Ikea Cinnamon Bun Love

We have a love/hate relationship with Ikea. We love it for its fun and affordable, if ubiquitous, furnishings and do-it-yourself philosophy. The possibilities are endless, but therein lies the problem. This is no place for the indecisive, which means Konrad and I are doomed every time we step foot in the place. Inevitably, we are always there til the bitter end, weighing options in the aisles amid the screaming children, until tired sales associates chase us out. We are those people. Thank goodness there are cinnamon buns waiting at the store bakery to sweeten the madness.

Lately, we've been spending a lot of time here. Our wedding is just a few weeks away and the fact that family will be staying with us has provided the much needed motivation to finally fix up the spare bedroom/study, which has served as a wasteland for empty boxes and orphaned items since we moved in. High time too, seeing as the promise of this extra room is what prompted us to move to the 'burbs in the first place. After three Ikea trips in the past month, two rounds of merchandise returns and one U-Haul rental, we've come away with a comfy futon, the big black mirror that we've been eying for years, a dissertation-writing worthy desk for me (which my crafty fiancee salvaged and revived from the depths of the "as-is" discount section), and lots of yummy cinnamon rolls, of course.

Konrad spent the better part of Sunday afternoon putting everything together (one of the many reasons I'm marrying him!) while I worked on the seating chart. The room is slowly starting to feel like a place where you might actually want to spend some time - at least our cat, Kitty (Lady Katherine de Bourgh), thinks so!

Rainbow Chard

Ever heard of rainbow chard? Me neither. We had no idea it was until it ended up in our farm share this week. Trolling the web for inspiration, we came across a great new culinary resource in The Bitten Word. Working from this recipe, I subbed in walnuts for pine nuts (what we had on hand) and sauteed the chard in olive oil with garlic, nuts and basil. The recipe said to mix the basil and nuts with the chard after removing it from heat, but I added everything to the pan before the chard was quite done, and let it cook together for a few minutes before serving. I also left out the butter just because its a bit too rich for my liking and the recipe didn't really need it. We topped everything with freshly grated parmesan cheese and served it on a bed of toasted pearl couscous prepared with vegetable broth. The combination of ingredients resulted in a dish with great texture and wonderful flavor, which is something that we'll definitely be making again.Turns out that rainbow chard is pretty fabulous, at least in this entree!

Insect Encounters

Anyone who knows me will tell you, I'm not an outdoorsy girl. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely believe we should do everything we can to conserve our resources and preserve our natural habitats. I am fully committed to doing my part, but that doesn't mean that I have to enjoy spending extended periods of time in the great outdoors. I don't like dirt, and, most of all, I don't like insects. So, when an enormous grub fell out of the farm share corn that I was shucking last night and into my hands, I was pretty horrified. I started to rethink my enthusiasm for farm produce before I got to thinking about the alternative - cooking with conventional fruit and vegetables, many of which are likely to have been genetically modified and saturated in toxic pesticide. All things considered, I guess the occasional insect encounter is a fair price to pay for produce that is grown the way it should be. Nonetheless, the trusty kitchen tongs have become my new favorite tool. Anything leafy that comes our way will first be inspected using those... at least for a while.

Farm Share

Today was the start of a farm share program on campus, which I'm super excited about. I've been wanting to invest in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) for a while and jumped at the chance when my school announced that it would be hosting a program with Warner Farm this fall. Each Tuesday, for the next eight weeks, we'll receive a share of the harvest. The fun part is that we don't pre-select what we receive; we get what the farm sends us. I think it will be a great incentive to learn how to prepare different vegetables - ones that we don't ordinarily buy. At least, that's the plan. As expected, there was a big box waiting for me at the pick up site, brimming with fresh produce. This week, we received sweet corn, beefsteak tomatoes, red peppers, jalapenos, red leaf lettuce, rainbow chard, eggplant, butternut & spaghetti squash, macintosh apples and strawberries. Now we just have to figure out what to make :)

Lemonade

It occurred to me that summer was almost over and I hadn't made any real, honest-to-goodness lemonade. Being that it was already Labor Day, I decided I best do something about that. I went old school for the recipe and pulled out the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. Following the age-old instructions, I made a simple syrup (subbing in turbinado sugar) and then let it cool before adding lemon juice, lemon zest, equal parts water and plenty of ice. The result? Predictably, summer in a glass. Pure happiness!

Multi-tasking Carafe!

Tomato Salad

On Thursdays there is a farmer's market in the center of town. I stopped by to wander around and stock up on fresh tomatoes, with every intention of talking Konrad into making us tomato salad (salata de rosii) for dinner - a simple Romanian dish that he introduced me to when we first started dating. He makes it by combining crusty bread, feta cheese, olive oil, salt, pepper, and diced tomatoes. It's easy enough to make, but I never make it as well as he does. Hearty yet refreshing, it was the perfect meal for a hot summer night.

Cherry Cake

I made a cherry cake for my mom the other day. This is what I do when I am especially missing her: Bake her favorite things. I used this recipe from Joy of Baking but reduced the sugar and added extra almond extract. I've never been a huge fan of cherries, so I had pretty low expectations. The cake was actually kind of amazing though, with a rich texture and delicate flavor. All in all, I'm sure that my mom would have been "tickled," which is what she always used to say whenever I'd do anything in the kitchen :)