Honey in the Hive

I always keep a jar of honey (that includes honeycomb) in my kitchen. As as much as possible, I use honey when baking (and even cooking) because honey is such a natural way to sweeten up a meal. Even Michelle Obama would agree with me on this one. Did you know that the Obamas are the first first family to have bee hives at the White House? Whether or not I have outdoor space I know that’s something I could never pull off having. A fresh convenient little herb garden — yes. A collection of bee hives — no.

Whether it’s used in the kitchen, or used as inspiration around a home — I think the honeycomb pattern is gorgeous and is a fantastic way to incorporate the beauty of food into your decor. Take a look at a few ideas:

What a fantastic way to put the honeycomb pattern in a bedroom! The shape’s edges are curved and soft so they aren’t a stiff hexagon! (Not to mention, the color is fantastic!)

Look closely here and you’ll see what looks to be a renovated park fence type of wall decor. What an incredible way to hang items on a wall too!

I couldn’t help it — I had to include a piece of jewelry! So simple and elegant, the shapes from a honeycomb make the perfect necklace!

(Note: these photos were taken from Pinterest. Take a look on my site for further references! And be sure to follow me, I’ll follow back! I’m always interested to see what everyone is pinning about!)

Artichoke & Brussel Sprout Inspiration

We all know how much I love lemons… whether I am eating them or using them to put together the perfect centerpiece, I love love love the fruit! The color yellow is vibrant and reminds me of my favorite place in the world, Capri. Read my post from last week for more inspiration on lemons.

But this week, I had to showcase some of my favorite things about artichokes and brussel sprouts. Two fantastic vegetables that not only taste good but they also make fantastic decor! I love being able to show off my insanely fresh and vibrant vegetables before I cook them up to eat them! What can I say, I’m super flashy when it comes to veggies!

Here are some fantastic ways to put your artichokes and brussel sprouts on show for everyone to see:

Not flashy and not too obvious; a subtle artichoke is put in the middle of this casual bouquet. I love this as a centerpiece that you can use for multiple tables, for the: dining room, foyer table, and even on a buffet table.

This tree assembled of brussel sprouts is gorgeous! And more importantly I can see it on a mantel during other times than Christmas time!

I feel like this is the most elegant way to show off your artichokes! Just by placing them on an elegant, flat elevated plate does so much! Whether you place this centerpiece on a dinner table or a table during tea-time I know it’ll be the perfect table top addition!

This rustic bowl of brussel sprouts is also simple, modest, and beautiful! Show off your unbelievable vegetables for your friends and family to see! (If I found such a great selection of these green veggies, that’s exactly what I would want to do!)

(Note: these photos were taken from Pinterest. Take a look on my site for further references! And be sure to follow me, I’ll follow back! I’m always interested to see what everyone is pinning about!)

Mercadito Mexican Restaurant

It’s not that often I make it out to a restaurant for Mexican food. I have to be in the mood for that type of cuisine. It’s probably because I was never exposed to Mexican-style food before the age of 15-years-old. My father doesn’t like the type of food so my mother never made guacamole or fajitas and we definitely never ever went out to a Mexican restaurant.

I’ll never forget the first time I had guacamole — it was on Fire Island when I was 15-years-old and our family friend who I was babysitting for all summer made a bowl of guac for a little BBQ she was going to. I watched as she squished the avocado with a fork and diced up other ingredients. And for some reason before that moment I actually thought avocados were called guacamole. Wow. How much more uneducated could I have gotten? Seriously!

I enjoyed guacamole here and there but it wasn’t until my study abroad when I truly started making it at home myself. It was the easiest and cheapest thing to buy at the local farmers market. The ingredients cost me practically nothing and my boyfriend at the time taught me how to make the tastiest bowl of guacamole. I wish I could share the recipe with you but it’s definitely one of those “a pinch of this and pinch of that” sort of recipe.

So this past weekend, my boyfriend and I saw Iron Lady staring Meryl Streep. I love Meryl, she is my favorite actress and I was so proud of her performance in this film. I truly suggest for everyone to see it in the theater.

We also went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant after the movie. It was our first time to Mercadito in Alphabet City, and even at 10:30 at night it was packed (good thing I made a reservation). It is such a tiny restaurant and is full of life. We sat in the back room which was much more spacious than the front room where a table practically blocks the main entrance.

Of course we started with an order of guacamole and instead of going the traditional route we ordered the Mango Guacamole. Each bite was full of spice and a refreshing surge of citrus. I can officially announce it — I love mango, especially in guacamole! There’s something about a fantastic balance of spice with an ingredient that satisfies your thirst too!

Instead of ordering main dishes we stuck with ordering a variety of the tacos: the shrimp, the steak, and the chicken. My favorite was the steak followed by the shrimp then the chicken. Each taco plate came with 4 tacos and annoyingly enough you were unable to mix and match your tacos.

We were told by friends that 2 plates of tacos would be enough for 2 people but we didn’t listen and we ended up ordering 3 taco plates and ended up taking a few things home.

Full of flavor and texture the steak and shrimp tacos were outstanding! Made with homemade flour (or were they corn?) tortillas we knew we were eating the freshest of all ingredients out there.

My favorite part was out order of the Mexican Style corn on the cob! I had been craving it all day and I was determined to eat this with dinner. There’s something about the lime juice and the insanely cheap mexican cheese crumbled on top… and there’s nothing like the spicy toppings that put my mouth on fire! I love it. I love it. I love it. Although this corn on the cob was insanely spicy! WOAH!

I do have one pretty disgusting dinner detail to share with you all. I mean, I almost stopped eating, it really made me gag…

My boyfriend and I were sitting in the back room at the restaurant and it was packed. Everyone was wining and dining on tacos and margaritas and enjoying their Friday night out. If it wasn’t for the large “BANG” I would never have noticed. I was sitting with my back facing the wall and a waiter leaned over the guy next to me at the table next to my boyfriend and I; he leaned over with a rag and crushed a bug on the wall. What bug was it? Well since he was a pretty forceful hit to the wall, my guess is that it was a cockroach. Ew oh my gosh, how damn disgusting is that!? A COCKROACH! The entire room went silent, everyone looked at their food, laughed and kept on eating. I don’t know if it’s because all of New York inhabitants seem jaded or maybe it’s because they know where they live and they deal with it. Barf. How nasty is that!?

So I had a stereotypical dinner at a Mexican restaurant… I managed to have insanely delicious food while watching a waiter smash a cockroach against a wall. Nasty nasty nasty.

For The Kids, Penn State THON

Hi everyone! Not everyone knows about an amazing fundraising event called THON. It’s where Penn State students work their butts off to raise as much money as they can for pediatric cancer. With the money that is raised, so much is done. In the past an amazing pediatric cancer wing had been added on to the Penn State Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, Pa. There’s so much to be done, and many lives that need to be saved.

It’s not too late to donate to this year’s THON event. You can go to thon.org to donate. Every dollar, every penny counts! THON is taking place right now, this weekend, up in State College, Pa. I wish everyone at PSU the best of luck and hope they are able to break last year’s record in earnings. So many families and children depend on this organization… and I can’t wait to see what THON does next… FOR THE KIDS!

And don’t forget to tweet some support, and be sure to use #FTK when you do it!

(photos courtesy of nittanywhiteout.com, Nicole Visovsky, and KhloeKardashian.celebuzz)

Lemon Obsession & Inspiration

For some reason I have been obsessed with lemons lately… lemons in recipes, lemon decor, fashion inspired lemon jewelry… whatever it is, if it’s lemon-themed, I love it!

Another new interest of mine is Pinterest, do you have an account? If not, get one! there’s so much inspiration on this site I don’t even know where to begin.

I can link my lemon obsession to my love for Capri, Italy. I only spent a few days in Capri, but I was swept away by the magical Italian island. I can’t wait to go back. If you don’t know the connection to Capri and lemons, read up on a past post of mine from last year!

Below are a few photos I didn’t share with you this past fall from Capri. The first one is a picture of my father and I sitting on a bench with a little old Italian man. We were sipping on cold beverages while waiting for our dinner table. This little old man didn’t speak a lick on English, but we tried talking with him any way. By the time we started talking to him he had just finished watching a wedding party leave a church in Anacapri.

The next photo is a picture of the inside of the Blue Grotto! Look at how gorgeous the water is! The most gorgeous shade of blue I think I will ever see in my life.

Here are some of my newly discovered lemony inspiration! If you have a recipe that uses lemon as a main ingredient, please send my way! I’d love to try out a new recipe! (All photos are taken from various Pinterest accounts.)

Crispo, Meatpacking Restaurant

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I decided to go out to dinner at a restaurant that was recommended to us by a coworker of mine. I am always up for Italian food! I could eat Italian cuisine every day for the rest of my life and be satisfied — I’m one of those people. Even though I enjoy sushi, thai food, Mexican, and French cuisine… I never really crave the foods! But Italian food, I think about it all the time.

Crispo is located right on 14th Street near 8th Ave. It’s so close to Union Square, but I’m going to guess that it’s technically in the Meatpacking neighborhood. If you’re looking for a restaurant close to the hot spots, fun night clubs, and rowdy bars that can be found in Meatpacking, this restaurant is just a 5 minute walk from all of those shenanigans.

The restaurant is loud but intimate. The lighting is magical and you’ll feel cozy at whatever table you are seated at. The low ceilings probably help a lot with the cozy and intimate setting.

The menu is gigantic and a bit over whelming and I was surprised that there’s an entirely different menu for the “specials of the day.” Can you believe it? Of the dayyyy!

Off of the main menu, we started with Parmigiano Crusted Roast Asparagus — this plate contained 4 massive pieces of asparagus spears cooked perfectly (not too over cooked and mushy and it had the perfect crunch to it) and half of the spears were covered with my favorite type of cheese — parmigiano reggiano cheese. The cheese was nice and crispy on top but there was a large amount of it on the vegetables so the cheese was warm and melted underneath the crispy layer.

Another appetizer we ordered off the of the main menu was the Caramelized Brussel Sprouts, Toasted Almonds, and Maple. If you are limiting yourself to only one appetizer, this is the one to get. It was my favorite (and my boyfriend’s favorite too). The brussel sprouts are cooked perfectly and the maple glaze on top adds so much sweetness to the vegetable you will forget what you are eating. Personally, I love brussel sprouts — they can be steamed in a Ziploc steam bag and I’d eat them just like that. But the maple adds loads of comforting flavor to it — I think I’m going to try to recreate these in my own kitchen!

Our final appetizer we ordered was off of the daily special menu — it was a zucchini popper dish that came with cheese stuffed on the inside of the popper and a spicy red sauce. This was our least favorite, the bread on the outside of the zucchini poppers was rather soft and kind of soggy. There was also so much cheese on the inside, I may have been lucky to have one full bite that included a piece of zucchini. The flavors weren’t bad, but the texture was lacking.

For our main dishes I knew exactly what I wanted I didn’t hesitate when ordering — the Butternut Tortelloni with Roast Italian Chestnuts, Sage and Parmigiano.

Anything with butternut I know I am going to love. Perfectly cooked and nice and sweet, exactly what butternut dishes tend to be like, I indulged in every bite. Not a single piece of food was left on my plate. The sage also brought out fantastic flavors in the dish! I recommending this plate as an order if you venture to Crispo.

My boyfriend ordered a pasta dish and he ranked it as just ok. There could have been some more flavors added into the plate. But for all your ordinary pasta lovers that don’t need much to say “wow” I’m sure you would have been happy with the order. (I believe his pasta dish came off of the daily special menu so I can’t tell you exactly what was in it.)

Finally, for dessert… We ordered the tasting of creme brulee and chocolate pot de creme. The creme brulee is definitely one of my favorite desserts and the chef at Crispo did a fantastic job with this! The brown sugar was perfectly torched on the top and all of the flavors were beautiful. The pot de creme was also very tasty and satisfied my chocolate sweet tooth!

Over all I really enjoyed this restaurant — thank you coworker for your recommendation! The restaurant isn’t too far from my apartment and I plan to go back. Hopefully I can bring my friend Stef… I can see her falling in love with the appetizers just like I did!

Tello’s Ristorante

Last night I had met up with a very close family friend for dinner. I can’t get over that our families have been friends for over a century!

We decided to stay in Chelsea for some Italian food, and his friend recommended Tello’s on the corner of 20th Street and 8th Avenue… a 7 minute walk from my apartment.

I had scouted out the review online a week in advance and of course I eyed down the menu one too many times. And I couldn’t wait to try out this Italian restaurant. After all, it’s always a treat to discover something new/old that’s in my neighborhood!

Immediately when you walk into the space, you’ll notice that it’s similar to a Ma and Pop’s place — with red checkered table clothes and old black and white family photos covering the walls, you knew right away that wearing jeans is totally acceptable here.

As I eyed down the crowd the scene was clearly a mix of folks — from a high-power career-looking woman with her husband still in his work clothes and their typical 12 year old child playing video games at the dinner table. To a group of men giggling, gossiping, and overall just loving their company. To intimate dates spread evenly throughout the restaurant. I loved that this restaurant plays music, but doesn’t blast it. With the high ceilings you’d think that the restaurant would get obnoxiously loud, but it doesn’t!

This is the perfect place to: have a meal without screaming across the table to talk with your date, bring your kids to, dine out casually, and of course to enjoy good food.

To start, we ordered the calamari which was brought out so quickly I didn’t even get a chance to eat my bread. After squeezing the lemon on top, then dunking a piece into the red sauce, I realized how fresh and perfectly seasoned and cooked this fish was. Not only was the fish fresh and perfectly cooked, the red sauce added a lovely zing of heat. I’d give the calamari an A+ in my book!

The menu has a large selection of dishes to pick from… it was a good thing I scouted out the menu before arriving. By the time the waiter asked what I would want for my entree I knew I could tell him the Porcini Ravioli (I know, I’m on a mushroom and ravioli kick this week). He also said that the dish was “fantastic.” So of course, I had to order it! My family friend, Dennis, ordered another pasta dish: Rigatoni Tello which included pasta with sweet sausage, tomatoes, peas, and zucchini.

The ravioli was incredible! I love creamy pasta dishes and when it includes mushrooms it is even better! And that’s just what this dish had — lots of mushrooms! Every bite was filled with a cheesy, creamy, and mushroom flavors that all fused so beautifully together.

Dennis loved his pasta dish too! He gobbled it down so fast I had to eat a little faster to catch up.

My only complaint about dinner was that the food was so hot when it came out, I had to let it cool off for a bit before I could take my first bite… It’s not a large complaint in any way, but I was totally tortured by the most delicious smells coming from my plate and I knew I couldn’t eat it right away!