Our First Party

On Saturday night, John and I hosted our first dinner party. We had thirteen people packed into our little apartment!

We served chili, squash soup for the vegans, cornbread, homemade salsa, and, of course, Halloween candy. Our friends brought desserts to share.

The evening finished with a highly competitive game of Balderdash. We played in teams, which I've never done before. It actually worked pretty well.

Congratulations to Mimi and Lily (below) for their amazing Balderdash skills!

USS New York

I've posted in the past about things we see from our living room window. This is another one of those posts.

Yesterday morning, around 7:50, I noticed a peculiar amount of boat traffic on the Hudson River. I saw about three tugs, a number of sailboats, police boats, and even a fireboat shooting out blue and red colored water.

All this activity signaled the arrival of the newest addition to the US fleet, the USS New York.

The USS New York is constructed from steel salvaged from the World Trade Center wreckage. I was pretty excited to see a battle ship in our "back yard."

My Very First Loaf of Bread

Last Friday, I decided to make homemade bread for the very first time. Baking bread has always intimidated me, but I figured I'd give it a try. I consulted my three cookbooks and settled on a challah recipe I found in my Cook's Illustrated cookbook, given to me by my sister. After mixing up the dough, I was feeling quite smug at my bread-making abilities. Bread making seemed much easier than I thought it would be. After about an hour, I checked to see how far my dough had risen. To my surprise, the dough had not risen at ALL. I reviewed the recipe three times, wondering what I could have possibly done wrong. Finally, it dawned on me...

Instead of using instant yeast, as the recipe had called for, I had used active dry yeast, a slower acting yeast that must be activated in water before it is mixed in with dough. In a panic, I searched the internet for instructions on how to revitalize dough that fails to rise. I revitalized the dough with fresh, activated yeast. Thankfully, the dough rose as expected and baked up quite nicely.

The bread was a little heavier and flatter than I had expected, but considering my mistake, it wasn't that bad.

The bread also made excellent French toast. Yum!

More Wedding Photos #2

Below are more wedding photos (thanks to John's aunt).

SSA (Sister Separation Anxiety)

Before I moved to New York in June, my sister and I were roommates for nearly 3 years. Before that, we attended the same college; and before that, we lived in the same house for 18 years. Needless to say, my sister Adrienne is my best friend in the whole world (with the exception of my husband). It has been nearly five months since we lived in the same city- the longest we've ever lived apart. I'm really quite attached to her.

This is me and my sister circa 1986.

She was such a good big sister (except for the time she told me that witches and elephants lived in our laundry room. I'm not sure how a five year old cooked up that story, but it caused lasting damage. I'm still terrified of elephants.).

This is Adrienne and me just a few weeks ago, at my wedding rehearsal dinner. Adrienne was my maid of honor.

She's a keeper! And best of all, she's moving to New York!

More Wedding Photos

We're still waiting for our professional wedding photos, but here are a few more (courtesy of my uncle).

Pesto White Lasagna with Sausage, Spinach and Zucchini

Last night I attempted my own version of a white lasagna. Borrowing from several recipes, I ended up with the most delicious white lasagna I have ever tasted. Not too wet, not too dry, with a delicate pesto flavor and a little kick from Italian sausage.

This picture doesn't really do the lasagna justice- I should have taken a photo of a sliced piece. Oh well, next time!

This lasagna contains spinach, zucchini, Italian sausage, and onion. However, you could substitute chicken and other vegetables. Next time, I think I'm going to try it with chicken and artichoke hearts...maybe even sun dried tomatoes.

Warning: this recipe is a little time consuming. I would recommend doubling it and making two batches at once, one for the freezer.

Here's what you need:

9x9 baking pan

Filling:

1 package no boil lasagna noodles (If you're short on time, soften noodles in boiling water).

1 package fresh spinach

1/4 to 1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 tsp pesto

1 medium sized zucchini, sliced medium thin

1/2 medium sized white onion, chopped

3 Italian sausages (in casings)

1 tsp minced garlic

Shredded mozzarella cheese

Seasonings

Sauce:

3T butter

3T four

3 cups milk

Splash of white whine

1 tsp (generous) pesto

1/8- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Seasonings

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees

2. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Submerge spinach until just wilted (30 seconds), remove promptly and place in a bowl of cool water. Remove spinach from bowl, squeeze out excess water, and chop. Add to a small bowl with cottage cheese and 1 tsp pesto. Stir, lightly salt and pepper, and set aside.

3. In a frying pan, brown Italian sausage. Once cooked, remove and set aside to cool.

4. Saute onion and garlic in pan used to brown Italian sausage. When onion is semi-soft, add zucchini, a little bit of olive oil, and salt and pepper (or my favorite: Garlic Salt & Pepper seasoning). Saute until zucchini is fork-tender. Remove mixture and place in bowl.

5. Slice Italian sausage into thin disks. Return to frying pan and brown. This adds a nice flavor.

6. Meanwhile, begin making white sauce. Over medium heat, melt butter. Once butter is melted, add flour, whisking constantly until fully incorporated. Slowly add milk one cup at a time, until mixture is smooth. Turn heat up to medium high until mixture starts to boil. Continue whisking. Bring to a simmer, whisking frequently, until mixture reaches desired thickness (about 10 minutes). Add a splash of white white to thin sauce, if desired. Add plenty of salt and pepper, Parmesan, and pesto. Adjust seasonings as necessary.

7. Layer noodles, sauce, cottage cheese mixture, zucchini mixture, sausage, and shredded mozzarella in pan, finishing with a final layer of noodle, sauce, and cheese. Cover loosely with foil.

8. Bake in oven for 35 to 50 minutes, until bubbly. Remove foil for last 5 or 10 minutes. This will produce a nice golden, brown color on the top.