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I always say that one of the best parts of blogging is the friends and connections I make. And it's so true. Ilaria, who blogs over at Ilaria's Perfect Recipes, first found my blog when I was recapping our honeymoon in Italy. When I mentioned an amazing chilled coffee drink I'd had in Modena that I wanted to re-create at home, she shared a recipe with me (I still need to try it this summer).
Have you ever had any MorningStar Farms products? I used to eat the veggie bites for breakfast all the time. They were easy to make and kept me feeling full for hours. And I've also tried the veggie crumbles. Recently, I was invited to sample the new Mediterranean Chickpea Burger and was sent a gift card (to purchase the burgers), a Greek-inspired grilling apron, a chickpea cookbook, and a chickpe
I was recently invited into Grill 23 & Bar for a special dinner to celebrate their partnership with the Brandt family. Grill 23 is part of the Himmel Hospitality group (along with Harvest and Post 390), and all the restaurants in the group serve Brandt Beef. The dinner featured, understandably (and I am not complaining!), a lot of beef, prepared by executive chef Jay Murray, as well as w
We walked into RumBa, a rum and Champagne bar at the InterContinental Boston, to the sounds of a steel drum, which added to the Caribbean-themed atmosphere. This was all too welcome on a cold, gloomy Thursday evening. Add one of RumBa's signature cocktails and it was like we were instantly transported somewhere warm and tropical. My friend started out with a key lime cooler, a mixture of Cruz
I was recently flipping through cookbooks looking for some appetizer ideas and came across a recipe for mâche with warm Brie and apples in Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, and I realized that it had been a very long time since I'd had mâche or made baked Brie. That was just the push I needed to add some baked Brie to the menu. Since the recipe was for a plated salad course and I wanted more
I'm back with another great Cinco de Mayo worthy dish: steak tacos with mango guacamole. The National Mango Board recently sent me a box of mangos, and while I ended up eating most of them just cut up and mixed with strawberries, I did use one in a flavorful guacamole, which I put on top of some tasty grilled steak tacos. I wish I could say I grilled the steak outside in the sunshin
Cinco de Mayo is coming up! If you're looking for a fun party recipe, you've come to the right place. I had been seeing pictures all over Pinterest of little taco cups, and while those sounded fun, they were a bit too simple for me. So I took them up a notch by making pork carnitas in the slow cooker and then crafting mini pork carnitas bites. I broke out the All-Clad slow cooker I got at
Share Our Strength's Taste of The Nation is the nation's premier culinary benefit dedicated to eradicating childhood hunger. The funds raised at Taste of the Nation events, which are held in nearly 40 cities across the country, support Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign. The campaign helps to end childhood hunger in America by building public awareness about the issue as well as the
Last week I attended The Taste of Columbus Hospitality Group at Mistral. The event showcased the restaurants in the Columbus Hospitality Group, which include Mistral, as well as L'Andana, Mooo...., Sorellina, and Teatro. I'd already been to Mistral, L'Andana, and Sorellina and looked forward to trying bites from those restaurants as well as the two I haven't yet been to. I arrived at Mist
After reading and commenting on each other's blogs for months, Colleen from What's Baking in the Barbershop?! and I figured out that we live relatively close and decided to get together for dinner. We chose to meet at Redd's in Rozzie, a small restaurant in Roslindale Village that neither of us had been to before. Part of what inspired me to go there was reading about Redd's commitment to be
photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, w
It's National Grilled Cheese Month, and I was invited to participate in Kitchen Play's 30 Days of Grilled Cheese, an event sponsored by Land O’Lakes. The way the event works is that each day throughout the month a different blogger posts a grilled cheese sandwich made with Land O Lakes® Deli American Cheese or 4 Cheese Italian Blend, and today happens to be my day! Grilled cheese sa
It's hard to come up with words, but it doesn't feel right to not say anything, so here's my attempt... As many of you know, I live in West Roxbury, which is part of Boston. I've lived in the Boston area for the past seven years. I never imagined anything like what happened Monday happening in a place I call home. On Monday morning, I was disappointed that I was heading to work and not off t
It should come as no shock that the food was very important to me when planning our wedding -- it was right behind the groom and the dress. I really wanted in-season food at my wedding, not just some year-round banquet meal. That and my vision for the wedding had us checking out farms and barns for our venue. The venue we ended up picking, The Estate at Moraine Farm in Beverly, Massachusetts, is p
After my friend and I took a City Wine Tour in the South End, we wanted to get a bite to eat before joining our husbands at Jillian's for their annual softball team bowling party. (Bar food is just the thing sometimes, but neither of us were feeling it right then.) Once my friend realized I'd never been to B&G Oysters, it was decided that that's where we'd go. B&G is part of the Barbara
Well, we did it. We went to the new Shake Shack in Chestnut Hill one week after it opened and stood in line for 45 minutes, waiting to try the iconic burgers. The line felt like it kept moving (albeit slowly) and when we got to the front of the restaurant, staff members were lighting heat lamps to keep us warm, so it wasn't too bad. (But it was nearly 8 p.m. by the time we got inside.)
photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com Photo by one of our friends Mindy from TextStyle Designs was the one vendor who actually found me, saving me from endless invitation research. She had left a comment on m
A couple of months ago Yotam Ottolenghi (author of Ottolenghi, Plenty, and Jerusalem -- along with Sami Tamimi) was in town, and he graciously stopped by my work to give a brief talk, answer all our questions, sign our cookbooks, and join us for lunch. When I got up to him with my books, I gushed about how grateful I was for his interesting eggplant recipes. Before his books, I'd make eggplan
I have an awesome party dish for you guys today. One of my co-workers posted on The Feed a recipe for homemade pizza rolls -- like those frozen pizza rolls from Totino's. You may not know this about me, but Totino's pizza rolls were my post-bar staple during my early 20s. My friend and I would come home from the bar; head to her place, which was right next door to mine; and
photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography, www.kevinjacobusphoto.com photo by Kevin Jacobus Photography,
Peanut butter and chocolate. You know the combination. It's one of the best there is. And I can't get enough of it. No one needs to know the amount of Reese's products I have consumed in my lifetime. I used to eat the Fast Break bars for breakfast in college. Let's just leave it at that. Around Easter, Reese's comes out with its signature peanut butter cups in the form of peanut butter eg
When we moved into our house, there was a box labeled "muffin tins" that I gave Jeff a hard time about. He had done all the packing for our move, and while I appreciated everything he did, there were definitely things I would have done differently -- like not packing my iPod away. So when I saw the muffin tins box, I questioned whether an entire box was truly necessary for muffin tins. Well,
Cadbury Mini Eggs are my absolute favorite Easter candy. Instead of just eating them straight out the bag as I usually do, I decided to make an Easter treat with them and came up a rich dark chocolate fudge that pairs nicely with the crunchy shells and milk chocolate centers. For a little sophistication and extra flavor, I sprinkled sea salt over the fudge before letting it set up.
Did you know that April 3 is Whole Grain Sampling Day? What is that, you ask? It's an opportunity for consumers everywhere to try more whole grains, as supermarkets, manufacturers, restaurants, and other foodservice outlets all pitch in to lower the barriers to sampling whole grains. Whole Grain Sampling Day was created by Oldways and the Whole Grains Council to show consumers how del
My first experience with brisket (besides corned beef brisket, which I've eaten every St. Patrick's Day for as long as I can remember) was the first time Jeff brought me home to meet his family. It was Rosh Hashanah (back in 2008). This was also my first time experiencing a Jewish holiday, potato kugel, and homemade challah bread. I won't say the evening wasn't intimidating -- Jeff
One of the best food events of the year is coming up: Taste of the Nation Boston. Taste of the Nation is a culinary benefit that raises critical funds needed to support Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign, which is dedicated to ending childhood hunger. One hundred percent of the ticket sales goes to this cause. Taste of the Nation is held in cities across the country, including Boston.
After making the chicken and biscuit waffles from Breakfast for Dinner, I had leftover buttermilk, so I decided to make another biscuit-based recipe: BLT biscuits. Now I love BLTs, but Jeff isn't a huge fan -- he loves the B but not the L and T. So I put my own spin on this recipe, and after I cooked the bacon, I put a pounded-thin chicken breast on the same sheet pan and baked it in bacon g
Do you ever eat breakfast for dinner? Jeff can eat pancakes any time of day, and I find a hearty omelet or a cool, crunchy bowl of cereal to be the most satisfying meal some nights. When I heard about Breakfast for Dinner, a cookbook featuring breakfast-y main dishes, sides, starters, cocktails, and desserts all meant to be served for dinner, I was definitely intrigued. Breakfast for Dinn
Now that you've read all about the wine tour I took with City Wine Tours, do you think you'd like to a take a wine tour too? To recap, the tours run on Saturdays and Sundays in the North End, South End, Harvard Square, and Back Bay. The tours are led by knowledgeable wine ambassadors. Each tour has three stops and includes multiple pours of wine as well as some small bites to eat. No
A couple of weekends ago, my friend and I went on a South End wine tour through City Wine Tours. Have you heard of City Wine Tours? They pair well-known restaurants, great wines, and educated tour guides to provide fun progressive wine tours in Boston (and Cambridge) neighborhoods. There are tours in Harvard Square, Back Bay, the North End, and the South End, and the tours run on Saturday and Sund
About a month ago, Jeff and I flew out to California for a wedding. The wedding was in Laguna Beach, but we were lucky enough to have a little extra time to spend in Temecula with my aunt and uncle and cousin before driving out to the wedding. Temecula is known for its vineyards (I'd actually gone to a few several years ago), and my aunt asked if we wanted to have dinner at one of the win
After my mom and I tasted wines at Truro Vineyards, it was finally time for our picnic lunch on the beach. We got to Herring Cove and learned that the wind had other plans for us though. We sat in the car, watched the ocean and the seagulls, and enjoyed the sunshine while we snacked on the goodies we'd purchased at Main Street Wine & Gourmet and Truro Vineyards. We had Wensleyda
I've long thought of Cape Cod as my home away from home. I've gone year after year for many, many years now. While I love spending a summer week on the beach, I most appreciate Cape Cod during the quieter, milder off-season. My family usually spends Columbus Day Weekend there, but, well, someone (no names) decided to get married last Columbus Day Weekend, so my whole family was otherwise occ
We had been trying for about a month to have a couple of friends over to see our new house. They had just bought a house and were spending their weekends doing renovations and we were running around with various house errands every weekend ourselves, so we finally realized a weekday, after-work get-together would be best. We went back and forth over whether to just pick up a pizza or some ot
One of the last most memorable desserts I've had -- besides all six courses at Harvest and the affogato at Steel & Rye -- was the olive oil coppetta at Otto Enoteca Pizzeria in New York. The coppetta or "cup" offered a balance of creamy, savory olive oil gelato; fresh, bright tangerine sorbet; tangy-sweet candied kumquats; and vibrant blood oranges. Upon finishing the last bites of
Last week I was invited to Harvest to check out the "Sinfully Sweet" Handcrafted Dessert Review -- six courses of desserts prepared by pastry chef Brian Mercury. I happily skipped dinner and sat down at 6 p.m. to indulge in course after course of dessert. Before we dined, Brian came out to give an overview of everything we would be eating, what components were on each plate, and how they were m
It's award season! We've seen the Grammys and the Oscars are coming up! To help you celebrate award season, I'm giving away a Joy of Thank You Red Carpet Kit from Merci chocolates. Merci chocolates are European chocolates that come in an array of flavors, from dark mousse to coffee and cream to hazelnut-almond. The chocolate is rich and smooth, and the flavors are interesting and fun. The ki
Several Fridays ago, I left work early and boarded a Bolt bus to NYC with my friend Kathleen to celebrate her bachelorette. We were staying with our friend Michelle, who lives on the Upper East Side, and while the other ladies who'd be joining the bachelorette festivities weren't due to show up until the following afternoon, the three of us wanted to take advantage of a nice dinner out in the city
There's a new restaurant on my favorite restaurant list... and it's called Steel & Rye. I immediately fell in love with the atmosphere and the food. Head over to the Globe to read my review! (Also available here.)
If you're looking for some fun Valentine's-themed treats, be sure to check out my Pinterest board. From mini raspberry and white chocolate whoopie pies to mini chocolate-covered strawberry profiteroles, there's sure to be something your valentine will love. Wishing you all lots of love and happiness. Happy Valentine's Day!
I bake with Land O'Lakes unsalted butter all the time and often head to the deli for some Land O'Lakes cheese, so I was excited when, a few weeks ago, Land O'Lakes invited me to join a webinar about their recipe development and inspiration and their tips for entertaining. The webinar was hosted by the Land O'Lakes test kitchen and Rebecca from Foodie with Family. Unfortunately, the webinar wa
Today I'm giving away two decks of Boston City Dining Cards! Have you heard of these yet? Basically, each deck contains 50 $10 discount cards to local restaurants and 2 wildcards that offer freebies. You simply spend at least $30 at a participating restaurant, redeem your City Dining Card when you pay, and receive $10 off the food portion of your bill. Here are just some of the particip
About a month ago I got some fun treats to sample from Popbar. Popbar is a shop in New York that sells gelato on a stick as well as other goodies. Clearly, they couldn't send me gelato, so they sent me something even better at this time of year: Hot Chocolate on a Stick. I got two samples of dark Hot Chocolate on a Stick -- basically a block of chocolate on a Popsicle stick. (Other available
I hope everyone is safe and warm and enjoying the aftermath of Nemo. The storm gave me an excuse to hole up inside, cook comfort food, and sit by the fire and to just let go a little and spend some time with my boys. On Friday afternoon when the snow was just starting to stick, Gunner got to frolic in the backyard with his frisbee. He loves the snow, but I don't think he had any idea what was c
Today sounds like the perfect day to get snowed in! Cold, snowy weather always makes me wish we could just hibernate. Rather than brave the chilly temperatures and trudge through foot-high snow, I'd love to stay curled up on the couch in front of the fireplace with a mug of hot cocoa in hand -- or nibbling on cookies that offer the rich, comforting flavors of hot cocoa. These cookies do just
I've been to The Salty Pig in Boston's Back Bay a few times since it opened back in 2011. I immediately loved the concept -- a warm, inviting space with a view of the kitchen and lots of cheese, salty meat, and pizza options. Since my last visit, Kevin O'Donnell became executive chef there. Kevin was a sous chef at Mario Batali's Del Posto and was also named "a new American tastemak
These buffalo chicken fried ravioli were supposed to be buffalo chicken wontons, but apparently if you go looking for wonton wrappers the day before Super Bowl Sunday, even if you go to three different stores, you might not find any. For some reason, even though every store was out of wonton wrappers, they all seemed to have egg roll wraps, so I decided to improvise, having already bought ev
Mardi Gras is just around the corner! And I have a king cake and some New Orleans' coffee to give away to help you celebrate! The king cake is traditionally associated with the beginning of Carnival Season, which starts on Twelfth Night and ends on Mardi Gras. There's usually a small plastic baby hidden inside the cake, and whoever finds it is supposed to have good fortune for the year.
We moved to West Roxbury a little over a month ago and are learning our neighborhood little by little. It will definitely be so much nicer and easier when the weather gets warmer and we can walk around and explore. In the meantime, we're lucky enough to have friends who volunteered to come out to our neighborhood for dinner so we could check out a new-to-us restaurant. I have a long list of plac
