I'm Back!

Oh, you didn't know I was away? I was! Ron and I were in Barcelona and Paris - the sights, the food, and the drinks were all so fabulous that I don't know where to start. But I'll be posting A LOT very soon.

This was our first real, not work related vacation and there was plenty of reason for bubbly. That's cava in Spain:

And champagne in France:

Ooh what's that on my finger? Ron asked me to marry him and I said "Oui!"

Crabfest 09!

Our buddies MB and Otis put on quite the Crabfest! Otis and Mike drove down to Maryland the morning of the party to pick up these guys:




Steamed crabs and Jersey fresh corn on the cob (thanks Mark!) were the stars of the show. Messy and delicious!

There were some great sides too - couscous salad with veggies by MB, an awesome potato salad with buttermilk dressing by Rita, jersey peaches, and fried plantains with dipping sauce. I didn't snap a picture of Katie's butter cake but, as you'd guess with a name like that, it was really good pretty darn rich.

Potato, Corn and Cherry Tomato Salad

On our way back from the shore a couple of weeks ago we stopped at a farmers market and bought all of the ingredients for this salad - except for the basil that we grew in our backyard.

Boiled potatoes, halved cherry tomatoes, blanched corn, thinly sliced onions and basil were tossed with a dressing of lemon, honey, olive oil, salt and pepper.

When ingredient are this fresh then don't need a fussy dressing - super simple is the way to go.

Philly Sandwich Party

As you might know from reading this blog our friends LOVE a theme party. This one is at the top of the list! Our friends Carla and Gerry were threw a goodbye party for a couple of their friends with a Philly Sandwich party.

That's Carla in the picture - the brains behind this delicious party.

Philly has some really awesome sandwiches - some more well known then others. Ron and I brought Nick's Roast Beef sandwiches and gravy fries with long hots and horse radish on the side, of course.

Some of the others included cheesesteaks from Cosmi's, Randazzo's & The Artful Dodger, Roast pork from Tony Lukes, Chicken Milanese from Little Italy, and a few others I can't remember!

We're now one step closer to our goal of having a "This is why your fat" party.

Sea Bass with Garlic Scape Pesto

I know, I know - garlic scapes? Their season came and went a long time ago. My computer has been a little under the weather and I'm obviously VERY behind on my blogging. But this was so tasty I felt I had to share! The sea bass was seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper - I put it under the broiler flesh side up for a couple minutes then I flipped it over and broiled it until the skin was crispy and the fish was cooked through.

The pesto was garlic scapes, olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon and parmesan cheese all blended up in the blender. The lentils were cooked in salted water while I sauteed onions and garlic, when the lentils were done I mixed them with the onions and garlic and added a little white wine and dijon mustard.

You should make this - just replace the garlic scape pesto with maybe some green pea pesto or broccoli rabe pesto. Yum.