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Posted on May 22, 2013 in Food, Recipes | 2 comments

Sean’s Roasted Salsa

Hi friends! Today I’ve got something special for you: Sean’s uhhhmazing homemade salsa recipe! I’ve posted about his salsa a couple of times before, and it was a HUGE hit at my birthday party, with several recipe requests coming out of that. Well, ask and ye shall receive… eventually! Ha!

He made salsa again recently and had the thoughtfulness to take pictures of the process for me to blog about. See, told you he was a keeper.

Sean’s salsa has deep, roasted flavors and has restaurant-style consistency — he purees it very finely so it coats each chip, as opposed to the chunkier, pico de gallo-style salsa I’m often used to out of the jar. This salsa is perfect not just for snacking, but for topping tacos and other dishes since the consistency is so smooth and pourable. Sean makes fish tacos sometimes and I douse them in this salsa — SO good!

You can make it as spicy or as mild as you like — he’s a spice-fiend, but I often have to ask him to scale it back for me. I know, I’m pathetic. But it’s so good that even when he makes it too spicy, I can’t stop myself from eating it. I just end up paying the price for it later, hahaha.

So without further adieu, awaaaay we go!

Sean’s Roasted Salsa

Ingredients:

6 medium tomatoes
1 large onion
2 jalapeno peppers (or poblano, ancho, guajillo, or peppers of your choice)
2 cloves elephant garlic (or ~6 small cloves)
1 canned chipotle pepper in sauce (unpictured, but they come in small cans in the ethnic foods section of your grocery store)
Juice of lime
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Seasonings: Cumin, chili powder, cayenne, salt (all to taste)

Instructions:

1. Heat grill or set broiler to high. Slice tomatoes in half, and onion into thick, grill-bearing slices.

2. Put tomatoes, onion, garlic, and jalapenos on the grill/under the broil, and cook until outsides are blackened, flipping once. Tomatoes take about 25 minutes, everything else around 10 minutes, so remove items as they finish cooking.

3. Add veggies to food processor and add canned chipotle pepper (you can add as many as you like if you like your salsa spicy, but one is enough for me!) and some of the sauce from the can as well. Add lime juice, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and pulse food processor until everything is combined. If you don’t have a food processor, this could potentially be done in a blender, or you could chop and combine ingredients by hand (it’ll just be a chunkier salsa).

4. Add seasonings to taste, including more vinegar and olive oil if you think it calls for it. This is where you can tailor the salsa to your exact preferences!

5. Once everything is to your liking, you can serve it warm right away, or allow salsa to cool in the fridge if you prefer it cold. Then, when you’re ready, just dunk some chips in there and enjoy! Ole!

Posted on May 17, 2013 in Dear Diary, Fashion, Food | 2 comments

Under the Moon

Haaaappy Friday! I’m still recovering from the emotional trauma that was back-to-backing the Vampire Diaries season finale (WHAT THE WHAT?!) and The Office SERIES finale (all the sads), so I thought I’d post something light and fun today. It’s aaaaalmost like a Fashion Friday post, except instead of me awkwardly posing for you all, all the fashion you’ll see in today’s post is still firmly on their hangers.

Last night I had the opportunity to attend an event at the South Moon Under store in Merrifield’s new Mosaic District. If you’re local and haven’t been to Mosaic yet, by the way, you need to get there STAT. It’s awesome — every week I feel like there’s some new hip trendy something-or-other opening up. Someone give me a floppity jillion dollars so I can afford an apartment there, k?

The event was a special Rebecca Minkoff trunk show being hosted by the Real Housewives of Northern Virginia blog.

Alas, I didn’t win any of the exclusive Rebecca Minkoff handbags they were giving away, but I did get to look at pretty clothes, nosh on some snacks, and hobnob with some local fashion bloggers, so that was fun! Bloggers also got a little swag bag at the end, which was a super nice touch.

And, of course, because I am physically incapable of walking away from a sale (they were offering everything in the store 20% off during the event), I did end up making a couple purchases of my own.

I debated for a long time between the lion head earrings and the elephant earrings, before ultimately deciding to get my elephant on. They’re so cute! I also picked up a pair of sassy combat boots that will be making an appearance before long, at which point you can tell me if I’m pulling them off at all… or if I’m just deluding myself, hahaha.

A fun night! I feel like this weekend is going to end up being very well-rounded, actually. Last night I got my dose of fashion and whatnot, and tonight I’m shooting photos for a classical concert series. Look at me, so cultured! Now, if I can just squeeze in some time to see the new Star Trek movie, I’ll have it made in the shade.

Have a great weekend!

Posted on May 16, 2013 in Dear Diary, Food | 7 comments

Ben & Taylor’s Rehearsal Dinner

Or, that time my family went all MEGA CHINESE on everyone, and also we ate an entire pig.

I kinda like that second title better, don’t you?

So a LOT OF STUFF WENT DOWN this past weekend! And though I wish I could jump straight into recapping my brother’s (and new sister-in-law’s) wedding, alas, I have only a handful of meager Instagram photos from the actual event. And since I want to do the entire thing justice (since, seriously, it was SO amazing you guys. And you know how seriously I take weddings, so don’t think I say that lightly, haha), I think I’ll wait ’til I at least get some teaser shots back from the wedding photographer. (I was a bridesmaid, which is why I didn’t take any actual photos of my own.)

However, I *did* get to play photographer (or, more specifically, was commanded–very nicely!–by my mother) at the rehearsal dinner, which was an affair all its own.

For my sister’s wedding back in 2008, and now Ben’s wedding, my family has participated in a traditional Chinese tea ceremony as part of the rehearsal dinner festivities. This is a Chinese custom where the couple to be married offer tea to all their elders, who then give the couple hong bao (red packets) with money, as well as their well-wishes/advice for their impending marriage.

I do actually think it’s a really cool and special tradition, and hope that I get to participate in one when my day comes too (though I don’t think that’s really in jeopardy — my mom would never allow me NOT to, I’m pretty sure). So my dad helped explain what was a-goin’ on to the guests who were less well-versed in Chinese customs, and then they got to it! First my parents…

Then Taylor’s mom and pops…

And her grandparents…

My (last remaining) grandmother isn’t able to travel, so in July, the newlyweds, my parents, and I will be heading down to Houston to perform the tea ceremony for her there.

But that isn’t to say that the Ho Family wasn’t well-represented at the blessed event! In fact, almost all of my aunts and uncles, as well as all of Taylor’s extended family, were present at the rehearsal dinner. So Ben and Tay did the tea ceremony with them as well. I’m sure you guys don’t particularly care to see those pics though (they’re really just a lot more of the same), so I’ll skip right ahead to this one:

See? I told you we ate a whole pig. They served it Peking-style, with the pork replacing what would traditionally be duck (and we would’ve had to have A LOT of ducks to feed that many people, so in the end I think it was a good choice. Sandwiched into a pancake with some hoisin sauce and spring onion, you could barely even tell the difference! Even the more squeamish of guests really seemed to enjoy the “pork tacos” (as they referred to them, haha) once they got over the whole, y’know, head thing.

And in case you were wondering, there was a ton of other food, too, of course! Noodles and shrimp fried rice and spring rolls… It was a real Chinese banquet! Other than the random lasagna that they had as a vegetarian option, that is. That dish was not so much, hahahaha.

But just in case the other pictures of food weren’t enough to help transition away from the fact that there was an ENTIRE PIG SERVED AT THE REHEARSAL DINNER (clearly I’m not really even over it yet), I have something else for you:

Yes, my perfect little niece Mia was there too, looking cute as all get out in her ladybug outfit. I almost hate that I’m so obsessed with my niece now. I swore I wouldn’t be that guy! Oh wel, whatcha gonna do? It’s not MY fault she’s so cute — blame my sister and her hubster for that (though a lot of my aunts do say that she looks a lot like me! Heeeeee!)

Mia was actually on pretty amazing behavior for a not-quite-8-weeks-old baby, both during the rehearsal dinner AND during the wedding! Except when I started taking pictures with the flash. That she did not like so much.

Hahahahahaaaaaahaha.

Can you believe *I’m* the baby of the family? From smallest to tallest…

So yes! The entire event was really nice, and very special for both families, I think. I loved that Tay’s family seemed to really embrace it all–just like my sister’s husband’s family did when they all experienced it!

Taylor’s mom even wore a cheongsam–the traditional Chinese dress that she and Taylor are wearing. Fun fact: the red dress Taylor is wearing is actually my mother’s wedding dress!

Well, one of her wedding dresses, at any rate. (During a Chinese wedding, the bride actually changes outfits like four times, hahaha.)

It was a really special way to kick Ben and Taylor’s final day of non-wedded life. Their final, super duper Asian day, hahahaha.

Gan bei!

Posted on Apr 23, 2013 in Food | 6 comments

PassionFish

Herro. So, now that I’ve adequately covered the many emotions that came out of schnauzer poisoning scare from this past weekend, let’s tune back into our regularly scheduled programming, eh?

Friday, my family and I put the final pin in my birthweek celebrationgs (as opposed to birthday, since the events stretched quite a bit past the actual date, haha). My mom has been in Houston attending to my sister and niece for the past month, so we delayed our family celebration until she got back. The whole family headed out to the Reston Town Center to eat at PassionFish, a seriously delicious (but ‘spensive!) seafood restaurant with an Asian flair.

When I made the reservation on Open Table, I did put in a note that we were celebrating my birthday dins, but I didn’t expect PassionFish to really do much with that info — maybe put a candle in my dessert or something? Well, imagine my surprise when we sat down and opened our menus, and this was inside:

They had specially printed menus for our table that said “Happy Birthday, Gretchen!!!” on the left page! Totally unexpected and a really, really awesome touch.

And they even packaged it up for me to take one home as a souvenir! I felt special. Heeeee.

Right, so. Food. Instead of a bread basket, every table at PassionFish gets a plate of crostini with a crab/fish spread. I’m not actually sure what was in the spread, only that it was yummy.

We also ordered shrimp & crab spring rolls and the kung pao calimari for apps. The appetizer list was really where you saw the Asian influence in the menu.

Oh, yes, and obvs there were drinks, too. Tay got the “Dirty CEO” martini, and the rest of us shared a bottle of vino. Mmm.

I also got a beet salad, with pecans, goat cheese, and greens, and a few other people got soups (my dad got this butternut squash & lobster bisque which was uhhhhhmazing!)

My entree was a plate of seared scallops over a bed of corn polenta, these little spaetzel-like noodle things, and with super crispy ham (think basically bacon) on top. The scallops were cooked perfectly, and the combination of flavors were so, so, so on point. I tried everyone else’s dishes too (duh!), and whlie they were all really good, I still think mine was the best. Win!

Even though we were all pretty much stuffed at this point, and we had cake waiting at home, our waiter informed me that I got a free dessert for my birthday. Never one to pass up free food, I selected the donut holes, which came in an adorable little mini fry basket and were hot and delicious. Just enough for the 6 of us all to share a bite or two! And they did, as you can see, come with that birthday candle.

As mentioned, the evening wasn’t quiiiiite over yet though, as there was a cake at home for me!

So the night ended with my family all sharing ice cream cake. My mom also gave me her present — a super gorgeous ring with diamonds from her jewelry collection! It’s really beautiful, I’m a little scared to actually wear it, hahahaha. You guys already know the unbelievable present Sean got me, and I had also already received my present from my dad, sister, and brother earlier — a Nike Fuelband! Which I’ve been wearing every day and it really is a great reminder of exactly how sedentary I am on an average day. I never really got the point of fuel tracker things before, but I definitely get it now — it’s actually fun to make sure you meet your goals and can track your activity!

Whew. So that does it. Thus, my week of birthday celebrations (and obvious gluttony) officially comes to a close. (Sad panda!) Wellps, guess now I can start planning out birthday #26 now, eh? Hehehe.

Before I go, I just have two quick things:

Caitlin from Cait Strides has put together a t-shirt fundraiser in the wake of what happened in Boston. 100% of their proceeds are going to One Fund Boston, and their goal is to raise $1,000 for the victims’ families! Check it out: http://skreened.com/janeofsometrades/keep-running-bahston

Lastly, the winner of the Shabby Apple giveaway is being chosen tomorrow, so get your entries in now!

Happy Tuesday, friendos! <3

Posted on Apr 15, 2013 in Blogging, Food | 29 comments

The 25th Annual Hunger Games

This past Saturday, the citizens of Panem gathered for a celebration.

The 25th Annual Hungers Games–my very own Quarter Quell–took place. Needless to say, it was glorious.

But I figure, why tell you when I can show you?

May the odds be ever in your favor… to get through the smorgasbord of photos you are about to be subjected to.

Let the Games begin!

First up: SUSTENANCE!

Choose your weapon.

Georgetown Cupcake!

Cherry blossom district cupcakes and red velvet mockingjays.

Lamb stew with dried plums (my own recipe!) and Caesar (Flickerman) salad. Get it? GET IT?!

Fruit cornucopias and crostini with goat cheese & apples.

~~Peeta~~ Pita chips & hummus.

Next up: LIBATIONS! (Sidebar: My cousin Nicky–Reaping Katniss–hand-drew the mockingjay pins on those shot glasses. Amazing, right?)

Nightlock punch. Drink at your own risk.

So. Many. Jello shots. From left to right, those are mosaic jello shots, strawberry champagne, and cupcake jello shots. Yep, you read that correctly. CUPCAKE jello shots. Let’s take a closer look:

Aaaand one more time:

So. Effie-ing. Good.

And finally, the most important part: THE GUESTS! (Or, at least as many photos of the guests as I could take before I got too, ehm, libation…ed. Heh.)

Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire.

Reaping Katniss and Seneca Crane(‘s beard).

TRACKER JACKERS!!

District 2′s Tribute vs. The Capitol.

Citizens of the Capitol came out to PLAY.

(Another sidebar: I would absolutely sacrifice my dignity and become a citizen of the Capitol if it meant I got to wear lashes like Megan’s everyday.)