Weekend update

This weekend felt longer than usual - probably because Hillsy worked from home on Friday, plus we had friends over for dinner. I think the key is to always do something on Friday night!

Unfortunately we didn't get to do so much on Saturday - I was hit with one of my famous migraines (thanks mom!) and was in bed trying to keep as still as possible as the earth crazily spun around me. Luckily the headache was gone when I finally woke up Sunday morning. A group of friends from the city (and NJ) came over for brunch. Guys, thanks so much for making the trek over to our home even with the weather acting up - we had so much fun and we'll definitely have to do it more often.

So unlike me but I completely failed to take pictures of everything!!! It was a great menu and I highly recommend it for brunch. It's pretty low-maintenance and doesn't leave you in the kitchen cooking once your guests have arrived.

Brunch Menu

Welcome drink: Mulled wine - a winter staple around here!


Bread with butter & jam. I bought three types of bread from Whole Foods and simply heated them up in the oven for 10 minutes (at 350F). Warming up the bread makes a HUGE difference. Serve it on a big wooden cutting board and you're all set.

I like to serve butter in little tiny pots instead of a stick on a dish. I just find it more user friendly and this way you can have several pots all around the table instead of one stick or even worse - several sticks melting midway (anal!). It's really easy, just take your butter out of the fridge and allow to soften then scoop out onto small pots and scrape flat with the non serrated side of a butter knife. I use unsalted butter so I also like to top it with big specks of sea salt. Stick it back in the fridge to harden again.

Thick greek yogurt drizzled with whipped honey. I also bought ready-made granola from Whole Foods and cut up some fruits for optional toppings. If you don't have greek yogurt around - you can take any whole milk yogurt and strain it overnight using a big sieve. This way, you get rid of the excess liquid and you're left with a much thicker yogurt.

Potato & Leek Frittata. I based it off of this Ina recipe, but added 4 additional eggs, pre-boiled the potatoes, added a bit more salt and added the whites of 2 leeks. Overall I was happy with the recipe but probably would add a bit more seasoning the next time around. This took about 50 minutes too cook.

Any recipe that requires 2 different types of cheese is A++ in my book!!

Since the Frittata was vegetarian, I had to fulfill Hillsy's one simple request... Bacon! I also cooked up some store bought breakfast sausage links but cooked it in a 1/2 cup of apple cider instead of water. I slowly added more cider at the very end to give it a nice sweet glaze. I cooked both of these 30 minutes before they were due to arrive and quickly popped them in the oven (which was cooking the frittata) 10 minutes before it was time to remove the frittata.


My friend Jessica was kind enough to bake a beautiful apple, pear and cherry pie and her famous oatmeal + raisin cookies. And another friend Fab brought over some great cheeses for a more savory end to the meal! I love honey + manchego cheese!