Herbed Quinoa and Red Rice with Kale and Cranberries

As I continue to try to cook new and healthy meals for my kids, I have found that they like quinoa which is a grain ( really a seed) which is high in protein and can be used in place of rice in most dishes. Since Arielle will select plain white rice on almost every given chance, I was desperate to find something she will eat that has a higher nutritional value. I have only served it this way twice and although she will eat it, the vegetable seem to drive her way. Maybe I'll serve it plain and see what she thinks because of all the grains, its one that actually tastes great on its own.

Ingredients:

2 cups quinoa

2 cups red rice (I used Texmati rice)

1 packet dried cranberries

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted

1 large yellow onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

1 bunch kale (about 8 oz., stems removed and leaves thinly sliced)

1 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano

1 cup chicken stock, warmed (I used vegetable stock instead)

3 1/4 cups water

Kosher salt, to taste

Pepper

Unsalted butter for baking dish, plus 3 Tbs.

Spices to taste..I used a bit of garlic, oregano..

Zest of 1 lemon

Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for serving (optional)

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine the quinoa and red rice with the water and salt lightly. Set over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until most of the water is absorbed and the grains are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Set aside. Preheat an oven to 375°F. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. In a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the 3 Tbs. butter. Add the onion and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 6 to 8 minutes, adding the kale during the last 2 minutes of cooking. Add the oregano and spices and season with salt. Cook, stirring, until the mixture is fragrant, about 1 minute. Transfer the onion mixture to a large bowl. Add the quinoa and red rice, cranberries, pine nuts, lemon zest and stock and stir until well combined. Transfer mix to the prepared baking dish and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes, then garnish with cheese and serve. Serves 8 to10.

and if you bake it..it looks like this. Enjoy

adapted from William Sonoma recipe.

Italy Series: Rome: Saint Peter's Square

Set up for Papal Audience - Vatican Rome

With Pope Benedict XVI about to celebrate his last mass as Pope, I recall my visit to the Vatican. It is vast, massive, beautifully detailed, extremely captivating and very intimidating. As you approach it depending on your location, your perception of the piazza is different. If you approach from Via della Conciliazione which is a street roughly 500 metres (1,600 ft) in length,which connects Saint Peter's Square to the Castel Sant'Angelo and is the primary access to the square, you will immediately see the immense collanade that flank the Basilica but will not feel the full size of the piazza until you reach the end of the road and actually enter the Piazza. I visited St. Peters Square about four times while we were in Italy and each time I felt more captivated by the magnitude of the Architecture, the crowds ( not your average tourists, the intensity of the space. It was probably the most profound and contested public space in the world. Although I never actually participated in a Papal Audience, I did get to witness the preparations for it one morning. 

I visited the Vatican three times in the four months we lived in Rome and each time it still remained dynamic both experientially and phenomenally.

Evalie Anaïs' Baptism

We finally got ourselves together and Baptized Evalie this weekend. Unlike with Arielle, we knew we would do it but we were just really slow to get to it. A few years ago, we Baptized Arie at the age of 2 1/2 which was strange but because we were not sure as parents what religion we would teach and how to go about it. We are now both pretty sure we will try to expose the kids to both ( as opposed to non, which was our original strategy) and hope they benefit from the ideals that religion can instill in a child but remain open to either or even to select a religion that fits their beliefs when they are older. The Catholic church does require its members to maintain "membership" by keeping up with ones Sacraments and Baptism is the first of them. Evalie did very well was very cranky really because the ceremony was at 11:30 which is her nap time. She cried and squeals throughout and screamed when the Priest poured water over her head. She batted his hand out of the way each time he tried to bless her and basically was not letting him (or anyone) near her. So I suppose in hindsight, doing this with a much older child is easier. Anyway, our families gathered and we celebrated with good food, treats and a beautiful cake made by my favorite patisserie (she's made cakes for us since Arielle's first birthday.

The ceremony was quick and some people were late and missed the entire thing but I was fine with it. When it was our turn to come to the basin, we all gathered and my sister held Evalie over it. Arielle was just tall enough to see over the rim and she stood there watching cautiously to see her sister get baptized. It was actually really cute to see how worried she looked when Evalie started screaming from being startled by the water streaming down her face. Once that was done, we sat down and my brother did the candle lighting and brought it over to Evalie, she starred at it and then tried to grab it. He gave her the box and she started eating that!...By the end, at 12:30 she was so hungry and tired I had to immediately feed her to calm her down and by the time we got home ( 5 minuted away, she was sleeping so I put her to bed.

The day before, I had taken off from work so I could shop and do some little things around the house to prepare. I cooked some food, made cupcakes and favors, Austin and Arie cleaned the house and we were ready to have a great party. I really liked the idea of a white dessert table so I set that up basically with a centerpiece of spray painted branches. The cake, cupcakes and favors were also on that table along with white chocolate covered pretzels, almonds, cream puffs, Sfogliatelle and powdered donuts. 

We had some antipasto platters, chicken wings, sushi platter, chips and dip, dried fruit etc for appetizers while everyone settled in.  

Horrible Clients // design

AFTER (MY DESIGN)

BEFORE

I always loved to design, I went through almost almost seven years of higher education in undergraduate and graduate school to become an Architect and now I have the ability to design and orchestrate projects from start to finish and sign and seal them but I can't! WHY? Well I've come to the realization that the general public is really unaware of the value of an Architect (or any designer of the built environment), and has no idea what an Architect really does and more importantly has no respect for our profession and that really gets me mad. So called contractors  attempt to design slap things together and people accept and pay for the crap. I never intended to make this blog about my misfortunes but something that recently occurred has put me in a bit of a tizzy. Very simply, we were contacted by a person who wanted to design a salon in Hoboken, she interviewed me  grilled me on the phone for over an hour. I sent her a proposal for her job outlining what we intended to do and a fee, a few days later she hired us. We sent construction estimates etc. We drove out to her space and met with her for 5 hours on one of the coldest days we've had this winter in a space with no heat. When we left I was excited to have what I thought would be a great little project even though I was starving and could not feel my feet the entire ride home. 

I started designing the project, doing drawings and renderings to prepare to meet her the next week ( she stressed she needed it done fast). When we met the second time, we brought an engineer with us to check out some questionable conditions and give his opinion as to how we should proceed. I left that meeting with a strange feeling. That evening I sent her 2 floor plans to be approved and she never responeded but I kept working. THREE days later, I get a call saying we're off the job..she found a cheaper architect! WHAT! we had a contract, we agreed on it, we had already started work but she found a guy who "has dinner with the building inspector and will get her job done for her"..that is doing some backdoor deals to get the work done rather than following the approvals process in place and abiding by the LAW! WTF. I was so so angry and took many days to not feel anger towards random women who even slightly resembled this "horrible client". So a few weeks pass and I've stopped wishing her bad and she emails to ask if the retainer she gave us was worth the work we had already done and apologized "sincerely" for leaving us high and dry. I resisted unleashing weeks of anger on her and simply said that it was our fault for not collecting the entire contract cost upfront and so we would take it as a loss. I really wish there was more of market for design in this country, it seems like people just don't see any value in our work and would rather cut corners. What a disappointment.