Strawberries and Cream Smoothie

I'm a big fan of Martha Stewart's Oatmeal Smoothies. As I pack up the house that I have lived in the last two years, I am trying to clean out my kitchen before I move. This smoothie recipe combines what Martha does so well with what I already had in my kitchen.


Strawberries and Cream Smoothie

In a blender combine the following:
1 banana (preferably frozen)
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup rolled oats, old-fashioned
1 5.3 oz container nonfat vanilla greek yogurt
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup water

BBQ Shrimp

The first recipe I ever created on my own was for barbecued shrimp. The killer part is the marinade. On my first day of classes at the Western Culinary Institute they taught us how to devein shrimp. I went home and wanted to practice my newfound skill. Here I was with all of these deveined shrimp and no idea how I wanted to cook them.

It was a warm summer night, so I thought grilling them on the barbeque sounded like a pretty good idea. I decided to whip up a marinade using whatever I had on hand in order to give the shrimp some extra flavor.

Last night I made this dish for the first time in years. It was just as good as the first time I had made it!

Barbecued Shrimp
1 pound shrimp (deveined and peeled)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon ginger (I prefer fresh, but powdered works just fine)
1 teaspoon onion powder

1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce 

2 tablespoons olive oil
enough water to cover the shrimp with the marinade

Devein and peel the shrimp. Combine all of the ingredients above. Let the shrimp marinade for 15-20 minutes. Throw them on the barbeque and remove as soon as they turn pink, about 3-5 minutes.

Movie Marathon

Since I'm basically just killing time until I move to Memphis, to start my job with Teach For America; my time at home with the family has consisted of a lot of cooking, baking, wine, Draw Something and lotsss of movie watching.

My first night back at home we watched The Social Network (2010). I'd seen it when it was in theaters, but I rather enjoyed re-watching it. I still think it deserved to have won Best Picture at the Oscars over The King's Speech (2010). Facebook is so significant to this generation, so having the film win an award like that could have really represented it well.

A couple nights later we watched The Blind Side (2009). I'd seen this already as well when I was stuck on a train or a plane a couple of years ago. This time I picked up on the fact that the film takes place in Memphis. After watching it, it made me even more excited to move there!

Now onto the classics...The first blast from the past that we watched was The Apartment (1960). I couldn't get over how young Jack Lemon and Shirley MacLaine were when they filmed this movie. It was the first movie I'd seen of either of them from back then. Definitely a hoot.


A couple nights ago we watched the Hitchcock thriller, North by Northwest (1959). I love every Hitchcock movie I've ever seen: The Birds, Psycho, Vertigo, and Rear Window, so no surprise that I loved this one too. Cary Grant sure did know how to steal a show and Eva Marie Saint did a pretty job of playing the icy blonde in this particular Hitchcock film.

Last night was another great classic: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). I'd read the book and seen the movie back in high school, but it was nice to see it again. I swear, I could watch Gregory Peck playing Atticus Finch any day of the week. Fun little tidbit that I discovered watching this film the second go around...Boo Radley is played by Robert Duvall. It was actually his big screen debut.

You're probably wondering, what will she watch next? Well, according to the good 'ole Netflix queue I should be receiving The Awful Truth (1937), Blazing Saddles (1974), The Big Sleep (1946), Marnie (1964), and Schindler's List (1993), which by the way, I still can't believe that I haven't seen it yet.

Last few days as a Seattleite

It's hard to believe that my time in Seattle is finally coming to an end. After living here for three and a half years, I consider it to be another home like Portland, San Francisco, or New York. This post is meant to be somewhat of an homage to Seattle. I've been trying to enjoy as many Seattleish activities as possible before I leave tomorrow and this post is intended to recap some of that.

Ever since this past summer, when I knew I only had two quarters left at the University of Washington, I made a list of places to go and things that I wanted to do before I left. One of the things that has felt like a long time coming was a trip to Paseo. I had heard nothing but good things about their sandwiches and knew that I had to give it a try. I ordered the "Cuban," which was out of this world. Hands down, best sandwich ever.

Photo Courtesy of this lovely blog

The pork was slow roasted, tender and incredibly succulent. Each sandwich is served on a baguette with long slices of roasted onions, pickled jalapeños, lettuce, and their homemade aioli. The sandwiches are large, but it's entirely feasible to eat them in one sitting. We got the sandwiches to go, as there is not a lot of seating options in the Fremont location.

We needed something to wash down those delectable sandwiches, so we went a block down to Caffe Vita. I ordered an ice mocha and was surprised to find out that it wasn't actually sweet at all like mochas usually are. I'm not sure if they use a dark chocolate syrup, or if they just don't put a lot of chocolate in each serving. Either way, I actually liked that it wasn't sweet. Being able to enjoy the actual coffee flavor was quite complimentary to the smokey sandwich.

Later that night I went bowling at Kenmore Lanes. My friends and I like to bowl on occasion (usually about once a month.) I am what my friend Madeleine calls "the most inconsistent bowler ever." Last night I finally broke 100 for the first time ever. I even bowled two 99's. I guess all the practice is finally paying off? Going to Kenmore Lanes is always a hoot. It's just outside of Seattle, surrounded by strip clubs and other interesting venues (my personal favorite is the Schnitzelbank.) You never know what you're gonna get when you make the trip out there, but a fun time is always guaranteed! After 11pm you can bowl unlimited until closing time (2am) for just $10, plus another $3 for renting shoes.

Tonight I will finally experience Poquitos in Capitol Hill. I tried going there once before with some friends, but it was too crowded and the wait would have been over an hour, so we went to Via Tribunali instead. I'm excited to finally give Poquitos a try. Tomorrow morning will be my last trip to Portage Bay Cafe for my favorite brunch in this city.

Seattle, it's been real. Thanks for a great three and a half years.

banana shake

I had some bananas that were starting to turn pretty ripe and instead of making a banana bread, I decided to peel and freeze them. Earlier in the week I had made my favorite Indian Spiced Steel Cut Oats and so I had some leftover coconut milk.

After spending the day doing the Savor Seattle Chocolate Indulgence Tour I came home wanting to eat some fruits and veggies. I saw the coconut milk in the fridge and decided to experiment and make a shake out of it.

I came up with a recipe that turned out really well. Since the banana was frozen it transformed the would be smoothie into a milkshake like concoction. I added regular milk in order to thin it out a little bit as well as some ground flaxseed to make it a little healthier. 

Banana Shake

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground flaxseed

Add ingredients to a blender, blend away and enjoy!

classic cocktails

After trying out lots of bars in San Francisco, my favorites were the ones with the classic cocktails. I decided to make it my mission to find some bars in Seattle that could offer me the same. I enlisted my roommate Jackie to help me with this task. A couple of weeks ago we went to Tavern Law, which is constantly ranked as being one of the best bars in America. I wound up having three cocktails there, so I can personally attest to it's awesomeness. Tavern Law is hands down the best bar I have ever been to. I started out ordering an English Fizz that had earl grey infused gin. Heavenly. Next up, I ordered the Tuxedo #2 which is pretty much straight up booze (gin, vermouth, absinthe) with a little sugar mixed in. My last drink was my absolute favorite. We sat right up front at the bar, so we got to see the bartender make all of the drinks. A guy came up and ordered a drink that I couldn't hear the name of. I watched as the bartender freshly juiced a grapefruit, followed by mixing up some gin, elderflower liquor, aperol, lemon juice and lavender bitters. This drink looked right up my alley. After asking the bartender what it was that he had just made I found out that was called the Dr Girlfriend, a drink that used to be on the menu. Definitely my favorite drink of the night.

Jackie's second cocktail was also pretty good, the lusty lady. The lusty lady consists of gin, lime juice, simple syrup, cranberry juice, an egg white and some lavender bitters. While in San Francisco I saw quite a few cocktails with egg whites in them. I was skeptical. I never ordered a single drink with them in it. After trying a sip of Jackie's lusty lady, I can now say that I have been converted. Egg whites add a certain frothiness and creaminess. I can't wait to go back. Next time we're going upstairs to the Needle & Thread, the attached speakeasy.

The door to Needle & Thread from Tavern Law (speakeasy style)

Later that night we also went to Grimm's where I finally got my Fernet and Ginger Ale that I had been craving, followed by a trip to Barrio's for margaritas. It was there that I had the best salad of my entire life, a chipotle pulled chicken salad with romaine and cherry tomatoes. Unreal.

A couple of nights ago we ventured away from last weekend's Capitol Hill adventure and into Belltown, Rob Roy to be exact. They have happy hour from 4-7, so my Playmate cocktail (Pineau des Charentes, Fever Tree Tonic, Grapefruit twist) was only $6 instead of the usual $12. I enjoyed my first cocktail. Even though it was a bit on the sweet side, I loved the tart grapefruit mixed in. My second cocktail was the real winner of the night, the Ginslinger (Ransom Old Tom Gin, Fernet, Cane Sugar, Regan's Orange Bitters.) At first, I felt like I was sipping straight booze, but after awhile the ice allowed the flavors to really open up and I was left with a lovely cocktail with two of my favorites (gin and fernet.)

sipping on my Ginslinger at Rob Roy

Jackie got a couple of cocktails that she liked a lot, but I enjoyed mine more. I'm already planning future outings to Sun Liquor, Bathtub Gin & Co, Knee High Stocking Co., etc.

bar hopping in the bay

To celebrate my new job me, my sister Lauren, and her boyfriend Brad did some major bar hopping around North Beach in San Francisco. We started out with cozy drinks at Tosca. We ordered their Specialities: House Cappuccino (Ghiradelli Chocolate, Steamed Milk, Brandy) as well as the White Nun (Steamed Milk, Kahlua, Brandy). Since it was the first bar that we stopped in; it was a bit quiet, but we enjoyed our drinks nonetheless.

Tosca 

Next up we toodled next door to Specs where I ordered the San Francisco classic Fernet with a ginger back. Specs' was definitely a place worth stopping. Besides enjoying my new favorite go to drink, I also loved looking at the different nautical and hunting decor.

Fernet-Branca and Ginger Ale

After a couple of Fernet's we were starting to get hungry so we headed to Comstock Saloon, which was also ranked as one of the 50 best bars by Food and Wine Magazine. As we sipped our amazing cocktails we also shared a bunch of munchies such as the Pretzel with Mustard and Cheddar Mayo, Corn Hominy Fritters with a smoked pepper dip, the Smoked Salmon Plate as well as the Ricotta Gnocchi with Squash. Everything here was perfection. I adored the bartenders with their suspenders and handlebar mustaches. The decor was antiquely, which fit well with the classic cocktails and old-timey feel. 

Comstock Saloon

After some more cocktails and some food to coat our bellies, we were ready for more. Our finale was Vesuvio. I have been wanting to go to Vesuvio for years and was so happy to finally get the chance to do so. It's located right next to the famous City Lights Books aka where lots of Beat Generation writers would congregate. Being there felt like I was a part of history. I could picture Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady sitting down for some brewskies where they were later joined by Allen Ginsberg or William S. Burroughs. 

Fernet labels in the bathroom at Vesuvio

self portrait in the bathroom at Vesuvio

All in all, the night was pure perfection.