Monday, June 21, 2010

Summer Solstice

Hi, everyone!

So, today is the longest day of the year... the summer solstice, the first day of summer! I find it really funny that I've already been sweating like crazy for about a month, but we're just now officially calling this season summer.
I'm thankful we have a couple AC units in our apartment because, being on the second floor, it gets SO dang hot in here. Especially when I have the oven and the stove on while I'm making dinner. I sometimes have to take a shower before we eat. Last night was one of those nights (minus the shower... didn't have time) because I was making dinner for our good friends, Seth and Emily Little! We had them over for dinner, and then we all went to see Toy Story 3, which was amazing--everyone should go see it!

For dinner, I made chicken piccata, creamy orzotto, and green beans with a dessert of Mixed Berry Pavlova...

Here's the orzotto. It's basically made the same way as risotto, but you use orzo instead of rice. Recipe from Giada DeLaurentis' Everyday Pasta.


These next photos are of the chicken piccata being cooked. This recipe is so delicious and pretty easy. It's from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa At Home. I'm in love with this cookbook! I've been cooking and baking out of it quite frequently in the past couple of months.


Andy is a great photographer, isn't he?





This is the lemon cream sauce. It called for dry white wine, as well as the orzotto, so I was very thankful Andy's parents brought us some wine when they visited over Memorial Day! It was delicious in the dishes and to drink.


Here's the finished product, which I served on the cutest platter I just bought at TJ Maxx. I love that store.


This is the pavlova, which is an Australian dessert named after a Russian ballerina, Anna Pavlova. I guess it looks like her tutu? It's basically a meringue, covered with homemade whipped cream, and berries with a raspberry sauce. It was so light and summery and delicious! Thanks again to Ina Garten :)


How yummy does that look?!


We had a fun night. We love the Littles, dinner was delish, and the movie was wonderful! I hope to have more evenings like that this summer.
Love,
Emily

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Our First Post!

Hello, everyone!

So, here we are... I feel like we've reached a milestone, now that we're entering into the blogging world! I've been excited to start a blog for awhile now. I love blogs. I have about 15 blogs saved in our bookmarks that I check pretty much everyday. Mostly cooking and photography and friends' blogs. Anyway, so here is ours! We hope you enjoy reading about our life here in Boston, as we learn how to continue living life to the full here while seeing Arizona out on the horizon. Keep reading, and you'll learn more about how God called us to plant a church in the desert and about how we get ready for the big move. But for now, I'll just show you what I made for dinner tonight!

Love, Emily

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with a side salad (not pictured)



And Double Coconut Cream Pie...yum!

This is the custard layer. I added a little more chocolate to this part... of course! :)


The custard is topped with fresh whipped cream and toasted coconut.


Delish!


I got both recipes from All You magazine.