Currently...

listening...to the hum of the neighbor mowing the lawn

watching...my children painting father's day cards

drinking...Harney & Sons Paris tea (thanks to Missy!)

reading...Deconstructing Penguins

deciding...what we need for the two weeks between packing up in VA and unpacking in GA

planning...our Father's Day celebration for tomorrow

thinking...about our wonderful trip to Rochester last weekend, and therefore...

missing...my little sister

wishing...I could take the Virginia climate with me to Georgia

enjoying...perfectly blue skies

Have a great weekend!

A dessert not to be missed

In the summertime, there are three kinds of desserts I like: 

Ice cream. Homemade is best. Almost any will do.

Comfort desserts. Mom's Chocolate Sheet Cake. Banana Pudding. My great-grandmother's peach cobbler, smothered in BlueBell Homemade Vanilla. (I'm a native Texan, after all.) 

And the opposite. Something fresh and cool. Something decadent but light. Nothing very heavy or too rich.

And as the summertime always seems to fill with wedding and baby showers or ladies lunches to celebrate birthdays, this flavorful, fruit-filled, and airy recipe is the perfect one to serve.

I found the original recipe in a 2005 Cooking Light magazine...but I've tweaked it a little, choosing real whipped cream over store-bought, reducing the liqueur amount (personal taste preference), and increasing the amount of fruit and shaved chocolate. (I found I would have preferred a little more chocolate shavings than the recipe called for.)

My words of advice would be to serve it to a crowd (unless you want to be tempted to eat half of the torte) and to allow plenty of time to make the meringues.

Mixed Berries Meringue Torte

For Meringue:

2 tsp clear vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/8 tsp salt

6 large egg whites

3/4 cup superfine sugar

Filling and topping:

1 quart fresh whipping cream

1 Tbsp. Grand Marnier or other orange-flavored liqueur

1 1/2 tsp finely grated orange rind

3 Tbsp. grated semisweet chocolate, divided

1 cup halved strawberries, hulled neatly

3/4 cup blueberries

3/4 cup blackberries

3/4 cup raspberries

fresh mint sprigs, for garnish

orange rind strips, for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper, drawing three 8-inch circles on the paper. (I use my 8-inch cake pan to trace.) Turn paper over (pencil side down) and secure with masking tape. Set aside.

2. Place vanilla, cream of tartar, salt and egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat at high speed until foamy. Gradually add sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. Dived egg mixture among the 3 circles on parchment-lined baking sheets. Spread mixture over each circle, using the back of a spoon to spread evenly. 

3. Bake meringues at 200 degree for 2 hours or until dry. Turn off oven and cool meringues in closed oven for at least one hour. (I would wait for two hours.) Remove meringues from oven and carefully remove from paper.

4. Meanwhile, prepare filling. Combine whipping cream, liqueur and 1 1/2 tsp grated orange rind. 

5. To assemble, place one meringue disk on cake plate, top with 1 cup whipped cream and sprinkle generously with chocolate shavings. Repeat layers twice. Mix the berries together and carefully center them in the center of the top layer of the torte. Garnish with mint sprigs and orange rind. 

6. Serve immediately or keep chilled. 

We found this to be delicious for 2-3 days, which is how long it lasted at our house! My meringues were a little softer than I would prefer (as I was pressed for time in preparation) but they still tasted wonderful, though perhaps a little more chewy.  I also forgot to put on the orange peel strips (which were so pretty)...next time!

I hope you can make this soon. It is truly the perfect summer dessert.

Simply Lovely, No. 18

The gardens of Monticello are abloom with color.
Simple and complicated, showy and delicate.
This lovely peony was my favorite of the day.

Basil and olives and feta. Oh my!

A friend made this meal for us while we were visiting Georgia last month...and we all loved it. I quickly asked for the recipe, making a few minor tweaks for our family.

It is fresh and light but the combination of flavors and textures is wonderful. I'll be making it again very soon.

Greek Chicken Salad

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved
1 jar sun dried tomatoes, drained
2 Tbsp. grapeseed oil or olive oil
2 Tbsp. vinegar dressing
20-30 olives, halved
2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
fresh basil leaves, torn
slivered almonds, toasted
1 container fresh baby spinach
wild brown rice, cooked according to package directions

1. Sprinkle uncooked chicken with salt and pepper; cut into bite-sized pieces. Cook chicken in a medium skillet until done. Keep warm.

2. In a small bowl, combine grapeseed oil and vinegar dressing. Place all grape tomatoes, olives, and sun dried tomatoes in skillet and combine with 2 Tbsp. of the oil & vinegar mixture; cook over medium-high heat until tomatoes soften and mixture is thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Add chicken to the tomato mixture and pour remaining oil and vinegar over chicken and stir.

3. Generously place spinach on each plate and top with 1/2 cup rice. Top with chicken and tomato mixture and sprinkle with feta cheese, almonds, and basil leaves.

Enjoy!

With a grateful heart...

I remember today all those who have given their lives for freedom.

twelve years later

and he still makes my heart smile.

Happy Anniversary Brent...I love you so.

Where I've been...where we're going...

Hi there.

It's no secret the writing's been scarce around here lately.

The truth is we recently passed the one-year mark of living in Virginia, which means we are quickly nearing the end of this assignment.

We found out in March (unofficially) that we will be moving to Georgia this summer. And did you know that summer basically starts the month after May? How it is already May 22, I can't say. Time has been speeding by around here.

So since then, I've been to Georgia twice to house hunt, Asheville once, and several little day trips, working hard to cross places off our Virginia bucket-list.

(I wish I had been to Prince Edward Island...but isn't that the BEST U-Haul truck ever? We saw it on our first trip to GA...and I'm hoping that just maybe the trailer we rent will be the same!)

In the meantime, we are "wrapping up" schoolwork (though we'll still be working through our basics through the summer)...spending time with friends...planning a few more short trips nearby...selling stuff we don't want to take with us...etc.

In spite of all that, I miss writing and sharing here...so I am hoping to share some of the fun things we've done lately. And recipes. Boy, do I have some delicious ones to tempt you with!

Thanks for sticking around...I'm looking forward to sharing our Georgia adventure with you soon!

A Southeast Spring

The dogwood is not my favorite flower. 

But oh, how I love it.

It sings of all the springs of my later childhood.

The glimpse of white blooms, a lone dogwood among a forest of non-blooming green. Such pure white.

I remember waking up to my second-floor window, glimpsing and hoping that the white on the trees just across from my window was a hint that there would be no school that day. A mid-April snow shower was no big news in the mountains of North Carolina.

But alas, no. Just the first morning of a tree waking up to spring.

Nine years of big plains and bigger skies almost made me forget.

So I eagerly pointed out this tree to my children...perhaps their first glance of the flower they've only seen as a brass ornament for our tree.

They began pointing them out on our recent trip to Williamsburg. And I saw them again, accompanied by azaleas on a recent trip to Georgia.

I'm soaking up this year's spring...even if I'm technically in the mid-Atlantic.

Braised Lamb Shanks with Polenta

Since moving to Virginia and falling in love with Wegman's, which is such a wonderful grocery store, with so many unique items, we've incorporated a few lamb recipes into our repertoire.

Last May, Brent and I celebrated 11 years of marriage at the Morrison House Grill, with their tasting menu which was wonderful. We were served a delicious lamb shank dish that we quickly decided we would try to reinterpret at home.

We found a recipe online at Epicurious and decided to serve it atop polenta. This recipe involves a lot of cooking time but isn't difficult. And the time involved yields such tender, fall off the bone, meat.

I only wish lamb shanks were less costly...I would add them to our meal plan more often!

Braised Lamb Shanks with Polenta

• 6 lamb shanks (about 5 pounds total)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
• 10 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 bottle dry red wine
• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes with juices
• 1 14 1/2-oz can low-salt chicken broth
• 1 14 1/2-oz can beef broth
• 5 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 teaspoons lemon peel, grated

1 tube of precooked polenta 

1/2 cup milk

• 
  

1. Sprinkle shanks with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a heavy dutch oven over medium-high heat. 

2. Working in batches, add lamb shanks to the dutch oven and cook until brown on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer shanks to a bowl.

3. Add onions, carrots and garlic to dutch oven and sauté until golden, about 10 minutes. Stir in all remaining ingredients. Return lamb shanks to pot, pressing them down to submerge. 

4. Bring liquids to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer until meat is tender, about 2 hours.

5. Uncover dutch oven; simmer until meat is very tender, about 30 minutes longer.

6. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan, mash the polenta and then warm polenta with milk over low heat until warmed and slightly spoonable.

6. Transfer lamb shanks to a serving platter and tent with foil. Boil juices in pot until thickened, about 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. 

7. Divide polenta among plates, topping with one lamb shank and spooning sauce over all.

We usually only buy four lamb shanks, which leaves us with quite a bit of leftover sauce. The last time we made this, I froze the leftover sauce. A quick thaw and the addition of stew meat created a simple and delicious beef stew.

Stitch Fix, No. 2

I received my second StitchFix shipment a few weeks ago. (If StitchFix is new to you, I've outlined how the service works below my review!)

Once again, I was quite happy with the selections suggested for me. And as I find other StitchFix blogger reviews very helpful for making suggestions to my stylist, Jen (who is fabulous at what she does, by the way!), I think I'll continue to review them here.

When I opened my box this month, I was excited by the color combination...I had been wanting to add a little coral to my closet for the summer. And I'm always a fan of something blue. 

So overall, I thought these choices reflected my suggestions and style profile well. 

I did note in my comments while checking out, that while I love the colors in this shipment, I probably wouldn't ever add three items with the same prominent color to my closet...unless it was a favorite/classic color. Coral is a little trendy for me...and while I like it, I'm not ready for it to dominate my closet. 

1. ZOA Pegah Roll Tabsleeve Blouse in blue. I really loved the color and feel of this top, which at $88 was the priciest item in my fix this month. Unfortunately, once again the upper sleeves were really snug when rolled up, which I preferred to wearing the sleeves down. I returned this.

2. MM Couture Bobby Sleeveless Printed Top in red. The print of this wasn't my favorite when I first saw it; however it fit well, and I liked the print once it was on. The drawback for me was the combination of colors: the coral, cream, and light green didn't do much for my coloring. (If one of the colors had been navy, it would have been perfect.) This was a no.

3. GLAM Briar Key Hole Tie-Waist Tunic Dress in pink. I really wanted this too work. It was gorgeous: the style, the color, the fabric...and it fit nicely. But it's very short (for me) as a dress. I liked the way they styled it on the card (in the collage above) with the black leggings, so I tried it with some I own. The combination was a bit harsh on me. I think it would be perfect with some denim skinny jeans...but seeing as I have yet to find any that I like, I decided to return this too. If only it had been a couple inches longer!

4. Olive and Oak Jimmy Striped Racer Back Maxi Dress in pink. I was most excited about this piece. The fabric was so soft, and I knew my denim jacket would go perfectly with this. The length was great (often a problem with maxi dresses when you're 5'4") and so was the cinched waist. Sadly, the fit was too large in the bodice, especially under the arms. Also, I really wished the stripes were either coral & navy or navy & grey, as once again, the light combination didn't work with my coloring. :(

5. 41Hawthorn Two-Color Dot Scarf in blue. Two contrasting polka dot prints. Gauzy fabric for days. Scarf. Perfect. I'd prefer to keep a clothing item rather than an accessory, but I couldn't pass up this scarf. I have at least three summer dresses that will look great with it...and it's great with jeans too. Obviously, I kept this one, which was also the lowest price point, at $28.

In summary, I've enjoyed this company. Given my experience, I think the stylists really focus on the style profile and the notes and comments given in feedback, as well as online sites, like Pinterest and blogs. Jen mentioned that she had seen my blog post on StitchFix...and also noted that a few items I had requested were out of stock. I really like that she is paying attention. :)

If this is all new to you, here's how it works:

1. You sign up (via an invitation link) online, and once your account is created, you complete your style profile. This part is fun...it's kind of like a quiz. You fill out size, fit, and style preferences, as well as a price range you prefer to shop within. You can also link to a Pinterest board, so the stylists can get a good sense of your style. 

(screenshot of a portion of the style profile)

2. There is a wait time currently involved...but between signing up at the end of February and getting approved, I only waited 11 days. 

3. Once you're approved and your style profile is complete, you schedule when you'd like to receive your first order or "fix." A StitchFix stylist handpicks items for you based on your profile; the fee for this service is $20...but you can apply the full $20 towards your purchase.

4. The package ships USPS and include 5 items. When your StitchFix box arrives, you get to try on clothes in the comfort of your own home...and with pieces from your own wardrobe.  This is one of my favorite features of the company. 

5. Within three days, choose what you love and then send back the rest, using the prepaid Priority envelope enclosed. Go online to StitchFix and checkout. You complete a survey for checkout, which further defines your profile and gives good feedback to the stylist for next time. You pay only for what you keep...and if you keep all items sent, you get 25% off the total purchase. 

6. Then, choose to schedule your next StitchFix shipment as frequently or infrequently as you like! I love that you can leave a note for your stylist about an event or season you want kept in mind when selecting items!

Finally, this is not a sponsored post. I am receiving no compensation for this review from StitchFix. However, much like other online retailers (like Zulily, One Kings Lane, Sole Society, etc.), StitchFix promotes their brand through referral links. So if you sign up through the links I've given here, I earn a one-time credit with StitchFix if you sign up and purchase. (And once you sign up, if you share your referral code with your friends, YOU earn credit! Win-win!)

So tell me...have you tried StitchFix yet?