This neighborhood has gone to the dogs!

I’d never fully appreciated the role of dogs in an urban environment to bring neighbors together until we got Lucy. I met more of our neighbors in the first two weeks we had Lucy than I had in the previous year.

A few observations:

• There are a lot of dog walkers in DC. Most of them are awesome. With the exception of this one guy. I hope he doesn’t walk your dog.
• We live on a great block and have some really nice neighbors. I don’t know any of their names. But, if they have a dog, I know their dog’s name. If I see them without their dog, I do not recognize them at all.
• I have accepted that I am Lucy’s owner and seem to have no further identity. Nor do my neighbors seem to care.

I am very much looking forward to when Lucy finally gets all of her shots so we can take her to some more exciting doggie destinations.

What’s my name again?

It’s been awhile. Ben and I have been busy trying to enjoy the end of summer. In particular, my time has been spent on the following (in no particular order):

1. Name change
2. The puppy
3. Work
4. September the month of weddings
5. Looking at our professional wedding pictures over and over again

Let’s tackle the first topic of discussion: name change.

How much trouble could the name change possibly be? One might assume (based solely on the number of weddings that Ben and I will be attending this year) that millions of people change their names every single day (or, more accurately, about 86% of all new brides according to various web sites referencing a 2006 study).

I don’t mean to complain but this name change situation is a huge pain in the you know what. First of all, in many cases, a woman is giving up the only name she’s ever known so there is the psychological factor. Ben and I have been married since April and I still have trouble saying “HI, I’m Erin Hatten”. More frequently it comes out as “Hi, I’m Erin Kor – oh – Hatten”. Very effective at confusing whoever I am talking to.

In order to ease the pain, I’ve updated all of my email display and social networking names to be ‘First Maiden Last’. Apparently, I am so head strong in general that people actually think that I have taken the double last name. Let’s be clear – while I hate the fact that I am giving up something that I associate closely with my identity, logistically the double or hyphenated last name just seems like a lot of work. Kudos to all of you ladies that do that – this newlywed does not have that threshold of patience.

At work I didn’t have the option to keep my maiden name in my email display name so I had to make the transition directly to First Last. It’s been a shock. At my current client, where I worked for over a year prior to getting married, there is now a mess of ‘Korte’ and ‘Hatten’ across documents, spreadsheets, action items, etc. It’s as though I’m confused as to who I am and/or which version of me will be doing the work. Plus people are worried about offending me by using the wrong name which creates all sorts of hilarious exchanges of people-trying-to-be-nice. (For the record, I don’t care and I’m totally ok with all 18 user IDs with my maiden name…please do not waste hours of your life updating them).

Secondly (getting past the identify crisis phase of updating your name), there is the pure logistical mess of updating your name on EVERYTHING.

My running list:

• Social Security Administration
• Internal Revenue Service
• Washington, DC (drivers license and car registration)
• Passport
• Credit cards (of course I have no less than 7 cards when you take into account charge cards)
• Bank (you even have to order new checks for those 3 times a year where you might actually physically write a check)
• Rewards programs (hotels, airlines, etc)
• Existing travel reservations (TSA is not happy when your name doesn’t match your ticket)
• Your alma mater(s)

And, if you’re like me and do ALL of your shopping on the internet, that is a lot of stored credit cards and account information pages to update. I’ve been testing the waters a little bit. Shocking how many sites will continue to let you use what is likely an invalid credit card (since name and security code no longer match). But I digress.

For the first few bullet points in that list, I chose to go with the website MissNowMrs.com. The user interface and the flow could use a little work but overall it was super easy to use. Once I filled out all of the basic information, the program printed out forms and instruction sheets for me. The pre-populated forms and instruction sheets were awesome. The service is worth the $30 just to get that. BUT, I would not recommend using the form letters. The form letters from MissNowMrs are offensively terrible and have their logo and watermark on them. Gross. Form letters aren’t that hard. Have some dignity and write your own. And, since a lot of credit card companies allow you to submit your requests online, the letter itself is becoming obsolete.

I’m pretty advanced in the process. Altogether I would estimate that I have spent no less than 15 hours on the process (including time out of my work day to visit the Social Security Administration and the DC DMV). My one hold out is the passport because I’ve been too lazy to go get pictures taken. Terrible excuse when you live a block away from a 24 hour CVS. Otherwise (on paper at least), I am Erin Hatten. And I’ve finally accepted that the subpar initials of EKH are all mine and ELK is gone forever…

We <3 DC

Ben and I have only lived in DC for about two years. Prior to that, I’d been in Virginia for … well, forever. Ben had bounced around from Maryland, to South Bend, to San Fran, to San Diego, and back to Maryland.

Anyway, the bottom line is that we LOVE living in DC. We walk. We bike. We metro. We drive the MINI about once a week (maybe). We (ok, I) break out my grocery cart thing for big trips to Whole Foods or to the Dupont Farmer’s Market on Sunday mornings. We brunch, a lot. 

We’re hoping that the city figures out how to keep us around for the long haul.

In the meantime, we’ll just enjoy ourselves.

And, here are some DC things for you to enjoy:

• the #WHENINDC website
• the DC inspired artwork we have hanging around the apartment:

Made by Dave McCune http://davidmccune.org/

Available for sale at Eastern Market and The Fairgrounds near Nats Stadium

Mixer Madness

Ben and I can’t stop using the KitchenAid. The past week have brought us vanilla bean ice cream (covered with a fresh peach puree), yummy sugar cookies, and a minty peach sorbet (this time with frozen peaches).

Ice Cream 

Sugar Cookies

Minty Peach Sorbet

In case you’re inspired, here are the recipes:

Vanilla Ice Cream

Adapted from this blog. Soooo good with the fresh peach puree poured on top.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla bean
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Steps:

1. Mix the cream and the milk. Pour 1 cup of the mixture into medium saucepan and add salt and sugar.
2. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the saucepan and add the pod to the pot.
3. Warm over medium heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.
4. Remove from heat and add the 2 cups of remaining cream/milk and vanilla extract.
5. Chill thoroughly in refrigerator. 
6. Remove the vanilla bean and put in the ice cream maker.

Sugar Cookies

Adapted from The Mixer Bible. These are yummy with a chewy inside and surprising taste of nutmeg.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted, softened butter
• 3 cups confectioner’s sugar (split out 1/2 cup)
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 cup buttermilk

Steps:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2. In me;
3. dium bowl, whisk together flour, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. With flat beater, mixer butter on Speed 4 until soft and creamy.
5. Reduce speed to ‘Stir’ and add 2 1/2 cups of the sugar (in 3 additions).
6. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Then add vanilla.
7. Mix in flour and buttermilk, in 3 additions.
8. Ensure all ingredients are mixed in.
9. Scoop onto cookie sheet (covered in parchment paper). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
10. Sift remaining sugar across cooled cookies.

Minty Peach Sorbet

Adapted from this website, but originally from Cooking Light.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chopped peeled peaches (2 lbs) or 4 cups frozen sliced peaches (unfortunately we had to go frozen because the selection at WF was less than stellar).
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 sprigs of mint, crushed

Steps:

1. Combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to boil. Then reduce heat.
2. Simmer 7 minutes. Discard mint springs.
3. Place mixer in blender. Process until smooth.
4. Pour into a bowl and chill.
5. Then mix your sorbet until it has a frozen consistency. We froze it for another few hours before eating.

ENJOY!!

E&B

Baking and Biking

Besides attending a beautiful Baltimore wedding and a fabulous fiesta engagement party, much of Ben and I’s weekend has involved a lot of baking and biking.

Ben and I are both recent purchasers of Capital Bike Share memberships. Why we waited so long, I’m not really sure. On Saturday morning we had a nice jog over to Eastern Market where we perused the fine merchandise before bike sharing it back to Logan Circle. So convenient!!

Cruising down Pennsylvania Ave. Gotta love the bike lanes!

In other news, I made homemade focaccia bread and yummy chocolate chip cookies with the help of my awesome stand mixer. Recipes below the enticing pictures.

Rosemary Focaccia Bread (adapted from The Mixer Bible)

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 1 package active dry yeast (just short of 1 tablespoon)
• 1 1/3 cup warm water
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp EVOO

Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from Nestle with Uncle Tom’s secret ingredient, and, of course, mixed with my stand mixer)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (sometimes I use 1 cup of whole wheat flour to make them “healthy” but not today)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• Package of instant vanilla pudding mix (secret ingredient!!!!)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff!)
• 2 large eggs
• Bag of chocolate chips

Steps:

• In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
• In mixer bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract and about 2/3 of the package of vanilla pudding mix. Mix with flat mixer.
• Add eggs one at a time.
• Gradually beat in the flour mixer (I usually break it into 4)
• Finally, mix in the chocolate chips.
• Once dough is prepared, chill in the fridge for an hour (or overnight, depending on your schedule).
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees (I use 325 degrees for my new non-stick pans)
• Cook each sheet for 9 minutes (no more, no less!) and you will get wonderful gooey chocolate chip cookies.

ENJOY!

Oasis on our Patio

Ok, so it’s a bit of a stretch to call our patio an “oasis”. It’s a small patch of concrete over looking an alley in Logan Circle. But it is our own private outdoor space none the less. It’s been three years since I’ve had my own outdoor space in the spring.

So, obviously I took advantage of our Crate and Barrel registry and registered for some flower boxes for the patio (Thanks Bob and Val!).

Then, I took advantage of my Dad’s expertise and voila! We have a little “garden” with some flowers, tomato plants and a growing assortment of herbs.

Enjoy!

Amalfi-Inspired Lemon Cake

My amazing coworkers chipped in to buy Ben and I the KitchenAid stand mixer off our wedding registry. I was ECSTATIC. Though I hadn’t used a stand mixer since I was a child, I was sure that there were many uses that I would find for said mixer.

The first use: bake yummy treat for coworkers to thank them for such a lovely wedding gift.

Though I typically (as in ALL the time) trend toward chocolate for dessert, I decided to take a little inspiration from our Italian honeymoon and bake a lemon cake. The result was scrumptious. I had to travel with the cake to Cleveland which means I had to preemptively cut it up, but, it was still received to rave reviews at the office. Not too sweet, not too lemony, JUST right!

I found my recipe via Google on this website. I’ve also reposted the recipe below with some of my comments:

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. butter
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• Grated zest of 2 large organic lemons
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 2 1/3 cups cake flour (EK: WF only had pastry flour so I went with that)
• 1 TB + 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ cup milk 
• ¼ cup chopped toasted hazelnuts or almonds (EK: I forgot to buy almonds so  there weren’t any on my cake)
• 1 TB butter for greasing pan

1. Preheat oven to 320F.
2. Grease & flour a bundt pan or tube pan and set aside (EK: I forgot this step and my cake did not come out cleanly!)
3. Sift the flour with the baking powder and set aside. (EK: I just whisked it together in a bowl)
4. Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until soft and creamy. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the salt and lemon zest.
5. Alternate adding and blending in the mixing bowl 3 times, the flour & baking powder mixture and milk. Mix the batter on medium speed until it has a light, airy consistency, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Don’t overbeat. (EK: This confused me. I’m not really sure if I overbeat it or not!)
6.  Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and make it as level as possible with a rubber spatula.
7. Bake the cake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes (at 320° F, or 160° C). Do NOT open the door or the cake may fall! When the cake is done, let it cool in its pan for 2 hours. 
8. While the cake is baking, prepare the lemonade mixture: Squeeze the lemons into a small pitcher. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Add water (you should have a little over 2 cups of “lemonade.”) 
9. Invert the cake onto a cake plate, then immediately return it to the baking pan. (If the cake will not come out of the pan, warm it in the oven for a few minutes, then invert and return to pan). 
10. Adding the lemonade: It is important that the lemonade mixture be added gradually so that the cake absorbs the liquid in a uniform manner. Over the next half hour, pour or spoon ¼ of the lemonade mixture onto the cake (that is still in its pan), 3 times, waiting 10 minutes in between each dousing. You should now have ¼ of the mixture left. After waiting another 10 minutes to make sure that the lemonade has been absorbed, reverse the cake onto the serving plate. Pour or spoon the rest of the lemonade mixture over the cake. Sprinkle the chopped nuts over the top of the cake.

Here are some pictures from the adventerous process.

All of the ingredients ready to go:

Go, mixer, go!

Just before pouring it in the pan:

In process!

Juicing the lemons with the fancy juicer attachment:

Fresh out of the oven!

Oops. This is what happens when you don’t grease the pan:

Ready for a trip to Cleveland!