above the bed

About a year and a half after moving to San Francisco, I was chatting with a friend whose lived here almost since the 1906 earthquake.  I was complimenting him on his delightfully decorated apartment when he said:
"Thanks - I just wish we could hang something over our bed!"

To which I unknowingly replied:
"Well, why don't you!" thinking I'd launch right into a spiel about all the fabulous pieces he could get on the cheap at 20x200.

"Oh, no one would dare hang a picture or painting above their bed in San Francisco!  One little earthquake, that thing falls off and you're decapitated.  I've heard stories."

I tried to mask my disbelief.  Decapitated?  By a painting you hung?  While sleeping?  

I immediately went home to remove the 20-lb piece of art I had hanging directly above my neckline on one measly half-nailed-in nail:

One little earthquake and this guy would have 

transported me to a meet and greet with Roy Lichtenstein

Ever since then I've been terrified to hang anything above the bed (even something earthquake-friendly) and so we've lived sans above-bed decor for the past year and a half. 

That's not to say I don't love our bedroom - it has all sorts of little details I adore.

a super fun and comfy rug

pillows galore

Completely unrelated side note on the pillows: 

While growing up, we had a cleaning lady who would leave pillows as you see the above - with what I like to call "a karate-chopped center".  It always fascinated me as to why she would chop each and every throw pillow as such but regardless of the rationale, the method has stuck.  I've taught Stefan "the way" and we each karate chop our respective sides post pulling up the covers and arranging the various other pillows (because obviously a bed for two requires no less than eight).  

It's like the icing on top of the bed making.  

(Because bed making is obviously just like having a piece of cake.)

A side table big enough for the essentials:

a picture of the siblings

bedtime reading

and a box gifted from a special high school friend 

(you know who you are)

our lovely new lamps (a wedding gift from the siblings)

our black-out curtains installed by Stefan

and - of course - our amazingly comfortable Tempur-pedic bed

If you haven't heard the story of how we ended up getting this bed,

you may be amused to read about it here.

But after spending so much time getting our humble abode into shape elsewhere, I've finally decided to take the plunge and find a solution for our above-bed void.

 some draperies?

 

a dramatic headboard?
 

Any ideas??

xoxo

KK

thanks.

So I have this very serious issue when it comes to the use of the phrase "thanks."  
(That is: "thanks" plus a period when in written context - email, IM, letter.)

Now you may think that all "thanks" are created equal, but let me tell you - for anyone working under you or reporting to you or doing something for you, that is NOT the case.

See, I've spent many a year being a subordinate (from interning before and during college to my 4+ years post) which has allowed me plenty of time to experience written "thanks" of all kinds.  After doing something for the person I worked for, there were the 
"Thanks!" and the 
"Thank you so much!!!" and the 
"THANK YOU!!! THIS IS FANTASTIC!!" and the 
"Thanks." or - even worse - "Thx."

When I worked for Stefan (yes, for those of you unaware of this incredible scandal, Stefan was previously my boss), he fell into the "Thanks." category.  Any time I'd update a slide or send him an analysis or find him a stat, he'd send back a cold and heartless "Thanks."  It was infuriating.  

I finally explained this to him not too long ago:

See a "thanks" plus a period has the subtext of:
"I'm not really thankful for what you've done.  I expect it of you.  I'm merely saying this nicety because I feel like I should.  Do what you're paid to do."
A "thanks." sounds like this:

But a "thanks" dressed in ANY other way ("thanks!" or "thank you so much!!") has the subtext of:
"I really appreciate what you've done.  Thank you!"
That kind of thank you sounds like this:

He had no idea.  He had thought his "thanks." qualified as "thanks."
What was he thinking!

Which is why I am bringing you this public service announcement today.  
If you're not an exclamation point type of person, don't fret: you can still go for the simple "thanks" but take the ten seconds to add something like "Thanks, I really appreciate this." or "Thank you - this is good work."  or "Thanks, this is extremely helpful."  It will make ALL the difference to that little worker bee working below you.  Trust me.

xoxo
KK

birthday boy

So this past Saturday marked Stefan's 32nd birthday.

One of my favorite things about him is that he's just one of the kids - 

always finding fun and silliness in the littlest of things

(us with all the kids at our wedding)

Now, birthdays are a pretty big deal in my book.  Each person gets only one a year, so why not take advantage of the perfect excuse to celebrate, spoil someone silly, and have a whole lotta fun?

But with Stefan, I came out of the birthday gate strong.
For his 30th birthday (our first together), I surprised him with 30 presents (introduced over the course of a week).  Besides a plethora of personal and very-thought-out gifts, I spoiled him with home-cooked, multi-course dinners of his choosing, homemade cheesecakes, and lots of house chores done without asking.

Last year, I surprised him with a 12-item treasure hunt around our new apartment (where he found all sorts of favorites stashed in various spots) which ended with him heading to the sauna, and then returning to find a surprise cocktail party in his honor.

So naturally this year, I felt just a bit of pressure to take it up a notch.  
My plan was to wake him up early, drive him up to Sonoma (where he'd be thinking we were JUST going wine tasting), and then take him sky-diving (the guy LOVES just-a-little-bit-insane adventure).  Afterwards, I had made us an appointment at A Rafanelli winery - a fabulous, yet tiny, family-owned winery in Dry Creek that is next to impossible to get into.  Appointments must be made weeks in advance.  We'd then wine taste at our leisure making our way to Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen for the Six-Course Chef's Tasting Menu before heading back to a little B&B for the night.

But of course, one day of celebration was not enough.  I'd have to cook for him the night before:

his favorite selection of pre-dinner treats: cheese, prosciutto and spicy olives

and then pea soup in the Vitamix: toss 1 bag of frozen peas, 1/2 chopped onion, and 2 cloves of garlic in the magic mixer and puree until smooth - so creamy and delicious, Stefan said it was TOO rich

the birthday boy sampling a bottle of fritz

the cheesecake was not my best

But for the past few weeks, Stefan has been working like mad, clocking in no more than 5 hours sleep on a good night, so given that all the guy would likely want to do is sleep in late, I decided to kill sky-diving.  
And then when I revealed the day's plans to him the night before, his excitement was subdued.  What he really wanted was just a low-key night at home.  So we canceled our dinner + B&B reservations, slept in very late, enjoyed a gorgeous drive up to Healdsburg with the top down, sipped wine at A. Rafanelli, and then drove back to have Delfina pizza and watch movies at home.  It was perfection.

Because here's the thing about birthdays.  They don't need to be extravagant or over-the-top to be special.  Sometimes all you need is the person you love and it's the most perfect day imaginable. 

xoxo
KK

cheese cake

So you may know by this point that Stefan and I have a little bit of an obsession with cheese.  So much so that we decided to have cheese (and I mean really copious amounts of cheese) as our wedding cake.

We knew from the get-go that the cake's bottom tier would be Stefan's absolute favorite cheese: Appenzeller Extra - a Swiss, spicy mountain cheese that hails from the Appenzell region of Stefan's homeland.  He loves it so much that during my very first trip to Switzerland, we visited the factory together learning (in Swiss German, of course) how this exclusive specialty has a guaranteed maturing period of six months in carefully monitored damp cellars.

Only problem with this Fischer favorite is that it comes at a very high price in the US - a wheel runs you any where from $450 to 600 stateside.  In Switzerland, however, you can get one for $100ish, leading Stefan to a brilliant idea: we would simply bring a wheel back in our suitcase. 
(Never mind that the US customs form explicitly states dairy products are prohibited from crossing the border; they would never notice 25 pounds of unpasteurized, pungent Swiss cheese among t-shirts and undergarments.)

A few weeks before our planned cheese heist, we got some very professional legal advice from our immigration lawyer:
Him: "You just got your green card and you're going to bring WHAT into the country?"
Stefan: "A wheel of cheese."
Him: "A WHEEL of CHEESE?  You're not serious."
Stefan: "Yes, we are.  Do you know how much a wheel of Appenzeller Extra costs here?"
Him: "Do you know much it will cost you to get out of customs prison?"

While that put the kibosh on our cheese-money-saving plans, the Cheese School of San Francisco was able to procure the wheel in question legally and at US wholesale prices.  We worked with them to craft not only a cake we loved and adored, but a whole bar of cheeses we couldn't wait to share with our guests.

 

We were insistent that our 20 varieties of cheeses be choices that our guests wouldn't have just any old day.  We wanted them to be able to try something new, maybe even finding a new favorite, from Stefan's land of cheese (Switzerland) or my land of cheese (Wisconsin) or our shared land of cheese (California) or from some other land of cheese (France, Vermont, Spain, Holland) that was just too good to pass up. 

A few weeks before the wedding, we went into the Cheese School to do our tasting.  As soon as we saw the gigantic board with samplings of 20 cheeses we had never tried before, we knew it was going to be a sensational night.  We spent the next 3 hours eating, laughing, learning, and getting excited for more cheese to come. 

 

Many have asked for the cheese winners that made it onto our special night's final menu (and cheese bar), so today I'm unveiling them so you too can experience cheese-filled bliss.

 

In the cake:

These guys are all ones we were excited to have a full wheel of post-wedding and after nearly 5 weeks, we've got very little of them left, which might tell you a thing or two about their deliciousness.  (And perhaps Stefan and my consumption of cheese.) 

• Bottom tier: Appenzeller Extra - see above
• Second tier: Landaff - a mild, semi-firm raw cow's milk cheese
• Third tier: Blu di Langa  - a creamy, luxurious blue
• Fourth tier: Fat Bottom Girl - a Northern California farmstead cheese where no two wheels are alike
• Top tier: Valancy - a tangy young goat's milk cheese

 

Throughout the table:

• Brillat Savarin - like butter, the bacon of all cheeses, you cannot help but love this creamy deliciousness: I could literally go at it with a spoon - so much better than a pint of Ben & Jerry's
• Bonne Buche - meaning "good mouthful", this young, ash-ripened goat cheese is the flagship of Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery's lineup
• Epoisses - this Burgundy-based pungent unpasteurized cows-milk cheese is smear-ripened (washed in a local pomace brandy) and was once a favorite of Napoleon's
• L'Amuse - this Dutch Gouda is hand-selected and shipped to special maturing facilities where (unlike most Dutch Goudas which are matured at cooler temperatures) they experience mid temperature affinage which allows the cheese to develop a fully rounded flavor
• Lamp Chopper - this sheep's milk cheese is buttery and mild, yet complex and elegant, you can't go wrong with this crowd pleaser
• Challerhocker - this Appenzeller spin-off literally translates to "sitting in the cellar" which is exactly where this St. Gallen cheese develops its dense and creamy, savory flavor
• Comte - a French cheese made from unpasteurized cow's milk which you may have sampled before; you've probably only tried one aged 8-12 months, but to get the full Comte experience, step it up a notch to one aged 24 months, or if you really want to go big, head to L'Arpege in Paris where they are known to carry a 4 year old Comte
• Clothbound Cheddar - a Vermont, natural-rinded, traditional cheddar aged a minimum of 10 months bandaged in muslin - sweet, savory, nutty, and tangy all at once
• Forme au Moelleux - one of France's oldest blue cheeses which is washed in a sweet white wine, a perfect and interesting cross between a brie and a blue
• Dunbarton Blue - if your traditional cheddar and blue cheeses had a baby, this would be it: a Wisconsin-born blue-veined cheddar that is gaining popularity by the minute, get it while it's hot
• Garroxta - a Spanish goat's milk cheese made in a small artisanal creamery in the Catalonia region, the flavor is milky and delicate with a hint of nuttiness and a smooth, clean finish
• Tomme Crayeuse - a French raw cow's milk, tomme-style cheese with a chalky (=crayeuse in French) multi-flavor and texture interior
• Piacentino - scented with saffron and studed with black peppercorns, this cheese will surprise you in more ways than one (see picture above for visual)
• Chevre with Pickled Figs - a Cheese School home-blend, simply mix pickled figs (available at any cheese shop) with your favorite brand of Chevre and you're golden, a fabulously easy way to impress at your next dinner party

 

 

So the next time you're putting together a cheese plate and want to take it up a notch from your traditional brie, blue, and blah, think of the above-mentioned varieties: I promise they won't disappoint.

 

xoxo

KK

 

 

weekend in nyc

So a few weeks ago, we decided to splurge and buy men’s semi-finals tickets to the US Open.  Stefan was determined to see Roger Federer play while he was #1, and given that we both had to be on the East Coast for work the following Monday through Wednesday, it seemed like the perfect time to take advantage.

 

after winning wimbledon a few months ago

 

Our plan was to fly into the city on Friday, have drinks and dinner with my best college friends in Brooklyn that night, head to the Open all day Saturday, and then meet my sister for brunch in her new apartment in Stamford, CT on Sunday. 

Only there turned out to be a few bumps in the road.

 

Friday: Due to work, Stefan had to switch to taking the red-eye on Friday, meaning I was 5^th wheeling it with my two friends + their men Friday evening.  Thankfully, my uber generous friends treated me to a temporary love for the evening: why, cheese of course!  The second I arrived, we gallivanted off to Bedford Cheese, where a kind gentleman let us sample all sorts of goodies, including this interesting-looking one shaped exactly like a bosom.  You know why?  It’s made in a bra.  No joke.

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday: After making it to the US Open semi-finals the past NINE years, Federer got knocked out in the quarters-finals.  So instead of seeing our Swiss love dominate, we were cheering on the underdogs (Berdych and Ferrer) so as to best help Federer keep his #1 title.  They both lost but put up a superb fight.

 



 

Sunday: Due to torrential downpours (and TWO tornados!), match #2 was delayed until Sunday meaning our brunch date with Gretters got the kibosh.

Despite the hiccups, however, the weekend was a total success.  We couldn’t have had a better time seeing friends (albeit briefly), watching tennis, and riding the subway.

 

Tune back in tomorrow for cheesy goodness.

(Is this turning into a cheese blog?)

 

xoxo

KK

wedding film

I can't believe it's been only one month since the wedding.

Since then, we've: 
attended two other weddings,
reorganized the entire apartment,
and eaten five full wheels of cheese.

It feels like it's been ages in the best, best possible way.
In honor of our one-month anniversary (do people celebrate that?), I'd thought I'd share the two little films our videographer put together for us. 
(They're better watched from the vimeo site, so I recommend you hop on over there instead of watching here.) 

watch it here

watch it here

xoxo

KK

labor day dinner

After a crazy couple of weeks, we took advantage of the three-day weekend to check off a bunch of to-dos that have been on the list for a bit too long.

While I did my fair share of cleaning and organizing, Stefan did a lot all of the heavy lifting:

Putting up black-out curtains in our bedroom (I've seriously never slept so well),
purchasing and assembling this IKEA cabinet to safely store our new collection of wine glasses,

hanging up lots of art (including our fabulous S&K Wine Shop sign from Nana & Pops),
installing this new, super-mod lamp,

and even making us lunch.

prosciutto and triple cream brie on baguette

strawberry balsamic salad

diet coke

So I decided to spoil him with his dinner of choice:

Homemade Spinach Ricotta Whole Wheat Ravioli:

Dough:

3 cups whole wheat flour

3 eggs

1 cup water

Form a crater in the flour, crack eggs into in, slowly add water as you knead until dough is fully integrated: not too sticky, not too dry.

Filling:

Big bag of fresh spinach (ours was 9 ounces, but any amount will do)

1/2ish lb fresh whole milk ricotta

A few generous sprinkles of freshly shaved Parmesan

1 tablespoon-ish heavy cream

1 egg

Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

Most recipes will tell you to boil your spinach but doing so will make your greenery loose much of its goodness.  Instead, saute it with a splash of olive oil until wilted.  Let cool and then chop before mixing with other ingredients.

Ravioli Making:
Roll dough until 1/4 inch thick (the thinner the better!),
cut into the shapes of your choosing (a top and bottom for each ravioli),
brush the bottom ravioli half with water along the edges (your "glue"),
plop a dollop of filling in the middle,
sandwich your other half on top,
and pinch shut with a fork.

Let raviolis dry for 1 hour.
You can then stick them in the fridge or freezer (ziploc bag or plastic wrap is perfect) until ready to cook,
or cook them right away.

Boil until raviolis float to the top (2-3 minutes).
Serve with sage butter, Parmesan and fresh black pepper.

Our raviolis ended up being a little heavy on the dough.

So much so that my dinner mate trimmed the outer part and went just for the centers.

Next time I'll work a little harder on the rolling out part...

Mango Lime Sorbet:
2 mangos
1/2 lime
Strawberries for topping

Place chopped mangos and 1/2 lime's juice in Vitamix (or blender of your choosing).  Blend until smooth.  Place in freezer for a few hours or until at desired consistency.  Serve topped with freshly chopped strawberries!

xoxo
KK