The Tart of Celebrating

Yesterday I was was in a celebratory mood. Why you may ask?? Because I made a huge decision yesterday. Well it's a decision that has been brewing for a few months now, that I have tossed and turned about and that ultimately I made yesterday afternoon. After months of interviewing for the position, I have accepted a new job at an energy efficiency firm as a Project Manager and will be leaving my current job at the end of April. It is such a weird feeling. I have been here for almost 7 years and I feel that these people are my family. I feel so comfortable here and I feel that I am good at my job here. but lately I have been feeling that this is not enough. That I need to stretch out and see what I can do. That I need to challenge myself and see what happens. Being a Project Manager is a huge next step for me but I am really excited about it and looking forward to what it will bring. I gave my notice today, which was really hard but ultimately my coworkers are really happy for me! And ultimately I feel that this is going to be an adventure and a great stepping stone on my career path! Onward ho!! Anyway once I signed the offer letter I wanted to celebrate but how? I didn't really feel like going out for cocktails (I am laying low this week in anticipation of Seattle). I didn't really want to dine out. I knew what I wanted. A nice bottle of wine and a tomato tart! (Do I know how to party or what?) The former was achieved by a stop at Atlas Liquors on the way home, and the latter was achieved by stumbling across fantastic summer quality tomatoes at the Milton Fruit Center. Look at those guys! This is a recipe that is really easy and also really easily tweaked. It tastes as good as it looks and is a festive little meal if I do say so myself. The perfect celebratory dinner if you ask me! Tomato Goat Cheese Tarts 1 roll of puff pastry (1/2 a package), defrosted 4 medium tomatoes 1 small bunch basil, chopped roughly 4 oz goat cheese, softened salt + sugar Preheat oven to 400 degrees Slice the tomatoes evenly and lay them on a double layer of paper towel. Sprinkle evenly with a little salt and sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes (this will draw a lot of the moisture out . Roll your puff pastry out so it's 1/8 an inch thick or so. Cut into 4 equal pieces. Bake for 15 minutes. It will puff up a bit, feel free to press it back down when you remove it from the oven. Take the goat cheese and cut into 4 equal slices. Then smash each slice into a thin patty with your hands. Place the goat cheese on each square. Top with the sliced tomatoes. Place in oven, turn heat to 350 and bake for 20 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with basil. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. You can totally mix this up - use any cooked veggie or you could top it with arugula and cranberries and pecans on top for the goat cheese for a little salad tart. Maybe some caramelized onions? Either way, it's delicious.

Catching Up

So I think the theme of all my blog posts lately is "Catching Up' or "Checking In' (or, F'ing Off if we are calling a spade a spade". Life continues to be hectic and filled with events but I am for the most part on top of my shiz and have been enjoying spring, though from the weather you would never know it was spring (it actually had the audacity to SNOW last week). But I have seen my first crocuses (croci?) so I feel good about it overall. So what's been up lately? I promised to blog about the Bailey's Chocolate Chip Cookies and the Corned Beef & Cabbage I made for St Patrick's Day and then what did I do? I flaked on that promise. Here is the recipe for the cookies (I omitted the nuts and coconut, Also I had to add about 5 minutes to the baking time). They were amazing. a little cakey, a lot boozy, and a huge hit at the office. I would definitely make these again, maybe even experiment with the mint Bailey's for a little extra panache. As for the Corned Beef and Cabbage - I used this fail safe recipe. If you have never made Corned Beef before, what are you waiting for? It is really easy (you basically just boil the meat for 4 hours) and comes out tender and delicious. For an extra kick, I took it out of the pot about 30 minutes early, slathered it in mustard and brown sugar and broiled it for 15 minutes. Magnifique! I know haters like to remark on the fact that making Corned Beef on St Patrick's Day is lame because it's not really an Irish dish - but you know what it's delicious and super simple. I think we should have it every month of the year! Mmmmmm. This past weekend I accomplished another feat of wedding planning, purchasing ALL the decorations for the wedding/reception. My future Mother in Law had been raving about this place near her home that she thought would be the perfect place to get everything we needed. So this weekend I went there with her and my future Sister in Law and well, she was absolutely right. Grenon's Trading Company is this sprawling, cavernous extravaganza of floral, candle and craft suppplies that just about blew the mind of this DIY Bride. Like, literally I dreamed up these somewhat complex centerpieces that involve specific candle holders and vases and a mirrored tray and other random elements and this place had EVERYTHING I needed except for the live flowers which arrive the day before the wedding. We went nuts in there and when we left I had the satisfied feeling of yet another part of the wedding falling into place. I want to say DIYing everything has been a lot of work, but I have had a lot of help and I absolutely love that every element of this wedding is "us". I would also like to shout out to my girl Sky, who facebooked me a few weeks ago and generously offered to give me the cobalt blue bud vases and chair ties she had used at her own wedding (her wedding and mine are similar in many ways, what can I say? Great minds!). Anyway Adam and I picked them up this weekend and they could not be more perfect.' And Sky could not be more cute. Thanks so much again! This is one of the reasons I love blogging. Anyway with all that was going on in New Hampshire this weekend - we decided to make a weekend of it and stay in Portsmouth for some good times. We invited Adam's brother and his wife to stay with us in a hotel downtown and we had a fabulous Saturday night, dining at one of our favorite pubs The Coat of Arms, and then doing a little bar hopping down the main street - to Fat Belly's and Ri Ra. This is another reason I love the blog world. A few years ago Adam and I went for Portsmouth for a long weekend for the first time and I blogged about it. Blog pal Stacy recommended The Coat of Arms, which I had never heard of. And now its one of our favorite restaurants in that area! Anyway this is a short work week today because I am going on an adventure. On Thursday morning I fly out to Seattle for a whirlwind 36-hour trip courtesy of Nintendo! To celebrate the launch of the Nintendo 3DS - the good people at Nintendo and Brand About Town are flying all of their Brand Ambassadors to the Nintendo HQ in Seattle for a celebration. It is certainly a whirlwind trip packed with activities. We have a cocktail reception Thursday night, will be at Nintendo HQ all day Friday and then Friday night they have arranged a lovely night on the town. Then I fly home Saturday and luckily have Sunday to recover. I am looking forward to meeting Brand Ambassadors from all over the country and to seeing a city I have never seen before. To keep up with my 36 hour adventure be sure to check me out on Twitter and Facebook. The West Coast hasn't seen me since 1994 - I am not sure if they will be able to handle me! So that's what's up around here. I cannot believe it's April in like, a day. Where did the past couple of months go? Hope everyone is enjoying the "Spring". I will remove the quotation marks when it gets above 50 :-)

Oh Hai

Long time no talk, no?

Things here have been madness and mayhem. Between wedding planning (just over 3 months away, eek!), and various other responsibilities and social engagements I have barely had a moment to catch my breathe, let alone update this blog! But as more things come together, I am able to relax. That is not to say there still isn't lots to do but with everything I check of the list (most recently, invitations and a photographer and the cake (well, cupcake tower)) I feel a little more relieved and excited!! The next couple of months will bring with it picking out all of the food, and securing the table linens and making all of the centerpieces/decorations. One of the things I am most excited about is since we are throwing this wedding ourselves, we can handpick the wine and beer served. Adam got some excellent deals from some local craft breweries and I am able to buy cases of actually GOOD wine to serve. Since wine and beer are important to us we are pumped to be able to serve something we actually drink ourselves and love. Oh and did I mention the cheese platters from Wasiks? Shit is on!

Anyway I thought I would pop by here for a bit. St Patrick's Day is coming up and I have committed to cooking a feast for Adam and my brother. The components of this feast are yet to be entirely determined but I know they will at least involve Corned Beef + Cabbage + Turnips as well as Car Bomb Cupcakes. If you are looking for a GREAT St. P's Day recipe check out my Pretty Things Lamb Stew recipe I posted on BrewEngland.com. Pretty Things is one of my favorite local craft breweries and their St Botolph's Town Dark Ale was fantastic in this stew.

Friday night Adam and I went to Ruth's Chris for Restaurant Week. It was delicious and a fantastic dining experience. Great service (Friendly and polished), divine food (filet that cuts like butter), incredible wine list and comfortable but upscale ambience. We couldn't have loved it more. I will comment on this though: there were a lot of people wearing jeans. I know I am old fashioned/a fuddy duddy but a nice dinner out to me means no jeans. I had thought the dress code was business casual but for all I know I am wrong and anything goes, which is fine and I'm really not judging anyone except maybe myself - this is why I should have been born in the 1940s - I am always overdressed! But that is the way it has always been and e'er shall be.

Moving on.

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with my good friend Peter. We went to a book signing at the William Sonoma in Copley featuring the lovely Joanne Chang. I have been a fan of hers for a while now, especially since throwing a birthday party for my friend Meg at her restaurant Meyers + Chang where the food and staff could not have been more wonderful. Anyway on Saturday Ms Chang did a cooking demo and showed us all how easily we could make delightful handmade pop tarts and then signed copies of her cookbook, Flour. I spent a lot of time on Sunday reading this cookbook and it's a fantastic dessert recipe resource. I can't wait to dive in and start trying out the recipes (first, per request of the boys I live with: Pineapple Upside Down Cake).

The month ahead includes a trip to Portsmouth for the night next weekend, and then the following weekend I will be in Seattle for a few days. This weekend the only thing I have on the books is a Partylite party on Friday night when I am actually really excited for. Someone once said that "Candles are the new sad thing" well then color me blue because I love me some candles! And it's perfect timing because all of my "Winter" themed Yankee candles are basically used up and I have not yet bought any "Spring/Summer" ones. Nerd Alert?

So that's all for now. I'm off to take some Airborne to stave off this disgusting cold that I can just feel lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce on me.