Leisurely Stroll 1/12/2012

More arctic than leisurely. 21 degrees this morning, walking across the Crown Center. I need boots!

Leisurely stroll 1/10/2012

Some street art across the street from my favorite Kansas City restaurant, The Rieger Hotel

Leisurely stroll 1/6/2012

Robert the cat is the welcoming committee on a sunny (and unseasonably warm) Kansas City late afternoon

Leisurely stroll

Since October (when I sold my beloved, but very tired Honda Civic) I've been walking or riding my bicycle to work- mostly walking since it's gotten colder. I've challenged myself to try to walk to work every day through the winter, and so far I've accomplished that.
I've been very fortunate- I live a little over a mile from my job, it's been a mild winter in Kansas City, and on the coldest nights I know I can ask a coworker for a ride home, or call my fiance (actually he usually beats me to it and calls me on his way home to see if I'd like a ride- wonderful man).

I'm planning to buy a scooter this spring, but for right now I really enjoy walking. One of the things I miss most about living in a larger city is the connection that's formed through walking, riding a bicycle, or taking public transportation. And of course, an added benefit is that the slower pace forces you to notice little details that are easily overlooked in a car.

I'm going to start documenting those little things here on Sweet Heartland. I'd like to post at least one photo a day of my walk through the Crossroads District and up to the Crown Center where I work.

I've taken a little break from writing here the past few weeks- I began Sweet Heartland as sort of a guide to living well in the Midwest and towards the end of the year, I was veering off course (recipes are lovely, but so many people do food blogs so well). This project is one way of going back to the original purpose of Sweet Heartland.

Here's to a lovely new year with a new sense of purpose- enjoy!

I took this last night around 5.30. Maybe the days are slowly getting longer? It isn't pitch black yet...

Mini Progressive Dinner

When I first rented my apartment, the real estate agent told me that our neighbors would be a couple from Seattle and that we would love them. He was right- we do. Matt and Paul are such peas in a pod, and besides all the hanging out we do as couples, Sabine and I have a standing date for a monthly Ladies Dinner. Now Paul and Sabine have bought a house and they are moving away (4 minutes away, but still). To say good-bye Sabine and I decided to have a mini progressive dinner- she and Paul provided cocktails, salad, bread, and dessert  and Matt and I made the hors d'oeuvres, main course and (more) dessert.

It's been really cold out the past couple of weeks, so I wanted to make something truly cozy. I settled on this amazing lamb ragu. It's really simple to make- the hardest part is all the vegetable dicing- I loath chopping. Since it's the holidays, I wanted dessert to have a festive feel so I bought ginger snaps and Shatto ice cream and made the tiniest ice cream sandwiches. Hors d'oeuvres were provided by my talented new boss- he makes pate every Thanksgiving and he gave me a large portion, along with cornichons and fancy mustard- all I had to do was make the toast points.

It was a perfect evening, and I'll miss our lovely upstairs neighbors!

Old fashioned to start

Pate, courtesy of my wonderful new boss

I brought dinner upstairs in my much-loved Le Creuset and plated there

Lamb ragu, topped with ricotta and mint

dinner is served

dessert

Sunday Dinner: Lamb Tagine & Monkey Bread

It's starting to get very cold here- I broke ice chunks out of my hair after my walk to work this morning. Having spent so much of my life in Florida, I spent a lot of my time in New York and Cleveland complaining about the cold weather. I accept it now- it's time to hibernate and I embrace it. 

For Sunday dinner, I decided to make two things that evoke "holiday" to me- a lamb tagine (for the sweet, spicy scent) and monkey bread (because, cinnamon and butter and see below). 

This tagine is called Liz's Lamb Tagine (yay) and it's close to my heart not for the name, but because it was the first meal I made for one of my favorite dinner guests, Kate (in my teeny tiny galley kitchen). Like most of what I make, this is a very low-work/high-yield meal- there's a lot of chopping, but once you're done with it, you can walk away from the simmering pot and go about your life until it's finished. I also tried something new- as the author suggests, I used chicken broth for the couscous (my own! I just made my very own broth for the first time) and it made all the difference in the world- the couscous was so different from what I usually make. 

I took pictures of the finished meal but they look awful, so I won't include them. 

So, what to do as the tagine is stewing? I decided to make monkey bread, mostly because Matt loves cinnamon rolls so much and the recipe is so close to that of a cinnamon roll (especially if you include the dipping sauce, which I did not because of a lack of bourbon). 

This recipe is insanely easy (I used this one) yet I still managed to screw it up (baking is really not my strong suit). The result was very ugly, yet very delicious monkey bread. The recipe specifies that the bread tastes best eaten immediately, which is good because we ate almost half in one evening...

Take the monkey bread of out the oven and let rest for no more than 5 minutes...

Then, invert!

The soundtrack to all this was eclectic- I was in a christmas-y mood when I began so I had to listen to this. Then I listened to my two latest band obsessions as kind of palate cleansers- this and especially this.

A short culinary tour of South Florida

My family is the kind that talks about what we are going to have for dinner while eating lunch. So every trip home, every family vacation, every visit is centered on food. My trip home to South Florida for Thanksgiving was no exception.

Thanksgiving, of course was the first order of business. Because of complicated family traditions we have: fried turkey, roast turkey, and baked ham and at least 5 sides (baked mashed potatoes, string bean casserole, tater tots, stuffing, spoonbread pudding). No matter how many people are coming to visit. My dad is in charge of the fried turkey:

I was in charge of getting to know the newest member of our family, Molly:

The next day my sister and I went south, to Miami Beach. For one glorious year I lived at 8th and Euclid in Miami Beach, in the loveliest apartment ever. Miami is one of my favorite cities. 

Jane and I went to Lincoln Road and lunched at Doraku- amazing sushi and $3 happy hour beers!

Saturday we did some more exploring- Delray Beach, which feels like Kennebunkport in South Florida- complete with a J. McLaughlin shop. We lunched outdoors at Linda Bean's Maine Lobster, which is owned by a member of the L.L. Bean family. Further completing the Maine-in-Florida feeling, there's a Colony Hotel in Delray Beach- sister to the Colony in Kennebunkport, Maine. We loved Delray Beach. 

Lobster Roll + lemonade

Downtown Delray

On the way home, we visited ABC Carpet & Home to get inspired for both our ongoing house decorating projects. Since it was the end of the day, a very nice design consultant taught us all about very, very expensive rugs- I'm now coveting a Madeline Weinrib  chenille metallic.  

My sisters birthday was the day before Thanksgiving , and the jewel in the crown of the weekend was a trip to Southport Raw Bar for a slightly belated celebration with friends. Along with several pitchers of cheap beer we ordered:  clam chowder, onion rings, crab legs, oysters, buffalo chicken wings, and fish dip. And key lime pie for dessert. We are big eaters. 

Isn't it the truth

For Sunday dinner, like all good Jews, we had Chinese food. It was a wonderful weekend.