The Friendliest Flower

I had a "You've Got Mail" moment this afternoon at Starbucks ordering my coffee. You know there's something wrong when you're embarrassed by how ridiculous your order sounds out loud -

"tall and dirty chocolate chai latte for Jacqueline!" 

What I thought I ordered was a small chai with an espresso shot. Of course I was asked to clarify if I wanted it with milk or if I wanted real tea - umm.... somehow I wound up saying yes to the brand new chocolate chai they were featuring and the rest is really not that important. I will have to order red eyes all next week to make up for that ridiculousness.

Anywayyyyy - here is the reason I've got Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan on the brain:



My lovely boyfriend, bless his heart, has endured "You've Got Mail" far too many times than he probably cares to admit. It is my favorite movie. And as such, I watch it every time I'm sick enough to stay in bed, or if  I get bored of whatever's on TV that week, or whenever I feel like I'm falling out of love with New York.

In this movie, Meg Ryan proclaims that Daisies are the friendliest flower - and I agree! They do a damn good job of brightening up a room :-) Jeffrey remembered this, and surprised me with a bunch for our anniversary last night! He gets an A++++ for that!

It has officially been three years since we dove into this thing head first, so to celebrate we splurged on a super tasty, super french dinner last night in the West Village. We ate snails and lots of delicious meat and we shared a crème brûlée that was absolutely perfect. 

I hate to be that girl that turns to mush but seriously - I feel very lucky.
I feel like I'm slowly becoming the best version of myself, and it's got a lot to do with this wonderful guy I get to spend my days with <3

In other words...
Jeff you complete me

Salmon Salad Recipe

let's all pretend that it's no big deal to give up pasta.

I made a decision last weekend that in order to feel remotely comfortable putting on a bathing suit for the last (and first) time in NYC this summer I would have to cut out all delicious things for a week until Labor Day. This was a silly decision, made on a whim, and I didn't even make it a whole week. But none-the-less, I did get to try out a new great recipe that was tasty and healthy :-)

I've read about countless spice rubs before and always seem to opt for a wet marinade but I figured that most marinades would add unnecessary sugar. Instead I toasted some spices and ground them in my lovely (but often unused) mortar and pestle. 

My Spice Blend included:

• Chinese Five Spice Powder
• Fennel Seed
• Black Sesame Seeds
• Sea Salt
• Crushed Red Pepper 
• Dried Shallot

With a tablespoon of olive oil I rubbed the spices into the salmon and let it rest in the fridge for about an hour. Right before I was ready to sear it, I chopped a few peppers and tomatoes and made a quick salad dressing.

  


Dressing: (all approximate measurements here)

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Olive oil
1/4 cup Rice Vinegar
2 Tablespoon Chinkiang Black Vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
sea salt and fresh ground black papper, to taste


and voilà

Dinner!