yup. this weekend was a whirlwind of action and we have the kitchen coming along quickly!

gas is run to the stove, the sink and dishwasher are both working and the hood is mounted to the wall. it’s so close!

i’m just waiting on moving my amazing butcher block table (which i rescued from findlay market with a little help from my sister) and all my other tools until the dust is a little more settled. we are still working in the house- we’ve got to refinish the wood floors in the living room/dining room and i’ve got to go over all the walls with a second and final coat of paint. the kitchen still needs wood trim and a backsplash (and that hood needs vented outside) before we can call it finished…

i am overwhelmed with how awesome the kitchen is. i really couldn’t have imagined having such amazing equipment to work with and i am daydreaming about the first meal i will cook there….
i’m also daydreaming about how fun it will be to cook and take pictures and blog in my new house! i love it!

a raw kale pesto with lemon and garlic folded into ricotta and stuffed into shells. with red sauce.

chicken breast rolled in spiced cornmeal and pan fried. with beans, sweet potatoes and beet apple salad.

fish tacos with cayenne and lime sweet potatoes and refried beans.

creamy polenta with chicken sausage red wine tomato stew.

oven roasted arctic char with veggie couscous.

there is still a gas line to run through the floor and some miscellaneous projects that we’ve got to finish up in this kitchen, but this is a big step!

i bought this stove, sight unseen from the appliance shop. i went in looking for a 6 burner stove with an oven large enough to fit a large sheet pan. the salesman quickly directed me to his computer where he had pictures of this beast. apparently, it had been ‘damaged’ in the warehouse. and by ‘damaged’ the stainless steel on the side panel had been slightly crimped in transport. (and by slightly crimped = i don’t notice it now that its at my house!) this guy offered me the stove at the 6 burner price. incredible. i then took a ‘damaged’ 48″ exhaust hood off of their hands for a steal. nothing like being a laid back girl who cares more about the function than a few imperfections here and there… i’ve got to figure that over the course of it’s life- this stove is going to get plenty of action and now i don’t have to feel guilty about using it!

obviously, upon delivery, i couldn’t be happier!

we ate steaks with grilled veggies and a red pesto. he bought it at P & P and said it was basically romesco sauce. i couldn’t get enough. the color was gorgeous and the flavor was bright and really livened up the grilled food.

yesterday was gorgeous and sunny and warm, so i decided to pick up some things for the grill. we had red potatoes with red onion, asparagus and chicken breasts. before i walked out to the grill, i threw a red bell pepper (sliced thick), some marcona almonds and some garlic into a pan on low heat. i let it simmer while i grilled the goods. when i came in, i added some salt, pepper and paprika. and tossed everything around. then pureed and added a squeeze of lemon juice.

i love it! this is going to be my new accessory to a grilled meal. a big dollop on the plate added so much flavor!

roasted eggplant spread with pita chips

hummus with roasted veggies

beet and apple salad with celery and lemon/shallot vinaigrette

curried couscous salad with dates, toasted almonds, manchego cheese, preserved lemon and herbs

i didn’t get a picture of the edamame falafel made into a sandwich, but i did get a few shots of the process:
followed our recipe for traditional falafel, but used edamame instead. bright green on the inside, fried brown and crisp on the outside. yum.

since i was cooking at home, i didn’t want the rich smell of deep fried falafel permeating the house. so, we set up our turkey deep frying situation and i enjoyed the frying outside in the sun.

i feel like i really got reconnected with my self this weekend. shopping and cooking and organizing all that had to be done really put me in a good place. i realized how much i miss doing this sort of thing. granted, this was the IDEAL situation- i wasn’t cooking for people who wanted anything other than MY food. they weren’t trying to micromanage and trusted me to bring some good stuff. which i did.

i also think this party put me in touch with a woman who is going to have a big impact on me! the birthday girl, michelle, is just amazing and i really don’t feel like i can get enough of her. it turns out she feels similarly towards me and we talked this week about me coming to work with her at her deli. i am so excited. it seems like a totally dreamy job with great hours. it even seems like the kind of thing i could continue doing while i am pregnant! i can’t wait to start. i am going to give myself a few more weeks to finish up a few projects with the house, and then i’m going to get back in the kitchen. hooray for things feeling wonderful and like some good pieces are falling into place!

now that i’ve got all the time in the world for exercise and eating right- i’m taking full advantage.

for dinner, i try to load up on protein and veggies. this dinner was very satisfactory!

a quick lentil stew with onions, garlic, cayenne pepper and salt. added some fresh spinach to wilt near the end. sprinkled extra firm tofu with paprika, salt and pepper- then seared on each side in a hot pan. a spoon of hummus on the top and a sprinkle of feta cheese. some olives and peppadew peppers added even more mediterranean flair!

in the meantime, i’m cooking up a mediterranean feast for about 70 people. a few favorites like roasted eggplant red pepper dip and roasted garlic hummus with pita. i’m going to turn the bacon date salad on it’s head and make a curried couscous salad with dates, manchego, bacon, green onion, mint, preserved lemon, etc… and a big green salad with the beet and apple. and edamame falafel sandwiches with feta, tzatziki, tomatoes and cucumbers. all my favorite things together!

i can’t believe how good it felt today to begin gathering food, prepping a few things and getting my food thoughts firing.

it hit me the other day that i really want to find a way to use this site to continue writing about a few of my favorite things: food, cooking, community around eating and drinking, life… etc.

this has been a particularly tough year for me. since the restaurant, my focus has shifted towards growing a family and re-building a home for us to live in. unfortunately, we lost our first baby about halfway through my pregnancy. since november 7, i have been slowly recovering- physically and emotionally. but i’ve realized that as i slowly come out of the haze of grief and loss and switching gears- that i really feel out of touch with the food loving, picture taking, writing part of myself.

while i kept a blog during my pregnancy and loss, i miss looking at the FORK HEART KNIFE logo. the logo has so much good tied into it. we originally made tshirts (with a stencil and spray paint) to have a dining club- jenna, timmy and i. the plan was to wear matching FHK shirts when we met out at restaurants… that never really played out, but the image was definitely present in all the cooking i did for jenna while she was sick (and the blog i kept during that time). and then- the ultimate- as a strong presence in that tiny restaurant. i feel inspired when i look at it, i feel happy and in love with food and cooking and thinking about new fun ideas and big red hearts and happiness.

for a while, after closing the restaurant, i felt like i needed some distance. some distance from people wondering what was next for us, for FHK. i felt like i needed to let the blog sit for a while. what started as a personal food blog grew to be a sort of marketing tool for our restaurant. in hindsight, i probably posted about my wedding to signal to folks that life was switching gears for me.

there probably won’t be another real restaurant coming from these parts any time soon. but as our new house comes to the end of it’s entire remodel job- i am looking forward to playing and dreaming and hosting in a pretty awesome kitchen. (think of our space on main st., but in a home kitchen- and with a huge gas stove!)

another goal i have for this site is to work on organizing it a little differently. i know that i probably have the worst recipes- for those of you that follow recipes- and i can’t say i will be able to change my ways, but i do find myself searching for ideas/things we made during the restaurant and things are hard to find on here! i don’t mind reading through lots of posts to find things, but sometimes there isn’t time!

so, here’s to bringing my favorite blog back into action… i’m excited!

michael and i got engaged back when we visited asheville and atlanta in the fall, 2010. we immediately started planning a great, big canoeing, camping, wedding extravaganza for the fall of 2011.

we lost a little bit of planning steam as we started researching food, port-o-potties, tents, tables, chairs, etc. having a wedding is a huge, expensive ordeal! planning and anticipating for all these details seemed to take the fun, love and spontaneity out of it for us. and as we got clearer and clearer about that- we quickly spun our wedding plans and ended up organizing a small group of friends and close family to be present at a simple ceremony at friendship park on friday, june 3.

my dad walked me to michael, and as we walked he said all sorts of great dad-isms that got the waterworks flowing immediately!

leah wrote and read a perfect, hilarious, sweet piece about love, marriage, hormones and life that had everyone laughing and crying!

we exchanged vows and rings, led by a lifelong friend, bill.

and we are married!

with my new family:

michael with his new family:

we had a great group of friends along to witness our wedding and celebrate with us! me with the dudes:

and my ladies:

we enjoyed tacos y cervezas at la mexicana after the ceremony (of course!). then headed to orchid’s in the hilton for dessert and cocktails.
it was a magically evening! i loved how intimate the whole night was. i felt so connected with everyone that was with us to celebrate, especially michael! YAY!

i like to give things a try, especially if it is something i’ve never done. in talking about last night’s mediterranean feast- i knew that baklava would come up for dessert… we’d be repeating some old faves- roasted eggplant/red pepper dip, hummus, those pita, that bacon date salad, falafel- things we’d done a few times. as good a time as ever to try a new dessert!

and so i found a recipe and read it a bunch and thought it over a bunch and it seemed like a pain in the butt, but i figured it was time for me to conquer my fear of the layers of phyllo- to risk it for this amazing baklava that leah is always drooling about.

OMG! now i know what all leah’s hype is about! this shiz is amazing. and really not THAT hard, all said and done (and eaten!)

buttery crispy flakey layers of golden phyllo, tons of toasty nuts, sweet honey and cinnamon. lightened up with dried apples and a touch of lemon… so rich and moist, but not sticky… i lost count of how many pieces i ate!

i’d almost suggest making a bigger batch. it’s the same amount of layering whether in a small or larger baking dish (and that is really the tedious part, in my mind..) give it a try when you know you’ll have lots of folks digging in!

from bon appetit mag:
(makes 24 squares-shown, or 48 “classic baklava” triangles)

SYRUP
put in a heavy bottomed pot:
4 c. sugar, 1 1/3 c. honey, 4 cinnamon sticks, juice of 2 lemons (ZEST THEM FIRST!), 2 c. water
bring to a boil, to dissolve the sugar and reduce just a bit, then set aside to cool.

BAKLAVA
toast 6 c. walnuts and 6 c. pistachios. when they’ve cooled, pulse in a processor.
toss chopped nuts in a bowl with 1 1/2 c. sugar, the zest of those 2 lemons, 3 tsp. ground cinnamon and 1 c. dried apple rings- chopped.
that already smells great, huh?!

40 17 x 12″ sheets of phyllo dough, thawed. didn’t make this part from scratch. i’m not a greek granny.
6 sticks of butter, melted.

brush a large baking pan with butter. lay phyllo to cover the bottom and brush with butter. do this 10 times. overlapping and sloppiness seems to work in your favor, here. just brush every bit liberally with butter.

when you’ve laid ten layers and buttered them all, sprinkle about 2 c. of your nut/apple mix evenly. yum.

this is the trickiest layer: cover the nut mix with phyllo and brush with butter. just be patient, because that nut mixture isn’t an even surface and it is harder to brush that butter on, i just globbed it on that brushed it up the side of the pan to get a good base layer.

then do this 5 more times. another layer of nut/apple mix. then 5 more layers of phyllo/butter.

again.

cut the top few layers of phyllo/nut filling without puncturing that bottom layer. this will allow the air to get up in that phyllo and poof each square. put the pan in a hot oven and bake for 45 minutes. after baking, enjoy the way your kitchen smells and drench the whole pan in that honey syrup. let the baklava cool and then cover it. i’d imagine it’d be good for a few days.

when serving, you’ll have to cut through to that bottom layer, and then again in triangles if you are dainty.

i couldn’t help but wonder if you could have a sweet bacon baklava? ahhh!