since I've been lovin' you

The bf is in a really great band-- Harvey and the Buckets. I love being a musician's girlfriend-- it's pretty much my favorite. There's nothing I'd rather do on a Friday night than lug around his spare guitar, wear cowboy boots, and sing along to music about me. Conceited, I know, but hello-- have you met me? Anyway-- The Buckets are fantastic and are about to sign their first record deal with a great little indie label down south. They'll be back in the studio in a few weeks recording their second EP and I for one cannot wait for the beautiful meltdowns that come with putting together an album with soul.

Frontman (and my boyyyyfraaaand) Nick Petakas, (lead guitar) David Bader, (bass & vocals) Jason Selwood, and (drummer) Andy Orge have been involved in the local music scene for the past decade, playing with creative pop, punk, and hardcore acts including DKLIMB, My Complex Island, Stretching FM, Therapy, and The Gray Girls to name a few. Influenced by rhythm and blues and inspired by alt country- The Buckets varied strengths combine to form South Florida's answer to Chicago's Wilco-- They are not only familiar with, but committed to promoting their music in the scene they've called home for years. With a combined arsenal of gigs played with Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Tenacious D, The Promise Ring, Dashboard Confessional, Hot Rod Circuit and Piebald, The Buckets myriad influences can be heard in their first studio EP, 'Queens and Criminals' which you can stream here!

SO, should come hang on August 13th at Monterey! I promise it'll be a good time- lots of beer, boys and broads (whatever your preference) and rock and roll. I will wear something hot and the bf will show of his muscles and talent. Be there.

what's cookin' good lookin'?

FIRST OFF- I am soooo sorry for the sporadic nature of my posting! ("I'll be seeing you-- yeah, I hope not sporadically!") Our internet was out. Not that this is an excuse, I could easily drag my ass to Starbucks-- but whatever, I'm sorry and it won't happen again. Thanks for bearing with me, dolls. Anyway-- I want this blog to reflect all of my favorite things! Music and parties and the Kardashians and pretty things and baseball and books and treats! And FOOD.

I love cooking. I also REALLY like to feed people. It’s an extension of my love and I LOVE love! I also like to be the best at things- duh- and cooking is, well, it’s kind of my thing. I’m admittedly obsessed with Food Network. Our DVR is full of the Neelys, Guy, Giada, Bobby, and Tyler. Oh-- and I’m pretty amped on this new Cooking Channel as well. ‘Indian Food Made Easy” is excellent and I can’t even begin to tell you how fucking stoked I am on the assorted Julia Child programming they’re airing.

Ina Garten is probz my favorite Food Network star—but I’d like to think I’m a little sexier in the kitchen than her. Speaking of sexy in the kitchen—bf bought me a bright pink, ruffly, apron last Christmas— I highly recommend investing in one, because what man doesn’t want to walk into a home that smells like warm chocolate chip cookies and a hot girl with a platter of baked goods?

Anyway—I have about 50 new dishes on record at any time that I’m interested in trying.

So, this week, in a typical fit of domesticity, I decided to try 3 new recipes. And by recipes, I mean my jumping off point-- I think the best food is simple, delicious, and to the point. I like bright, clean flavors and I do NOT like measuring. I’d never roasted a whole chicken before—and now I have! I experimented with stuffed turkey burgers and I learned to make enchiladas! Boyfriend LOVED new recipe week and since my philosophy on love is to make your person as happy as they could possibly be at any given moment—I really freaking loved new recipe week too!!

Below the photos are my spins on basic recipes-- love ya!
xoxo,
R

Roast Chicken with Pan Gravy and Twice-Baked Potatoes

Ingredients

• small frying chicken

• 1 yellow onion

• several sprigs each of rosemary and thyme

• ½ cup of butter

• ¼ cup dry white wine

• 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock

Line the bottom of a large cast iron skillet or roasting pan with ½ a sliced, yellow onion. This keeps your chicken lifted for even heat distribution and creates the base for your pan gravy! Combine a half-cup of softened butter with 1 tbsp. each of fresh, finely chopped rosemary and thyme. Like, put the room temp butter in a bowl and smush the chopped herbs into it. Wash and pat dry a whole chicken. REALLY dry it. This is important for getting the skin crisp. (Oh, and make sure you pull out the bag of gizzards from the cavity—WOOF.) Slide your hand between the chicken skin and meat and stuff with the herb butter. I know- this is perverted, but just do it. Use as little or as much butter as you feel you need-- get it ALL up in there. Rub the outside of the bird with butter as well. Liberally salt and pepper the chicken cavity and stuff with ½ an onion, several slices of lemon, and a spring each of rosemary and thyme. Tie the chicken legs together with kitchen twine—or don’t, whatever—and bake at 475* for an hour and twenty minutes. I know this heat seems high—trust me, the skin will be perfectly crisp and the inside moist! I know moist is a gross word, but it is what it is.

Once cooked through, take the bird out of the dish and set aside to rest for twenty minutes. Seriously bitches, let the juices redistribute and keep your hands off. While this is resting, heat up your onion/chicken drippings mixture on a medium-high heat. You want the pan to be hot, but do not burn the onions- Once the droppings are at a quick boil, add a quarter cup of white wine to deglaze the pan-- use a wooden spoon to scrape the bits from the bottom of your pan! Bring this to a boil and add one cup of low-sodium chicken stock. Salt and pepper to taste—I added a pinch of thyme as well. Let the pan boil for a minute or two and allow to thicken. AND THAT’S IT! I was scared of pan gravy before—but it’s sooo easy and really makes the chicken.

Onto the potatoes—

Ingredients

• Large Potatoes

• Cheese (your choice)

• Sour Cream (low fat is perf)

• Broccoli

• Salt & Pepper to taste

I typically bake potatoes for 45 minutes at 400*-- but I just threw the potatoes in the oven with the chicken for about 40 minutes and they were just fine at that high heat! Use russet (Idaho) potatoes for this dish—Once baked, let the taters cool for about 10 minutes. Cut a canoe shaped hole in the top of the potato and scoop out the insides using a spoon. Now comes the fun part—you can really stuff the potatoes with whatever you want. To the insides of 3 large spuds, I added half a cup of fat free sour cream, 2 cups chopped broccoli, and 2/3 cup each of cheddar and mozzerella cheese. Bacon would be awesome. Any cheese you like. Green onions. Salsa. Beans. Whatevz. Anyway, mix your ingredients with the scooped potatoes and mash it all together. Mash the shit out of it. Stuff this mashed goodness back into the potato skins and top with a sprinkle of cheese. Put back into the oven for another 20 minutes. Awesome. You’re welcome.

Stuffed Turkey Burgers with Oven-Roasted Broccoli

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground lean turkey

• Dried breadcrumbs

• 1 Egg yolk

• Kethcup / Worstechire / salt & pepper

• 4 slices turkey bacon

• 1 small red onion

• sharp cheddar cheese

• buns (we used whole wheat, but Kaiser would be nice!)

I used ground turkey and turkey bacon to cut down on calories—but if you’re a beefeater, go fucking nuts. All of these recipes are easily modifiable to taste—if you like American or jack cheese, by all means—use that! And I’m not gonna lie to you-- turkey bacon has a shitty, flaccid consistency no matter what you do to it, but I want to NOT be a fatass this summer, and it’s approximately a million times leaner than pork bacon. USE WHATEVER YOU LIKE!

The first step is to prep your stuffing, which consists of bacon, cheese, and sweet red onions. The key to caramelizing onions is to cook them low and slow. They WILL brown and get nice and sweet for you—just be patient. I adore this blog Life as a Wife and she does a nice job of explaining the perfect technique.

Prepare 4 slices of turkey bacon according to package instructions. Once cooked through, chop the bacon and combine in a bowl with the cooled caramelized onion and ½ a cup of sharp cheddar cheese. Set aside—

Now, let’s prep the meat. Ground turkey is a little tricky—it can be a little bland and tends to dry out, but if you season it properly you won’t miss the beef. I combine the turkey meat with ½ a cup of dried breadcrumbs, one egg yolk to bind, a few dashes of worsteschire sauce, a lil squirt of ketchup, and salt and pepper to taste. Once seasoned, divide the meat into four even portions. Form the meat into round, flat patties. Set two patties down and use your thumb to create an indentation in the center to accommodate the stuffing. Scoop a generous portion of the onion/bacon/cheese mixture into this indentation. Top with the second patty and seal the edges together. Make sure you seal this really well or it will melt out and make a MESS!

I cooked ours in a grill pan over medium high heat for 7-minutes per side. These are REALLY thick burgers and you must make sure you cook them all the way through. If you want to be extra sure, pop the grilled burgers in the oven for a few minutes, covering the burgers with foil. We topped ours with a spicy ketchup made by combining a couple teaspoons of Ciracha sauce (OBSESSED!) with ½ a cup of ketchup. Serve on a nice, fresh bun with the best broccoli you’ll ever have!

I used this broccoli recipe from one of my FAVORITE food blogs, Honey and Jam. It’s simple and perfect. The broccoli gets really crunchy and delicious—I’m obsessed.

Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas ay yi yi !

Ok, I modified this recipe a bit—but I mean… Tyler does make things THE ULTIMATE—so go with it!

summer bucket list.

I love summer. It is- unquestionably- my favorite season. I love the sun and festivals and popsicles and daisy dukes. Bonfires and Katy Perry songs and hot pink towels and cocktails that taste like sunscreen and Harvey shows and open windows and afternoon rain and The Bachelorette and BBQs and fireworks and warped tour and white dresses with TOMS and MY BIRTHDAY.

Summer Roberts is my all-time favorite tv character from my all-time favorite tv show-- The O.C. Summer is in my top 5 of future baby names and Summer means freedom. No school. No rules. NO PANTS.

SUMMER.

This is the boyfriend and my first summer together and I put together a list of all the things I want to do, see, and consume with him.

*We have a rad, retro Dairy Queen in our neighborhood. It’s a few minutes from the beach and I stopped here last summer on the 4th on July after the fireworks show. It feels like summer and this time- I won’t go after having drank a 40 of DCL.
*Hotel Getaway
*We LOVE the Presleys. I call him Elvis- he calls me Priscilla. A little lame, a little Look Who’s Talking—but whatever. Regardless, we love them. There’s a photo exhibit at the Boca Museum of Art on ‘Elvis at 21’ and I’m stoked to go total teeny over those pictures of extreme fandom.
*Every single day we see the glass bottom boat drive by on the intracoastal. We LOVE water creatures-- River Monsters and the like—so, I’m pretty sure we’ll geek out over this.
*Kayaking – I’ve been a handful of times—the bf hasn’t. I’m totes not a hiking boot wearing, peeing in a hole, ponytail-wearing nature girl—but I actually really like camping and a lot of outdoor activities. Surprising, I know, but I can pitch a tent like it’s my job. Oh, camping! I also want to go camping this summer!
*We’re HUGE Guy Fieri fans—well, I’m a huge fan, bf indulges me in playing along. We play this game—usually on the late-night, usually not sober—in which we watch Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on Food Network and we try to call each other out on the things about Guy that we ‘love.’ For example: Me: “You LOVE his frosted tips.” Him: “You LOVE his pinkie rings.” Me: “You LOVE his man shorts.” Him: “You love the way he manhandles that cheesesteak.” It’s REALLY fun. Anyway, we’re HUGE Triple D fans, and there’s a tiny seasfood joint on the water in Miami that Guy recommended, Blue Marlin Fishing Co. We went a few months ago and the crabcakes and salmon burgers were FIRE. It’s a shlep, but it’s a major to-do this summer.
*Bowling - $5 pitches, cheese fries, and a chance to wear short-shorts with knee socks. Need I say more?
*Picnic at the baseball field
*Movies in the Park (The Sandlot, Avatar, Marley & Me)
*Morikami Museum
*There’s a lighthouse just north of our spot on the beach. We live a block from the water and we’re lucky to be located on a private strip of sand between two touristy areas. We’re at lifeguard stand 8 (my favorite number) and whenever we’re there, we say how cool it’d be to walk to the lighthouse. Lighthouses rule.
*Go to the race track— horses, not NASCAR-- yet. I’ll wear a sundress, he’ll wear a fedora (‘what are you in the Buena vista social club?’) We’ll gamble and drink and trash it up!
*Fishing at the pier
*Planetarium
*SONIC.
*Recently, we saw Bobby Flay make fish tacos and have kind of been obsessing about them ever since. The thing is, neither of us has ever had them, so we’re VERY interested in doing so in the immediate, immediate future. Like, tomorrow. I know I’m going to be ALL over these. A few people have recommended Tarpon Bend’s fish tacos to us, but I DEFINITELY want to grill them myself to. So, this is really a double bucket point.
*Frozen lemonade
*Mini-golf
*Lunch at the marina on the corner
*Farmers Market
*Annie’s Pizza after-hours

Summer Rachel is my favorite version of myself. Summer Rachel is tan and fun. She lives in bikinis, works out regularly, and drinks a lot of fruit smoothies. and beer-- Summer Rachel LOVES beer. and margaritas. and Bob Marley. and laying poolside. and dragging the boyfriend into said pool every day as soon as he gets home from work. So, here's to the summer version of you-- hotties!!



xoxo,
R

first.

I love to write and I love to be in the center of attention and most of all, I fucking LOVE talking about love. So, a blog it is.

A blog about coconut cakes and short shorts and date nights and tour bus babies.

In October, I met my boyfriend. By November, we were together and on Christmas, he asked me if I was ready to start ring shopping. Baby, I was BORN ready. Now it's June and we live together in the cutest first love shack ever. Boyfriend is a musician, working for his family's bakery. He's Greek as fuck and I'm a south Florida JAP with a penchant for vintage Vuitton and dinner parties. We both love Coors Light, Wilco and the Food Network. I stay home, for the most part, playing house and making it my job to keep us both as happy as we can be every second of every day.

I always hoped The One would be a musician and he is. He really, really is. The boy I love writes and plays and... is music to me.

There's something special about being the woman behind the man in the spotlight. I've always been interested in groupies and rock wives and the likes of Mrs. Linda McCartney and the infamous Bianca Jagger. With all of the shows and lyrics and band politics and beers with the boys and late night bedroom acoustic sessions where the chords of familiar songs about your life compete , through thin apartment walls, with your watching The Bachelorette in the living room-- there comes a this feeling of being the Queen of someone's world.

The boyfriend makes me feel like that all the time. And when it's right-- it's really, really right. He is my best friend and my favorite human ever. He tickles my back when I go to sleep and he does the dishes and his muscles are HUGE! He writes all my favorite songs and let's me watch E! News every night before MLB Tonight. We live in a cute little condo on the water with sparkly ceilings and we have a really good thing going here. Really good.

so, he'll be spoken about sometimes, but this blog is for me. for all things baked, hosted, partied, traveled, and planned. Love and rings and songs and best days and favorite stories. I like hotties and margaritas and little sun dresses and fruit pies and parties and there will be plenty of all and pictures to prove it. The boyfriend says I'm a real ball-buster, so there will be plenty of sass, but always, always always-- more love.

so, summer 2010, we're gonna be bffs.

xoxo--
RW

(just like GG !)