2010

January was full of delicious brunches at Sneakers — and at one such brunch, one of my very best friends asked me to be her maid of honor! Wedding dress shopping and a celebratory dinner (with a fantastic lime cake) ensued. This blog also turned one that month.

In February, I resolved to bake my own bread from scratch ... something I've since learned how to do, but still need to practice. Dave and I attended a delicious fondue party (note to self: host one soon), and saw an ice-sculpture competition in Stowe. I also donned a massive paper-mache skeleton mask to ride in a Mardi Gras float.

Last March, I mused about the funny age of 22. We celebrated the return of warm(er) weather with picnics at Oakledge Park and a really great lemon, asparagus and goat cheese pasta.

In April, Dave and I took a much-anticipated trip to New York City ... only to decide we'd rather be in Vermont :) We took an intriguing fermentation class at the very delicious Alchemist Pub & Brewery. I made strawberry-rhubarb crumble (twice). And I celebrated my one-year anniversary at my job over fries at Duino! (Duende).

May brought the first-ever Vermont Restaurant Week, during which I discovered Café Shelburne and have never looked back. I failed at making muffins, but succeeded at making many mojitos with the mint from my one-pot garden. I took in the bright blue sky and attended the first Montbeerlier Festival.

We traveled to Pennsylvania in June to see my first cousin marry a sweet girl. I also reunited with my favorite ladies at a lake house in Castleton — there were cupcakes, too. Danielle and I took a train ride to nowhere, and I celebrated the summer with dill potato salad and strawberry cake.

July brought me to Alburgh Dunes State Park in the Champlain Islands, where I found a lovely beach but no sand dunes. Dave and I stopped to smell the flowers in Overlook Park. I raised a glass (or seven) with my two favorite Vermonters at the Vermont Brewers Festival.

In August, I fell even more in love with the Champlain Islands on a visit to Snow Farm Vineyard. My parents and I marveled at art, old buildings and flowers at Shelburne Museum. I discovered a life-changing pasta with corn pesto, made a sweet cherry pie and watched a Charlie Chaplin film in City Hall Park.

September was a crazy whirlwind: Dave turned 26 (!!) the day before I threw my friend her bridal shower at Shelburne Vineyard — and discovered I love party planning. There was some apple picking, and I roasted a chicken for the first time in preparation for my first food story in Seven Days.

In October, I turned 23 (only to find out it's just as funny an age as 22), but can't remember how I celebrated ... hmm. I drove to the chilly Northeast Kingdom to be in my friend's beautiful fall wedding.

Dave and I celebrated our third anniversary (of dating!) in November. My weekends were spent baking with booze for this food story — not a bad way to spend your time, I discovered :)

December was a few hectic weeks of work followed by a very relaxing 12-day break (I'm still on it, woohoo!). I got into the holiday spirit the usual way, with Christmas cookies and cocktails.

Onto 2011! Happy New Year.

happy happy joy joy

My winter work break starts today and I couldn't be more excited! Tomorrow I'm off to New York for the weekend, but I'll be back here soon enough ... I wouldn't miss all of Vermont's First Night fun! Have a lovely holiday. Thanks for being here.

cranberry cocktail mixer

It's past 2 p.m. on a Sunday and I've only just changed out of my pajamas and brushed my teeth. But I did find time to play with scissors and markers ... I blame this super cute idea for do-it-yourself holiday cocktail mixers.  As my printer was out of commission, I decided to make my own decorative labels for the cranberry cocktail mixer, which I'm planning to include as part of a secret santa gift later this week.

Can you believe these jars used to hold tomato sauce?

Hop over here and here to download your own labels — for free! —and find other mixer recipes.

Cranberry Cocktail Mixer


recipe and idea from Hi, Friend via Brooklyn Limestone


1/4 cup simple syrup
1 cup lime juice
3 and 1/4 cup cranberry juice

Combine the simple syrup, lime juice and cranberry juice in a bowl. Pour into a clean glass jar and refrigerate until ready to use.


Cranberry Cocktail


4 ounces cranberry cocktail mixer
1 ounce vodka
a splash of champagne
fresh raspberries, for garnish

Pour the cocktail mixer and vodka over ice in a cocktail shaker; shake and strain. Top it off with champagne and raspberries.

chocolate crinkle cookies

Let's get into the holiday spirit, shall we? Obviously, the best way to do that is with cookies.

I have to admit, I'm not the one who usually makes cookies in this apartment. I just don't love the fussiness of rolling cookie dough into perfectly round and even balls. Dave has the patience for this, so I generally just let him have at it. But the holidays just call for cookies, and lots of 'em, so I suffer through it this time of year. Yes, suffer ;)

These chocolate crinkle cookies were always my brother's and my favorite... they probably still are (though we used to call them snowtop cookies). They're uber chocolatey, and this batch had a particularly lovely fudge-like texture that left my coworkers (with whom I shared a plate) calling them "flat brownies" and "flat whoopie pies." I'll take those as compliments.

As you can see, my cookies came out a little more square than round.  I like to call them "zebra squares" myself.

Also... I'm fairly positive these would be delicious with a little mint extract. I really wanted to go for it, but I decided to stick with the classic this time around.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies


Adapted from Little Brown Pen

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar, give or take

Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl. Add the cocoa powder, sugar and oil, and stir. Add the flour, baking powder and salt; stir well. Cover and chill for at least four hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll the chilled dough into one-inch balls. Pour the powdered sugar into a shallow bowl and roll the balls in the sugar; coat thickly. Place on the baking sheet about one-and-a-half inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes, until just set.

Let cool, then store in an airtight container with a scrap of bread to keep them moist. Makes roughly 30 cookies.

cauliflower-cheddar soup

These gray, early winter days have totally been getting the best of me.  I've been in a little funk lately, getting way too easily frustrated with things that normally aren't too big of a deal.  Like the repetitiveness of my job, and the fact that way too many of my friends have moved away over the past year or two. It all sort of culminated in one really bad mood, which happened to occur the night of The Potato Latke Incident last week. The realization that even my largest mixing bowl* didn't give me enough room to, um, stir left me storming off upstairs, shredded potato all over my hands, declaring loudly to Dave that, "We're not having dinner tonight!"

Yeah... overdramatic much?  It was the closest I've come to a temper tantrum in about 15 years. In my defense, shredding a bunch of huge potatoes is really not fun at all (shredding is my most dreaded kitchen task, if I haven't mentioned that before). But I cooled down, laughed it off with Dave and went back down to the kitchen to deal with my now-pink potato disaster. Since then, I've tried to focus on my upcoming 12-day holiday break (thank goodness!) and all the good things it will bring — a girls' night reunion with some of my favorite ladies, gift giving, time with my family, cookie swaps —rather than all the negative stuff I've been so busy stewing about. It's sort of working. What do you do when you're just fed up?

Making this cauliflower-cheddar soup — my first venture back into the kitchen following the Latke Incident, I should note — was pretty darn calming. Cauliflower is my very favorite vegetable, and paired with some extra-sharp cheddar, my favorite type of cheese, this soup reminded me of the white sauce I make for macaroni and cheese... only, far healthier and lighter.  The addition of a nice white wine really deepens all the flavors; I thought it was absolutely delicious.

Obviously, a few more easy baking projects are needed in my near future... hopefully next time we talk, I'll be back to my happy self. Thanks for listening.

Cauliflower-Cheddar Soup

adapted from here

I halved this recipe; it worked perfectly for just two of us, with some leftovers.

3 celery stalks, chopped thinly
1 medium onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil

salt, pepper and dried parsley to taste

1 cup dry white wine
2 cups vegetable stock
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium head cauliflower, chopped
2 cups milk
6 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (you could also vary the cheese; a pepper-jack might be nice)

Sauté the celery and onion till translucent in olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Season with salt and pepper. Add the wine; let simmer three minutes. Add the vegetable  stock, a few good shakes of parsley, the garlic and the cauliflower; simmer 30 to 40 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender.

Use an immersion blender, or transfer the mixture to a blender in small batches (be careful not to fill the blender too much, as the liquid is hot and will expand), and purée until very smooth. Return to the pot and let heat up again if needed. Add the milk; bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the cheese and stir constantly on low heat until fully melted. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Garnish with parsley and serve.

*A big thank you to Dave for since giving me an early Christmas present: A much-needed set of large mixing bowls :)