Monday, January 23, 2012
Life has been a little ca-ra-zy around here lately. Two weekends ago we spontaneously got a new addition to our family. A rambunctious & loveable lab mix named Jolene!
She has brought us a ton of love & excitement – but MAN are puppies hardwork! I think this is very good practice for a baby 
I have never had a dog before so I am learning the ropes & trying to train her before she trains me! (haha!)
Then a week later, our house was broken into and many of our possessions were stolen!
candlelight vigil for our stolen tv.
I had just gone to meet some friends for lunch & when returned found our back door open & the house torn apart. It was very scary & an experience I hope we never have to deal with again. Sadly, my computer & both of our cameras were among the stolen items so any future posts will feature pictures from my lovely iphone Luckily, the things we care most about (each other, the pup, sentimental jewelry, etc) were ok. In another year or so Jolene should be big enough to scare off any future intruders!
Last night I got in the baking mood & scoured my Epicurious app (GREAT app!) for some cookies that don’t require eggs (we were all out) &came upon a recipe for Chocolate Chipotle Shortbread. These babies were so easy to whip up and feature my favorite combination of spicy & chocolate! The SC on the other hand doesn’t quite share my love of spicy chocolate & upon biting into his said, “you just had to add cayenne huh?” hehe…more for me! These were very delicious & are even better dipped in hot chocolate or coffee.
Chocolate Chipotle Cookies
Yield: 20 cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/2 teaspoon cocoa chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in middle.
2. Whisk together first six ingredients in a bowl.
3. Beat together butter, sugar & vanilla extract with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy.
4. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until well blended.
5. Scoop into small balls and flatten to about 1/4 inch thick circles. Place on greased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 10 minutes.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
This year we rang in the New Year with some appetizers & drinks with friends followed by attending a house party in East Nashville. I love any excuse to try out new recipes & have been itching to try my hand at deviled eggs since Beth brought these fabulous deviled eggs to our food blogger potluck last month. I don’t have a proper recipe for the ones I made because I just kind of threw things together. I can tell you I used smoked salmon, green onions & mixed cream cheese in with a touch of mayo. The cream cheese really added a lot for the texture & one of my friends claimed them to be the best deviled eggs he had ever eaten 
SCORE!
The appetizer that got the most raves however, was this Cranberry Pistachio cheeseball. I was inspired by a recipe I saw in Real Simple but theirs looked a tad too boring for me. I jazzed mine up with some honey goat cheese from Trader Joe’s {substitute this for regular goat cheese in basically anything & you’re taste buds will thank you!} & also added a mixture of the pistachios & cranberries into the cheeseball itself instead of simply coating the outside with it. Pair this ball of yumminess with Trader Joe’s Raisin Rosemary Crisps & you’ll want to devour the whole thing immediately.
Cranberry Pistachio Cheese Ball
Note: I purposefully made this cheeseball small since there were only 8 of us. Double the amounts to make a full sized ball :)
Ingredients:
1/2 log of honey goat cheese (I find mine cheapest at Trader Joe's)
1/4 cup pistachios
1/4 cup cranberries
1/4 cup cream cheese
Directions:
1. Crush the shelled pistachios & cranberries in in the food processor. (reserve a few tablespoons of each before blending)
2. Add to a small bowl with honey goat cheese & cream cheese & mix until creamy & well blended.
3. On a sheet of wax paper spread out the remaining whole pistachios & cranberries. Roll the cheese mixture into a ball and then roll onto the pistachio & cranberries until well covered.
4. Chill for at least one hour & then serve with your favorite crackers. (My favorite pairing are Trader Joe's Raisin Rosemary Crisps).
And what New Year’s post would be complete without some resolutions thrown in there? Mine include:
1. Being healthy (working out, watching what I eat)
2. Judging & gossiping less.
How about you, did you make any resolutions this year? Or care to share a recipe you tried on NYE?
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
The SC’s day of surprise in Philadelphia ended at the famous restaurant Osteria. I have heard many good things about this restaurant & celebrated my 27th birthday at one of the owner’s Mark Vetri’s other restaurants, Amis last summer. Osteria was nominated as best new restaurant in 2008 by the James Beard Foundation, and the chef won the James Beard Foundation Best Mid-Atlantic Chef in 2010. I was really excited to partake in some amazing Italian food which I hoped would be reminscent of our honeymoon in Rome.
We started out by sharing the Polpo pizza which featured octopus, tomato, red chili flakes & smoked mozzerella. The crust was perfectly thin & crispy & was reminscent of my favorite pizza at Nashville’s City House. I’m usually not a huge fan of smoked flavor but the smoked mozzerella was not overpowering & I found myself really enjoying it. Lately I have become a lot more adventurous when it comes to eating meats & I got over the tentacles of the octopus & ended up loving the flavor & texture of the meat. The pizza earned a big thumbs up from both of us!
Moving on we both opted for pasta dishes. For me, the homemade paparadelle ragu with venison caught my eye. When in Rome one of our favorite dishes was paparadelle with lamb so I was hoping for a similiar dish at Osteria. However, I was a little disappointed when there wasn’t any tomato in the sauce. This dish was ok, but not my favorite. It didn’t help matters much that the SC ordered a dish that ended up being almost exactly the same as mine except with different noodles & meat. I was pretty disappointed in this dish. I really think I just ordered the wrong thing though.
We ended our meal with three scoops of house made gelato which unfortunately were devoured so quickly I didn’t get a picture 
The standout was the cinnamon gelato but they were all amazing. So cream & rich in flavor. Luckily the meal started and ended on a good note so I will forgive the main dish
Monday, January 2, 2012
The SC’s really big christmas present was his iphone but I felt kinda bad because I got myself one, too So I surprised him with a fun day in Philadelphia for just the two of us. We started out at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I hadn’t been since my high school days & was in awe at how huge the place is & what great art they have.
Monet is probably my favorite artist
But Van Gogh isn’t too shabby either
We could have spent all day there & had to rush through a few exhibits to make it out in just under 4 hours! Our stomachs were rumbling & I slyly checked Yelp for a place to grab a bite to eat before our next mystery stop. I choose The Belgian Cafe mainly because of the reviews saying it has one of the most extensive beer selections in the city.
Note to self: Do not order a $16 bottle of french cider. For one it was wayyyy too big for just me & it was also much too sweet! Tasted like apple juice. However, I mixed it with a few pours of the SC’s stout & it was much better!
I ordered the small pot of Django mussels & ended up with about 30 of them! I’d hate to see what the large pot looks like! They were so delicious though & I ate everyone of those babies up {that is every one that the SC didn’t steal!} I declare them to be the best mussels I have ever eaten. The fact that they were bathing in a broth of bacon, garlic, blue cheese & pears probably helped them earn that title
We were only a few blocks from our next destination & so we walked off our beers & headed towards Eastern State Penetentiary. I’ve heard of this prison where Al Capone stayed & many movies have been filmed at for years but have never been. It was pretty spooky & the history of the place was really interesting to hear.
At halloween every year they give haunted tours…ummm, no thank you!
Al Capone’s cell. He was allowed to bring in his own furniture. He was obviously the Lindsay Lohan of the day
Coming up next….our surprise dinner location!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Happy New Year! I hope that you & your family & friends had a fabulous holiday season. I definitely did & plan to blog about many of the fabulous restaurants/recipes I’ve tasted over the past week. The SC & spent Christmas with my family at my parent’s house in the City of Brotherly Love. It was a whirlwind trip full of great eats & some touristy sightseeing.
Our first stop the morning after we arrived was to Wawa for our beloved coffee. Sadly, we only went once but did brew the addictive hazelnut blend every morning in mom’s coffee maker. Nashville seriously needs a Wawa!
My parents had a stocked fridge of goodies for us including this little guy. I drank two within 20 minutes of each other. They are ridiculously good & I became a total sucker for the foil wrapping.
The SC & I were very good to each other this holiday season. He got me things I had been lusting over & a few surprises too but the most exciting thing was a YORKIE puppy!!! We don’t have the little guy/gal yet because he had picked out a toy yorkie & I’d much prefer a normal sized one. So we will be on the hunt for one for the next few weeks. I got him (& me) iphones & also took him on a secret outing on the day after Christmas. Come back tomorrow to read all about our adventures on that day
I can’t believe it is already 2012. The past year has been the best of my life. I started a new job that I LOVE, we got married, honeymooned in Italy & the SC found his creative niche & started a successful business. We have been so blessed this year & I can’t wait to see what 2012 holds!
What were the top moments from your 2011?
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