Wednesday Roundup: A Few of My Favorite Things

Our meals since returning home from our Thanksgiving holiday in Ohio have revolved around leftovers, so not much new has occurred in the kitchen of late. So rather than post another photo of turkey soup, I thought I'd do a quick run-down of my favorite things of late. 

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I just finished reading this book right before we left for Ohio. I can't remember where I first saw this book -- I think it might have been on someone's Facebook page. Regardless, I was instantly intrigued, and quickly requested a copy from the library. (Another shout-out for the library! I love that I can get recently-published books so quickly. My bank account also likes the fact that I don't have to buy copies of everything I want to read!) I've been a fan of Laura Ingalls Wilder since I was a child and made my way through the Little House series, as many other young girls do. I also was a fan of the Little House on the Prairie TV series with Michael Landon and Melissa Gilbert, which I watched endlessly during its syndication days. (During my sophomore year of college, my roommate and I, both diehard Laura fans, would watch episodes before our morning classes, and if one of us had to leave before the end of the show, we'd always promise to fill the other in with what had been missed, even though by that point we knew all of the episodes by heart anyway.)

In The Wilder Life, the author Wendy McClure writes about her pursuit of the "Laura experience," from trying her hand at churning butter to exploring the various locations that Laura lived in throughout her life. I enjoyed reading this book and following McClure's adventures from her Chicago home to various Laura sites in Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Kansas, and Missouri. I also had a six-degrees of separation moment with the author when she mentioned the name of one of her friends, whom I used to work with back in the day at McDougal Littell in Evanston, IL. Ah, the small world of publishing in Chicago. (McClure works by day as a children's book editor at a different company.)

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One of my favorite holiday treats would have to be mint M&Ms. I never had any luck finding them when we lived in Wyoming, but they seem to be quite easy to procure here on the East Coast and in the Midwest. My Mom was kind enough to purchase a bag for me -- it didn't last more than 24 hours after being opened. Let's just say that I can't be trusted around an open bag of mint M&Ms.


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Which brings me to today's final favorite -- Cathe Friedrich's Kick, Punch, and Crunch DVD. Perhaps the perfect DVD to pop in after several days of feasting without exercise. This workout is 68 minutes of, as the name suggests, kicking, punching, and crunching. It's an intense workout, and I'm definitely feeling the effects 24 hours later. Meanwhile, after I did the workout I mentioned how much I loved it on Facebook, and Cathe responded to my status update. So cool. (Yes, I am a total fitness nerd. I'm okay with it.) Many of the Cathe workouts in my DVD library are ones I first tried when they aired her workouts on FitTV, and her exercise DVDs are among my favorites. I think tomorrow I may have to break out her Boot Camp DVD for another intense workout. 

There is no doubt that I have fallen off the exercise wagon since my fitness blitz in August. There is a gym opening up in the neighborhood; it was initially supposed to open in early November, but given that there still appears to be a lot of work yet to be completed, I'd say it's more likely it will open in January. I can't wait to join up; it looks like it's going to be a great place to exercise, and as it's just about five blocks from our place, it'll be super-convenient. Just open already!! In the meantime, I've got my Cathe DVDs, plus a few Groupons to use up, including recent purchases of a multi-class pass to a nearby yoga studio and a one-month membership to a cross-training studio. Since I have some major holiday baking (and eating!) plans, it looks like I should probably start using up those Groupons sooner rather than later. 

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What I'm Searching For: Christmas Cookie Inspiration

Now that I'm ready to fully embrace the holiday season (or, let's face it, it's now socially acceptable to embrace the holiday season; I may or may not have listened to some Christmas music way before the Thanksgiving holiday passed), it's time to think about what cookies I'll be baking this year. Though my waistline may protest, I do have plans to make several batches. Top on the list are peanut butter blossoms and milk chocolate cookies with malted cream, both of which are D's favorites that he's already requested to be made. My personal favorites are spritz cookies (though, sadly, we lack a cookie gun) and chocolate crinkles. I searched a few of my favorite resources (including Food & Wine) and found recipes for both of our favorites as well as several new delicious-looking options.



What are your favorite cookies to bake for the holidays? What new recipes 
should I try?
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Holiday Weekend Shenanigans: Thanksgiving Edition


The best part of the Thanksgiving holiday? Spending time with family and eating lots of good food. The downside? Having to return to work Monday morning. The Christmas break (aka, the week of vacation I'm taking between Christmas and New Years) can't come soon enough.

After a filling Thanksgiving dinner and dessert on Thursday, I woke up early Friday morning to meet a few of my friends from high school for breakfast at First Watch. As this was the first holiday in a while where D and I have made it back to my hometown, it was fun catching up with friends whom I hadn't seen in awhile. It's nice to know that we can still easily pick up conversations where we left them, regardless of the time apart.

On Friday afternoon, I took Leroy up to Harbin Park for a nice long walk. He's always a fan of running around in the grass (a rare occurrence in the city) and this was no exception. In general, Leroy was an okay visitor at my parent's house. He was quite standoffish with my parents and Chris and Ashley. My Mom and Dad were able to give him a few pets on our last day there, though Leroy wasn't entirely sure letting them pet him was a good idea. On Saturday, D and I took Leroy to Wiggly Field Dog Park at the Voice of America MetroPark in West Chester. This park was awesome and Leroy had a ball running around with a few greyhounds and chasing after a football. The only downside was that the park was quite muddy due to recent rainstorms. Luckily, Leroy didn't make too much of a mess of himself.

On Saturday night, my parents took D and I out to dinner at Vincenzo's Ristorante Italiano in Sharonville. The restaurant was new to me and I had a great meal of cheese ravioli with a tomato cream sauce and mushrooms. D and I shared a heavenly tiramisu dessert, which I knocked back with a shot of espresso, per usual.

D and I headed back on the road on Sunday morning after a filling breakfast of eggs and hashbrowns made by my father. Though the rainy weather was no fun to drive in, we were making good time until we came to stopped traffic outside the first tunnel going eastbound on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Traffic was pretty much stop and go after that point (we figure we were stopped outside the tunnel to prevent people from getting stuck inside the tunnel due to the bad traffic). The problems finally cleared up once the I-70 Baltimore/D.C. traffic veered off and we continued on I-76 to Philly. When we left at 9a, our GPS estimated that we'd arrive in Philly around 6:30p; instead, we arrived around 8:15p. Upon our arrival back to the city, we unloaded the car, ordered a pizza from Lazaro's, and soon after called it a night.

Our trip to Ohio was definitely a bit of a whirlwind, but it was great to catch up with both family and friends while we were there. And now that Thanksgiving is past us, I think we can officially start embracing the Christmas season. (I may have made D listen to way-too-many Christmas songs during the drive back home. And also, how have I never heard this song before? Jiggity-jig!) I think this weekend we may trek out somewhere to find an apartment-sized Christmas tree for our place in lieu of setting up my sad fake tree from Meijer circa 1998. Though it has been unseasonably warm around these parts (today temps were in the upper 60s), I am ready for candy canes, twinkling lights, snowflakes, and bucketloads of Christmas cookies. Bring on the holiday season!

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What's For Dinner: Turkey Soup


Ah, the day after Thanksgiving -- where the fridge is filled with leftovers galore! Along with the requisite turkey sandwiches, tonight's dinner also included a turkey soup that was made as a group effort by my Dad, Mom, and D. Currently we are waiting for the oven to burn off the residual butter and fat that made its way to the bottom of the oven during yesterday's turkey-cookin' so that I can put in my freshly-prepared apple pie to bake.
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What I'm Thankful For: Friends and Family


Here are just a few views from today's Thanksgiving feast. Many dishes were completed from the menu I proposed last week, though the appetizers didn't get made (we noshed on other stuff instead) and we skipped the green salad in favor of a simple fruit salad. D cooked up an awesome turkey and I made all of the sides I had said I would, including whole-berry cranberry sauce, wild rice with dried cherries and toasted pecans, and haricots verts with hazelnuts. In addition, my Dad made an awesome batch of mashed potatoes (delightfully lumpy, my fave!), my Mom made her traditional cranberry-apple jello salad, and my brother made a crazy-delicious maple-and-pecan-crumble-covered sweet potato dish.

I started the day by making two batches of stuffing. For inside the bird, I made a gluten-free stuffing using this Whole Foods recipe. For outside the bird, I made my traditional stuffing recipe with toasted whole-wheat bread. We had dessert a few hours after our belly-busting feast. My apple pie was a no-show, and instead I baked a pumpkin pie in the wee morning hours upon our arrival into town last night around midnight. We also enjoyed slices of a gluten-free pecan pie, which my brother Chris and his wife Ashley picked up at Jungle Jim's. The pecan pie totally kicked my pumpkin pie's butt. And rumor has it I am still in charge of making the promised apple pie before the weekend is over. Guess I'll be purchasing some apples in the near future!

In the meantime, I'm off to bed to dream and digest. Happy Thanksgiving!
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Where I'm At: On the Road Again!


Last night I made two side dishes for our Thanksgiving dinner -- wild rice with dried cherries and toasted pecans and homemade whole-berry cranberry sauce.

Currently, we are still on the road, having not left Philly until just past 1p. Only three and a half hours to go! And upon our arrival, I do believe I've said I'll bake up a pumpkin pie (I was a little worried about how a pie would fare on a 10+ hour road trip!) I think there's a good chance I might have a long night ahead of me!
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What's For Dinner: Baked Cod with Coconut-Curry Sauce


Sometimes all it takes is a couple tweaks to make an old recipe new again. This fish dish still has the same delicious coconut-curry flavors found in the version I made back in March, but this time I've switched out the green onions with white onions, added chopped mushrooms, and served the whole shebang over nutrient-packed quinoa.

Baked Cod with Coconut-Curry Sauce (printer-friendly version)
makes two servings [with a bit of sauce leftover]

1 t toasted sesame oil, divided
2 t fresh ginger, peeled and minced [easy tip for peeling the ginger -- use a spoon to scrape off the outer peel]
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 C chopped white onion
1/2 C red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 C chopped baby bella mushrooms
1 t curry powder
2 t red curry paste
1/2 t ground cumin
4 t tamari sauce
1 T brown sugar
1/2 t salt, divided
1 (14-ounce) can light organic coconut milk
2 T chopped fresh cilantro
2 (6-ounce) cod (or other white fish) fillets
2 C cooked quinoa
2 lime wedges

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat 1/2 t sesame oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add the minced ginger and garlic. Cook for about 1 minute.
4. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the mushrooms are softened and browned.
5. Add in the chopped onions and red pepper. Cook for one minute more.
6. Add curry powder, curry paste, and ground cumin. Stir to combine, and cook for an additional minute.
7. Stir in tamari sauce, brown sugar, 1/4 t salt, and coconut milk.
8. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
9. Once mixture begins to simmer, remove from the heat. Stir in the chopped cilantro.
10. Brush each tilapia fillet with 1/2 t sesame oil and season with the remaining salt.
11. Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place the fillets on the prepped baking sheet.
12. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the fish easily flakes when touched with a fork.
13. Reheat the sauce over low heat while the fish cooks.
14. Serve each fillet over a bed of quinoa. Spoon a generous portion of the coconut-curry sauce over each portion.

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Weekend Shenanigans: Italian Market, Football, and Toast


Weekends never seem to last long enough -- just when I'm feeling decompressed from the work week, Monday rolls around again. Ah well, at least this week is a short one what with the Thanksgiving holiday and all. Plus I'm taking off Wednesday so that we can spend the day making the 10+ hour drive back west to my hometown in Ohio.

On Saturday morning D and I walked down to the Italian Market with Leroy so that we could finally get our kitchen knives sharpened. D dropped off the knives at Fante's Kitchen Shop and we meandered around the neighborhood while we waited for our knives to be done. The Italian Market is awesome -- I can't believe it has taken us 11 months to get there. (Every time we've driven past the neighborhood I've always lamented that "we really need to explore there!") Unfortunately our exploration was slightly limited since we had the dog with us, but I am definitely making plans to get back there (it's about 10 blocks from where we live) to fully explore the cafes, produce stands, fresh pasta shops, and bakeries in the neighborhood.

The other highlight of the weekend for us was hitting up the Penn v. Cornell game on Saturday afternoon. The University of Pennsylvania is not really much of a football school. When D and I visited Philly last November to find a place to live, we walked past the stadium at one point and were shocked to see the stands were mostly empty though there was a football game going on. The stands weren't that much fuller this time around, either. Penn actually does have a pretty good team (well, in terms of their conference anyway, as they are consistently Ivy League conference champs). There are some interesting quirks that go along with attending an Ivy League football game. For one, they don't have a marching band. The Cornell band performed during half-time, and their claim to fame was "being the only real marching band in the Ivy League." The most interesting quirk is the post-third-quarter "toast." Apparently, this tradition used to revolve around a champagne toast at the end of the third quarter as a nod to the line "Here's a toast to dear old Penn" in the school song. Now, since drinking laws have changed and alcohol isn't allowed in the stadium, students pack along slices of toasted bread (or loaves of challah or french bread) with them to the game and toss the bread from the stands prior to the start of the fourth quarter. Some people just come to the game for the toast and then peace out right after. I felt a little left out since we didn't have any toast of our own to throw -- maybe next year.

The rest of the weekend was fairly low-key. Yesterday was spent stocking up on ingredients for some of the dishes I'll be making for our Thanksgiving feast in Ohio. I think Tuesday night/Wednesday morning may be spent cooking up or at least prepping a few of the dishes so that I can spend at least a little bit of Thursday relaxing and not sweating over a hot stove. 
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What I'm Drinking: Beaujolais Nouveau


Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé! Last night D and I headed to our favorite neighborhood wine bar to enjoy a couple of glasses of the newly released Beaujolais nouveau. This young French wine, bottled only 6-8 weeks prior to its being poured, is traditionally released on the third Thursday of November. Beaujolais nouveau is meant to be drunk young, and is typically consumed within six months of its bottling. You can find more fun facts about Beaujolais nouveau here.

D and I both enjoyed glasses of Beaujolais Nouveau, Domaine Christophe Pacalet at Jet Wine Bar. I also tried a glass of the local "Beaujolais" - Dornfelder (Neue Coatesville), Stargazers Vineyard. (This wine, like the Beaujolais, is bottled in the year of the harvest and released in November). I much preferred the strawberry/juicy berry flavor of the French wine to the "grassier" (mmmm!) taste of the Pennsylvanian wine. I have a feeling there may be a few more glasses of the easy-drinking (and easy-to-pair, I'm sure) Beaujolais Nouveau, Domaine Christophe Pacalet in my near future. 
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What I'm Planning: Thanksgiving Dinner

One week to go until the big Thanksgiving Day feast at my parent's house! Here is what I'm currently thinking our meal will look like for the six of us. D is in charge of the turkey and I think I will be in charge of most everything else, except for a couple of sides that my Dad, brother, and Mom will make.  Luckily I think the appies and sides should be fairly easy to make, and I'll plan to make at least one dessert (if not both) beforehand. Since my sister-in-law is gluten-free, I need to make sure that at least one dessert is gluten-free. I've never baked GF before, so I think this might be the weekend to give a few recipes a try! This is kind of a gigantic menu, but I love all the sides and definitely won't mind packing a few leftovers to eat back at home here in Philly.

Appetizers

Ricotta and Fig Butter Crostini 


Salad

Mixed Greens with Dried Cranberries, Goat Cheese, Roasted Walnuts, and Balsamic Vinaigrette

Main Course

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Sides


Un-stuffed Stuffing (likely with GF bread and without the
 Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing mix, or a GF alternative)

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My Dad's Mashed Potatoes

My Brother's Sweet Potato Dish



My Mom's Cranberry-Apple Jello Salad


Dessert




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What I'm Drinking: Margarita on the Rocks


... with a salted rim, of course. Work is keeping me a bit busy around here, so coming up with new posts is kind of on the backburner at the moment. I am, without a doubt, looking forward to next week's Thanksgiving break. I have been working on a potential menu for our Thanksgiving feast, which I'll share tomorrow. Until then, ¡Buenas noches!

Margarita (printer-friendly version)
makes one serving

kosher salt
ice cubes for the glass
1 1/2 ounces tequila
4 ounces margarita mix (try not to be too offended by the ingredient list)
3 ice cubes

1. Rub the edge of a rocks glass (or small jar!) with water. Pour salt onto a small saucer and dip the glass onto the salt to coat. Add a couple ice cubes to the glass. Set aside.
2. Blend the tequila, margarita mix, and ice cubes.
3. Pour into the prepared glass.

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What's For Dinner: Chicken Quesadillas


D was in charge of dinner tonight and he opted to make up a batch of chicken quesadillas. He cooked the chicken (tenderloins from Whole Foods) on the stovetop with a little oil and taco seasoning. Then he constructed the quesadillas by sandwiching the chicken between two flour tortillas along with other fillings including brown rice, shredded cheddar cheese, and black beans. He baked the quesadillas in the oven until the cheese was nice and melty. The quesadillas were served with dollops of fresh guacamole  and Greek yogurt and a handful of cilantro. 
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What's For Dessert: Apple Pie Covered with Leaves


Yesterday afternoon I faced up to my fear of making pie crust. I think making pie crust ranks up there with my fear of baking bread (although I suppose my fear of baking bread is not so much a fear as it is just plain impatience due to all the rising that's required). With pastry dough it's the fear of not getting the moisture content just right or not managing to roll out the dough into something that actually resembles a circle. How does Martha always make it look so easy? 

Luckily, my dough turned out fine, and I think I only cursed at it twice. (Which is quite restrained for me, really.) One of the best things about this embellished crust is that it is quite forgiving if the edges of the bottom crust aren't perfect around the pie pan's rim. 

I followed this Fine Cooking recipe to make my pie. Below I've listed a few notes on the recipe, including a couple of tweaks and comments on constructing and baking the pie. 


Recipe notes:
* I don't know what it is about making pie dough, but the amount of water called for never seems to be enough. I probably used about 8-10 tablespoons of water in total to get the dough to come together. After just five tablespoons of water, my dough was still a floury, crumbly mess. 
* The recipe states that you will need 45-55 cut-out leaves to cover the top of the pie. This is true if you cut out small leaves or use small leaf cookie cutters. I used larger cookie cutters, which were each about two inches in width, and their larger size meant that I only needed about 20 leaves to cover the top of the pie. 
* If you want your pie to look super-fancy, take care with cutting in the veins on the leaves. Some of my leaves look pretty good, others look a little blobby.
* I used my handy-dandy apple peeler/corer/slicer tool to prep the apples. When I make this pie again (I think there's a good chance that this pie will make an appearance on Thanksgiving), I think I'll cut the peeled and cored apples by hand to make thicker slices.
* I used four large crispin apples to make my pie; the original recipe calls for 5-6 apples. You're aiming for about seven cups of sliced apples for your pie, so depending on the size of your apples, you may use more or less than the recipe calls for. 
* I added 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger and a scant 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves to the spice mixture.
* D insisted that I bake my pie in a cast iron skillet. No changes to the recipe were necessary. Of course, I'm still lusting after all those pretty pie dishes.
* My total baking time was about 75 minutes. Starting at 60 minutes, I started checking the pie every five minutes to prevent overcooking.

I served the pie alongside a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Superfresh was out of my favorite (and economical!) Turkey Hill Philadelphia-style vanilla ice cream, so this time around we tried Blue Bunny All-Natural Vanilla ice cream -- it was a pretty tasty alternative.

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Friday Five

This week seemed to both fly by and slow to a halt at times. I'm super glad that it's Friday, and I am looking forward to a travel-free weekend at home (aside from the requisite trips to Target and the like). Let's finish off this week with another round of the Friday Five -- this week's topics range from books I'm reading to some final thoughts on the Foodbuzz food blogger festival I attended last weekend.

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1. I've been a voracious reader of late (heh, what's new?). The latest book to grace my bedside table is Mindy Kaling's Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). So far, so good. I love that two funny and opinionated women have written books such great books this year. Prior to starting Mindy's book, I read Markus Zusak's The Book Thief (beyond highly recommend, though I suggest you have a box of tissues handy), and Suzanne Morrison's Yoga Bitch (which I had high hopes for, but it wasn't quite as good as I thought it would be). Waiting on deck is Wendy McClure's The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie, which I just picked up from the library yesterday.

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2. In between session programming and the Taste Pavilion event during the festival last Saturday, I jumped into Whole Foods with Natasha and Rachel to grab a quick snack. I left the store with three Seasonal Clif Bars -- which include spiced pumpkin pie, iced gingerbread, and peppermint stick flavors. Thus far I've had the peppermint stick bar, which satiated my hunger on the six-hour return flight from SFO to PHL (seriously, what's up with the lack of any food snacks on such a long flight, United?! Sure, I could've bought an $8 snack box, but, um, no.) I'm looking forward to trying the pumpkin pie and gingerbread flavors in the near future.

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3. Add this to the list of things that I don't really need, but kind of want anyway -- a whoopie pie pan. I made whoopie pies once before, but found that it was quite difficult to make evenly-sized (and rounded) tops and bottoms. (Apparently my resulting whoopie pies were so hideous they didn't even merit a blog post.) A whoopie pie pan would be a brilliant way to bake uniform whoopie pie tops and bottoms. A bit of a specialized tool, and it's not as if I make whoopie pies all that frequently, but still. It could be fun (and a bit dangerous) to have this pan on hand!

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4. Yesterday's search for pie-baking inspiration has cemented my plans to bake an apple pie this weekend. Sheri, whom I met at the Foodbuzz Festival last weekend, suggested that I try this Fine Cooking recipe for an apple pie covered with leaves.  Fingers crossed I can make it look half as good as the slice pictured above. I think this could definitely be a show-stopper dessert for our Thanksgiving table. 

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5. Speaking of Foodbuzz, I've spent a good portion of this week contemplating some of the topics that were discussed during the sessions on Saturday morning. One of the most thought-provoking discussions occurred during the opening panel covering the topic "Taking Your Blog to the Next Level." Let's face it, I would LOVE to take my blog to the next level. As much as I love you, my dear 50 readers, I would be lying if I said I didn't want to have 5,000 readers. (Ok, yeah, or Pioneer Woman-style 500,000 readers, whatever.) The biggest advice the successful bloggers on the panel had was to "Be yourself." And secondarily, from Joy the Baker (who I kind of want to be best friends with -- or with whom I'd like to be best friends, if you're into old-school grammar):
"Only blog if you LOVE it. Only make it if you want to eat it. Only photograph it if you think it looks pretty, sparkly, or otherwise awesome. Only write about it if you’re really into it ... When it comes to blogging ... only do it if you love it."
This advice directly contrasts with one of the other bloggers on the panel, who said that the secret to successful blogging was "quantity over quality." Though I will be the first to admit that some of my posts have been phoned in -- I think ultimately I'd like to think that there's a point to everything that I post. I'd much rather one quality per week that draws readers in than write 15 posts a week with 10 pictures of the same thing from 10 different angles and 20 meaningless words. 

I've spent much of this year trying to figure out what I want to do with this blog, and where I want it to go. I definitely don't want to be one of those people who blogs every meal that they eat, because, let's face it, no one really cares. (Or at least, I sure as heck hope you don't care.) And, honestly, my meals aren't that interesting, anyway. I enjoy doing recipe posts, but there are plenty of blogs that do that well already. Since baking is one of my favorite things to do (there's just something therapeutic for me about following a recipe to the T and knowing there's a good chance the results will be just as expected). One thing I'd like to focus on in the future is the nutritional benefits of certain foods, and maybe a look at the history and/or future of food products as well. I think there could be a lot of interesting things to to look at when considering the foods that we choose to (or not to) eat. 

Overall, I'm glad that I attended the Foodbuzz food blogger festival. I met a number of interesting folks and tasted (way too much) delicious food. There are a lot of bloggers out there, and it seems like there is a lot of randomness when it comes to who makes it big and who doesn't. There are plenty of people putting interesting content out there who don't yet have the readership they deserve. Whether my blog ever moves from a personal passion to the "next level," I'd like to think that at the very least the content that I'm producing is interesting, engaging, and useful to my readers. 

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What I'm Searching For: Pie Baking Inspiration

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Martha Stewart featured embellished pie crusts this morning on her show, and I was inspired by several of the options that she showed. More often than not my attempt to flute my pie crust ends up looking quite disastrous, so I really like the idea of using mini (or regular-sized) cookie cutters to cut out pie dough to embellish the pie crust edge. I found a few options online including these piecrust cutter and leaf cookie cutter sets:



In addition to leaves and autumnal shapes, I also found a few snowflake cookie cutters that would make for a gorgeous winter holiday pie. And of course, you can't have a pie without a great-looking pie dish, right? (Okay, yes, you totally don't need a fancy pie dish to bake a pie . . . but it doesn't hurt to look, right?)



We have a bunch of apples on hand from our last trip to Weavers Orchard, so it looks like my weekend plans will include baking at least one pie. (It doesn't hurt to get in a practice pie or two before the holiday season begins -- though my waistline might disagree!) I'll definitely have to put some of those Martha Stewart pie crust tricks to use; looks like a trip to Kitchen Kapers and/or Williams-Sonoma is in my near future. 
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What I'm Searching For: Thanksgiving Inspiration

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it's about time I took a little wander through ye olde Interwebs for some Thanksgiving dinner inspiration. Though our Turkey Day dinners typically include the standard sides such as mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and green bean casserole, this just might be the year to branch out and try something new. Here are just a few of the options that have caught my eye thus far: 


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What I Brought Home: San Francisco Souvenirs

You know you're a food nerd when all the souvenirs you return home with are edible. On Saturday afternoon in between the Tasting Pavilion event and the evening gala dinner, I made a beeline for the Ferry Building. Oh, foodie heaven! If I hadn't been so stuffed from tasting so many delicious foods just an hour earlier, I would have for sure tried a grilled cheese sandwich at Cowgirl Creamery, had a latte at Blue Bottle Coffee, ate some gelato from Ciao Bella, and perhaps if I had any room left at all, nibbled on some macarons from Miette.

However, I did manage to buy a few items at the Ferry Building, including black mission fig jam (I am looking forward to eating some baguette slices + ricotta cheese + fig jam in the very near future), a jar of Bing cherries (hello cocktails), and a canister of unsweetened natural cocoa powder (see you later, packaged brownie and chocolate cake mixes!). The one thing I forgot to purchase at the Ferry Building was some sourdough bread. I picked up a round of the tangy bread at the Boudin Bakery outpost in Terminal D at SFO just before my flight on Sunday.



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Weekend Shenanigans: 2011 Foodbuzz Festival

I had a wonderful time in San Francisco over the weekend. And I ate a ridiculous amount of seriously delicious food -- I really ought to reinstate my fitness routine sooner rather than later. Of course, the one downfall of attending a food festival is that I had no time and/or appetite to dine at any of the fantastic restaurants that San Francisco has to offer. Next time, for sure. And I can pretty much guarantee that there will be a next time. Here is just a tiny sample of all the foods I got to taste over a span of three days:


In addition to eating a lot of amazing food, the real highlight of the event was meeting and networking with fellow food bloggers. More details to come over the next few days!
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What's For Lunch: Grilled Brie with Apples and Fig Jam Sandwich


This afternoon I stopped in at the Boudin Bakery Cafe in the Macy's Union Square cellar to grab a much-needed lunch break. The grilled brie with apples and fig jam sandwich on the menu immediately caught my eye and I knew I didn't have to look any further. It did not disappoint, and I cannot wait to make my own version once I'm back home. This delicious sandwich featured brie and havarti cheeses, sliced green apples, and fig jam on a Parmesan-crusted multigrain bread. The perfect combination of sweet and savory flavors.

Meanwhile, what's that I said? I'm at the Macy's Union Square? There isn't a Union Square in Philadelphia!  Yep, that's right, I'm in San Francisco for the weekend. I'm here for the third annual Foodbuzz blogger festival. (Foodbuzz is the company that runs the ads on my blog, which you see on the right of the page.) The festivities start tonight with a welcome reception, dinner, and blogger award ceremony at the Terra Gallery. Tomorrow morning features session programming on topics related to food blogging, which will be held at the Foodbuzz corporate headquarters. Following the morning sessions, I will rue my decision to not pack fat pants by attending the Taste Pavilion, which will be held at City View at Metreon. The Taste Pavilion will feature over 60 food and beverage providers offering their products to taste. I took a look at the list of vendors who are scheduled to be there, and it looks pretty amazing. Tomorrow night's festivities include a cooking demo with Tyler Florence and gala dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. The weekend concludes with a farewell brunch at Perry's on the Embarcadero on Sunday morning. I have a feeling that it's going to be quite the whirlwind, but I'm definitely looking forward to meeting, networking, and hanging out with my food blogging colleagues. And, unlike the last blogging event I attended, this time I will actually have updated business cards in tow (hooray!).

I most likely won't report back until Monday, but I'll be sure to give a full run-down of the sights, smells, and tastes of this food-centric San Francisco event. Have a great weekend!

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What I'm Lusting Over: More Stuff For the Kitchen

Given our confined kitchen space and overall lack of storage, there's a good chance I won't be making any more purchases for the kitchen anytime soon. Doesn't mean a girl can't look though, right? Here are a few things that have caught my eye of late.


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1. Juicer
Do you juice? I've heard great things about juicing, especially in terms of getting in your daily servings of fruits and veggies. I have a feeling if we'd had a juicer this past summer, we would have been a lot more successful at eating all the veggies in our CSA boxes. I've got my eye on this Breville Compact Juice Fountain to join the gadget family in our future kitchen.

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2. Fun Dish Towels
I'm a big fan of kitchen textiles. (Is that a weird thing to admit to?) The quirkier and brighter the print, the better. If  I had my way, I'd have drawers full of fun tea towels, dishrags, placemats, and napkins. Though kitchen stores are a fun place to browse, I could get lost for hours looking through the wares on Etsy, such as the tea towels shown above sold by Kei & Molly Textiles of New Mexico. 


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3. Loose Tea Brewer/Portable Cup
I've been drinking a daily cup of green tea as part of my mid-morning snack. For ease and convenience I've been using tea bags, but in the future I'd like to give loose tea a whirl. This portable tea brewer and tea cup looks like the perfect option for those wanting to drink tea on the go. 
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What's For Dessert: Baked Apples


A simple, wholesome dessert was on tap after dinner this evening. All you need is a couple of apples, brown sugar, oatmeal, nuts, some spices, and a dab of butter. The only bad thing about this dessert is the time it takes the apples to bake -- but I can assure you the result is well worth the wait.

Baked Apples (printer-friendly version)
makes two servings

2 baking apples
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons oatmeal
1 tablespoon chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
dash of ground cardamom
1/2 tablespoon butter, divided in 2 [optional]
1/2 cup hot water

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Core each apple without cutting completely through. I used a paring knife and sundae spoon(!) to do this. Alternately, you could use a melon baller or grapefruit spoon.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the oatmeal, pecans, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom.
4. Use a spoon to fill each cored apple.
5. Top each apple with butter if desired.
6. Place the prepped apples in a small glass baking dish.
7. Pour the hot water into the baking dish.
8. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.
9. After 20 minutes, remove the foil and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, or until the apples are baked through. (You can tell the apple is baked through when a knife inserted into the apple comes out easily.)
10. Let cool slightly before serving. Serve as-is, or alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or Greek yogurt and a drizzle of honey.

(adapted from this recipe from the kitchn)
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What's On My Mind: Turkeys

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It's November! Which means that Thanksgiving (or Turkey Day, if you prefer) is just right around the corner. Last year we skipped the turkey dinner since not long after Thanksgiving we headed out of the country for an extended trip to Nepal, not to mention that most of our kitchen goodies were already packed up due to our impending move from Laramie to Philadelphia. Prior to last year we've sourced our turkeys from Whole Foods or from local farmers that pasture-raise their turkeys. Over five years ago, my Thanksgiving dinners were turkey-less and I enjoyed a plate full of fruit (cranberry sauce!) and veggies (mashed potatoes!) and other vegetarian side dishes. This year D and I are planning to head to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with my family. I think this year's turkey will be a free-range Bowman & Landes turkey sourced from Dorothy Lane Market. If you live in the Philadelphia area, here's a great list of places where you can source a local, free-range turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner.  

As I've mentioned in previous posts, how food animals are raised is extremely important to me -- for me, if I must consume meat, I would much rather that it came from a small, pasture-raised (or not confined) farm operation, as opposed to a large-scale, factory-farm operation. For me, purchasing meat produced by a large-scale factory farm is just not an option. In my mind, animals should not be treated as commodities, where the bottom line is more important than their welfare before and at the time of their deaths.

As part of my day job, I am editor of the BioZine, an online companion to the Holt McDougal high school biology textbook. This month's feature article is about the comeback of the heritage turkey. Though heritage or heirloom turkeys are exponentially more expensive than the standard turkey you can buy at your local supermarket, I don't think it's a stretch to say that these turkeys have a much better life than the standard broad-breasted white turkeys that spend their days confined together in huge barns. I would much rather pay a higher cost for a turkey that has had the chance to actually be a turkey than one that, due to breeding for specific characteristics, has trouble walking, standing, and requires human intervention to reproduce. 

What do you think? Where does your Thanksgiving turkey come from? Does a turkey even grace your Thanksgiving dinner table? What fills your plate on Thanksgiving?
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