delicious talka

lunch in 20 minutes

2010-04-25T01:29:00.001-04:00

Frozen peas with olive oil (I miss Spain) and grilled potato wedges with rosemary. Done in 20 minutes!

Grilled Potato Wedges
serves 2

Ingredients
potato
olive oil
2 tsp dried rosemary
sea salt
black pepper

1. Pre-heat and grease grill (in this case I used a George Foreman grill and sprayed it with cooking spray).

2. Cut potato into wedges. Rinse and soak for 5 minutes in cold water.

3. Drain potatoes and empty into a mixing bowl. Pour in enough olive oil to coat and toss with rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.

4. Place single-layer on grill and cook until potatoes are tender all the way through, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

weekday brunch

2010-04-25T00:35:00.001-04:00

Yum. Fried egg, roasted veggies, and fresh strawberries (did you hear there’s going to be a surplus this year?)

a breath of fresh air

2010-04-11T05:52:00.002-04:00

It’s been awhile! I merged this blog with my other one, then didn’t food blog, then stopped blogging altogether thanks to a hectic semester, then decided to start food blogging all over again! Anyway, I’m in L.A. right now visiting my sister and decided to share some delicious eats from today: fish tacos from the boardwalk on Venice Beach. Enjoy!

Goodbye, Italy! Take 2

2009-11-08T19:29:00.001-05:00

It’s my second last night in Italy within the past month. I am too freaking lucky. Look at all this great food!

Caffe Latte and Pastry at a Cafe at the corner of Via Nazionale and Via Faenza in Florence.

Pastries from Il Forno, by the Mercato Centrale.

Firenza salad, Mostodolce pizza (tomato, mozzarella, truffle, mushrooms – AMAZING), and the Martellina beer – this restaurant/pizzeria brews their own beer. I tried the honey brew, and WOW. It was so good! I haven’t have house-brewed beer since I left the States, so this was a real treat – very sweet with spicy notes and a just-bitter-enough finish. Perfection!! All from Mostodolce, Via Nazionale in Florence.

Sadly, I didn’t get ANY pictures of our pasta courses we ate out our first night. Extremely disappointing. It was amazing and I forgot my camera. More later.

I am super sad to be leaving Italy.

Goodbye, all you lovely Italian pastries and caffe lattes :(.

I will be back.

soooo off topic

2009-11-01T17:28:00.001-05:00

Guys, I totally freaking suck for not updating so much. BUT COME ON. I'M STUDYING IN SPAIN.

It seems like a good excuse to me, at least ;).

Anyway, I saw this post on LiveJournal (ahh I know) and I really want to make them when I get back. Can't wait to get into a kitchen again!!

Red Lobster Cheddar Biscuit Recipe

skipping around…

2009-09-30T13:05:00.001-04:00

WELL hello there! I have accidentally abandoned this blog! Unfortunately, that means I’ve missed out on some amazing stories, like these perfectly ripe and delicious strawberries my mom and I picked in June.

…and strawberry ice cream..

…and the perfect foamed tea latte (finally!).

But all of that is a moot point right now, because by the way: I’m studying abroad in Spain! The food here is incredible, yes, and my goal is to blog as much as I can, of course! I don’t have steady internet access as of yet (it may be changing soon), but keep your eyes out for many new posts throughout the year. I’m returning to the states on December 19th, just in time for the Christmas season: aka, BAKING SEASON. I cannot wait!

Enjoy!

to make this week: another link round-up

2009-02-07T20:12:00.001-05:00

Creamy Pumpkin Curry Soup: I still have some canned pumpkin leftover from the All-Purpose Holiday Cake we made last weekend for our parents. I want to try making something savory with it!
Double Chocolate Layer Cake: YUM. Note to Chris! ;) This would make a great birthday cake....

what i'm eating right now

2009-01-28T09:41:00.001-05:00

Definitely NOT the greatest picture - I wanted to snap a quick photo of it before eating because I'm running tight on time today, so I used my phone.

Today's breakfast: sliced kiwi, cranberry English muffins (my favorite! Price Chopper had them on sale from the holiday stock), blueberry acai YoPlus, and chocolate milk. Yum!

And yes, I'm eating in bed :-P.

to do list for tomorrow (sunday)

2009-01-25T03:33:00.001-05:00

...and the near future!

Chocolate Caramel Cheesecake via bakebakebake LJ community
Moist Vanilla Cake with Marshmallow Fondant via Boho Kitchen
Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies via Allrecipes (I want to make these with M&Ms)
Ginger Almond Cashew Granola via Chef Yum Yum
Sweet Potato Soup with Fried Pancetta via Epicurious (Going to make this with bacon that I have right now instead of pancetta)
Baked Sweet Potato Fries via Our Best Chefs.....yum!

lazy sunday afternoon brunch

2009-01-20T22:29:00.001-05:00

My favorite way to spend a Sunday morning: wake up around 9-10am, check email/blogs/ims while lazing under heated blanket, watch some TV (Bravo usually has some kind of marathon of crappy shows I'm addicted to!), then think about making breakfast/brunch around 12pm.

Airborne (wooo staving off colds), coffee, plain yogurt w/honey and bananas, toast with apricot jam and SmartBalance, and omelette with sauteed tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini. Yummm!

new year's spread

2009-01-13T00:27:00.001-05:00

Chris and I decided to spend a quite New Year's Eve in at the apartment. Good thing we didn't make any plans that didn't involve lounging around and making food - we got snowed in! Happy (late!) 2009 :).

Blueberry waffles, and banana white chocolate chip waffles. Mmmm. Plus some bacon (YUM), cherries (still not as good as the Washington ones, but pretty good!), and coffee made with my new stovetop percolator and espresso cups from Nina! Plates from an old woman's closet at a craft fair Heather and I went to a few weeks before Christmas.

Yum.

Making Ham and Cheese Scones (recipe coming this weekend!), and to the right, fresh spinach artichoke dip. I use this recipe for the dip, and usually replace all/part of the mayo with ranch dressing (I usually don't have mayo in the house).

Everything on the coffee table! We also had olive oil + spices for bread dipping, and the Scharffenberger brownies. If you're wondering what Chris is doing...our couch ate the TV remote :(.

Happy (sleepy!!) 2009!

pancake paradise

2009-01-10T01:39:00.000-05:00

After the series of ice storms at the end of the semester, we were lucky enough not to lose power, unlike the other half of the city. Over the course of the weekend a few friends ended up staying over because they didn't have power, and on Sunday morning Heather and I made pancakes for a bunch of our friends. There's no better way to spend a Sunday than with friends and breakfast foods! :D

(This is how I know we go to a tech school.......)

We used Joy the Baker's Oatmeal Raspberry Pancakes recipe, with a few substitutions. I had no buttermilk, so in place of that I used a mix of plain yogurt and regular milk. I also doubled the recipe, and used instant oats (the recipe doesn't specify), and it turned out great! I love pancake recipes because they're so flexible - almost all of the non-pantry ingredients (like milk, eggs, buttermilk) can be substituted with whatever you have in the fridge. It's so easy!

My friend Jeremy took over the reins in pancake-making during the second round. He claimed he never did this before, but take a look at some of the pancakes he made! ;) He had it down to a science, forming the shapes piece by piece so the layers cooked in order, and taking requests from the crowd. So cool!

Skull and crossbones

Flipping the dragon...

...and here it is! I need to learn how to do this stuff ;)

I may have had a 30 page paper hanging over my head that day, but for me it was one of the most memorable ways to end the semester. :)

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Oatmeal Raspberry Pancake recipe here, from Joy the Baker.

mmmm sprinkle cookies

2009-01-07T19:32:00.001-05:00

I went over to my roommate Heather's house right before we went home for Christmas break, and we baked a double batch of Italian Sprinkle Cookies with Heather's mom. It was so fun! The recipe was called "Aunt Lena's Italian Sprinkle Cookies", but I remember my grandma making these for many many years when I was little, calling them her Ukrainian cookies. :-P Heather's mom got the recipe online, and it made me really happy to know these cookies I used to love were so easy to make!

These colorful cookies make a great gift no matter what season it is. We bagged them up and gave them out in groups of 6's, 8's and 12's to friends, family, co-workers, and bosses. The cookies were delicious! The key to this recipe is to use pure almond and lemon extract - the quality really makes a difference when the cookie relies on the extracts for flavor. You also want to make sure to use fresh sprinkles! In the past, I've accidentally used stale sprinkles on birthday cakes and it really brings down the taste. Oops!

The original instructions said to mix melted shortening into the flour mix, but that ended up creating tons of lumps (not that that affected the taste at all!). We ended up going through the dough piece by piece, trying to smooth out all of the lumps and bumps. We guessed that adding the flour to the shortening instead would've avoided this, and Heather made the recipe again a little late, she told me it did! The glaze was also much too thin at first, running right off the cookies and not really holding sprinkles. So, I'm posting the edited version below. Enjoy!

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Aunt Lena's Italian Sprinkle Cookies

makes about 7 dozen

Ingredients:
6 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons PLUS 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup shortening, melted
1 tablespoon almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract

Glaze

1/2 cup warms milk
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 lb confectioners’ sugar
Round colored sprinkles

Using a heavy-duty electric mixer on high speed, beat eggs until light and foamy, about 5 minutes. Set aside. In another mixing bowl, stir together flour, sugar and baking powder. Pour the melted shortening and extracts into a large mixing bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture to the melted shortening and extracts until a bead-like texture is formed. Gradually add beaten eggs (dough will be stiff). Roll dough into 1-in, balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. The tops of the cookies will not brown, but the bottoms should brown slightly.

For glaze, combine milk and extracts in a large bowl. Add sugar; whisk until all lumps are dissolved and the glaze is smooth. As soon as cookies are removed from the oven, quickly immerse two or three at a time into the glaze. Remove with a slotted spoon or fingers. Place cookies on wire racks to drain. Quickly top with sprinkles. Let dry 24 hours before storing in airtight containers.

vacation!

2008-12-22T01:32:00.002-05:00

I made it out alive - all of my papers and presentations are in, and I'm home for winter break, woo! Expect many cookie recipes to follow :). In the meantime, I will be sleeping and leaving you with two things:

First, an excellent all-purpose holiday cake recipe that's extremely versatile, lasts for quite awhile (useful for making ahead of time!), and is absolutely delicious.

Second, my boyfriend Chris just started a Beer of the Week blog - go check it out! He'll be reviewing beers, posting about food (we make such a great pair :D), and beer/food combinations. Sweet!

By the way, I got this amazing Bundt pan from Goodwill for $1. How awesome is that??

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All-Purpose Holiday Cake

adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup apple sauce

3/4 cup pumpkin puree

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon rum

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 apples, cut into chunks

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup chocolate chips (a mix of chocolate and white chocolate chips would also be yummy!)

Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a Bundt pan.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

Whisk together apple sauce, pumpkin, eggs, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, rum and vanilla in a large bowl until just combined. Fold in flour mixture until just combined, then fold in apples, cranberries, and chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan.

Bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then turn out onto rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

winter has begun...

2008-12-13T03:51:00.001-05:00

I woke up to this icy winter wonderland yesterday, and this morning was greeted with snow piled on top of all of this ice. Crazy! Apparently we're making some news here. I think this was my favorite quote of the day:

"This is pathetic," said Bob Cott of Portland, Maine, who lost power for the first time in 10 years. "I'm already sick of winter and we have nine days to go before it officially begins."

Lol. I went out to clean my car off late in the day, but I was afraid to venture out any earlier.

Again, sorry for the cell phone quality pictures...

Anyway, even though it was cold and awful out, I wanted a lighter lunch/brunch - I woke up at noon. I've been waiting for the right time to make this absolutely amazing looking tuna salad, but sadly I am out of beans, onions, AND fresh herbs. So instead I created my own recipe - not bad, I have to say!

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Quick, Easy Tuna Salad (without mayo!)

Ingredients:

1 can chunk light tuna packed in water

1/4 cup diced tomatoes (I used from a can)

1 tsp olive oil (I used garlic-infused olive oil)

1 tsp honey mustard

1 tbsp Parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp Mexican chili powder

garlic powder to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Drain the tuna, then combine all ingredients and mix. That's it! This is especially good on top of a toasted English muffin, or on whole wheat bread in a sandwich.

stress stress, more finals, done monday finally

2008-12-13T03:35:00.001-05:00

The next few posts will be mostly cell phone pictures, my camera was full for awhile and I wasn't at my computer long enough to upload them/my computer wasn't working well enough to upload them...sorry!

Not necessarily food related, but there's coffee involved!

Coffee cup sleeve that made me smile the other day :).

Dinner that night - freshly made varenyky from the church, pan fried and eaten with sour cream and a salad. Ohmygoddeliciousness.

Bundled up for the weather.

probably the most delicious thing you will ever ingest

2008-12-08T02:01:00.001-05:00

So, I have a friend, Leah, who makes an absolutely AMAZING cranberry sauce. She was gracious enough to share some tips with me (as well as the whole recipe, but my memory is so awful I was forced to Google for cranberry sauce and adjust according to what I remembered!). And let me tell you...I will never nay say cranberry sauce again!

I did NOT used to be a fan of cranberry sauce - I had tried the canned version on turkey one year for Thanksgiving, and was sorely disappointed. The concept sounded delicious, but I did not like the way the flavors played out in the canned version. This recipe has SO restored my faith in cranberry sauce though!

Leah's tips included adding zest of lemon and orange, as well as nutmeg, cinnamon, and a little less sugar that is usually called for. This stuff is so good, I guarantee that you'll be eating it straight from the fridge with a spoon...not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything ;).

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My interpretation on Leah's Amazing Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
12 ounces of fresh cranberries
zest of one orange
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon

Combine juices, water, sugar and salt to a large sauce pan. Stir pan on medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Add in the cranberries, spices, and zest and stir to combine.

Put a lid on the sauce pan, with a tiny gap at one edge for steam to escape.

Cook for 10 to 12 minutes. The longer the cranberry sauce is cooked, the less the cranberries will be a uniform texture. So, if you want a more uniform texture, cook longer. Personally, I like mine to be rougher and have some whole cranberries in it, so I took mine off on the earlier side.

The sauce is ready to eat warm, but tastes even better if you refrigerate it overnight. Enjoy!

my meals today, since i didn't get anything else done!

2008-12-08T01:18:00.001-05:00

Although I did shrink wrap my window this afternoon...

Breakfast

Lunch (Trader Joe's Brown Rice California Sushi, toasted English muffin with cheese, clementine/grapefruit/mango fruit salad with fig balsamic vinegar)

Dinner (Turkey soup/stew with wild rice, recipe coming soon!)

my latest and greatest favorite breakfast!

2008-11-27T02:25:00.001-05:00

1/3 cup Bob's Red Mill Spice N' Nice Hot Cereal

1 cup milk

1 tbsp butter

2-3 tbsp packed brown sugar

Heat milk in saucepan until just starting to bubble. Add hot cereal and butter, cooking until absorbed to your liking (for me, after about 6-7 minutes I'm happy with it). Stir in brown sugar, and eat!

Yum.

crockpot chicken tikka masala - yum

2008-11-26T02:17:00.001-05:00

My roommate and I have an absolute love of Indian food. Now, to start off this post, let me say that I am aware that chicken tikka masala isn't technically an Indian dish. Anyway, there are a few pretty good Indian restaurants in the area - Shalimar in Troy, and the Curry House in Albany. Both of these places have awesome lunch buffet deals. The chicken tikka masala is excellent at Curry House, and Heather and I both had a craving for some awhile ago - she had the chicken, I had the crockpot and culinary skills. Yum!

This was a fairly easy dish to make, made even easier by the fact that I made it in the crock pot, and then took a nap while it cooked. Awesome multi-tasking! After the chicken was done cooking, all I had to do was set the setting to "Keep Warm", and cook up some jasmine rice. Enjoy!

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Crock Pot Chicken Tikka Masala

recipe adapted from Supah Weblog

1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast diced into large cubes

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 cup milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 small can tomato paste, thinned out with water

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp paprika

2 tbsp garam masala

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp cayenne powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together all ingredients except for chicken in crock pot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add in diced chicken.

Turn the crockpot on high and cook for 3-4 hours, until chicken is cooked throughout. You may also put crockpot on low to prolong the cooking time. Serve over jasmine rice. This recipe also freezes well!

merry christmas a bit early from the apartment!

2008-11-26T01:24:00.001-05:00

So we put up our tree in the apartment back in the second weekend of November. Our semester ends the week after Thanksgiving (next week in fact! Uuugh crunch time...), so we figured we may as well decorate early. And we did!

Oh hi there!

the essentials for food blogging!

2008-11-26T01:13:00.001-05:00

Or what I use, anyway!

My camera: Sony DSC-S700 7.2MP Digital Camera. It works pretty well once I figured out how to get the most out of it - it's fussy but takes great close-ups.

Windows LiveWriter. I never thought I'd say this about anything from Microsoft but...I love it!! It works offline, then syncs to Blogger when I want to make the post, so I can create posts when I'm out of wireless range or am in the car. It's a lot easier to add photos and edit layouts for posts here than in Blogger, as well, which is great!

ACDSee Photo Manager 10.0. I learned about this program from work this summer while editing documents for a conference my boss was going to. I really love the interface and software - it basically organizes all of your photos according to a number of possible methods (ratings, tags (like on Facebook!), auto categories (like aperture, ISO setting, etc)). However, it also is able to auto-correct exposure and contrast, allows rollover previews (my favorite feature), and many other features I haven't fully explored yet.

happy birthday mom!

2008-11-26T00:48:00.001-05:00

I recently went home for my mom's birthday, to spend time with her and, most importantly, to make her a cake! Ever since I can remember, my mom would make my sister and I any kind of cake we wanted for our birthdays, and we always reciprocated. When I first met my boyfriend, I was shocked that his family didn't do the same...I just assumed that's how the world worked :-P.

My mom's only request this year was for a cake with lemon in it, and my chocolate frosting (I use Peabody's recipe here, with an addition of 1 tsp instant espresso powder). I decided to make her my own variation on Magnolia Bakery's yellow cake recipe: Lemon Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl. Yum!

Frosting making - well, bowl licking. Yum!

The cake was pretty simple to make, but time consuming in its separate components. In hindsight, next time I will actually "swirl" in the raspberry cream cheese layer instead of letting it sit on top (I thought maybe it would sink in). Other than that, I thought the flavors were well balanced and not too overpowering!

Now I have to decide what I'm going to want for my birthday ;). (P.S. Chris - you still owe me a cake from last year!)

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Lemon Cake with Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl

cake recipe adapted from the Magnolia Vanilla Cupcakes recipe

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

zest of one lemon

juice from half of a lemon

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

____

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease three 8" cake pans.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the lemon zest and juice, mixing well to incorporate. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Spoon the batter into the cake pans. Add in Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl (recipe below) and swirl with a butter knife in each pan. Be careful not to mix too much. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Place cake tins on wire racks and cool the cakes completely. Remove the cakes carefully when cool, and frost! (I used the chocolate frosting recipe, above).

Raspberry Cream Cheese Swirl

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 large egg whites, room temperature

4 tbsp sour cream, room temperature

1/3 cup raspberry preserves

In a large bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Add in sour cream, beating well. Add in sugar and salt, beating well to incorporate.

Beat in egg whites and raspberry preserves until incorporated.

omelette omelette omelette

2008-11-25T01:43:00.001-05:00

I've been attempting to write this post about omelettes for about two weeks, but something's just not clicking. So without further ado, I give you...omelettes for dinner!

Saute some onions in butter until they are almost caramelized, then throw in tomatoes, ham, and spinach leaves. Then sprinkle the cooking eggs with cheese and fold over the filling mixture.

This one was made with feta cheese, ham, and arugula leftover from a Trader Joe's trip when visiting my sister. I wasn't as much of a fan of the arugula in this omelette - I found it tasted much better in a whole wheat pita with feta cheese, maple champagne mustard, and ham.

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Basic Omelette Recipe

makes one omelette

Heat up a small skillet with 1 tablespoon of butter on medium heat.

Once the butter is melted, crack 2 eggs into the pan and beat with a fork until smooth. At this point, to make a fluffier omelette, add about 2 tsp of milk to the eggs. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.

When the eggs begin to bubble on the surface, and the edges of the omelette are dry, flip with a spatula. Add desired omelette ingredients on top of the omelette. Cook for a few minutes more, then fold the omelette in half with the spatula and let cheese melt. Enjoy!

to try: marshmallow recipes

2008-11-24T19:49:00.003-05:00

I think these could make great Christmas gifts...I'm going to have some free time (ha, "free time") this week and after classes, so I'm earmarking some recipes:

sanity, please?

2008-11-20T02:44:00.001-05:00

In the midst of all this.....

This is how I cope...

yum

2008-11-07T10:13:00.001-05:00

I love when I'm getting ready to make breakfast, and accidentally put together something really delicious. This time it was Archer Farms Organic Flax Seed Waffles (picked up at Target a few weeks ago on clearance!), with Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter, All Natural Peanut Butter, a banana, and (not so good) day old coffee.

I wish I had a picture! But it all disappeared too fast..oops!

on the topic of pumpkins

2008-11-03T17:44:00.001-05:00

Oh, this stuff is SO. GOOD. We don't have any Trader Joe's in my area (so sad!), but my sister is going to college in Boston so every time we've visited her I load up while I have the chance. I love fall!

I've been trying to find pumpkins to make some toasted pumpkin seeds, but I can't find any at the local grocery store! I'll make a trip out to an orchard or something at some point before Thanksgiving, but I was hoping I wouldn't have to make a special trip out...sucks!

On my fall to-try recipe list:

to do list for NYC!

2008-10-23T23:05:00.001-04:00

Most suggestions taken from David Lebovitz's blog at http://www.davidlebovitz.com/.

FIRST STOP: WE MUST!

Joe The Art of Coffee

405 West 23rd Street
New York City
(212) 206-0669

Popcorn!

Garrett's Caramel Corn

560 5th Avenue
and
242 W 34th St/1 Penn Plaza

Black & White Cookies

Moshes

115 Second Avenue

NYC

Gelato!

Il Laboratorio di Gelato

95 Orchard Street (between Broome & Delancey)

NYC

a weekend in québec city

2008-10-13T21:53:00.001-04:00

and of course.....

a black tie affair

2008-10-13T01:32:00.001-04:00

Last weekend one of my roommates (not the apple picking one :P) and I hosted a very classy party, in honor of the opening of a new performing arts center at our (engineering) school.

The opening of this performing arts center has been the topic of a lot of controversy lately, over many issues that generally center around the need for other improvements on campus, and the sheer amount of money being spent on this new building.

While I have my own opinions about this, I won't go into them in too much detail on this blog. However, as a club officer, I was invited to the invite-only Gala Opening Event last Friday night. I definitely wanted to go check it out, mainly because I was sure there would be good food there (and I was right!).

It was black-tie only - so sophisticated! I've never been to such a "grown up" event, so I was pretty excited to get to wear my black prom dress again ;). Unfortunately, I forgot my camera and didn't get any pictures of the night! I have some bad-quality cell phone pictures, but it doesn't do anything justice. The pictures you see now are from re-visiting the building the next morning, with my mom.

So, anyway, I spent most of the day on Friday preparing for our unofficial after-Gala event - the anti-event! Julie (my date for the evening!) and I really enjoyed the irony in the party hopping we did. I present to you our menu for the evening:

Vegetables with Roasted Red Pepper Humus
Strawberry, Grape, and Mandarin Orange Fruit Skewers
Parmesan Rosemary Walnut Shortbreads
Grape and Rosemary Focaccia
Warm Cheese Artichoke Spinach Dip
Cayenne-Paprika Spiced Popcorn
Raspberry-Lime Petit Fours

The petit fours took the longest to make - about 2 days. I deviated a bit from the original recipe listed above, starting with the Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcake recipe, baked as a sheet cake, as the base. From the birthday cake mentioned in a previous post, I found layers were extremely easy to cut when using this recipe, so I didn't want to risk anything new! Especially trying to balance making all of this between classes and meetings.

The focaccia recipe's already made a debut at the Apartment Warming party, made by Chris both times! It's a huge crowd pleaser every time - everyone's usually surprised that it tastes so good, since the idea of grapes on pizza dough is a bit strange at first. I LOVE this stuff, and it was definitely a hit at the party.

(Can't have a classy party without champagne!)

apples apples everywhere

2008-10-12T23:53:00.001-04:00

A few weekends ago, my roommate and I went apple picking ($5 a bag...what a bargain!). We have wayyyy too many apples to know what to do with so we've both been baking like crazy. My favorite snack lately has been Baked Apples, which is super easy and makes the apartment smell absolutely amazing. I like to bake it in a toaster oven, since it's faster and uses less electricity (woo bills!..):

Baked Apples

1-2 apples

cinnamon sugar

nutmeg

pumpkin pie spice

few dabs of butter

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350 F.

Slice the apple(s) in half and cut out the core, leaving the rest of the apple intact. Cut slits in the flesh of the apple so that all of the spices and butter can melt into the apple. Sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar, pumpkin spice, then nutmeg. Cut the butter into small pieces and dot it onto the apple halves. Bake for 30 minutes or until the apples are soft and bubbling.

I also made a pie the other day, I'm not actually sure if there's any left but it was very good. I usually use this Brown Butter Creamy Apple Pie recipe, but I wanted to try something different this time, so I found this Caramel Apple Pie recipe instead. It's definitely worth a try if you're looking for an apple pie recipe!

Other bloggers talking about apples right now:

Posie Gets Cozy (Sour Cream Apple Pie - definitely trying this one next time!)

Smitten Kitchen (Mom's Apple Cake)

Sweet Potatoe (Vegan Apple Pie, yum)

Simply Recipes (Applesauce)

brunch and fall coffee round-up!

2008-10-09T00:19:00.001-04:00

I was so inspired to post earlier, and I made the mistake of switching on the tv, turning on my electric blanket (we're holding out on the heat in the apartment), and cozying up with....the internet. *shame*

I wish I could say that I was distracted by a book (I've been meaning to start A Widow For One Year), or, you know, my grad class readings (uhoh), or even my homework. But no - it was the internet that got me. Oy.

Anyway, last Sunday my mom and I went out to brunch at the aforementioned Flavour Cafe. We both ordered The F Bomb breakfast sandwich, described on their menu as "Flavour's very own breakfast sandwich.. 2 eggs, provolone cheese, our special sauce on a hard roll". It was delicious! The roll was what got me. Rolls can make or break a sandwich for me. I hate the really bready, starchy, almost tough rolls that are sometimes passed off as hard rolls. I'm the girl who only uses half a hamburger bun for hamburgers. But this roll was much more of a croissant/hard roll hybrid in terms of its texture and taste....deliciously flaky and tender. Yum!

I also ordered the Pumpkin Spice Latte to add to my now-growing list of fall-themed beverages that were had. The presentation was lovely, I'm a huge fan of whipped cream, as are most people! And the drink itself was not overly sweet, which I'm always afraid of when drinking a flavored coffee drink. I'll definitely be going back for more of this one as well. I love anything pumpkin flavored! Next up on the list is one of the campus cafe's drinks - Pumpkin Chai Latte.

Now, time to get to bed...working out with Julie at 7:30am tomorrow. Eek!

good coffee :)

2008-10-05T02:47:00.001-04:00

I know it's fall and classes have started because I've been craving coffee again. Of course, after my visit to Seattle, my coffee taste will never be the same again. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing! But all that's available on campus is Green Mountain so I've gravitated more towards the coffee based drinks, like mochas and lattes. Yum!

Chris and I got a Pumpkin Pie Latte at MochaBlend Cafe, a cute coffee place by Price Chopper near campus. I'm definitely a regular there, and Chris and I were in search of a fall-themed beverage. I figured they would pull through! My second favorite coffee place is Flavour Cafe and Lounge, closer to downtown Troy. Flavour Cafe has a super cute staff (SO friendly!) and I love the ambiance there. MochBlend is very earthy warm toned, and Flavour Cafe is full of cool, soothing colors. But, I have to say that even though Flavour Cafe has the edge of very skilled baristas (see below!), MochaBlend wins out by an edge because Flavour Cafe tends to have off-days where the coffee is just. not. good. Strange.

I can't wait to try all the other fall coffees and whatnot that I'm sure will spring up soon. And, this weather means I can finally break out my MarketSpice tea again!

All I have are cell phone pictures because I never think to bring my camera to these places...gah.

Amazing Pumpkin Pie Latte from MochaBlend

Chris approves! And I wanted something for scale..those mugs are humongous!

recent deliciousness!

2008-09-29T13:37:00.001-04:00

These were just so good I couldn't resist blogging about them! Sometime in August, I made Cheddar Scallion Biscuits with Garlic Butter, blogged about at Cheap Cooking. The garlic butter was definitely an excellent addition, as the biscuits were pretty mild in flavor. I think next time I make them I might try adding in some bacon.

I have ALWAYS dreamed about making tiramisu. Back before I was in college, I was an absolutely hopeless baker. I loved it so much, but even mixes wouldn't come out for me. It was actually pretty sad, thinking back on it, how many times I attempted to bake a cake or pretty much anything and how often it failed.

I tried making tiramisu exactly once. I was so disappointed! The filling was horribly lumpy, not sweet at all, and the ladyfinger cookies were nothing but a soggy mush. Not to mention I felt pretty bad that my dad had bought me the (expensive) mascarpone cheese and I had clearly butchered the recipe.

When I saw a bag of real Italian ladyfingers at the local Italian deli, I decided to try again...and I have to say I was quite the opposite of disappointed! I used Pioneer Woman's Tiramisu recipe, and I CAN make Tiramisu, I can!

Mmmmm, look at that. :D

And of course, I have to post my go-to recipes for yellow cake and chocolate frosting (a birthday cake classic!). Culinary Concoctions by Peabody's Yellow Cake and Fudgy Chocolate Frosting are my standards. I refuse to try another recipe most of the time because these are just so perfect! This cake is moist, flavorful, and has the perfect crumb. And the frosting is super easy to make, spreads well, and is delicious!

For this cake, I actually (gasp!) used another recipe - the Magnolia Vanilla Cupcake recipe - substituting the self-rising flour (didn't have any), and baking it in a cake pan. The yellow cake recipe I use is a little too crumby to decorate that way I wanted to for this cake, so I tried the Magnolia recipe instead....wow! My roommate is the cake decorator in the house (she's great!) and she was very impressed by how flat the cake baked, and how evenly the layers cut. I have to say, I much prefer the taste of Peabody's yellow cake to this vanilla cake, but opinions on that have varied, I've found.

And last, but absolutely-certainly not least, we have....Fudgy Brownies from John Scharffenberger. Oh. My. God. You must make these! The recipe takes a whole lot of chocolate, so quality really matters here. I used half Ghiradelli's Baking Bar chocolate, half Lindt chocolate. Holy moly. The whole key to this recipe, other than quality of chocolate, is to really mix the batter until it's glossy and pulls away from the bowl. That's what creates the perfectly crackled/chewy crust on the brownie. So good!

the best cup of coffee you'll ever have

2008-09-07T14:33:00.001-04:00

+ = YUM!

Caffe Ladro Fremont Blend coffee, made in a percolator (finally!)

Now back to my Fundamentals of Animation work....

delicious? or just a bad idea?

2008-08-15T16:17:00.001-04:00

SO. a tad bit late (oh when will I learn!), but here's the macaroni and cheese pizza post that I promised.

I had been doing my "research" (searches for "pizza" on flickr) for the next pizza I was going to make, and came across several pictures of DELICIOUS looking macaroni and cheese pizza that I knew I had to try. but I didn't want to make a mac n cheese only pizza, so bacon was the natural second choice of ingredient. I figured I had to try add something vaguely nutritious to the pizza (if nothing else but to make it look a little more appealing), so I grabbed some frozen chopped spinach in the grocery store and threw that on as well.

mmm, look at all of that deliciousness.

now, although this pizza was incredibly delicious, it was also incredibly rich and had me slightly sick the next day. chris didn't seem to have much of a problem with it (he does agree it was very rich though), so I'm venturing a guess that my body just wasn't used to all of that creamy/greasy goodness at once.

but don't let that deter you! I can see this being an excellent snowed-in movie night dinner. NOM!

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Bacon, Spinach, and Macaroni & Cheese Pizza

pizza dough (I use this recipe)

prepared package of Macaroni and Cheese

1/2 lb bacon

1/2 of a 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

3/4 C mozzarella cheese

1/4 C tomato sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven at to its highest temperature. (Mine goes to 450 F...the higher the temperature, the better the pizza)

Let the pizza dough sit at room temperature while the bacon is cooked.

Cook the bacon on the stove at medium high until just under crisp (it will crisp more in the oven). Dispose of or save the fat and lay bacon slices on paper towels to soak up extra grease. Chop the bacon into bite size pieces.

Spread the dough on a greased pan. Poke the dough with a fork if you're having a tough time - this will break up some of the gluten. Once the dough is shaped, spread the olive oil over the dough. Sprinkle the dough with the spices and garlic, and then spread the tomato sauce over that.

Next, add the macaroni and cheese layer. You're not going to want to use all of it, that'll be too much. Spread the macaroni and cheese over the dough so it makes a single layer. Then top with the spinach.

Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the pizza. Top the pizza with bacon pieces.

Bake in the oven until crust is lightly browned and crispy. At 450 F, it usually takes my pizzas 10-12 minutes to cook. Check on it regularly after 8-10 minutes of cooking.

Enjoy!

Quick Update - Summer of Pizza

2008-08-08T13:50:00.002-04:00

I'm writing this from the corner of my couch, curled up with some Lychee tea, Harry Potter 7 open at my side (the Ministry just fell), and my laptop balanced on a knee. There's a thunderstorm rolling in! From my seat on the couch I have the best view of the lightning over our woods - I'm at home for another few days, then back to work after a marvelous 2 week vacation with my family.

Nina just got back from working at the Omega Holistic Institute as a seasonal worker, and brought back some amazing brownies with her. They had the perfect brownie texture - fudgy, but still cake-like, deeply chocolatey, and smooth. Yum! Those brownies got me thinking about comfort foods, and comfort foods got me thinking about the Summer of Pizza.

This summer was the Summer of Pizza for Chris and me (and I? Gah.). Anyway, we found a great little deli near us called Maselli's, right on the way to Price Chopper. They sell "pizza making kits" for $3.50. What a bargain! It includes homemade pizza dough, freshly grated mozzarella cheese, and their own tomato sauce. Heavenly. And the best part is, we almost always have sauce leftover after we make the pizzas!

So anyway. Chris is due for a guest post, to talk about two of his amazing pizzas.

Shallot Grape Focaccia, made for the Apartment Warming Brunch. I suppose this isn't technically a pizza, but it WAS made with pizza dough, so it counts in my book!

Chicken, Spinach, Artichoke Pizza with White Sauce. YUM! I actually might have been missing a few ingredients, but that's why I'm not making that post ;). This was kind of a take-off on a pizza I had in Seattle from a "Take and Bake" place. I don't know if that's a new term for anyone else, but I thought it was really cool! We don't have those on the East Coast. The idea is you order a pizza from a menu, and they put it together for you. Then you take it home and bake it yourself! Deeeeelicious.

<--Pizza inspiration.

I do miss Seattle.

P.S. Look for my Mac 'n Cheese, Bacon, and Spinach Pizza recipe to be up later this weekend!

perfect for a sunday brunch apartment warming

2008-08-04T01:20:00.001-04:00

So, this post is a bit overdue. And by a bit, I mean extremely. BUT now that that's over with, let me tell you a story!

I am a normal college student; by normal, I mean that I could not WAIT to get out of the dorms and into an apartment with an actual kitchen (of course that's what I would look forward to the most!) So, I was super excited when Chris told me he and all of his roommates were moving out of their (gorgeous!) apartment last year and that I could call dibs.

And so that is how I signed the lease for my first apartment back in April or so, with 3 close girlfriends from RPI. I am still really excited to have the place, but I never thought about the amount of responsibility that comes with living on your own. The knowledge that if the toilet breaks or floods, it's solely our responsibility to clean it up, is terrifying! I'm a girl, I don't know how to deal with that...(and I don't mean that in a sexist way at all, it's just that I am not interested whatsoever in sticking my hand into the toilet tank if the chain falls off (it's held on by a paperclip in the downstairs bathroom), or dealing with a toilet bowl covered in mold after a long, humid weekend.)

I guess that makes me sound like a bit of a baby.

But moving on! The best part (in my opinion) of having an apartment is the endless opportunities I now have to entertain. I have a kitchen! A living room! A kitchen table that won't be covered in disgusting unidentifiable pieces of food! (Hopefully!!) HALLELUJAH!

Perhaps I sound a bit too enthused by these ideas, but let me have my moment of happiness please. (Notice that I'm refraining from discussing the two DISGUSTING GIANT AWFUL house centipedes that we found this summer. MOVING ON.....)

I recently had some family over to partake in an absolutely delicious Sunday Apartment Warming Brunch (if I do say so myself).

The menu was: Cinnamon Bun French Toast (me), Grape Foccacia (Chris), Egg and Veggie Breakfast Casserole (my mom), Fresh Tomato Citrus Basil salad (my aunt), Guacamole (Chris), and Fruit and Yogurt Parfait (me). Mmmmmm!

I've made my Cinnamon Bun French Toast for 2 brunches now - it's the perfect amount of sweetness to be considered breakfast, but rich enough for lunch. I find that you don't even need to use syrup with this, since it's so gooey from the frosting and filling already. I always use pre-made Freihoffer's Cinnamon Buns as the base, but if you want to make your own, I'm sure it'd be that much better!

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Cinnamon Bun French Toast

1 pckg Freihoffer's Cinnamon Buns (or 6 cinnamon buns of choice)

5 eggs

2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup heavy cream

Butter or oil for pan

Slice cinnamon buns horizontally, so you have 12 pieces. Combine eggs, vanilla, spices, and heavy cream in a large bowl. Whisk together until mixed.

Heat a butter or oil in a large frying pan or skillet on medium heat. Working in batches of 2-3 at a time, dip cinnamon bun slices in egg mixture, making sure to get both sides. Place slices in frying pan and cook until golden on each side - about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove from pan when done, and prepare next batch.

Serves 6

International Snack Exchange!

2008-06-25T17:21:00.002-04:00

So I joined the snacksters community on LiveJournal a few months ago, and just missed the sign ups for a round of international snack exchanges. I waited eagerly for the next one, and then the community died. BUT, I just got finished doing a snack exchange with Anouk from the Netherlands, so all was not lost! :D

We sent our packages out last week, and of COURSE mine came while I was in Seattle and after Chris had left the apartment...but my other roommate signed for me, and I had something to look forward to when I came back! (I hadn't been looking forward to going back to the "real world", haha.) So anyway! It was great to be welcomed back to the apartment with this after a long drive on the Mass Pike through several rainstorms at midnight, and an even longer (delayed) flight before that from Northern Kentucky (oy).

So of course, pictures are in order!

This was the mess I made unpacking the whole box...everything was wrapped so well! Nothing was broken at all, I know there were some worries with the Kinder Surprise eggs (YUM) but they were fine! :)

Chris pondering the licorice...and I'm sure he'll want me to note that he does not normally wear that shirt, haha. It was a hot night. Anyway, the licorice was surprisingly tasty! I do not normally like black licorice, but this had a very good taste - it tasted strongly of coffee to me, which of course I love (just got back from Seattle!), and the half black licorice-half fruity licorice pieces tasted like they were made from real fruit! I definitely enjoyed them. Chris's favorites are the pyramid shaped pieces, which have the texture of tapioca (not a good texture to me, but he loves it!).

The whole package! I don't know if everything's visible (there was so much! Even Chris said, "All this was only $25?"), but I'll try to go through it all...there are several baking-type things (apple tart and pancake mix can be seen in the picture) that I can't wait to try! Anouk thoughtfully translated the instructions for me...I didn't even think of asking. Thanks!

There are also these delicious ham and cheese waffle snack things - they are like Cheetos, but ham and cheese flavored. Yum! Those will be gone soon I think. I haven't tried the bacon-flavored peanuts (I think that's what they look like, at least), but they look really good too.

Then there are the chocolate sprinkles for toast, which I really wanted to try - the idea seems so funny to me! What a good idea, to have chocolate on your toast :). I also asked for some Kinder surprise eggs, 2 of which Chris and I ate as soon as I opened the box, and I'm saving the other for a friend. I haven't tried the marzipan and chocolate dipped cookies yet, but I will be as soon as I take my lunch. They look DELICIOUS! I'm saving one for my mom, too, since she adores marzipan and it's hard to find the good stuff here.

I also got a lot of cookies! I can't wait to try them all - I found these really interesting because a lot of them look familiar to me, from my childhood, but I cannot remember where, when, or even if I really had them! I really wanted to try the Stroopwaffles, because I remember having them vaguely at a friend's house when I was little, maybe. Or I dreamed about them :-P. But if it's what I remember, they were amazing! I'm just wondering how I've had them before...

I already tried one of the XL cookies - yum! I get the feeling that this post is getting a little long though. So, I'll wrap up with a big THANK YOU!!! to Anouk (and Tommy!), and let me know if you want to do this again! I'm game :). I can't wait to try everything else!

Cheers!

Salmon and stomachaches

2008-06-05T12:26:00.006-04:00

It has been much too long since my last post, but in my defense I've had some sort of weird stomach bug since Memorial Day and am finally seeing a doctor tomorrow about it. As you can imagine, this has sort of turned me off of food. The first few days, I resisted believing anything was wrong with me (not to mention I only felt sick when I first woke up/was just going to bed). And so I went out to breakfast with my mom (Cinnamon Bun French Toast with Strawberries, mmmm)....made omlettes for myself (Feta Cheese and Spinach)....had some Stewart's Ice Cream....this could only have made it worse, in retrospect. Although I have to say that after going out to P.F. Chang's last Wednesday, I realized how poor that decision was (but the food was so good! My stomach just...wasn't.).

So the past 5 days or so have been nothing but bread, rice, applesauce, Goldfish crackers, and more rice. Booo. I'm missing real food and not having stomach pains, so I thought I'd make this post to cheer myself up.

The weekend of Memorial Day, one of my friends had a graduation party at his parent's house in New Jersey. Let me tell you, they know how to grill. But after 3 days of eating nothing but grilled meat (delicious! But it was more meat than I usually eat in a month), Chris and I needed something lighter. Much, much lighter. Chris made me a salad he's raved about in the past, and YES it is worthy of all of that raving! I find salads in general refreshing, but the addition of strawberries and a balsamic vinaigrette to this one was outstanding, and went perfectly with the summer rainstorm outside.

I also made grilled salmon to go with the salad, using a variation of Jaden from Steamy Kitchen's Ginger Soy Whiskey marinade. I made some changes, adding in some honey and (a very small amount of) maple syrup for added sweetness, and completely forgetting the ginger because I couldn't find it. It turned out so well! I grilled the salmon on our swanky George Foreman grill (haha), and the flavors were pretty delicious.

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Strawberry Pecan Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Several cups mixed greens
1/2 quart strawberries; washed, hulled, and sliced
1/2 cup chopped pecans
sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

3 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup good quality, light olive oil
1/4 tsp minced garlic
Lemon juice
pinch fresh ground pepper
pinch kosher salt

Toss together mixed greens, strawberries, and pecans. To prepare dressing, combine balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a jar and shake. Add garlic, lemon juice, pepper, and salt, and shake some more to combine. Add more salt or pepper to taste. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Soy Whiskey Honey Grilled Salmon

2-3 salmon fillets
1/2 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp honey
1-2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp whiskey
freshly ground black pepper

Combine all of the ingredients (except the salmon) in a bowl, and whisk together. Brush over fish a few minutes before grilling. Once grill is hot, place fish on it and brush more of the marinade on. Leave the fish on the grill for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until just opaque.

How many times am I allowed to say "delicious" in one post?

2008-05-19T15:24:00.011-04:00

So, I decided that with all of the unpacking and whatnot I still have to do, I probably wouldn't have time for a real first blog post. But I think that blogging about the Greek festival I went to this weekend is a good compromise!

My parents came up to visit me yesterday, since I'm effectively all alone in the apartment right now with my boxes and bags threatening to overtake me. We've been wanting to hit the St. Sophia Greek Festival for a couple of years, but never quite made it out there. Anyway, I'm glad we finally did! Not only is the church absolutely gorgeous, but the place was packed, and the food was DELICIOUS! Unfortunately, I left my camera in the van (yes, we drive a stylish mini-van...), so I was stuck with cell phone pictures all day.

My mom and I found a tent selling lots of sampler platters and classic Greek dishes, so she had the Greek sampler, which was actually a mistake...she thought she was asking for the pastry sampler! But it was a delicious mistake, nonetheless. I've never had such good feta cheese, not that I'm very well-versed in feta cheeses anyway! And, since my dad is slightly competitive (and only had some beer to hold him over amidst all of the delicious smells!), he ended up getting the calamari, which was very very good as well...light, crunchy batter, and tons of taste. All in all, you couldn't ask for better!

I got the spanakopita, which was very flavorful, light, crispy, and yes....delicious!! (I am a huge fan of exclamation points, it's kind of a problem!) I also had 2 cups of Greek coffee while we were there (yum). I made the mistake of swishing around the dregs in my cup to "mix it up" towards the end, thinking it'd make it thicker....what a HORRIBLE idea. Somehow my mind left out the part where the woman making the coffee told me the dregs would be finely ground coffee when I made the decision. *Shudder* I won't be doing that again, ever. On the right, you see the loukoumathes that my mom and I attempted to split (couldn't finish them all, although that's not necessarily a bad thing!), drenched in honey and cinnamon :D. Yum!

I'm going to wrap up this awkward post because I think I've reached my quota on the number of times I get to say delicious as well as use exclamation points. Also, work is ending soon! (YESS!)

First Post!

2008-05-12T01:07:00.002-04:00

This is my first post! How exciting. Chris (my boyfriend - he and I cook together often, so I'll be mentioning his name a lot, no doubt) helped me think of a name for this blog. It was daunting to think that whatever I picked will have to stay! I'm not used to having such an impersonal journal, in terms of who I am writing to. I have a LiveJournal for personal thoughts, but I've been wanting to start a food blog to share with friends and family.

Here are some topics to look forward to in the near future! (AKA, when I'm all moved in and settled into the apartment/work...oy.)
-Black Bean Burrito Pizza (YUM.)
-Italian Sausage and Ricotta Pizza (Chris's creation!)
-Popcorn, popcorn, popcorn
-The Perfect Omlette
-Varenyky
-The Perfect Baked Risotto
-Guacamole (YUM, again! The perfect college meal, I believe.)

-Strawberry Banana Bourbon Brownies
-Olive Oil Drop Cookies
-My Granola Staple - Chocolate Chunk Granola
-Pumpkin Cheesecake
-Yellow Cake and Chocolate Frosting Staple (everyone needs one of these!)
-My Mom's Smoothies
-Crepes, Ukrainian Style (Nalisnyky)
-Ham and Cheese Scones (one of my oldest/most favorite recipes)
-