The Month in Review - July 2013

So long, July, I'll miss you.  You brought us warmth (sometimes a little too much but I still prefer it to winter), long summer weekends away, an online bake sale to benefit a sweet abused doggie and my birthday.  What's not to love about a month like that?!  Not to mention that we started the month off with a s'mores martini.  A s'mores martini, people!!  But, as great a month as July is, I love August more...less humid, big vacation plans...but I tried hard to not rush ahead and enjoy every precious summer day.

So before I swoon all over August and its peaches and our lakeside cottage rental, let's take a look back at the summery tastiness of July.  Enjoy!

Birthday Time at Thyme!

Thyme Restaurant, 8 Tower Place, Roslyn, NY 11576, 516-625-2566 thymenewyork.com

Thyme Restaurant on Long Island

A while back I found a website called dininglongisland and they have a section on waterfront restaurants.  Since then, it's been my go-to resource when choosing where to eat out there.  I love dining by the water!  We considered selecting a place on the 'nautical mile,' a stretch of waterfront in Freeport that's home to dozens of casual bars and eateries on the water.  But, ultimately an amazing menu on a lake won out over clams and beer on the ocean.  The food offerings at Thyme were too good to pass up!

Life in the Big City - Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday.  It's one of those 'big" birthdays that causes people to give you cards that say "you're blah, blah years old now" and buy you gag age gifts and arrange for waiters to sing to you in restaurants where waiters shouldn't be singing to you.  I don't know about the cards and gags but I've already warned those closest to me that, if I'm accosted by any musical waiters, they will swiftly find themselves divorced, de-friended and disowned.

Tomato, Goat Cheese and Basil Galette

Last Sunday Brian and I were meeting a good friend for brunch and I knew we'd linger a long time, sipping mimosas and bloody Mary's and catching up.  And I knew we wouldn't be that hungry come dinner time.  A salad, perhaps and something else.  I had some nice looking tomatoes in the house and some very fresh basil.  No mozzarella but goat cheese and ricotta.  Hmm.  Something sort of pizza like but not exactly.

Chicken Souvlaki

When I'm not creating my own recipes, I'm usually trying out other people's.  But, even when I really like someone else's recipe, chances are I'm going to play around with it and change it up to suit our tastes.  But today, I'm bringing you a recipe that I could barely mess with.  Brian and I are both big fans of chicken souvlaki and it's practically our regular order at our favorite Greek diner.  But I'd never tried making it at home.  I make the cucumber and yogurt sauce (tzatziki) all the time but wasn't sure how to approach the chicken.

Double Chocolate Chip Cake with Salted Peanut Butter Glaze

If this cake looks familiar, it's because it was my offering for the Muffins for Muffin online bake sale last week.  A big thank you to everyone who bid, bought or donated because the sale raised a lot of money for Muffin's medical needs.  And a personal thank you from me to the many of you who bid on my cake and particularly to the winning bidder, Arturo, for his extraordinary generosity.  I sincerely hope that you enjoyed your sweet treat.

Corn, Zucchini and Quinoa Cakes

I think you've all learned by now that I'm a little quinoa obsessed these days.  OK, maybe a lot obsessed.  I probably make myself a bowl of quinoa, in one form or another, more often than any other side dish lately and I'm always trying different combinations of ingredients.  I've definitely learned that corn and zucchini are perfect matches to the naturally nutty flavor of quinoa.

Muffins for Muffin Online Bake Sale!

Welcome to the bake sale.  My fellow bloggers and I are contributing our baking skills in order to raise money for the medical care of a sweet, abused dog named Muffin.  I told you her story in my post yesterday so now it's time to dive into the indulgence!

Sneak Preview: Muffins for Muffin Online Bake Sale!

Have you ever stared longingly at a photo of a dessert on a recipe site and wished you could just order it instead of having to make it?  If so, it's your lucky day!  Well, actually, tomorrow is your lucky day but I wanted to give you some notice.  A group of my fellow bloggers and I will be offering our baked goods in an auction to help a sweet doggie named Muffin.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Parfaits

Those of you who grew up in the US probably saw your fair share of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, grape jelly in my case.  And for all our sophisticated, complex, gourmet sandwiches with the fancy crusty bread, I'll bet a whole lot of us still find occasional comfort in a pb & j on soft white bread...peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth...  I've been told that most of the rest of the world doesn't understand the allure of peanut butter but that just means more for me us!

Life in the Big City - East End Style

Montauk

Wow, it's been over a month since my last installment of Life in the Big City.  I guess we're on slow summer time around here.  Once again, the "big city" was abandoned over the long 4th of July weekend as we headed out east.  For those of you not familiar with New York, the eastern tip of Long Island is sometimes referred to as the east end or the south fork and encompasses the Hamptons and Montauk.  And Brian and I set aside one of the weekend days for a little road trip.

White and Wild Rice Bake

There's something very comforting for me about a bowl of rice.  My favorite is jasmine, a big portion, piled high, with a bit of butter stirred in and I don't even need any meat to go with it.  Pure comfort.  But also a little boring.  Comfortably boring but, boring nevertheless.  Wild rice, on the other hand, doesn't scream comfort to me but I do like the nutty flavor and texture in salads.  So I decided to combine the two in a light sauce and a crunchy topping for a comforting and interesting side dish.

Salted Caramel Mini Apple Cake Bundts

As you all know, the bundt bakers group has a different theme each month and July's was caramel.  When our group founders, Anuradha of Baker Street and Lora of Cake Duchess, announced it, my first thought was that apples go well with caramel and my second thought was that I don't know how to make caramel.  I knew it involved sugar and heavy cream and butter and violent looking bubbling in a pot.  I flashed back to all those Challenge shows on Food Network where they try to make sugar sculptures and the announcers warn that a hot sugar burn is incapacitating.  Um...maybe I'll sit this month out?

Raspberry Crumb Bars

I hope you all enjoyed the long Independence Day weekend.  A few work and personal commitments kept us in the city on the 4th and we didn't head out to our Long Island house until after the fireworks.  No matter though, because we still held our annual cook out over the long weekend and nobody seemed to mind that it was a couple of days late.  We also wanted to head out to Montauk and I'll fill you in on our time out there next weekend in an installment of Life in the Big City.  But today, let's talk about one of the easiest baked desserts I've ever made.

S'mores Martini

The hungry couple will be heading out soon for an extended holiday weekend of grilling and chilling.  We've been having a lot of weather lately so fingers crossed for lots of sun.  Before we leave, though, we wanted to present you with this very adult version of a summer picnic classic.

The Month in Review - June 2013

Before we get into a discussion of where did spring go and who turned on summer with such a vengeance, let's get a little blog business out of the way.  Those of you that like to follow our blog through Google Reader probably know that the service has been discontinued.  If you've not already chosen a new reader, you can check out Bloglovin and Feedly as possible options and just add Hungry Couple to your list.  The other thing you may have noticed is the Pin It button which now appears on every photo.  Hopefully that will make it easier for you to pin your favorite recipes quickly.