Good Food, Wine, & Friends

It has been brought to our attention by some that we have not blogged as much since we became man and wife -- based on our limited # of posts so far this year it is hard to argue that point. We actually would like to post a lot more and have nothing to blame but a combination of being both busy and *slightly* lazy. However, these pictures hopefully capture the essence of what we have been up to throughout the past week.
Last Saturday, we hit up Le Petit Triangle Cafe for the first time and had some yummy crepes (each ordering savory crepes for dinner and sharing a peanut butter, honey, and banana crepe for desert) with our friends, Ben and Colleen. We also shared a couple bottles of wine -- and, as the picture above (compliments of Cleveland.com) suggests, Le Petit Triangle has a superb and very reasonable wine list.

On Wednesday, we headed to Jason's for a local blogger meet-up -- pictured below is Jason, Narm, Kelly and Jose (Matt had not arrived yet while Alexa took this picture :))
Everyone brought a bottle of wine and created a dish that they had never made before. We ended up devouring all of the delicious food and drank every last drop of wine -- we enjoyed ourselves, so much infact, that Thursday morning we were still feeling the effects of the wonderful evening! (Note: Alexa and Narm also touched on the evening here and here) We contributed by making Tuscan Stuffed Mushrooms (from Giada's Kitchen) and Curried Rice Krispie Treats (a recipe Kelly found in Elle, which has also been featured in Food & Wine, from The Violet Hour, a very swank bar in Chicago) and a bottle of Terra Boa Tinto (you would never know it's only $5.79 at Heinen's). We know what you are thinking: the wine and stuffed mushrooms sound great, but curried rice krispie treats??? Seriously, they are sooo tasty and very easy to make.
On Thursday, Kelly headed to Crop Bistro for her first time to enjoy dinner with some ladies and take advantage of Downtown Restaurant Week 2009. Her favorite part of the dinner was the Mini Miso Faux Soup (constituting of glass noodles, miso broth, vegetable, cilantro --pictured above) and the Some Like It Hot dessert (warm, flourless chocolate cake, macadamia crunch ice cream, mango-lime coulis, citrus tuile -- pictured below)
The restaurant had a warm bustling energy while maintaining the perfect balance of class and comfort. Kelly loved everything about her Crop dining experience and is already plotting her next visit ;) Pictured below: Erin (Kelly's sister), Erika, Rebecca, and Kelly
After going out the last couple evenings, we made the executive decision to stay in last night (this is becoming a trend) and gave the pizza with egg recipe another go. You may recall we first made it last Friday. We learned (the hard way) that you have to be very careful placing the eggs on the pizza b/c they can easily slide right off. We also learned that you should spin the pizza pan 180 degrees half way through baking so the eggs get cooked evenly -- we prefer them slightly runny while others might enjoy their eggs completely or barely cooked.
This time we made the egg pizza with pecorino romano cheese, parmesan cheese, garlic, roasted red pepper, spinach, scallions, mushrooms and of course egg -- and we must say, it turned out absolutely wonderful. Jose enjoyed his slice with a Founders Dirty Bastard while Kelly sipped on a glass of Starborough Sauv Blanc.
ps - Special thanks to Jason for not only hosting a great gathering but playing this surprisingly good cover the other night. We both have never been fans of Bobby Bare Jr., but this cover of "Where is My Mind" might just have changed that.

Listen for yourself:

(mp3) Bobby Bare Jr. - Where is my mind (Pixies cover)