Blueprint - Kitchen Sink

The title of this post makes it seem like in my dream house I'd have a kitchen sink, as in I don't currently have one. That's of course not the case, but the alternate title would have been "Blueprint - Big, Deep Kitchen Sink with High Powered Dish Sprayer Thingy" and that's just ugly sounding.

Washing dishes after dinner tonight - my big Calphalon pasta pot and it's built-in strainer to be exact - my next blueprint post came to me. I would LOVE a more messy cook friendly sink. It needs to be deep and it needs to be big (maybe even two full size sinks like shown below). My current sink is neither big nor deep and while it has a sprayer, it does a lousy job. That's why I'd love one of those heavy-duty sprayers. They have an industrial feel, usually seen in cafeterias and restaurant dish stations, but I think they're super practical.

Team O'Connor...

...bringing the heat (and hurricane-force winds) to the *Tight Ends* tonight. First draft pick in my girls Fantasy Football league. Watch your ponytails, ladies. Woo hoo! 

Crabs & Campbell

Saturday Jimmy had class and then we headed over to Mike and Brittany's for a blue crab feast! Joining us were some good friends of Mike and Brittany's, Ben and Lindsey. We've hung out with them before and Jimmy has surfed with Ben a couple of times. Anyways, they have a 2, almost 3 year old, who we had yet to meet. His name is Campbell and he's freakin' adorable. We played "bolleyball" together. At one point he said to me, "I think I'll call you Kate." Whatever floats your boat, Campbell. Later in the night, he played some guitar for us and then took some self-portraits with my camera. Too cute. Oh and the blue crabs were delicious.

Dinner Club

A couple months ago, I had an idea for a monthly get-together with girls. I bounced that idea off one of my colleagues and Amie who had done something similar in NY and so the Dinner Club was born. Everyone takes turns hosting and providing the entree. Each guest either brings a salad, side dish, bread, dessert, appetizer or a signature cocktail. Each month the dinner theme changes. Everyone brings recipe cards for the dish they made, so we all walk away with new recipes each night. Oh and we're totally stuffed. It's a win win.

I hosted the first dinner this past Thursday and it was a big success! Here are the details. I apologize in advance, but I was a little too preoccupied with hosting to take pictures. Plus, I was in the company of some newer friends, so I didn't want to wig them out with my obsession with blogging and taking pics of food...

• Theme: Southern Eclectic
• Menu
• Appetizers: Fried Green Tomatoes with Cajun Remoulade & Mini Sloppy Joes
• Signature Cocktail: Raspberry Lemonade Mimosas
• Entree: Shrimp & Grits (from Crooks Corner in Chapel Hill, NC)
• Side: Mac & Cheese
• Bread: Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
• Salad: Spinach & Strawberry
• Dessert: Peach Cobbler

Too bad we couldn't have taken a field trip to Charleston for this dinner club. Oh well, we were there in spirit...

Recent Recipes

While Jimmy was away at class last night, I made this pasta for us to have for lunch today and tomorrow and I must say it was pretty tasty. I subbed some of the milk for chicken broth and added a little swiss and leftover cream cheese I had in the fridge. I also opted to use a whole bag of fresh spinach - it wilts to nothing the second the hot cheese sauce hits it - instead of frozen spinach. Lastly, I used whole wheat shells. Not exactly super healthy, but a must try nonetheless...

Speaking of not super healthy, I made this cobb salad for dinner tonight. What? It has the word salad in it. And I used a vinegarette instead of blue cheese dressing. That counts for something. Anywho, I think cobb salads are great because you can pretty much add whatever veggies you have lying around as additional "layers" and/or switch out the protein to include turkey, ham, etc. Using a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken made this a very quick meal to pull together. In case you can't see, our salad included hard-boiled eggs, bacon crumbles, chicken, tomatoes, green onions and (of course) lettuce. Should have also used an avocado, but couldn't find any good ones...

Surf House

Last night Jimmy and I rode our bikes to a new surf shop/cafe on the island for dinner. The location is actually the old Cove Surf Shop, which was owned by our next door neighbor. On Friday nights the Surf House does live music and plays a surf movie on a projector screen. The menu is just salads, sandwiches and tacos for lunch/dinner and a few pastries and sandwiches for breakfast, but everything is organic and really fresh. In the Fall and Winter they also have clam chowder, which actually took the blue ribbon in the Pleasure Island Chowder Cook-Off last year. All in all, Jimmy and I give Surf House two thumbs up! Below are a few shots of the place. Unpictured: turkey cuban with homemade potato salad for Jimmy, grilled mahi mahi sandwich with marinated chickpeas for me, almond joy cupcake and key lime pie cupcake. Yummy!

Carolina Beach is kind of a big deal...

It might not seem noteworthy to our readers, but it's big news for us. Carolina Beach is getting a.... DRUMROLL PLEASE... Harris Teeter! For anyone who doesn't know what Harris Teeter is, it's a nice grocery store with a legit deli, fresh produce, good beer & wine selection. They are all over Wilmington, just never in Carolina Beach.

The Sea Merchant is currently where I do all my shopping on the island.

I kid. I kid. While this place is awesome in a retro, old beach town, your teenager cashier is barefoot and pregnant in a tube top kind of way, I usually venture the extra mile to our local Food Lion - the pond scum of the bigger grocery store chains.

Anyways, I've said enough. Let's just leave it at, we're excited.