Gormandizing!!

Fall Soup & Swine Flu

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:33:00 +0000

We spent most of the late summer and fall traveling. We went to Chicago, NYC, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Province Town. Out of 9 weekend, we were in our home relaxing for exactly 1! (This is probably also part of the reason why I haven't blogged as much as I would have liked.) We visited friends and family and had a fantastic time in all our jet setting.

Our last trip was to PA to visit my sister, brother-in-law and youngest nephew, Taylor. It was a great trip that included a Pearl Jam concert, a trip to the local farmers market and introducing my nephew to the spoon.

It also included picking up my first Food & Wine magazine since my subscription ended earlier in the year. It was the Thanksgiving issue, which is my all time favorite issue of any food magazine. You have to expect food magazines to go all out for Turkey Day. It is after all the holiday for which they are written. I find that if I get the November issues of Food & Wine and Real Simple each year, I can be kept cooking through most of the winter.

This year, interestingly enough, it wasn't one recipe that inspired me. It was all the great recipes with squash, sweet potato, leeks, and cauliflower that had be drooling and I didn't want to make each one, I wanted them all....NOW! So I made up my own.

I roasted cauliflower, butternut squash, carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes in the oven for about 50 minutes. I could have eaten these as is, but instead I threw them into the food processor with some chicken broth and blended them until smooth.

I then sautéed onions, leeks and celery for 5 minutes before adding the pureed winter vegetables and a box and a half of chicken stock. I added about 2 tablespoons of fresh ginger, some nutmeg and let this simmer for 20 minutes. I topped it with some fresh parsley and roasted pumpkin seeds.

The result was a fantastic winter soup that was hearty and earthy. It carried Jared and I though the following week where we were both home from work for 4 days with the swine flu. I would recommend staying away from the flu and making some version of this soup!

Labor Day & Lobster

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:28:00 +0000

For the third year in a row, Jared and I celebrated our anniversary in NH with lobster. We were a couple weeks late this year (Labor Day) and accompanied by friends, but it made the occasion all that much more special.

I can't tell you what else we ate, but I know it was fabulous because we were there with Jillian, Ari, Ben and Hana, four of my favorite foodies. As a result, I also can't share any recipes with you. However, I can share this wonderful photo which makes me happy every time I see it.

Inspiration in the Bottom of a Pumpkin!

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:10:00 +0000

Jared and I were home the weekend before Halloween and had a rare Saturday night at home. We made what I am sure was a fantastic dinner although I can't remember what we had, and carved us some pumpkins. Amid the messy gore that resulted we decided to roast our own pumpkin seeds. Photos happened and all of a sudden I was inspired to start blogging about food again.

It's not that I haven't been cooking in the 5 months that I last posted. I have cooked dinners for friends and brunches for family that were 100% blog worthy! I have even taken photos of some. It's just that on the evenings when I could have been writing about my adventures in the kitchen, I was generally curled up with my Kindle reading away. I have finally found my way out of reading what looks like more than 40 books (according to my Amazon account) and back to my blog.

I am going to boast and tell you how proud I was of our pumpkins. I did the two small ones, and Jared was responsible for the big one. I thought they were all unique and beautiful, however our pumpkin seeds were the perfect combination of crunch and salt and totally out did the pumpkins from which they came.

Making the seeds was easier than I thought. If you can believe it, we actually looked it up online to check. After the slightly painful sorting of the seeds (to remove all the pulpy innards) we boiled them for 10 minutes in some super salty water. I didn't think this was how my Mom used to make them, but the interweb told us to and when has it ever been wrong before?

Once the seeds were boiled, we spread them on a cookie sheet that had been well oiled. They went into the oven at 400 degrees until they started to turn brown. You know that was a nerve wracking 20 minutes. I mean how awful to go through all the pulp sorting to burn the seeds just as you were about to be able to pig out on all their crunchy goodness!!

In any case, we saved them from a burnt ending and then salted to perfection and chowed down. My only warning (besides watching them carefully while they are in the oven) is that pumpkin seeds have more fiber than you would think....

My Biggest Challenge Yet!

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:21:00 +0000

Tomorrow night I will face my biggest, toughest culinary challenge yet...

(add dramatic music here for the Food Network effect)

I will be cooking dinner for 25 of my nearest and dearest colleagues!! I am pretty excited and spent the whole day cooking. I brought in the reserves and traded brunch for help from my mom and grandma and we got it all done very quickly.

My fridge is now stuffed with,

10 lbs of steak tips marinating in my homemade BBQ sauce (that's what I am holding, pre-marinade in the photo)
4 lbs of chicken marinating in my homemade teriyaki sauce
3 lbs of mayo-less potato salad
1 super large bok choy slaw
my mother's special copper pennies
the makings of an amazing fruit salad
4 kinds of blue cheese
1 homemade black bean salsa

Tomorrow I will head home early, throw together the fruit salad and pick up some beer. (I don't have enough room in the fridge to keep it cold, so I am going to buy it cold and then throw it in the cooler with some ice.)

Jared will start grilling when he gets home, and the crew is supposed to be here around 7. I am sure it will be a great time and for those of you who have been reading this blog for a year (Dan, Dan, Owen, Yoav...) you better bring your appetites!

Dreams Really Do Come True

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Mon, 11 May 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Last April I wrote about a chocolate cake recipe that I was dreaming about. It looked like the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter with a little twist. I promised myself I would make it at some point, and then came to work at HubSpot, the land of masterful bakers, and gave up baking all together because I am not worthy.

I sent DA the chocolate peanut butter crunch cake recipe 10 months ago as soon as I learned he liked to bake. I then asked him about it once a week for 10 months, until he finally consented to make it for me.

Each month we have a HubSpot Dev Team party to celebrate all the great work we are doing. This month was on Cinco De Mayo and was going to be at JO's house. There was also going to be a bake off between the masterful bakers. As soon as I heard that I laid down the gauntlet and told DA he HAD to make the chocolate peanut butter crunch cake, and he did. Of course, I didn't get to go to the party because that morning I rushed off to Pennsylvania to see the newest addition to our family, (insert AWWW here.)

However, DA did not let me down. Not only did he take photos of his creation, he saved a piece just for me!

The cake was fantastic! It was moist and amazing but the kicker was the frosting. He deviated from the recipes there and it was totally worth it. I don't even like frosting most of the time, but I licked the container clean before I gave it back to him.

Recipe

Cake:
1 box Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Mix

Frosting:
1 8oz package Plain Cream Cheese
1 stick Unsalted Butter
1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter
4 cups Confectioners Sugar
1 cup Cocoa Krispies

Bake the cake in two 9" rounds according to box directions. Cool the cakes for a couple of hours and use a long serrated knife to level them.

Combine the Cream Cheese, butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy. Sift sugar and add to frosting one cup at a time. If frosting is too thick add a little water to loosen it.

Put one cake round cut-side up on a serving dish and add about 1/3 of the frosting. Sprinkle a layer of Cocoa Krispies on top. Add second cake layer cut side down on top of frosting. Use the rest of the frosting to cover the top and sides of the cake. Fill your palm with Cocoa Krispies and gently press them onto the side one handful at a time, working your way around the cake.

The Amateur Gourmet on Steaks

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:29:00 +0000

Like the Amateur Gourmet I cannot cook a steak to save my life. It's been an on going debacle in my kitchen, one that has me permanently scarred when it comes to cooking beef. The tough thing is that beef keeps cooking when it comes out of the oven, so it's tough to tell when it's ready vs being too early or too late.

However the Amateur Gourmet has saved the day by sharing tips from the brilliant Chris Lim over at BLT. I haven't tried this yet, but I full intend to follow these instructions the next time I am feeling adventurous.

I think the tip I am going to use the most is when Chef Lim explains how to tell when a steak is done by feel. I know you are supposed to be able to do this, but I had never heard the bit about the meaty portion of you hand at the base of your thumb. Brilliant!

Miami, Tacos and Blog Lies

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:37:00 +0000

JR and I spent the early part of this week in Miami, it was part birthday present, part "GET ME THE HECK OUT OF WINTER!" We flew down Saturday morning and were out by the pool sipping peach coconut pina coladas by noon!

I had never really spent any time in Miami before, but I knew the food was supposed to be great, so JR and I both did some reconnaissance before we went. By the time we got down there, we both had lists of recommended places to eat and the only restaurant on both lists was El Rancho Grande. It was of course a no-brainer, we had to go there to eat!

We started with the margaritas, which I heartily approved of, and then shared their guacamole and salsa with chips. I was thrilled because their salsa actually had a little zing to it, which I find to be rare in most restaurants.

I always order fajitas at Mexican restaurants, I love them and it's fun to compare. These were without a doubt some of the best. It wasn't anything fancy, but the seasoning of the chicken, steak, pepper and onions was awesome.

JR got the El Rancho Grande Taco Special which was a chicken taco, a beef taco and a pork taco. The soft taco shells were fresh and again the flavors were rocking. It was the perfect dinner before the NCAA mens basketball finals and we were both thrilled with the recommendations.

On the other end of the spectrum, we went to Wish at The Hotel. Their outdoor patio dining room was beautiful (the photos really don't do it justice.) I didn't do photos of the food, I forgot because I was too busy eating it. I ordered their heirloom tomato salad which blew me away because the tomatoes were August-delicious and it's only April!! I would pay tons of money for tomatoes like that this time of year!

For my meal I had the branzino, which was done perfectly on a bed of Israeli couscous with currants, onions and olives. JR had a scallops which were big, plump and tender. JR asked the host to take a photo of us, and then proceeded to tell him I was a "famous" food blogger and would write a rave review of the place. For that we got to go to their roof top bar (which was closed for the evening) and watch South Beach pass us by from above. It was so spectacular I might have JR lie about my blogging status more often!

Easter + Passover = Eastover

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 19:51:00 +0000

This weekend is not only my birthday but it's also Easter AND Passover! JR and I spent Friday night out celebrating my birthday at Match (and had a wonderful time) and celebrated Easter and Passover together on Saturday with both our families. The weekend has been a wonderful, glutenous affair filled with friends and family, what more could a girl ask for?

For my birthday, my parents sent me 3 fancy blue cheeses from the Rogue Creamery in Oregon. They are really quite spectacular. My favorite is the Crater Lake Blue which is one of the sharpest and smoothest blue cheeses I have ever had. Their most famous blue, the Rogue River Blue has won all kinds of awards and also has a very distinctive flavor. JR's favorite was the Smokey Blue which is a smoked blue cheese that I can imagine will be amazing on burgers.

I spent Saturday making a Turkey and Eggplant Passover Lasagna. If you aren't familiar with Passover, it's the Jewish celebration of their exodus from Egypt (you know the story, it's the one about the 10 plagues and Moses parting the waters). During the week of Passover, you are only supposed to eat unleavened bread, which means matzo, a large flat cracker. This recipe is a fantastic Passover option, using egg soaked matzo instead of noodles and a delicious turkey, eggplant, mushroom, carrot, tomato and cinnamon filling. I changed up the recipe slightly, and my version is below.

My mother-in-law made lots of traditional Passover items including homemade Matzo ball soup and potato kugles. My favorite, and which I must learn how to make is her beef brisket. It's melt in your mouth tender and deliciously flavored. I managed to take a tupperware full of it home and today we made brisket and blue cheese sandwiches that were so good I cried over my last bite.

It was a delicious weekend and I think I need to run an extra mile every day this week!

Turkey and Eggplant Passover Lasagna

Ingredients

2 pounds ground turkey
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, or to taste
1/2 cup Olive oil
2 medium onions, diced
1 pounds fresh mushrooms (button, cremini, or shiitake), sliced
1 bag julienne carrots
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 large eggplants, peeled and diced
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
3 cloves garolic, minced
10 thick, unbroken matzo crackers
2 liquid egg cartons
2 (15-ounce) cans tomato sauce
1/8 cup honey

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large frying pan, brown ground turkey, approximately 10 minutes. Once brown, drain, then sprinkle 1 tablespoons of cinnamon onto mixture, and set aside.
In another large frying pan, heat 1/8 cup olive oil and saute diced onions until browned. Add sliced mushrooms and carrots to onion mixture, and saute together with seasoning, pinch of salt and pepper, until cooked. Place cooked mixture in large bowl and set aside.
Using the same frying pan (do not wash), add remaining 1/8 cup oil and saute with pinches of salt and pepper, diced eggplant and garlic, until soft. Add these ingredients to onions, mushrooms and carrots in the mixing bowl. Add minced parsley, salt, freshly ground pepper, and remaining 1 tablespoons of cinnamon.
Add 1 can of tomato sauce to vegetable mixture. Combine browned turkey with vegetable mixture; adjust seasonings. Add 1/8-cup honey to taste, and set aside.
Use 2 aluminum roasting pans, 1 for matzo-soaking process, and 1 for egg dipping process.
Fill 1 large aluminum roasting pan halfway with almost boiling water. Add matzos, 1 at a time to this "bath" and soak until wet through, not falling apart, but pliable (10-20 seconds). Remove and lay on paper towels. Place more towels on top of matzos to soak up excess water, if necessary.
Fill second large aluminum roasting pan with about 3 cartons of liquid eggs. (You will dip the softened matzos into egg mixture, 1 at a time as you layer.)
Grease 1 (9-1/2 by 13 inch) glass baking dishes lightly with olive oil. Open remaining cans of tomato sauce, pour into mixing bowl, and set aside.
Start layering in Pyrex baking dish. First with a thin amount of tomato sauce on bottom, then with 2 to 2 1/2 egg dipped matzos (these are used similarly to lasagna noodles), then with filling mixture, then several dollops of tomato sauce, continuing to repeat process until the baking dish uses 6 to 8 matzos. Finish with a layer of matzos brushed lightly with tomato sauce. (Note: the baking dish should have 3 matzo layers total.)
Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes, until top is firm and golden.

World's Best Homemade Pizza

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 01:15:00 +0000

I am many things, one thing I am not, is modest about my pizza. I am a firm believer in Boboli pizza shells. As a result, you might claim that my pizza is not really homemade. In response, I ask you who really wants to eat soggy pizza? Most of the time when I make or eat pizza made with dough from scratch and NOT cooked in a pizza oven, that is exactly how it turns out... SOGGY. Since I am making after-work-dinner, I need something that is quick and delicious. So I use Boboli Thin Crust Pizza shells which means every time my pizza is crunchy and fantastic

Ok, enough advertising (and I didn't even get paid for it!) The pizza shell isn't all that makes my pizza amazing, in fact it's so amazing I didn't even get a photo of it before I cut it OR before I took a bite.

When I made pizza the two most important factors are a crunchy crust (which I believe I have already covered) and LOTS of toppings.

This story isn't really about the pizza or the shell, it's about mother daughter cooking from a distance. A couple of weeks ago I was dreaming about a pesto chicken pizza and as I walked home from work I was talking with my Mom on the phone and I told her what I was thinking. Her response was, "Wow, that sounds amazing, I am going to make that for dinner too!"

What's cool is that I am a avid cook because my Mom is a great cook. She reinvented her cooking to be more healthy when I was around 10 and at the same time made herself an AMAZING chef. I didn't complain before when we were eating sloppy joes and homemade mac & cheese (who would?) As an adult, I appreciate all the effort that she put into cooking healthy, which probably has a lot to do with how healthy JR and I eat. Having lots of healthy pizza toppings is just part of this.

So any way, back to the pizza, it was really quite simple. First I took a Boboli pizza shell and spread it with pesto. Then I took some chicken and I grilled it up in a black pepper marinade from McCormick. This is a total family secret, and since I am letting it loose, go buy this stuff right now.

I sliced the chicken nice and thin and put it on the pizza with a topping of sun dried tomatoes.

Then I sauteed some red and green peppers and sweet onions which I season liberally with red pepper (did I mention I like my spice?) I threw a heaping bunch of peppers and onions on the pizza and covered it with LOTS of mozzarella.

The second secret of the night is to place the pizza directly on the oven rake before baking it according to the Boboli instructions on the pack. This will insure it's crunchy-ness. The pizza was great and we really enjoyed it.

The cool thing is my Mom totally spun the recipe on her own and then sent me photos! She used broccoli instead of the red peppers and feta cheese instead of the mozzarella. Knowing her track record, I am sure it was also an amazing pizza!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Orgasms

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:53:00 +0000

My work place is a place of unending surprises and devilish temptations. I have already told you about the kitchen with the amazing never end supply of diet-breaking-goodies. On top of that I have some freaking amazing bakers who bring me goodies from their kitchen a couple times a week, and I am powerless to stop myself from eating it ALL.

I mentioned AE and her amazing cookies to blow your mind last week. What I didn't tell you was that her baking streak continued to Dulce De Leche stuffed cookies and then on to my favorite, chocolate cherry cheesecake stuffed cookies. This did nothing but add a full 5lbs to my bottom and convince my friend and co-worker DA that he needed to get in on the action and start baking as well.

DA is no amateur when it comes to the baking game. I have almost blogged about him on 2 separate occasions, neither time stopping because his chocolate chocolate chip cookies and 7 layer bars were not worthy, but instead because I am a lazy food blogger. This week changed everything when he pulled me out of my blogging stump with his Chocolate Peanut Butter Orgasms (my name for these delightful I-need-to-get-back-in-a-bikini-diet-breakers not his.)

They were the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter, and he did something to the peanut butter to make it sweet and a little crumbly like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. In all honesty, these cookies were like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on CRACK! This is really saying something, since I am not a huge peanut butter fan (I know it's almost sacrilege) and even I thought these were amazing.

He was willing to share the recipe and it's below. I haven't tried to make it myself, but it was too good to pass up or pass along. Make these (JL&JL, go make them NOW seriously!) and then sit at home all weekend and eat them by yourself!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Orgasms

Ingredients Chocolate Cookies:

2 1/4 cups Flour

1/2 cup Melted Butter

1 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

3/4 cup Sugar

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Cocoa Powder

Cream together the butter and sugars. Mix in Eggs, Salt and Vanilla. Sift together Flour, Baking Powder and Cocoa Powder. Mix dry into wet about 1/4 at a time. Refrigerate for an hour.

Peanut Butter Filling:

1 cup Smooth Peanut Butter

1 cup Confectioners Sugar

Mix together Peanut Butter and Sugar. Refrigerate for an hour.

Stuff cookies using the cookie stuffing method:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doijR5S3GBA

Bake at 379 degrees for 9 - 11 minutes.

This is Why You Are Fat

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:45:00 +0000

My friend on Twitter, @gracekboyle just sent me this link and I have to tell you it might be one of the best sites I have ever seen.

This is Why You Are Fat . com

That's right, it's a site of photos and descriptions of food that explain why we are fat. Believe me, every item is outrageous, awesome and slightly disgusting. These examples are pretty much the Mac Daddy of the Bacon Explosion.

The best part is everyone can submit their own for inclusion on the site. I might have to come up with something JUST to get on this site.

Here is one example for the road.

Taco Town Taco

Saturday Night Live-inspired: crunchy beef taco with nacho cheese, lettuce, tomato and southwestern sauce wrapped in a soft flour tortilla with a layer of refried beans in between, then wrapped in a corn tortilla with a layer of Monterey Jack cheese in a deep fried gordita shell with guacamole sauce baked in a corn husk topped with pico de gallo, wrapped in a crepe, filled with egg, griere cheese, sausage and portobello mushrooms, all wrapped in a chicago-style deep dish pizza wrapped in a blueberry pancake and finally deep fried with spicy vegetarian chili dipping sauce.

(submitted by Drew via hulu)

Cookies to Blow Your Mind!

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:26:00 +0000

My friend AE brought some of the most delicious cookies to work today. I want to say they are some of the most unique, but I would be lying as a couple of weeks ago she brought in candied bacon chocolate chip cookies, but these are pretty darn unique too. In any case if you need a cookie recipe to blow minds, this is the one for you!

I wish I had my own photo of these puppies, but the 70 cookies she brought in were gone before I could whip out my camera! They are Salted Carmel Chocolate Cookies. Her inspiration (and the photo) came from this recipe.

She improved it by using vanilla bean paste instead of extract and rolling the cookies in a sugar sea salt combination. The results were SPECTACULAR!

They were the perfect combination of chocolate, salty and caramel-gooeyness. I held myself back and only ate one, but I could have easily downed a dozen!

AE's Salted Carmel Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter,softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons sugar mixed with 2 tablespoons sea salt
48 ROLO candies

Directions:
Beat butter until creamy. Gradually beat in white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla bean paste. Combine flour, baking soda and cocoa. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating well. Cover and chill at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Work with one part at a time, leaving the remainder in the refrigerator until needed. Divide each part into 12 pieces. Press each piece
of dough around a chocolate covered caramel (such as a rolo). Roll into a ball. Dip the tops gently into the granulated sugar and salt mixture. Place sugar/salt side up, 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets.

Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, rotating pan halfway at 4 minutes. When you taken them from the oven smoosh down the rolo with the back of a spoon and let cool for 4 minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely. If you try to take them off sooner the caramel might try to come out the bottom

The Most Photographed Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 03:17:00 +0000

Have you ever cooked something and thought it was so beautiful that you had to take a photo? Maybe I am weird, but I photographed "pretty" meals long before I started blogging, and as my last post showed, even when I am not blogging I still take the photos!

There is one meal which I make on a semi-regular basis and pretty much EVERY TIME I make it, I photograph it, and I have NEVER written about it. I went through my photos the other day to see how many I could find, and this is really just a quick sampling.

The photos go back to 2006, which means I have 3 years of photos of this one meal. The meal hasn't changed all that much. Sometimes I don't have sun-dried tomatoes, or I add green beans instead of snow peas, but the beauty of this meal is it's versatility.

I always have a can of Pillsbury reduced fat crescent rolls in the fridge and some egg beaters in the freezer. So long as there are some vegetables and cheese in the fridge I can pull a Tomato Broccoli Crescent Pie together in 15 minutes. Sometimes it doesn't have tomatoes OR broccoli in it, but the idea is the same and it's always delicious.

Tomato Broccoli Crescent Pie

It's really hard to mess this recipe up. So play with it and see what comes out. It pretty much always looks beautiful and is absolutely always delicious!

Ingredients:

4 cups diced vegetables (coarsely chopped broccoli, onions, mushrooms, peppers, green beans, snow peas, asparagus, etc.)
1/3 cup julienne sun-dried tomatoes in oil (if you can't find those in oil, you can use the dried ones, just make sure you soak them in HOT water for 30 minutes first)
black pepper
garlic
1T basil
1T oregano
3/4 - 1 cup egg beaters (you can use real eggs if you like, it's roughly 3-4 eggs)
1-2 cups grated cheese (mozzarella, sharp, muenster, Parmesan, mix it up)
1 8oz. can refrigerator crescent rolls

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Open crescent rolls, unroll and press into pie plate to create crust.
Chop vegetables and stir-fry for about 3 minutes in olive oil over high heat, just to soften.
Add sun-dried tomatoes and spices to veggies. Remove from heat.
In a separate bowl, mix egg beaters and cheese together. Add vegetables ad stir together. The mixture should be gooey and cheesy but not too runny. You really can't mess this one up, so just go with your gut.
Pour into the pie crust and then throw in the oven. It generally bakes for 30-40 minutes, depending on how thick it is. Just pay attention to it and take it out when it's firm in the middle.
Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes. This might be why I have so many photos of this recipes, it's something to do during the 10 minute wait (which honestly is generally more like 2 minutes in my house.)

A Delicious Month

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:36:00 +0000

I was going to tell you all about my last week of cooking. I made a couple incredible meals and knew I would never post about each, so I was going to pull them together. Then I realized I have really had an amazing MONTH of eating and even though I haven't been writing, I have been taking photos.

January in Boston is COLD! So I made soups! I have 6 or 7 amazing recipes that are staples in our house, but I was getting tired of the same-old-same-old, so I went on a hunt for a couple new recipes. In one week I made both an awesome Squash and Chickpea Moroccan Stew,

and an okay Georgia Peanut Soup. I say okay because I was so excited about this recipe and in the end it was just vegetable soup with peanuts in it, nothing too different or crazy, but still tasty. The Squash and Chickpea Moroccan Stew will be added to the collection since it had a different flavor and got better each day.

We then spent an evening over at my friend C. Superfine's place enjoying her world famous lasagna.

Not only is her last name fantastic (yes, it is really Superfine!) her lasagna is as well! She uses Paula Deen's recipe which has 7 kinds of cheese in it including a block of cream cheese. It's as creamy and amazing as it sounds! I had been hearing about it for months and was thrilled to give it a shot. Her's was so good, I might make some alterations to my lasagna recipe.

I then spiced things up with a new squash recipe from a new foodie blogger that I have been enjoying. The Traveler's Lunchbox has a great assortment of recipes and she blogs about as often as I do, so I don't feel guilty when I don't write more. This recipe was great and unique, but I got a little over zealous with the red pepper and it was almost too much. It got better with time and I enjoyed it all week.

I made the squash with a roasted turkey breast, which allowed me to introduce JR to a childhood favorite of mine, Turkey Tetrazzini. I haven't had Turkey Tetrazzini in YEARS! Probably because I have been afraid to make a turkey up until now, but it was totally, 100% worth it.

The recipe is below and next time you make a turkey, make a big one and use some of the leftovers for this, I promise you will enjoy. Two secrets you should know about, first you can get 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup which makes this a lot less awful for you. Second, if you have access to homemade fresh pasta, like the stuff you can get at Dave's Fresh Pasta, I highly recommend using it. JR and I found over the leftovers all week!

We ended the month spending another night with C. Superfine and my good friend JS. The four of us went to Red Bones a Davis Square staple that JR and I have been hearing about from everyone and their mother since we moved here. The four of us ordered the dinner for 4 and ended up with enough food for 10 of us. It was amazing and I plan to go back as soon as possible for their pulled pork and coleslaw.

It was a fun, delicious month and it's a wonder I didn't gain 15 pounds! I would do it again in a heart beat. Let's hope the next month is as tasty!

Turkey Tetrazzini

Ingredients:
1/2 package (8 oz. size) pasta (or 1lb fresh pasta any flavor)
1 package frozen peas
2 cups cooked turkey
1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
Paprika

1 can cream-of-mushroom or chicken soup, undiluted
1 cup turkey or chicken stock
1 cup sharp grated cheese

Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to instructions, a minute or two before it is done, add the frozen peas to the boiling water. Once cooked, drain and keep hot.
2. In sauce pan, combine soup, stock and sharp cheese mixing well. Bring to a boil, stirring often, and then remove from heat.
3. Toss pasta and peas with the turkey, almonds and half the sauce. Turn mixture into a shallow, 2 quart baking dish. Pour the rest of the sauce over the pasta in the dish and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and paprika.
4. Broil for 4 minutes or until Tetrazzini is brown and bubbly.

Homemade Pasta in Boston!

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 19:55:00 +0000

I lived in New York for 4 years and during that time I became a bonafide New York food snob. While I might not have written it explicitly, when I moved to Boston there was part of me thinking, “Oh my god, I am never again going to be able to eat in a decent restaurant or have fresh foods again!” You would have thought I was moving to a remote village in South America! Instead, I am happy to report that Boston has stood up again it’s big sister to the south west remarkably well.

While we do eat at home more here in Boston, it’s not for lack of great restaurants. I have been blown away by some such as O Ya and L’Espalier (a dinner I sadly regret never having written about). More recently I fell in love with Drink, down by the water front, for their amazing service and even more amazing cocktails. With that said, when leaving each of these places, in the back of my mind I thought, “In Boston, really? Who knew!”

What has really been amazing to learn is that I can get out of this world ingredients here in Boston that the New York food snob in me would have assumed were only in New York. In fact there are things I couldn’t get easily in New York which haven’t been a problem here at all. For example, sulfite free wine (the only kind I can drink) was impossible to find in New York and seems to be everywhere here in Boston!

The most recent amazement from this great city has been Dave’s Fresh Pasta. It’s a small specialty grocery on my walk from the T to our new home with some of the most amazing foods. Honestly, it blows Whole Foods out of the water with its cheeses, pastas, sandwiches and sauces, and while I am sure similar stores can be found in New York, I never lived next to one!

Some days I stop on the way home to pick up a pound of fresh rosemary pasta and have them cut it to linguine or angle hair depending on my mood. (Yes, they keep it in sheets and cut it to a size of your choosing while you watch!) Other nights, I’ll just grab a stinky blue cheese or a loaf of fresh foccacia. Yesterday, I picked up their Sun-dried tomato pesto, turkey, arugula and caramelized onion sandwich for dinner and a bottle of wine. It was amazing!

Every time I stop in I find something new and amazing. When I was talking to the sandwich man yesterday he told me they are expanding and taking over the two stores next door. Instead of adding seating, they are going to add more amazing groceries and foods (possibly even fresh fish!) I couldn’t be more excited and I didn't have anything close to Dave's in New York.

Why can't I blog?

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:42:00 +0000

I am not sure why I haven’t been able to write a decent blog post recently. It’s not that I haven’t been cooking and eating and enjoying it more than I should. It’s more than when I sit down at my computer I come up with 12 other things to do! I have photos, I have recipes, I want to share and yet I still don't. Until today!

This morning I was finally, for the first time in almost 2 months, inspired. It’s really only because it would be a shame to keep this to myself. I have no idea what to call it, because I didn’t create it. I had it for the first time at Dizzy’s more than a year ago. The first time I tasted it, it was on their specials menu and I gushed to the waitress and extracted a promise that they would serve it the following weekend.

So the following weekend I went back, and sure enough, there it was again and I was in heaven. It’s so simple and yet, so amazing. Basically they took some fresh focaccia bread and cubed it. They then tossed it with a drizzle of olive oil, basil, fresh grated Parmesan and fresh ground pepper. They then poached two eggs and threw them on top. See, I told you it was simple, and yet the yolk blends with the bread, the cheese adds just enough salt and the basil just gives it the wow factor. I think I ate it 3 or 4 weekends in a row.

Then we moved, and I haven’t had it since!

So this morning I realized I had made some fresh par baked bread last night and had enough left to try and pull this off. I was worried about the eggs, which is probably what has kept me from trying this for over a year, but decided to be a woman and grow up! I went to a post on Smitten Kitchen on how to poach and egg and read up. It was so much easier than expected.

When I pulled it all together, it was so beautiful I had to stop for a photo and it was there I knew I was going to write another blog post.

Go try this one, I promise, it’s well worth it. If you decide to loose faith in me as a blogger, that's fine because not only did I skip Thanksgiving AND Christmas, I forgot my 1 year anniversary of blogging. What's not fine is not treating yourself to this as soon as you can. This morning, I didn’t even share one single bite with JR and I think I am going to make it again tomorrow, just for me!

The Worst Foodie Blogger EVER!

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:10:00 +0000

I am officially the worst food blogger ever. It’s almost two weeks after Thanksgiving and I haven’t written about my Grammy’s amazing pumpkin chiffon pie, told you how my fennel casserole was a dud, or shown you the photo of my Turkey Day plate. You should either assume that Thanksgiving is so holy to me that I can’t spend a minute of the weekend (or following weeks) online writing or that I have been communing with my new kitchen and will eventually post all the amazing recipes I am cooking.

With that said, I am still not going to write about Thanksgiving today. I am going to write about something that made me laugh out loud – Whopper Virgins! Burger King’s latest and great marketing stunt was to send a team of documentary film producers around the world to find Whopper Virgins, people who had never experienced a Whopper or a hamburger before. They then did a un-biased taste test to determine which was better the Big Mac or the Whopper.

As you may or may not be able to imagine, this set off a wave of bloggers (here, and here, and here and here) complaining about everything from how they exploited the people they were interviewing to how the campaign is offensive to virgins everywhere. You can be the judge for yourself, since the video was finally released this weekend.

Personally, I enjoyed it. What I enjoyed most was how difficult people found the burger to eat. What we take for granted, they couldn’t figure out. Do I use a fork? Do I eat the bun first? Who knows!

In any case, however unhealthy is it, the burger is one of God’s greatest gifts to man (in my mind) and I am all for sharing it with anyone and everyone. Personally, if I was going to go around the would to introduce people to the hamburger, I wouldn’t have taken the Whopper OR the Big Mac, in fact I do believe I am both a Whopper Virgin and a Big Mac Virgin. No, I would have taken all those people one of the burgers from the Shake Shack in New York City’s Madison Square Park. It is in my mind, the best burger in the world, and believe me, I have tried a few!

Lobsters, Lobsters Everywhere!

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:20:00 +0000

Did you know that lobster prices have gone down 25% since last year? Neither did I! Then my friend, JW, visited the office the other day and told me she has been eating nothing but lobster for weeks because it's so cheap. A quick google search revealed that not only was she right, but that I was way late to the lobster party!

Back in September, the New York Times covered the falling lobster prices. They explained that this has happened because lobster is a luxury item and in times of financial duress (ie. major world wide financial crisis) people just don't eat lobster. They also mentioned that "lobster fishermen are hauling in larger catches than ever" which means we have tons of lobster that need eating!

JR is completely and totally responsible for introducing me to lobster. I hadn't cracked a lobster shell until July 4th, 2004 when I spent my first weekend away with JR's whole family. The weekend before, he and I were hanging out in Ashford, and I mentioned I had never eaten lobster before. JR took this as permission to call his parents (who I had met MAYBE 4 times) and say "Karen wants lobster for the 4th of July, can we have it?" I was horrified!

I learned later that lobster on the 4th was a tradition and this wasn't really a big deal, but boy was I mad at him! In any case, over the course of the last few years I have watched numerous lobster dinners come together in New Hampshire. Occasionally, if we are lucky, JR's dad makes his famous baked stuffed lobster, but for the most part we have straight up steamed lobster which is nothing to cry about.

Seeing all these amazing dinners come together gave me the confidence to make a lobster dinner while on our honeymoon last summer. You know what? It really wasn't that big of a deal, it's a lot easier than I expected. So if you have been intimidated by the price of lobster in the past, now is the time to give it shot, because it's cheap!

Baked stuffed lobster is a beast all on it's own, if you are a first time lobster cooker, I recommend just steaming it. The first step to making lobster is making friends with your lobsters. They are really amazing creatures, so when you get home from buying them at the store, make sure you take some time to play with them and take photos of them. Then put them in the fridge until you are ready to start cooking.

When it's time to begin, get the biggest pot you can and a steamer basket. We are lucky because JR's parents actually have a lobster pot, but I am sure any very large pot will do. Add some water to the bottom and bring it to a boil and then place the lobsters in the steamer and lower them into the pot and cover it up. They don't scream or do anything horrible, they just take a nice steam bath. (I say that, but it's NEVER my job to put them in the pot.)

After about 15 minutes, peak in. You know they are done when they turn BRIGHT red. If you can believe it, when they are alive they are kind of a dull dark red, but when cooked they are almost fluorescent. Then comes the part where we are never sure exactly what to do. You have to cut them open. So get the biggest knife you have, and cut them straight down the belly.

I choose to clean out any gunk that is still in there, but some (like my uncle, MD) swear that is the best part. All that left is to grab some lobster (or nut) crackers and start breaking out that meat. Don't forget a plate for all the broken shells and some butter to dip the meat in, then go to town and enjoy!

Bottom line, lobsters are cheap right now. If you have stayed away because you are scared of them or think they are to expense, you don't have any excuses. Go out an get a couple of these beauties and give them a shot!

Stupid Simple Thanksgiving Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:42:00 +0000

It's November, it's dark and cold outside, and there are leaves all over the sidewalk crunching under my feet as I walk to work. As a result, in the middle of last week I started craving Thanksgiving dinner. I wanted mounded forkfuls of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and gravy carefully put together so that each bite had a little bit of everything.

The thing is, the REAL Thanksgiving is only a couple weeks away, and pulling together a turkey dinner in true Thanksgiving style takes time. So much time, that I can't quite convince myself to spend a Sunday, two weeks before the real deal, whipping up a Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us.

So I improvised and came up with my newest favorite weeknight meal - the Stupid Simple Thanksgiving Dinner. It was the easiest, most delicious, craving-curing meal I have had in awhile.

First, I ran over to Whole Foods and picked up a rotisserie chicken. I know it's not turkey, but it's close enough and super easy on a Monday night. Then I got some Stove Top stuffing. Do remember the Stove Top stuff commercial from the 80's? The one where the two kids do dinner twice just so they can have more Stove Top?

Well let me tell you, that commercial completely worked on me as a kid and I still think Stove Top is great. Not in a, make it for the real Thanksgiving kinda-way, but definitely in a Stupid Simple Thanksgiving Dinner kinda-way!

I threw some acorn squash in the microwave, steamed up some green beans and opened can of cranberry sauce (actually two cans, the chunky kind for me and the jelly kind for JR) and honestly I couldn't have been happier. The whole meal took maybe 15 minutes to pull together, looked beautiful (see the photos above) and it will hold me off for a couple of weeks until I can celebrate the real deal with my family.

Homecoming Meals & Thanksgiving Tryouts

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:08:00 +0000

My girl KF moved to Alaska not long after we finished college. She and her husband were supposed to be there 1 year and it has been much longer than that! Which means when she comes to CT to visit, it's a special occasion that I mark on my calendar and nothing gets between me and heading home to see her.

KF and I stumbled through our first cooking-to-live experiences together when we were living in Germany during our junior year of college. It's a stretch to say we were great cooks, in fact, I think we bordered on awful. At the time I blamed it on bad kitchen gear (we were using a shared dorm kitchen) and unfamiliar grocery stores, but the fact of the matter was, we had no idea what we were doing.

We did survive, mostly on pasta with frozen vegetables, salads, cereal and an occasional burger, but I think it's fair to say my cooking has improved since then. So when KF came to visit last weekend for the first time since my wedding (more than a year ago) I decided to cook her some favorites and show her how much I have improved.

Since the dinner was at my parents house, Mom and I collaborated on the menu. We planned balsamic braised cipolline onions, steaks, potato fries, salad and crunchy baked fennel. Both the cipolline onions and the fennel casserole are Food & Wine Thanksgiving specials that we were testing for Thanksgiving this year.

Jared and I headed down Saturday afternoon and Mom and I got to cooking. I haven't cooked a lot with fennel, but I like the taste of it and want to start cooking more with it, so I was excited about the experiment. The end result was good, I should have listened to the instructions and used 10 fennel bulbs (I used 6 - it looked like so much) but the flavor and crunchiness was perfect. It's a definite yes for Turkey Day.

The onions, which I had made a couple of times before, were like candy. Each tiny little onion is pillow of bliss for your to bite into. It's creamy and sweet and just melts in your mouth. They went with the steak perfectly, but they did not make the Thanksgiving day menu purely because of the time and effort it takes to peel each little onion. If you are having a small dinner, these would be a perfect addition, but for group of more than 6, this recipe is a daunting task.

As always getting to spend time with KF made me realize how much I miss her. I am constantly coming up with schemes to convince her to move back here. (For example, we are going to move our husbands to Vermont to start up a goat cheese farm just as soon as they move home.) In the mean time, I'll continue to save my weekends in Ashford to spend with her when she visits, and hope to persuade her with my much improved cooking.

If you need an additional vegetable dish for a crowd, here is the Crunchy Fennel Casserole Recipe.

If you are looking for something decadent for a smaller group, here is the recipe for the

Balsamic Braised Cipolline Onions

Ingredients:

2lbs cipolline onions (these are the small red and white ones, small boiling onions work as well)
1 1/2 cups fat-free low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1t brown sugar
3T heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup dried cranberries (or fresh pomegranate seeds if you are feeling decadent)
salt
olive oil

Directions:

Fill your large soup pot half with water and put over high heat. Once boiling, blanch the onions in the boiling water for 1 minute. Remove them from the boiling water and immediately submerge them in cold water.

Cut off the two ends of each onion, and peel them leaving the core intact. This should be really easy because you have blanched them already.

Heat a dollop of oil in the same pot you blanched them in, and add the onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and sauté until brown on both sides.

Add chicken broth, red wine, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

Turn up the heat and increase the boil until the onions are soft and the liquid is thickened, stirring frequently.

Add the heavy whipping cream and dried cranberries, simmer until the sauce coats the onions. (If you are using pomegranate seeds, add them right after you have turned the heat off.)

Recipes to Drool Over

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:35:00 +0000

I have a couple foodie blogs that I love. I am frequently drooling over their recipes and photos, wishing I could cook as beautifully and that I could take such amazing photos. Last week I came across this recipe for Seasonal Stuffed Peppers on Straight from the Farm. I think I save every other recipe she posts, but this one spurred me to action and I made it the very next day.

However, since I do try to be semi-unique on my blog and not just re-write all the recipes other bloggers post, I am not posting this recipe, but I still highly recommend it. Since I save at least one recipe a day to try later, I thought it would be fun to add one of HubSpot's latest tools - a web voter - to Gormandizing and let all my faithful readers vote on what sounds the best.

You can check out the recipes I am reading and loving in the new Recipes to Drool Over section! Click the up arrow to let me know you think something sounds good, add a comment if you want me to make it when you come over, or push something down if you don't like the sound. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!

The time of year for soup recipes!

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:11:00 +0000

I never liked soup when I was young, and I still don't like soup out of a can, but when the weather turns chilly and fall is in the air I don't hesitate to start breaking out my soup recipes. This winter I am sure I will share many with you, but the first is a brand new recipe from AF, my sister.

I have been searching for the perfect butternut squash soup recipe for a couple years now. There was a lunch place near my first job in NY that had a butternut squash and apple soup that I ate every day for a year. I have tried to recreate it, but I always find my attempts to be bland and lacking in inspiration.

This year AF had me drooling with jealously over the amazing garden she was able to plant at her new home in Royersford, PA. A couple of weeks ago when she was up visiting, she brought me two beautiful butternut squashes and a recipe for Smoked Sausage, Butternut Squash and Wild Rice soup.

I have to admit I was hesitant at first, the idea of sausage in soup is not something that thrilled me. I waited for my mother to give it a shot first, and when both she and my sister raved about it, I decided to try it out. As I was making it, I was still skeptical about a soup that had almost no spices in it! What is butternut squash soup without cinnamon and nutmeg?

As the soup started to bubble in the pot I took a taste and was blown away. How could such a simple soup have so many flavors and textures? You could taste the smoky spiciness of the sausage and the vegetables and rice combined to give the soup an amazing heartiness. It was everything my other butternut squash soups have not been, inspirational.

Smoked Sausage, Butternut Squash and Wild Rice Soup

2 medium butternut squashes - peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch chunks
2 T olive oil
salt & pepper
12 cups chicken stock
2 1/2 cups chopped wild rice
1 box instant wild rice
3/4 pounds sausage - kielbasa, turkey kielbasa, jalapeno chicken sausage, chicken apple sausage, anything that inspires you
2 cups frozen corn
1 1/2 cups half-and-half (I didn't have this, so I used skim milk, it worked fine)
1T chopped parsley (I think I used 4 times this, you can never have too much fresh parsley!)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss squash with 1T olive oil and some salt and pepper. Layout on flat baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes or until tender.

2. Remove the squash from the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes and then throw into the food processor with 2 cups of chicken stock and 1 cup of onions. You might have to do this in batches depending on the size of your food processor.

3. In a saucepan, cook the wild rice according to the instructions on the box except replace the water with chicken stock. Put to the side.

4. In a large dutch oven (a really big saucepan, perfect for making soups) add some olive oil and brown the sausage for 3 minutes. Add the remaining onions and the corn, season with salt and pepper and saute for 3 minutes.

5. To the soup pot, add 6 cups of stock and the squash puree. Stir well and allow to come to a boil. Reduce heat an simmer for 20 minutes.

6. Skim off any fat that rises to the surface (I used chicken sausage and there was almost none, but I expect if you use real sausage there is more.) Stir in the rice and continue to cook for 10 minutes.

7. Remove from heat, add half-and-half and season with salt and pepper. Stir in parsley and serve.

Still River Cafe - Eastford, Connecticut

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 11:57:00 +0000

The other day I was chatting with a couple other foodies at work and I was trying to tell them about this amazing restaurant near my parents house. I was explaining that it would be the perfect fall Sunday get-a-way and trying to do the food justice in my explanation. My glowing recommendation missed a little, when they asked, "What's it called?" and I blanked on the name.

Boston Magazine (and my father for sending the article to me) came to the rescue this week, clearly thinking along the same lines. Their article about various Foodie Road Trips in New England has the Still River Cafe in Eastford CT as the #1 recommendation!

I agree 100%. If you are looking for something to do on a beautiful fall weekend before the cold sets in, I highly recommend heading down to Eastford. The only thing they forgot to mention is that you MUST have reservations to get into one of their 3 seatings a week, but trust me the drive is worth it.

Now I am going to try and convince JR to start taking me to the other places on the list!

Coffee - Nectar of the Gods

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:56:00 +0000

Have you ever stopped to think about how wonderful coffee is?

I recently had a "come-to-Jesus" moment with regards to coffee and I don't think my life will ever be the same. You see, I never liked coffee. I didn't like it's bitter taste, I didn't like the smell and I HATED coffee breath. Then everything changed.

It started with Tiramisu when I was young. Since I discovered it, at about the age of 12, I have loved Tiramisu. I made it last year, and as with most things, it's even better homemade. It took about 10 years for me to graduate from Tiramisu to Coffee ice cream, but I suppose it was eventual. I have to credit the White Mountain Creamery in Wellesley MA for their coffee flavored hard yogurt and my father-in-law for introducing it to me. Add some heath bar crunch topping and you have heaven on a cone.

I supposed my passion for coffee then followed a normal course. From super foofoo drinks like Peppermint White Mocha Frappuccinos to lattes and then on to cappuccinos. Finally one day, I was at work and exhausted and really not in the mood for a Diet Coke, and a light bulb went off, "What if coffee with cream and sugar tastes just like coffee ice cream?" And you know what? When I tried it, it did!

From there it has been a slippery slope to coffee addiction, but I think I have been smart about it. I only drink decaf (unless the caffeine is necessary) and I always keep gum on hand because coffee breath is still a major turn off. In case you haven't realized yet that coffee is officially the nectar of the Gods, here are 5 reasons why you should love it too.

1. There is a coffee to suit every tongue and personality! Bitter, sweet, creamy, foamy, part skim, full fat, hazelnut, Colombian, Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks - anyone who likes coffee has a way they like it best. All you have to do to like coffee is find out how you like it and where they serve it that way.

2. It kills hunger. I never knew this, and I am amazed that the coffee industry hasn't used it as a marketing campaign, but drinking coffee makes you less hungry. It only took a couple of weeks of drinking it regularly for me to realize that if I had coffee in the morning, I didn't eat as much. It is your instant, cheap and easy-at-the-office, diet drink!

3. It comes hi-test or low-test. At first I wondered about drinking all the caffeine in coffee, just because it tastes like a warm cup of ice cream. It didn't seem like fair trade off. Then I realized decaf coffee comes in all the great flavors of regular coffee without the extra JUICE! Amazing!

4. Coffee is a natural conversation starter. The coffee machine (you know the new Keurig Machines that make individual cups of coffee - brilliant!) is the new water cooler and a place to chit chat at work. Coffee is also the end to a good meal and a reason to linger at the dinner table and keep the conversation going.

5. Coffee is also a good choice when you need to stay awake. Let me tell you, as someone who didn't drink coffee until she was 26, when you are driving at 2AM a Diet Coke just isn't what you are craving. The warmth of a cup of joe is just so much more satisfying.

Blog Post Credits
- The inspiration for the post is entirely due to my good friend JS who realized the beauty of coffee when we worked together in NY. I thought he was crazy at the time, but now I know he was just a couple years ahead of me.
- Photos can be credited to Google Images. It's impressive enough that I felt inspired to write a freaking post, taking photos was more that I could manage.

Exciting News!

noreply@blogger.com (K) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:44:00 +0000

I was going to go into work early today. Then I decided to change ALL the music on my iPhone, and you know what? It takes long time for that little sucker to sync up when you change everything. So instead, I am sitting at the computer watching it tick up (316 of 669 songs) and I decided it was time to write another post apologizing for not posting more, and give my official excuse.

I have basically taken on a second job in the last 3 weeks. It was unexpected, but we went out one Sunday to look at a few condos and suddenly decided to put an offer in on one! The owners accepted and so we have been navigating the house buying waters for a couple of weeks now. Let me tell you, this is no small feat for someone as anal as I am. I mean, it took me a week and a half alone just to get my binder in order and color coded (what, you don't have one of those?)

In any case, we are super excited and hoping to close sometime in November and move in before Thanksgiving. While we aren't going to host Thanksgiving this year, in the future it won't be out of the question with my new kitchen!

If you remember my kitchen in NY you know that this is a dream come true for me. There are enough cabinets for all my stuff!

The place also has amazing outdoor space, which has become something I refuse to live without. Assume everything goes as planned, we will have a deck AND a patio!

Everyday I love living in Boston more! I can't wait to move in and have everyone over for football!

(iTunes Update - 554 of 669 - guess it's time to get ready for work.)