A Visit to Wellesley College

We recently spent the afternoon at my alma mater, Wellesley College. Commencement had just taken place and reunion was about to occur, so the campus was at its prime.

Although the photos from the campus are idyllic looking, it was really sort of a comedy of errors. The first man down was my nephew, who fell and skinned his knee. The next man down was my niece, who was run over by Alex as she was running to get a sip of my milkshake.

Once we got some Neosporin and Band-Aids added to their skinned knees, and kisses for their sweet faces, they calmed down a bit. But, the adults couldn’t help but laugh at being surrounded by such a tranquil campus, while trying to calm a hysterical child and toddler. 

Cousins!

She is mischievous one. She was being told not to climb up. 

Successful. 

Another accident waiting to happen? 

And, they made it to the top. 

I love this shot. I love being on this campus. 

I adore taking Alex to my alma mater. It is one of the most spectacular schools I have ever seen—I cannot believe I was so fortunate to spend three years of my life there. 

Popovers

A few months ago, one of our favorite restaurants in New York closed: Popover Café. We used to either order or go to this restaurant once a week. The place did not have amazing curb appeal, but the food was good, and the popovers were delicious.

We also loved it because we knew that Alex would eat there—having a picky toddler, you start to choose your restaurants more on what your child will eat and less about what you want to eat. But, at Popover, you could have it all: food you wanted without worry that your child wouldn’t find something on the menu.

When the restaurant closed its doors, we were devastated. We ate there every night leading up to the closing. The day before they shut their doors forever, we ate there as a family one last time. Alex still walks by the boarded up restaurant and says, “Popover”.

I decided to try and re-create the popover experience by making my own (along with strawberry butter, which they always served with the popovers). My mother-in-law gave me a popover dish, which made the popovers so much better (previously, I was using a cupcake/muffin pan). In combination with the strawberry butter, they remind us of the place we shared so many memories.

Popovers

I used Ina Gartner’s recipe for the popovers. They were so light and fluffy!

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups of flour

3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups of milk, at room temperature

NOTE: You will need either two popover pans or two cupcake pans.

DIRECTIONS

1.           Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2.          Generously grease aluminum popover pans or Pyrex custard cups (I found that spraying the pans with nonstick spray makes them easier to come out).

3.          Place the pans in the oven for exactly 2 minutes to preheat. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, salt, eggs, milk, and melted butter until smooth. The batter will be thin. Fill the popover pans less than half full and bake for exactly 30 minutes.

4.          DO NOT PEEK!

The batter should be pretty runny and airy. 

Even if you don’t have a popover pan, you can still make these using cupcake pans—you just have smaller popovers (and twice the amount).

Strawberry butter

You can substitute any of the preserves with your favorite jam. I think raspberry jam would be great!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup of butter, softened

3 tablespoons of confectioners’ sugar

1.5 tablespoons of strawberry preserves

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl, beat together the butter, confectioners' sugar and strawberry preserves until creamy. Cover, and refrigerate until serving.

The popovers from the cupcake pan—smaller, but a perfect size for Alex. 

Lake Champlain

While in Vermont, we spent the day on Lake Champlain—we threw stones in the water, went kayaking and paddle boarding, had a dip in the hot tub, and just had a great time!

Checking out some geese—they were not happy that we were approaching. 

High five for my co-captain. 

He could throw stones and dirt in the water all day. 

Laughing at something his Aunt Kate was doing. 

My lovely boy. 

The boys in the hot tub! They loved it. 

Alex was waving to the passing kayakers. Unfortunately, we were in the car shortly after this picture was taken, heading back to NY. It was such a peaceful afternoon in Vermont. 

Mediterranean-Inspired Dinner: Falafel and Hummus

  

When we were in Maryland a few weeks ago, my sister took us to a restaurant in Georgetown called Cava …and it was delicious. After, I was inspired to try my own hand at a Cava-like meal, so made falafels and hummus.

Hummus

I am not sure I will ever buy hummus again—making it is so easy and you can cater the taste to your own liking. This was really simple, but delicious:.

INGREDIENTS

1 can of chickpeas

3 tablespoons of lemon juice

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

3 tablespoons of Tahini

Chopped fresh dill (as much as you prefer)

Salt (as much as you prefer)

Pepper (as much s you prefer)

DIRECTIONS

1.       Drain chickpeas, reserving the canning water. Put the chickpeas, 3 tablespoons of the canning water, lemon juice and garlic in a food processor; blend till smooth.

2.       Add the Tahini and continue to blend.

3.       Add the dill, pepper and salt. Taste and use additional seasoning if necessary.

Falafel

I found this recipe online and used this as my base. I did, however, make a few tweaks, including baking the falafel in order to make it healthier.

INGREDIENTS:

1 small naan (torn into small pieces)

1 can of chickpeas, drained

1/2 small onion, peeled and finely diced

1/2 small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped

2 teaspoons ground cumin

Salt (as much as you prefer)
Pepper (as much as you prefer)

DIRECTIONS:

1.       Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.       Place the shredded naan into the food processor and beat until you have crumbs.

3.       Add chickpeas, onion, parsley, cumin, salt and pepper. Blend until you have a paste that can hold a shape.

4.       Form the mixture into golf-size balls. Place on a baking sheet and bake until browned. [Note: I would check every eight minutes or so and turn the falafel in order to get browned on all sides.]

Tzatziki and cucumber/tomato garnish

While the falafel was cooking, I made tzatziki sauce and a cucumber/tomato mixture to go with the meal.

Cucumber/tomato garnish

INGREDIENTS:

Half of a tomato, diced

Half of a cucumber, diced

Half of an onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

Fresh dill, chopped

Fresh parsley, chopped

1-2 tablespoons of olive oil

Generous dash of salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.       Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix.

2.       Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Tzatziki

INGREDIENTS:

1 container of Greek plain yogurt (I used a lower fat variety)

 Half of a cucumber - peeled, seeded and diced

1  tablespoon of olive oil

 1/2 lemon, juiced

Salt

Pepper

Fresh dill, chopped

DIRECTIONS:

1.       Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix.

2.       Refrigerate until ready to serve.

In assembling the meal, I used naan instead of pita bread. I put on a layer of hummus, then a layer of the tzatziki sauce, then the cucumber/tomato mixture, and topped with the baked falafel.