Posts Tagged ‘seafood’

kansas city in the fall

Apple fritter and hot cider. by you.

This past weekend I went home to celebrate my mother’s birthday and have a mini vacation to celebrate autumn in Kansas City, one of my favorite things in the entire world.  I went to the Andy Warhol exhibit at Union Station, Pierpont’s for lunch, the KC Renaissance Festival (in full garb as my sisters and I used to work there), Vaughn’s Apple Orchard, Weston Red Barn Farm, and made butternut squash soup plus baked apples with vanilla ice cream for dessert. A whirlwind weekend, but perfect from beginning to end.

Warhol exhibit at Union Station by you.
Warhol.
Cioppino at Pierpont's by you.
Cioppino at Pierpont’s – very, very good.

a small selection of south carolina pictures

carolina sunset. by you.

So yesterday I got back from my fun little vacation to Charleston, SC. What a gorgeous place, inside and out. Just beautiful architecture, flora, people and food. Something I kept remarking on was how good the entire city smelled.  Like flowers and breakfast breads and salty air.  We had a ton of fun visiting some truly remarkable houses and sites, walking the city, eating lots of great seafood and just relaxing.  Here’s a (very) small selection of the photos I took – mostly the food since, well, that’s always my favorite part anyway.

crab salute. by you.
relaxed seating at the airport. by you.
Relaxed seating at the airport.

raw bar. by you.

roasted salmon + green beans with olives

light, fresh summer dinner by you.
Do you ever crave foods you’re not  crazy about?  I normally cannot stand the taste of cooked salmon and the smell makes me borderline nauseous at times, but for some reason, this dish is the exception to the rule.  I think for the most part it’s because the side dish that accompanies it is so fabulous and counterbalances the sweet richness of the salmon so well, I don’t mind.

The combination of green beans, olives, tomatoes and anchovies may sound a bit weird at first, but trust me when I say it’s a perfect balance of sweet and salty.  Roasted at blazing heat for just 10 minutes, the anchovies will melt into salty goodness and the tomatoes will be at that perfect bursting point.

I also adore this recipe because it’s another fav from Jamie Oliver, who is notorious for just throwing things in, using handfuls, simple ingredients, etc.  Thus, there’s only 8 ingredients in this entire meal (if you don’t count salt and pepper) and I added the couscous, so really it’s just 7.   Plus, it’s basically a one-pot (one-pan?) wonder, so what could be easier than that?

green beans by you.
Steamy and seasoned.
olives by you.
Olives.