office food

hey y'all! i'm scrambling to get all my work done before i leave town tonight - sam and i are heading up to portland, maine for a long weekend with some very good friends of mine who fled there from new york about a year ago. in the meantime, i wanted to do a quick food post of some snacks i've made for my officemates lately.

i'm a pastry chef by trade, but currently working in an office full time while sam & i save our pennies towards opening a bakery of our own someday, hopefully in the not-too-distant future. i'm fortunate to have enough down time at work, along with a fully functional kitchen, to be able to practice my passion on an almost-daily basis, whipping up snacks for the office; no one's complained yet. a couple weeks ago it was lobster rolls, and today i made an apple-pear crumble to usher in the fall (and make my absence tomorrow a little less painful.)




+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
tarragon lobster rolls

(makes 10 full sized rolls)

2 lbs lobster meat, cooked
1 package standard hot dog buns
2 T melted butter
1 T chopped tarragon
1 t good, smoked spanish paprika
~ 1/2 cup mayonnaise (to your taste)
salt & pepper

very simple - set aside the hot dog buns and butter; mix everything else in a bowl, tasting as you go. add paprika, salt, pepper & mayo as you want to get it the consistency you like - this is a jumping off point (i like mine pretty salty and a little heavy on the mayo.) then turn your oven to 300, brush the hot dog buns with butter, and toast them for just a couple of minutes; fill and serve immediately, as they'll get soggy if you let them sit around.




+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
easy apple & pear crumble

i say "easy" because i made this entirely with stuff that was in my office already - no need for anything fancy. i even used a pre-made pie crust, which is a NEVER for me except that there are no pie pans in the office and i don't have a choice.

filling:
3 apples
2 pears
about 2 T unsalted butter
about 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1 t vanilla
pinch of salt
about 2 T flour

crumble:
about 1 1/2 cups whole almonds
pinch ginger
pinch cinnamon
4 T unsalted butter
3 T flour

heat oven to 350. put your pre-made crust in and bake it until it's just browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. take it out and set aside.

peel & core apples and pears; cut into thin slices and set aside. start the butter in a medium pot. once the butter is browned, add the pears & apples and cook until softened. add sugar and spices and cook until the liquid has thickened and there isn't much of it, stirring occasionally. remove from heat.

to make the crumble, start the almonds, sugar, flour and spices in a blender or food processor; pulse until the almond has been chopped up into little bits. add the butter and pulse until it forms a clumpy crumb. put it in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

pour the filling into the crust and smooth it out; place the crumble on top, crumbling it into bite sized pieces, and bake until the top and crust have browned, about 10-15 minutes. let it cook for ten minutes or so, and voila! delicious. i whipped up a little vanilla whipped cream to top them off. deeeelicious, and perfect for this season change (pears are so good right now.)







so have a great weekend everyone! i hope to come back refreshed, lungs full of northeastern air and legs exhausted from many dance-a-thons. i'll do my best to take lots of pictures.

much love,

xo audrey

*** edited to add lobster roll recipe for susanelle.

picture book

good morning! how was the long weekend? sam and i left to head back to the city super early yesterday morning, but caught bad traffic and a lot of bad luck and i ended up racing, late, to work, and not having a chance to blog. so today's a little catch-up - aka, a major photo dump. but if you make it to the end, you'll find out who won my contest! yes, blackmail! employed, for the first time, here in blog form.

saturday morning, bright and much too early, i hopped on an amtrak to new london, connecticut, ate corned beef hash in a diner, lugged my bags to a salvation army for a bit of shopping, and then caught the ferry to block island. it was a really gorgeous ride.









there i met up with sam and our friends haley and julie and hit the beach for awhile (hit the beach, aka pass out on a beach blanket for a couple of hours) before heading back to julie's parents' place to drop off our stuff then pick up food for dinner. fish market to grocery store, we feasted on oysters, clams casino (a delectable concoction of clams, red peppers, bacon and white wine,) and a leek and goat cheese galette. . . and lots of wine.




the next morning we picked up sam and haley from fishing and hit a yard sale, then changed into our suits and went down to the bluffs. it was sooo beautiful - hot but breezy, sunny but not unbearably so; i think so many tourists had decided to skip the island after the hurricane, assuming the worst, that it wasn't too crowded anywhere and we pretty much got our pick of beach. sam and i fished up and down the coast, soaked in some sun, then headed back home to pack up and take the ferry back to newport.








we grabbed lobster rolls and clam strips, smuggled a couple of pbr and snuggled up on the ferry for the ride back; there we climbed in sam's car and drove up to newport to see our buddy johannes, who was just finishing up a shift as a chef in a restaurant downtown when we arrived. we joined him for a beer, then two, a shot of whiskey, a couple more beers, another whiskey. . . and so on, before stumbling back to his apartment, where i quickly zonked out on the couch but sam, johannes, and his sister sarah chatted for a couple more hours. needless to say we slept in, late, and required a very greasy breakfast in the morning.




our bunkmate for much of the night, rex.

after some bacon and eggs, we packed up the car once again and headed to a beautiful pond not too far from the apartment. sam and johannes both snagged a couple fish apiece, but i wasn't having any luck so i took photos of the scenery instead. take that, nature.






after fishing, we grabbed some groceries and invited over old friends mike and katie for a big family dinner; johannes crafted a delicious fish soup with some of sam's catch, and i made some marinated zucchini and heirloom tomato crostini with ricotta and pear & almond cream puff pastry for dessert.

it was really a pretty perfect weekend. i'm not sure anywhere is as beautiful as new england this time of year, and getting to see so many friends (and eat so many good meals) in a few short days is pretty much my idea of heaven. a relaxing vacation it wasn't, but it was a perfect end to the summer.



and, the winner of the loehmann's giveaway is. . .



heather of 29 skirts! i internet-love heather so i'm so happy for her! heather, email me your address and info and i'll have this shipped right out to you. and thanks so much to everyone for entering - i loved seeing what you're eyeballing for fall, and now i can steal all of your ideas and be the most stylish girl in brooklyn. bwahahaha! just kidding. OR AM I?!

tell me what you did for your long weekend! staycation? go out of town? anything epic? i am very much looking forward to a quiet weekend or two at home. . . in a couple of weeks, after fashion week comes and goes.

xo audrey

auld lang syne, my dears

a belated happy new years! i spent mine in chattanooga, as i mentioned, and managed to remember every camera cable, every charger - and forget my battery charger. the camera died the instant i pulled it out. so, there it is. starting the new year off with no bang.

so, i have to admit, this shot is staged. my friend ashlee came over the other night and we had some wine and she, being a photographer but without her camera, decided that i should dress up and she'd take pictures of me. i'm pretty awkward when most people take photos of me, but the glass or two of wine helped, and we got a couple shots that i actually liked quite a bit. this one is my favorite, though, most likely because my entire face is obscured by syrah.



dress: madewell
necklace 1: gift from sam, from california
necklace 2 (rhinestones): also actually from sam, from our recent trip to the south
tights: courtesy of stylefind
tights 2 (patterned one): sam's mom gave 'em in my stocking
shoes: madewell
belt: urban outfitters
purse: gift from a friend, marc jacobs

back to my trip, though - sam and i had a great time, despite the desolation that is northern georgia. i was so excited to hit every goodwill within a twenty mile radius, and i did so, but was left pretty disappointed in the selection (and pretty depressed in the atmosphere in some of them.) i guess it was a wake up call of sorts - i grew up without a lot of money, and certainly shopped in thrift stores out of necessity; today it's more to try to find fun, unique things for a steal, but what a reminder that a trip to the goodwill isn't all fun and games for some. it was humbling, for sure. but everyone was so incredibly friendly, that it wasn't an entirely lost cause.

for reasons to complicated to explain, my flight got really screwed up and we ended up staying in atlanta for one night, and exploring the outer regions some - we found this awesome jewelry store, right next door to a salvation army, and i snagged 3 necklaces that will be getting a lot of play, including one of the two i wore on new years. i've never been huge into jewelry before, but one or two great pieces have really got me kind of addicted.

so our days were mostly spent exploring the country and eating really bad(ly awesome) food such as outback steakhouse and red lobster, and our evenings were spent in the hotel. sam got an amazing room with a giant whirlpool actually like 2 feet from the bed, so we could sit in it and drink wine and watch hockey. which we did. a lot. one game (penguins v. capitols,) one hbo special (24/7 penguins) and mighty ducks I and II. it was not the most glamourous way to spend the new year, but we had a damn good time.

the night of new years we did have an amazing dinner, though - we drove the half hour to chattanooga and sam had booked us a reservation at a really incredible little restaurant that was serving a 4-course prix fix menu. it was lovely, with the small exception of the fact that i'd developed a cold so bad at that point that my outfit was outplayed by my extreme kleenex rash under my nose. ah well.

so, there is my horrific-ly out-of-order new years holiday. how was yours? did you do anything special?

and lastly, a recipe to start off the year! i had the idea to try making creme brulee in oranges, to see if they would pick up some of the flavor. having just sucked one down i can say that it did have a very mellow orange flavor and was pretty delightful, and the orange does make for a pretty presentation (and easy cleanup! just scoop it clean and throw it away [or compost if you're cooler than i am.])




orange infused creme brulee

first - hollow out two oranges. it's kind of an annoying task, and be careful when you get to the bottom that you don't rip out the little stem, which leaves a big hole. i've been there.

you'll need:

2 oranges, cut in half and scooped
4 yolks
1 cup cream
2 T plus 1 T sugar
pinch of table salt
2 T vanilla or vanilla bean extract
2 T fresh squeezed orange juice (just squeeze the stuff you scooped.)

heat oven to 300, and get a kettle with some water ready for boiling.

first - put 1/2 cup of the cream, the vanilla, the salt, and 2 T of the sugar into a small saucepan. stir for a bit to make sure the sugar dissolves. once it starts to boil, turn off the burner and now put your yolks in a bowl - wait until now if you can, so they don't dry out. add the remaining 1 T of sugar and the orange juice and whisk until combined. add the remaining 1/2 cup of cream to the saucepan, to cool it further, then add the cream, bit by bit, to the yolks, whisking all the while. add it all, whisk til combined, but try not to add too many bubbles.

use a sieve to pour the mixture into a 2 cup measure. place the oranges in a small pan - i just used a 9" cake pan (you want it to have high-ish sides.) turn the kettle on so the water boils, and fill the oranges to about 1/2 inch from the top. carefully put them on a middle rack in the oven and then pour boiling water up to 2/3 of the orange. bake for about 30 minutes; they are done when they don't slosh, but just barely jiggle. let them cool off, then cover them and put them in the fridge for several hours (or even a couple of days.) when ready to serve, cover with turbinado sugar (shake off any excess) and use a torch to brulee it. voila! an elegant, delicious and seasonal dessert.



all right, i'm off. sam has been downloading d3, the last of the mighty ducks trilogy, and i have some roasted chicken and dutch macaroni and cheese to scarf.

happy 2011 everyone, may it be our best year yet!

xo audrey

chattanooga choo choo (er, airplane)

after trudging off to work this morning in 20 inches of slow that is rapidly turning into a city full of slush, i'm headed off to chattanooga for a nice, long weekend with sam. plans include a lot of thrifting, sleeping in, and free hbo - in other words, a very quiet, low-key new year. we do have reservations at one of the fanciest restaurants in chattanooga (i'm not sure what to make of that sentence,) and i look forward to weather warm (enough) to get away with tights with no long johns underneath, and open-toed shoes.

in case i don't have internet access from the hotel room (heaven forbid!,) have a great weekend and a phenomenal new year, everyone. i don't have the presence of mind just yet to get sappy about 2010, but it has been a truly fantastic year, and i want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading. i've been up and down on this thing and it means a lot to me that you've stuck with me.



my comfy traveling outfit:

sweater: picked up at a renegade craft fair a couple years ago
pants: super on sale rodebjers that i finally just sewed skinny a couple of days ago. i don't wear wide leg pants.
shoes: madewell
necklace: thrifted

oh yes and!! to leave you on this delightful note, in honor of the new year, with my thanks to the beautiful and befreckled linsey of the indo projects - some caviar and champagne. . .

. . . handstitched out of sequins.






all these things and more, right here.

brown's pond house

(photos courtesy of mr. morgan mirvis and his fancy camera.)

sooo, a couple weekends ago sam and i spent the weekend with 9 friends in a big, beautiful house on brown's pond in upstate new york to celebrate my dear friend jared's birthday. it was absolutely gorgeous - still warm enough to sit outside in nothing but your flannel or a sweater, and all the leaves were at their brightest but still filling the trees. we spent most of the time drinking spiced cider, eating, or playing dorky word games, and it was one of the best weekends i'd had in a while. i brought the cake.




to say that jared is the biggest sally field fan i know isn't really saying much, but it is absolutely true, so i spent a little time at work the day before we left drawing ms. norah walker herself (anyone get that reference? no? you're better for it.) in chocolate on his devil's food cake.



tonight i attempt to deep fry turkey drumsticks. stay tuned.

xo audrey