Watermelon Feta Pistachio Salad

Summer food is a love language of mine. It's colorful, fresh, bright, full of flavor, I love it. The unique combinations of summery fruits and vegetables totally gets me. This salad is just that. You get peppery arugula, juicy watermelon, crunchy pistachios, creamy feta cheese, finished off with salty sweet olive oil and balsamic. It works perfectly for a potluck side dish or a summer lunch or dinner. Bonus, there is no cooking involved. Just cut, chop and assemble. 

Watermelon Feta Pistachio Salad
yields 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
1 medium watermelon (soccer ball size)
1/3 cup pistachios, chopped
1/2 cup feta cheese
3 cups arugula
salt and pepper
olive oil
balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Cut your watermelon into 1 inch cubes, removing any seeds, then set aside. Roughly chop the pistachios. 

On a large platter layer your arugula. Top with half of the chopped watermelon, then sprinkle with some of the feta cheese. Layer on the rest of your watermelon and the rest of the feta. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios all over the top. Season with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 

All hail summer food!

Annie
 

Bites of My Life

Post-vacation depression, quickly got subbed out by post-holiday weekend depression. Two back to back all-star weekends. I can't complain too much. My days have been full recently making the weeks fly by. I still welcomed the long weekend with open arms though! When I think back, I really jammed a lot in from Friday to Monday. Happy hour, dinner and show, day trip to Dallas, dinner with parents, pool time, drinks with friends, more pool time, 4th of July barbecue and more. All reason why I'm exhausted. Best part of a long weekend though, is the short week that follows!

-Last week was devoted to recreating some favorite D.C. eats. First the colorful mezze bowls from Cava Grill. I did turkey meatballs, a grain mixture of brown rice, barley and quinoa, cucumber, olives, tomatoes, picked onion, feta, tzatziki and tahini. 
-Attempt number two was with fancy mushroom tacos like at Chaia.
-Fell into the Sprout's salesperson's trap, but at least I'm getting in extra greens! 
-Acai bowl made better topped with HIppie Crack brought back from D.C.
-A delicious meal and even better cocktail had with the fam at OKC's new Mary Eddy's on Friday night before seeing Dreamgirls. 
-Took a quicky day trip to Dallas with mom and sis. The highlight was a stop at one of my favorite places.
-Cause a little frito chili pie and a cheese ball never hurt anyone.
-Thank goodness the swan had our backs!
-I get a kick out of being overly festive. A patriotic yogurt bowl was a must.
-Almost too cute to eat, but we all know I ate it anyway.
-Cause every barbecue needs a good salad. I did a combo of arugula, watermelon, feta and chopped pistachios. Salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic. Got real festive with my star shaped watermelon.
-Red just really isn't in our color wheel. 

Annie

4 Recipes for the 4th

Holidays these days are really more of an excuse to make festive dishes and overstuff yourself with delicious eats. Here is a small list of what I hope to make this weekend. Any specific recipes you are making for the 4th?

Fruit and Pretzel Flag Dessert // Bourbon Peach Baked Beans // Blueberry Corn Salsa // Cherry Peach Pie 

Annie

D.C Diary Reunited

It's baaaaack! I loved using my D.C. Diary posts to log my summer adventures when I lived there. Two years later and I was able to squeeze in a trip back to my favorite city. No better way to recap the weekend than with this Take A Bite original. 

Hoped off the plane Friday evening and metro-ed into town (super proud of myself for still being able to maneuver the metro) to meet my host/bestie at her apartment. Kudos to Anna for being patient with me. I sent her an itinerary of everything I wanted to do over the weekend a few weeks back and she happily played along. Friday night was all her though. First stop on the #dcdining adventure was Rasika. More palak chaat please!! This crispy spinach dish is unreal.

Indian food and passion fruit cocktails were the perfect way to catch up and start the weekend. 

Anna and I lived together two years ago, she's now back in the district and I'm living vicariously through her. Did I mention we've known each other since we were born?

After a summer taking classes at Barre3 Georgetown, I was so happy to come visit and try out the new 14th street location. Seriously gorg studio in one of my favorite areas of town.

Can't help but stop and stare at the quaint side streets full of row houses and brownstones.

Saturday afternoon we went back to my old hood for lunch and shopping in Georgetown. Why oh why did Chaia not exist when I worked there?

Quick stop by the waterfront, before a quick detour to Baked and Wired. 

And now comes the best part of the trip. After a failed attempt at trying to get into Rose's Luxury two years ago, I've been dying to try again. They don't take reservations and you have to get in line right when they open to just hope you get a spot. I've been gawking them on social media and the internet and knew that this had to be apart of the trip. They were named Best New Restaurant ranking No.1 on Bon Appetit's Hot 10 list and rank tip top on several other round ups. 

Two of our friends and current D.C. resisdents, Katie and Sarah were meeting us for dinner. They were more than down for the waiting game. I love friends who love food the same way as me.  We got there at 5, got our name on the list and they happily let us know we should be seated by 7:30/8. Rose's is eclectic. They use the most interesting combination of ingredients and serve everything on mismatched china and silverware. The head chef, Aaron Silverman has said he wanted Rose's to be like having a dinner party every night. Congrats Aaron, you did it. 

I also love when people are cool with me snapping away at each course and embarrassingly asking the waitress every item in the dish. Just so you know you are looking at coconut milk foam, pork sausage, habanero cream, red onion, lychee, basil mint cilantro, togarashi, lime juice, champagne vinegar, coconut powder, and garlic chips. Ya, woah. 

Next up was a grilled romain salad with duck egg and grilled veal. 

Then confit goat and rice with BBQ sea island red peas. Like how do you even come up with these things Aaron? Everything was insane.

This. This is what sent us over the edge. Bucatini with pesto, ramps, jalapeno, blue crab and crispy breadcrumbs. This may be the best thing I've ever eaten. We pretty much all threw in the towel on ever expecting to eat anything better in our lives. 

So many cheers throughout this meal to celebrate it's amazingness and experiencing it together. After a few cocktails and many bites of bucatini we decided we had formed some kind of bucatini sisterhood. 

More pasta because we had to try their famous strawberry tomato sauce. Bon Appetit has a recipe for it here. 

Absolutely not done without dessert. Rhubarb custard tart and tiramisu.

Thank you Rose's Luxury. Everything really is awesome. You heard it first here but this is my favorite restaurant of all time. The food, the service, the experience, everything is gold. I mentioned at one point in the night that I was a little sad to have found this at such a young age. What do I have to live for now? 

Sisterhood of the traveling bucatini: Marsha, Virginia, Heidi and Charlie. I think our amazing meal sent us into some kind of weird trance, but we weren't trying to get out of it. 

Sunday morning recovery at my (old) favorite spot, Le Diplomate.

I dreamed of the next time I would get to have this mushroom tart since the last time I had it. 

Post-brunch shopping at Salt & Sundry. 

Since I was in D.C. they have grown from their Union Market location and built a brick and mortar on 14th. 

Serious home good/gift coolness overload.

Sunday afternoon called for a serious cat nap after going going going and a touristy stop at the national archives. We got to see the Declaration, Bill of Rights and Constitution. Total Nicholas Cage/National Treasure move.  We found a pick me up later in the day at Baked and Wired's new sister A Baked Joint. 

Weekend coming to a close, but going out with a bang. 

Steamed buns at Momofuku.

And ramen for days. 

Followed by none other than my NYC fav, Milk Bar! This duo traveled south a bit and opened locations in D.C's new City Center. 

Cheers to this trip, this friend, this city, it's food, it's culture and so much more. Now get that internship next summer too so I can come back! 

Annie

Cherry Peach Pie + Homemade Pie Crust

Holy moly baking success. But really, we couldn't stop moaning and groaning over how good this sucker turned out.

A couple weeks ago for Father's Day, I knew I wanted to make a peach pie for my dad. We were grilling out, it's summer and it's one of his favorite desserts. But I had to find a way to amp it up a bit! I decided on cherries, but chose rainier cherries, a Tucker favorite. Their coloring almost looks like a baby peach with a stem.

Besides Thanksgiving I don't ever make pie. I like pie it's just not quite in my repertoire, time to change that. I firmly believe the best summer dessert is some kind of fruit pie or cobbler or crumble served up with cold ice cream!

Homemade crust was a definite for this pie. Again not something I ever make. We go straight up Pillsbury on Turkey day, but not anymore. The crust made this pie. It was thick and flakey with a touch of sweetness. I'm all about the crust. I struggle to understand people who don't eat their crust. Pizza crust, hand it over. Pie crust, scoop me some more ice cream and I gobble it up.  

I firmly believe in this pie. It had everything I want in a pie. One of my favorite parts is how well it stays together when you cut it. Fruit pies struggle in this category. Our Thanksgiving apple pie is delicious but comes spilling out after the first slice. Give this recipe a try, I'm not letting you down here!

Cherry Peach Pie

Ingredients:
5 ripe peaches
2 cups rainier cherries (the light red and yellow ones)
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 tsp. almond extract
2/3-3/4 cup sugar (I only used 2/3 but it depends how sweet you want it)
pinch of salt
egg for egg wash
Perfect Pie Crust (recipe to follow)

Directions:
Using a paring knife, peel your peaches. Slice in half and remove the core. Slice into thin wedges and place in a large bowl. Pit your cherries, slice in half and place in bowl with the peaches. Toss with sugar, almond extract, lemon zest and juice and a pinch of salt. Set aside.

Lightly grease your pie pan. On a floured surface, roll out both crusts to about a 1/4 inch thick. Gently press one crust into pie pan. Fill with pie filling and make sure peaches and cherries are evenly distributed. Slice your other pie crust into thick slices and alternate pieces creating a lattice top. Pies are supposed to be rustic, so no need to beat yourself up about trying to do a pretty edge. I just cut off the excess pie dough then roll it inward and give it a pinch to seal the two together.

Place your pie in the freezer for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. After 15 minutes, give the pie an egg wash and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 min. Lower the temperature to 400 degrees and bake for 35 to 45 minutes until lightly brown and bubbly. Serve with some homemade vanilla bean ice cream and enjoy!
 

Perfect Pie Crust
yields two pie crusts, enough for a top and bottom

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
9-10 Tbsp. ice cold water

Directions:
Combine flour, salt, sugar and cold cubed butter in a food processor until pea size crumbs form. With the food processor on, drizzle in the ice cold water until a ball forms and it pulls away from the edges. The dough is slightly slightly sticky, but if you think it's too dry or need it to come together more add an additional tablespoon of water. Flatten the dough into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Dough can also be frozen. I suggest wrapping in plastic wrap and placing in a ziplock to store. 

I know this pie is good from the fact that my brother-in-law was still talking about it three days later. Some things you just can't get off you mind-ha! Don't forget to serve with some vanilla bean ice cream. And it's even cuter baked up in cute pie pans like this "I love you more than 3.14" made by local, Designs by Kace. 

Annie