What a fun weekend coming up: Halloween (free candy! mmm!); for those of us in DC, the Rally to Restore Sanity; gorgeous weather (70s in DC?); and maybe even some downtime to take in all the gorgeous fall colors around us. I'm definitely ready.
Hope you all have an equally awesome weekend. See you back here Monday!
I had fully planned to do another post this evening, but with the rain still coming down, the sky all dreary and dark, and our house warm and cozy, I must admit that I'm already wearing my PJs and pretty much hunkered down for the night. But, I will be back in the morning (hopefully a sunnier one at that!) with fresh new posts. See you then?
Hello kiddies. Miss me? This post is actually something I meant to put up last week, but what can ya do. Here it is for you now. It's a half educational, half bragging kind of post. Kidding, kidding. Well, sorta.
You see, with summer fully gone, I knew tomatoes would be on their way from beautiful, round and abundant to pretty much scant and mealy. In order to take advantage of the last gorgeous, local heirloom tomatoes still cropping up at the farmers markets and grocery stores, I decided to make a tomato tart.
I got the recipe from Martha Stewart (here) a year or so ago and have been dying to give it another shot since my mom gave me a real tart pan(read about my first attempt at this here).
So, here comes the pat myself on the back part (don't say I didn't warn you)...
Here's Martha's version of the tomato tart: Photo from Martha Stewart
And here's mine: Not bad, eh? (Especially considering this was a crappy iPhone pic I took as the tart was cooling in my dimly lit kitchen.) In a way, I almost think mine looks prettier with the mix of yellow and red tomatoes. Could it be?
In case you want some more eye candy, here's a close-up: Yum. It's like a really fancy pizza. Mmmm, pizza.
If you're interested in giving this a try yourself, here's the recipe:
Heirloom Tomato Tart
Originally from Martha Stewart Living, July 2005 Serves 8
Ingredients: 1 head garlic 3 tablespoons olive oilNote: next time I would cut this down to 2 tablespoons All-purpose flour, for dusting Pate Brisee (pie dough)Note: I used premade dough from the grocery store, found in the refrigerated section (not frozen), and it was just fine 2 ounces Italian fontina cheese, grated (about 1/2 cup) 1 1/2 pounds firm but ripe tomatoes (4 medium), cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place garlic on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon oil. Wrap to enclose garlic in foil, and place on a small baking sheet. Bake until soft and golden brown and the tip of a knife easily pierces the flesh, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven; set aside.
Raise oven temperature to 450 degrees. When garlic is cool enough to handle, using either your hands or the dull end of a large knife, squeeze the cloves out of their skins and into a small bowl; mash with a fork, and set aside. Discard the papery skins.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/8-inch-thick circle, about 12 inches in diameter. With a dry pastry brush, brush off the excess flour; roll the dough around the rolling pin, and lift it over a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Line the pan with the dough, pressing it into the corners. Trim the dough so that it is flush with the edges; transfer to the refrigerator to chill, about 30 minutes.
Spread roasted garlic evenly on the chilled crust. Sprinkle with half of the cheese. Arrange the tomatoes on top of the cheese, in an overlapping circular pattern. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, and drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Transfer to oven. Reduce temperature to 400 degrees. and bake until crust is golden and tomatoes are soft but still retain their shape, 45 to 55 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, and serve warm. --
And, in case you're like me and need "Cooking for Dummies" in the kitchen (I so do!), Gail from She Loves to Cook posted step-by-step pics as she made her tomato tart - too bad I didn't find this tutorial until just now, drat! Her post on this recipe is here. Doesn't her tart look pretty with the green tomatoes included? (It's still uncooked, obviously, but pretty nonetheless):
I assure you this recipe is easy as can be (if I made it, you know it is!) and won't take that long now that I've done it more than once. So let me just relish in this one-time kitchen success and forget about the fact that I had to call my friend Sara in a panic to ask her how to cut a tomato. (I said forget that part. Eep, embarrassing.)
Sadly, with the weather getting rapidly cooler and the sunny days fading, I'll be putting my beloved scooter into storage for the season. I suppose if I really had some cajones I could ride it year-round, but that would require some heavy-duty coveralls (Carharts and work gloves, anyone?) that I'm just not willing to bust out.
But a girl can still dream, and evidently I have been, since these are three images of absolutely fab girls on the go that I bookmarked recently: How stylin' is this scooter fashionista? If only I looked so glam. Instead, I rock a bobble-head helmet in lieu of this chic hat. Safety first, right?
Forget the limo - this is my kind of wedding transportation (other than wedding bikes of course). Wee vintage cars are always my fave.
And as much as I love to hate her, Olivia Palermo really is lovely. Though I refuse to believe she's actually going to ride that bicycle in those shoes.
How do you get around? (That sounded wrong.) Fall is still a nice time for bikes and walks in the crunchy leaves before the weather turns cold and bitter and I practically run to my car each morning. I must remind myself to take advantage and be my own chic girl on the go while I still can... Photo credits: 1- photo by Laura Sciacovelli for Vogue UK (October 2010), via Fashion Spreads, 2- via Say Yes to Hoboken, 3- Olivia Palermo in London, from The Sartorialist.
Truth: I've been having some extreme motivation problems. Maybe it's that it's getting darker earlier, or just that my body is preparing itself to enter hibernation mode (it happens every winter: the daily routine becomes a cycle of: drag myself out of the warm bed into the cold house, shower, work, eat, watch movies in, eat more, cuddle, sleep, repeat, not much else - I don't like the collld!), but I've lost my gusto for all things non-mandatory. Whereas I used to relish DIY projects, I've been dragging my feet lately in getting them done or not taking them on at all. (I'm keeping it real here, peeps.)
But if I can squeeze out even one ounce of extra energy, it might just be for this incredible DIY wreath from Kathleen of Twig & Thistle. Isn't it beautiful for fall?
She took these ugly typical (trying to be slightly nicer) fall fake-leaves... ...spray-painted them purple and collected some coordinating ribbon, pins, and a foam ring... ...tacked the leaves onto the ribbon-covered ring... ...et voila! The most beautiful (and weather resistant!) wreath for your table, windows or door: Isn't it so cute? I love the silvery-gray fabric flower things paired with the ombre purple leaves.
Want the full instructions? Kathleen was kind enough to lay it all out, step-by-step, on her blog here. Also, she made this fall leaf creation as part of a contest for Better Homes & Gardens - won't you be kind enough to vote for her wreath here? I mean, if I can't muster the energy to make this myself, the least I can do is take the two seconds to vote for the lady who created this, right?... ;)
Doves, it's been grand, but I'm off for a girls' weekend in New York. We're truly taking advantage of the Columbus Day hoiday and staying through Monday, so we'll have an entire extra morning in the city. Woohoo! I doubt we'll actually be riding bikes around town like this adorable girl, but it seemed like such a fun (and fashionable, in this pic!) way to flit about the city that I couldn't not include it.
If we're lucky, we'll see fall in full force like this:
Though I'd even settle for moody evenings like this: Either way, I know I'll have a great time with friends, running around the city, eating, shopping, and talk, talk, talking. Oh and did I mention eating? Can't wait!
Hope you have a great weekend. Since we're staying in the city an extra day, I'll see you back here Tuesday!
I've been staving off a cold for a week now and the cold snap that has arrived (along with all the buckets of rain) hasn't helped me want to crawl out from under the covers anytime soon.
But enough with the whining! It's fall after all - beautiful leaves, fun things to do, cooler weather! - so I dug up a "Barney-ism" to give me a proper kick in the a$# for this Monday.
Let's put this out there now: I am a Red Sox fan. B worships the Phillies. It's okay - they play nicely together (they're in different leagues and very rarely do they play each other). The Phils have already clinched the NL East division championship and no one really cares about the Nats (sorry, it's kind of true), so B was able to score some really good tickets to last night's game for pretty cheap.
Behold, our clutch seats: Is it wrong that I was most excited about the tailgating and eating a ballpark hot dog? (Which, for the record, I did, along with french fries and beer, capped off with Cracker Jacks. Ouch.)
The game was a quick one - the Nats won, 2-1 - but we had a really good time hanging out and enjoying the amazing early-Fall weather.
Thanks for the tix, babe. I had a blast! (Please excuse the mediocre iPhone pics and the slight mushiness...)
