Victory Garden: Things Get Kinky

Turns out our tomato plants are hermaphrodites. A parent never knows how their kids will turn out, but we still love them and just want them to be healthy and happy. Apparently tomatoes are self pollinating (much like lonely 13 year old boys). A bee comes along to get some nectar from the one of the tomatoes flowers and in the process shakes some pollen from the male part of the flower onto the female part of the flower. Why is this of any relevance? Because our tomatoes are growing indoors where there are no bees to pollinate and they are already growing flowers. This means that TWSF is going to have to help our plants have sex with themselves.

Country Fried Tailgates

Over the weekend TWSF went to the first of a series of seven (yes seven) country music concerts as part of the country megaticket. Half of TWSF loves country and was excited to see Brad Paisley, the other half loves drinking outside and was excited to tailgate with a party bus. For those of you who aren’t familiar with country concerts it’s pretty much the same as a normal concert except for a few small differences: recreational drugs are replaced with whiskey and chewing tobacco, Birkenstocks are replaced with cowboy boots, shirts are replaced with no shirts, and minorities are replaced with more white people.

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips

If you are trying to watch your weight for bikini weather, this is a great dessert. I actually completely forgot about the recipe until my longtime friend Julie just asked for it. I can't take credit for this picture, and will post Julie's when she makes this dish next weekend.

Mother's Day Brunch - Sausage and Egg Casserole with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Mozzarella

 

My parents were driving through the D.C. area on the way home from picking up my brother from his first year in college, so they decided to visit me. Mother's Day (according to my mother it's Mothers Weekend) happened to coincide with their visit, and since I haven't been home for most Mother's Days, I wanted to make sure we celebrated. I had originally hoped to take my family out to brunch at the Tabard Inn in D.C. They have an amazing brunch, and I love the atmosphere of the homey inn. As expected, they were booked the entire day, so I decided to make my own brunch instead. 

My mother is an amazing cook herself (I regret being a picky eater in my younger years), but I didn't want to use one of her own brunch recipes. My roommate Nicole made this Sausage and Egg Casserole a couple months ago for a brunch at our house. I expected a typical casserole, but was shocked with the unique flavor of the dish. My family was just as impressed with the casserole, and my mom wanted the recipe by the end of the meal. 

Scallops with Coconut Jasmine Rice

My wonderful friend Rosie gave me the Top Chef cookbook for Christmas. I've flipped through the book about 20 times or so, but did not settle on a recipe to try until this past weekend. I was craving seafood, so Chuck and I decided to go with  scallops and this recipe created by Chef Joey Paulino from Season 3 of Top Chef.

Hill’s Kitchen: the cutest little kitchen store in DC

So I’ve been in the market for an olive oil pourer for several months now (this is the first of several statements in this post that may make you question my manhood). My old olive oil pourer moved up to the arctic circle with my old roommate and I have been searching for a new one ever since. I have been looking for something specific but not unreasonable, a clear glass bottle with a pourer that has a little flap that closes automatically so dirt and bugs can’t get in. Despite my simple list of requirements, I found every combination of pourer imaginable except for what I was looking for. I had all but given up on my search when I stumbled upon a perfect solution at Hills Kitchen, TWSF’s favorite kitchenware store.

Beef Tenderloin Medallions and Potato "Risotto"

Planning a date with a man can be slightly daunting. It's typically their job to woo you the first couple weeks, but it gets to a point when it is time to reciprocate his hard planning and money spending. Cooking for your guy is a pretty inexpensive and yet impressive date option. Plan in advance, buy good ingredients, wear a low cut shirt and apron, and heels if you have the dexterity. This is really all it takes.

There is nothing more manly than meat and potatoes. Men love steak. It makes them feel manly, eating a manly steak and all. I swear some guys order steak all the time just to make them appear manlier. So to impress your guy, I suggest a hearty steak and potato meal. The other blogger and I made beef tenderloin medallions and potato “risotto” for Valentine’s Day, and he agrees this dish could surely win a man’s heart over.

TWSF realizes that they are food snobs

As if having our own food blog wasn’t evidence enough, TWSF realized that they were food snobs during a recent trip to Mexico. TWSF spent five nights at the Valentin Imperial Maya an all inclusive resort ranked 6th in the Cancun area, we highly recommend this place but not for singles. The food by all accounts was good and exceeded our expectations of what an all inclusive would deliver. But on the first night while sitting around a hibachi table we had what those in the drug addiction/rehab business call a moment of clarity.

Flat Caitlin and Chuck go to Rivieria Maya, Mexico

Flat Caitlin was very excited that she was going to the beach in Mexico with her new friend Chuck. They both really needed a break from their daily routine. The flight from Washington DC (Chuck’s hometown) to Rivieria Maya, Mexico was 1360 miles! Flat Caitlin was really tired when she finally got to the resort and the first thing she wanted to do was take a nap. There is no better place for a nap than on a comfy chair right next to the pool.