norfolk getaway

when the chef has a couple days off of work in a row — a rare, magical unicorn of an achievement during residency — we love to take little getaways. and now that we’re in baltimore, it’s amazing how many places are so close to us. a benefit of living on the east coast, i guess. we wanted to see the beach at least once before it got really cold, so we decided on a trip to norfolk, virginia. it’s only about four hours away — or three and a half episodes of this american life, which is how we calculate distance. there’s not much to do in norfolk, but there is a lot to eat. one of our favorite stops was a place called the handsome biscuit. it’s easy to see why.

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colorado wedding weekend

the chef and i spent the past week in his hometown of grand junction, colorado. we went for his sister’s wedding but it was so nice being able to spend time with family and friends we don’t get to see very often. between taking wedding photos and hiking, we spent a lot of time on the national monument… the perfect place to snap some iphone pics ; )

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savory zucchini galette

a couple weeks ago i shared a recipe for a cherry + peach galette. it was beautiful. it smelled like heaven. it was so warm and sweet and the crust was so flaky. but i was lying to myself. the chef has a sweet tooth like you wouldn’t believe: he’ll eat a whole pan of brownies in one sitting. but savory is more my style. i even carry salt on my keychain. and i love what galettes look like, with the folded over, pleated crust. i knew it had to become a staple in our kitchen. there are so many ways you can fill it, making it a staple has been très facile. the latest incarnation: this savory three cheese and zucchini galette.

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honeymoon part 4: the dreamcatcher guest house

when the chef told me he found the perfect place for us stay on our honeymoon, i imagined he meant a bottles of champagne, ocean front, infinity pool kind of place. i’ve never been so happy to be so wrong. undoubtedly the best part about our honeymoon in puerto rico was where we stayed. whether you do nothing else in pr, a trip here is worth it just to stay at the dreamcatcher guest house.

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honeymoon part 3: amazing views, even better coffee

one of the things the chef had to do when we were in puerto rico, was visit a coffee plantation. he searched high and low for a place that would let us come explore — and he found hacienda san pedro in jayuya. jayuya was about a three hour drive from where we were staying, up the most windy, mountainous roads of our lives. the chef and i are from colorado and west virginia, respectively, so that’s saying something. but the views from the top, they were worth a little car sickness ; )

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honeymoon part 2: whole fried fish and roasted pig skin

mmmmm typing that title made my mouth water. that’s not hyperbole. i want to go back in time and re-eat these meals. the chef and i love finding favorite restaurants in new cities. places we talk about going back to and tell our friends to try. menus we google and read even though we’re 900 miles away. here are two of those places.

i’ll start with lechonara los pinos.

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honeymoon part 1: exploring san juan

dear diary,

mom,

whoever is reading this: today marks three months since our wedding! so many things have changed in the last ninety days – new city, new jobs, new names. it’s like we’re completely new people. it’s kind of fun. if you ever feel in a rut, i’d suggest finding a life partner and moving to a city you’ve never been where you know no one. its pretty freeing. but that’s not the point of this. the point of this is to say somewhere in those ninety days, we also went on a fun-filled, food-filled honeymoon that we loved so much. we made so many memories that we want to save and be able to look back on, and share with people who might be interested (aka our moms + my aunt patty. hi aunt patty!). no recipes here, just utilizing our little chunk of the www as a digital scrapbook. ; ) we took a lot of pictures, so i’m breaking it down into a few posts, so this poor little blog doesn’t explode. first up, old san juan!

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our one year mochiversary (+dog cake recipe)

okay, if you would have asked me a year ago if i would ever make a treat for a dog, the answer would be a big fat obvious no. but that was before we got our sweet mochi. now, i am totally that person. and unapologetically so. in fact, so unabashed in my dog treat making, i’m sharing the recipe for a cake we made for our dog.

august 15 marked one year since mochi joined the family. he deserved it.

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pie style, jack!

you never know who you’ll run into on the avenue in hampden. i was grabbing coffee this morning, when i spotted rodney henry, the pie guy. he’s famous on food network for being a finalist on season nine of food network star, but he’s extra famous in baltimore for his restaurants, dangerously delicious pies.

he was a total gentleman when i said hi to him. i told him the chef was a huge fns fan – and he posed for a picture i could send him. seeing the pie guy reminds me, i need to go back to dangerously delicious and have another slice of their chicken tex mex. soooo good.

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feeling very french: cherry + peach galette

when your husband, who now works 16 hour days, 7 days a week, sends you a text message that says, “maybe you could try to make one of these today?”, you do it. the chef’s favorite thing in the world to do is cook. so, when he’s asking me to cook for him i imagine it as some sort of proxy cooking adventure where he is living vicariously through my flour scooping, cherry pitting experience. how could i deprive him?

what he asked for, was a galette. i recently – minutes after his text – learned that a galette is a flat, round, crusty french pie. all i have to say is, ette tarte est sacrément bon. (full disclosure: i google translated that, no clue if it means what i think it means. i’m from west virginia, i don’t speak french!)

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