1 Chilly New England Night (snow optional)
2 Mugs Hot Spiced Apple Cider
1 Bowl Roasted Chestnuts* 1 Roaring Fire (in the fireplace, of course!)
1 Big Comfy Couch
2 Good Books
Combine ingredients with one cuddly boyfriend and enjoy.
*Roasted Chestnuts:
I spent quite a bit of time researching this process last winter, and found lots of different methods, from painfully simple to exceedingly complicated. I chose the simplest "recipe" I could find, and simplified it even more: buy the fattest, heaviest chestnuts you can find (so you know they're good!). I found some amazingly beautiful ones at Wild Oats in Portland last week. Score an "X" in the shell of each nut, making sure to get all the way through the shell. I use a utility knife with a blade you can lock into several positions, extended only about 1/4". The shells get cut through, but the meat barely gets touched. Place scored chestnuts in a roasting pan, and roast at about 450 (yes, I use the oven, not the over-cliched open fire...) until the shells burst open and "smile" at you. If you're really lucky, the exposed nutmeat will be a bit charred and caramelized. Yum! These are especially good when they fill your coat pockets on a cool, rainy spring day in Paris, and you pop them one at a time as you wander the streets of the city... or eaten from a paper cone on Rome's Spanish steps on a sunny Easter morning after attending the Pope's outdoor mass at St. Peter's... but a bowl on the coffee table on a cold, wintry night is pretty sweet, too.
For yesterday's cookie baking frenzy, Kev and I searched allrecipes.com for easy recipes with short ingredient lists. This house only gets used part time, and the kitchen is just not as stocked as mine... especially for a baking freak like me. I was dying to bake something, but didn't want to have to buy a ton of ingredients. We were lucky enough to find two recipes that perfectly fit the bill. First up were coconut macaroons. My mom used to make these every Christmas when I was a kid, but I somehow had never made them myself... until yesterday. The recipe we found was simple, and seemed familiar: One 14-oz package flaked coconut, one 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk, and one teaspoon vanilla extract. We went to the store and found 7-oz bags of sweetened coconut. We grabbed two of those and a can of sweetened condensed milk, and headed home. We mixed everything together, dropped spoonfuls of the batter onto greased cookie sheets, and meticulously applied red, green, and white sprinkles. We put them into a 350 oven and baked them for 20 minutes. I ran across the street to Kev's grandmother's house while they baked, so Kev was in charge of timing. When I got back, I pulled from the oven a cookie sheet covered with puddles of sticky coconut goo. Eeewww!!! What happened? We followed the directions. How could such a simple recipe be so easy to screw up? I won't even share a picture, It's too ugly.
We tasted some of the goo, and I thought it was pretty good, though ungiftable (we had planned to deliver plates of cookie to Kev's grandmother and aunt when they were done). Kev said "it's OK, but just too sweet for me." A light bulb went off in my head. "Too sweet?" Ding ding ding! We must need unsweetened coconut for these! I decided that the sweetened coconut must have added enough sugar for extra melting, extra caramelization, and extra gooeyness. Off to the health food store for some unsweetened coconut... which, I gotta tell you, in bulk, is a heck of a lot cheaper than the prepackaged sweetened stuff! The rest of the assembly process was repeated, right down to my anal retentive sprinkles application. Each macaroon, of course, had to have a good balance of red, green, and white. We did a test batch of just three cookies, thinking we could add flour to the batter if they puddled again. 20 minutes later... let's just say that no flour was necessary! We achieved macaroon perfection...
That picture shows off our lovely sprinkles skills, but I really like this one, which happened completely unintentionally:
And just in case you really want to know, here's the official recipe for these macaroons.
I am so dialed in -- Kevin and I are in Wolfeboro, NH for a few days, staying at his parents' "second home." There used to be no TV or internet access in this house, but the parents are upgrading little by little. They put in cable last summer, and cable internet access this summer. And now Kev has a laptop. I can blog from here! I still choose not to for the most part, since this is where Kev and I come to hide from the world, but I had to share this with you... here's what we woke up to this morning:
I can only begin to describe to you how festive this made me feel. I immediately informed Kev that we were going to have to bake cookies and listen to Christmas music all day. Fortunately, I brought quite the stash of CDs with me! Kevin now knows Harry Connick Jr's Christmas music almost as well as I do. =)
I'll report more on the cookies later. In fact, one kind we made just so happens to fit this month's "Sugar High Friday" theme perfectly, a fact I didn't even realize until long after the cookies were baked! It will be my first SHF entry. How exciting!
I'm not afraid to admit that I'm not the girliest of girls. I'd rather be outdoors than shopping, I think men make better friends than women, I quite strongly dislike the color pink... but I certainly have my feminine side, too. I especially have a weakness for bath & body products -- shower gels, lotions, mists, scrubs, etc. I could wander around Bath & Body Works or The Body Shop for hours, sniffing and testing and scrubbing and lotioning. But I've found that now that I'm getting older and wiser, and hanging around the Big Cities (Boston, New Haven, etc.) more often, my tastes are getting more refined... and more expensive. I have recently discovered the beauty of Origins. Unfortunately, their products are just a little too rich for my blood, so all I can usually afford is a tin of "Peace of Mind Mints" or a gumball from the big machine in the doorway. But that doesn't stop me from going inside and sniffing and testing to my little heart's desire! As I wandered downtown New Haven last week, and tried to resist the urge to go into Origins, who do you think was staring out at me from a poster in the window but (sigh) Jacques Torres?!? I gazed lovingly at the poster until Kevin shook me back to reality. It turns out that Origins is now carrying a Jacques-inspired line of cocoa based products, including scrubs, lotions, and essential oils. I can't tell you how hard it was to not go into that store. I knew I'd be in trouble if I did. Kevin, always the level-headed one, steered me away.
We wandered around downtown for a while longer, had a warm beverage at Cosi, and decided it was time to head home. Kev asked me if there was anything I wanted to do before we went back. I said "I would really like to pop into Origins and sniff the cocoa scented lotions. Then I will be happy." But that's just what they wanted me to think. I sampled some of the Cocoa Therapy Deep Nourishing Body Butter. My hands felt silkier and smoother than they've felt in months, and smelled like a rich, sweet, creamy mug of hot chocolate. Then the clerk had the audacity to point out to me the "Sensory Therapy Chocolate Bars" that Jacques is making for them. Ack! There are about six different bars, from relaxing to energizing. Each contains a blend of herbs and oils, specially formulated by Jacques himself, to have a specific effect upon consumption. Here's what I was "forced" to buy:
I think the text is reasonably clear, but here's what they are: on top is the bar "to settle your 'too-full' tummy," with peppermint, basil, and cardamom. The bottom bar is "to help rev you up," with ginger, black pepper, bay, and spruce. I actually chose them more for the flavors than the "therapy." I haven't tried them yet, but I will be certain to report back to you when I do! And please, whatever you do, just don't ask me how much each bar cost...
First, thanks to my "well-wishers" last week! I am feeling better, and I had a very nice Thanksgiving. I hope you did, too!
I had a lot of fun in Connecticut last week. Thanksgiving day itself was vey quiet, low-key, and traditional. Kevin's mom is a great cook! We had the absolute standards for dinner: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, squash, green bean casserole, creamed onions, and cranberry sauce. There were also some wonderful banana nut muffins, and apple and pumpkin pie for dessert. It couldn't have been any more perfect!
On Friday, we all went into New Haven for lunch. We had some spectacular brick-oven pizza at a place called the "Bru Rm." After that, Kev's dad wanted to show us a new tea bar in town. It's called "Oolongs Tea Bar," and it just opened a few weeks ago. The inside is decorated with a simple Asian flair, and the menu is pleasingly extensive. The wall opposite the bar has several shelves full of small jars of tea just waiting to be sniffed. After much see-sawing, I settled on the House Chai. Not very adventurous, you say? Au contraire! It was easily the best chai I've ever had. The loose tea alone is stunning -- whole star anise, chunks of dried ginger, whole cloves, green cardamon pods, nuggets of cinnamon bark... and the aroma... wow. Heady. Spicy. The tea was prepared with steamed milk, and sweetened just right -- it wasn't syrupy or overwhelming. It's a fantastic tea: warm, spicy, and peppery. I had some "BNG House Chai" at Breaking New Grounds in Portland last month. When I ordered it, the girl at the counter said "now, it's really spicy -- is that OK?" I said bring it on! Hovever, I was disappointed. It was good, but no more spicy or flavorful than any other I'd had. Oolongs' chai, however, has an amazing pepperiness that is just indescribable. I also bought a small tin of "Root Beer Green" tea that smells so yummy! I haven't tried it yet, but I'm thinking with a little creamer and a touch of Splenda, it will be root beer float time!
Kevin and I broke away from the rest of the family after that. We went to some of my favorite shops in New Haven, including Gourmet Heaven. But I couldn't get that chai off my mind! I dragged Kev back to Oolongs and bought a tin. When I got to the cash register, I noticed a little Christmas tree "decorated" with necklaces and earings. How did I miss it the first time? Hard telling. What was so special about this jewelry was that it was all shaped like little teapots. I couldn't stand it. This necklace ended up coming home with me. Unfortunately, my camera takes horrid closeups, but you should be able to get the general idea...
Isn't that just too much?!? It's a little less than an inch tall, I'd say. The "pot" is dark blue with pink roses and little swirls of golden dust. I am now on a mission to find the pieces and parts to make these on my own, and maybe try to sell them at a couple local stores. I've found a couple of websites already, and of course, ebay has anything and everything. I'm just looking for the best price on the supplies now.
Now, just wait 'til tomorrow, when I tell you who stared out at me from a poster in a store, and what I bought as a result... =)
