Welcome!: 2012

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Jalapeño Photography- Newborn, Child, Family, Senior, Event, Wedding Photographer: Ekster Antiques Styled Shoot {Northern Virginia We...

EVERYONE!........ Please check out Jalapeno Photography's photo shoot and blog (www.thehautesauce.com). Eddie is so talented and fun! The perfect combination in a photographer... enjoy her Ekster Antique shoot where Well Fed Group featured the cocktails!

First stop is Ekster Antiques (http://www.eksterantiques.com/). I hate to play favorites, but this is honestly my favorite store-- better than Anthropologie, J. Crew, Pottery Barn, and One Kings Lane. Those of you who only know your mother’s antiquing in Goodwill-like stores, you need to get with the program. Ekster is the stuff Pinterest is made of. They hosted the event, and all the “stuff” you see here is Ekster.

Like Ekster on Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/ekster.antiques.9?fref=ts Ekster has zillions of photos of their offerings on Facebook.

Next, we have Tiffany. Ahhh, the beautiful Tiffany. For years, I watched men swoon over Tiffany, but recently, a lucky guy caught Tiffany's attention and heart. Tiffany recently opened her own make up shop: MakeUp by Tiffany M (http://www.facebook.com/tiffmmakeup?fref=ts) Like her on Facebook! I highly recommend her if you’re looking for makeup for an event.

Then we have the flowers… wow! Anthomanic (http://www.anthomanic.com/) put together the flowers, and they were amazing! We’ve all seen the “normal” flower arrangements… Honestly, I just thought I would throw together some flowers for my own wedding, but from the moment I picked up the flowers for our shoot at Anthomanic, I KNEW that I needed Anthomanic’s flowers at my wedding. They can incorporate succulents, a clawfoot tub full of giant orchids... the crazy stuff that takes your wedding or event to the next level.

Friend Anthomanic on Facebook here:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anthomanic/129172837143184?fref=ts

Then there was the cake. Hasna with Sugar Lips Confectionery (http://www.sugarlipscon.com/) designed the cake. Hasna is a stay a home mom that recently started a cake business. Her cakes are amazing, and she’s trying all kinds of quirky, new things. Honestly, save her information for your kids next birthday, husband’s, your wedding, whatever.

Check out Sugar Lips Confectionery on Facebook here:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sugar-Lips-Confectionery/183766115025018

For the drinks, I was helped out by Lindsay of the Well Fed Hospitality Group.http://wellfedgroup.com/ It’s a restaurant consulting group that recently started “pop up” dinners. This is the coolest idea, especially for a date night. Lindsay’s partner is a chef at a top DC restaurant, and they host one-night, multi-course dinners-- pop up. Kind of like the country fair of five-star cuisine:) The last one was a Julia Child themed dinner--- umm, too cute! And now I drool.

Follow them on Facebook for details on their next dinner!http://www.facebook.com/WellFedGroup?fref=ts

And last but not least, we need a shout out to The Dandelion Patch. There are a number of store locations in the DC area. I have one right around the corner in Reston Town Center. Check out all the creative options online!http://www.thedandelionpatch.com/locations/reston-town-center/

Here’s their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/thedandelionpatch?fref=ts

I’m so excited that Tutto Bella and Bayside Bride decided to feature this shootJ We’ll be featured by a few others as well. These vendors were positively amazing. Check them out, bookmark them, and you’ll thank me for it later!

Jalapeño Photography- Newborn, Child, Family, Senior, Event, Wedding Photographer: Ekster Antiques Styled Shoot {Northern Virginia We...: Happy Friday, Lovelies! I am super excited about the changes happening over at my little shop J Slowly, this little blog is getting ...

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Oh, one more thing...

We also featured 2 amazingly delicious cheeses on Sunday as well (in addition to the other 4 courses)!

Please, please, please do yourself a favor and try these ooey gooey cheeses from Vermont Creamery.

Bonne Bouche and Cremont.

#CheesePorn

Late September Greetings!

I wanted to note 2 DELICIOUS items we served at our Feastly (www.eatfeastly.com) Sunday Supper last week are listed below. We hosted a beautiful evening full of some of Julia Child's favorite recipes....with our little updated twists of course! We were so lucky to have the most wonderful guests attend and we cant wait until our next dinner. Now get cookin'....

ALSATIAN ONION TART

1/4 Cup of Lardons (Cubed Bacon)
5 Onions Thinly Sliced
Splash of Brandy
Splash of White or Red Wine
Bunch of Thyme
1 Sprig of Rosemary (Chopped)
1/2 Cup of Crème Fraiche
3/4 Cup of good quality Gruyere Cheese (Shredded)
Tart Dough (recipe follows)

Method:
Saute bacon until crispy in a thick-bottomed large sauce pan, slightly drain if necessary. Add onions with 2 TBS of Butter and over low to medium heat, allow to caramelize until golden brown. Add Salt and Pepper. Deglaze the pan with Brandy and Wine. Cook Down until slightly reduced. Add Thyme and Rosemary. You could add a few drops of water or stock if onions become over-reduced and dry. Allow to slightly cool.

Roll out Tart Dough on well-floured surface to 1/8”. Place on buttered baking sheet and spread Crème Fraiche in an even layer on the dough. Top with Onion Mixture and then shredded Gruyere Cheese. Put Tart in a 420F oven for about 10-20 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Top with a bit more thyme after being removed from oven.

Tart Dough Recipe:
1 1/2 Cup of A.P Flour (Sifted)
2 tsp of Salt
Fresh Cracked Pepper (A couple of grinds!)
1 tsp of Sugar
1/4 of Warm Water
1 Package of Yeast
1/3 Cup of Olive Oil
Method:
Combine Sugar, Water, and Yeast and allow to bubble (about 5 minutes). Sift Flour and Salt into a bowl and add Pepper. Add the Yeast Mixture to the dry ingredients. Add the Olive Oil and Knead until combined plus 3 minutes. Kneading activates the gluten which helps make the dough perfect! Let the dough rest in the fridge overnight or for a few hours. When you’re ready, just roll it out on a floured surface.

FRENCH ONION SOUP (6 Servings)

1/4 Cup of Lardons (Cubed Bacon)
10 Onions Thinly Sliced
Splash of Brandy
1/2 Cup of White Wine
2 Quarts of Good Quality Beef/Veal Stock (We used Veal Demi Glace, which is essentially super rich and reduced Veal Stock)
Bunch of Thyme
Salt, Pepper
Grated Gruyere Cheese
Thick sliced Croutons of Bread (We do croutons, or olive oiled bread slices put in the oven, to maintain the crunch)

Method:
Saute bacon until crispy in a thick-bottomed large sauce pan, slightly drain if necessary. Add onions with 4 TBS of Butter and over low to medium heat, allow to caramelize until golden brown. Add Salt and Pepper to taste. Deglaze the pan with Brandy and White Wine. Reduce slightly. Add Stock and Thyme and reduce for 20 minutes.

Spoon soup into bowls and place croutons with cheese on the soup(you can melt the cheese on the croutons before placing it on the bowl to keep the crouton nice a crunchy) just make sure your bowls are oven-safe!!

XX,

Lindsay and Chef

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Food and Drink

Lindsay at Hunter's Head Tavern in Upperville, VA
@wellfedgroup
#eatlocal #upperville

We're Jammin'!

Little B loooooooves our traditional Orange Marmalade.... stay tuned for more pics, posts and recipes!

Well Fed For Hire!

Do you dream in food?

...I know I sure do.

Are you a restaurant, nightclub, or bar in need of menu consultation, recipe standardization, or BOH help?! Good thing we know what we're doing...

CHECK US OUT!

We would love to help you get where you want to go. We are available for a myriad of  inspired and thoughtful consulting services such as:

Menu Engineering
Menu Re-concepting and Re-branding
Restaurant Repositioning
Financial and Service Auditing and Standardization
Food Costing and Analysis
Employee Manual and Operational Document Creation
Branding and Standardization

Please feel free to contact us at any time at Lindsay@wellfedgroup.com or Matt@wellfedgroup.com

xx As Always,

Chef and Lindsay

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

NYC Food Excursion

Here's a list of the main places Chef and I loved while on our NYC food escape!

Eataly (Madison Park)

200 5th Avenue
NYC

Fatty Crab (West Village)
643 Hudson Street
NYC

Brooklyn Wok Shop (Brooklyn)
182 North 10th Street
Brooklyn

Smorgasburg (Brooklyn)
27 North 6th Street
Brooklyn
www.brooklynflea.com/smorgasburg/
@smorgasburg

Lincoln Ristorante (Lincoln Center)
142 West 65th Street
NYC

Vintry (Financial District)

57 Stone Street
NYC

Balthazar (SoHo)
80 Spring Street
NYC

Je and Jo Ice Cream (North of Hell's Kitchen)
515 West 47th Street
NYC

After arriving early, early, early on an Amtrak train into Penn Station, we walked to Madison Park (near 11 Madison Park and Shake Shack) to grab a coffee and relax at Eataly, Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianach's amazing Italian Market/Restaurant/Cafe/Trattoria concept. We arrived a little too early to enjoy the full market so we set up shop and enjoyed some coffee and crema croissants (best ever)!!
~We did end up returning to Eataly on our way out of the city to grab a quick bite at their Pesce Ristorante... highly recommend the whole roasted Porgy~

For an early dinner, we grabbed our siblings and headed to Fatty Crab in the West Village. Being from D.C., we likened it to Toki Underground and thoroughly enjoyed their spicy Asian offerings. When the bill arrived, the house-made Mochi Cakes had a flavor similar to gummy Duncan Hines yellow cake mix but was devoured! After, we met up with some friends and walked around the Village. What a great neighborhood vibe! Ran into a really cool 'finishing salts' store called The Meadow (523 Hudson Street). Too many drinks were later consumed at the Gansevoort and early to bed, early to rise.

We started our day having 2 breakfasts! At Brooklyn Wok Shop, we gorged on some char siu pork baos and then headed to the amazing Smorgasburg, a recurring Saturday food festival right on the water. Seriously, a DO NOT MISS if in NYC on the weekend throughout the summer. Heavily enjoyed Firs Prize Pies and the home-made spiced vanilla ice cream and the cinnamon, yeast-raised donuts from Dough. The donuts hit the mark. The best, most wonderfully flavored, delicately balanced friend dough ever created. Also noshed on some tacos, slaw-dogs, and Japanese shrimp balls... too much food to mention.

For dinner, we decided to Lincoln Ristorante at Lincoln Center. The restaurant, both interior and exterior, beautifully and poignantly positioned as a urban escape, is both interesting and seemingly melds into the cityscape. Overall, the pasta was pretty good, but the service, kitchen layout, and restaurant interior is what shines. After dinner and a show, we arrived at Vintry near Wall-Street. A cool wine and whiskey focused bar/lounge and could've stayed all night.

In the morning, we braved the SoHo/Chinatown crowds (however not enjoyably) and went to Balthazar, a traditional French brasserie. Thoroughly enjoyed the french onion soup and fresh bakery basket. My sister also had one of the best bloody marys I have ever tried (more of an AM champagne drinker myself). Took a leisurely walk around the city afterwards and ended up at Je and Jo Ice Cream. Some of the best ice cream/cookie dough creations we've ever tried. Great people! Great concept! We love supporting the interesting new restaurant and quick-bite concepts in the cities we travel to. We implore other travelers to do the same!

For our next trip, we hope to do a lot more drinking in order to end up in an obscure Chinatown restaurant, enjoying overly salted xiao long bao at 4am. Please send us your recommendations!!

As Always,

xx Lindsay and Chef!

@ljandyou
@chef_mbaker
@wellfedgroup

Check out our pics on our FaceBook page... www.facebook.com/WellFedGroup