November 2010
41 posts
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Green Eggs Cafe
Yesterday Ben and Jessie were in town, so we went to Green Eggs Cafe for brunch. It seemed impossible after Thanksgiving gluttony to enjoy such a sinful brunch, but it was delicious. Jessie and I both ordered the “Kitchen Sink”, which was well-named. Scrambled eggs, potatoes, peppers and onions covered with biscuits and heavy duty sausage gravy.
Seriously heavy but stick to your...
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“What is that?”
– My cousin from Hawaii who is staying with us, in response to the fact that it’s snowing in Philadelphia right now!
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Safe travels!
Travel safe on your journeys home to family and friends, or enjoy some major relaxation staying cozy right where you are— that’s what I’m doing. What am I getting ready to make? Well, the cranberry torte is done. On the docket tonight and tomorrow:
Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle
The “Perfect” Thanksgiving Turkey and Gravy
Buttermilk Mashed Potatoes
Brussel Sprouts...
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Started preparing for the big day...
Sunday night I started Thanksgiving Day preparations by working on this labor intensive cranberry torte, a recipe from my Cousin Ann and originally my Great Aunt. It is a Michigan State cake contest winner, and apparently amazing. It entails baking the cake, glazing it repeatedly for over an hour, and then wrapping it in tin foil and not opening it up until Thanksgiving… can’t wait to...
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Little Bites
I’m still full from last night! My favorite part of the event was that every table had one little bite-size delicacy, showcasing their restaurant in a single (or maybe a couple) bites. I kind of felt like I was a judge on top chef, walking around sampling from all of the Philadelphia competitors. I would probably have eliminated the Prime Rib or Chops— the first for serving the most...
So stuffed right now...
Went to an auction tonight with Slip for his job, and it was amazing. There were a bunch of cool things to bid on, but the best part was all of the restaurants which had bite size treats to try. Butcher & Singer, Osteria, and Whipped Bakeshop were among the guests. I LOVED the cupcakes, and I got to meet Zoe from Whipped— so cool!!
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Happy Tummies
Besides getting up close and personal with the kitchen last night (which including watching the chefs not only crust the ahi tuna but sip on cups of coffee and constantly check their i-phones), Carys and I enjoyed some delicious treats.
I can’t say enough how good of a restaurant Audrey Claire is to bring one, or many, friends to. With their variety of choices, seasonal ingredients, and...
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Audrey Claire: Up Close and Personal
Carys and I just had the most exciting, engaging, up close and personal dinner experience! We wandered over to Audrey Claire with a bottle of malbec in tow. Confronted by a daunting 45 minute wait, we jumped at the opportunity to sit at “the bar” right away, helping with the issues of our rumbling tummies.
The bar at Audrey Claire, one of my favorite spots to dine, happens to be...
Craving chocolate.
Probably something like this. I think I’ll settle for hot chocolate.
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White Bean Chicken Chili
This is an essential winter recipe, and we enjoyed it last week when it was nice and crisp outside. I got the recipe from The Pioneer Woman, one of my favorites. If you do make it, give yourself several hours of cooking time— the dry beans take a long time, and when I’ve made this chili they’ve definitely taken over 2 hours to cook. And make sure you like the spice, because this...
It's Tumblr Tuesday
Please click here and recommend yummy bites to the food directory!
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Monday is the new Sunday
Slip gets to go into work late on Monday mornings, so I get to have him at home until 10ish and that means I wake up and brew some coffee and try to throw together a nice breakfast. Today it was banana pancakes, a childhood favorite. Banana pancakes are a great way to use your bananas when they are on the verge of turning, and before they enter banana bread territory. Just slice them and add them...
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Drunken Green Beans and Mushrooms
This recipe is easy and yummy and I love it. Here is basically how it goes:
1. Add about 1 tbsp. olive oil and 1-2 tbsp. butter to a pan over medium heat. Add in a few cloves of chopped garlic and half of one onion, diced. Allow to cook about 5 minutes.
2. Add in some sliced cremini mushrooms (10-12 depending on the size), allowing to cook down. After about 5 minutes add in fresh (or frozen)...
I don’t know how to respond to people’s notes, so let me try this, re: Thanksgiving dinner.
@sweetescapefromreality: I love cornbread! Usually we actually have a cornbread stuffing. I found a lot of good biscuit recipes, too. And I would love the apple pie recipe, that would be a good one to try.
@icorianne: I mentioned greenbean casserole to my mom and she said it was a flashback to...
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Have I mentioned I'm hosting Thanksgiving this...
I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year. Thanks to Slip and my beautiful apartment (we loooove our apartment) we have just enough room to squeeze in 7 of our favorite family guests (and 1 dog!) and make good use of our extendable table to host a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. I found this countdown list on the Reading Terminal Market website, along with a few recipes and tips.
We’ll be making...
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Apple Cobbler Cupcakes
Is your mouth watering? It should be— these were the moistest most seasonally perfect cupcakes ever. I haven’t made cupcakes in a while either, so that was a treat, too. After a long day of working hard and studying, Catie and I decided we wanted to bake, and I’d been dying to try this recipe from Cupcake Project.
Here’s what you’ll need (adapted from Cupcake...
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Baked Ziti
I’ve been cooking a lot lately, and this was a recent favorite. I love ziti because it meets so many comfort food needs— pasta, warm, and cheesy. What could be wrong? It is also a simple recipe which affords a lot of improvisation. I’ll sum up how I did things, but you can really make this any way you see fit— as easy as just mixing up some noodles, sauce, putting it in the...
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Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Beware: these are literally the best, most amazing cookies I’ve ever made. I had to try one right after they came out of the oven, which prompted a phone call to my mom to share the news that I’d made the best cookies ever, followed by enormous restraint not to devour the whole batch, allowing them to cool and be shared.
Well, now it is time to share the recipe with you, too. Easy to...
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Quite Continental
Catie and I ventured over to Continental Mid-town this morning for a quite delicious brunch. I was craving the smoked salmon hash, and she was a first-timer for brunch there.
One of my favorite things about Continental is the ambiance there— it has a chic retro vibe, complete with swinging chairs upstairs and blue leather booths downstairs.
We even got seated in the swinging chairs! Slip...
They're up!
A big bunch of lights getting ready to go up in the trees…
Can you see them? Well, they’re not meant for the daytime.. but I wonder when they’ll be lit up. So exciting! One of the many reasons I love Rittenhouse…
They're stringing up white lights in Rittenhouse...
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Pumpkin Pancakes
This morning Catie came over and I whipped up some pumpkin pancakes while she and Slip enjoyed a marathon of The Wire. Easy to do, with some Aunt Jemima pancake mix on hand. I just followed the recipe on the box, and added in two heaping tablespoons of pureed pumpkin and some pumpkin pie spice.
One batch made a heaping plate of fresh pumpkin silver dollar pancakes. Making these on a weekend...
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Guess what Philadelphians?
The South Street Bridge is reopening! This weekend! Hoorah! This reopening, after 23 long months of construction, will make travel between West Philadelphia and Center City easy breezy, and also open up many more bike lanes as well.
I used to traverse this bridge (by car) quite often when I was living in the Italian Market neighborhood and Slip was living in West Philly. I can’t believe...
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Deli? Lucky me!
Slip happened to see the comment by sweetescapefromreality on my earlier post and guess what he brought home after work?
A big bag of deli from Famous Fourth Street! This included one whopping matzoh ball with some chicken noodle soup. That was my favorite part.
It was so good. Slip had some corned beef and pastrami, and he also brought be a potato knish, which is being saved for tomorrow,...
Home Sick
This cold started yesterday and I thought I would be better today but apparently things have gone downhill. My eyes are swollen, my nose is swollen, and my voice has taken a vacation. Add in the fact that it is a rainy, dreary day in Philadelphia and that is just a recipe for staying in bed. Being sick is no fun. If I gain some energy I’ll think about making soup or baking.
What do you eat...
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Happy Election Day
And a (belated) Happy November to you, too. Not only is it Tumblr Tuesday (feel free to recommend me by clicking here!), it’s time for midterm elections. If you live in PA and you don’t know where to vote, click here.
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Miss Shirley's Cafe →
Craving all things Miss Shirley’s. Julie is going to Baltimore this weekend and I started listing off some of my favorite places, and this brunch joint tops the list, by far. Crab and fried green tomato eggs benedict? Chicken and waffles? Savory grits, with mascarpone and smoky bacon? Yes, yes, and yes. Ok mom and dad, I’ll come visit Baltimore soon.
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