farewell 2013

it has been quite a year. it started with a bang by way of me banging my foot into a closet door and breaking a toe (note: even a tiny fracture causes lots of pain). then fanboy & i made some pretty big decisions - to stay in the DC area and to buy a home. that has involved more hiccups than expected but we are getting the hang of things. it was also a bittersweet year, so i am ready to say goodbye to 2013 and ring in 2014.

we have already have some fun on tap: 

NYC to see our friends' get married and hang out at our favorite places. we haven't been "home" together in almost three years, we are long overdue for real pizza and great chinese food!

my mom is coming to visit for her birthday weekend

chicago with the main goal of eating our way around town (and fanboy's first visit to the windy city). 

and hopefully traveling somewhere we haven't been yet! 


what do you have planned for 2014? 

christmas eve eve

did december fly by as quickly for you as it did for me? wasn't thanksgiving like five minutes ago? yet here we are with two days before christmas! the tree has been trimmed, most of the presents are wrapped, and food prep has begun, so now we just wait for santa ;) 

we start christmas morning with hibiscus cava cocktails and cinnamon rolls. this year's dinner is only a slight variation on last year because, for me, prime rib, potatoes, and trifle are christmas must-haves.

bacon wrapped scallops
perfect prime rib
duck fat roasted potatoes
green beans with caramelized onions and almonds
and, of course, gram's chocolate trifle

what is on your christmas menu?

turkey day recap

are you still in a food coma? i am! fanboy & i had an amazing thanksgiving filled with great food, friends, a lot of wine, many laughs, and the always adorable, wrigley the bulldog. she had her autumn bandana on just for turkey day. and for the record: deep fried turkey is awesome!

hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving too! 

thanksgiving countdown

only one more week until thanksgiving!

and while i've confessed that i don't love a lot of the traditional turkey day foods, i do love thanksgiving. we are celebrating with our friends and i am kind of excited to try deep fried turkey for the first time! and since our friends are doing the heavy lifting on hosting, fanboy & i will be bringing a double batches of homemade irish cream and pioneer woman's creamy mashed potatoes for the feast.

what is on your thanksgiving menu? 

p.s. how cool are these printables for turkey day leftovers? you can download them here

cheeky recipe: salted brown butter rice krispie treats

i mentioned my obsession with salted brown butter rice krispie treats awhile ago and to apologize for being a slacking blogger lately, i am finally sharing the recipe here. i actually call these crack krispie treats because they are incredibly addictive. our friends, amy & zach, made them for our beer & chocolate weekend in august and i've been hooked ever since!

salted brown butter rice krispie treats (from smitten kitchen) 

• 4 oz (1/4 pound or 1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan

• 10 oz bag marshmallows

• heaping 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt (i used vanilla bean salt)

• 6 cups rice krispies cereal (about half a 12 oz box)

butter (or coat with non-stick spray) an 8-inch square cake pan with 2-inch sides. 

in a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. it will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. don’t take your eyes off the pot as while you may be impatient for it to start browning, the period between the time the butter begins to take on color and the point where it burns is often less than a minute.

as soon as the butter takes on a nutty color, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows. the residual heat from the melted butter should be enough to melt them, but if it is not, turn it back on low until the marshmallows are smooth.

remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal together. quickly spread into prepared pan. use a piece of waxed or parchment paper sprayed with oil to press it firmly and evenly into the edges and corners, or a silicon spatula works almost as well.

let cool, cut into squares and get ready to make new friends. 

congratulations, boston!

congratulations to the red sox on their first time winning the world series at fenway park since 1918! 

p.s. this a great article on papi by bill simmons 

cheekydrinks: raspberry ginger caipirinhas

this twist on a traditional caipirinha was the perfect cocktail for a girls' night with my bff. these pair nicely with baby boom and pitch perfect.

raspberry ginger caipirinhas

• 1 cup cachaça
• juice of 2 limes, about 1/2 cup
• morris kitchen ginger syrup
• one lime, muddled
• fresh raspberries 
• seltzer water or ginger ale (optional) 

muddle a few slices of lime in a rocks glass and fill the glass with ice and a few raspberries. combine the cachaça, lime juice, and ginger syrup in a cocktail shaker and pour over the glasses. these are quite strong so there is no shame in adding a splash of seltzer or ginger ale. 

as they say in rio, saúde

go sox!

my hometown baseball team is in the world series! here's hoping i can stay away for the whole game. let's go sox!!

#snallygaster2013

snallgaster 2013 was truly an epic afternoon! i don't recall the official count but we sampled at least 35 different craft beers. we narrowed those down from a list of 200! some favorites of mine were the yuzu imperial berliner weisse from new belgium brewing, bad apple and lilikoi kepolo from avery, and cuvee la boite from brooklyn brewery.

snallygaster 2.0

it's one of our favorite days of the whole year! tons of beer, good food, and great friends - should be an epic saturday!

happy october!

it is officially my favorite time of year! 

national coffee day

today is national coffee day. i had no idea until it was all over facebook this morning. of course, i celebrate coffee 365 days a year with cold press iced coffee or a good latte.

september has been a crazy month at work and at home so my apologies for being a slacker. i did make a new fall sangria for girls night in that i promise to share soon. i am currently obsessed with smitten kitchen's salted brown butter rice krispie treats. seriously. obsessed. and since summer is officially over (you know i count down beginning in june), i am really looking forward to october bringing true fall weather and watching the red sox in the playoffs!

happy football season!

football season is here. which means fall is almost here too! the cooler weather and game day food are some of my favorite things about this season. in honor of the first sunday of football, we had saucy asian meatballs and korean beef tacos. the korean tacos are a longtime fave here but the meatballs were a new recipe. we'll definitely be making them again! 

saucy asian meatballs (adapted from gimme some oven) 

• 1 lb ground pork or ground beef 
• 1 lb ground chicken
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 cup Panko or breadcrumbs
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger
• 2 eggs
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/2 cup thinly-sliced green onions
• optional garnish: toasted sesame seeds, sliced scallions 
for the sauce
• 2/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger

preheat oven to 400

in a large bowl, mix together meatball ingredients until well-combined. shape into balls (i made mine about 1.5 inches, which yielded about 35 meatballs), and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish. bake for 20-25 minutes, or until meatballs are golden on the outside and no longer pink on the inside. 

while the meatballs are baking, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients until blended. once meatballs have finished cooking, you can either dip each meatball individually in the sauce mixture. Or you can pour the sauce over the meatballs and gently stir them until covered. 

serve warm, and sprinkle with additional garnish if desired.

6 years ago today . . .

fanboy & i were getting married! happy anniversary, fanboy! xoxo

 

august break, day 13

closing out this year's august break with a little baseball (and the new buenos aires hipstapack) 

august break, day 12

august break, day 11

a little something for the weekend: vanilla bourbon sangria 

august break, day 10

august break, day 9

#beerandchocolateweekend

august break, day 8

road trip to pennsylvania

#beerandchocolateweekend

august break, day 7

silly selfie