Louiseville, Kentucky

Oh my goodness! I have not been very active here over the past few months! Sorry about that! I had a busy, but exciting couple of months. I finished off my second year of residency, went on a couple of vacations, and most excitingly - I moved to a new house! My sister Lara bought a house and asked me to come live with her. Of course I jumped at this opportunity. Although I've loved my little apartment for 3 1/2 years, I felt like it was a good time to move on. For some time now, both Lara and I have felt the urge to get some more space that we can use to share our love of hospitality, celebrations and sharing our home with others. 

So there have been some crazy weeks over the past few months, and this little did not get much of the love. We are settled in now, and things have calmed down so I think it's time to get back to blogging! I will certainly be sharing more of the new house in the coming months, but for now I'm going back to the beginning of June to share my vacation to Louisville, Kentucky. 

At the beginning of June, Lara and I headed south to visit our friend from college who is now living in Louisville with her husband. We made a long weekend of it and had a blast. I really enjoyed exploring the city, so many historic homes, great bars and restaurants, and fun places to explore. 

We drove in Thursday night, and Friday morning my friend had to work so Lara and I did what we do best - found the best looking bakery and settled in for coffee and pastries. Blue Dog Bakery and Cafe did not disappoint. This cute little place had amazing looking bread, delicious pastries, sandwiches, salads and more. I wanted to try pretty much everything. 

Our lovely home for the weekend. 

We tried out a plum ginger scone, and a morning glory muffin, both were delicious!

We took a stroll on the Big Four Bridge over the Ohio River to Jeffersonville, Indiana. A very cool bridge
and a fun walk, even in the 90 degree sunshine! 

In Jeffersonville we checked out some of the shops, and then stopped for a cold beer at the Parlor. It was the perfect way to cool off after a lot of sweaty walking! Lara went for her favorite local (MI) beer, Founder's Rubaeus

The man next to us asked if we wanted to help finish off his pizza! Um, YES!!!

Dinner and drinks that night at Holy Grale, a neat beer bar located in an old church. Awesome patio,
good beer, great friends! 

We finished off our hot day with some cool popsicles from Steel City Pops. Customized
popsicles, what a fun idea! I went with refreshing cantaloupe drizzled with chocolate. 

Since Lara and I are morning people, we couldn't help but head back to Blue Dog Bakery the next
morning while our hosts slept in. Then we of course had to check out one of the local farmer's markets
before heading back home. 

The afternoon was dedicated to the races! We went to Churchill Downs and enjoyed watching
the horses, and drinking in the history. I loved horse racing growing up so this was
kind of a dream come true! 

It may not have been Derby day, but we still had to wear our hats!

And finally, dinner on our last night was at The Eagle, a southern restaurant that was the perfect choice. We started with the pickled country vegetables. A fresh bright start to the meal. For dinner I had a slow cooked pork sandwich with peppers, onions and cheese. So good. I also wanted to try the spoonbread for a side; it was cooked in an iron skillet served with maple butter. Very tasty, but I was hoping this would be a little more custard-y.  It felt more like a regular cornbread to me, still good, but not as unique. Overall a very nice experience, and a place I would go to again. 

Coffee Break

A few weeks ago I took a week staycation. It was lovely to have time off to do nothing. To refresh and recharge, and overall relax for more than a day at a time. I was hoping that by April I might have at least one or two decent days to do some stuff outside. Unfortunately, to say that the weather did not cooperate would be the understatement of the year. The entire week was so cold, and rained or snowed most days. At the end of the week we had a sleet/hail/snow storm with tons of school, church and work activities were cancelled. I was quite disappointed with the whole weather situation. But that's April in Michigan for you. You never know what you're going to get. 

Due to the nasty weather, I was able to enjoy a few extra coffee shops as there was not a whole lot else I wanted to do! It was the perfect weather for that at least. Lara and I also took a morning for a special afternoon tea at one of our favorite spots, the cutest little macaroon shop just down the street called Le bon Macaron. If you are ever in Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor or in East Lansing where their other shops are located, I highly recommend a stop for some of the best macaroons you'll ever had. They are fantastic. And the whole shop is styled in the cutest French inspired way. A pleasant way to spend a morning or afternoon. Our "tea" consisted of scones, crackers, cheese, tea, and macaroons. So good, and so fun! Overall, I tried to make the best of the less than ideal week! Good coffee certainly helps!

Finally got over to the West side of Grand Rapids to check out a new coffee shop called Corridor Coffee. It's a very cute little place with a lot of charm. The actual coffee is not the best I've had, but I'd go back for the atmosphere for sure. And they sell some delicious local baked goods, some that are allergy friendly if that's important to you. 

Tea Time at Le bon Macaron! Such fun, and delicious! Really the best macarons I've had. They know what they're doing, and the shop is the most adorable place you could imagine. 

Did just a little bit of work as well while on vacation. Not ideal, but at least I found a cozy place with delicious coffee to make it more palatable. Lightfast Coffee is another great place in Grand Rapids. If you look beyond the coffee in this picture you can see the lovely weather I was up against this week... ick. 

Finally a sunny day! It was cold, but beautiful! Went out for breakfast with my mom to Nonna's Pantry in Ada for some delicious baked goods. All house made and delicious. The coffee was nothing special, but altogether a lovely morning. 

Thick and Chewy Sugar Cookies

Lara and I have been on the search for the perfect sugar cookie for some time now. I've tried many different recipes, and while they are all tasty, none of them could deliver the cookie of my dreams. The real problem with all of these recipes wasn't the taste, they all taste like butter and sugar, nothing wrong there, but what was missing was the perfect texture. I like my sugar cookies to be thick and fat, something you can really sink your teeth into, chewy and dense. Not an airy, light and crispy sugar cookie, but that seemed to be all that I could find.

In desperation Lara and I turned to the chowhound forums to see if anyone out there in cyberspace had the answer. There were several people who had ideas for the cookie we were looking for. This recipe was the first one we turned to, and I am glad that we did. They turned out deliciously!! Pretty much exactly what I wanted. They were thick and chewy and so buttery and sweet, with a hint of salt, the perfect combination.

For the first batch of these cookies I just shaped the dough into balls and baked them as is. They turned out fine, but since they didn't spread AT ALL they looked kind of funny, like little buttery rocks. For the subsequent batches then, I pressed the dough down to flattened the cookies a little before baking. This worked great and they turned out wonderfully. This one was a smashing success, it was everything I was looking for in a sugar cookie.

Thick and Chewy Sugar Cookies
Adapted from Emme, via Chowhound
Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup (250 g) granulated sugar 
• 2 sticks (225 g) butter, melted
• 3 egg yolks (large)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups (180 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (127 g) bread flour
• 1/4 cup (20 g) nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/4 cup (30-35 g) cornstarch
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add in eggs and vanilla. 

In a separate bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Add to the wet mixture and mix until combined. Chill the dough in the fridge for at least an hour. 

Roll the dough between your hands, forming them into smooth balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar. Press down each ball of dough with your hand, making them into your desired size cookie (they won't spread much during baking, so don't expect them to change shape much after this). 

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes until almost done, then pull them out and let them finish baking and set  on the baking sheet (5-10 minutes). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.