Lombardino's with Laura

I'm still playing catch-up from fall. These pics are from a dinner at Lombardino's with Ms. L. For my taste, the tricolore salad would've been better without the bleu cheese, but that makes sense because it's not my favorite. It was grand, however, to have more exotic greens: radicchio, frisée, and escarole.

tricolore salad

Baked Falafel with Cucumber-Pita Salad

I hadn't made falafel since K. and I attempted a batch in my minuscule kitchen in London. Since it had been more than a decade, it was time to try again. In an attempt to imitate the wondrous falafel we had from street vendors, I'm pretty sure we fried ours. This time, I was hoping for a somewhat healthier version, so I baked them. (Plus, I hate frying stuff in my apartment. The joint inevitably smells greasy for days afterward.)

This recipe from Instructables turned out alright. They didn't hold together as well as I'd hoped, and they weren't as crunchy on the outside as I like. The spice level was great, mainly because I amped up the cayenne and garlic and added other Indian spices (e.g., turmeric) that weren't called for. Turmeric has many health benefits, so I like to throw it into lots of stuff.

Mallards baseball + Banzo

Fattoush

I finally made it to a Mallards game. Beckie, Will, and I stopped at Banzo for dinner beforehand. I had the fattoush special and a side of falafel. Beckie has the falafel sandwich, and Will opted for the falafel platter. The fattoush (Levantian bread salad) was light and wonderful and featured more veggies than I expected. Their falafel is good. This time, it was a bit too dark, and it hasn't made me forget the Caspian Cafe's version. Alas, the Caspian Cafe has been gone for quite some time.

Falafel platter

Elise's visit

Elise visited from Milwaukee last weekend. She arrived around 10:30am, and we chatted and caught up. Then we made fish tacos (with tuna steaks and grilled, not fried). 

We hit a few garage sales, and since she'd never been, we went to Olbrich Gardens.

Umami with Mara

Summer rolls

When Mara was visiting a few weeks ago, we went to Umami for dinner. We had the summer rolls, the sesame seaweed salad with shiitake mushrooms, the mixed greens salad, and the tonkatsu ramen with a garlic bomb. The summer rolls were a tad bland, but, as always, the seaweed salad and tonkatsu ramen were marvelous.

Seaweed salad

Tonkatsu ramen

Stuffing our Faces in January

Jerky!

Way back in January, Naomi and Bill from the Cities graced us with their presence for a visit. Based on the pics, all we did was eat, but we did also hit a few thrift stores and N. + B. attended a Father John Misty concert.

Bloody Mary at the Old Fashioned

Dinner and a Movie

A few weekends ago, a group of us went to Luigi's Pizza for dinner and then watched The Campaign. Among the four of us, we had an Italian chef salad, a fancy salad, a prosciutto and arugula pizza (after swapping out the white sauce for red sauce), and a fugetaboutit pizza. For dessert, we all split a slice of tiramisu.

This shot was taken in the restaurant's entryway. I wanted to wear this adorable dress one more time before the cold weather set in. I pick it up at Target late this summer, and I adore it.

Partying like it's 2012

Just a few shots from my 35th birthday extravaganza in September, which included a picnic by the lake, dinner at Umami, shopping at reThreads west and dinner at Eno Vino, and dinner and La Brioche cake at A. + H.'s house. Oh, and the boy bought me my very own bocce ball set. I can't wait to try them out. Woot!

B.'s tutu transformed me into a birthday nymph

Delicious cake from La Brioche

Feting and Salads

Greek salad

This summer when it was excruciatingly hot, I was really into salads. I can't recall which recipe I used for the Greek salad, but here's one from Epicurious if you're interested in concocting it.

Salade Nicoise

Again, I can't remember which recipe I used for my somewhat modified salade Nicoise, but here's a basic recipe from Melissa d'Arabian of the Food Network.

Crazy Birthday Hats

On the Friday of my birthday (in late September), Jason and I went to the Blue Marlin for dinner. He started with the Thai curried crab soup with lemongrass, which he thought had the perfect balance of rich coconut milk and spicy kick. The rockfish special was buttery and yummy.

Dinner at the Blue Marlin

I started with a salad and had the eponymous blue marlin with roasted red pepper risotto, anchovy croutons, and braised chard. The marlin was a bit too dense and somewhat lacking in flavor, but it was moist. It might be that marlin just isn't my favorite fish. I'd love to go back and try something else.They do need to improve their coffee, though; it was pretty bad.

The waitress was attentive and friendly, but not to the point where she was constantly hovering. And I like the intimate atmosphere with low lighting. It made for a special dinner.

Opening presents! The sexy red dress loses something when paired with an afghan, a shawl, and slippers. :)

On Saturday, a group of us went to Nick's for dinner and then onto the Ivory Room for some piano bar wackiness.

I love JD's eyes in this pic. He looks very surprised.

The next week, Abby, Heath, Brenna, Jim, Mike, and I had pizza and salad, followed by a decadent apricot cake with hazelnut buttercream frosting from La Brioche. That cake was so massive that it was shared multiple times with several different people. We had slivers before the Richard Thompson concert at the Stoughton Opera House, and I took it to work, too.

For the Love of Tuna

Ah. I just finished a very refreshing shower, and now I'm drinking ginger ale and walking around in my Wonder Woman underoos.

Tonight for dinner, I grilled tuna steaks and topped them with leftover pesto butter.

On the side, I had a few crostini topped with olive tapenade (well, in a previous incarnation, it was an olive and basil vinaigrette for an arugula and cannellini salad, but it was close enough to a tapenade to work).

For the picnic preceding Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at APT last week (7/23), I prepared this:

Arugula and Cannellini Salad with Olive Vinaigrette  
(from Whole Living)

vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup pitted oil-cured olives, such as Nicoise (about 36)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

salad

• One 15 1/2-ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 cups pear, grape, or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bunch arugula (about 6 ounces), trimmed and washed

Make vinaigrette: Combine olives and the water in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Process until olives are finely chopped. Add garlic, basil, vinegar, and cumin; process until mixture is smooth and combined, stopping to scrape sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

In a medium bowl, combine beans, tomatoes, and red onion, and gently toss. Pour vinaigrette over bean mixture, and toss to coat. To serve, divide arugula leaves among four plates, and mound bean mixture on top.

World's tiniest pic--hooray for iPhone cameras--of us at APT for Blithe Spirit

On July 9, J. and I went to The Taming of the Shrew at APT. I must admit that the female obedience theme was rather tiring by the end. While it's not one of Shakey's full-on problem plays, it was controversial, according to some critics, for its celebration of female subjugation and misogyny even when first published. The Wikipedia article about it has all kinds of interesting info., so I won't regurgitate it.

At APT for The Taming of the Shrew

Springing into Summer

It was still a bit chilly when we hit the Terrace for the first time this summer (thus, the sweater), but I was still ready and willing to bask in the outdoors.

One of the summer's first trips to the Terrace

Early in the spring, we stumbled on Gallery Night. We saw a glassblowing demonstration at Studio Paran, took in some cool art, grazed on appetizers, ran into John Nichols, and stopped into the Ohio Tavern for a drink. (I probably won't return. It was a bit sketchy for my taste.) 

The classy dispenser in the Ohio Tavern's potty

Glassblowing at Studio Paran

Glassblowing at Studio Paran

In May, we walked up to Monona Terrace and went to the Great Dane for brunch.

In Great Dane's beer garden

A few other shots from the spring:

A spontaneous Happy Hour at the Orpheum with colleagues

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Mara and Owen visited from the Cities

Sweet Gracie underneath my drying 'brellie

When it was finally warm enough, we had a simple picnic by the lake with BLTs, wine, and salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette