Spring Break Adventure: State Capitols

When planning our drive from Boston to DC, we realized that we would be passing through numerous state capitols. Brandon and I decided that our new "thing" would be to take pictures in front of every state capitol building. Anybody want to build a custom photo frame for us in the shape of the US?? Here is a look of some of the stops along the way:

Providence, RI

Fun fact, two seconds later, a meter maid was writing Brandon a ticket. He dashed back across the street and said, "No we weren't parking, we were taking a picture," and she let us go! Another pit stop we made was for breakfast, at Diners, Drive-ins and Dives featured, Louis Family Restaurant.

Jeila bravely ordered the Poached Passion, without even asking what it was! Turned out to be a winner - English muffin topped with tomato, spinach, poached egg and topped with cheese. I had a basic two egg breakfast. The prices were dirt cheap and we got to eat alongside Brown's tree-hugging co-eds.

Then we were off to see more capitols:

Hartford, CT

Trenton, NJ

And finally we arrived in Philadelphia where we met up with Raha and Lindsey for dinner at Iron Chef, Jose Garces' restaurant, Village Whiskey. Yum!

Salami-Mozzarella Calzone

Gotta thank Food Network Magazine for another great recipe. My new favorite ingredient is Pillsbury Thin Crust Pizza Dough. It's easy to roll out, cooks evenly and tastes great. Tonight I used it to make a Salami-Mozzarella Calzone.

As usual, I made a few substitutions. I used lemon juice and dried parsley for the crust. And  in the filling - instead of girdiniera (pickled veggies) I used red onions soaked in balsamic vinegar, I also used turkey instead of salami on Brandon's half. The crust cooked in about 12 minutes instead of 15.

I served it with jarred marinara. Delicious!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Brandon surprised me last night with my Valentine's Day present. It's a map with pins in all the cities we've traveled to (and sour punch straws and a heart shaped pie pan).

Tonight we cooked dinner together - steak and Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes. My gift to Brandon was this Raspberry Almond Pizza. 

Yum! Can you tell we watch way too much Food Network?

Super Bowl Housewarming

Even before we found an apartment I knew I wanted to throw a Super Bowl party as a house warming party. Well, my wish came true last Sunday night! So, we invited a few friends over to watch the big game with us in our new place. No, that Steelers helmet is not a wall deco in our new place, it's up in the attic at Brandon's parents house. I did, however, root for the Steelers only because their coach is WM alum. Bummer that they didn't win but Roethlisberger didn't impress me much...

Let's get to the more interesting part of the party - the food! The day before the game, Brandon and I were watching "Worst Cooks in America," a reality cooking show on Food Network. One of their challenges was to cook an appetizer for a football party. One dish they made was Cheeseburger Roulade. It looked good enough - and hey if those people could do it so could we! This was an "advanced" receipe by my standards - we actually had to roll out dough. It was my first time cooking with puff pastry and it was yummy! The inside was beef and cheddar and we served it with ketchup and onions. Definitely a winner!

 

Other highlights of the evening were the red velvet cake with green frosting, bacon-wrapped weenies and veggie pizza.