Swedish Gustavian furniture

I LOVE Swedish everything...well, except maybe the meatballs at Ikea. 

Here are some pictures I found on internet.  Aren't these the most beautiful rooms in the World?  I love how they play with different shades of white.  Enjoy the pictures.

Baked Ziti

I make this really delicious and easy baked ziti at least few times a month.  It's got chunks of sausages, spinach, tomato sauce and pesto sauce.  It's a great dish for both adults and kids.  My daughter is a picky eater but she loves this baked ziti.  This time, I added extra spinach to make it 'healthy'.  The beauty of this dish is that you start with tomato sauce and on top of that you add pesto sauce for another depth of flavor.  Another winning recipe from Epicurious.com.

For recipe, 

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Baked-Ziti-with-Spinach-and-Tomatoes-2609

Chewy chocolate chip cookies

Ahh, Alton Brown to rescue again.  His recipe makes gooey and chewy chocolate chip cookies that stays chewy even after 3 days.  Alton Brown simply calls it 'Chewy' and yes, these cookies are super chewy and soft the way I like it.  I honesty don't know what makes them soft and chewy but who cares, I love them.  

My favorite store bought chocolate chip cookies are from the Double tree hotels.  I still remember the very first bite I had when I was on a business trip in Denver somewhere years ago.  Then, believe it or not, Shop Rite supermarket branch I go makes their own gourmet chocolate chip cookies in the store and omg, they are super tasty.  Chewy, soft, sweet and nutty.  Yummm... 

The only cheese knife you'll ever need.

Finally found the perfect cheese knife.  I have been looking for a good cheese knife and while browsing Amazon, I found great reviews on this very genetic looking cheese knife.  The price was pretty good so I ordered one and put it to a test.  I cut up some fresh mozzarella cheese with it and wow, it actually cut the cheese without getting sticky and messy.  Amazing.  To be honest, i was really disappointed when I first received it because it was basically cheap looking plastic knife but I am in love.  I am not a big cheese eater but when I am in the mood for it, I know I what to grab first.

Found it on Amazon for about $12.

Fleur-de-lis juice glasses

Have you ever seen Italian farmers on TV drinking wine from small glasses?  They just look very rustic and homey.  I used to drink my wine in one of those big tall wine glasses then I realized that I can drink wine in any glasses I want.  My mother in law had an old yogurt making machine that came with 6 small glasses...so I have been using those glasses to drink wine.  I don't have to hand wash them and they are a lot more stable on a table.  Gosh, I used to break a lot of those nice tall wine glasses.  Then I wanted more of these small glasses so searched internet and found these beautiful glasses.  They are actually juice glasses and hold about 5 1/2 ounces of liquid.  Luckly, they were on sale on a website called, Horchow; only $22 for 6 so I bought 12 of them in two colors, green and dark purple.  I actually rather have clear blue but these were basically the only options.  Actually light pink would be nice too.  I don't know anything that has fleur de lis pattern that isn't pretty.

Anyway, I love them and love them because they are machine washable.  Hopefully they can last more than a few years.  They will be great when eating outdoor too.  

Pasta and pesto sauce

Ever since my daughter was born, Target has sort of became my second home.  They have the best prices on diapers and other children's stuff.  $5 pants anyone?   While shopping there, I discovered a lot other stuff at really good prices like my favorite Lint dark chocolate bars with sea salt, water filters, toys, laundry hampers,....and one of the best item I discovered is pasta.  It's called Archer farm pasta which is Target's gourmet brand.  Anyway, out of all the dry pasta I have used including my other favorite, De Cecco, this is by far the best tasting pasta I have ever tried.  So I picked up a package of spagetti and made some home made pesto sauce with parmigiano reggiano, fresh basil, walnut, evoo and pine nuts.

The taste of fresh pesto sauce with good pasta is out of this World.  It really was delicious...and so easy to make.  

My favorite bakery

I am VERY lucky to live close to this amazing bakery called Balthazar.  It's actually a wholesale bread factory where all their bread for their famous restaurant called Balthazar in NYC is made.

You can actually go there and watch bakers making artisan bread and other yummy goodies like croissants and danishes.  I often go there early in the morning before the crowd appears and buy loaves and loaves of bread and small pastries.   On Saturdays, they have more selections of pastries and tarts.  
Oh, they make these amazing sticky buns that will melt you away...So sticky, so sweet, so nutty and so yummy.  

From the top,

Rhubarb tart, their oh-so-french bread paper bag for baguette, potato onion bread, baguette and a large(like 20 inches long) sour dough bread.  I usually buy their olive bread but they were out of them.  Look at those air pockets.  Their baguettes are super crisp and hard hard side and soft and chewy inside just the way I like them.  

http://www.balthazarbakery.com/wholesale/index.php