QUICK WEDDING RECAP!

Where to start? I got married to Shawn Schmieding and became Kate Schmieding. Bittersweet to let the Kugler go, but I am going to make it my last name so I can remember where I came from (the little people) - for the rest of my life. It's cliche to say but it was the best weekend of my life!

No one told me that the best feeling in the entire world is having everyone you love in the same place at the same time. It's like a sci-fi movie up in here! Like the world could just combust at anytime from all the love.

THANK YOU to everyone who came that weekend! It was the best.

Small Moments Add Up To Big Memories. The I do's were such a small part of the wedding to me and I was glad to have had some quiet and not so quiet moments with friends and family both leading up to the wedding and after. My favorite moments were:

.....drinks on the Hudson River with our families on Tuesday, we all love beers! And the Kugler-Schmiedings definitely get along well. Happy hearts. All Shawn's family at my house for lunch on Thursday, too. It wasnt the same without Danielle, Dennis and William. When they get there it was perfect.

......Mother-Daughter day while Shawn's fam was in Boston. Movies, lunch, work out - awesome!

.....a quiet breakfast with Pam, Evie and Natalie on Friday am at Cafe Madison. Good balance of gossip, girly love and "calm before the storm", a true nest of comfort.

.....Victory Cafe, post rehearsal dance and drinkathon. What better way to kick off a weekend of debauchery with throwing back some $4 drinks on a summer night on the sidewalks of Albany and a jukebox pumped full of quarters? The wedding party was in full effect and ready to shine. LOTS of mems.

......The Kickball Game. I mean - it was the best day of all! Friends loving friends. We didnt win but we did rally to play a losers tournament which made me so happy.

.....City Beer Hall. PERFECT NIGHT! The groom rode a mechanical bull as did many other wedding attendants. Great night with everyone! It was so hard to pull myself away from the party by my self imposed 1am curfew. I could have stayed in that bar the whole night, every person there meant so much! Perfect. Perfect, melding of friends.

.......Slumber Party, table of 3: Brett & Meagan were excellent pre-nuptial company.

.......At the wedding (quickly) I loved our friend Michael O'Leary marrying us! Loved the ceremony. It was touching and simple, but super personal. We will forever be in debt to him. A very fun dance party to 2 Legit 2 Quit. The amazing toasts of Meagan and Josh Mathy. Our friend Beth Wittig showing up! The amazing makeup of Kate Tritto. It takes a village people to make me good looking. Shawn's vows were so amazing.

.........I would say the post wedding McGearys was also fun but......I only stayed til 1am. wa wa.

........and finally, I love a good hungover "stumble into the breakfast the next morning"......good recaps, good good byes.....the perfect ending to the perfect weekend.

Our frieds even got together and made tshirts so everyone looked amazing.

My next blog will be all the DIY!

Camping 301: Cuisine De Camping.

We've now camped in Big Sur 4 times! Should I now consider it a tradition? I think so. I am a big fan of traditions. Overall it was a blast but I was disappointed that the weather proved to be more foggy than SF and not at all sunny as the weather on my iphone purported. How much of a downer can it be when you're with friends and have booze though!? It cant be. It's built in amazingness.

Things I Learned while camping this weekend:

1. A Roasted Red Pepper has it's skin removed. Uh-huh. Yep. Put this on the list of shit I didnt know. I am going to say this is due to the fact that for 10 years I didnt eat red peppers cause they made my tummy hurt. Now, after some intense red pepper conditioning (a little once a week) - I'm all in and in love with them! Doug, our camping companion roasted these puppies over the fire the night before to include in the wraps for lunch. He roasted them and then removed the skins.

2. The Ultimate SMORE is actually not made with a Hershey's bar its made with Nutella. This darling idea came from a few of us who said when the chocolate doesnt melt its sort of a bummer. Graham Cracker + Nutella + Burned Marshmallow = Ultimate smore.




3. Planking is not just for athletic yoga freaks in public. It's actually better with Salmon. I had heard of Cedar Planked Salmon but never seen it in action. It truly is a great way to cook the fish in that it takes on an oakey flavor, cooks it perfectly and also you can burn the HELL out of the bottom and it doesnt effect the fish. Bravo to Aaron & Jenny for doing this one right.

4. An Orange Is An Orange Is a --- CAKE! Cute, functional and delicious. The trifecta of desserts. Jenny hollowed out these oranges, used a boxed cake mix and stuffed them with vanilla cake. She wrapped them in foil and then cooked then in the fire for 40 minutes. We thought they were just perfect! Next time I would put in some choco chips or nutella.

5. When Drinking A Simpler Time You Should Always Toast with a story of a Simpler Time! When you crack these mofos open amongst friends make sure to share a memory of a time when you think things were simpler. It's a great way to make new memories while toasting old ones.

Anyway, it was a culinary tour de camping. Friday night was our night to cook but I just prepared a chili at home the night before and heated it up upon arrival.

Butternut Squash, Black Bean & Hominy Poblano Chili

1/2 Butternut Squash, peeled and cubed.
1 can on black beans, rinsed.
1 big can of hominy, rinsed.
1 can of cannellini beans
2 cans of roasted tomatoes, diced and rinsed.
2 cans of diced green chilis + the water.
1 white onion, diced.
3 cloves of garlic, sliced.
2 poblano peppers, roasted at 400 degrees for 30m, flipping once.

1/4 jalapenos + some juice

Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of cumin.

Garlic Salt
Salt & Pepper


Step One: Over medium heat, saute the chopped onion and garlic until soft. 10 minutes. Then toss in the cubed squash and the diced green chilis. Cook and stir for around 15 minutes until soft. Salt with Garlic Salt.

Step Two: Take 1 of the roasted poblanos and put it in the food processor until it looks like pulp then stir into the chili. Add the cumin and the cinnamon then add the rest of the ingredients, saving the 2nd chili for the top (like in the picture). Cook for 45m over low.




Step Three: Garnish with white cheddar and diced red onions.

Lovely Little Weekend

This weekend had a BIG to do list but we decided to screw it all and just enjoy ourselves! And enjoy ourselves we did. I had a fantastic weekend that included:

A Friday Chill Night with Season 3 of Friday Night Lights. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're sick of hearing about it! But damn that Tim Riggins is to die for. He is made up of : 1/4th Jordan Catalano's amazing flippy hair that sometimes slips effortlessly into his face, 1/4th of the broken "can I fix you, bad boy?" of Ben Covington, 1/4th the wittyness of Pacey Whitter and 1/4 the good looks of the older brother on 7th Heaven. Le sigh. If I was only 16 years younger.

A Saturday night with our friends Adam & Melissa of Hogs & Rocks and bowling at Sea Bowl. You dont have to have a huge menu in this city to be popular. In fact it's preferred that you just do 1 or 2 things well and the rest can rest on those laurels. We tried out the Mission favorite Hogs & Rocks (thats right, pig products and oysters were the stars) - see below for the amazing cocktails and salty meats. I give this place an A and I cant wait to go back! We even had Duck Heart which was pretty tough but a fun little adventure. I also tried bowling an entire game with my left hand and suffice to say, I did not break 100.



Went on an amazing day hike with Evie, Marq, Dawn and their 2 excited Dogs to Cataract Falls. I would say it was the perfect hike, with the perfect weather and the perfect friends but I would be missing the part where we got lost and turned a 3 mile hike into a 5 mile hike by completely going out of our way and making a wrong turn! It was awesome nonetheless and I totally recommend the hike 10 times over with the caveat that you MUST eat lunch in Fairfax afterwards at the Barefoot Cafe. A must!

..............and finished the night off on Sunday with some Into Thin Air by John Krakauer.

Pretty sweet weekend.

Oh! And I almost forgot the point of this post.......

Mexican Turkey Stuffed Roasted Poblano Peppers.
Thes babies were the.bomb.dot.org. or net. okay how about they were the bomb@facebomb.com? This is one of those recipes that you can make time and time again and just keep switching up the ingredients and modifying it until you have the perfect meal. I wouldnt change this variation a bit. It was my perfect meal. I topped it with some greek yogurt I mixed with cumin just to make it a little crazier.

4 Poblano Peppers
1 pound ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 can of black beans, rinsed.
1 cup of corn (I chopped it off the cobb, but you can use canned).
1 big can of diced green chilis, with juice from can.
1 can of roasted tomatoes, diced and rinsed.
a few pickled jalapenos.
1/2 cup of cheese!

Step One: Preheat oven to 400. I cut the tops off the peppers but didnt throw them away - I roasted them on each side for 20 minutes until they were soft! I didnt take out the seeds or anything I just popped em in.

Step Two: Over medium heat start with olive oil, onions and garlic and cook til the onions are soft. Keep on medium heat and start to brown the turkey. Once sort of cooked pour in the
green chilies and the jalapenos and continue to cook for 10m, turning occaish. Once you're done, salt and pepper to taste and throw in the corn and the beans and the tomatoes and simmer for 20 while your peppers roast and your flavors develop.

Step Three: Before stuffing the peppers with the turkey mixture, toss in your cheese so it doesnt melt until baked. Remove the peppers and stuff with the turkey mixture then bake for an additional 10 minutes......

Yum!

The Thrill Of It All

The weekend went so fast! I spent Saturday with my girlfriends Jenny and Evie outside of Sacramento soaking up the 90 plus degree weather gossiping about college and getting excited for the wedding weekend which is just about a month away. So much still to do! But I definitely feel in control. Let's just say this weekend was tres bad for my wedding diet but today is Monday and its August 1st so it feels super new to me.....I have 4 weeks to lose 10 more pounds and I think I can do it. And if I cant, its too late - shawn - you still have to marry me.

Upon returning to SF and its overcast wintery weather Shawn and I decided to fore sake our Friday Night Lights obsession and even put off Breaking Bad and True Blood for another night and rent a scary movie - Insidious. Watching this made me realize some things about scary movies:

1. Scan The Screen. My brain does double time on scary movies. Every frame I am desperately scanning the angles and empty spaces to prepare myself for something scary. Much like having to read subtitles on foreign films my movie watching experience is not just about watching the movie but seeing the movie differently than intended. Or is it? I wonder if they have dont studies on your brain during scary movies and if the anticipation levels match that of say getting your blood drawn. Anticipation is always worse than actuality.

2. Hypnotized. In this movie the main character gets hypnotized and I started considering whether I believed in hypnotism? I found myself subconsciously (pun both intended and unintended) - trying to become hypnotized simultaneously with Patrick Wilson. But why?! It's not real! Did I really think that by listening to a metronome and following the sound of the woman's voice somehow I would venture into my own subconscious? The attempt was brief but I came to the conclusion quickly I dont believe in it. Aliens and government conspiracies will be the extent of my fantasy beliefs.

3. Show Yourself. Much like going to a male stripper, you desperately want the payoff full monty shot but once you get it - you wish you had just never seen it and kept the mystery. You cant have it all. Most scary movies, when they show the real monster its not scary it trivializes the demon therefore losing all the clout surrounding it. We'd all rather see the outline of someone scary then see it revealed at the end only to make you think he looks like Dave Grohl during his Nirvana days. It's obviously relative but sometimes I wish the movie makers would skip the reveal and never let you see the demon.....

Anyway, in unrelated news I made these amazingly quick tacos on Friday and Shawn was a huge fan. They were cheap too. The star of this was the Lime Avocado Greek Yogurt topping. It was delicious on its own.

Shrimp & Chorizo Tacos with Lime Avocado Greek Yogurt Sauce
3 Links of Deli Case uncooked chorizo.
1/2 pound of uncooked shrimp
3 limes
1 cup Greek Yogurt
1 Avocado
1 White Onion, chopped
Cilantro, chopped.

Step One: I uncased the chorizo and browned it in a pan over medium until crisp and brown. While I was doing that I gently salted the shrimp and cut into bite sized pieces, then squeezed a whole lime over them. Once the chorizo was cooked I tossed in the shrimp which need about 5 minutes to cook total...just make sure they turn pink!

Step Two: Stir up the greek yogurt and mash up the avo and squeeze in the lime. I used 2 limes but some people would only want 1. Shawn is a lime addict. Salt a little!

Step Three: Chop the onion and cilantro for topping. Toast the tortillas and eat!

We used part wheat/part corn tortillas and they were delicious and even healthy.

Inspiration Nation

Things I have been into:


Friday Night Lights

It's a rare show that comes along like Friday Night Lights, both genuine and dramatic without a hint of pretentiousness. Granted I am only 1/2 way through the 2nd season but it really catches you with the authentic ebbs and flows of relationships with the backdrop of Texas football. I am fairly new to football (4 years!) so its still captivating to me in that sense and surprisingly doesnt get old. Sexy triangles! Crippling accidents. First kisses, jealousy, being a teenager....what more can you ask for in a network television show? I'm totally hooked and I am taking it slowly to savor it as most of my friends have advised. I want to BE Connie Britton.


China Camp in San Rafael, CA


Our wedding photographer brought us there for part of our engagement shoot. Living in San Francisco there is no shortage of beautiful small spots tucked away on the water to discover. I had never been there but it was a quaint little spot I cant wait to return to. Its perfect with it's old timey buildings, run down boats and apparently warm enough water to swim in. Not too shabby. Photos to come! Thanks so much Sheila!

The Cocktail Menu at Aziza.


I have spent 13 years drinking. The first 4 were mere licks and sips to determine the level of drunkenness that you can pass to be cool at school without crossing the line to "troubled" while also giving you courage to kiss boys at parties. The following 4 were partially (and ironically) spent under the roof of the Wellness Floor at Emerson College where drinking was forbidden not just by the law but by your peers. (I was placed there by accident and they can suck a cheetahs dick except that I found my friends!). I drank alot of Bacardi Limon and Vanilla Vodka. Years 8-11 were merely spent discovering how amazing beer is and from 11-13 its been a delight seeing cocktails mature from your usual vodka soda and cran vodka to something super wild and out there like Arugula Gin Fizz and Almond Margarita. The cocktail menu at Aziza is a revelation!
Here are some samples:

thai chili lemongrass, chartreuse, gin

fennel dill, saffron, black pepper, vodka

tomato harissa, balsamic cherries, tequila

rhubarb vanilla, rose, vodka

Need I say more!?


Anyway! It was a fun weekend. Friday we went to go see Harry Potter and it was great even though I didnt understand alot of it. I think I have alot of Wikipedia reading to do (as opposed to 10,000 pages I would need to read the book....). Then we had some friends over on Saturday for dinner....then Sunday we saw the Brewers take on the Giants and lose. All in all it was fun to be out doing fun things!

I posted a blog earlier this month about this amazing feta/basil and mint mixture I made for a salad and I decided to turn it into an appetizer by cubing watermelon then scooping out the middle and stuffing with the cheese mixture. It got raves that it was refreshing! as well as complex. Super simple prep and also really colorful. I love!

Canning Machine!

It's been quite a few weeks. Is it possible to be so busy and yet so bored at the same time!? I dont mean bored but we've been trying to minimize travel this summer to be able to afford the wedding (thats only 7 weeks away!) so we have been saying no to everything we would usually say yes to! Music festivals, weekends away on the Russian River, Phish shows, etc. We havent really even camped since last year! Beer fest doesnt count, though it was in a tent. So what have we been filling our time with? See below!

......................these are just teaser images before the reveal at our wedding! Shawn and I took on a massive project to can an assortment of jams and jellies and marmalades and spreads for our wedding. 125 to be exact! It was our first canning day last Sunday and we canned for 6 hours straight! It was.............hard. noisy. rewarding. cute. frustrating. fun. domestic. darling. We are halfway through but so far its a success.

In an effort of full disclosure I did not make this salad - Shawn did! And it was the bomb. I cant wait to make it for you guys! If I am wrong about the recipe Shawn will set me straight.

Also, I lost 5 more pounds! Only 15 more to go for a total of 20 lost!

One more thing: have you noticed that there's a saxophone solo in both Katy Perrys TGIF Friday and in The Edge Of Glory by Lady Gaga? SAX IS BACK! and not whack.

Shrimp & Watermelon Summer Salad
1/2 pound of shrimp
3 radishes, sliced thin
3 cups of shredded cabbage
2 cups of cubed watermelon (more or less due to your taste!)
1/2 cup of peanuts
1/2 sliced red onion

1 carrot shredded
diced mint, basil and cilantro (about a tablespoon each!)
Dressing in the blender:
Olive Oil

Lime Juice
Garlic
Champagne Vinegar

Step One: Devein and poach the shrimp for 4 minutes or until they start to curl up. I set them aside in the fridge to cool as this is a cool salad. Pepper them for flavor if you want before you throw them in the salad later.

Step Two: Combine all ingredients in a bowl and toss!

Step Three: Toss in a homemade Garlic Lime Olive Oil Vinegrette!

Simple Simon

San Francisco is notorious for a sunless summer but before we even noticed its given us a summer full of Vitamin D. This past week has been incredibly giving in the "seasons" dept. I even found myself wearing sunglasses inside until 8pm. Can you even imagine!?

We spent Friday night grilling at our friend's Adam & Melissa and Adam is a master of grilling. There is no one I know who does it better! Honestly, it chars in the right place, leaks juices in the right places and looks the part. He will love that I pumped him up in this category but the truth is - it's not bragging if its true. We also went and tried out Nopalito which was amazing !

Because we spent so much time trying to save money this weekend (we wish we had been at High Sierra Music Festival) - we watched alot of movies. Or at least I did. reviews coming soon on: Iron Man 2, The Adjustment Bureau, Let Me In and Letters To Juliet.

Anyhow! As you may know I am obsesssssssed with this cafe in SOMA called Darwin. I eat there 3x a week. This salad had inspiration drawn from a salad I have had there often but I took it, twisted it and then gave it a better fruit: Mint & Basil Feta Salad with Plum and Arugula. They usually use Cantaloupe but its nothing spectacular - so I subbed plums.



The real star of this salad is the Mint & Basil feta. It's light and tastes like a garden. I like eating gardens.

Ingredients
a bunch of basil
a bunch of mint
juice of a lemon
1/4 cup Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
(put it in a food processor and pulse til chopped!)
mix it with 1 cup of crumbled Feta.
Pair with a diced plum and arugula.

Serve as a salad!

I like to toss with more lemon juice at the end before serving.