Roasted Potatoes

I realize that I usually only post main courses but, I make these potatoes often and they are always a yummy and welcomed counterpart to just about any main course. They're really simple but they seem fancy.

What you'll need:Small red-skinned potatoes, cut in half or quartered (depending on how big they are)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (just enough to coat the potatoes)

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Rosemary (or Thyme)

Cayenne Pepper (optional)

Directions:Put the potatoes in a large bowl. Add all of the other ingredients. Mix together making sure that all of the potatoes are coated in oil and seasonings.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes until they are tender (but not mushy).

All done! Enjoy!

Sweet Bacon-Wrapped Venison Loin

My dad is a hunter and so every year, there is generally a surplus of venison meat in my parent's freezer. This year, my dad gifted me a few choice cuts of meat. The best of which, was the loin. After a little searching online for a recipe, I eventually landed on this one. It looked easy enough and I really didn't see how it could turn out any other way but amazing. Boy was I right!

After marinating the loin in the fridge for almost 24 hours, I was ready to start assembly (which was just wrapping that sucker in bacon... simple enough!)

After pouring the marinade over the delicious looking thing pictured above, I popped that in the oven and cooked it for about 35 minutes, until it was the perfect medium rare.

SO GOOD! This got serious rave reviews from Uriah (and myself). It was even good the next day at lunchtime. I can't wait for next year when, hopefully, my dad will gift me another loin!

Charlotte Food Adventure - Episode 5

I feel like most of our food adventures are to sushi restaurants. We'll have to get some variety going at some point.
Uriah took me to Fuji Japanese Steakhouse for my birthday dinner. I love sushi and this place happens to be in the shopping center across the street! Convenience is key (especially since we went on such an adventure the day before).

We had a great time and had a lot of great sushi (and Kirin)!

Cheers!

Chicken Gabriella

I always have chicken in my freezer and I have grown bored of the ways that I usually prepare it. So the other day, I was looking for a recipe to make that was different and easy. That's when I found this gem on Epicurious.com! It actually took a little more effort than I originally anticipated but, oh man was it worth it! SO delicious! I made it with some roasted red potatoes and steamed veggies. The pan sauce was so addictive. Uriah and I wound up spooning it over our potatoes like gravy. Mmm... I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Want to make it yourself? You probably should, I will surely be making it again!

What you'll need:

1 (3 1/2-to 4-pound) chicken, skinned and cut into small (about 3-inch) pieces, with bone, thighs, and wings left whole (ask your butcher to do this for you or use kitchen shears) 

2 onions, chopped 

Needles from 4 sprigs fresh rosemary (about 1/4 cup), finely chopped

5 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped

About 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 

Salt and freshly ground pepper 

1 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio 

1 lemon

Directions:

Put the chicken pieces in a 12-inch skillet (preferably nonstick) with a lid, along with the chopped onions, rosemary, and sage. Stir well to coat the chicken with the onion and herbs. Add enough olive oil to coat all of the chicken pieces, but not so much that it pools in the skillet. Sprinkle with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.

Set the skillet over medium heat. Cook until the onions are very soft and the chicken and onions have turned golden brown, about 20 minutes. If the onion begins to brown too fast, turn down the heat. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer gently until the chicken is tender, about 20 minutes. Squeeze the lemon over, taste for salt and pepper, and serve.

27 - Off to a Good Start!

I had an amazing birthday weekend! We went to The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC on Saturday! We had never been there but I know that we are for sure going to be going back! Loved it!

Uriah and I in front of the House!

Me in the Conservatory/Greenhouse

Wine Tasting! Yessss!

The horse-drawn carriage that we rode on!

Such a great day! I definitely felt special (and isn't that the point?) :-)

Birthday Weekend Has Begun!

My birthday is on Sunday! Yay! If you ask me, Sundays are the best days to have a birthday because you can milk it ALL WEEKEND (which is what I intend to do)!

It officially kicked off around 1:30pm today when I got a mystery package delivered to my door from Amazon.com

I didn't order anything but, it was addressed to me so, I opened it to find THIS!

And THIS!

Pastasaurus - Pasta server (I know, I know, you're jealous)

Both of these amazing items are from my crazy best friend, MJ Kelly. Seriously, I opened the box and laughed out loud. They are so awesome and I can't wait to make ninja cookies. I might make them for every holiday and just ice them in festive colors. Halloween Ninjas? Of Course! Christmas Ninjas? Why not?! It's going to be great. Just you wait.

Uriah and I have a fun weekend planned so, I'm sure you will hear about it sometime in the near future :-)

Charlotte Food Adventure - Episode 4

Uriah and I were looking to go out to sushi so we called to make a reservation at our favorite place, Yama Asian Fusion, but as it turns out, they were renovating and closed "for at least another 2 weeks". Bummer! Well, this gave us the chance to explore and find a new place! And what a new place it was!

Nakato Japanese Steakhouse was amazing. The atmosphere was on point and I felt like I was walking into medieval Japan. To sit at the hibachi tables, you have to actually take your shoes off (so make sure you don't bring any stinky-footed friends). Also, make a reservation because the wait for that was 45 minutes. Lucky for us, we just wanted to sit at this awesome circular sushi bar with a little moat around it carting around little sushi boats. So fun.

We ordered far too much sushi (as is par for the course for us) but we ate it all somehow. It helped that it was deeeelicious. They had a lot of rolls that I had never seen before. We ordered one with jalapeno in it. It was so good. We also ordered one with fried squid in it (aka calamari).
Here's a picture of 1/4 of what we ordered. You can see the GIANT Kirin Ichiban that I got in the corner. It was great :-) I can't wait to go back again.

Set the Scene

For Christmas! Can you believe that? Christmas! Normally I wouldn't be working this far in advance on ANYTHING holiday related but, evidently I have a friend who's friend is obsessed with Christmas. So much so, that her upcoming bridal shower is a Christmas-theme.

My friend asked me to make a set of placemats, napkins, stemware slippers and dishtowels in Christmas fabric. I think it all turned out really nicely :-)

Stemware Slippers

I recently went to the Outer Banks, NC to spend some time with my Aunt, Uncles and their families. It was really fun and I felt so lucky to have gotten to go.

Part of the fun for me for the OBX is shopping! While out with my Aunt, she just kept looking at things and saying "I bet you could make that" and she was often right. Most of the stuff I loved I just tucked away in my brain for the future. One thing we didn't find that my Aunt said she would love to have were little stemware coasters that slipped over the bottom of the glass. I knew exactly what she was talking about and when I got home, I got on making her a set. I think they turned out nicely and I plan on making a bunch and putting them in the shop (which has been horribly neglected this summer).

Bag it up!

My girlfriends from high school and I get together every year and participate in a gift exchange. We used to do it around Christmas time but we've since moved it to summer because the holidays are way too hectic. Especially dealing with shared holidays with every one's in laws and what not. It's a secret santa type gift exchange. So it's really fun and we've actually gotten pretty good at keeping it a secret who we have.

This year, we decided that all of the gifts would be home made. It was amazing and everyone was so creative. I was very impressed with every one's gifts. Everything was so thoughtful and some were even hilarious. It was great and I  hope this is a continued tradition.

I got our dear friend Rachel. She's a self proclaimed hippie as well as a grad student at UVA working on her PHD in Neuroscience. Being the hippie-type, she's always carrying around what I like to refer to as "sacks". I decided to make her a more adult (but still very Rachel) bag. 

This was the very first bag I've ever made as well as my very first time using interfacing. It came out really well. I didn't follow the instructions to the letter because the pattern for this had some pretty ugly embellishments. I decided to keep it simple. I might even make one for myself :-)