food and drink

Boston Food Blogger Launch Party

January 18, 2011

I love starting off the week with a party to go to. Especially as one as great as last night’s Boston Food Bloggers’ Launch.

So soon as we arrived Price and I were welcomed with bowl upon bowl of Bacon Caramel Popcorn. This is not your average caramel popcorn. Besides the addition of the bacon, which provided a light smoky flavor, there were goldfish crackers and pretzels. It was a “gangs-all-here” kinds of popcorn.

The servers at The Gallows were fast on their feet serving Cheeseburgers, poutine, vegetarian crostini, and buffalo chicken livers. I was really impressed with the variety of food that was served. Also, the quality was top notch. However, in all honesty, I was not a fan of the poutine. Maybe it was because we just came back from a trip to Montreal, but the cheesy was just not right to me. Either way, I loved the crostini with it’s pungent blue cheese kick.

In addition to the food The Gallows served, SoCo Creamery served up several kinds of ice cream. They brought ginger, esspresso cookie, vanilla, and dirty chocolate. Price and I shared the dirty chocolate which was intense, rich, and very chocolately. Also, Price enjoyed the complimentary beer provided by Pretty Things.

Besides the food, The Gallows provided an amazing setting for the launch party. The Gallows is a beautiful restaurant complete with barn wood ceiling and long fully stocked bar. You def can’t miss the opportunity to saunter up to the bar to get creative drinks like the Missionary’s Downfall and Bear Hunter (pictured).

I’m looking forward to getting to know more food bloggers in the Boston Food Blogging community. I had a great time seeing some familiar faces like Meesh and Jacki from Just Eat Cheese and Molly from Cheap Beets and meeting some new people like Ashleigh from Ashleigh’s Slice of Life and Kara from Peace Love and Food

Thanks to Rachel of Fork it Over, Boston! The party was a huge success and the goodie bag I scored was amazing. I am so excited to visit all those places where I received gift certificates for.

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Holiday Party 2010

December 21, 2010

Last Thusrday night, my office had our holiday party get together. We headed over to Cambridge to go to the Blue Room. We had a private room to ourselves that featured the lovely Burt Reynolds all over the walls. It was hilarious.

Before the food was attacked and devored I took a few pictures. Boy, let me tell you, the passed hors d’oeuvres were fantastic. I can’t decide what I liked more… the spicy shrimp wontons with chili + soy dipping sauce or the tuna tartare on sesame crisps (pictured). The hors d’oeuvres also included 2 kinds of wood grilled pizza, a plate of roasted vegetables, and an amazing cheese plate.

The servers were on top of things, esp topping off our drinks. As in the case of Price telling a co-worker…”This is my first glass of champagne… I’ve just had it refilled 6 times” (wink wink).

It was a fantastic night. The best part was that I was able to go since a project I am working on had a BIG presentation on Friday. So happy to get out of the office on time and have a great presentation the next day. Perfect way to wrap up a hectic week.

**If the guy in the left picture looks familiar it’s because he was on Season 2 of HGTV’s Design Star. Tom was up from our NY office working on some projects so he came out to celebrate with the Boston Office. **

Cranberry Ginger Margarita

October 11, 2010

Poe’s Kitchen at the Rattlesnake Bar and Grill is one of my favorite places to eat. Chef Brian Poe has transformed this bar and restaurant into a place that I actually want to go to. Prior to coming to the Rattlesnake the only reason to go was because of it’s roof deck, and since that was it’s only positive thing the line to get up there was maddening. Now, I don’t give a crap about the patio, I just want the food and drinks. We have been there for several birthday’s now, and several ‘just because’ times. Just because I would like corn bread time. Just because I would like to go there for brunch, but incorrectly assume it opens at 11, and wait outside for 30 minutes time. Just because it’s Tuesday. (swoon)

When I saw a drink contest posted on their Facebook page, I knew I had to give it a try. I’ve spent the night making Cranberry Ginger Margatias for Price to try and give me feedback on. Such a difficult task!! ‘ Too Sweet” “Not enough tequila” “Needs lime?” “The sugar works, but…” So, I’m hoping that this recipe will make it into the top 3 for voting. Fingers crossed.

The first thing that came to mind was to make a margarita with cranberry juice. Why? Well why the hell not? But really it had everything to do with the upcoming season. The fall just screens cider and cranberries to me. Ruling apple juice/cider out I moved forward with the cranberry base. The second thing that came to mind was ginger. I have been on a major ginger kick this year, mainly making a lot of ginger infused simple syrup for seltzer. Instead of a ginger simple syrup, I decided to use Domaine de Canton, a French ginger liqueur. The combination of cranberry and ginger worked well, so full steam ahead. The rest fell into place- a gingered sugar for the rim, and a squeeze of lime to add tang.

The result is a margarita that has bite, since the cranberry brings acidity, much like the normal margarita. However, the sugar and liqueur bring some sweetnes, to cut the tartness. The Cranberry Ginger Margarita makes for a great fall cocktail because of it’s seasonal flavors. It can even been accessorized with some fangs for Halloween- this margarita has bite!

Cranberry Ginger Margarita

4 oz of cranberry juice cocktail

1 1/2 oz of tequila

2 oz of Domaine De Canton (ginger liqueur)

wedge of lime

cranberries (for garnish)

Sugar for the Rim

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon ground ginger

Prior to mixing the drink, combine the sugar and ginger on a plate to rim the glass. Wet the edge of the glass with water, drip into the sugar mixture, remove and let dry while mixing the drink.

Fill a glass half way with cubed ice, pour in the cranberry juice and add the cranberries. Add the tequila and Domaine De Canton. Squeeze the wedge of lime into the mix. Pour drink into rimmed glass.

Enjoy!

Canning Adventures

August 12, 2010

Every now and then Emily and I have these adventures where crazy hijinx occur. Such past adventures include our day at the Brimfield Antiques fair, our trips to the Quite Corner, and our day visiting the cape. With the summer winding down and the start of school fast approaching for Em we decided we needed one of these adventures. Well instead of going somewhere we decided to say local, very local in fact…. my kitchen. We decided would would make jam and can it!!!!!

Last Christmas I got a pressure canner and a canning accessories kit (thx amazon wishlist and Mom!) Since then I bought 2 books on preserving home made food, starting to hunt down some canning blogs, and follow people on twitter. So with the equipment, some ‘knowledge’, and a desire we set out to make jam and can it.

Hijinx did ensure. We ended up with plenty of burns from hot jam and steam, a sticky floor, well used aprons, and got to prove that my smoke dectors do in fact work ( I already new that the one in the kitchen worked but sure enough, the one in the living room does too!). Luckily Price and his friend Chris were out getting us more jars when the apartment filled with grey smoke. Of course, Price knew when he called with a question that from our laughing and hint to ‘take your time’ that something was up. Price sums it up best… we are bad news. Yes, but we love it 🙂

So we ended up with 26 jars of 3 types of jam. Everytime a jar popped we would squeel, jump, or give each other high fives. eek! We have not cracked open any of them. I’ll describe them when I post recipes next week.

Enjoy our video…. be sure to leave some jam or general canning suggestions. I’m going to do another round of canning at the end of August!

Pecan Snowdrops

December 13, 2009

Pecan Snowdrops, more commonly known as Mexican Wedding Cookies, are my favorite Christmas time cookie. They are nutty, buttery, sugary, and bite size! They are as easy to make as they are to eat. I use a great Christmas cookie book, fittingly called The Christmas Cookie Book, by Lou Seibert Pappas. It breaks down different types of cookies into chapters from timeless traditional, family favorites, cookies for gift giving and mailing, and elegant party cookies. These cookies fall under the gift giving and mailing chapter since they can ben stored in an airtight container for 2 weeks, that is if they last that long!

Price and I made a BIG batch (4x the typical recipe) on Friday night for a Cookies Exchange we hosted through our Meetup group. It was a lot of fun, a good break from the madness of finals, and we met a bunch of great people who brought some really great cookies.

Pecan Snowdrops

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or toasted, skinned hazelnuts (finely chop the nuts or run the through a food processor)
Powdered sugar for Dusting

Process

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets or use nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheets.
Using a stand mixer or a large bowl and a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, salt, flour and nuts and mix well. Roll the dough into ¾ inch balls between your palms, and place on prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 ½ inches apart.
One sheet at a time, bake the cookies for 15 to 18 minutes, or until light brown. Transfer to rack to cool slightly. Place the still-warm cookies on a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil and heavily dust with powdered sugar shaken through a sieve. Let cool completely.
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks

Saturday Winter Cooking Extravaganza

November 15, 2009

yes the shelf is bowing a bit…

So I went back in time and became a 50’s house wife this weekend. I planned on cooking a lot this weekend but it got a bit crazy. Our freezer and fridge are packed. What started off as some meal planning became a double batch of chicken soup, marinara and meatballs, orange chicken, beef stew, pumpkin whoopie pies, and then making chinese food with my dad. Oh yeah, I snuck in cooking plantains in there.

Saturday was about sleeping in, get some Vietnamese food with Pricer, getting supplies for our models, food shopping and then “SuperFantasticSaturdayWinterCookingExtravaganza !!!” (per Emily). Our poor stove top, slow cooker, oven, and dishwasher got quite the workout this weekend.

All of this deliciousness is packed into our freezer and fridge. (confession…. we already have a turkey in our freezer but they had huge ones on some crazy sale for 47 cents a pound and I wasthisclose to getting one but did not know how I could justify (to price) 2 turkeys and no room) Price helped me along the way but it was still so sweet that he said ‘thanks for making dinner for the next month.’ ha! I really like when we cook together.

Now I just hope we don’t lose power/fridge magically breaks or I am bringing all this into work and/or invading Emily’s fridge and freezer (you’ve been warned)

Recipes to follow

Stuffed Artichokes

September 30, 2009

Stymie: It might choke Arty, but it ain’t gonna choke Stymie!

Whenever I hear someone say Artichoke I think of that line from the Little Rascals. I remember my mom making stuffed artichokes when I was younger but I was not a fan then. I slowly came around to them, just like tomatoes. One thing at a time, first it was okay in dips, then marinated in salads, and now I even cooked them for our dinner! Over the weekend I went to grocery store and artichokes were on sale. Crazy on sale…. I got 7 for about $3. I could not pass them up so I called my mom when I was there to find out how she made stuffed artichokes. Luckily, she told me how easy they were so I planned for them to be our dinner on Sunday night.

To be quite honest I don’t have a recipe for this because I just winged it. My mom told me what was in the filling but no amounts so I just got to work and made it up as i went along. I think I was a little heavy on the hot pepper but the amount of garlic and cheese was good. They are easy to eat- snap off a leaf and scrape off the filling and ‘choke with your teeth. Plus, I was able to add all the post meal leaves to our compost.

Filling:

breadcrumbs

parmesan cheese

parsley, finely chopped (I used a lot)

garlic, minced

hot pepper flake

olive oil

salt and pepper

Mix breadcrumbs, cheese, parsley, garlic, and seasonings together in a bowl. Add olive oil to make a paste to stuff into artichoke.

Artichokes need to be prepped by carefully opening them up. Trim away the tips as you go. Wash them at this point and trip the bottom so it sits evenly. Separate the leaves to you have room for the stuffing. Stuff the artichokes.

Steam the artichokes for 20-30 minutes in a pot with an inch of water, add water if level gets too low. (Don’t walk away and start to watch TV! I almost forgot about them!)

Porcupine Meatballs

September 25, 2009

I had a craving for porcupine meatballs on Wednesday night. Luckily, my dad wrote down this recipe along with other family ones a few years ago that I turn to every now and then. There are only 6 ingredients, including water, so I went to the grocery store on my way home from class and grabbed the 3 that I needed.

Porcupine Meatballs is a simple meal made of meatball filled with rice- making it spiky- and served with gravy over noodles. Simply put it’s an inexpensive meal and easy to make. Plus there is a good chance you already have most of the ingredients in your cabinets like me. You can do this with beef but we try to keep it lean so we use turkey. If you use beef then adjust the gravy and rice-a-roni to match the beef flavor. This is so comforting because it is warm and filling- a real autumn/winter food. I made large meatballs to get cooking faster (too tired after a 3 hour class) but you really should make smaller meatballs. This allows the meatballs to cook faster and the rice cooks better when they are smaller.

Porcupine Meatballs

1 lb of ground turkey

1 box of rice-a-roni (I used chicken flavor)

1 egg

2 cups of water

1 lb of wide egg noodles

1 family size jar of turkey gravy

Start water on high heat to cook egg noodles until al dente.

Combine the ground turkey, rice-a-roni (including seasoning packet), and egg. Form into small meatballs (1 1/2 dia).

Brown meatballs in a skillet with oil. (You can drain off oil/fat, if you prefer). If the skillet gets too busy with the meatballs you can remove some to get enough room to brown all of them. Once all meatballs are browned, reduce heat to med/low and add 2 cups of water. Cook for 20 minutes. If the water begins to reduce too much, add a bit. When the meatballs have i a few minutes left add in the gravy.

Serve the meatballs with the egg noodles. Enjoy 🙂

Coquito- The Puerto Rican Eggnog

September 8, 2009

Coquito is the Puerto Rican Eggnog like drink that is made with lots of coconut and rum. It’s a boozy drink that will transport you to the island.

Post from 9/8/2009, Pictures Updated 11/4/18

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

Coquito season is one of my favorite seasons. I love it sooo sooo much. Are you ready for it? Are you gifting it?

…

Creamy Stove Top Mac and Cheese

September 3, 2009

Mac and Cheese is all the rage now. There is a really good place in Faneuil Hall that is called Mmmac and Cheese. The owner has created a creamy mac and cheese that is great on its own but is a good base for some great add ins like tomatoes, pesto, shrimp, ham, chicken, etc.

Well, I have tried several mac and cheese recipes, some good some bad. So far I have liked Suzanne Pirret’s from her book The Pleasure is All Mine. And now I have found another… It’s from White On Rice Couple. They have a fantastic blog that features their garden, cooking, and travels.

Creamy Stove Top Mac and Cheese

From White On Rice Couple

Serves 4

1/2 pound of pasta- elbow or fusilli (I used fusilli)

2 cups of low fat milk (skim also works), you may need an additional 1/4 cup or so more for final cooking

1 tablespoon butter (optional) *I suggest truffle butter*

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

1 teaspoon salt, plus additional to season to taste

dash of nutmeg

1 cup of grated cheese, you may combine cheese from cheddar, swiss, gouda, parmesan, asiago, jack, blue, etc. Just make sure to balance a hard cheese with a easy melting soft cheese

pepper to taste (black or white- depends on cheese and preference)

optional additions/toppings: tomatoes, Bacon, ham, chopped parsley, peas, steamed broccoli, breadcrumbs

_____________________

Quickly rinse the raw pasta in a colander, let drain

In a medium sized pot combine the milk, raw pasta, salt, butter, mustard powder, and nutmeg.

Using medium heat, slowly bring the milk to a simmer. You must stir the pasta frequently as it comes to a simmer- this prevents pasta from sticking to the bottom and together, and keeps the milk from burning on the bottom. Don’t leave the stove!

Once the milk is simmering, turn down the heat to LOW. The pasta will cook slowly in the milk (Don’t, be inpatient! If you have the heat on too high it will make the milk evaporate too quickly!)

Keep stirring frequently!

Cook for about 15-20 minutes, or until pasta is done and milk has been absorbed. If pasta is not done then add more milk/water un small amounts until pasta is cooked.

When pasta is ready stir in the shredded cheese.

Remove from heat and cover. Let it rest for 5 minutes- this allows the pasta to plump a bit and soak in excess milk.

Salt and Pepper to taste and Enjoy!!

*By the way, I threw some extra milk on top since we were not going to eat it right away. It would not normally be as milky as it was in the top picture*

Suzanne Pirret does this really funny Youtube video of her cooking a fish. Totally worth a watch. Check it out HERE.

Summer Basil Pesto

August 27, 2009

Basil Pesto is one of those things that take me under 5 minutes to get together but it does not taste 5 minutes simple. I’ve had some good and bad years with herbs, luckily this year was good! Eventhough I had 3 successful basil plants this year I always have the opportunity to go to Haymarket on Fridays and Saturdays. I can’t pass up the chance to get a HUGE bundle of basil for $1-$2. Plus haggling for a box of strawberries or tomatoes is always fun, plus the rabbits enjoy it.

So I take out my Magic Bullet to blend the pesto. A food processor or blender works well to whip up a batch quickly. It’s fast and easy to clean- just throw it in the dishwasher! Enjoy with pasta or with bread.

Summer Basil Pesto

2 cups of fresh basil

1 tablespoon of chopped garlic

2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese

1/8 cup of toasted pine nuts

1/4 cup of extra virgin oil olive

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

Salt and Pepper

Toast pine nuts in a dry pan. Be careful not to burn them! Combine all ingredients in a food processor. If pesto is very thick add more oil or some water- if making pasta add in reserved pasta water.

I used my basil the last time I made pesto and I perfer to add the pine nuts to the pesto after it has been processed, I like the difference in texture.

Horiatiki Salata

August 25, 2009

My salad from my first meal in Greece

Ever since I visited Greece this past March I have frowned upon Greek Salads that are not the traditional Greek Salad. I just don’t understand why we have to Americanize something that is so simple and perfect.

We ordered Greek Salad for every meal and by the time the trip was over I was a little crazy of it but a week after I got back I wanted it again, desperately. I found Sophia’s Greek Pantry in Belmont so I go there and get Feta, Tzatziki, and these amazing imported filled croissants from 7days.

Horiatiki (Greek Salad)

Tomatoes, cut into wedges

Green Pepper, sliced very thin

Red Onion, sliced very thin

Cucumber, peeled, halved, and slice (remove seeds if it is wet/has a lot of seeds)

Olives

Feta Cheese

Dressing: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Red wine vinegar, lemon, S&P

Cut all veggies and add dressing… enjoy

I did not give proportions because I think it all depends on your own taste. I don’t like olives to I leave them out and I really like a lot of onion so I add in more than typical.

Emily’s mom gave us two HUGE tomatoes and a cucumber. I added in some of our yellow pear tomatoes that have finally begun to ripen.