Superfood Salad

INGREDIENTS

2 carrots

2 beets

2 apples

(Shred all of the above in food processor with grating attachment, or you can slice all of the above thinly using a mandolin)

1 bunch broccoli (finely chop florets)

1-2 bunches kale (chopped finely)
1/4 cup roasted & salted sunflower seeds (shelled)
1 avocado, cut into cubes

Dressing:

Juice of 2 lemons

6 finely chopped garlic cloves

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

Super Italian, Italian Supper

Super Italian, Italian Supper (this is a fake palindrome. And by fake, I mean not really a palindrome at all.)

Warm summer nights call for hot Italian suppers. Lily had us over on Sunday evening to enjoy the sunset, drink a lemon & red wine spritzer and cook up maximum quantities of delicious Italian eats.

Recipes are still being acquired, but here is what was served:

1. Copious amounts of prosciutto & coppa, for starters. This was a meat-pile-mountain on a plate. We were not allowed to know where this meat came from. Apparently, Greg’s friend Jason uncovered a meat goldmine somewhere. Out of principle (that’s right, I have principles), I usually try to avoid eating meat from unnamed, mysterious sources. Not on this day. No, sir. Lily found the irregular cut meat leftovers in the fridge on Monday, and we ate them for dinner again, on day two. So good. No regrets.

2. Appetizer pizza with kalamata olives, onions and other deliciousness, courtesy of Alisha & Ben

3. Wisecrackers with goat cheese, nectarines and honey (already talked about it)

4. Garlic bread with fresh herbs from Lily’s garden, what were these herbs, Kelly? Mint, thyme and basil, perhaps. It tasted good, but no one knows what was in there exactly.

5. Roasted fennel and prosciutto salad with mixed greens from J.Son Santino. This came dressed in a homemade vinaigrette.

6. Beet salad with Arugula from Lily (see recipe below)

7. Braised oxtails also from Lily. She taught us that oxtails are not actually from oxen, but from regular cows. Thanks, teacher, you make my brain smarter each day that I know you.

8. Pasta Alla Checca with Heirloom Tomatoes alla K. Grubenhoff

9. Mine was the strawberry dessert soup (Strawberry Gelato) that no one ever ate. Mwoh mwoh. Here is the lesson of the day, freeze the boiling milk mixture for ice cream or gelato BEFORE pouring into the frozen tub of an ice cream machine. It WILL NOT work if you skip this step or try to freeze the tub AFTER it contains boiling liquid.

Lily’s Roasted Beet Salad with Arugula

INGREDIENTS
Beets, sliced (Roasted in tinfoil at 375 until they are easily sliced or stabbed with a fork)
Arugula

Dressing
1 shallot, chopped
½ cup red wine vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive oil

Mix dressing ingredients. Marinate roasted beets in dressing for 4+ hours or overnight, if you can. Toss with a few handfuls of arugula right before serving.

"sounds like dinner number two to me. did we not feed you enough chili dogs?"

Kristin and Elof moved into a loverly new loft. It is very nice and comes with rooftop access. Rooftop access includes such highlights as: a magic, gas-burning fire pit filled with brown glass beer bottle shards, various owl decoys, free (probably) basil and thyme herbs, one seagull (not scared by the owl decoys) that poops in the corner, three BBQ grills for which to make chili dogs and a view of the entire Puget Sound. You must bring your own novelty-sized bottle of wine. Thanks for sharing your chili, dog.

The KEXP BBQ was free this year with the headliner Dinosaur Jr. I had never heard of them, but they played a nice cover of The Cure's Just like Heaven. Lily said, "this is the only song of theirs I know." Samesies, but only because it's not Dino Jr., it's The Cure.

After the show we went to Tavolata and enjoyed a boatload of pasta dinner and accompaniments. Everything we had was delicious, salumi platter, yellow beet salad with gorgonzola, oxtail pasta, clam pasta, lamb pasta and squid pasta with prawns and anchovies, my most favorite of all was the squid pasta. if you count the salami, during that meal we consumed seven different animals. way to go everybody.