Fact is … we’re both pretty big cycling fans (him more than I) and last year (back when Mr. D worked for a London based company) we scheduled a trip to the United Kingdom for the weeks straddling the 4th of July. The two of us figured we’d pop down to Monaco for the start of Le Tour De France within that business trip. *Obviously* things have changed drastically since that plan was made. Mr. D has been officially “off” from work since June 1st. At the start of June we spent a few weeks in Knoxville with his family. During that time we realized the two of us have never just taken a European vacation together “just for the sake of vacation.” In three months time the two of us have experienced life changes that many couples only manage to endure after decades together. Between losing his job, the loss of his mother, selling our home and moving ~it’s time for a little R&R, don’t you think?

I have a few little posts I have been working on and I will make an effort to post Le Tour pictures throughout our vacation. On our travel days: please check out my blogroll of inspirational places on the web. Over the last few weeks I have “found” several “new” blogs that inspire me. I have added them to my blogroll list. Because the French really know how to eat and eat is what I plan to do while we’re playing on the beaches of the Mediterranean Sea … Today I leave you with this list of wonderful food and recipe blogs:

ABCD Design E A T S

Tastespotting
Zoe Bakes
Artisan Bread In Five
Delicious Days
101 Cookbooks
Technicolor Kitchen
Barefoot Kitchen Witch
Smitten Kitchen
Foodista
Food Porn Daily
Food Gawker
Forking Delicious
Food Photo Blog
No Recipes
Whipped
epicurious
Hostess with the Mostess
The Delicious Life
Simply Breakfast
Before and After
Fresh 365
Lottie and Doof

{As always, I am loving vintage posters. This fab collection was found here thanks to A Lovely Morning}

5 Comments » Posted by ABCD / ABCD Design Inspiration and I love this and Personal and Sealed with a Kiss and Travel and Uncategorized and What's on? and Where to eat? and totally delicious dishes

10+ years in NYC and I had all but forgotten that you can go to the market, stock up on items and have them at home ready for not one but multiple meal preparations. I have always kept a mini-pantry in the City but all-in-all I have bought what I need at the market for each meal the day I plan to prepare it. After spending the last few weeks in the suburbs of Knoxville, I came to appreciate the kitchen pantry. Okay, I don’t just appreciate. I am obsessed - What a delight to have enough storage space to hold all that extra food! When deepening a pantry you’ll have to decide what foods take priority and where you want to begin building up. Start with the goal of having at least one month’s worth of food-stuff for your pantry. It’s all a very personal choice dependent upon your needs. I always make soup and use fresh veggies, so you will not find Campbells Soup or canned corn in my pantry. If you’ve got kids I bet you’ll want a good supply of mac ‘n’ cheese in there. Below I have listed just a basic frame from which you are welcome to work from. First, I suggest obtaining two extra of items that are things you don’t want to run out of such as: paper goods like toilet paper, napkins, towels and cleaners such as dish soap or dishwasher detergent, laundry soap and bath soap. Second, I like to have a few extra bottles vegetable oil, extra virgin olive oil, REGULAR olive oil - so many people buy only extra virgin olive oil and don’t realize that extra virgin has an incredibly strong taste that you don’t always want in every recipe. Now that I have said that you’ll notice that most recipes differentiate between regular olive oil and extra virgin. Most at home cooks do not. They assume extra virgin is just “olive oil” and pour away. Try having both at home. I promise your food will taste better. *winkwink* I like to keep various pastas, noodles, rice, oatmeal, in large airtight containers that have a wide mouth. I leave a scoop inside each container. It makes for very easy use and even easier clean up. Just be sure to date the container when you throw away the original packaging. You’ll find canned or dry beans and canned tomatoes (both whole tomatoes and Italian style) in my pantry. A jar of honey, lemon curd, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, a few jars of minced raw garlic, garlic and tomato paste. I also don’t know what I would do without at lease 4-6 boxes of organic chicken broth and 2 boxes of beef broth hidden away. I am always sure there are dried fruits – apricots, prunes, raisins – and a variety of nuts on hand. This way you’ll always have an interesting mix to chop up and add to a salad or to put out as a quick appetizer with cheese, crackers and cocktails. You should also have selected nut-butters stashed away. I like to have almond and a few jars of peanut or hazelnut butter in the pantry. I also like to have several jars of preserves on hand for recipes and morning toast, to sweeten dressing or to add to bakery recipes. American Spoon Foods are my favorite. I will usually have a few of their salsas, spoon fruit and red pepper jelly in the pantry.

A little hint: dress up your maple syrup! Take 1/4 cup nut butter and melt it into 1 cup of maple syrup. Dress Sunday’s pancakes with that concoction and you’ll win *Very Best Chef EVER* points!

These baking supplies are needed to bake just about anything: extra baking soda, an extra baking powder, extra pure vanilla extract, almond extract, flour, cornmeal, different sugars, chocolate chips, dried coconut, a few box mixes, brownies, blueberry muffin mix, a few cake mixes. I’d deepen the bakery section of the pantry further when possible.

As a baking side note, I like to have at least two pounds of butter in the freezer. If you see flour or other bakery goods on sale, buy it and rotate the oldest package to the front to be used first. Be sure that everything is dated so that nothing does not go bad. If you wanted to deepen your pantry as quickly as possible, it will be necessary to go through the recipes you use the most often. Decide how much you want to deepen your pantry for each food item. Continue purchasing the items until you have the amount you want and then rotate, rotate, rotate. Remember to use the oldest and place the newest in the back of the shelf. Otherwise, I suggest when building up (or deepening) your pantry that you do it a little at a time as your budget allows. A kitchen stocking note: last week one of the blogs I follow suggested gifting the bride and groom with some quality kitchen ingredients as their wedding present. A few bottles of wine, a selection of spices and a few nice bottles of cooking oil would be brilliant if the couple likes to cook or if you know they plan to cook together as newlyweds. While a lot of people live together before the wedding, the fact is that many are both setting up house and getting wed within the same breath. Weddings are really expensive. Spices are ultra-expensive too! I know the last thing I wanted to do right after we got married and moved in together was try to figure out how to outfit my spice cabinet properly within a reasonable budget. Keep in mind that while it is always good to have extra Sea Salt, Kosher Salt and Pepper on the pantry shelf that other spices do not keep longer than six months without losing flavor. It is not realistic to keep the same jar of nutmeg from one winter holiday to the next. Buy your spices in the smallest jars that your store sells and don’t buy new until you have nearly run out.

If you’re interested in reading more about cooking from your pantry – read this article from the New York Times about cooking without grocery shopping and get recipe ideas from Martha Stewart’s Dinner Tonight where they attempted this one week “cooking from your pantry” challenge.

6 Comments » Posted by ABCD / ABCD Recommends and Nesting and Uncategorized and Where to eat? and totally off topic

This Good Morning Coffee Cake Recipe is so delicious. Your guests will think you spent hours slaving over it in the kitchen – when in reality it only takes about 5 minutes of prep time and 40 minutes in the oven! This recipe is one I grew up with and I have no idea it’s origin. All I know is that it is a favorite “go-to” coffee cake that my mother always bakes. Over the weekend I tossed one together and shared it with Mr. D’s family. It’s possible that because of this cake I won the FAVORITE daughter-in-law award. *winkwink* Oh yeah, I am their only daughter-in-law ~HA! Needless to say, it’s really yummy.

What you’ll need:
A box of Betty Crocker Wild Blueberry Muffin Mix
Milk, Two Eggs and Vegetable oil (prepare dough as per box instructions)
1 pint of fresh blueberries
1 can of segmented mandarin oranges in a can
3 Tablespoons Flour
2 Tablespoons of Butter
1/4 Cup of Brown Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon of Cinnamon

To prepare:
Heat oven to 400 degrees
Place blueberry muffin mix in a bowl.
Add milk, oil and eggs as specified on the box.
Drain canned blueberries, rinse and fold into mixture.
Drain and rinse fresh berries. (Blueberries are great, but for fun sometimes add in raspberries too!)
Fold fresh blueberries into the mixture being careful not to burst any and turn the mix blue.
Transfer into a 9×9 glass pyrex pan.

Evenly spread the mandarin orange segments across the top of the cake.

Mix 2 Tablespoons firm butter (cut into small cubes) 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 3 Tablespoons of flour and 1/4 Teaspoons of Cinnamon. Sprinkle over the top of the cake.

Bake for 35-40 minutes.

E N J O Y hot out of the oven (maybe with a pat of butter) and a steaming hot cup of coffee.

No Comments » Posted by ABCD / Nesting and Where to eat? and totally delicious dishes

Our Valentines Day weekend in Portland was so totally F-A-B! We attended a wedding.

The food at Clyde Common was the very best “wedding food” I have ever eaten. It was a great space, beautiful presentation and the photo booth in the lobby of the Ace Hotel topped off the fun. Each couple took a turn in the photo booth and presented a signed strip to the bride and groom as a guest book of sorts.

I love the little details!

3 Comments » Posted by ABCD / Good Find and How did I not know about this when I was engaged? and Sealed with a Kiss and Travel and Uncategorized and Where to eat?

Kent is located in the northwest corner of Connecticut about 90 miles north of New York City. It might as well be a million miles away – if you didn’t drive to Kent you’d never know the craziness of NYC was so close!

There are many wonderful bed and breakfasts in Kent and the surrounding area of Litchfield County. One of which is the Inn at Kent Falls. The space has been renovated to keep the old-time feel, but is decorated in the very best way. It is so perfect. Almost like it staying in a movie set.

Another favorite place of ours is The Starbuck Inn. For what it may be lacking in decorator style, this inn makes up by being right in town, it is priced well and breakfast is always incredibly tasty!

This sweet and historic town is nestled in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains. We may suit up in ski gear and give it a go on the slopes …or maybe… we’ll stay in, relax by the fire and watch the wildlife stroll by!

There are a lot of wonderful restaurants with NYC caliper food – websites are scarce (it is a little sleepy town afterall!) – but check out the Fife ‘n Drum, Blu Grill, The White Peach in nearby Gaylordsville and the Cornwall Inn in (you guessed it!) Cornwall!

Whether you are Relaxing, Biking, Skiing, Hiking or Antiquing, there is always something to do in Kent. Enjoy your weekend. I know we will enjoy ours!

2 Comments » Posted by ABCD / Personal and Travel and Where to eat?