Spaghetti

You can bet the first thing the BF did was dump sausage and olives all over this. This was a total hodge podge of whole wheat pasta, sauce, halved cherry tomatoes, and bleu cheese (leftover from the dinner party).

The Dinner Party!

I will never be a food blogger. Preparing dinner is a blur (whether a quick week night meal or an elaborate feast). I don't remember to stop and photograph every dish. I may or may not grab the camera and capture the results before chowing down. Even if I do, I won't spend time with the lighting and arrangement to make my food pretty. What can I say, I love to cook, love to eat, but I don't get caught up on aesthetics.

I do occasionally remind the BF that I would REALLY appreciate it if he would take a few shots while I cook. He also does dishes... have I mentioned that he is a keeper? Also, he encourages the madness.

The Menu:
Appetizers: Sweet Spiced Nuts, brie, sausage, and crackers, sliced strawberries
Breadsticks
Roasted Asparagus
Stuffed Mushrooms
Choose your own adventure salad (spinach, strawberry dressing plus additional options, pine nuts, bleu cheese, parmesan). The strawberry dressing was definitely a unique addition. It did not pair well with the bleu cheese (too sweet), but it was excellent with slightly bitter greens.



Strawberry Dressing
(from New Classics from the Moosewood Restaurant ).

Combine the following ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.
1 cup fresh strawberries, cleaned and hulled
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp vinegar (white, regular, balsamic, or cider are suggested, I had red wine vinegar on hand, so I used that)
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp water
pinch of ground black pepper

Somehow I didn't manage to photograph my favorite part of the meal. The stuffed mushrooms were incredible and here is the recipe:

Portabellos w/ Herbed Nut Butter
(This is a modification of an appetizer from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook , the recipe itself leaves room for substitutions such as dried versus fresh herbs, but this is what I made)

6 portabellos (with stems), well cleaned
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup blanched almonds
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
3 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
5 tbsp butter
parmesan cheese

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (or 400 degrees if you are roasting asparagus, but be very careful, this is not the most sensible option). Oil a large baking dish. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop. Saute the onions for 2-3 minutes in a small pan, add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until softened. Remove from heat.
2) Place the remaining ingredients expect the parmesan in a food processor (notice the multiple uses of the food processor in the same meal... poor BF!). Process until smooth.
3) Place the mushrooms in the baking dish. Distribute the mushroom mixture evenly among the caps. Cover with the herbed butter (which will be quite thick). Sprinkle with parmesan. Bake 20 minutes until the mushrooms are thoroughly heated.

Brownie Pizza! I did not make this, but I am very very grateful to the woman who did! Adding peanut butter cups to brownies is inspired!


Did I mention that this dinner party was for four people? I definitely made way too much food, and to my disbelief, we ate almost all of it! I call that a successful evening.

Charlottesville

I went to Charlottesville, VA with a mission for mountains, hiking, good food, sunny days, and wine. Why Charlottesville? The BF had a meeting there and I couldn't resist the travel opportunity.

The Itinerary
Day One: Fly to Charlottesville. After wandering around campus, I decided that the highlights were the Rotunda and other buildings designed by Jefferson and the cemetery. Dinner that night with geeks (I see them once or twice a year and like them better every time).
Day Two: Head into the West Virginia mountains alone.
I met a friend at Greenbank, WV (famous for its radio telescopes) and enjoyed a day of geek tourism, catching up with an old friend, and hiking up a ridge overlooking the scopes. Unfortunately, electrical signals interfere with data taking at close range, so I only have this pic. Dinner that night was at The Mellow Mushroom (a southern pizza chain I've been dying to try). After all that hiking and driving, pizza and beer really hit the spot.

Day Three: Stone Mountain Winery.
The roads are not well marked, so I recommend taking their directions and a GPS. The last 5 miles are up a windy dirt mountain road and we made it there just fine, but we definitely got lost coming back. The picture at the top of this blog was taken at Stone Mountain Winery close to Shenandoah National Park. It was a wonderful place with delicious wine (we hauled back 3 bottles and our tasting glasses safely wrapped in our luggage). Gelato for lunch. That night we had dinner at Fellini's #9. It turned out to be an amazing spot with good wine, great service, and some of the best focaccia bread I've ever tasted.
Day Four: Monticello, Ashlawn, and Michie Tavern
I recommend visiting the homes of Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe. I enjoyed the Michie Tavern but it is a tourist spot indeed. I found that the tour guides at all of these sites were excellent. I feel as though I learned more about the American Revolution over my weekend that I ever did in school. It helped that I was reading a book called Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis. Last fall I read 1776 by David McCullough. That night dinner was at a place called Continental Divide. The BF had Bison meatloaf and I had a veggie burrito full of black beans, cheese, roasted mushrooms and peppers that came with a delicious pumpkin muffin. YUM!

Day Five: Tour the Rotunda, drive up to Montpelier, and head home.
I couldn't help but be inspired walking in James Madison's home. It is truly incredible to reflect on what a few men accomplished when founding this nation.

Eating at Maple Lane

This blog will frequently focus on food. I love to eat. Period. I am a vegetarian and self proclaimed Diet Girl who cooks a meal a couple of times a week.

The pizza was a little something I made at the last minute. The crust is homemade, but the sauce came straight from a leftover jar of pasta sauce (guilty!). The toppings are parmesan, gorgonzola, and roasted red bell peppers on my side with black olives and italian sausage for the BF.

The BF and I happily play vegetarian versus carnivore across the dinner table every evening. We laugh about this often, but it works. If I wasn't around, I think he'd eat every dinner from a box out of the freezer. When I cook, he chops up the sausage and olives, tosses it together, and enjoys the hell out of the meal. I try to keep cheese to a minimum, but almost everything else in the veggie world is fair game.

Our life on Maple Lane is happy. We laugh and love and make it work. It isn't perfect, but I wouldn't know what to do with perfect. As long as there is pizza and wine, I can't help but smile. Oh! and chocolate!

Welcome!

I'm a woman who loves to try new things.

This blog is intended to help me think about work, play, and everything in between. I'm a scientist and a teacher. I love adventures and travel. I love walking in the rain. I love cooking and eating. But mostly these days, I love staying home.

My current list of projects:
1) Dinner for six on Wednesday. So far the menu includes spinach and asparagus salad with a savory strawberry dressing, breadsticks, and a delicious chocolate dessert brought by a guest. I'm thinking stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer or stuffed portabellos for the entree. Perhaps a frittata is in order...
2) Getting together the paperwork for my Brazilian tourist visa. I'm going for 3 weeks in August!
3) Settling into my new office at school and picking out a research laptop.
4) Starting a class at the rec center tomorrow (aack!)
5) Understanding the software I work with well enough to get past my current sticking point.
6) Expanding my herb garden while keeping the bunnies at bay.

All in all... Life on Maple Lane.