recipe: peach sangria

This sangria recipe, which I made most recently for brunch after the marathon, is phenomenal. The recipe is simple: wine, peach schnapps, frozen lemonade concentrate and fruit. The frozen lemonade makes the drink sweet, and the schnapps gives it good fruit flavor. Your early-morning alcohol shouldn't be overwhelmingly booze-tasting, right?

I got this recipe from Camille a couple of years ago, and it's never failed to impress. It's the best sangria I've ever had, for sure.

Peach Sangria

• 1 bottle dry white wine
• 3/4 cup peach schnapps
• 6 tablespoons frozen lemonade concentrate
• peaches, apples, grapes, strawberries or other fruit of your choice

In a large pitcher, combine wine, schnapps and lemonade concentrate. Add fruit. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight to blend flavors.

recipe: camille's mango lassi

Tony and I spent last Saturday evening at Camille and Matt's house, chowing down on some amazing homemade Indian food and playing Cards Against Humanity.

Let me first talk about Cards Against Humanity. Then I'll get to the Indian food.

Camille and Matt ordered the game for Tony and me for Christmas, but it's been on backorder, so we've been anxiously awaiting the day it would arrive. That day came. The box says it's "a party game for horrible people." Couldn't have said it better myself. The premise is simple. Every round, a black card is turned over. The black card has a phrase on it with one word blank. Then everyone has to fill in the blank with one of the white cards from their hand. Funniest card wins. It's inappropriate and dirty and simply awesome. I hate to say it, but I think I like it even more than I like Clue. And I love love love Clue. Check it out if you want to treat yourself or if you're in the market for a gift for a friend who happens to be a horrible person.

Anyway, back to Indian food. This was quite a feast we had. Matt made a spicy tomato-garbonzo bean dish and a tofu-spinach dish. There was basmati rice, naan and samosas. AND mango lassis. As you can see, I did not go home hungry:

Camille was the brains behind these lassis. They're simple and healthy, and I highly recommend them, either for an Indian food dinner party or even for an evening snack.

Camille's Mango Lassi

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup frozen mango
• 1/2 cup ice

Combine all ingredients in blender and process until smooth.

And because Camille is awesome, she made a dairy-free version for me, substituting soy yogurt and almond milk. YUM.

recipe: chocolate olive oil cake

Tony and I had a very festive weekend. Sunday we had Christmas brunch with Mike, Jen and Jamie -- and Saturday we celebrated with Camille and Matt. Even Victor got in on the gifts. And as you can see, he has been a very good kitty this year. Camille and Matt brought him a fish made of sparkles and feathers that he's been carrying around the house ever since.

For dessert on Saturday night, I made a chocolate olive oil cake with vanilla frosting. 

This is my go-to chocolate cake. Also, I think some kind of magic happens in this recipe with baking soda and vinegar to make the cake rise. You don't need eggs or dairy for this cake, so you can make it completely with ingredients in your pantry.

Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

• 3 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups water
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix dry ingredients in a stand mixer bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the wet ingredients.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients, and mix until no lumps remain.

Grease and flour two 8-inch round pans or a 9-by-13-inch pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-43 minutes in the round pans for 40 minutes in the large pan. Cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean.

Once cake pans are cool to the touch, turn out the cakes and let cool completely on a wire rack.

If making a two-layer cake, use a bread knife to cut the top of off one of the layers. 

Frost with the vanilla frosting recipe below. Stick sheets of parchment paper under the cake while you're frosting it, so the plate is tidy after you remove your parchment paper.

Vanilla Frosting (for a two-layer cake)

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• up to 3 tablespoons milk

Combine powdered sugar, butter and vanilla in a stand mixer bowl. Add milk, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, until frosting is a spreadable consistency.

life: halloween candy & halloween puppy

As I type this, Tony is outside cleaning the gutters. He's also raking up leaves, so they don't crowd the drain and flood the backyard. The wind is starting to pick up. It's getting chilly. The hurricane is on its way.

And we are now fully stocked with Halloween candy. Always be prepared. I couldn't remember how many pieces we gave out last year, but it was in the hundreds. I got 280 this year. Hopefully I estimated correctly.

And speaking of Halloween, Tony, Jamie and I stopped by Camille and Matt's house this afternoon to meet their new, 12-week-old puppy, Ducky. Who is going as a distinguished gentleman for Halloween. How cute is this guy.

I tried to convince Tony that Victor should get a Halloween costume when we were at Target getting the candy. He said no. He doesn't believe in dressing up animals. I, however, think it's adorable if the animal's into it. And Ducky clearly is into it.

things to do: virginia apple picking

Tony and I woke up on the Columbus Day holiday, hopped in the car, stopped to pick up Camille and Matt, and headed out on I-66 West for a day of apple picking and wine tasting. We got to Stribling's Orchard in Markham, Va., around lunchtime and grabbed a picnic table at the top of a hill, which had this spectacular mountain view:

What a view to see when eating a picnic lunch. (The food, by the way, was delicious. Camille and Matt packed falafel and hummus wraps with feta, tomatoes and cucumbers. And a baguette with cheese and grapes. And pumpkin bread. And there may or may not have been a little wine in red plastic cups.)

Once our bellies were full, we started roaming the orchard, scouting trees that were still picking. We're well into apple season, so some of the trees were already all gone. But there were still plenty of apples left, especially York, Rome and Golden Delicious.

The picking technique required the use of a contraption on a long stick that's capable of reaching the tops of the trees. Which was fun to use, clearly.

(Yes, I am wearing my awesome jean jacket in that photo. I finally broke it out -- it's officially fall.) 

You know what else is awesome? Hot apple cider.

So once we had our fill of apples, the four of us got back in the car and drove just down the street to a winery called Chateau O'Brien. We had our wine on the patio in front of a fire, again overlooking the mountains. It was a good daylong escape from the city and a nice way to spend the holiday.

Apples cost $1.50 a pound at Stribling Orchard, and it's about an hour and 15 minutes from D.C.

<3

From the archives:

things to do: maryland berry picking

recipe: apple pie bars

Before Camille and Matt came over for the ultimate macaroni and cheese experience, I was playing around on Facebook and saw photos that my friend Jennnifer posted of homemade apple pie bars. And they looked so good that decided to add them to the menu for that evening. They ended up tasting as good as they looked in her photos. They're sweet. They're tart. They taste like fall.

So I got the recipe from Jennifer on Facebook, who got it from a blogger at A Little Bit Crunchy A Little Bit Rock and Roll, who originally read it in an old church cookbook. I commend those church ladies for coming up with a delicious fall apple recipe, and I commend social media for giving this recipe some legs.

Apple Pie Bars

Adapted from A Little Bit Crunchy A Little Bit Rock and Roll

• 2 1/4 cups flour, divided
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup butter, cut into pieces
• 4 cups apples, peeled and sliced
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• lemon juice as needed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

In a food processor, add 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, egg yolks, and butter. Pulse until butter is the size of peas.

In a medium bowl, add apples, remaining 1/4 cup flour, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, and cinnamon. Mix until apples are coated.

Press half of the crumb mixture into prepared pan. Add apple mixture. Sprinkle remaining crumbs on top and pat lightly.

Bake 40 minutes. Let cool completely. 

To prepare the glaze, put 1 cup powdered sugar in a small bowl. Mix in lemon juice, 1 teaspoon at a time, until glaze is thick yet pourable. Drizzle over cooled bars.

I liked the lemon flavor that the glaze added, but Tony thought it was too much, too sweet. So next time I'm going to make a light glaze with only 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Up to you how much sweetness you like.

recipe: macaroni and cheese

I've missed you, dear oven!

The knob on my oven has been set firmly in the off position since the spring. But now that the weather has cooled down, I've been taking full advantage of this great appliance. Bread. Pizza. Enchiladas. And when Camille and Matt came over for dinner Saturday evening, I decided to bake a macaroni and cheese casserole. 

The Internet contains approximately 1 million recipes for macaroni and cheese that all have various combinations of noodles, cheddar cheese, milk, bread crumbs, and assorted other ingredients. I know this because I googled the phrase "macaroni and cheese recipe" and quickly was overwhelmed with all of the choices. I ended up abandoning the Internet entirely and started sorting through my cookbooks, where I figured the experts on American cuisine couldn't possibly lead me astray. I decided to try the recipe in James Beard's American Cookery, which is a new addition to my cookbook collection. I've been wanting to try something out of this book, and macaroni and cheese certainly fits squarely in the category of "American cookery." I bought the book earlier this month for 50 cents at the Northeast Library book sale. And let me tell you, that that was 50 cents well spent.

I went for a Southern-ish theme for dinner and served the macaroni and cheese with almond green beans and cornbread. With bourbon in my glass. For dessert: apple pie bars. (I'll post the cornbread and apple pie bar recipes soon!)

Here's my take on the American Cookery recipe. I made several changes to the original recipe, including the amount of cheese. As I was assembling the casserole, it quickly became clear that 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cheese just wasn't going to cut it.

Macaroni and Cheese

Adapted from James Beard's American Cookery

• 2 cups macaroni
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 splashes of Tabasco
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• generous amount of breadcrumbs

Butter a 2-quart baking dish.

Boil macaroni for the minimum cooking time. My box called for 9-11 minutes, and I boiled for 9 minutes. Drain.

For the white sauce, melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and cook for a few minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan, heat milk to the boiling point. Add milk to the butter-flour mixture. Add salt and Tabasco. Sauce will start to thicken. Cook on medium-low, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes.

In the prepared baking dish, add half of the macaroni, spread half of the white sauce, and add half of the cheese. Then add the rest of the macaroni, the rest of the white sauce, and then the rest of the cheese. Top with a generous amount of breadcrumbs. You can make your own breadcrumbs, but I used store-bought Italian-seasoned crumbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Then put under broiler on high for 2 minutes.

The good news for you is that you no longer need to scour the Internet, wondering which macaroni and cheese recipe to choose. You've found it.

It. Was. Delicious.

<3

After dinner, the four of us competed in a game of Goggle Eyes. Which is as fun as it sounds. Camille and Matt originally read about the game in The Washington Post's Kids Post. But it's very easily converted into an adult game. Just add the aforementioned bourbon.

It's like Pictionary in that you draw a picture from a prompt on a card and try to get your partner to guess what you're drawing. Only you're wearing extremely funny glasses with lenses that distort your vision. Here's Tony, handsome as always, even with those glasses:

day trip: fredericksburg, va.

In theory, the trip to Fredericksburg, Va., was supposed to be a little over an hour. A quick day trip from D.C., right? But I-95 never cooperates with my plans. It's stop and go, any time of day, for no apparent reason. 

So Tony, Camille, Matt and I finally got to Fredricksburg about lunchtime. It's one of those cute downtowns. Reminds me a lot of Old Town Alexandria. 

First on the agenda: food. Specifically, Foode. Tony had scoped out this cute little restaurant, and we had brunch. It was about a million degrees in the restaurant, which didn't have AC, so we ate outside in the nice courtyard. 

Tony's raved about his chicken salad sandwich and potato salad: 

As did Camille, over her chicken and egg on a biscuit: 

 

I have to keep my eyes peeled for wide-mouth Ball jars that I can use for glasses. Aren't these the perfect things to drink iced tea out of? 

Second stop: antiquing. Fredericksburg has a handful of pretty nice little antique shops and malls. But it also has a few less-than-impressive stores. I had to leave a couple of them right away because they just smelled so bad. Part of the fun for me at antique stores is discovering nice pieces and then getting a good deal on them. I found a lot of nice pieces in Fredericksburg, but I didn't spy any good deals. Everything was about 30 percent more than I would pay. 

And third agenda item for the day: a Civil War battlefield. The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought here in 1862, and it was one of the big victories for the Confederates. We took a several-miles-long drive through the battlefield, stopping at a few spots to read the signs and take photos. Confederate trenches were visible right next to most of the road. Here's a photo of the trenches, taken at the spot where the battle ended. It's kind of amazing these things haven't eroded away.  

And then, we got back on I-95. Seriously, someone should do something about this road. 

recipe: fried squash

Hello there, squash. So nice to eat you. 

I picked the first squash from my garden this week, and Tony and I ate it as a side dish with our Fourth of July dinner. In true American fashion, I took this completely healthy vegetable ... and fried it. 

Fried Squash

• 1 medium yellow squash
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup cornmeal 
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil for frying

Slice squash to desired thickness, around 1/4-inch to 1/8-inch. Whisk egg in bowl, and dip squash into egg wash. In separate bowl, mix cornmeal, salt and pepper, and coat squash with cornmeal.  

Heat olive oil in large frying pan over medium heat, and fry squash until golden brown, a few minutes per side. Remove from frying pan and set on paper towels to drain excess oil. One medium squash will make enough for 2 to 3 people as a side dish.  

There's the finished product, accompanying burgers and potato salad.

<3

Tony and I took advantage of the mid-week holiday to catch up on Season 4 of True Blood on DVD. Then we made the best of the hot weather by going for a swim at Camille and Matt's place. Where we were greeted by Gibbs, who is a patriot indeed. 

After dinner, Tony and I walked over to Lincoln Park, where folks were setting off very large firecrackers right in the park, which was slightly alarming but also cool. We also had a pretty decent view of the Capitol building and the National Mall fireworks show. You can see both shows in this photo:   

Happy Fourth of July!

entertaining: berries and brunch

The beauty of Sunday's brunch was its simplicity. Granola with Greek yogurt and fresh blueberries and strawberries. Hard boiled eggs. Raspberry lemonade. Tony and I woke up Sunday morning, put everything in serving bowls, and, voila, instant brunch with Camille and Matt. 

The raspberry lemonade was the only homemade part of the brunch. It's pink, which is fun. And it's a nice summer drink, a good combo of sweet and tart. 

Raspberry Lemonade

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 6 ounces raspberries
• 8 lemons
• 4 cups water

Combine sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan, and heat on low until sugar dissolves, making a simple syrup. Cool. 

Puree raspberries in a food processor. Strain the berries to separate out the seeds. Discard the seeds. 

Juice the lemons.

Combine simple syrup, raspberry puree, and lemon juice in a large pitcher. Add 4 cups water. Chill and serve over ice. 

recipe: brigadeiros

I impressed myself with these little chocolate candies. They definitely taste amazing, but they also look so darn good. It's not very often that what I make looks just as good as the picture in the cookbook.

Brigadeiros are a Brazilian chocolate candy, named after a World War II brigadier who popularized the bite-sized treats, and now they're served at birthday parties.  

It was too hot to turn on the oven in our house last week, and the recipe, which I adapted from America's Test Kitchen, cooks on the stovetop, so I gave it a try. 

Brigadeiros

• 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• sprinkles (about 2 ounces) 

In a saucepan, mix the three ingredients. Cook on low heat, stirring frequently with a spatula, for 20-25 minutes. 

Cool chocolate in a greased 8-by-8 dish in the refrigerator for at least a half hour. 

Roll the chocolate into balls, using about 1 tablespoon of chocolate per ball. 

Pour sprinkles into a small bowl. Roll each ball into the sprinkles to coat completely. Makes 32 candies. Store in the refrigerator.

<3

This batch of brigadeiros turned out to be a threefer. I put out part of the batch when Ben and Mandy came over for cocktails Friday. I put some more out for brunch Sunday for Camille and Matt. And the rest I packaged up to bring to Scott and Michele when we met their new baby, who is absolutely adorable. Don't you agree? Introducing ... Baby O!  

shopping: sapore

Olive oils from Sapore may be my go-to gift from now on. Tony and I stopped in this store for the first time Saturday to pick up a bottle to take to Camille and Matt's house. It opened this spring near Eastern Market and sells only olive oil, vinegar, and sea salt. It shouldn't have taken me this long to check it out.

The store (660 Pennsylvania Ave. S.E.) gives you chunks of bread and lets you taste all the different flavors of olive oils. We settled on the basil olive oil, which is perfect to dunk bread in. I could see myself going back for the rosemary, garlic, and lime varieties.

It's on the pricey side for olive oil -- $15.95 for 375 milliliters, but it makes for a perfect hostess gift, and it's supporting a local store.

project: birthday cards

Tony and I grew up in Ohio, but we've chosen D.C. to be our adopted hometown. When you move to a new city without your family, it's so important that you have good friends.

Growing up, my friends were the kids I went to school with, and in college I made friends with the kids in my journalism classes and the ones I worked with at the student newspaper. But once you're in the working world -- and especially if you move to a new city -- you have to be more creative. Maybe you make friends with your coworkers, although that can be complicated if things go sour. Maybe you join a bocce ball team or befriend your neighbors or rekindle a childhood friendship if you both happen to have moved to the same city.

Looking for new couple friends is like dating. Either you click or you don't. Tony and I once went out to dinner on a double date, and when the check came, the husband calculated, to the penny, what portion of the tax we each owed. There was no second double date.

But we clicked with Camille and Matt. We even have a meet-cute. It was 2009. Tony and I were newly engaged, and we were taking pre-cana classes at St. Peter's on the Hill. You have to take these classes if you get married in a Catholic church. Camille and Matt, who were engaged too, were in the class with us. We bonded over an extremely graphic explanation of how to execute natural family planning.

Tony and I got married around the same time Camille and Matt did, and we each bought our houses (on Capitol Hill for us, in Shirlington for them) around the same time, too.

We're heading out to Shirlington tonight for a combined birthday celebration for Camille and Matt. I very rarely find Hallmark cards that capture my oddball sense of humor, so (when I have time) I make birthday cards for my family and friends. I have a stockpile of blank cards, and I decorate them with photos I find in magazines and newspapers.

For Camille (because we share a desire of someday wanting to raise chickens):

For Matt (because he loves dogs -- and I just thought this photo is ridiculous):