Post-Halloween Shake Down - My Treats on Paper Garland

So the snow was a huge party pooper on Saturday and Jake and I never ended up going out.  We ordered Chinese food and it took TWO HOURS to get to our apartment.  Good lord, I miss New York.  Today we went to a quiet little shindig with some people from his law school section, so at least I got to wear my costume in public.  On Saturday I still dressed up and made Jake let me take pictures of us.

I do at least have to be grateful that Boston didn't get the majority of the snow.  Nothing like my hometown of West Hartford where my parents' front yard currently looks like this.  Yup, that's a tree on the house.

My friend, colleague and blogger extrordinaire Paloma posted about my Halloween treats on her blog Paper Garland today.  She is a legit pro so I feel totally flattered.  Her blog is full of all things pretty and wonderful so you should totally check it out.

  Happy Halloween to all! 

The Cupcake Update: Halloween Edition

So some of you may be wondering: Where have all the cupcakes gone?  The truth, friends, is that they have gone the way of my waistline.  I've lost almost ten pounds on Weight Watchers so I've had to seriously cut down on the cupcakes in my life.  But I still love a good cupcake and a good treat.  Especially on Halloween!  So when the lovely ladies of NNAF came over my place for a little pre-Halloween pizza and wine I had to bring back the cupcakes.

These are the pumpkin cheesecake bites with orea crust and caramel topping that I also made.  The recipe (which is a lot easier than it might sound) is below.  Enjoy your treats!

Ingredients:

8 oreos

1.5 Tbs. Butter

8 oz. package of cream cheese

1/2 cup of pumpkin puree 

1/2 cup of sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla 

1/2 tsp. cinnamon 

1/4 tsp. nutmeg 

1 tub caramel dip 

cupcake papers 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

Grind oreos in a food processor.  Mix with 1.5 Tbs. of melted butter.  Press into bottoms of muffin papers and bake for ten minutes.  

Blend cream cheese, sugar, pumpkin puree, egg, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Spoon mixture on top of oreo crust, until 3/4 full.  

Bake 25-28 minutes or until set.  Top each with 1 tsp. caramel dip.  

Makes 12

A Homemade Halloween

Let's not let a little snow get us down.  Okay, I admit - it's seriously getting me down.  (Especially living in this city of no cabs and abominable public transportation - okay, done with the Boston rants for the day, I promise).  I remember years past where I could go out in just a costume - no tights, no coats, no umbrellas and I was warm and happy.   This year I'm having to make some minor adjustments.  But I thought I'd look back on some costumes of years past, which I pieced together mostly from Michael's and my closet.

I'm a Tree!

It's pretty simple.  I'm wearing a brown dress and I'm covered in fall leaf garland from Michael's.  Some people thought I was an autumn nymph or something, but I really wasn't even going for something that cute.  

I'm Princess Lolly!

This one took a little more elbow grease, i.e. hot glue gunning.  I bought a tiara at Michael's and a bag of lollipops at the dollar store (the kind you got at the doctor's office or in the bank drive-through, not those fancy ones with bubble gum in them or whatever).  Then I glued the lollipops to the tiara.

For the giant lollipop, you put a small dowel into a styrofoam round and cover it with colored cellophane and tie it with ribbon.  

Note my partners in crime are also Candy Land characters: Lord Licorice and and Mr. Mint

I'm Little Red Riding Hood!

Okay, so this is probably the biggest cop out, because I just bought the cape on Amazon.  It was going to be cuter when Jake was going to be a modern Big Bad Wolf by getting a grey workman's shirt with one of those embroidered name things that says: B. B. Wolfe.  Now he's  going to be the Russian Oligarch from the DirecTV commercials "I also like savingz me ze moneyz."  Pictures to come shortly.  

The problem, of course, is the forecast.  So I'm thinking a red pea coat and jeans might have to be Little Red's new attire.  Wish me luck!

The Woman-Hating Right

Don't let a female Vice Presidential candidate fool you - the Right holds onto base sexist views, both men and women alike.  Watch the video below because no one says it better or funnier than Steven Colbert.

Colbert on Women's Health

What he doesn't say explicitly is that these views are based on an extremely sexist view of women.  What the commentators are saying is: women can't be trusted.  We can't trust them to make smart decisions, even when those decisions are about their own bodies.

They are also saying that women's health is not important, in fact, it is not even part of healthcare.  Birth control, breast feeding - these are not healthcare, they're the frivolous privileges of women.  Because you know, abuse counseling is to pedicures as...no it just doesn't work.

I would say the whole thing is hypocritical - that the government shouldn't get involved with women's reproductive health to give them birth control, only to tell them they can't have an abortion if they have an unplanned pregnancy.  But it's not hypocritical because the same thinking underlines both positions: women can't be trusted.

Let Me Teach You How to Dougie

Yes, I have been known to bust out this dance move every once in a while, but I am far from a pro.  So who better to learn from than the experts, e.g. The Biebs, the cast of Glee, and the First Lady!?

And just for some extra fun...

Sandrine's: A Gem in Harvard Square and a Throwback to French Class

Do any of you who took high school foreign language classes remember picking new names to use in class that reflected the language you were learning?  You'd be Jose if you were Joe, or Guillaume if you were Will.  Well, I was Sandrine.  So when I saw this restaurant (http://www.sandrines.com/) while Jake and I were trying to figure out where to go on a Friday night, it seemed like it was calling my name, only I was in 10th grade french class.

The restaurant is quiet and cozy with an open brick oven, off a side street in Harvard Square.  It's not too loud or too pretentious.  The service was friendly and the food was amazing.

I started off with the Ginger Cosmo; I didn't even have to read all the ingredients because the first one was tequila.  So while I have no idea where the ginger comes in, it was basically a tequila cosmo and while I may enjoy a high brow entree every once in a while, my taste in alcohol lies firmly in Spring Break Cancun.  It was fabulous.

For my main course, I had sea scallops in a tomato beurre blanc sauce with roasted sweet potato slices.  Jake had the choucroute, which came with a ham hock and so many artfully displayed sausages on a bed of sauerkraut.  Sauerkraut at a French restaurant?  Of course, that uneasy marriage of French and German from Alsace makes for a great meal, and reminded me of one of our favorite New York spots, Cafe D'Alsace (http://www.cafedalsace.com/).

But nothing beat dessert.  I'm a sweets girl.  I don't understand Jake's love of cheese for dessert.  Not that I don't adore cheese, because I do.  But the end of a meal is for that last sweet bite.  We split a chocolate pot de creme with peanut butter cream and peanut brittle.  It was the best pot de creme I've ever had, and that beats out the one we had at Barbuto in New York from famed chef Jonathan Waxman (http://barbutonyc.com/).  It was haute cuisine Reese's, how could I have kept from falling in love?

A note about going out to wonderful dinners in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville - beware the brick!  Don't wear a beloved pair of heels ladies, as tempting as it might be.  The brick and cobblestone walkways are quaint, but not fashion friendly.

Chicken Cassoulet Date Night In

Last night Jake made me french cuisine in our new dutch oven.  Cassoulet, a french peasant dish, combines bits and pieces of whatever meats peasants could scrape together plus a lot of beans and some vegetables.  Using ham, sausage and herbs, the beans take on a lot of flavor.  If you want a very hearty and very, very delicious dish, I've put the recipe below.  Add a bottle of wine and a dvd rental and voilà, date night in.

Ingredients
4 whole chicken legs, without skin
1 smoked turkey kielbasa, cut into large chunks
1 thick slice of ham, cubed
1 onion, cubed
2 large carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
3 cans cannellini beans
7 garlic cloves, 4 sliced and 3 minced
2 tsp. olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
4 bay leaves
fresh thyme
fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
string or cheese cloth

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Season chicken legs with salt and pepper.
Combine all three herbs into small packets using string or cheese cloth.
Saute olive oil, minced garlic and ham over medium high heat in an oven safe pot until ham and garlic are browned.
Remove ham and add chicken legs until brown.
Top with ham, kielbasa, vegetables, beans, herbs, tomatoes and chicken broth.
Cook for one hour, or until chicken is cooked through, stirring after 45 minutes.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not really.  Apparently, Canadians think today is Thanksgiving.  Don't they know this is the day we celebrate Columbus bringing disease and disaster to India, I mean America?

Canadians didn't officially have Thanksgiving until 1957.  And as far as I'm concerned if you don't have a Macy's parade with a giant Sponge Bob Square Pants, you still don't officially have Thanksgiving.  But then again, could I ever take seriously a Canadian Thanksgiving?  Not really.

I love my friends up north, but please, leave the overeating to us.  We're better at it.

Whale Watching in Boston

Most of you know I'm not a big animal person, but next to dinosaurs my other animal love is whales.  Whale watching has been on my unofficial bucket list for a while, but I've always been a little nervous about the boat trip.  Then Groupon gave me the last push I needed because you all know I can't say no to a good deal.  For $45, Jake and I got two tickets plus food and photo vouchers.  Normally that's an $118 value!

We had unusually warm 80 plus degree weather for October and super calm seas.  We went over an hour out into the ocean and then played spot the whale.  We looked for splashing and spouting and we eventually saw some whales near other whale watching boats.  We made our way over and I got to commune with the whales.  Well, really I got to see their backs and a little bit of their tales from a moderate distance.  

I would always love to see more whales, but I had a really great time.  I would definitely do it again and next time I wouldn't bring a camera.  Okay, I probably still would, but I would try to keep the camera use to a minimum and just enjoy being out on the ocean and really looking at the whales rather than snapping pics of them.  Especially because without a professional camera, the pictures are not going to come out that great anyway.  

To illustrate that, below are some of the pictures I took and some of the pictures taken with the boat's own cameras.  

My photo of a whale back

My photo of a whale spouting

My photo of a whale tail

Professional photo of two of the whales we saw

Professional photo of a whale tail

Desserts from a Box or a Can that You Can Serve at a Party

I'm a modern woman who loves to bake.  I like bringing dessert to a get-together or having something sweet after Sunday dinner, but I do not have time to make everything from scratch.  When I consult my grandmother's old cookbook, they made everything themselves: pie crusts, white sauces, cake mixes.  Now, I buy all those things in a box or a can.  For a few quick (at least in prep time if not baking time) recipes that come mostly from your store shelves in a box or a can, but that look and taste as good as home cooking, read on. 

Key Lime Pie
Great for: backyard picnics, a summer fiesta

Ingredients:
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 cup lime juice
2 eggs
1 pre-prepared graham cracker crust

Whisk together the condensed milk, the eggs, and the lime juice.  Pour onto graham cracker crust. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.  Refrigerate for two hours. It really is that easy. 

Snickers Brownie Pie
Great for: Halloween, girls night in

Ingredients:
1 box brownie mix (also requires 2 eggs, and 1/3 cup oil)
1 can chocolate frosting
1 bag snickers minis
1 pre-prepared graham cracker crust
optional - sprinkles!

Mix brownie batter according to recipe on the box.  Unwrap snickers minis and place them on the bottom of the graham cracker crust, separated by about 1/2 inch.  Pour brownie mix over the snickers candies.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until toothpick stuck in center comes out clean.  Let cool.  Frost.  Decorate if desired.

Cherry Pie
Great for: Thanksgiving, Fourth of July

Ingredients:
2 cans cherry pie filling
1 box pre-prepared pie crust (contains two crust rounds)

Unroll one crust into a pie pan.  Score the bottom of the crust.  Fill with cherry pie filling (this may take less than full two cans).  Drape pie with second pie crust and crimp bottom and top crusts together.  Make four or five slits in top crust.  Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. 

If you want to get fancy with it, you can use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out of your top crust (like hearts or leaves) to leave a pretty pattern of exposed pie filling.  You can lay those crust cut-outs on top of the pie as well. 

French Condom Ad

Sent to me by one of my Board members.  AH-MAZE-ING

A Cappella + Africa, so many of my loves in one

They only got to stay one week on The Sing Off, but I thought this Minneapolis based group of Liberian refugees deserved another shot before their swan song; so I'm giving them a little spotlight here on my humble blog.  Enjoy their "gospel, Afrocentric, soul" a cappella and smile.  I sure did.

New TV Review: The New Girl

In my Fall TV preview I said that The New Girl was one of the only new sitcoms that looked like it was worth watching.  And it turns out I was right.  The show is just like its lead actress, Zooey Deschanel - super cute and hard not to love.

The New Girl is not The Girly Show, it's not comedic genius, but it draws a decent number of laughs for a thirty minute comedy and it has heart.  Jess is the little sister, the quirky friend, and the girl next door all at once and it's sweet to watch the guys look after her. I would like to see them bring back the douchebag jar though, because that's just funny.

One odd thing: between episode one and two they try to swap black roommates and I think they hope we won't really notice.  And then the original black guy ("Coach") shows up on the new sitcom Happy Endings instead.  Weird.

Bottom line: if you need a shot of cutesy fun, watch an episode of The New Girl.  You'll leave feeling like you might want to sing!