A (Pork) Shoulder to Lean On

Dear Reader,

This past week and half has sped by so quickly. The holiday season is now over and I feel as if I never really got in the spirit, and now, it's too late. Our Christmas tree has been taken down, ornaments put away, and all of the holiday festivities are over. I always get a little blue from January - April, since these are the hibernating months in NYC. When winter really sets in and snow storms pass through overnight. When it's so cold that going out for a quick walk is just out of the question. The good news is that these are the perfect months for hearty stews and meats, roasted vegetables and even more dinner parties since going from house to house sounds so much nicer than going from venue to venue in the bitter cold.

Braised Pork Shoulder Goodness

Today, E and I decided to have a lazy day (these come all too often) and stay in instead of running much needed errands. We put on two pots of coffee, watched Sons of Anarchy and snuggled. Since we were staying in all day I decided to braise some pork shoulder in the oven, as inspired by a friend of mine when we visited her house. I've been trying to think of more dishes that could be made in bulk and saved for lunches and leftovers and affordable protein is always a plus. Pork shoulder (also known as pork butt) is relatively cheap at about $1.50-$2.00 per pound. For a healthier option, you can purchase pork shoulder raised without antibiotics for about $4.00-$4.99 per pound and still make a large amount without breaking the bank.

Braised pork shoulder is great because the actual prep time is very minimal, it's cheap, it can last for a long time, it's versatile and it's very difficult to mess up. I researched a few recipes and ended up making my own, but really, almost anything goes. This recipe is meant to be a guide, feel free to substitute with whatever you think will work. The Kitchn has a great post on the different ways to cook and use pork shoulder.

Quick Homemade Dinner - Thai Curry Night

Dear Reader,

Tonight was one of those nights that was so similar to every other weeknight. I got into my car and raced home, starving, stomach eating into itself and I was angry at the world for putting so many obstacles in between me and my next meal. This is what hangry looks like. Hungry + Angry = Hangry. That's me at 6:00 p.m. The stomach rumbles usually start rolling in at around 4:00 p.m. where I then reach into my stash of Trader Joe's trail mix. By the time I'm on the road I've become an entirely different being. This. is. serious.

Nights like these mandate meals that are quick and easy to prepare, yet are still healthy, delicious and filling (for the very hungry man that lives with me). One such meal is my version of Red Thai Curry, a dish that is seemingly complex but is actually quite simple. Prep time is about 20 minutes (give or take) and ingredients can all be found at your local grocery store. Except for one ingredient, fish sauce, that is usually found in any Asian market.

Red Thai Curry
Makes enough for 3-4 bowls

Ingredients

1 14 oz. can of coconut milk (I use light coconut milk - you can use regular)
1 tablespoon of oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 cup of broth (chicken, beef or vegetable. If you don't have broth, you can use water instead)
2 tablespoons of red curry paste (you might want to add more curry paste as you taste test)
2 tablespoons of fish sauce (you might want to add more fish sauce as you taste test)
2 chicken breasts, diced
Mixed vegetables (I like to use broccoli, squash and carrots, but you can substitute with whatever you like)

Start by opening the can of coconut milk and setting it aside. You will need to reach for this quickly in the early stages, you'll see. In a saucepan, pour in the the oil and wait until it gets hot on medium heat. Then add the minced garlic, stirring until aromatic. Add the red curry paste, stirring quickly until the paste begins to loosen and spread. Careful, the oil with the paste will start "popping" and you may get hot paste shooting out at you! I like to mix for a few seconds, then quickly pour in the can of coconut milk, the broth, fish sauce and bay leaves and close the lid. If you haven't diced the chicken yet, you can do so while the liquid goodness continues to heat. Once the chicken is diced, add it to the liquid and simmer. After about 6-8 minutes, add in the vegetables and continue to simmer. Squash tends to cook quickly and gets mushy, so if you want to put it in a minute after the harder vegetables, do so, however, I tend to just put everything in at once.

Thai Coconut Milk Curry

So much of this recipe depends on your preference for the curry flavor. Taste test after the chicken has been cooking for at least 8 minutes. I usually end up putting a bit more curry (1/2 tbsp) and sometimes a bit more fish sauce. Once the veggies are soft, turn off the heat. Pour over a bowl of brown rice (or white, up to you), mix, and eat. Bon appetite!

There are a lot of versions of this recipe out there and I have tried a few. But in my opinion, a lot of the additional fuss doesn't make a huge difference for me, especially if I want this to be an easy go-to meal during a weeknight (and during my hangry moments). You can substitute tofu for the chicken. I take this opportunity to pack on the vegetables and like to include snow peas, cauliflower, etc. since this is one of the ways I can trick E to eating more veggies, and since he is also eating the broth a lot of the nutrients are still being consumed. Basil, lime basil, bamboo shoots, bell peppers and potatoes are also some additional flavors and veggies commonly included.

What's for Dinner Tonight? Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts

Yum. It's Friday afternoon, the weekend is so close yet so far due to the unbearable amount of research and writing I have to do for the next few days. But it's ok. Who cares. The weekend is near! It's been a rough few weeks (few months, rather). Tonight is dinner plans with some girls from law school. I haven't seen them in a while so it's exciting to see what everyone has been up to for the last 3 years! Dinner, drinks and then a small show later on tonight. On another note, I was perusing Pinterest, like I usually do, and came across a recipe for Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts. Uh...drool? I want these immediately. I've been trying to "diet" because I've gained 10 pounds since my wedding. For a woman of my height, 10 pounds is not nothing. It's some serious packing and now I really need to lose some of the excess weight. This only makes me want to eat that chicken more. I think the original recipe is with pork, but chicken is an easy and healthier substitute. Happy eating! Maybe I'll try this on Saturday night when the bestie comes over and cuts my hair. Wine, chicken and hair cutting could be a bad combo. Or a really fun one! Have a great weekend!

You can find the recipe here: Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken Breasts

Paris in NYC

was starting to fall into a rut by the end of last week and needed something to cheer me up. I noticed that the Fiance was in this rut as well and so I thought, why not plan a special day for us, why not bring Paris to New York? We have been spending quite a bit of money lately, with the wedding, people visiting from out of town and graduations, and I wanted to keep the spending to a minimum, yet splurge. We found the perfect combo and had an amazing night out. Sigh...there is nothing like Paris.

Our first stop was at Le Grainne Cafe on 21st and 9th Ave. It's a very cute little cafe/bistro type with a ton of hustle and bustle and very delicious food. I had a chicken salad with ratatouille and the Fiance had a lamb sausage and peppers sandwich. Both were mouth wateringly delicious. I also really wanted the broccoli soup but they ran out. Poo.

Then began the adventure! We tried to watch the new Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris, at the Angelika theater but all the shows were sold out! So we raced over to the theater in Chelsea, and the show was sold out! So we got smart and fandango'd it and was able to get tickets for the theater on 3rd Ave near Bloomingdales, but there was a line that went around the block. In any event, the movie was great -- consistently entertaining and my favorite actors were featured, Marion Cotillard, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Carla Bruni (singer). Ok not my absolute favs but definitely up there.

We had so much fun, it was just what the doctor ordered. We ate well (including the snacks we snuck into the theater!) and we laughed and whispered throughout the movie and dreamt of another life when we could do this all the time. It was wonderful and I highly recommend it for when one has the case of the ruts. Or even just because.


{via Little Brown Pen}

Weekend Happennings

appy Easter! Although we had a very grey and rainy Saturday in New York, the city was filled with warm weather and plenty of sunshine on Easter. Thank goodness because we were due for a nice day and some promise of spring! On Saturday, I woke up bright and early, after having worked until 3 a.m., to hit the wedding shops, determined to find a dress. This whole dress shopping thing is supposed to be the most fun part of wedding planning, but for me, it's been just a pain. I really don't enjoy sorting through hundreds of dresses and trying things on one after the other...everything starts looking the same. I didn't have an "ideal" dress in mind, but had some sense of the shape and style. Too bad there are thousands upon thousands of dresses with the same style, yet almost nothing that was exactly right. Until....I found the one. I didn't know it was the one until a few minutes after trying it on, then leaving the store, then coming back to try it on one last time. But my sister just fell in love with it and so did I. I can't give much detail about the dress (the Fiance reads this!) but I found it at a little french boutique in the East Village, Atelier Merciel. The designer owns the shop and will be doing the fittings, etc., and the seamstress used to do Vera's dresses so I know I'm in good hands. The bonus is that the fabric is all imported from Paris and the francophile in me was totally suckered into that notion. It's overbudget, but it's beautiful. And the best part? My mom will be picking up the tab on this one and she didn't really give me a budget (although, I obviously couldn't go crazy, nor would I) but that totally made me think....I'm going to get the dress I love. I was debating between this one and a $350 preowned David's Bridal dress, which is also gorgeous but I hadn't seen it in person. All in all, I'm very happy and things worked out. A group of passerbys saw me in the dress and started cheering and applauding, giving their approval of the dress...and I was sold. It was a moment.

In other news, today we had an easy day...went to Easter service in the morning, then grocery shopping for Easter dinner. Dinner involved a LOT of red wine. We used almost 2 bottles just for cooking. My sister made a "drunken" risotto and I made Boeuf en Croute -- beef tenderloin coated in sauteed shallots, garlic and mushrooms, wrapped in puff pastry. Very easy, very yummy, and very elegant. Click here for the recipe. Mine was a bit odd shaped since the pastry puff was not cooperating with me. But you can get it to look like a nice loaf or pie shaped. Highly recommended for a dinner where you want to impress while doing minimum amount of work. Warning, the prep time is a bit long (around 1.5 hours) because the recipe requires you to refrigerate the beef and sautee. I chilled them for about half the required time, and it was fine.

What's For Dinner Tonight? Steak Night!

y wonderful Boyfriend decided that Saturday night would be steak night, prepared lovingly with his hands alone. I love these nights when he puts on his imaginary chef's hat, rolls up his sleeves, and gets in his cooking groove. We were doing a little bit of shopping in soho and headed to Dean and Deluca to pick up some steaks. It's quite expensive there but we were in the mood to splurge a little and grabbed some filets.

Please excuse my photos. Per usual, the pictures were taken in the evening with not the best lighting. I can promise you, the meal was scrumptious!

First, he seasoned the pieces with freshly ground sea salt and pepper. He later sprinkled a bit of olive oil over each and browned them in the cast iron skillet. After 2 minutes in the oven on each side, he placed a dab of butter and let them rest on teacup saucers, which were flipped upside down.

And voila! Coupled with a great bottle of red wine recommended by our wine specialist, we enjoyed a wonderful meal together.


Thanks babe. Once again, you remind me of how lucky I am to have a guy like you.