homemade naan

joy hosted this month's dinner club and chose indian for our theme. we were all a little nervous for this one but it turned out to be one of the best ones! the food was soooooo good- can't wait to get everyone's recipes, which i'll try to share on here. (the host for each month chooses the theme, and afterwards, collects all the recipes to send out to each participant. so fun.) anyway, i made naan. so yummy and very simple. honestly.

RECIPE:

1/2 cup warm water

2 tsp. active dry yeast

1 tsp. sugar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 cup canola oil

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 large egg

In a large bowl, stir together the water, yeast and sugar and let stand for 5 minutes, until foamy.

Stir in the flour, salt, oil, yogurt and egg and stir, then knead until you have a soft, pliable dough. (1-2 minutes). Cover with a tea towel and let rise until doubled in size; about an hour.

Pinch off a handful and on a lightly floured surface, roll out each piece into a thin circle or oval.

Cook each naan in a nice hot skillet drizzled with oil (just a teeny tiny bit) until blistered and cooked, flipping as necessary. (When the surface has big blisters and is golden on the bottom, flip it over and cook until golden on the other side.)

Makes about 8-12 naan.

happy birthday jenny!!

happy 600th birthday

to the university of st. andrews!

today, i met prince william! well, ok, we didn't actually "meet" - more like my eyes met his forehead over the crowds of people. but it was still exciting! he was here with kate as the patron for the university's fundraising efforts as part of it's 600th birthday. kendall and i strolled over to st. salvator's quad after music class this morning and joined the thousands of people waiting to catch a glimpse of the royal couple. neither of us brought a camera but we did have the two largest strollers on north street (which isn't a good thing in a crazy sea of people). we didn't really know what was going on (no one did) and two hours had passed until His Royal Highness graced us with his presence, but oh were we ever graced! hahah jk... Kendall and I were actually more interested in seeing her which we (kinda) did. although they were only about 30 feet in front of us, it was hard to really see anything through all the cameramen, news crews and crazy people! but we caught glimpses of her bright red suit. it was neat how the ceremony was transmitted over loudspeakers so everyone in the streets could hear. will gave a short address which the crowd just ate up - roars of laughter at anything remotely funny, and wild cheers when they first exited the ceremony and we all caught our first glimpse. the bagpipes played during their procession, the planes soared and the royal flag waved high up in the bell tower. i really wish i had pictures, they would've been great. oh well. i met the prince.

three cheers for will & kate!!!

(and st. andrews university.)

more info: here

two cute

we miss you two!

happy 7 months to staples!

aunt jemimah

dear nana,

thanks a million for the aunt jemimah's syrup!

it makes all the difference.

ivy likes to pour it, i like to eat it.

works for us!

i want pancakes for dinner every night but kevin says no.

even the prego card doesn't move him.

oh well. we've settled for sunday mornings (if you call that a compromise!)

at least at this rate it will last us a long time!

love,

us

french toast recipe: here!

2

#2 will be joining our nest this summer!

we are so happy. and tired.

but mostly happy!

valentine's day

hope it's a SWEET one!

strawberry trifles

you'll need:

one recipe of mrs. goth's pound cake

1 pack of strawberries, quartered

spoonful of sugar

whipped cream

to make:

early in the day, combine strawberries and sugar in a bowl. let it sit out at room temp so the juices can make a sauce.

in small cups, layer whipped cream, cake and strawberries.

keep in fridge for up to a few hours or serve immediately.

(if placed in fridge, add the final top whipped cream just before serving, or it will melt.)

these turned out really, really good because the pound cake is sooo good!

thanks again to mrs. goth!

enjoy!

and a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to SYDNEY!

chicken & rice soup

sometimes these kind of soups don't have a lot of flavor, but this one was perfect! it was a huge hit -ivy scarfed it. i already want to make it again.

recipe: here.

(note: i made uncle ben's 10 minute white rice and added it at the very end.)

chunky monkey cookies

I named these after the Ben & Jerry's ice cream because we recently had some (for the first time) and it was so good!!! I know I'm at least a decade behind on this, but I think it's a new favorite. Having a craving for all things banana this time around might have something to do with it. Anyway, while we were eating it, I told Kevin I wanted to make a cookie version because we were loving it so much! I was going to just make one up, but then found the perfect one online. It is from a cute food blog called 101 cookbooks, and they are known there as Banana Chip Cookies.

Also, this recipe is a really good basic dough if you want to swap out the banana chips or nuts for your favorite things.... pecans, coconut, peanut butter chips, etc. or just keep it simple with chocolate chips.

Recipe: click HERE.

(note: I only used plain white flour + brown sugar.)

Hope you enjoy!

paris pics

i was a pretty lazy photographer plus we were having serious camera issues... but better a few than none at all.

ps. i'm having major croissant/quiche lorraine/crepe withdrawals.

hehe

you know you're in paris when...

you find croissant crumbs in your bra.

catch-up/ paris!

we safely returned to st. andrews last tuesday, after a month long stay in texas for the Christmas holidays. sadly, i was the world's laziest person and didn't take a single photo while we were there which i'm now seriously regretting (my bday, christmas, ivy's new kitchen and riding in her pink car, new year's in mexico, dad's bday, my neices, etc etc - nada!). oh well, my fault. it was wonderful, as always, to be home and hard to leave but we've jumped into the swing of things again and it feels good to be back. chorus started back on friday as did our fun pre-rehearsal dinners with the hays; kevin's membership to the st. andrew's golf club officially began which he's way too excited about - mainly because it's no girls allowed; we had a delicious dinner at our neighbors the taits, very scottish (but good!) ivy ate a dozen little sausages -yikes! i guess it's good protein. it's been a nice few days back and we're looking forward to the rest of the semester!

in the meantime, kevin is still on his crazy long winter break so we are spending some of it here in paris! we actually debated whether we even wanted to come or not right up until the last second. we had planned this way back in the summer and now that it's here we just weren't feeling up to it with jet-lag and a 1 1/2 year old who is on a weird sleeping schedule (by weird i mean horrible) and since we had just gotten back to st. andrews. but we sucked it up and jumped on the plane. to our surprise, we're really glad we did! it's been really fun, our apartment is cool (and super tiny) and we've eaten some très délicieux meals! only problem is, we've had some camera issues so no pics for the first few days. so here's a little bullet list (for the sake of my own records):

--lunch at cafe central, ivy's first meal in paris: pommes frites!

--sooo freezing cold, at least no rain or snow

--crazy delicious caprese pizza at romano's

--being impressed by/attracted to my husband's french

--perfect little french dinner at cafe constant (while ivy slept in her stroller!)

--dinner at auberge bressane: best french onion soup, bread & butter, ivy's first kiss (with our french waiter)

-- strolling & ($7) hot chocolate on the champs elysee

--nutella crepes on rue cler

--babe dvd on repeat in our itty bitty apartment

--field trip to the canon store in the 17th, leave broke

--fresh croissant au chocolate- yum!!

--best part has been enjoying all of this in our own little neighborhood, strolling around buying fresh juice and pastries, eating at local bistros, etc. it feels like a real parisian experience!

pics to come... hold your horses (gramma and gen!)