Category Archives: cheese

celery date salad

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Last week my mom spent a day researching the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington at the library where I work, so we had a lunch date downtown!  We walked to a sit-down restaurant where I ordered a falafel with a side dish of celery salad. I enjoyed so much of that chunky crunch that I made up my own salad at home based on the combination of flavors on my lunch plate that day.  It’s a great dish to prepare on a night when you crave the catharsis that accompanies chopping vegetables, and now every time I eat it I will remember the intrigue of Mary Custis Lee and that fun lunch.

For the salad:

Chop up celery, dates, and red onions.
Whisk together apple cider vinegar and honey.
Toss it all real good.
Sprinkle crumbled feta over top.

Turn a side dish into a meal:

Add crispy bacon and/or roasted chickpeas to the pile.

cloudy with a chance of pepperoni

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I love storm clouds, especially when they are topped with salty and sweet things and shared with my favorite people. Are you surprised to know that Barrett’s tale of the town of Chewandswallow was one of my favorite books (I am afraid to watch the movie – should I?), and perhaps one of the purchasing influences behind one of my favorite cookie cutters? I get a lot of use out of my Herriott Grace cloud cookie cutter for cookies (once I took pictures of the applesauce donut clouds I made with it), but this time I used it for snack pizzas! Pizzaclouds are a bit tedious but fun to individualize. During this round I made three varieties: chèvre/sweet onions (caramelized in olive oil, cinnamon & sugar)/sundried tomato-stuffed green olives, fresh mozzarella/basil pesto/tomato, smoked provolone/marinara/pepperoni. Wishing your stormy Spring days to be sweet and savory.

modern (lovers) pastry

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I got to see Boston (and my dear, engaged-to-be-wed, friends Emily and Jarrid) for a day at the end of my trip out East last week. The sun was shining, and soon after walking past the Government Center, I had my first ever bakery fresh cannoli from Modern Pastry. Sweet little fried pastry tubes stuffed with sacchariferous ricotta. In my head were the song lyrics, “Oh that feelin’ inside we’re gonna transmit it to life!” from The Modern Lovers. Here’s hoping for future cannoli transmissions to/from my kitchen.

signs of spring in philly

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It seems as though the minute I landed in Philadelphia, it was Spring. The past few days have been unseasonably warm. I ate a Geno’s cheese steak in 70+ degree weather! The outdoor basketball courts and city playgrounds were packed. Fruit lined the narrow city streets of the Italian Market. On a conference break, I had Chocolate Peanut Butter Ripple ice cream in a pretzel cone. Pretzel cone, more on that later. Spring bulbs were in bloom by Independence Hall, Rocky and “The Thinker.” All pleasant Philadelphia Spring surprises.