Inn at Little Washington: New Event Space

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One day, I swear, I will dine at The Inn at Little Washington. Chef Patrick O'Connell has received some of the greatest accolades in the culinary industry and I would love to stay overnite and revel in Chef O'Connell's mastery.

But alas, I don't have an amazing anniversary to celebrate (yet!), but one day we will have saved up to celebrate a special occasion there (according to this Washington Biz Journal article, it landed on Forbes's list of most expensive restaurants - sorry I can't find Forbes's original list.)

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However, for those who are searching for the most romantic and delicious meal in our area, do consider The Inn at Little Washington. Or, better yet, reserve their new Ballroom for the "Meeting of the Families." After a special meal there, they'll be jumping at the next opportunity to hang out with their new kin. The new space can seat 36 for dinner or 30 for a boardroom meeting. (Thanks to BizBash Washington for the tip!)

Enjoy!

Sweet Tea Vodka

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For my fiance's 26th birthday party, I thought it the perfect occasion to test out Firefly's new Sweet Tea vodka. Yes, Sweet. Tea. Vodka. My good friend, a North Carolina native, told me about it after hearing about it during a trip home. When we were buying the courvoissier for the baklava cheesecake, there it was right next to the cashier! It was fate.

Now, growing up, I didn't actually think I liked iced tea because I never had "real" iced tea until I had fresh iced tea at my friend's house in high school. I'm from a part of Virginia where, when you order "iced tea," they hear what the "Yankees" call "sweetened ice tea." You don't even have to specify "sweet iced tea" or "sweet tea." I'm probably not as much of a connoisseur as a gal whose mum made it fresh every day after school (oh the joys of being a first generation mix of the motherland and the new), but I know what good sweet tea should taste like.

So, how was it? The back instructs to mix 1 part water to 1 part vodka and a dash of fresh lemon. The verdict? Ridiculously delicious - dangerously so. It tasted JUST LIKE the real thing + an added bite from the alcohol. I don't recommend the 1:1 ratio for Sweet Tea vodka rookies. This is vodka, after all. And if you want this to be your one and only drink of the night, you'll want to cut it with some water - that's all you need.

Wouldn't this be something great to use for a personalized martini with a southern flair? Or you could serve it with some lemonade for at your bachelorette party! The possibilities are endless. I'm so excited to see what concoctions today's mixologists come up with this new development.

36 Hours in Charlottesvile, Va.

This post is super way overdue, but I'm determined to clean out my inbox tonight and I've been meaning to post it for a while. A few weeks ago, the New York Times printed an article on Charlottesville: 36 Hours in Charlottesville, Va.

For anyone visiting the Charlottesville area, don't miss this article! The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection is right behind the Hilton Garden Inn, in case you're staying overnight!

Top Chef Premier at Good Stuff Eatery

This post is long overdue, but as many of you know, I'm still trying to play catch-up on my posts. Now, if you haven't realized by now from all my posts on food, I'm a little infatuated with anything culinary and the epicurean lifestyle. (I'm only getting started on register for all the kitchen tools I will actually be using and have expressed a need for in the last 2 years.)

Naturally, I am a major fan of Bravo's Top Chef. You can imagine, therefore, my excitement when Chef Spike Mendohlson opened Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill this summer - so excited, that I went there twice after its opening week: First, my new co-workers drove me there all the way from Ballston to try out the place and check out the space. Second, I met my former co-workers there after a reception on the Hill. It was wonderful and I won't even tell you about how giddy I became when I spoke to Chef Spike as he expedited the orders while I waited in line. He's very charming. Let's leave it at that.

So, of course I watched the premier of Season 5 of Top Chef in style last Wednesday at Good Stuff Eatery! Spike invited me via email (and the rest of his restaurant's subscribers) as he was on Twitter for the show. Lauren and I arrived super early to fend off the non-existent lines (I mean, it was packed. I wouldn't recommend going ;). We sampled Ryan's Milky Way milkshake (divine). Then we shared the famed Toasted Marshmallow milkshake.

This little beauty was, seriously, a girl scout campfire in your mouth-minus the fire and the mosquitos. Somehow, you could taste the toasted outside of the marshmallow in the milky ice cream concoction - almost like you were slurping off the outside of the marshmallow and it turned liquid in your mouth. Heaven. Milky, marshallowy, heaven.

At 11 PM, Chef Spike offered beer on the house to all of us watching the show (they normally close at 11 M-F), but the premier went until 11:15 PM - super special. It was aroud this time that I summoned up the courage to ask him to sign my Top Chef cookbook that Lauren gave me for my birthday.

And, like the gracious host he is, he greeted all of his guests at the door. I will definitely be back for future showings - but I definitely recommend that you check out his place if you haven't. I'm not sure if the restaurant caters yet, but this would be a great little site to show your visiting friends and family that is unique to D.C.

Engagement Session Follow Up - Part Due

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Here they are!! The photos you've all (or else I) have been waiting for!

First, the awesome slideshow Rob put together as a little teaser for us: http://www.robholley.net/data/slideshow/22/DesireeMike/index.html

The weather, as I said, was gorgeous and my fiance was a rockstar. We went with Robert Holley and he was absolutely fantastic. My fiance and I met with several photographers in the area and the decision to go with Rob was incredibly easy. He was one of the first photographers we met with, but I wanted to do our due diligence and we met with a couple more. He seemed to good to be true, but I'm so glad we chose him.

Because we booked him for our wedding, our engagement session was free - and we absolutely love the pictures he took! Unbeknownst to us, he made a short slideshow of his favorite pictures and sent it to us within days of the shoot. Both of our mothers AND our sisters cried! They watch it all the time and my fiance and I watch the slideshow just because it helps us relive (as cheesy as it sounds) how much we love each other.

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Rob focuses on capturing the emotion and feeling of the moment and he did such a wonderful job. (In the picture above, around the pillar on the right hand side were two little ladies and a little old man that would not stop taking pictures of us. I think they thought we were famous.)

In addition, I'm super excited at how much experience Rob has and his professionalism. My fiance's groomsmen are basically all his fraternity brothers and I'm not sure how many photographers would be able to tame a group as fratastic as theirs, but I have no doubt he will be successful and our pictures will be great.

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See the rest of our pictures here.

Ray's Hell Burgers

Recently we dined at Ray's Hell Burgers (the youngest little brother of Michael Landrum's Ray's the Steaks, which is just a few doors down) in Rosslyn for a quick Thursday night date. It was delicious!! The space is small, the location non-descript (a storefront in a small shopping area between Rosslyn and Courthouse), the decor, well, they don't really need it I guess, but the burgers are larger than life!

The meat, set atop a yummy brioche bun, was cooked to perfection and they have several exotic combinations from which to choose (sauteed mushrooms or white truffle oil, anyone?). Check out how thick that Swiss Cheese is!
I looove mini-anything to be served at our wedding reception, especially later on in the evening after many of the guests have been dancing the night away. I'm not sure if we'll try to do something like sliders and grilled cheese or more breakfasty - like Early Risers (fried egg and ham or bacon on an English muffin or bagel) and mini French Toast.

I have a theory that sliders will be the cupcakes and mini-grilled cheese will be the new sliders; however, only time will tell. Until then, eat up!

Baklava Cheesecake Recipe

Ingredients:

Crust

1 pound phyllo pastry sheets (I prefer the cheaper Wegmans brand because the sheets are bigger)

1/2 cup melted butter

Filling

32 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese (room temperature)

1 cup Greek thyme honey

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 eggs (room temperature)

Topping1 ½ cup walnuts

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup butter, melted

½ cup granulated sugar

½ tsp. nutmeg

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 (1 1/2-inch) cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon cognac or brandy

Directions:

Filling:

Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Beat cream cheese in large bowl of mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually mix in honey, lemon juice and vanilla extract. Beat in eggs one at a time until just incorporated. Set aside.Crust: Brush 10-inch springform with butter. Arrange 1 phyllo pastry sheet with long edge partially to edge of surface (cover remaining sheets with damp towel.) Brush left half of sheet with butter and fold right half over. Brush top with butter. Place in prepared pan, buttered side up, leaving 5 inches over-hanging at one end. Cover with another dampened towel. Butter and fold second phyllo sheet and arrange in pan, overlapping first sheet by 3 inches. Repeat with 4 more sheets, covering entire pan. Wrap remaining pastry airtight and refrigerate. Stir through filling and pour into crust. Cover filling with overhanging phyllo, squaring at edge of pan. Bake until pastry is light brown and cake is firm to touch, about 50 minutes.

Remove pan sides. Using a wooden pick, poke 12 holes in top of cake to allow steam to escape. Cool completely on rack. Refrigerate 2 days to mellow flavors, covering after first day.

Topping:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover baking sheet with 2 pieces of parchment. Coarse grind all nuts with 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in processor. Stack 10 reserved pastry sheets on work surface. Set rim of springform atop pastry. Cut around inside of rim through entire stack using a sharp knife, making 10 rounds. Cover rounds with damp cloth. Set pan rim on prepared baking sheet. Brush parchment and inside of pan rim, with butter. Place 1 pastry round in pan rim brush with butter. Repeat with 4 more rounds. Spread nut mixture evenly over pastry. Top with remaining 5 pastry rounds, brushing each with butter. Using ruler as guide, cut pastry into 16 wedges with sharp knife. Sprinkle lightly with water. Bake until crisp and golden, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile heat 1/2 cup sugar, water and lemon juice in heavy small sauce pan over low heat, swirling pan occasionally until sugar dissolves. Add cinnamon stick, increase heat to medium and boil until syrupy, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. When bubbles subside stir in Cognac. Flatten pastry atop cake. Remove pan rim from topping. Set topping on cake, using a large spatula. Re-cut wedges. Replace pan rim on assembled cake. Immediately pour on hot syrup. Cool 1 hour. Refrigerate for 1 to 6 hours. Let cakes stand for 20 minutes before serving.

Makes 16 servings

This recipe was adopted from ThatsMyHome.

My notes:

I find it's better to stop mixing the cheesecake filling when incorporating the eggs - less air in the mixture the better. Also, feel free to add nuts to the phyllo dough crust (I do) or a dash of cardamom to give it a more exotic flavor.

Many Happy Returns!

Last week we celebrated my fiance's 26th birthday. Of course, I made the delicious baklava cheesecake (recipe to follow) I only make twice a year (his birthday and July 4th). I went easy this year on the food since the guest list was smaller, but we still had blue cheese and garlic dip, prosciutto wrapped barbecue shrimp, and the normal stuff (chips and dip, etc.). BUT I was proud to say that this was the first year the cheesecake didn't crack on top!

Here she is fresh out of the oven:

Here she is finished with the baklava (and birthday candles) atop:
And us singing happy birthday! (We almost had an accident because the cake was on top of the springform pan which was atop the plate - buttered metal and ceramic are very slippery when together).

Apple Picking Follow-Up

I made apple crisp (3x) since my fiance loves it and it was a good way to use up the apples. The recipeI used is from Epicurious.com.

Cinnamon Apple Crisp

(Bon Appetit, March 1993)

Ingredients:

1 c. firmly packed golden brown sugar

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

3.5 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced (into 1/4 in. slices to make them crunchier)

1 c. all purpose flour

1 c. sugar

1 c. (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter 13x9x2 inch glass baking dish. Combine brown sugar and cinnamon in large bowl. Add apples and toss to coat. Transfer apple mixture to prepared dish.

Combine four, 1 c. sugar, and butter in medium bowl. Using pastry blender or fingertips, blend ingredients until coarse meal forms. Spread flour mixture evenly over apples.

Bake crisp 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake crisp until apples are tender and topping is golden brown, about 30 min. Let stand 15 min. before serving.

Serves 10.

My notes / revisions:

• Served warm with vanilla ice cream! (Cool whip also works, but it has a different consistency.)
• I didn't butter the baking dish - this wasn't necessary.
• I also combined all the ingredients in a bowl without the apples. I spread the apples in the dish and spread the topping mixture on top. This concentrated the flavors in the crisp and allowed the apples to complement the topping, preventing the apples themselves from getting too sweet.
• I used 1 - 1.5 c. of brown sugar, sprinkling it on top to add to the caramelization.
  I also roughly chopped 3/4 c. of walnuts and spread them on top of the crisp mixture rather than mixing it into the crisp. This allowed the nuts to actually toast in the oven. No one likes soggy nuts.

A close-up of the crisp: