Americano Italiano...

These last two weeks were full of summer fun with good friends. Between my good friend Jamie coming to visit from Boston and Fourth of July weekend with Jared and Virginia friends, I had many opportunities to cook, eat, drink and be merry.

My girls weekend with Jamie had much on the agenda. From a mani pedi to a wine tasting to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, we managed to do it all and fit in some great meals. One sandwich shop fueled my obsession with panini- Baker's Crust is basically a step up from Panera Bread but the sandwich and salad I got were so decadent that I've recreated them for lunches in the past week. The salad they called "Wine Country" and had greens paired with strawberries, grapes, pears, candied pecans with raspberry vinaigrette and topped with a goat cheese crustino. Thankfully we were headed to a vineyard later that day because the salad beckoned the vino. My sandwich crammed mixed greens, tomato, cucumber, grilled squash and goat cheese into a grilled sourdough slices. Heaven between rustic bread!

But my Italian panini took a back-seat on Fourth of July weekend and mostly ate veggie burgers while my meat-eating loved ones downed steaks and barbeque chicken legs and bratwurst. Although one GDL recipe did make a reappearance Saturday night when I served Orzo with Parsley and Tomatoes at my courtyard July 3rd dinner. Perfectly fresh and cool on a 100 degree evening.

With entertaining and the holiday weekend behind me, I promise that new GDL recipes are in store! Overdue in fact. So stay tuned!