Dinner in Park City

We LOVE Park City.  Art, music, food, awesome.

We walked around some galleries on Main Street and had dinner at Chimayo

These guys got a little crazy trying to mix art and food.  Delicious art and food.

Chimayo is actually worth revisiting.  But, there are SO many great places to eat in Park City, so I think we'll have to try a few more places before returning.  Any recommendations? 

Osso Buco!

We were lucky enough to be Sunny and Justin's first dinner guests in their new house:  goat cheese, arugula, walnut, and beet salad with balsamic vinaigrette... osso buco (we have been craving this lately and need to get the recipe!)... and yummy garlic bread.  It looks like Sunny has inherited her Mom's prodigious skills in the kitchen.  I'm sorry to say this is the only picture we took.  Probably because we were so busy eating our delicious meal and throwing a frisbee around their enormous back yard.  Thanks for a fun night of food and frisbee tossing.  We can't wait to get together again sometime soon!

Fabulous Salmon Dish

We made a few changes to Emeril's recipe, but we stuck to the citrus pan sauce instructions (it's fine without the tequila) and WOW!  WOW!  WOW!  I don't mean to be bossy, but stop what you're doing and go make this dish right now!  

(you'll thank me later)

Lonestar

We simply can't get enough Lonestar Taqueria!

They put an addictive chemical into their tacos that makes you crave them fortnightly!

And guess who we ran into?

The Dudley's obviously have fabulous taste.  We took this picture for D+M.  We miss them terribly.

We LOVE Greek Fest!

SLC has a fantastic Greek Fest.

The food, music, and dancing keep us coming back every year.  Plus, it's great to support the community.  WE LOVE SLC!

We ate SO much!

Meghan joined us for the festivities.  We adore this gal!

Every year I crave this yummy cheese pastry and every year I forget the name of it.  So, we finally wised up and took a picture of the sign so we can head straight to this booth of deliciousness next year.  I want to try making tyropitas at home sometime.  Cheese + buttered phyllo =  YUM!!!

A little known fact about me:  I have always wanted to have a patron saint.  I think we found him:  Saint Euphrosynos, the Cook.  Perfect!

Cowboy Style Indian Food in the West Desert

Scott took me to Lone Rock (aka the Pagan Western Oracle) for some cowboy shenanigans and dutch oven dinner.  Scott (aka Troll) and his buddies spent a lot of time in high school and college at the rock getting into who knows what kind of 'boys will be boys' mischief.

Right before the turnoff, this comforting sign comes into view.  At lest they're asking for a permit for high level nuclear waste.  Let's hear it for Utah's West Desert!  Doesn't it always seem like there just aren't enough Geiger counters lying around?  Oh well.

Yeah Haw!  My cowboy and his white horse!  

It was pretty crazy to roll out the naan on a tiny plastic table in the wind, but we managed.

No cowboy style meal would be complete without shooting some stuff.  I'm not really into guns, but I'll admit it's pretty fun to watch a bottle explode after it's been hit by a bullet.

The wind made getting the fire going a bit of a challenge.

But my Scott Scout got the job done.  We ended up with some beautiful coals.

It took lots of adjusting to get the temperature just right for the naan.  We burned the first 2 or 3 attempts before we got the heat dialed in.

When we decided to make campfire Indian food we just googled a bunch of recipes.  Here is the one we used for the naan.  We used a combo of several recipes to make up the main dishes.

Indian food works surprisingly well as tinfoil dinner.  On the left is aloo gobi, on the right is chicken tikka masala.  Bon appetit!

I'm really happy with the way the naan turned out.  It was hard work, but it was worth it.

Our cowboy style Indian feast was delicious!  

After dinner we hiked to the top of the rock to watch the stars.  I can definitely see why this place is important to the Pagans.  Actually, as we were loading up our car, Harley (another Pagan) and his family pulled up to set up camp for the night.  It was fun to hang out with them for a bit before heading home.
All in all it was an evening I'm sure the other Pagans would be proud of.  Way to go, Trollio!

Asparagus!

A coworker let me know about a 'pick your own' asparagus farm near our office.  It was really cool to see how this alien looking plant gets it's start.

To pick, just grab at the bottom and snap.  No big deal.

This was the last day of the season to pick your own asparagus, so a bunch of us went to the farm during our lunch break.  Apparently, when the stalks get really tall like this, it's time to trim them all down to get the field ready for next season.  

The best part about this place: You weigh your harvest, calculate how much you owe, and put your money in the box.  I love that there are still places out there with faith in mankind.  I saw about a dozen people come and go in the short time we were there and all of them paid. :)

Side note: That night we used the asparagus I picked in a medley of broiled veggies (asparagus, yellow squash, zucchini, red onion, brussel sprouts, and mushrooms) and it was divine!  We'll definitely be going back to the farm several times next season.

Careful, hot plate!

Human nature is pretty great.  Why do we always have to touch the scorching hot plate after the server says, "be careful, this plate is very hot"?!?  I just happened to have my iPhone on camera mode at the right moment to catch this adorable face.  Poor Scotty.  Don't worry, he lived.

We met up with Scott's parents and sister for dinner at La Cocina, one of the Topham family's all time favorite places.

I love this picture of Uncle Scott and his little buddy.

Kristi and the kids have headed home.  We already miss this princess and her little brother.  Y'all come back now, ya hear!?!

2009 Birthdays

Scott and I get to celebrate our birthdays about a month apart, which = a month long party.

For the 10th year in a row we started my birthday festivities at the Mandarin.  I know it would be more exciting to go to a different restaurant each year, but I'm pretty sure the Mandarin puts an addictive chemical in their food that makes you crave it fortnightly.  5 Taste Shrimp, Mediterranean Chicken, homemade ice cream and FRIED BANANAS!  Soooo good!  Thanks to Kar, D+M, Scotty, and Sunny B for making my birthday great! 

The party continued into the weekend when Scott's parents had us over for a delicious birthday dinner and made me a FOUR LAYER chocolate cake.  FOUR!  That practically defies the laws of physics.

Yes, even though I am now a 28 year old grown woman, trick candles are still hilarious.  Thanks Phyllis!  Your'e the best!

FOUR layers!!!!  Mmmmmm!

My baking skills are nowhere near my mother-in-law's prowess, but I do make a MEAN pecan pie.  The secret is Lyle's Golden Syrup.  You can find the recipe here.  You can find Lyle's here.  Or here.  Or at your local British market.

We started Scott's portion of the birthday celebration by trying Bambara.  Impressive!  They even brought the birthday boy his own little cake.  I think he was a bit jealous because his cake didn't have 4 layers.  I think everyone is jealous of my 4 layer cake.

Dinner was a blast, but Scott's birthday celebrating didn't reach it's peak until his sister Kristi and her adorable kiddos showed up as a surprise!  We told Scott he was picking my sister Natalie and nephew Ryan up from the airport (had to figure out a way to put a car seat in his car without raising suspicion).  I was on the phone with him when he was pulling into to the passenger pickup area.  He said, "Hey!  There's someone up ahead who looks just like my sister.  Hey!  Wait a minute!  That IS my sister!  What the!?!  Natalie's not even here, is she!?!  What the!?!  Oh man!  You got me!" ¡Sorpresa!  Happy Birthday Scotty!

We started their visit off right with a Lone Star Taqueria picnic in the canyon.  This little man was probably bummed out because he had to eat baby food instead of fish tacos.  Don't worry buddy, your time will come.  

This little lady is the best of the best.  She has Scott and me wrapped around her finger.  We wish we all lived closer so we could spend more time together.  Maybe someday...  is it too early to make next year's birthday wish?

April General Conference and Passover Seder

As always, LDS General Conference was excellent.  Scott and I had a fabulous time enjoying great talks and great food (and great naps).

The Saturday morning waffles we made were SO good, we wanted to share them with President Eyring.  Mmmm, waffles!

 

 We also made Giada's lemon, basil, and eggs focaccia loaf.  Drool!

A few days later we celebrated Passover!  No, we haven't converted to Judasim.  Conference wasn't THAT unbearable. Ha ha ha... oh dear.  Dumb joke.  Moving on. 

A BYU professor of Near Eastern Studies and Ancient Scripture hosts a Seder every year around Passover for students, professors, alum, and people in the community.

Last March Scott introduced me to Dr. and Mrs. Ludlow's Passover Seder.  We had such a great time last year that we invited Sunny and her boyfriend Justin to join us this year.  Good times.

We tried to warn Sunny and Justin about the Maror (bitter herbs... in this case: raw, freshly grated horseradish!)   It... tastes... like... BURNING! 

Sadly, we didn't capture any post-Maror pictures, but you can imagine them looking something like this... which probably isn't enticing anyone to join us for the 2010 Passover Seder.  D'oh! 

Anyhow, a big shout-out to Sunny and Justin for sharing the fun (and bitterness) with us.  We will most definitely be going to Dr. Ludlow's 2010 Passover services again, so anyone who wants to join us will be welcome.  Just don't say I didn't warn you about the bitter herbs.

Grazie Mille Caputo's Market!

One word:  Prosciutto.

One sound:  Mmmmm!

We LOVE Tony Caputo's Market!  Caputo's, along with a few of our other downtown favs, was featured in Food and Wine magazine last year.  This food paradise is right by our apartment and has a great deli, one of the best selections of international chocolate in town, and 2 great restaurants: the Deli for lunch and Tipica for dinner.  There is also a great fish market and a bakery next door.  AND, it's right by one of our favorite indulgences: Bruges Waffles and Frites.  Bruges is the REAL DEAL.  Go!  Take your appetite to downtown SLC and check it out!

Aguas de Marco

Okay, okay okay. I admit it. I have completely fallen off the blogging wagon. What can I say, I've had absolutely no motivation to post anything ---despite constant badgering from friends and family to post something new :& --- It's been great to get back into the swing of things with work, but LAST thing I want to do after spending all day on a computer is come home and spend all night on a computer. HOWEVER, I really should update our blog as it's pretty much the only record we're keeping of our first year of marriage. I wrote a whole bunch of posts during my job hunt in January/February... but I never got around to loading the pics from my camera, so everything between this and my post from last DECEMBER just sat in the 'Edit Posts' folder like so many other abandoned projects. -sigh-
Look, I can't promise much, but I'm going to give blogging another go.
For your viewing pleasure, here is a bunch of stuff that happened in March:

We began a quest to find the best taco in town after being sent a link from Mary's bro-in-law Matt. (thanks Matt!)

We visited 'Taqueria Y Polleria El Rey' on the corner of 900 W and 200 S... it was really good, but not quite worthy of 'best taco in town' status.

We visited some other places that were all about the same: good, but nothing special. Doesn't Scott make nice lounge singer face? I think so.

And then we stumbled upon TACO HEAVEN! You must stop reading this right now and go straight to Chunga's on 180 S 900 W in Rose Park (they have another location somewhere in Provo for those of you in the U.C.). Order the D.F. style al Pastor tacos and a flor de calabaza quesadilla. Trust me, you won't be sorry.

My good friend Meghan finished her year + gig designing bags in Hong Kong and is now back in North America. Hooray!!! Our friend Lauren joined us for some celebratory donuts form Banbury Cross (quite possibly the best donuts of ALL TIME!). Word to the wise, a whole box is too much for 4 people. We felt pretty terrible for the rest of the day, but it was worth it.

We took a little detour from our donut route to visit our friend Sister Tan on temple square.

Later in the month we enjoyed the St. Patty's Day parade in our neighborhood. We LOVE living downtown because we get to walk to so many cool events.

That's all for now. I'm not making any promises, but I will try to post again soon.