NUTMEG STATE OF MIND

Hi all - this delicious summery dish is from my friend Jenna:

Fresh Pineapple with Mint, Cointreau and Raw Sugar

This really is as simple as it sounds. First, start off with one (or two) fresh pineapples

Then slice off the top and bottom

Next, shave off the sides so you don’t have any pricklies stabbing you in the mouth. I find going about half an inch into the flesh of the pineapple gets rid of any brown spots, eventually your pineapple will look like this:

Set the pineapple on it’s side (preferably one that’s as flat as possible, to reduce it rolling around) and slice into rounds about an inch thick.

Once that’s done cut the pineapple into bite size chunks - making sure to get rid of the pieces that are from the core of the pineapple (not too tasty)

Discard the core pieces and throw the rest into a good size bowl. Pour a cup (or more) of cointreau (or any orange liqueur really - I bought the cheap stuff) plus a couple tablespoons of raw sugar and a few torn up mint leaves into the bowl. 

Take a large spoon and mix it all up and voila! A tasty summer treat!

I did mine last night - I would just put saran wrap over the bowl - press it down so it touches the fruit to eliminate any extra air. I threw another dash of cointreau on it this morning and a few fresh mint leaves and it was set to go!

Parks and Recreation

that make me look like i have pink eye

pretending it’s Milk Duds…

Is going to be a big glass of wine, cheese and HBO catching up kind of night

For those of you who follow my tweets - you’ll have noticed that my mama came to visit! We had a whirlwind weekend starting with a delayed flight into Hartford and ending with a delayed flight out of Hartford. As we speak my mom is now taking off from BDL headed to Chicago for a layover. Severe t-storms there had her flight leave a good four hours late. Here’s hoping she’ll make her connection home!

Anyway, the time she spent here was great. It felt so good to share my world! Most of the trip was spent touring around places in my life: Guilford, New Haven and Westport. The first place we went was KC’s pub which you might remember from here. We both had my favorite dish - the bbq pulled pork sandwich =) and then headed home for an early night in after a very long day.

Friday we headed down to Westport so she could see where I work and meet all the fabulous people I get to work with. On the way home we got stuck in the customary friday 3pm rush hour traffic into New Haven, so it was a good long trip back. We ended the day just chilling at home watching lots of Animal Planet HD =)

Saturday was New Haven day, I got to show her around my old stomping grounds. Where I used to live, work, etc. and finished up at East Rock Park. It’s the highest peak in New Haven where you can look out over the whole city and the sound. Here she is with New Haven in the background!

After East Rock we made our way back down for dinner with the official “meet the parent!” dinner with Sean. We took her to have some classic New Haven style pizza at Apizza Modern - half mozzarella and half Italian bomb (basically every kind of meat you can imagine). Good news: he passed!

This morning was pretty low key, mom was kind enough to sit through practically the whole first season of Whale Wars as I try to catch up before the newest season starts in a couple weeks. Sadly, the weekend is now over and I’ve got my fingers crossed she gets to make it home tonight! 

Greek yogurt with granola. Brie and crackers. Ended with a cheesecake brownie.

GLORIOUS!