appetizer – Bacon-Wrapped Brussel Sprouts with pistachios and sage, Zucchini Latkes with sour cream and smoked trout, and Endive Salad with gorgonzola and maple vinaigrette
Soup – Vichyssoise with baguette croutons
Entrée – Shrimp Étouffée with wild rice and italian bread
Cheese course – Delicious cheese chosen by Tyler
Desserts –  Espresso Chiffon Cake with fudge buttercream, “Trifecta of Tartlets” (honey-cinnamon with apples, vanilla bean mousseline with fresh berries, lemon mousse)

I don’t mean to toot my own horn but uh….yeah, it was pretty good.

We even borrowed a fancy-pants camera to indulge ourselves a little further by taking photos of all the food we were so proud of. A slideshow for your viewing pleasure:

[slideshow]

Aren’t those some purdy photographs? We’re hoping to hold dinners like these roughly once a quarter until we can someday go live with our real restaurant. Stay tuned!

Zucchini hash

Posted on by anna

Last night I made what might be my new favorite quick go-to meal for dinner. Unfortunately, we were too busy stuffing our faces and running out the door to take any pictures of such a beautiful meal, but trust me when I say it was fabulous.

Zucchini hash with poached egg:
(enough for two people)

1T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large zucchini, chopped
1 small red potato, chopped
1 scallion, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
Salt, pepper
4 eggs

Pour olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat and let the pan heat up a minute while you fill a medium sauce pan with about 3 inches of water (you will use this to poach the eggs) and put that on medium heat.
Dump your chopped vegetables into your hot sauté pan and brown them, cooking for 7-10 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh pepper and salt (I used seasoned sea salt).
Poach eggs one by one in the hot, but not boiling, water. Variation: You can also crack the eggs right into the hash and scramble them.
Once your veggies are browned, plate them and perch the poached eggs on top. Enjoy! You may need a slice of crusty toast to soak up all the beautiful yolk from the eggs.

*Need a poaching tutorial? Deb over at Smitten Kitchen has got some great tips. (link to be posted, as I’m currently writing from my answer-phone)

Julie and Julia

Posted on by anna

I am weeping in happiness watching this movie.

With a cranberry crumb cake in the oven, the warm buttery smell filling my kitchen, I cannot keep my eyes dry watching two women strive to learn everything they can about the thing they love, cooking, and in turn, learn something very true about themselves and the things that matter in life. It’s a beautiful thing.

Did you know Julia Child didn’t start really cooking until well after she was 40? I certainly don’t mean to say that 40 is “old”, but, well, I’m only 23. It’s not too late. I can hope. I can do this. I can do this. I have to. I love it.