Friday, June 25, 2010

My First Solo Pie Crust


On Wednesday Brian and I ventured into the city to go to the Union Square Farmer's Market that is there 4 days a week. We were sick of getting surprise moldy strawberries from the Shop-Rite, so we figured we would head to the farmer's market for some quality fresh ones, and maybe some other treats.

We did find our strawberries, and many other goodies like zucchini (did you know that there are ROUND zuchinis?? They look like bocce balls), peaches (although they got squashed on the bike ride home from the train) AND a container of sour cherries. I don't love eating sour cherries by themselves, as they are pretty sour (duh!), but they make a great pie!

Today I started by making a pie crust from scratch. This has been expected of me ever since it became obvious that I would be a permanent part of the Renoni family. Bette Renoni does not use pre-made pie crusts. A lesson I learned the hard way, when I volunteered to make a strawberry rhubarb pie for a cookout a few summers ago, and unknowingly brought a Pillsbury pre-made pie crust into the house. Bette immediately threw out the pie crust and said "You are learning how to make pie crust from scratch!" And we did.

Well this is the first time that I have attempted a pie crust on my own. Not a bad first effort, but definitely some room for improvement. I think a smaller pie dish would have been better, since there wasn't as much filling as I thought there would be.



(It looks like grapes and cheese, but it's sour cherries and BUTTER!)


And, the top is on, ready for the oven!


Fresh out of the oven!


YUM!



Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Beth Bakes Bread - Prosciutto Ring


Today I made Prosciutto Bread! I have been talking about doing it for a while, and every time I brought it up Brian thought it sounded utterly disgusting, so I ended up making something else.

Well I finally did it. It is basically bread, with proscuitto, pepperoni and hot sopressata mixed into the dough...

Before baking...


In the oven...


Brian started to think he had misjudged the recipe once the smell of it started wafting out of the oven, but I think he was definitely convinced once he tasted it. He got to it before I could take a finished product picture :)




Secrets to Clean Dishes

If you want your dishwasher to clean your dishes, take the soap pod out of the plastic wrapper BEFORE running the dishwasher.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Secrets to a Happy Marriage

If you're going to sit on the couch and eat ice cream out of the carton, bring your wife a spoon.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Tropical Vacation


We went to St. John for a week!



Officially deemed it an awesome Griswold vacation.

Negatives:
-Heat
-Humidity
-Bugs
-Bug Bites
-Sunburn
-The Fish That Tried to Eat Brian

Positives:
-Pina Coladas
-The Beach
-Sting Ray Sighting
-Beer-ritas
-The Beach
-Sea Turtle Sighting
-Margaritas
-The Beach
-Lots of Fish Sightings
-Sunset Sail
-Bologna and Cheese Sandwiches
-Catchphrase
-Did I mention the Beach?
-Island Time
-Juanita the Taxi Cab Mermaid



For pictures click here:
http://gallery.me.com/bandbontour#100061