Author: arielleclementine

Kitchen Makeover!

arielleclementine4 Comments

Don’t worry, reader! This is the before picture. Sorry I didn’t bother to do the dishes.

(If you just want to see the before-and-after without reading my blabber, skip to the end of this post!)

One month before my due date, Andy and I decided to redo the kitchen.  Believe me, I know it was a dumb timing, but that nesting instinct is a powerful beast. Plus, we have a fantastic contractor who promised he could have it done before Henry came (he was true to his word!), and we figured it would be better to have construction going on before the baby came than after.  Anyway, I figured that this was tangentially food-related, so I could post before-and-after pictures here.  I ❤ before-and-after pictures! You could show me B&A pictures of an apple pre- and post-snacking, and I'd probably say, "Wow! Someone ate the hell out of that apple!"

So, first some fun facts about our old kitchen…

  • The handle would often fall off of the faucet.  Extremely annoying. (And occasionally hilarious, as when a friend would flip it on quickly and then look horrified because they thought they’d broken our sink.)
  • The linoleum came in two handsomely-shaded patches, cream and white! Not sure why they thought it was ok to switch to cream for one fifth of the floor. 
  • The drawers were forever falling off their tracks :/
  • The counters actually lifted off the cabinets.

Needless to say, we were ready for an upgrade!  Without further ado:
 

 
Hooray for our new kitchen! It’s such a huge improvement.  My favorite part is the huge expanse of butcher block counter space.  Rolling out pie crust used to be such a challenge- there was really only one small piece of usable counter space above the dishwasher.  Now look!
Sidenote: If you’re in the market for remodeling, Artisan General Contracting gets my highest recommendation.  James Monge (pronounced moan-hay) of AGC has replaced all of our windows with energy efficient ones, built us a new fence, and remodeled our kitchen and bathroom.  All of the work was done quickly for a great price. You can contact James at AGC at artisanremodel@gmail.com or 512-922-5131. He’s the best!

How about one last look of the before-and-after!


Meet Henry!

arielleclementine3 Comments
Hi friends! This is Henry! My son! A child that I have! So so crazy. This picture was taken when Henry (aka Super Meat Boy) was one month old. But let’s jump back a bit:

Nine months in 15 seconds 🙂 Also, please forgive the horrible punny-nature of the accompanying audio selection! It happens to be a song that we like very much.
Ok, so a few people have requested to hear how the birth went down, so imma tell you about it.  If you’re thinking, “Hey- that’s way more information than I’d like from a food blog,” you should probably stop reading now. Or skip to the end for some bonus baby photos!

This is me in labor! On the eve of my last day of work, I woke up at 1:00 in the morning with my first contractions.  I labored at home with my amazing sister and husband (we played Rummikub!) until my wonderful mom flew in from California.  Around 9:00 at night we went to the hospital, and they said I was dilated 5 centimeters.  Andy and I had taken hypnobirthing classes to prepare for a natural birth, and I was still feeling pretty good at that point. I labored all through the night, with the contractions (very slowly) getting faster and stronger.  By noon, I had only dilated up to 7 centimeters. That’s when I cried. Then I drank a lot of gatorade and kept going.  By 4:30 in the afternoon I was ready to start pushing.  Now, in hypnobirthing, you’re taught that you don’t need to push- that if you are relaxed you can just breathe deeply and let your body do the work.  I said hells no to that philosophy.  I was going to push with everything I had- it had been 39 hours, and I was really ready to be done.  Two hours later, my mom, Andy, and my sister were all around me and Henry was born.  They all put their hands on him and lifted him onto my chest.  I sobbed at this point- from relief and elation. That was the most amazing feeling- I’ll never forget it. Andy and my mom and sister were so wonderful.  They didn’t eat or sleep or leave my side the whole time. They’re amazing!

So now we have a baby! Here are some fun facts about Henry:

This is Henry’s preferred sleeping arrangement.  He loves to sleep/pee on his papa! So relaxing. Andy has taken to solving cryptic crosswords and the Enigma aloud with Henry.  Henry so far seems unimpressed, but Andy enjoys it!

Henry started smiling this week (what we believe to be legitimate smiles, not the gas variety)!

Here’s a list of some of the firsts in Henry’s life:

Song: Dog Days Are Over
Movie: Tremors (ouch, I know)
Symphony: Dvorak’s New World
Video Game: Portal 2
Restaurant: Mother’s (I love that avocado classic sandwich and their cashew tamari dressing!)
Book: The Bat Poet (this story is so beautiful, and I had never read it before- thanks, Abbie!)
Social Event: food52 Rhubarb Preserving party (we made pickles and compote, and I learned to can!)

So you’re all caught up! That’s all for now, but I will be posting about Henry and family stuff here periodically, amongst the food-y bits 🙂

Thanks! Bye!!

Greek Yogurt Spinach Dip & Homemade Pita Chips

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This, dear readers, is one of my very favorite things.  It’s the food52 winner for Your Best Spinach Recipe, and it is the most delicious spinach dip ever.  If it were humanly possible I would swallow the whole bowl like a snake ingesting an egg. 
This dip tastes completely different than the traditional mayonnaise-based spinach dip. It’s much lighter and fresher tasting, due to the greek yogurt and fresh spinach (hot tip: I’ve also made this with chard, when that’s available, and it’s equally delicious).  You’ll notice that I’ve successfully drowned out this dips healthier profile with a slick pool of olive oil.  I blame Andy for this one- the guy loves olive oil.  Feel free to be more judicious in your drizzling 🙂
I always serve this dip with homemade pita chips (recipe follows).  These are super simple, and way better than the store-bought variety, but the success is contingent on your starting with good fresh pita bread.  Austinites- I use the small rounds of Phoenicia white pita, which is available at good ole Central Market.
Greek Yogurt Spinach Dip
Adapted very slightly from Shayma’s recipe from Food52
  • 1 pound baby spinach
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 cups plain full-fat Greek Yogurt (I use the 17.6 oz Fage Total yogurt)
  • kosher salt
  • few pinches dried mint (optional: for sprinkling on top of finished dip)
  • handful crushed walnuts, for topping finished dip
  • olive oil, for drizzling on finished dip
  1. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Add a generous amount of salt, and then the baby spinach.  Boil for about a minute, until the spinach has completely wilted but is still bright green.  Drain well, and allow the spinach to cool slightly.
  2. Put the cooled spinach in a kitchen towel and squeeze as much of the water out as possible. Chop fine.
  3. Return the now empty pot to the stove and set the heat to medium. Saute half of your minced garlic in 2 tbsp olive oil and add the spinach. Add a pinch of salt. Stir for a minute or two. 
  4. Remove from the heat, allow to cool.
  5. In a large shallow bowl, mix the yogurt, the remaining minced garlic, and the sauteed spinach until well combined. Add salt to taste. 
  6. Sprinkle with dried mint, crushed walnuts, and a drizzle of good olive oil.  Serve with pita chips.

Pita Chips

  • 1 package good pita bread (I like Phoenicia, available at Central Market)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
  3. Cut each pita round into six wedges, and peel apart the two layers, creating 12 wedges from one pita round.  Repeat for as many wedges as you can fit on your baking sheet in a single layer (I usually do two pitas at a time).
  4. Toss the pita wedges with olive oil, and arrange in a single layer on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.
  5. Bake for 5-7 minutes, or until the chips are mostly golden and crispy.