On the Menu

Now that we're both home for a few weeks, I'm trying to plan out our week's dinner menu on Monday. I'm trying my best to keep our meals diverse and healthy (a good balance of meat, fish, veggies and carbs), cost-effective (only one meal that requires a lot of specialty ingredients) and creative (tasty and using up ingredients we have).

Monday - Wednesday (ravioli)

Monday's chicken lettuce wraps were our specialty meal for the week. I tend to shy away from cooking Asian food at home because I can never commit to buying the ingredients needed that I don't use on an everyday basis. Since I didn't have to buy too many other things for the rest of our meals this week, I bit the bullet and kind of splurged on buying everything needed for Monday's meal, which included rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, mirin, hot Chinese mustard and rice sticks. I should have gone without the rice sticks because they really don't add too much to the already delicious chicken lettuce wraps recipe (I used this copycat version of P.F. Chang's beloved appetizer). The recipe turned out great, and now that we've committed to all of the ingredients needed, I'm sure this will become a regular in our recipe arsenal. All those ingredients also allow us to expand into other new-to-us dishes, which is always fun.

Wednesday's salmon is one of Real Simple's 10 ideas for salmon recipes. I add parsnips because, well, I just love parsnips, and I also want to use up the last few we have in our fridge. For those that shy away from fish because it seems daunting to cook, I encourage you to try this recipe. It really couldn't be any more simple and low stress.

Salmon with Fennel and Carrots (and Parsnips!)

from Real Simple

1 sliced bulb fennel

1 large carrot

1 parsnip

1 sliced shallot

1/4 white wine

2 fillets of salmon

1 sliced lemon

salt and pepper

In a baking dish, toss fennel bulb, carrot, parsnip, shallot and white wine. Top with salmon; season with salt and pepper and top with lemon slices. Cover with foil and roast at 400 degrees until salmon is opaque, 30—35 minutes. 

Meet Me in Kansas City

There's times when you just need to be home, or some place as close to it as possible. I was feeling a little family sick last week and craved time with people we loved. Jonathan was driving back from Colorado so it was the perfect opportunity to meet each other in Kansas City and spend the weekend home with his family and our friends. 

Friday night we had dinner with Phil and Rachel at The Foundry in Kansas City's Westport area. The restaurant's main gig is an endless assortment of craft beers, so its specialty was a little lost on this non-beer drinking gal. Lucky for me, I could still enjoy its food. We have an unspoken duty to try soft pretzels wherever we eat, so that was a must eat as an appetizer. It didn't make the list of our top favs, as Jonathan pointed it out it might very well have been frozen at some point in its life (if you're curious, our current pretzels to beat are those from Flat Branch in Columbia and Dressel's Pub in the Central West End here in St. Louis. We accept any and all challengers). I had fish tacos as my entree—this recent Houstonian is missing her TexMex...bad! The tacos hit the spot for me with delicious fried fish and fresh pico. 

Abby joined us after dinner and we all played a new-to-us game called Six Word Memoir. The premise of this game was to write six word clues for each of six words on your individual card. Your teammates would then guess the people, places or things you described. Clue highlights included: "Don't bounce this democracy, eastern Europe" (Czech Republic) & "City in Africa not sure where" (Zimbabwe). Lesson learned from this game is that we could all use a refresher course on world geography. 

 

Philip and Rachel's adorable pup, Eudora

Saturday we grabbed lunch with Abby and Cameron at a fun and trendy burger restaurant called BRGR. We felt the need to sample every single one of their fry options (except onion rings). Abby and I then wisely split our entrees: Waldorf salad for me, chicken burger for her. Oh, and to top it all off, a chocolate shake. (Why do weekends fool me into thinking I can eat anything, and should eat anything, in sight?)

We then shopped around at an outlet mall and met Jonathan's parents at a new casino just to check it out and try our hand at Lady Luck. With $20 in hand, I had my first gambling experience. I wisely stuck to the $0.10-$1 slots so that I couldn't do too much damage in any given turn. I quickly got down to $5 only to climb back to $21.65 at a dime slot and then decide to pull the plug and end on a good note. Jonathan made $49 in one turn! So not too bad for us Klamms.

Dinner was at Cascone's where we over-ate (running theme?) yet again on some toasted ravioli, fried calamari, stuffed mushrooms, bread, caesar salad... and then an entree. The oversized sampler entrees ended up serving as our dinners the following night too (win-win!).

We caravanned back home Sunday afternoon, just in time to eat leftovers for dinner and settle in for Downton Abbey. It was a short but refreshing weekend full of food, laughter and catching up with people we love. 

Repurposing Leftovers

After a weekend of cooking every night (stir fry and crab rangoon on Friday, lasagna on Saturday and tacos on Sunday) I faced a week of leftovers on Monday. I've learned that I get a little bit of anxiety knowing I have leftovers sitting in the fridge because I worry it's going to go bad quickly, and I hate throwing food away (I think I got this trait from my dad who tends to take all leftovers from the fridge and make a hodgepodge addition to any meal). But after a few days of doing nothing but reheating meals in the microwave, I missed cooking.

On a related note, I also worry about wasting specialty ingredients. Case in point: the wonton wrappers from last Friday's crab rangoon. We only used half the package for that recipe, and rather than making another batch of crab rangoon tonight, delicious as they were, I excitedly remembered running across a recipe in this month's Cooking Light that used wonton wrappers for homemade ravioli.

To be fair, the wonton wrappers don't completely measure up to fresh pasta. But they are a great shortcut option and the combination of flavors in the filling and pesto are terrific. I'll make these again for sure. Actually, I have about 20 currently setting up in the freezer because there was no way I was going to go through 30 leftover wonton wrappers on my own. The filling was also more than I needed, so I'll probably enjoy it as a side to some meat course this week. The leftovers continue! It's a vicious little cycle, but somebody's gotta eat it.

Shortcut Butternut Squash Ravioli with Pesto
(recipe adapted from Cooking Light)

What you'll need:
1 butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded (Easier said than done! This is an exercise all on its own.)
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tbs. salted butter, melted
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
30 wonton wrappers
1 egg, beaten
Pesto (1 tbs. per 6-8 ravioli)
Olive oil (2 tbs. per 6-8 ravioli)
Cooking spray

What you'll do:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a foil-lined baking sheet with cooking spray and place squash halves cut sides down. Bake for 30 minutes (or until tender). Allow to cool before scooping out pulp. Mash the pulp and combine with oregano and butter in a bowl. Stir in Parmesan and salt and pepper to taste.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Spoon about 1 1/2 tsp. squash into center of each wrapper. Moisten edges of wrapper with the egg and fold in half to form triangle. Pinch edges together to assure a tight seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers.

When water comes to a boil, carefully drop 3-4 ravioli at a time into the pot. Cook 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat pesto and olive oil in a smaller pot. When ravioli are cooked, remove with slotted spoon and place gently into the pot with pesto and gently coat. Repeat with remaining ravioli. Arrange 6-8 ravioli on a plate and garnish with extra Parmesan, if desired. (**If, like me, you don't want to eat all of these at once, place single layer of uncooked ravioli in the freezer until frozen. Store in a plastic bag. Allow to thaw before cooking. Boil for 3-4 minutes.**)

Pic of the Week: His&Hers

*Every Friday I'll try to post a favorite photo that each of us snapped that week. They won't necessarily be feats of great photography. They're just snapshots (literally) of what we did any given week: a great meal we had, a funny circumstance that happened; nothing is off limits.*

HIS & HERS

We share the same favorite snapshot this week because we both love food and cooking, but even more, we love cooking together, which is exactly what we got to do tonight! Jonathan got back from his work travels yesterday, so it was nice to have a lazy night at home cooking and enjoying time together. I had already planned to make some teriyaki chicken and veggie stir fry, but Jonathan had the added brilliant idea of making homemade crab rangoon. They were quite easy to make, and because we baked them instead of frying, I'd like to think they were not terribly unhealthy. 

Crab Rangoon

1 8 oz. pkg 1/3 less fat cream cheese

1 4 oz. can crabmeat, drained (we used Chicken of the Sea brand)

2 green onions, green ends cut finely

2 tsps. Worcestshire sauce

1/2 tsp. light sodium soy sauce

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

36 wonton wrappers

Duck sauce, for dipping (optional)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until creamy. Place 1 tsp. of filling onto the center of each wonton; moisten the corners with water and fold up opposite sides (we tried other shapes but this was the most successful one for us...plus it holds the most filling!). Arrange the rangoon on the baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Bake until golden brown, approx. 15 minutes. Serve with duck sauce. 

Happy cooking!

42 Hours in St. Louis

It's so special to get to have friends visit, especially when I'm still getting the hang of this "make new friends in a new city" thing ;) Jennifer took the train in from Chicago on Friday night. It was a short visit, but I'd say we used our time to its fullest (and foodiest!) 

9:30 a.m.

On Saturday morning we took a nice walk down the street to Kaldi's for some coffee and delicious scones. We were lucky to have temperatures in the 50s for half of the day. 

11:30 a.m.

I had compiled a list of places I wanted to explore while she was here, and our first stop was Soulard Farmers Market in downtown St. Louis.

Even though it's the dead of winter, it was so great to see fresh (& cheap!) fruits and vegetables at more than 20 different vendors. There was also fresh bread and pasta and a dangerous candy and chocolate station. We bought some peanut butter chocolate pretzels that were pretty tasty. And then we found some mini donuts, which we of course also had to sample, and those too were tasty. Pretzels, mini donuts —they're small snacks right? :) We paced ourselves for the rest of our eating exploration. 

2 p.m.

Next we headed to the Central West End since the nice weather was still holding up (but not for long). We explored a few book stores and boutiques and grabbed lunch at Dressel's Pub. After a long deliberation of what to order, I think we made a very wise choice: soft pretzel with rarebit sauce (because you can't go to this place without ordering that), sweet potato & smoked gouda tart with salmon and fennel salad, and a citrus salad with romaine, oranges, grapefruit, avocado, shaved parmesan and a delicious, I-want-to-replicate-this basil vinaigrette. Sharing everything left us just the right amount of full and kept the guilty feelings at bay.

5 p.m.

The weather took a turn as soon as we left the pub; cold rain drenched us on the way to the car. So we headed to Redbox, rented The Words and People Like Us and took refuge back at my place for a few hours. Both movies were good, although The Words leaves you with some questions. 

8 p.m.

Our late-night dinner consisted of delicious pizza at Katie's Pizza (thank you to my friend Emily who introduced me to this gem only blocks from our place). We did the sharing bit again and enjoyed a pizza with half artichokes, prosciutto and mozzarella and half sun-dried tomato, pesto, pulled chicken and goat cheese. Both were plain delicious. We finished the night with our second movie and sangria at home (now that the cold rain was threatening to become an "icy glaze" in a matter of hours).

Speaking of sangria —or what can't really be called true sangria so will henceforth be named Resourceful Girl's Sangria —it was good! I mentioned on Friday that I was going to throw a few things together with some leftover zinfandel and hope for the best. The not-so-precise ingredient list ended up being: 3/4 bottle zinfandel, 1/4 cup 7-Up, splash of lime juice, juice of 1 orange and 1 sliced orange. Missing were the brandy and triple sec, but it was a refreshing and a fruity drink.

11 a.m.

Sunday the gastronomy tour of St. Louis continued! The first time I visited Jonathan in St. Louis we went to the Missouri History Museum's restaurant, Bixby's, for their Sunday champagne brunch, and it's still one of my favorite special things to do. It combines my love for food and museums beautifully. Plus, the food is prepared with seasonal and mostly local ingredients. And it's a buffet-style, so gorge to your heart's content (this is where sharing food all of Saturday really paid off!)

 

12:30 p.m.

After brunch we enjoyed an exhibition downstairs about the history and evolution of women's undergarments, titled Underneath it All. More on this in a later post because there's too much to say about it. It was fascinating and really made us think about women's fashion, rights, societal roles, and so much more. Plus, there was a dress up station at the end of the exhibit —I couldn't resist that!

3 p.m.
After the museum we walked around the Galleria for a bit before I had to drop Jennifer off at the train station.

I had so much fun exploring the city with a friend this weekend and also getting to show her pieces of our new lives here. To all our potential future weekend visitors: book your weekend now at Casa Klamm; you won't be disappointed! 

Pic of the Week: His and Hers

*Every Friday I'll try to post a favorite photo that each of us snapped that week. They won't necessarily be feats of great photography. They're just snapshots (literally) of what we did any given week: a great meal we had, a funny circumstance that happened; nothing is off limits.*

HIS

Jonathan has been traveling for work this week in that sexy van shown above, known as BEV. While he was in Salt Lake City a good few inches of snow fell. I guess if he has to be away from home he should at least get to enjoy some wintery weather ;)

HERS

Last Friday night we celebrated the engagement of two of our good friends, Jim and Sara. I don't know about you, but I love celebrating engagements, especially when we know the couple individually and together. I also love this photo collage because you can see how much we admired our unplanned complementary outfits;) Hooray for wedding planning, Sara! I'm so very excited for you two.

~*~

Happy Friday, all! Sad to not be spending the weekend with the hubby, but I'm very excited to have a friend coming to visit from Chicago tonight. I have a list of places I want to go while she's here (love having an exploration buddy). I'll report back next week on what we discovered. 

I'm also about to attempt to salvage the remnants of a bottle of red that we opened last week and try to make an impromptu red sangria. We'll see what 7Up, orange slices, lime juice and zinfandel tastes like... 

Out&About: St. Louis Public Library

Something fun about moving to a new city is getting to know its history. I feel like St. Louis has an especially rich history, thanks in part to the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. This city has some of the most beautiful historic neighborhoods, parks and architecture. 

Ever since we moved here I've been eager to visit the newly restored public library in downtown. A friend and I took a docent-led tour on Monday to learn more about its history {{I'm so thankful for fellow history and architecture nerds buffs.}}

Originally opened on January 6, 1912, the library was designed by architect Cass Gilbert, who also designed the U.S. Supreme Court and the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park (coincidentally also going through an expansion right now). The library was built during the City Beautiful movement, a philosophy of North American architecture that took off during the early 1900s. The movement promoted the idea that beautiful buildings fostered a better community and a higher quality of life. It sounds superficial and idealistic, but I love this idea - I think beautiful architecture is a great, uplifting asset of a community. 

The ceiling drawings in the main entryway include portraits of St. Louis' namesake Louis IX, Johanes Gutenberg and even the man who invented paperbacks (thank goodness for him). 

The Great Hall is a breathtakingly beautiful room. The room used to be where visitors waited while librarians tracked down their books in the stacks. The library tables are original to the old building (which made me think of our darling table), as are many of the light fixtures. 

The floor of the Great Hall (left) was modeled after the marble floor in the Pantheon in Rome (right). 

Each room in the library is dedicated to a subject area, from law and government to performing arts and sports. My favorite? The fine arts room! Not only are there books on art, but you can also check auction records to see the value of your personal collection, however large or small.

Each room also has tapestries made with images of the room's subject matter. 

Look up in the room holding current novels and be inspired by some great literary quotes (and also feel like you're watching the opening scene of Star Wars, am I right?).

The room that made my heart extra happy was the children's books. Quotes from Winnie the Pooh, The Giving Tree and countless other kids' classics decorate the walls. My other favorite feature were some awesome reading nooks (or jungle gym depending on the visitor) - a sort of heaven for anyone that loves to curl up with a good book. 

The area of the library that used to house the stacks of books is now open and airy. 

        

White brick and glass walls give this section a contemporary aesthetic in comparison to its adjoining historical structure. Appropriately enough, it contains the more contemporary tools of information: computers. And coffee. Okay, so coffee is not an information tool exactly, but it has come to be an essential expected component of a great reading experience. The area seems to nod to its past while also making way for the information platforms of the present and future.

--

I encourage you to grab a friend and explore your city a bit. Whether you're new to town or have lived there for years, pretend you're a tourist now and then and check out the highlights of what your city has to offer. I promise you'll gain a new appreciation for your community and feel more a part of it.

Nesting: The Kitchen Table

Nesting is one of the most exciting parts of starting a new life together. It's a work in progress, but I can now say that all the big items have found a place in our new home. This weekend's latest addition was a big accomplishment in a drawn out decision: kitchen table + chairs.

The table itself was a big accomplishment. We bought one last weekend after months of indecision (I was the indecisive one, really; if it wasn't for Jonathan we'd still be eating here, which is a step up from the couch and coffee table we ate at the first few weeks).

I wish I had a "before" photo to show you the empty space that taunted me for two months saying "Fill me with a beautiful table that you can't decide on!" First we wanted something rustic, like a barn table, but then we started thinking we would get tired of the style or it wouldn't really fit in with our current space. When we decided on a basic table from Crate & Barrel it turned out to be discontinued and impossible to find anywhere (just our luck). Then we were on a mission to find a slate-top table, and we almost convinced ourselves to drop a small fortune on this gem we found at a local boutique.

We wandered through countless antique and consignment shops on a mission to give new life and a new home to an old find. I got pretty discouraged along the way, not really being able to pin down the exact "look" I was on the hunt for. Then we found this guy, an old library table, at Roots.

It caught Jonathan's eye right away, but I wasn't so sure (self reflection: I am very indecisive about home decor). So we left the store and carried on our search. A few weeks later, when we still hadn't found anything we liked more, we returned. Jonathan was ready to pull the trigger, but I still couldn't do it (the sweet sisters that own the store were very understanding about my indecision). The holidays came and went and nothing filled the table space in our home.

Until the weekend before New Years. I finally listened to reason (Jonathan) and was ready to make the commitment. With our luck, I prepared myself to the idea that the table would be gone. But it wasn't; we were meant to be its home!

The surface of the table had some scratches and water rings, but after Jonathan gave it some TLC (Old English wood polish), it looked good as new, while still retaining its aged character. I really do love it. The drawers are one of my favorite features because they offer extra storage (something you could always use more of, right?).

Next came the challenge of finding chairs. All along we wanted two arm chairs on the ends, a bench on one side and two regular chairs for the opposite side. We searched far and wide for such an arrangement with not much luck. We ultimately decided against the bench because we thought it would make the overall look too heavy and bulky. Instead we found four white chairs at Pier 1.

Mission accomplished! I love the white because it breaks up all the dark wood we have in our living area and it matches the white molding throughout the space. It's still the mismatched/complementary look we were searching for. Our next step is finding some seat cushions (or fabric to make our own). The end chairs aren't an immediate need so we'll table that decision for now (pun not intended, but I'll take it).

For now we're excited to start building memories around this table: nightly meals, dinner parties, game nights. And one day, when we're ready for a different table, I love that it can return to its original purpose as a library table or writing desk.

Stay tuned for more adventures in nesting.