French Onion Soup

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Ingredients:
3-4 yellow onions
1 Tablespoon of flour
6 cups of beef broth
1 1/2 Tablespoons worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
3/4 cup red wine
slices of gruyere cheese

Steps:
1. In a dutch oven, saute onions in butter or oil for 30-45 minutes or until almost caramelized.
2. Sprinkle flour over the onions, stir, and then cook for 1 minute.
3. Deglaze with red wine. Pour the wine into the pan and, using a wooden spoon, start scraping up the browned bits and caramelized stuff from the bottom. Keep deglazing in this way, scraping and reducing, adding more wine if necessary, over high heat until the bottom of the pan is completely smooth.
4. Add the Worcestershire, bay leaf, broth, and water. Gently simmer for 45 minutes or so.
5. Turn broiler on to high.
6. Lightly toast baguette slices under broiler.
7. Place bowl(s) on cookie sheet. Ladle soup and add a baguette to each bowl.
8. Top the baguette with 2-3 slices of cheese. Broil for 3-5 minutes, until nicely browned and bubbly.

Recipe adapted from Diary of a Humble Chef


Worcestershire

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Salad with Herbs, Soft Boiled Eggs, Croutons and Balsamic Dressing

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This is my favorite salad on earth. My parents have been making it for me since I can remember. Add quinoa, fish, or chicken to make it a little heartier. The last time I made it I added crab cakes which I definitely recommend.

Salad Ingredients (serves 4):
4 slices of bread (I use Quinoa Bread from Trader Joe's)
Herb Blend Lettuce Mix
Asiago cheese (shaved or grated)
4 soft boiled eggs

Dressing Ingredients:
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Garlic
Salt
Pepper

Instructions:
1. Begin soft boiling the eggs. I use instructions from The Kitchn.
2. Toast the slices of bread.
3. Add Herb Blend Lettuce Mix and Asiago cheese to a large bowl.
4. Make the dressing. Add Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Garlic, Salt, and Pepper to taste. Whisk to combine.
5. When bread is finished toasting, cut into small squares and add to bowl.
6. When eggs are finished, cut them in half (over the bowl) using a knife.Then use a spoon to scoop out small pieces of the egg at a time. The yolk should be soft but the egg white should be fully cooked.
7. Pour dressing over the salad and enjoy.

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Chalkboard Everything

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Since my recent move I've been trying to upgrade/only keep my nice things. I don't want any more items that were 'college acceptable' since I've moved into my new nice apartment!

I went on a crazy organizing spree last week and realized that the 'organization' of my bathroom items was a complete chaotic mess. I have had these UGLY orange wicker bins forever and just had them full of old stuff and duplicates of the things I actually use. Its surprising that a person (me) wouldn't notice they had 7 broken old nail files - that's how bad I needed to rearrange.

Just to give you an idea of how awful the bins actually were here are the same ones I had except these are round and mine were rectangular (as you can see above)

So I decided it was time for an upgrade. Purchasing bins seemed like a huge hassle so instead I wen't to the hardware store and bought cream spray paint. As soon as I got back to my house I began thinking of all the reasons cream was the worst choice. Bathroom things in cream containers? Hair products spill. Nail polish spills. Cream gets dirty and the whole point of painting was to make them more attractive not less! I went poking around in my arts and crafts box and came across my Chalk Board spray paint that I used to make some jars with chalkboard labels as gifts last year. Just so crazy it just might work? I remembered pinning these a few months ago and envisioned them as my final product.

After much anticipation while they were drying, and SO much hoping my roommates wouldn't be pissed that I did this inside our apartment, it was an awesome success :)

 

Finished Product!

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Sleep is for Weenies.

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I have extreme insomnia, and I hate drinking the same exact black coffee every day to stay awake. THIS is my favorite new way to enjoy coffee! It tastes like the best cookies you've ever eaten. plus coffee.

I am fortunate enough to have an espresso machine, but this could just as easily be done with heated milk and regular coffee.

Ingredients:
1 part coffee (I used 2 espresso shots)
1 part steamed milk
1/2 teaspoon of almond (vanilla works also)
1 teaspoon of brown sugar (or less if you don't like sweet coffee, I used about half of this)

Also, this week I bought a thermos. I mean obviously a thermos would keep coffee really really hot. Why have I never owned one before!?

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I wanted to tell you why I run - sometimes ride - away from things.

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Happy Valentines Day.

I have so many boxes blocking my doorway that it is physically difficult to get into my room. I can't find any clothes for work. I can't figure out how to set up the internet and TV(which I have done at every other place I've lived). But I made cupcakes for valentines day.

I decided the only way to channel my moving anxiety was to dig my electric mixer out of a box, buy only the baking essentials from the grocery store, and make some dark chocolate cupcakes with strawberry buttercream frosting - It was the correct choice.


Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

Cupcake Ingredients:
1 stick of Butter
Sugar
Vanilla
Eggs
Flour
Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of boiling water

Frosting Ingredients:
2 sticks of butter
5 cups of confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
A handful of strawberries, washed and cut in halves

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat butter and sugar together in mixing bowl. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa)
4. Slowly add dry ingredients mixture into butter/sugar mixture in VERY small portions (especially if you did a double batch)
5. Alternate pouring boiling water and dry ingredients until they are both mixed in well.
6. Pour cupcakes into muffin tin filled with cupcake liners (or an oiled and floured tin).
7. Bake for 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees.
Now for frosting..
8. Beat butter, vanilla, and confectioners sugar together in large mixing bowl. Add sugar in small portions so that it does not fly out at your face.
9. Blend strawberries together to make strawberry puree (I did this in a magic bullet but any food processor/blender would work fine). Then add puree to frosting and mix well.
10. After cupcakes cool, frost them with pink frosting and eat all of them. Or share them with your friends so they love you more.

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Everyone always leaves; sometimes its me.

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I am moving. I hate moving. I stopped counting the number of homes I've lived in after it exceeded 12.
But this time I am moving to the warm, sunny, happy Washington DC to start my first real job. So this time I am excited.

My dad and I went on a house-hunting trip to DC last weekend and went to some really great restaurants/bakeries/coffee places.

Baked & Wired (in Georgetown)
My favorite coffee place/Bakery I've ever been to. No lie, I would even consider this as good as the tiny coffee places in Italy where you wait in line to get your espresso behind a priest. I also stand by the fact that their cupcakes are better than Georgetown cupcake. Yep, I said it. In addition to their cupcakes I tried a sausage and cilantro biscuit that was to die for, and recreated them with my dad when we got back! (recipe later)

PAUL Bakery (in Georgetown)
My dad's favorite bakery dating back to our London days. With good reason, its fantastic. Get the almond chocolate croissant. I don't even like chocolate in my croissants, except here. Just do it.

Blue Duck Tavern (Foggy Bottom-ish)
My dad and I decided to get a bunch of different appetizer plates. I wish I had taken pictures of the food  (the lobster rolls especially) but we devoured it in a matter of minutes. I do however have pictures of our desert - a homemade Fig and Cognac Ice Cream covered in Goat's Milk Caramel Sauce. By the end I was actually skipping the ice cream and eating the caramel with a spoon.

Old Ebbitt Grill
Our favorite touristy place to get dinner in the heart of DC. Their seafood salad is my absolute favorite, I get it every time. It appears that they are known for their oysters, but oysters still make me queasy after a food poisoning incident in Paris so I'll leave that decision up to you.

Househunting
The not-so-wonderful part of our trip. We spent most of the time running around the city trying to find a new place for me to live. But we finally settled on a beautiful one with an amazing kitchen, gym, roof pool, and reasonable commute to work. (Below: me and my dad in front of my new apartment!)

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