Awaiting Baby Sasek's Arrival

In August 2010, James and I decided we wanted to start a family. After many months of tests, prayers, and waiting... we finally got a positive test back on November 2, 2012! Our life as we know it was about to change forever but we were ready for the journey to begin on July 10, 2013!

It's fascinating how fast a baby grows each week and its fun to have a comparison to a fruit or veggie. I am at 11 weeks and the baby is the size of a lime (1.6 inches, .25 ounces). We visited the doctor last week and we heard the heartbeat...188! The baby is active!

My belly is starting to get a little full. I think I need to get some new pants soon. My dear sister bought me some awesome leggings the other day. I am either going to wear them all the time or get some other colors soon. I am getting more energy these days and not falling asleep on the couch at 6 PM each night. I am blessed I did not have many days of morning sickness. If I haven't eaten anything in a few hours, my stomach will get a little upset. But as long as I eat snacks through the day, I feel great!

I need to start a project plan soon to keep track of all the things that need to be taken care of before July. We had a project plan for our wedding and I still get made fun of... the project manager in me can't turn it off I swear!

Pounds of Bacon

Ahhh bacon… such a glorious piece of meat!

How do bacon lovers celebrate this delicious salty goodness? By having a Bacon Fest of course! The 5^th annual Bacon Festival was held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds and 4000 bacon lovers stood in line to try these creative bacon concoctions…

• Bacon Gelato. This was good. Subtle bacon and salt flavor.
• Bacon Etouffee. Great way to kick of Mardi Gras. It had a great favor of onions, green peppers, bacon, and salty goodness.
• Elvis Pizza (peanut butter, bananas, and crispy bacon). This was my favorite of the day. I loved the combination of the sweet bananas and salty bacon.
• Dark Chocolate covered bacon strip. The dark chocolate actually over-powered the bacon. I don't think using such good chocolate with bacon was necessary. Chocolate and bacon is actually a great combination.  
• Blue cheese, bacon crumbles, drizzled with honey. I love honey drizzled over a strong blue cheese. Then you go and sprinkle on smoked bacon... pure joy!
• Bacon, caramelized purple onion, and cheese quesadilla. For as simple as this dish was, it was very good. This was another favorite of the day.
• Pork loin and smoked bacon crumbs. Hallelujah! The pork loin was pounded flat, than topped with a handful of smoked bacon crumbs, rolled up like a swiss roll and then cut into a patty and placed on a bun. This was worth standing in line for 15 minutes.... twice.
• Bacon, peanut butter mousse bar. This tiny bite sized treat was very rich. It had more of a peanut butter flavor than bacon.
• Bacon Mexican style meatballs. These had a nice bacon gravy. Good home-style meatball.
• Bacon and onion cream cheese on onion ciabatta bread. This would be a great appetizer. I actually enjoyed the bread more.

Of course there were companies just frying up strips of bacon and I tried over a half dozen different types of bacon. 

All in all, it was a good day being with close friends and eating pounds of bacon. Ohhhh BACON!

Tuesday Afternoon Cooking Class

It's a Tuesday afternoon and I am standing in the kitchen of my favorite restaurant Baru 66!

Baru 66 is offering Ecole De Cuisine cooking classes and today we focused on meats and sauces. Eleven students crowded around Chef David Baruthio as he prepared Moroccan Style Lamb Tagine, Chef Baru's Rustic Ratatouille, and Eggplant Caviar.

With a cup of coffee in hand (dashed with a bit of bailey's) and a piece of paper and pen here are some of the tips and tricks that Chef David shared...

• Always leave some of the fat on as this will help flavor the meat during the cooking process. 
• When cutting the meat follow the muscles. 
• Use a blend of extra virgin olive oil and canola oil. EVOO burns fast, so having a mixture of the two helps with reducing burning and smoking.
• Organic veggies have better flavor.
• Toss meats in oil mixture and sprinkle with salt and pepper than cook on a med/high pan that has been drizzled with the oil mixture.
• Use finishing salt rather than salting during the cooking process. 
• Ratatouille needs to be wet all the time. Don't caramelize (no golden veggies). It's all about the herbs and veggies. If you see a chef add water, then it's not Ratatouille. 
• When cooking couscous put in a shallow pan and drizzle with olive oil. Pour boiling hot water over the couscous (just enough to cover). Then put a piece of plastic wrap over the top (steaming effect).

At the end of the class, we all gathered around the table and were served a beautiful plate of Moroccan Style Lamb Tagine, Chef Baru's Rustic Ratatouille, and Eggplant Caviar. For dessert, we had roasted chestnut ice cream.

I can't think of a better way to spend a Tuesday afternoon!

Foie Gras in South Dakota

I recently visited the Black Hills for a family reunion. One of our favorite places to go for breakfast is “Tally’s”. The restaurant recently went through an owner change and became “Tally’s Silver Spoon”. The décor was updated with dark grays and blues (very chic) and the menu had a “French” makeover. One particular item that caught my eye was “Really French Toast: Foie Gras, berries, granola, and maple cream”. One of my favorite foods is Foie Gras, but I was a little hesitant about ordering it in South Dakota. I decided to live on the wild side and give it a try and boy was I glad I did! It was absolutely wonderful and the flavors paired so well together. The foie gras was chopped into small pieces and sprinkled on top of summer berries and perfectly browned French toast. Then to finish the dish, maple cream was poured over the foie gras, berries, and toast. The maple cream was subtle and not too over powering. The dish was divine and each flavor paired beautifully. Way to go South Dakota… I think you found your inner French-self.

How much will you pay for secret knowledge?

On Thursday night, my husband and I attended our first art auction. The Des Moines Art Center opened up their vault for one night only, where wondrous works of art awaited our bidding. The theme of the auction was "Letting Our Guard Down". Artists donated works of art for this "never-to-be-repeated" fund raising event. Something neat about the auction was that the names of the artists were unknown at the time of bidding.

The vault was full of art loving folk, amazing appetizers, and drinks. We wandered the aisles looking at the contemporary pieces and had our eye on two pieces. We placed our bid on a sketch of a giant robot with a blond girl laying on top of his shoulders. We thought it would fit perfectly in our TV room. We placed our final bid 10 minutes before the auction closed and unfortunately someone outbid us. Bummer.

The other piece we bid on was a small suitcase with pictures of Paris and the title "Eco Chamber: Belbo's Secret". On top of the suitcase is a small viewing hole. When you look inside, there is a small room with tiny treasures. I started the bid and noticed some other lady also had her eye on it and tried to outbid me. But we got lucky and won the final bid! When we received our mixed media artwork, there was a "story" behind the piece.

"Eco Chamber: Belbo's Secret" is a meditation on the idea of esoteric secrets, guarded things and hidden ideas created for the Des Moines Art Centers "VAULT: Letting Our Guard Down" fundraisers. It was inspired that for one night, the general public will be allowed into a space which is otherwise to be off limits as a necessary precaution to protect objects'd'art in the museum’s collections thus "occult" in the sense of being hidden from view.

The subject matters is based on the book “Foucault’s Pendulum”. The story is about three friends working for an Italian vanity publishing company who, as an amusement, create a novel mystical hermetic system based on the ideas of several real historical groups, such as the Templars, the Rosicrucians, and the Masons as well as concepts such as Telluric Currents and Gematria- and they end up paying a high price for the distractions. “Belbo” is one of the three friends who create “The Plan”.

The viewer is invited to "peak" into the secret internal world of the work but cannot enter it. Inside is a tiny mixed-media installation consisting of a photo containing physical manifestations of various symbols, riddles, and a visual linguistic joke related to the book onto which are mounted bulbs, sticks and a golden thread which form a "tree of life". Behind each sephirot in the tree is hidden a word which, when all are linked in the correct order, reveal the secret which Belbo Kept. The winner of this piece may choose to remove the golden bulbs to elucidate the secret, but in doing so must destroy the piece-an "echo" of the "high price" paid for secret knowledge."

French Food in Des Moines

For our wedding anniversary this year, we decided to celebrate at the French Restaurant Baru 66. To kick the night off right, I put on my new hat (compliments of the Royal Wedding) and bright red lipstick.

We decided to let the expert decide and had the 6 course “Chef’s Choice”. The flavors and presentation of Chef David Baruthio is absolutely amazing!

Starter Course: Apple Carrot palate cleanser with blue cheese whipped cream in a puff pastry.

2^nd course: Escargot with sweetbreads sautéed in garlic and pistachio butter, poured on top of a biscuit and spring greens. I was kind of nervous and excited when this dish came out. It was sweet and succulent. I really enjoyed this dish.     

3^rd course: Seared scallops on top of cream risotto with parmesan crisp. This dish had some complex flavors. The risotto was creamy and smooth and gave you a warm feeling of eating mac and cheese.

4^th course: Prawns in tomato bisque with olive oil and sea salted breadstick. Two prawns were cooked to a bright red and paired perfectly with the tomato bisque. I think my favorite part of this dish was dipping the 12 inch sea salt breadstick into the bisque.

5^th course: Filet mignon, whole morel mushrooms, morel mushroom sauce, and dauphine potatoes. This dish was amazing! The filet was cooked to a perfect medium-rare, and the mushrooms and sauce were subtle and creamy. The buttery potatoes were mashed and then deep fried to perfection.

6^th course: 3 cheeses, fruit compote, and French baguette.

7^th course: Chocolate brownie with melted hot caramel, rhubarb crisp with anise ice cream, and rose macaroon with berry ice cream and raspberries. The rhubarb crisp and anise ice cream was a treat! The two flavors complemented each other perfectly. The macaroon was light, crispy, and gooey all at the same time. True perfection!

8^th course: Salted brownie, lemon macaroon, and madeline.

We spent three hours in the quaint restaurant enjoying the 6 courses (technically 8) and left full and satisfied. It was truly an amazing meal!

Happy Anniversary To My Husband, To My Love ~ May 1, 2007

I married the love of my life four years ago today. It was a beautiful spring afternoon and 19 of our closest family and friends gathered in the Candle Lit Way Wedding Chapel. As I was putting on my dress, I was thinking about the day we first met and all the wonderful memories we had leading up to that point.

I met James in September of 2002 and I felt an immediate attraction. I called him a week later and asked him out, hoping he didn’t forget who I was. Thankfully he remembered! I remember the first night he told me he loved me. After he left, I ran upstairs to my parent’s room in the middle of the night and woke up my mom and told her I was in love! We enjoyed being with each other. We would go for walks around Grey’s Lake, watched foreign and independent films at The Fleur Cinema, made dinners at James’ apartment, took road trips to Chicago and Kansas City, and attended concerts. I loved dating him… I enjoyed his company.  

Labor Day weekend of 2006, James proposed to me. We decided to spend the weekend in Chicago. We arrive to our favorite hotel and I was shocked when we stepped into a beautiful King Suite. James told me the smaller rooms were booked and this was all they had left. We got dressed and headed to my favorite French restaurant and had a wonderful meal. As we are walking back to our hotel, we stopped at a music store and bought a French CD. Back at the hotel, James told me to go and get a bucket of ice to chill our wine. Typically he gets the ice, so I knew something was up when he pushed me out the door and I heard the deadbolt and locks. I was giddy and walked a little faster than I should have. I was back in a matter of minutes and when James opened the door for me, he was on bended knee, with candles flickering, rose petals thrown on the floor and bed, and French music playing in the background. I fell in love with him all over again.

As I walked down the aisle, I looked at James and my heart smiled. I couldn’t wait to start our life together as husband and wife.

Traveling is very important to us and we make it a priority whenever we can. Understandably, for our honeymoon we spent a few days in Paris (I am a French girl at heart). We started our honeymoon trip in New York City, then over to Paris, France; and finally to Vienna, Austria. In 2009 we called it our “year of travel”: Hawaii, Washington DC, Chicago, and Tokyo, Japan. Earlier this year, we spent a wonderful week visiting friends in London, England. We love exploring new places, shopping, meeting new people, eating amazing foods, and loving life.

James ~ These past four years as your wife has been a dream come true. I can’t wait to see where our lives lead us. I look forward to exploring the world with you. But as long as I am besides you, that is all that matters. I love you!