Daydreaming of Paris! Oui! Oui!

We booked our flat in Paris!  Our trip is finally coming together and we can't wait to explore the Parisian streets, eat the delicious Parisian food, and fall in love with the city!

We decided to rent a flat instead of booking a hotel so we could be in a neighborhood and have a kitchen.  We're right in the heart of the city, close to Notre Dame, and near an open air market.  All the details are on cobblestay.com.  I found this company on the NY Times travel site and bunches of people recommended it.  I hope it's everything that we're dreaming of...

Easy Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Simple and Delicious.  My favorite kind of recipe.  So here was another hit at Victoria's wedding shower: Funfetti mini cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

I had never heard of funfetti cake until I met Victoria - it's her signature cake and all-time favorite - so of course I had to make it for the shower.  The issue I have with funfetti with rainbow chip frosting is that it's super sweet.  I thought a classic cream cheese frosting would be just right to even out the sweetness.

My co-worker pointed me to Tasty Kitchen for a simple recipe and I halfed the sugar - it worked perfectly!  Now Michael has made me promise to make this frosting for any and all cakes because he likes it so much!

INGREDIENTS
8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1/8 teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

DIRECTIONS
Beat cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla till smooth. Gradually add heavy cream and beat until light and fluffy.

*The hearts are jumbo sprinkles that I got from A.C. Moore.  I thought they made a cute accessory.

New TV and Couch

We picked up our couch a couple weeks ago and we got our new TV delivered last Thursday.  It doesn't look like much but, trust me, it's such a huge upgrade!  Here is how our life has changed:

• We don't need to get up to turn the TV on and off
• We don't need to get up to turn the volume up and down
• We can actually tell if a channel is in HD
• The middle cushion of our couch doesn't bottom out and scratch the wood floor
• Our overnight guests don't need to sleep on the aerobed anymore!

And to make it even better, we gave the old couch to our resident starving student Steve who is in law school right now, and we're giving our old TV to one of the youth rugby kids! 

Life is good.

Meet Mr. Phalaenopsis

There's been one light in our bathroom that's never worked.  Yes, we tried replacing the bulb, but it was something to do with the light fixture or wiring or something that our landlord needed to take care of (ah, the benefits of renting!).  In any case, it wasn't a big deal so we let it slide for a few years.

Fortunately, our dining room light went out last month and our landlord sent out some electrician dude and Michael asked him to replace the light in the bathroom.  It had to be special ordered so he came back last week while we were at work to install it.  You can't really tell by these pictures but it's a totally different light!

It's like WAY brighter than the other three lights in the bathroom and a total spotlight!  And it's in the worst spot: right on top of all our junk on the little corner shelf!  So of course I'm hosting Victoria's shower in 2 days and mortified that 25 strangers are going to be staring at the layer of dust, stuck-on toothpaste globs, and whatever else I've overlooked after almost three years of not paying attention to the dark corner of our bathroom.

So after scrubbing down the shelf with the help of my extra powerful spotlight, I decided to make lemons out of lemonade.  Now we have our newest plant (and my first orchid since moving to DC): Mr. Phalaenopsis!

It actually makes our bathroom look much more sophisticated and I got bunches of compliments yesterday during the shower.  Thank goodness for Trader Joe's selection of orchids!

Now let's pray I can keep it alive.  I don't have a great track record when it comes to orchids.  Fingers crossed!

Dirty Arnold Palmer

'Tis the season for weddings... and wedding showers!  Yesterday, I had to pleasure of hosting my good friend Victoria's wedding shower and it was a big success.  Whenever I sign up to do this stuff, I always forget how much prep and planning goes into these things.  I am so fortunate to have a wonderful husband that is eager to help out and loves hosting parties as much as I do!  (I'll be posting Michael's red pepper hummus and Camembert fondue recipes later this week - they were quite a hit!)

But let's start off with the signature cocktail: The Dirty Victoria Lawrence.  Well, it's real name is a Dirty Arnold Palmer but we switched it up for the occasion!  It's wonderfully refreshing with a hint of mint and an iced tea base - perfect for a light summer party drink.

INGREDIENTS
Sweet Tea Vodka
Citrus Vodka
A Bunch of Mint
A Bag of Lemons
Unsweetened Ice Tea
Lemonade
Club Soda (or sparking water)
Ice*
*You can use regular ice but Nicole (she's a bartender part-time) made some ice with just water and mint for the look, and also made ice cubes using 1 cup sweet tea vodka and 2 cups water with mint leaves. Optional and a little extra work, but worth it because it's so pretty! 


DIRECTIONS
Fill highball glass with ice.  Put one shot sweet tea vodka and one shot citrus vodka.  Squeeze in 2-3 wedges of lemons (use a lemon press or just make sure you catch all the seeds).  Throw in some mint leaves (maybe about 5 or 6 depending on how big your leaves are and how much you like mint).

Pour into martini shaker... and shake!

Pour back into highball glass and add equal amounts of ice tea, lemonade and club soda.

Serve with a sprig of mint on top.

Here's a photo of Nicole serving up Victoria's signature cocktail at the shower.  Aaaaaaah... refreshing!

Tangy Slaw and Sweet Salmon Glaze

When we get cabbage from the Merschat's garden, I usually make soup.  But with this overwhelmingly hot summer, soup is a 4-letter word when it comes to dinner options.  We're not usually a fan of mayonnaise-based slaw so I found this recipe in Food & Wine for a vinegar and mustard based slaw.  But you can't just eat slaw for dinner so we had some salmon fillets in the freezer and used another Food & Wine recipe to make the soy-maple glaze.  We already had some of our favorite sesame noodles prepared so this combo made for a quick and easy summer meal.

Tangy Cabbage Slaw with Golden Raisins
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup grapeseed oil (or canola oil)
2 tablespoons walnut oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 medium head of green cabbage, shredded (8 cups)
1 large carrot, shredded
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 cup snipped chives

DIRECTIONS
1. In a small bowl, soak the raisins in hot water for 10 minutes. Drain, pressing out any liquid.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk the red wine vinegar with the whole-grain mustard and sugar. Whisk in the grapeseed (or canola) and walnut oils and season the dressing with salt and pepper. Add the shredded cabbage, carrot, onion, chives and raisins and toss the salad well. Season with salt and pepper and toss the salad again. Refrigerate until chilled, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and serve.

Salmon with Soy-Maple Glaze
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons Asian sesame oil
4 salmon fillets
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 scallions, thinly sliced

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large, shallow dish, whisk the soy sauce with the maple syrup and sesame oil. Add the salmon steaks and turn to coat. Press the garlic onto both sides of the fillets. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, turning the salmon a few times. (We didn't marinade it that long... maybe 20-30 mins)

2. Remove the salmon from the marinade. Pour the marinade into a small saucepan and boil over high heat until syrupy, about 3 minutes. Strain the glaze into a small bowl.

3. Pan fry salmon fillets and brush glaze on top. Transfer to plates and spoon remaining glaze onto fillets. Sprinkle with the scallions and serve.