How Do You Measure a Visit?

One of our nearest and dearest paid us a visit this weekend. As Abby herself said, the cool thing about her visiting us is that she's one of both of our good friends (but I kind of like to hog her to myself ;).

We kicked off the weekend on Friday night with dinner at Pi. We were blessed with an unusually warm Friday (70 degrees, people!) and enjoyed wonderful food and drinks sitting al fresco.

When I started thinking about the rest of our weekend, the number two seemed to come up a lot, so I'll let it do the talking for me:

2//new restaurants tried

brunch @ Half & Half
Fitting enough to the name, Abby and I shared half and half of our entrees (it's becoming a regular thing and I love it!). Biscuits and gravy with scrambled eggs & a Waldorf salad with chicken. A perfect brunch combination shared over great conversation among the three of us.

dinner @ Seoul Taco
The Loop is overflowing with tucked away, ethnically-diverse, local eateries, and we're just beginning to take advantage of them. This place boasts just a few menu options, but those few are just enough. I opted for a pork taco & steak taco with Kimchi fried rice (all great) and Abby and Jonathan went for the burritos (which they raved were borderline as good/better than Chipotle...whoa!)


2//goodies baked

salted caramel chocolate chip cookies - Abby's recommendation, our gluttonous delight (recipe)

soft pretzels - Yes, those same pretzels I've mentioned a million times before. Go make them already!


2//people loved re-watching Pitch Perfect

One guess as to who didn't love it as much? :)


2//games of Pandemic lost

What's there to say: we didn't cure all four diseases in time to save the world. Twice. Sorry, world. But it doesn't mean we won't try again.

Mediterranean Diet

Happy Friday! Because it's Friday during Lent, that means meatless Friday for us Catholics. As much as I love veggies and meatless dishes, I admittedly always scratch my head when it comes to thinking of lunches and dinners for this time of year. My go-to meatless dish is usually my favorite creamy salmon pasta. We made that last week, and even though I could eat that every single week, we probably shouldn't... but it is so good! I've posted the recipe on blogs of years past, but I'll repost it sometime because it is beyond simple to make. So for dinner J suggested some sort of pasta and salad. So pesto pasta it is! Easy enough. That leaves me with lunch.

Because it's still very much winter here, soup comes to mind. Specifically lentil soup. There was a story in The New York Times this week about a study that the New England Journal of Medicine published about the heart-healthy benefits of a Mediterranean diet (it fights against heart attacks and strokes). The story appealed to me because I grew up on a fairly Mediterranean diet (how could Italians not?). The story mentioned ingredients that are staples in my family's kitchen: olive oil, legumes, nuts, fish, fresh produce and (my favorite) dark chocolate. I feel like most people recognize the health benefits of a majority of these ingredients, but whether or not they are implemented into our diets is another thing. [Wonder how well you fit into the Mediterranean approach? The NYTimes offers this quiz, which I took ... and failed. Looks like we could all use a little more olive oil and fish in our lives.]

I think the ingredient that is trickiest on that list is possibly legumes (aka beans!). Again, in my family it was just another main staple—pasta e fagioli (pasta & beans), pasta e ceci (pasta & chick peas), lenticchie (lentil soup). Come to think of it, a lot of what I consider "my comfort foods" are tied up in legumes. Bonus: they're rich in fiber, filling and so darn good for you! So here is my mom's recipe for lentil soup that is sure to keep you warm and full on a cold winter day (and get you one step closer to a Mediterranean-rich diet!)

Lenticchie

Prep + cooking time: Approx. 2 hours // Servings: at least 4

What you'll need:
2 large carrots
2 stalks of celery
1/2 white onion
2 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
8 oz. dried lentils
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
Chicken broth or 2 bouillon cubes boiled in 1-2 qts. water to dissolve
1 bay leaf

What you'll do:
First, you need to make a soffrito (the "holy trinity" of Italian cooking: chopped carrots, celery and onion). Put the three ingredients in a food processor and pulse to finely chop.

In a stock pot, heat olive oil and then add soffrito and cook until golden and onion is translucent. Add lentils and stir for a minute to coat with soffrito. Add diced tomatoes.

At this point, add 4 cups of chicken broth (make sure it's also warm so it doesn't stunt the cooking of everything). Allow to simmer. Add bay leaf. When the broth has been consumed, continue adding 1-2 cups at a time. Simmer for 1-1.5 hours, or until lentils are tender. Serve with bread.

Top off the meal with a glass of red wine and a piece of dark chocolate—doctor's orders!