Indulgences | vmac+cheese

Little Luxuries

Posted on December 8, 2011 by vmacandcheese

I’m a girl who, when I can swing it, has no qualms about indulging in little luxuries for herself. A good facial, a heavenly massage — these things are all so worth the expense, in my opinion.

For the last few years, I’ve had massages from a fantastic woman here in SF named Nell Waters, who runs a practice named Whole Body Tonic. It’s located in the city’s Dogpatch neighborhood, and shares a space with an acupuncture practice, called Acupuncture Kitchen. So when Nell emailed me to let me know that the two practices had opened up a pop-up shop selling bath salts, soaps, various linens, and a homemade hot cocoa mix that was out of this world, I popped down to learn more.

The pop-up shop consists of a reclaimed antique cupboard filled with lots of fun goodies to peruse while you wait for your massage or acupuncture. Adorable. If you’re in SF, I highly recommend you check out Whole Body Tonic or Acupuncture Kitchen. While I haven’t experimented with acupuncture (have any of you? What was it like??), Nell gives the best massages in the city, I’m sure of it. She was kind enough to contact Apotherie Chocolates, the inventor of the famed hot cocoa recipe, so I could share it with all of you. How delicious does this sound?

{Image Credits: Note to Self; Parsec Traveller Flickr; Pinterest}

Filed under: Food, Indulgences, Recipes, SF/Bay Area | 14 Comments »

Recipe: Bucatini with meatballs and homemade tomato sauce

Posted on November 15, 2011 by vmacandcheese

A couple weeks ago, Lara from Simply Irresistible posted two pasta recipes that looked SO good. Well, I mean, all of her recipes look really good, but I must’ve been craving pasta, because the minute I saw these, I wanted to make them right then and there. Which is weird, because at home, Joe and I typically stay away from pasta, mostly for dietary reasons. But the weather has been cooler, and the thought of a big, warm bowl of noodles just sounded really delicious!

Two Saturdays ago, we spent the day out and about, running errands and buying a coat for Joe, and it was drizzling all day. Inspired by Lara, I suggested pasta for dinner to make up for the miserable weather. I was blown away when Joe said, “Spaghetti and meatballs?” Done and done. And to make things extra special, I told him I’d even make the sauce from scratch.

This dish turned out really well! If you’re following exactly what I did, I’d recommend you save this one for a weekend, when you have a bit more time. However, you could easily make it a weeknight meal by using your favorite jarred marinara sauce.

Get the recipe after the jump! (more…)

Filed under: Food, Indulgences, Italian, Pasta/Grains, Recipes | Tagged: Food, Italian food, pasta, Recipes, spaghetti | 14 Comments »

Recipe: Roasted vegetable lasagna

Posted on April 28, 2010 by vmacandcheese

Joe was out of town all last weekend, and even though he wasn’t scheduled to get home until a little late Monday night, I promised him I’d have something waiting for him on the .01% chance that the airplane food wasn’t horrible.

He assured me that as it’d be late, he probably wouldn’t be that hungry, but that nurturing instinct in me (the one that drives me to cook as a means to comfort people) wanted something delicious at the ready. I’d been thinking about making lasagna for a while, so I used the homecoming as an excuse to indulge him/myself.

The weekend without him had already seen me stuffing my maw with dim sum, sushi, pasta, and lots of wine (self-medicating after a very long and busy week at work, obviously), so I tried to keep things a bit lighter with the use of yummy roasted vegetables, and no meat.

In case you weren’t aware, using roasted vegetables in any dish negates the calories from cheese and béchamel sauce that would otherwise go straight to your heiney. It’s true. I seen it.

I started with some sliced zucchini, little planks of yellow bell pepper and big slices of cremini mushroom. All these got tossed on a sheet tray with olive oil, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flake and some dried thyme.

I popped this into a 375° oven for about 20 minutes — basically whenever I was ready for them. The main idea in preparing the vegetables is that you want them to be about the same thickness, so that they’ll layer evenly in the lasagna. With the amount of water in all of these veggies, the roasting is less about browning them and more about getting them cooked most of the way through. They’ll finish cooking in the lasagna. Plus, you wouldn’t want all that water leaking everywhere in the lasagna. It would just water down the sauce.

While the vegetables roasted, I prepared the other “filling” ingredients for the pasta. (more…)

Filed under: Food, Indulgences, Italian, Joe, Pasta/Grains | Tagged: Food, Italian food, pasta, Recipes, vegetables | 1 Comment »

Short ribs braised in awesome

Posted on January 26, 2010 by vmacandcheese

Very late last fall, Ree Drummond, one of my favorite bloggers, posted a delicious looking recipe for braised beef short ribs with creamy polenta. Ree — better known as The Pioneer Woman — always has fantastic recipes (and beautiful photography to match), and after seeing the short ribs, I promised myself I’d make them some day this winter. Preferably on a chilly, rainy night when Joe and I were all bundled up in sweats with nowhere to go.

That pretty much describes this last Sunday. And the short ribs did not disappoint.

To give you a little sneak peek, the short ribs went from this:

to this:

And I’m so excited to show you how (with the Pioneer Woman’s help!) we got there.

But let’s back up a bit. Two Sunday’s ago, we were shopping at Whole Foods when I saw that beef short ribs were on sale for $5.99 per pound. Not a bad deal, which is funny when you consider that a few years ago, beef short ribs were hardly fashionable and you could pick up a pound for two or three bucks. This humble cut of meat went mainstream in the last few years, with chefs and home cooks alike realizing that with a little love, short ribs can really shine — in fact, they can be a real showstopper. (more…)

Filed under: Food, Indulgences, Other meats, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Mac ‘n Cheese – the 2009 version

Posted on December 6, 2009 by vmacandcheese

I was talking with a co-worker the other day about how December is totally a wash. Even though we all have to go to work or school, those few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are definitely not the time of year where I feel most focused or motivated to do anything except cook, eat, and sit at home in my pajamas — maybe with some carols playing in the background. This last week, the weather in San Francisco turned truly wintry, with temperatures cold enough to warrant the use of wool mittens, and big gusts of wind that swirled through your legs, making you brace no matter how long your coat.

The things I like about this time of year? The lights. The decorations found in the most unexpected places. Gift wrapping (it’s the only craft I ever seemed to be any good at). And of course, the eats. Because when it’s cold outside, you have license to eat whatever makes you feel a little bit warmer, even if your gym clothes haven’t seen the light of day in…a while.

That’s the thinking Joe and I have when it comes to making mac ‘n cheese every year with our Thanksgiving meal. I know we’re more than a week past Thanksgiving now (I’ll refer you back to the first paragraph if you’re wondering why I didn’t get around to writing this post earlier in the week), but if ever there was a time of year to curl up with a bowl of creamy, zippy, decadent mac ‘n cheese, this is it. Indulge now. Whatever guilt you have for eating something so deliciously bad can be assuaged when you resolve to exercise more after the new year.

Get the recipe after the jump! (more…)