Delicious

Hubby and I are completely loving the weekend famers market. I love our Saturday mornings wandering the market looking at fresh produce and coming up w/ a game plan for this week's meals.

It's definitely strawberry season so we picked up a pint and also got some blueberries. We decided to have a berry crisp for dessert that night.

I went w/ an Ina recipe because they are always good. Both the filling and topping were really easy to make. Essentially throw the fruit together w/ some sugar and lemon and pour the sweet deliciousness into a dish. For the topping it's pretty much the same. Throw the ingredients into a mixer and then sprinkle it on top of the fruit mixture.

I had some extra topping so I spread it on a baking sheet lined w/ wax paper (because I'm all about making cleaning easy) and baked it for 10-13 min. It would be great in yogurt or on top of ice cream.

The crisp bakes for about 50 min or so...which gave us plenty of time to run out for ice cream. The crisp turned out wonderfully. You could easily change the filling to whatever fruit you want (I did). This is my new go-to recipe for crisps.

Ina's Apple & Pear Crisp

Funky Chicken, Flasher and Lumber Jackie

Halloween weekend was a blast! We didn't do anything extravagant, but I was surrounded by some of my favorite people.

Friday night a couple of my favorite boys came into town, BUBBA and DREW! Bubba is my nickname for my little brother...although he isn't all that little anymore. He's finishing up college at Salisbury this Spring and then he may be headed off to grad school. Hooray Bubba! And Drew was staying w/ Husband and I for the weekend and this time I remembered to blow up the mattress before we started drinking.

Later Bubba came over with our friend Patty Poo. And soon after that Kathy and her roommate Anne and their friend Dan came over for card games & drinks. There's nothing like a friendly game of as$hole to get people relaxed and acquainted. Oh and later Bmore, another one of our good friends, came over to play!! It was a fun night playing cards and laughing and drinking.

We were feeling hurt and moving slow the next morning. So we woke up leisurely and Husband made espresso while I made blueberry crumb cake, an Ina recipe. Whilst drinking espresso and chugging water to rehydrate ourselves, we watched the Colbert/Stewart rally on the TV. It was amazing to see how many people showed up for the event. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Roots & John Legend perform. The lead singer from Roots had on a beautiful camel colored coat and John Legend's navy coat was attractive too.

Later in the evening we made dinner and then it was time to get dressed up for Halloween! Drew's costume did not disappoint. It was yellow and a little outrageous. And Husband looked pretty awesome too. If you watch It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia you're familiar with the dick towel. Husband had a great idea to use that and be a flasher! For my costume I wanted something easy and required $0. I put on my boots, short shorts and a black & red flannel shirt and I became Lumber Jack(ie)! I decided to leave the axe at home, you know with all the drunk people around it could have been a horrible terrible idea.

If you ever wondered what I'd look like as a blonde...

We hung out at Kathy & Anne's place and drank and played beer pong. Kathy was dressed up as Rita from Dexter and Anne was Dexter - it was an awesome costume duo. Sadly I didn't get a picture of the two together but I'll just say both their costumes were dead on.

Sunday was a relaxing, time-to-clean-up, lets-snuggle sort of day. Throughout the day Husband and I took turns cleaning up the kitchen and picking up the apartment. And later that night I made Oreo Pumpkin Cheesecakes that I found from Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen. It was a super simple recipe that is delicious! This is definitely a recipe to keep around for parties and holidays. I brought the extras into work and after 5 minutes they disappeared. =)

All in all it was a wonderful weekend. I hope everyone else had a fantastic Halloween!

Rain on my parade

Wednesday was the big day. I was going to finally meet Ina! I picked up her latest How Easy Is That? cookbook, printed out directions, and I was pumped to meet one of my favorite TV personalities. Around 11:30am, a co-worker and I headed to Sur La Table for the book signing. This was error #1. When we finally got in line after searching high and low for a parking spot, the reality of this book signing came to light.

1.) The line was AROUND THE BLOCK. Why oh why hadn't I come earlier?
2.) The sky turned dark gray and it started raining buckets while we were in line. And if you live in NoVA, you would know we were under a tornado watch too.
3.) Unlike the old retired women and young chicks with babies attached to their hips, I had to eventually get back to work.

I debated whether to stick it out in the rain or head back to work like a good little lemming employee. Unfortunately Practical Peaches won and I went back to work cold & wet with crazy, frizzy hair and an unsigned cookbook.

It just wasn't meant to be. It sucks and I am disappointed but one day I will meet her. On the bright side, she does offer pre-signed cookbooks on her website. Maybe I should have ordered one of those to begin with...

My favorite cook is coming to town!

A friend just told me INA GARTEN, the Barefoot Contessa will be at Pentagon Row next Wednesday for a book signing!!! She is hands down my favorite cook. Whenever I don't feel like messing around and searching for a recipe, she is my go-to-girl. Her recipes are always delicious and easy enough for me to follow. She's got great ideas for easy decorating and entertaining. I mean have you seen this woman's kitchen? It's to die for.


Some favorite recipes: Her blueberry crumb cake is phenomenal. The sour cream makes the cake moist and gives it a little tang too. She does desserts well; the chocolate white chocolate chunk cookies are always a hit at social gatherings. Ina's wheatberry salad is healthy and tasty. I like to have it for breakfast but it's a good side dish in general.

She's not only a seasoned veteran when it comes to cooking & entertaining, she has an elegant sense of decorating too. The picture above is from this House Beautiful interview where she talks about the 'barn' that she had built on her East Hampton property. I really like her decorating style...it's natural and beautiful, not fussy, it looks functional and comfortable too. And it isn't too feminine, which I'm sure my husband is happy to hear.

Beautiful and natural.

Who wouldn't sleep well in a big fluffy bed in a clean, calm bedroom.

In 2009, House Beautiful rebuilt her beautiful kitchen of the year in NY. As you click through the pictures she gives kitchen tips! Keep it simple and get back to basics. She's a big proponent of starting with good quality ingredients. And she's all about function! I love it!

In a different House Beautiful article, Ina lists what every kitchen needs. I am happy to report that we have everything on her list (in some form or another)...I can thank Husband for that. (I love him and his culinary expertise.)

...Ina...if you're out there, I will happily be your b*tch if I can come over for dinner. I'll even do the dishes!!!

Back to reality...the book signing is on a Wednesday during lunch time, 12-2pm...I will be just a couple exits away...and I would 100% regret not going and meeting her. Omg I hope I remember to contain my urge to squeal, that could be embarrassing.

Book signing details:
Wednesday 27 October - 12:00-2:00pm
Sur La Table
Pentagon Row
1101 South Joyce St
Arlington, VA 22202
703-414-3580