Because I love cake....

Courtesy of my sister, Hana:

http://paulferney.bigcartel.com/category/cake-paintings


Check out these paintings. They make you want cake. And check out the quotes too, they are awesome! :)

Amy's Cafe

Taylor and I discovered a good weekend breakfast/brunch spot right near downtown Fredericksburg.

It is called Amy's Cafe (click here for more info). It is just beside the Rappahannock Bridge and is housed in a 200 year old building that has lots of charm, eclectic decorations, friendly wait staff, and delicious food. On the weekends they have a breakfast buffet that features scrambled eggs (or you can order as you like), potatoes, grits, biscuits and gravy, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, and watermelon. Definitely old, country-style cooking.

I hope you enjoy as much as we did! :)

Apple Pie

As a Southern girl, I am slightly embarrassed to admit this but I made something this week that I have never made before and it was definitely a challenge and an adventure!

I bought some delicious-smelling apples at the farmer's market last weekend (I think they are called honey crisp) and decided that I would make an apple pie this weekend, per my boyfriend's request.  After consulting the Bennett Family Favorites cookbook for the filling and getting a recipe for crust from one of my co-workers, I set out on conquering this challenge. 

Though the crust was supposed to be "easy", it still took quite a bit of work and did not turn out very pretty (though tasted amazing!). However, the whole package was scrumptious, Taylor loved it, and I will definitely try to perfect my pie-making abilities in the future! 

Also, as my Papaw said, "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach". Good advice Papaw ;)

Lime-y Chicken

Morgan, this post is for you!

Back in college (makes me feel old saying that) we used to have Thursday night supper club where we cooked dinner, watched Grey's Anatomy, and had girl time. All of us liked chicken and I was always looking for new recipes to try on Thursday nights. One of our favorite recipes that we discovered was Chicken with Lime Sauce (aka Lime-y Chicken). It is deliciously tangy, with silky sauce, and is really easy to make. 

I thought of this recipe earlier this week and decided that I definitely HAD to make it after Morgan mentioned it while talking a few days ago. It was a sign. So, I cooked lime-y chicken tonight and it was just as delicious as I remembered it, even though I haven't had it in a while! Though I had a long day at work and didn't get home until late, lime-y only takes about 10 minutes to make and is definitely worth waiting for. 

I hope you like it as much as I do :)

Korean with a twist

I come from a long line of Southern cooks on my mom's side of the family and the more ethnic influence of Armenian/Turkish/Middle Eastern on my dad's side of the family. However, my entry tonight is far from either of those in that it stems from Korean influence.


So a while ago, my boyfriend and I made this recipe (pictured below) and it was awesome!




I rarely eat or cook beef so I adapted the recipe a bit and made it with chicken one night a few weeks ago. Equally as good, or better than the beef! It is also super fast, healthy, cheap, and easy to make.

Since I am on a cooking kick lately and had some chicken in the freezer, I decided to make this for dinner tonight. It was scrumptious and paired well with a baked (aka microwaved) sweet potato.


**Word of advice: Use less of the sambal oelek than the recipe calls for unless you want your lips to be burning, your sinuses draining, and your face sweating profusely!**

That is all for tonight as Dancing with the Stars comes on in a few minutes and I don't want to miss it...


Happy eating :)

Pizza and Julie & Julia

As I sit here with a belly full of delicious homemade pizza and wine, while watching the movie 'Julie & Julia', I am inspired to start a blog to share my love of cooking, eating, and food. I plan to blog about delicious (and not so great) dishes that I prepare, wonderful restaurants that I experience, and amazing ingredients that I run across. Please join me on my journey! :)


Tonight I made 2 different kinds of pizza on my brand-new Pampered Chef stone:

1. Chicken, red onions, garlic, fresh rosemary, oregano, and mozzarella cheese
2. Tomato sauce, fresh basil, italian seasoning, turkey sausage, fresh Monterey Jack with Sun dried tomato and basil cheese (Marshall Farms: visit here), and mozzarella cheese

Side note: I used the Pampered Chef crust mix tonight but usually use whole wheat crust recipe.

Now all I need is some chocolate ;)