Scallops a la Caitlin

Hi!

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday! I feel like I need 2 more days before heading back to work.

Here is something I made BF and I for dinner a little while ago - I LOVE scallops and always forget how easy they are. To go with these, I made a garlicky white wine sauce, corn and green beans. Really good!

How to make this:

1) Rinse & pat the scallops dry. Sprinkle with salt.

2) In a small pan, heat olive oil & garlic over very high heat. 

 3) Carefully place scallops in the super hot pan. Make sure they don't touch!

4) Cook each scallop for 2 minutes or so and then flip them over. Resist temptation and don't move them before flipping or you wont get a crispy crust.

perfect!

5) Gently take the scallops out of the pan & keep the stovetop on, lowering the temperature to medium-low heat.
6) Add white wine, more garlic, a bit of butter, veggie broth, a bit of flour to thicken, lemon juice and garlic salt.

whisk in the pan scraping all the little burnt bits off of the bottom

7) Stir and pour over plated scallops.

BF's dinner

Super easy and yummy!

This weekend felt busy - lots of drinking and partying. I'm super duper exhausted and feel my are eyelids getting heavy! I'm off to bed now.

How was your weekend?

Ella Lounge NYC

Ella's is a great place to go with friends. Live music, strong drinks and a jazzy atmosphere. 

I went here to see my coworker's boyfriend play a show - had a great time! One of my new favorite places.

Tomorrow I am flying to Spring Lake, MI to attend my cousins wedding on Saturday. Surprisingly, flying there is more expensive than flying to Canada or California. Crazy right?

Should be fun! I get to see the fam and go to the beach. Can't wait!

Flaws & First Love

I am a self admitted bad driver.

I get scared in the car when other people are driving (and always have).

That being said, when it became my turn to learn to drive, I was terrified. Not only did I get my license later than almost all of my friends but now that I'm living in New York I have no reason to EVER drive.

Even though I am a terrible, irresponsible and scary driver - I love to drive.

Since I got my license in very early 20s (in fact, I think I was 20 haha), I still get that rush of being free and getting to go wherever I want. Living in New York City doesn't allow me to keep a car - parking is way too expensive and I would crash into a taxi or a person or worse, a puppy.

In my last year of school, I was fortunate enough to be given a 1993 Mazda Miata from my aunt and uncle. They are very generous people and no longer needed the car but knew I needed one (and whats more, needed to learn how to properly drive).

I introduce to you, the best car ever....I named her Kelly Kapowski. I LOVE this car.

Driving around in this little 2 seater made me feel super cool.

The only problem when they gave me the car? I didn't know how to drive a standard car, let alone how to properly drive an automatic.

I feel like this car and I learned how to drive together!

We went on so many adventures (a lot of them irresponsible) and I just love this lady so much.

In fact, even though I moved to New York over 2 years ago and I have no use for this car at the time in my life, I REFUSE to sell it. It's a race car for girls! I love it too much.

Kelly Kapowski sits happily in my parents garage where it is taking up space. Is it a bit rude that I am taking up my parent's 1 car garage with my unused car? Yes, and I feel ultra guilty! BUT, I just can't bear the thought of someone else driving my car. It is mine and I want it waiting for me when I return to Canada / finished in New York which could be 1 year, 2 years even 3-4 years from now.

Well there you have it - my totally irrational and embarrassing obsession with my 1993 red car.

I hope I still know how to drive when I leave Manhattan!

After work tomorrow I am going to an event I bought tickets to on Gilt City. Here is the description:

General admission for one to Bliss Spa & Crunch Cel"AB"ration event with hosts Ashley Hebert & J.P. Rosenbaum from "The Bachelorette" on Wednesday August 15, 2012 from 7 - 10 PM at Crunch Gym• Five-day pass to Crunch• All drinks sponsored by Skinnygirl• Best Abs contest and Ab Brag photo booth• Mini treatments from Bliss Spa• Chats and tips from Crunch trainers• Pole-dancing and belly-dancing demonstrations• Dating tips from Wise Matchmaking

Should be fun - I am obsessed with The Bachelor / The Bachelorette!! I'll let you know how it goes!

Night.

Rockaway Beach

Rockaway beach is just an easy subway ride from Manhattan. It's free, relatively clean and uncrowded - a nice little escape from the filthy heat!

Fun, right? I went here with a few girlfriends recently!

This weekend I am travelling to Spring Lake, MI for my cousin's wedding. BF and I are headed down a day early to check out the beach. Should be fun! I haven't seen my family in a while so I'm really looking forward to it.

The summer is just flying by - I can't believe it. Its like I just realized it was summer this week and its almost over.

Anyhoo - I must get ready for bed because I have to get to work early tomorrow!

Night!

Wrap Star

Trader Joes is one of the greatest food stores I've ever found - below is by far the best product I've purchased there. If you have the chance, I think you should buy them too! So spicy, so awesome (I would even go as far as to say BONKERS), so versatile. 

Get em. 

 Tomorrow is my company's summer party. We are going to a country club in NJ. The day will be full of team activities (oh joy), wine & cooking class, fun with friends and booze. Should be a nice day! I need to get a good nights sleep so I'm off.

Happy Weds :)

It's all good

Hi There!! 

Happy Tuesday (if there is such a thing)... 

This week already seems very, very long - at 3pm both yesterday and today, the clock started to move at a glacial pace. You know how that thrills me. Extra points for you if you got that reference.

That being said, there is definitely good news this week:

• I did pilates yesterday and yoga today. I hope to focus on cardio and the below activities for the rest of the week.
• I discovered that I get 24 free channels by plugging a unnoticed cable in to my almost never used television. My life will be changed forever haha. 
• These newly discovered channels have allowed me to watch not only Bachelor Pad but the Olympics! There is such a HUGE difference between Olympic coverage here in the US compared to back home in Canada. Craziness! Observations:
•  I'm super into gymnastics right now! Teeny little people doing wild flips, spins, bounces and kicks = entertainment at its best. 
• Poor Michael Phelps has lost just a teensy bit of his mojo :( but he is still pretty rad
• My aunt & uncle were here this past weekend and they took my to Costco while they were here (yes, in Harlem). That means that my freezer is stocked with scallops, salmon, halibut and coffee. That means my fridge is full of very cool cheese. That means that I have enough bottles of wine to last me at least until Sunday ;)
• Thursday is my company's annual employee summer party. We are going to a country club in NJ. I've signed up for 2 activities: cooking class & wine tasting class. Should be a co-workertastic time.
• Friday, BF and I are going to go see Mike Tyson on Broadway. Seriously. I'll let you know how it goes.

Since I have been bad at taking pictures lately, here are a few things that have been going on in my kitchen:

street cherries - $2/lb . Loves it.

leftover chili + salad

I'm off to bed. Night Night!

Jenna Lyons & Locanda Verde

Happy Friday!

I took today off of work and have been enjoying every minute - particularly the sleeping until 10 part :)

This week, I went out for a friend's birthday at Locanda Verde. It is a gorgeous, very cool restaurant in Tribeca. The menu was amazing - we shared just about everything: 2 crostinis and 4 antipasti dishes. For my entree, I ordered the sea scallops (my fave!).

We started our meal with a bottle of Prosecco. Right after clinking our glasses, one of my friends noticed that Jenna Lyons (creative director / prez of J Crew) was in the restaurant. Such a cool celeb sighting. I wish I was brave enough to introduce myself! Gotta love New York :)

Check out what we ordered:

Sheep’s Milk Ricotta with sea salt and herbs - this was insane

complimentary foccacia bread for the table with pesto & tomato - soo good

blue crab crostini w/ jalapeno & tomato and the grilled octapus

Roasted Sea Scallops with spring peas, almond gazpacho and pancetta mostarda 

I love restaurants in Tribeca because they're usually simple, clean and have more space than places in my neighborhood.

  

yes, i took a picture of the tap in the bathroom

If you're in the area and are feeling fancy, go!

This weekend, my aunt and uncle are visiting me from Toronto. I'm very excited to see them!

Since I will definitely be skipping the gym this weekend, I plan on taking a total body conditioning class later today. These classes kick my butt - I have a tough time doing strength training and will do more squats than I have all week BUT I can't deny the benefits of dropping it low! Here in the city, its about to thunderstorm. I hope it lightens up before I have to walk to the gym!

Have a good weekend!

Pot o Gold

Hi!

Happy Monday! Last night I made a big pot of vegetarian chili for this week's work lunches. 

What was in it?

• pinto beans
• chick peas
• black beans
• crushed tomatoes
• marinara sauce
• hot sauce (lots)
• chili powder
• garlic salt
• salt & pepper
• yellow onion
• green peppers
• orange peppers
• corn kernels 
• olive oil
• garlic

 I threw it all in my giant-est pot for about 2 hours.

 Et voila! It was really good!

This is a great way to spread your grocery money over a week! Summertime makes me a very broke girl (with all of the excessive going out and whatnot), therefore healthy, cheap meals are a must. 

 Yesterday I decided to take a Total Body Conditioning class but before leaving my apartment at 5:30, I decided to drink a little 5 hour energy. Big mistake! The whole class I was dizzy and had too much energyyyyyyyy.  THEN I couldn't fall asleep until almost 2am. Blech never again. I felt like this:

If you've never watched this, you're welcome. Kenyans!

Anyhoo, I decided to take pilates at lunch today and it was fantastic. My whole body feels like it worked today. Tomorrow is Vinyasa yoga with my favorite teacher at NYSC. He's so cool :)

Have you tried taking energy drinks / supplements before a workout? 

Do you make big batches to stretch out your $?

I'm off to bed. Nighty night!

Weekend fun

This weekend felt way too fast!

On Friday, I went to The Delancy in the Lower East Side for a good friend's birthday party. I like this place because they have a very pretty rooftop BUT I found the crowd a bit too hipster-y for my liking, it was crowded, and the neighborhood is a bit sketchy (right by the Brooklyn bridge) Even with those flaws, I still had lots and lots of fun!

pretty palm trees :)

outside of the front door of the bar. see? sketchy

pretty

Today I went to the gym and took a Total Body Condition class. So tough. The instructor combined lots of cardio with what seemed like a bah-zillion squats. After the class I did 30 minutes on the elliptical to flush things out. 

When I left the gym, I wandered into the grocery store because I had a craving for chocolate milk. I found something even better:

I can't wait to put in coffee tomorrow morning.

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday. I don't wannnna go!!! 

How was your weekend?

Special Dinner

Hi There!

As part BF’s birthday gift, I usually like to make him a special meal. 
For him, a special meal = meat.

I haven’t eaten meat for about 10 years (not including fish). OBVIOUSLY when it comes to working with meat, I need as much help as I can get! I almost never use recipes, but for meat dishes I need instructions. Detailed instructions haha. 
After countless Google searches and discussions with friends to try and find the perfect recipe, I decided on the below recipe I found on the Food Network website created by Ina Garten.

After researching Ina a bit more, I learned 2 things:

•  Ina likes butter 
• A lot of people like Ina

Based on this discovery, I decided to attempt the below recipe. The only difference I found between Ina’s recipe & reality was timing. Prep took way longer than 20 minutes and cooking time was almost 2 hours.

Perfect Roast Chicken (the title is really what sold me)

Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/cda/recipe_print/0,1946,FOOD_9936_21404_RECIPE-PRINT-FULL-PAGE-FORMATTER,00.html

Prep Time:20 min

Cook Time:1 hr 30 min

Level: Intermediate

Ingredients

1 (5 to 6 pound) roasting chicken

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh thyme, plus 20 sprigs ( forgot the extra 20 sprigs! Oops!)

1 lemon, halved

1 head garlic, cut in half crosswise

2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter, melted

1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced

4 carrots cut into 2-inch chunks

1 bulb of fennel, tops removed, and cut into wedges

Olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Remove the chicken giblets. Rinse the chicken inside and out. Remove any excess fat and leftover pin feathers and pat the outside dry. Liberally salt and pepper the inside of the chicken. Stuff the cavity with the bunch of thyme, both halves of lemon, and all the garlic. Brush the outside of the chicken with the butter and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together with kitchen string and tuck the wing tips under the body of the chicken. Place the onions, carrots, and fennel in a roasting pan. Toss with salt, pepper, 20 sprigs of thyme, and olive oil. Spread around the bottom of the roasting pan and place the chicken on top.

Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours, or until the juices run clear when you cut between a leg and thigh. Remove the chicken and vegetables to a platter and cover with aluminum foil for about 20 minutes. Slice the chicken onto a platter and serve it with the vegetables.

 The result? It looks pretty good! BF said he really liked it and got very excited about the whole process. I made rice and roasted potatoes on the side.

bfs plate. my plate <3

What did I learn? (please don’t take offense if you LOVE chicken but…)I hate chicken. I hate everything about it and I don’t understand how people can eat it after knowing what raw chicken looks / smells / feels like. On the other hand, the cool thing about chicken is that there are endless ways to cook it and it’s not that hard to prepare. BF sure seems to love it.

In other news, I had an amazing time at yoga today. I worked hard, fell over, got sweaty, laughed with a friend, got really deep into a binding triangle pose (even got my leg up in the air!!!!) and  walked out feeling refreshed. The best kind of class.

Anyway, I’m off. Happy almost Friday!