2 years already?

Wow, does time fly when you are loving every minute of the person you are with Our 2-year anniversary was wonderfully low key and brilliant! After the craziness of this summer, we vetoed traveling right away. The morning started with breakfast in bed (NJ makes great breakfasts, in or out of bed), continued with minimal work, heading out to lunch, eating some cake, and a wonderful dinner out.

Yes, our plan to eat 1/4 of our top layer of wedding cake is still in tact, we devoured part of it after lunch yesterday and it still tastes as it good back in the day thanks to the many many layers of wrap it has on it in the freezer.

Our evening rounded out with dinner at Restaurant Nora. We went in hearing mixed reviews, but the mood was set immediately when we sat down and found that they had printed custom menus for us that said “Happy 2nd Anniversary” on the top. The food, all organic, was good and we left the restaurant full and happy with the choice.

And so, year 3 of our married life begins, full, rested and happy.

Aw, photobooth

better late than never, from B&T’s wedding….

and yes, we are enjoying our anniversary more details on that later on!

Hahaha, us dancing

Hahaha – this is how we look dancing apparently

Chillin at the cottage

Did I mention that Amanda and Dan got married in the Finger Lakes? Yep, only 35 minutes from the cabin, so we had a little mini cabin retreat this weekend – complete with plenty of relaxing time on the dock, Pinot can swim, and doggie sundaes. Good stuff. And – we are done traveling for a few weeks! Yay!

Congratulations, Amanda & Dan!

A wonderful couple, a beautiful wedding and a gorgeous locale

Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies

I was skeptical, but these were good! I think you can get more than the 20 that I got out of this batch. They didn’t travel very well, but I think that the sprinkles will be good on ice cream later on and they lasted more than 3 days in a ziplock bag.

Nick liked these when they came out of the oven. I used strait up chopped walnuts, but have heard that pecans can also work in this recipe.

Francois Payard’s Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies
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Recipe By: From the April 21, 2008 issue of New York magazine
Serving Size: 20

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups walnut halves
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven golden and fragrant, about seven minutes. Let cool slightly, then transfer nuts to a work surface and coarsely chop.

Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and lower temperature to 320 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk (or combine in an electric mixer on low speed) confectioners’ sugar with cocoa powder and salt followed by the chopped nuts.

While whisking (or once you change the speed to medium), add egg whites and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened (do not over beat or it will stiffen).

Spoon the batter onto the baking sheets in evenly spaced mounds, and bake for about seven minutes, then move pans from front to back and top to bottom, and allow to bake for an additional seven or eight minutes (for a total of 14-16 minutes), until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked.

Slide the parchment paper (with the cookies) onto two wire racks. Let cookies cool completely, and store in an airtight container for up to three days.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Mmm, these were good! Batter was awesome, coming out of the oven and cooled I was worried they were too hard, but after a day in an airtight container with a piece of bread – these rocked for days to come. (We enjoyed them during our trip to cabin with the Pender peeps!)

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly. Instead of 1.5 pounds good white chocolate, I used 1 bag of Nestle’s white chocolate chips. Then I added 1/2 a bag of mini chocolate chips.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
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Recipe By: Food Network, Barefoot Contessa 2001
Serving Size: 48

Ingredients:

1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1.5 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper using a 1.75″ ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly.

Pender Weekend!

This was the best weekend ever. Attempting to blog about it will not do it justice, so I’ll just show the picture from the wine tour and if you’d really like more detail, ask to see the scrapbook page.

Camping @ Susquehanna State Park

Wish the weekend were longer! Good times Yay to tubing in really cold water – yep, even Pinot made the trip down the river. And the ensuing cast iron skillet/dish soap/ dull hatchet/ breakfast burrito conversation can’t be beat.

Oh and Pinot likes to drink beer. What of it?

Congratulations to Brandee & Tim!