How to Make a Bloody Mary Bar

We hosted a brunch for some friends a few months back and I wanted to do a DIY bar of some kind. Ken and I threw around some ideas (Build your own yogurt parfait, Mimosa Bar with a bunch of different types of juices, bagel bar with cream cheeses, lox, capers, etc) and we finally decided to do the bloody mary bar because it looked colorful and fun. The bloody mary bar turned out really well – here’s what it looked like:

Some required items: vodka, tomato juice, horseradish, lemons, limes, hot sauce (we bought Tabasco and Frank’s), pickles, straws (I bought some super cute metal straws on etsy before the brunch), Worchestershire sauce, ice, and hot peppers! If you buy items like pickles, olives, and peppers, I’d also recommend buying some cute toothpicks to put everything together.

We also purchased some clamato juice (which ended up not being very popular), celery salt (also not popular), and some black pepper vodka. The black pepper added a little more of a kick to the bloody mary – definitely recommended!

We also served a yogurt parfait, steak and eggs, and croissants. Ken cutting up some of the steaks:

For table settings, I made more granola (EarlyBird, recipe here) and then bought some cute gingham fabric and twine to tie around the granola containers (by the way – do you recognize the containers? I collected all of my Nounos yogurt containers, cleaned them, and then used them for the granola!):

We had such a fun brunch and really enjoyed everyone’s company. Can’t wait to do it again in the summertime!!

Beaver Creek, Colorado

Back in February, Ken and I went on our yearly ski trip to Beaver Creek, Colorado. We had a slow start (with my luggage not arriving with us!) and I ended up having to buy a new ski jacket at the gift shop in our hotel. Luckily, my luggage arrived before the end of the week and all of my belongings made it, too! Here are some photos from the amazing trip:

Me and my inter-galactic face-turtle warmer (and new jacket!):

The hotel has a mascot named Bachelor – we usually see him during his daily rounds but didn’t see him this year. I settled for the stuffed animal version of Bachelor:

A photo I took on my way back to the hotel:

Ken and I love skiing but I like to stay completely covered when I ski so I don’t have weird tan lines on my face. I stay completely covered while we ski:

A photo of me before we skiied back to our magical hotel:

Our fuel – the sweet potato fries were pretty amazing at the resort:

And after the traumatic luggage situation, we ordered room service (cheeseburgers and fries can fix anything):

We can’t wait to go back next year!

The Little Beet Table

Ken and I were walking home from his office on an early spring night and walked past The Little Beet Table on Park Avenue. We went inside and they luckily had a table for two available so we sat down for dinner. The restaurant is known for having healthy entree options, being gluten free, and using local ingredients. We started off with the grilled beets with greek yogurt and pumpkin seed granola:

Next, we shared a prosciutto, arugula and Parmesan cheese flatbread:

For our entrees, we shared the salmon (organic, not wild, which I found a little strange), with avocado caponata, pistachio and black olive oil:

And the skirt steak with roasted fingerling potatoes and chimichurri:

Overall, we thought the meal was good, but not great. We liked the skirt steak more than the salmon (but the portions for both were really tiny!) My fitness friends really love the place, especially their chicken and their flatbreads, but I don’t think they’ve grabbed me and Ken as repeat customers.

Dirt Candy

It’s April and I’m finally back! The winter was pretty busy (with weekly visits to my nephew) so I didn’t have a ton of free time during the weekend’s to post. Luckily I uploaded a bunch of photos over the weekend and will be posting more often (hopefully).

I took my mom to Dirt Candy, a vegetarian restaurant on the lower east side (bordering Chinatown), earlier this month when she came to visit. She had seen a segment on PBS about the restaurant and was interested in dining there; I’ve never been, so was down to go after work.

One thing Dirt Candy is known for is their monkey bread – it’s served as soon as you order and comes in a variety of colors (the dough is dyed with different vegetables), with a serving of garlic butter:

The bread is served right out of the oven and in a planter so it looks like they’re potted flowers – they’re so good that we asked for more while we waited for our appetizers to arrive!

The restaurant allows you to either order a la carte or order a full tasting. I looked at the menus beforehand and thought it would be a better idea to do a la carte. We started with the Korean fried broccoli:

They describe it as “crack in broccoli form” – it’s broccoli that’s been steamed and then flavored with Korean red sauce (gochujang) and batter. We thought the flavor was pretty good but there was too much batter (and I think the flavor would’ve been better if they had used soybean paste with the gochujang so the broccoli would’ve had more depth.

Next, we shared the carrot burgers, a new menu item:

These were carrot burgers on carrot buns – not that much flavor, but the carrot slaw that was shaved and served with cilantro and sesame oil was fresh and delicious.

My least favorite dish of the evening was the broccoli dogs:

These were grilled and smoked pieces of broccoli, topped with broccoli kraut and mustard barbecue sauce. We really disliked the broccoli dogs because they were way too sweet (the broccoli on its own was good, but the mustard barbecue sauce had way too much sugar added to it!) There was also way too much bun to broccoli and we ended up throwing out the majority of the buns.

By the time our last dish arrived, we were already pretty full. I wish we had just ordered this dish, the brussel sprout tacos:

These tacos came with fresh lettuce wraps, different dipping sauces, and toppings and had the brussel sprouts served on a hot stone. I managed to eat one taco with all the toppings but couldn’t manage any more because it was way too much food. If we return, I’ll just order the brussel sprout tacos to share.

My mom’s curiosity was satisfied and if we return, we’ll probably go just for the monkey bread and the brussel sprout tacos!

Wayfare Tavern San Francisco

Teresa made a lunch reservation for us at Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco because it was close to our hotel and she loved their popovers (I can’t argue with that logic). The restaurant was very festive for the holidays and the bar area looked pretty cozy for dining by yourself:

The popovers come right after you place your order and they were fresh out of the oven:

They’re very generous with their popovers so you can definitely have more than one (if your husband allows you to have more than one!) We shared all of the dishes and started with the Petaluma deviled eggs:

They have a generous amount of paprika sprinkled on them and I thought they were a bit on the sweet side, but the pickled onions added a nice texture to the smooth yolk and mayo combo.

We also ordered the winter salad with pomegranate seeds, kale, soft cooked egg and beets:

The salad was too heavy for me and too many flavors and textures that were rough (the fried shallts + pomegranate seeds + kale was too much for me).

For our entrees, we ordered the fried chicken (a signature dish) and the burger (another signature dish) – we also ordered a side of brussel sprouts:

The burger:

They knew we were splitting everything so cut the burger before it came to the table, which made splitting it much more convenient. The burger is a proprietary blend of beef with bacon, red onions, and cheddar – it also comes with a side of homemade pickles and french fries. I’m usually not a fan of bacon in my burgers because it makes things a little too heavy, but this bacon wasn’t as fatty as other restaurants’ bacon so it was actually a really great addition of salt and flavor.

The fried chicken was really good, especially with a lot of freshly squeezed lemon juice! Great recommendation, Teresa, and thanks for spending time with us!

Ken and Teresa right by the fireplace: