MIM: Magic Salmon

Tonight's meal was pretty darn simple. I've had a fear lately of cooking fish. I love fish. But I don't know how to cook it. Rather, it scares me to cook it because I love it so much and don't want to ruin it for myself by cooking it poorly. Then I read on the Pioneer Woman's blog about a foolproof recipe recently for salmon. Having had some wild salmon on hand in my freezer, it was worth a shot right? First I needed a side dish though. Enter: Super Simple Zucchini Mushroom Orzo.

Basically dice up some zucchini and saute it in 1 Tbsp Butter/1 Tbsp olive oil with 1 package of mushrooms for ~5 minutes. You can throw in some shallot if you're feeling fancy like me. Add some cooked orzo, stir in some pesto, and you're good to go. Side note: For at least 4 days after eating this meal, I kept complaining to my husband that my mouth tasted like I'd been eating metal. I attributed it to starting a new medication. Turns out however, that some people have documented reactions to pine nuts! I didn't even think about it because I've had plenty of pine nuts in my pesto in the past, but I think this was a different batch, or old or something? Anyway, lesson learned, pine nuts are now kept in the freezer, and I'll know the problem if I feel like I've been licking nickles in the future.

Now that side dish was done, onto the salmon. First I thawed the salmon in the sink with cold running water. While doing that, I made a glaze out of lemon & lime juices, fresh parsley, butter, and a little bit of brown sugar. Once the fish was thawed, I just smack some of that glaze on each size. Then through the wonder of silpats and my oven, magic occurred. I put the thawed salmon filets on a silpat/cookie sheet, and set the cold pan into the oven. Yep, into the COLD oven. Then you turn the heat onto to 400 degrees, set the timer for 25 minutes, and walk the hell away. 25 minutes later? Insta-salmon. I swear to you, I was sooo skeptical about this. How in the world could it possibly work? What if the salmon was too thick? What if the oven wasn't getting hot enough for long enough? All my fears aside, it totally did work. And it was good. I'm excited to have a new foolproof method! Not as fantastic as some sauteed and oven finished salmons I've had in restaurants, but it'll do for the average cook in a hurry.

Salmon: Swim into my belly

    

WIwW: The new black

The combination of navy and kelly green is pretty much my new favorite. Every time I wear these two colors together, I get crazy compliments from strangers. Maybe it really is the new black? For me anyway.

Pearl Earrings: No brand, Claire's

Navy Stripe dress: Old Navy

Green elephant belt: Thrifted at the Brooklyn Flea

Solid toe flats: The Webster Miami, Target

FFF: The MTA Owns Me

I used to own a car. Seems like a million years ago, but I did. Sometimes I miss just being able to grab my keys, run out to the garage, and head out on my way to whatever errand I needed to run. Don't get me wrong, I love public transportation equally as much. In fact, I pretty much heart the MTA. But these days, I find myself making strange decisions based on the fact that I don't have a car. For example, on my way to work this week, I really wanted an iced coffee. No big deal, as I walk by a Starbucks on my way to the bus. I found myself making a deal though: If the bus is in sight, no coffee for me. No bus in sight? Yeah for a coffee morning! Not that uncommon right? I mean, we all hate to miss the last bus or train.

Sometimes I feel like I take that a step further though. For example when I take the subway, and there are several lines that get me to similar places. I'll often say to myself, "Okay, if the 2 train comes, then you can go to the mall and look at new skirts and shoes, but if the 5 train comes first? Sorry Charlie, it's off to the grocery store for you." Strange right? I let whatever train is coming or going dictate what I do next!

I guess in the grand scheme of things, I'm just making efficient use of time. I mean granted, I used to make efficient use of time in the car as well; planning my errand routes such that I didn't have to head all over town, or waiting until certain days of the week to do certain errands so that traffic wouldn't be as bad. It feels different with public transportation though. It's a level of control that I don't have anymore. I can't predict which trains will come when, so instead of trying to control them, I let them control me! A strange departure from how I used to think.  

WIwW: Warm Weather White

Today's installation of my clothing is not very exciting. I was in a hurry for a meeting at work, and I'm not happy with how everything came together. It's hot here though, so at least I'm keeping cool.

Pink sunglasses: Target

White tank: Forever 21 (forever ago)

Floral Print skirt: Sharon London Vintage, Brooklyn

White flats: American Eagle, Payless

(Side note that while enlightening, this weekly piece is turning out to be my absolute least favorite! Being forced to look at pictures of yourself when you don't feel 100% confident is pure torture. Being forced to take crappy pictures is also torture. I need to plan more time into my day once I get ready for picture taking)

MIM: Coleslaw Fail

I had a craving for coleslaw this week. So I tried to make some for Menu Item Monday. It turned out just okay. I tried a lightened up version, and while the flavor was decent, it just wasn't perfected, so I decided against sharing the recipe with you. I'll try again in the future to make something similar to the coleslaw of my imagination (a healthy Dingy's version!), but until that time, I leave you with something infinitely more cute.
Junior's is a restaurant here in Brooklyn. Its history dates back to the late 1920's, and it has what is dubbed as "The World's Most Fabulous Cheesecake" based on a recipe that was in the Rosen family for three generations. I've not actually been to the restaurant, because cheesecake isn't my favorite thing, but people here definitely rave about it. The cute comes in, when I was stumbling through the grocery store this week, and just happened to spot MINI Junior's cheesecakes. Cute as can be! Now that, I think I can get on board with.  

Hehehe. Little Fella!

FFF: An unorthodox solution to an uncommon problem

I've had a problem that's been bugging me for a while. It's not a common problem for the average person, because the average person doesn't live in a tiny apartment with only a few closets. Me however? I've got problems. The problem is that my one bedroom closet that I share with the Mister, doesn't have enough space for me to hang my dresses. 

See above? From that printed blue dress to the left of the wall, that's all I've got. Maybe 6-8 inches? Now, first world problem I know, but I've got a lot of dresses! And no place to hang them! So often I end up wearing a few, having no place to put them once they're clean, and then the outside of the closet door ends up looking like below. 

Annoying! The bed is right across from the closet, so I pretty much wake up every morning staring at whatever dress is on top. Not exactly very interesting, since clutter drives me nuts. So what's a girl to do? Well, enter the unused shower. Wait, what? Yep, you read that right. I oddly enough, have a shower in my apartment that's not used very often. Why? Long story, but it's one of three other showers. There's only two of us living here. We obviously don't need 3 showers for only 2 people! So while staring at the shower recently (also from bed), I thought to myself, huh. What can I do with that lame space that should really be a closet? Duh. Make it a closet!! So I did just that. I simply went to my local hardware store and bought a ~$10 tension rod. Ta-da, insta-closet!

Now, I better get to wearing all those dresses. Hopefully looking at them every morning in my new "closet" will create some WIwW inspiration! 

WIwW: Birds flying away from the heat

It's hot here. Like really hot. 98 degrees and 100% humidity hot. Iced coffee sweating all over your clothes hot. I tried to dress appropriately today by wearing as few clothes as possible. It was still too many. :-)

 Orange sunglasses: Brooklyn street boutique

Silver necklace: Tiffany look-a-like, Canal Street, NYC

Aviary top: Old Navy

Jean Skirt: Ann Taylor

Brown wedge sandals: Montego Bay, Payless

P.S. The back side of this top is super cute and worth a close up. (You know, terrible picture not withstanding)

MIM: Mini pseudo caramel apples

Man, are you guys on Pinterest yet? Seriously, all my food inspiration comes from posts there these days. It's like getting your favorite magazine, but every day of the week (multiple times a day) instead of just once a month! Seriously, sign up already.
That being said, today's snack/dessert was inspired by the summer season and my desire to eat all things fruit all the time. I'm also watching the carbs again, so cookies, cakes, and the like all seem pretty heavy. I wanted something that was light, quick, fun, and mostly pop-able. Enter, the pseudo caramel apple.

Mini Pseudo Caramel Apples

1 lb green grapes, rinsed and dried

~3 Tbsp Trader Joes Caramel sauce mixed w/ ~1 Tbsp heavy cream

1 cup crushed salted & roasted peanuts

As seems to be my style lately, easy peasy recipe! Just wash and dry your grapes, heat up your caramel & heavy cream just until mixed, spear each of the grapes individually with a toothpick, get to dipping in caramel mix, and finish the dipping in salted peanuts. Refrigerate until hardened if desired. That's it! In case you hadn't figured it out yet, they're pseudo because there's not really any apple involved at all.

Verdict? Two thumbs up tasty. Honestly. I couldn't even tell this wasn't an apple if I had my eyes closed. You could accomplish the same thing by using a mini melon baller on an actual apple (which I may try sometime, and then wouldn't be "pseudo") but why spend the time when you can quickly use grapes? Serve to your friends. They'll thank you.

FFF: The patio garden

Welcome to my little outside corner of the city. After living here for almost 2 years now (eep! 2 whole years), I finally decided this was the year to get my act together and plant a patio garden. I will admit that the one major thing I do miss from the Milan house is having lots of garden space. I didn't go out there much in the summer, and I hate bugs and the like, but it sure was nice to have all that land. Living in the city has more than it's share of perks though, so my little patio space will have to do.
The Mister encouraged me not to go overboard on my first year, so I KISSed it (Keep It Simple Stupid). I picked up just 2 rectangular planters, one mini planter, and 3 bigger self-watering planters. For plants, I went with 3 different kinds of tomatoes (roma, patio, and mixed cherry), lots of basil, some herbs (chives, parsley, cilantro, mint), and one lone pepper plant. I think it should do nicely. I'm mostly excited for basil for pesto and caprese, mint for summer drinks, and tomatoes for salads when they finally start growing and ripening. Even if the garden ends up being a total fail (who knows what all that exhaust does to organic plants), I had fun planting for the season. I'm even hoping I'll learn a thing or two to make next season even better.

For your viewing pleasure:

P.S. We just signed another lease on our place. So next year's garden is already guaranteed.

WIwW: The Dress

The weather sure doesn't make me feel like it, but I'm trying to hold onto a mental "cute" vibe today. Nothing fancy, but just a new dress and my favorite belt. Now bring back the sunshine Mr. Weatherman. (And goodness gracious, do I REALLY need to focus on my camera work. Grr)

Leaf print dress: Emily and Finn, Flirt (local Brooklyn boutique)

Green elephant belt: thrifted, Brooklyn Flea

Brown heels: American Eagle, Payless

P.S. This dress has pockets. I <3 a good dress with pockets. In fact, pockets on everything are fantastic.