Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Ahh Christmas time is upon us! As a teacher I especially love this time of year because it marks two whole weeks off from work…woohoo! I plan to spend the first week being semi-productive (hey now, wouldn’t want to exert myself too much now) and the second week visiting my family in Philadelphia. The SC & I go up about twice a year & I have to say, christmas time is one of my favorite times to go. I can’t wait to be with my whole family for the holiday!
What I especially love about the holiday season are all of the traditions that come with it. One of my favorites is when we decorate our tree & I get to see all of the ornaments that have special memories associated with them. As a newlywed couple, we don’t have many unique ornaments yet but I was lucky enough to obtain a few ornaments made by my late grandma. My grandma made these out of eggshells! Take a look at the detail!
Two years ago my family attempted to make some ornaments of our own. Below is the one I made, and let me tell you I give my grandma mad props because this baby took me more than an hour to make!
This year we were gifted an ornament from our friend Amy. She used our wedding invitation to make this unique & fun ornament. Check out her blog to see instructions on how to make one of your own.
Over the weekend I had some girl friends over to made some photo ornaments. We had huge plans for making something I had seen on pinterest that involves some of those clear ornament balls like Amy used, but every craft store in the area were sold out so we improvised & got crafty with some scrapbook paper instead. I made a few as gifts & one for us.
why yes that is a photo taken with my iphone…. 
I do believe that ornament making will become a new tradition around here! However, we all know every good foodie has traditions that involve well…food! For me nothing tastes like christmas time as much as the English Toffee my mom made when we were growing up. Now that I am off on my own I make the toffee myself each year. This year, I got the brilliant idea to add sea salt! It seems like salted sweets are all the rage lately & this combination did not disappoint. In fact, I can’t imagine going back to eating toffee the regular way ever again!
This recipe may seem intimidating because it does involve using a candy thermometer but I can assure you, if I can do it, so can you! And the end result is so worth going through the process.
Salted English Toffee
A unique twist on a Christmas favorite.
Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 lb butter
3/4 lb of slivered almonds
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
sea salt
Directions:
1. Put sugar, water and corn syrup in a heavy saucepan. Stir on high until sugar dissolves.
2. Using a candy thermometer cook until softball (235 degrees F).
3. Add butter, one cube at a time, stirring constantly.
4. Once all butter is dissolved, add the almonds. Continue to stir constantly until hard crack (300 degrees F)
5. Pour into two greased cookie sheets. Let sit for about 3 minutes.
6. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and allow to melt slightly, spread evenly over the toffee.
7. Sprinkle chocolate topping with sea salt. Place in fridge to harden (about 15 minutes).
8. Break into bite size pieces & serve.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Ok, how did it become December?!? Seriously? I think because of our wedding time has flown by extra fast this year & the holidays have majorly crept up on me. So much so that I haven’t bought a single gift yet. Yikes, that should make for some interesting bank statements in the next few months. Although I haven’t purchased any gifts, I have done quite a bit of thinking about what I would like 
Since we were just blessed with a plethora of wedding gifts there really isn’t a whole lot I want or need. However, I am still lusting over this dutch oven that never made its way off our registery, maybe Santa will be extra nice this year?
On a smaller scale I’m interested in this cookbook. I’ve tasted a few cakes lately where people have mentioned getting the recipe from here & I’m a big fan of taking shortcuts when baking so figure this would be a fun little book to have.
Other than those two food related items I’m pretty set in the way of kitchen/foodie items.Therefore, I thought I would let you know of some of my favorite wedding gifts to give you inspiration as you shop for the foodie in your life.
1. Pottery Barn Vintage Tumblers.
We received these in the clear color & I love them! Perfect for water, juice, milk or wine. I love them so much I get mad at the SC when he uses it as a glass in the middle of the night & leaves it on the nightstand because I’m afraid they will break.
2. Nambe Butterfly Salad Bowl & individual bowls
Having never had a proper salad bowl & servers, I really appreciate this gift. We served salad in this twice when we have had people over for dinner & received great compliments on it. We’ve also eaten a lot more salad lately just so I have an excuse to use it!
3. Cuisinart SmartStick Hand Blender
This is one of those things that you don’t know that you want until you have it. My best friend gave it to me at my bridal shower in the summer & I used it a lot for making smoothies. So much easier than hauling out & cleaning the big blender. I’ve also recently used it when making soup.
4. Cute aprons
I was lucky enough to be gifted three different cute aprons, including the above from my MIL. They make cooking so much more fun & are perfect for anybody who loves to host dinner parties such as myself because you can continue cooking & mingling with guests in style.
Do you have any foodie’s to shop for? Or are you a foodie & have items you are lusting after this holiday season?
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Ah finally, fall is finally actually upon us. Here in Nashville it doesn’t really get cold until December! While I hate the fact that the leaves are all gone, I love the fact that it is finally cool enough for SOUP!
I made this one last year & remembered loving it. The second time around it did not disappoint. What is there not to love about melt in your mouth gnocchi, paired with chicken, spinach, and all the best seasonings? For this recipe I adapted a knock-off of the Olive Garden’s soup. I have never had theirs so I can’t vouch for how closely it comes to replicating that soup but I can say that it is delicious. {side note: the SC & I like to make fun of people who say the olive garden is their favorite restaurant. This is one area in life where I feel it is ok to be judgemental }
Creamy Chicken & Gnocchi Soup
Ingredients:
1 rotisserie chicken, shredded & chopped
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons flour
1 pint half and half
1 pint fat free half and half
1 14 ounces can of chicken broth
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
2 minced garlic cloves
1 cup carrots, finely shredded
1 cup onion, finely diced
1 cup fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin oil
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 lb mini gnocchi
Directions:
1. Saute the onion, celery, and garlic in the butter and olive oil over medium heat until the onion becomes translucent. Add the flour and make a roux. Let the butter and flour mixture cook for about a minute before adding both pints of half and half.
2. Cook gnocchi according to package directions.
3. Into the roux, add in the carrots and chicken. Once the mixture becomes thick, add the chicken broth.
4. Once the mixture thickens again, add the cooked gnocchi, spinach, and all of the spices; simmer until soup is heated through.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
I wanted to hold out off until I had the professional photos before to you our wedding, but I honestly can’t wait that long. And seriously, this random assortment of photos from various family & friends will do the job fine for now. I’ll try not to make this too long as I recount some of our wedding details.
First, as a Yankee transplanted in the South I knew I wanted my wedding to be a southern affair since I was asking all of my family to travel all the way to Nashville from places like Washington, DC, Pennsylvania, New Jersey & New York. Within days of getting engaged I had my heart set on an outdoor farm wedding. We only looked at two venues & as soon as we walked onto Southall Eden the SC & I both knew it was the place to be married. With a barn like this what is there not to love?
We were so lucky to work with the wonderful CJ Dickson of Williamson County Weddings & Events. She helped us coordinate every detail of the wedding & truly helped us pull of a unique southern wedding with some of our own personalization & charm thrown in there.
The food which included fried green tomatoes, shrimp & grits & brisket, as well as the fabulous Country All Stars from Blutone tied everything together nicely.
Without further ado, I will let the pictures do the talking…
One of the tabletops. Of course a librarian has to have vintage books on some tables!
Letters came from the SC’s grandfather’s restaurant “Wendell Smith’s”
Me with the BFF moments before the ceremony. yes, I had to have a glass of wine to settle the nerves!
We had a love bird theme & I was in love with our cake topper. After searching near and far & almost spending $100+ on one, my mom found this one at GOODWILL for THREE DOLLARS!
I literally squealed with delight when I walked into the bridal room & saw my flowers.
The inside of the barn where the ceremony took place. The cross was made from old barn wood & was handcrafted by my wonderful HUSBAND! I loved it so much & he truly surprised me with that one!
table for two
The photo booth was so fun!
With the fam
bridal photo shoot
Everyone told me it was the best wedding they had ever been to {& I have to selfishly agree!} but at the end of the day the most important part was that I got to marry my best friend, my significant chef & my one and only southern charmer!
Introducing Mr. & Mrs. West
Monday, November 14, 2011
{I know I still haven’t blogged about the wedding…but I just can’t help & blog about the honeymoon now!}
When the SC & I were trying to decide where to honeymoon, Italy immediately came to mind. We toyed with the idea of doing a few days in Paris and a few in Rome but ultimately decided to just stay in Rome so we could relax and not have to pack up and go every few days. Rome pretty much won over Paris due to the food! I am so glad we decided on Rome because it was by far the coolest city I have been to and the food was AMAZING. Even the simplest things like the bread & olive oil were so much better than what you usually get in the States. One thing I found particularly interesting was the fact that each restaurant seemed to have the exact same bread. The SC joked that one bakery supplies all of the bread in Rome. It was a delicious soft white bread that was fabulous for soaking up all that fresh olive oil.
I fell in love with the fresh buffalo mozzerella & procuitto. I wanted to order it at every restaurant & practically did! The pastas were all delicious & the gelato…oh goodness, I ate it twice a day! My favorite combination was hazelnut & chocolate so it tasted like nutella {which I also ate a lot at since they had mini packets at our hotel breakfast}
I plan to do a few more detailed posts soon but to hold you over until then…here are some of the delicious foods we ate:
Italy’s signature dish, Carbonara! I ordered this three times!
A delicious spread of meats & cheese
Nutella pastries. Flaky, crispy outside, gooey chocolatey inside. YUM.
Homemade paparadelle with lamb. This was our favorite dish the whole week.
Proscuitto & mozzarella panini
Gelato. Needs no explanation.
More posts {including restaurant recaps & historic sights} to come!
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