The World According To Kate » food

Happy Holidays, Everyone!

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 15:48:00 +0000

This post could just as easily be entitled Welcome to My Cookie Nightmare or perhaps The Great Cookie Tray of Doom, but I decided to just keep it light and simple. It’s Christmas Eve, after all, and I don’t want to sound like a total Scrooge! It’s just that after spending the last two weekends baking and eating cookies, I feel like I might actually vomit if I have to look at another one. That being said, this is a food centered blog, and I’ve taken like 8,000 pictures of cookies and other peoples’ Christmas decorations, and I would be remiss if I didn’t do some sort of holiday baking post. Also, I promised my friend Andrea that her Cookie Swap from a couple of weekends ago would make my blog. Oh, the things I’ll do for my friends… So here’s a quick photo dump of my last two weekends since I don’t really have the time to post a recipe at the moment, because, get this, I have more baking to do today! Happy Holidays, Folks!

A few photos from the Cookie Swap:

Andrea’s tree… with Christmas gifts already wrapped on December 10th. Are you kidding me? I hadn’t even started my shopping yet at that point!

Awesome tower of cookies that Andrea and her mom made – including homemade marshmallows!

The hostess with mostest. This is possibly the happiest I’ve ever seen Andrea – I think she was several drinks in at this point, so that makes sense

Photos from last weekend – the Annual Baking Extravaganza with Mom:

I made Oatmeal Cranberry White Chip Cookies on my own before heading over to my parents’ house (yes, just about every cookie I make has oatmeal in it). They had already made four different kinds over there without me.

They were also looking pretty festive over there – pretty impressive since they just moved into the new house a few weeks ago!

The beginnings of Pecan Tassies… these cookies are the worst to make, but they’re so good to eat! I guess it’s worth it.

Here’s a picture of Dad supervising… I have a picture of mom, hard at work, too, but it’s not the most flattering photo, so I won’t post it. She actually looks kind of pissed – certainly not as happy as Andrea looks in the photo above. Clearly we hadn’t had enough to drink yet.

Actually, after all that work, I think we’ve all earned my normal Christmas Eve tradition of celebrating with a few Gin and Tonics!

Merry X-Mas from The World According to Kate!

Vegan Sweet Potato Muffins

Kate Czlapinski — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:13:26 +0000

As I’m sure you’ve heard, tomorrow’s Thanksgiving and, if you’re like most of us, you will be engaging in a gluttonous turkey fest, which will then be followed by seventeen pieces of pie, maybe some football and a long nap. It will be super healthy.

While you’ll no doubt consume a sufficient number of calories to last you through the holiday season, you should probably have a little breakfast in the morning. It is the most important meal of the day, after all. I would suggest you keep it light, but that’s just me.

Recently, I made these Vegan Whole Grain Sweet Potato Muffins, and I think they would make the perfect Thanksgiving breakfast item. They were adapted from Mark Bittman’s Sweet Potato Muffin Recipe that was featured in the November issue of Runner’s World. I decided to make them vegan, because I’m just crazy like that and enjoy the challenge. If I were to make them again, I might substitute some of the whole wheat flour for some white flour. I also made them a little lower fat by using apple sauce in place of the oil.

Bittman also suggests trying banana nut or pumpkin coconut variations if you’re not into sweet potatoes. I think the pumpkin coconut option sounds just divine, and would be great if you feel that the seventeen pieces of pumpkin pie you’ll be eating later just aren’t going to fulfill your pumpkin needs!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsps. baking powder

1 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup Earth Balance buttery spread

1/4 cup apple sauce

1 cup mashed sweet potato

3 tbsps. water mixed with 2 1/2 tbsps. flax

1/2 cup almond milk

Heat oven to 375° F. Grease 12 muffin cups or add paper liners.

In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix earth balance, apple sauce, sweet potato, flax/water mixture, and almond milk.

Fold wet mixture into the dry; and stir until just combined. Batter should be pretty thick.

Fill muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

An Afternoon in Old Lyme

Kate Czlapinski — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 13:04:50 +0000

Recently, I took a much needed week off from work, and was looking for some fun little day trips that I could do. My mom took a day off to spend with me and suggested the we check out the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme and maybe do a little lunch in the area. Before going to the museum, I really didn’t know much about it – which made it all the more intriguing – and of course, I never turn down lunch, so this sounded like a wonderful idea!

Florence Griswold ran a boarding house in Old Lyme in the early 1900’s. Many Impressionist artists of the time were drawn to the beauty of Old Lyme and chose to stay exclusively in her home, which eventually became a sort of bohemian artists colony.

The grounds of the museum are really quite beautiful – with several gardens and views of the Lieutenant River. I spent quite a bit of time taking pictures of the house and the gardens before actually entering the museum. I apologize for the quality of the photos – I didn’t take the good camera to begin with and then later realized my white balance was set weird. D’oh!

Once inside, we watched a couple of informative videos about Florence and the house and one of one of the exhibits, and then we spent some time looking at all the art. We then went on a tour of the house, which has been completely restored to circa 1910, when so many of the artists stayed there. It was particularly fascinating to see all the painted panels in the home. The dining room and many other rooms in the house have paintings on the panels of the walls that were done by some of the artists staying there. One would actually have to be invited to paint a panel and it was considered quite the honor to get that invitation.

The exhibit that I probably enjoyed the most, though, was The Rambles – a huge outdoor sculpture of woven sticks and branches overlooking the The Lieutenant River. It was pretty incredible – you could even walk through it!

After more wandering around the grounds and a quick stop at the gift shop, we decided it was about time to find some lunch. After reading a few reviews on Yelp, we decided on the The Morning Glory Cafe, which was just a couple minutes (if that) down the road from the museum. This ended up being the perfect choice for our afternoon out. It had outdoor seating, with views of the river, and a simple menu consisting mostly of sandwiches and salads – which is just what we were looking for.

I chose the Veggie Glory Wrap, which had onions, mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and spinach and provolone cheese, served along side a nice crispy order of their Sweet Potato Fries.

Mom had the MGC Panini, which looked amazing – Prosciutto with roasted red peppers, basil and Feta, served with fries.

After lunch, we ran a couple of errands and finished our day with a stop at the Old Lyme Ice Cream Shoppe, where I had the best thing ever! No really, the best thing ever. I had Sam Adams Double Chocolate Bock ice cream. I have been saying for the longest time now that someone needs to combine two of my favorite things – ice cream and beer – and they did it! And it was amazing… It was like a really good chocolate ice cream with just a little kick at the end. Perfect.

Here’s mom enjoying her cone outside the shop. I thought the shop was absolutely adorable. I honestly think I would make a trip down to Old Lyme just for the ice cream!

It really was a perfect afternoon – took a beautiful drive, saw some great art, ate an excellent lunch, and finished it all with ice cream (which, of course, is the ideal way to end all things)!

My Drunk Kitchen!

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 15:37:49 +0000

Seriously, “nothing about cookies is fun”, and “the worst part of baking is everything about baking.” Next time I get suckered into making a whole mess of cookies with my family, I think I’m bringing a few bottles of champagne with me.

Easter 2011 Dessert Table and Other Highlights

Kate Czlapinski — Sun, 01 May 2011 14:14:52 +0000

I know it’s a week late, but hey, I’ve been busy… and lazy! I was out running a few errands with my mom yesterday afternoon and she subtly reminded me that I hadn’t yet posted about Easter. Thanks Mom.

This Easter was just like any other holiday spent with my family. The amount of food was fairly ridiculous – especially considering that we’d all been told by the hostess, my Aunt Debbie, NOT to bring any extra food (especially desserts) this year, because she wanted to cut down and we always have way too much left over Blah, blah, blah… And that’s exactly what I heard, and apparently what everyone else heard – specifically the “blah, blah, blah” part. We all brought dessert – lots and lots of dessert. This is just what we do. If you tell us we can’t bring anything, we’ll probably show up with a dessert. If you also tell us we can’t bring a dessert, we’re just going to be very confused. We are Polish, after all :p

The Dessert Table

As always, it was a really fun day, with lots of food and wine shared and enjoyed with the family. I took a lot of photos, playing with the new lens I recently bought for my camera. These are just a few of my favorite shots from the day.

It ended up being a beautiful day even though storms were predicted (and did eventually hit us in the late afternoon). Here’s my dad out enjoying the sun!

Dad on the Deck

This is my Aunt Annie sitting with Alyssa in the living room before the big holiday meal. Not sure what they’re looking at here, but it looks like I caught a nice moment.

Aunt Annie and Alyssa

My cousin Kim had a baby in November and I got a lot of pictures of him on Easter. This is my favorite of Peyton with his mommy. And yes, she always looks this good. It’s actually kind of sickening

Kimmie with Peyton

Of course, I also got a bunch of pictures of my dad with the baby. My dad is a baby magnet. Babies always love him – and, really, what’s not to love?

Peyton with my dad

It just wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t include a picture of a cat. Aunt Debbie’s cat was crazy friendly and I was really tempted to stuff him in my bag and take him home with me. Next time I’m coming with a bigger purse.

Oliver? Aunt Debbie has had a few cats over the years that all look similar. I can never remember which one’s which. I think this is Oliver.

Oh, and it looks like someone had far too much wine! And for once, it wasn’t me!

Drunken Lamb!

So overall, it was a great day with the family. I’ll be posting the recipe for my dessert table contribution later this week, so stay tuned!

A Dramatic Reading From “My Father’s Daughter” by Gwyneth Paltrow

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 16:31:04 +0000

Hearthstone Pub – Plantsville, CT

Kate Czlapinski — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:30:00 +0000

Recently, Kevin and I met our awesome friend Jenn out for a Sunday afternoon lunch at The Hearthstone Pub in the Planstville section of Southington. I had been hearing a lot of good things about it, so when she suggested we meet up there, I couldn’t turn down the invitation!

Jenn!

The décor is simple, but attractive, with lots of dark wood and fireplaces everywhere you look (there’s a grand total of 16 in the restaurant)! It has a very cozy and comfortable feel, the kind of place where you can really relax and spend some time with a few friends and some beers. We actually managed to stay a few hours on our visit!

Speaking of beer, they have 16 different beers on tap, and Kevin and I were very pleased to find a number of microbrews on the list, including several IPA’s. It was definitely a nice little selection. They also had an extensive wine list.

Kevin, enjoying an IPA

Because this was Jenn’s last weekend before starting a diet, we decided to go all out and order the Pub Fried Combo as an appetizer. And it was all that a fried combo should be! It consisted of potato skins, wings, calamari and onion rings, and came with a variety of dipping options. It was delicious, fried goodness!

Fried Awesomeness!

For our meal, I ordered the Grilled Portabella Panini, which was served with fries and coleslaw. The Panini was really good. One might wonder how one can screw up a Portabella Panini, but as someone who orders this sort of thing all the time, trust me it happens all the time. The Hearthstone Pub got it right, though, it was perfect – flavorful, with lots of veggies, and not too soggy. The fries were good, but nothing to write home about. I tried the slaw and wasn’t impressed, but then, I’m not usually a big fan of coleslaw – this one was way too mayonnaisey for me. Overall, I was happy with my meal.

Jenn had the Baked Stuffed Shrimp, which was served with rice and a heaping pile of vegetables. Look at all those veggies! Beautiful!

Kevin order the Guinness Bacon Cheeseburger, which was served with a side of fries. While the burger was good, it wasn’t really anything special. It just tasted like a normal bacon cheeseburger – no noticeable Guinness flavor at all. The menu indicated that there would be a Guinness sauce, but it either wasn’t there or just wasn’t detectable, so that was a bit of a disappointment.

Overall, I have to say I was pretty impressed with the place, and definitely intend to go back in the near future. This is a great place for a Sunday afternoon with friends, an evening out with the girls or even a romantic dinner for two!

Hearthstone Pub

42 West Main Street

Plantsville, CT 06479

(860) 628-0877

Pasta With Sausage and Greens

Kate Czlapinski — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:00:00 +0000

The other night, I got home late and really hadn’t given dinner too much thought. Takeout was just not an option and we certainly were not going to go out again. We needed something quick, easy and with ingredients that we had on hand. This was one of those meals that was thought up while standing in front of my refrigerator, thinking ‘what in the world am I going to make tonight?’ Sometimes this is the start of complete disasters and other times the results are really quite good. This was the latter. We lucked out.

1/2 lb pasta

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Soy Sausages (sliced)

1 medium yellow onion (sliced)

2 cloves garlic

1/2 lb Portobello mushrooms (sliced)

A few handfuls of chopped greens of your choice (I used spinach and arugula)

1/2 cup White Wine

Crushed Red Pepper

Salt and Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

This all came together pretty quick. Cook pasta per the instructions on box. Brown sausage pieces and then remove from pan. Add onions to pan, then garlic and mushrooms. Once those have cooked for awhile, add the greens of your choice, white wine, and a bit of the pasta water. Once the greens have wilted a bit, return the sausage to the pan. Toss with cooked pasta and season with crushed red pepper, salt and pepper and parmesan cheese. I served mine with a thick slice of whole wheat ciabatta and lots of wine. Enjoy!

Vegetable Cassoulet

Kate Czlapinski — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 23:53:04 +0000

After the meat eating extravaganza of the weekend, I definitely needed a break from consuming dead animal flesh and wanted to make something super vegetabley, simple, but also hearty, for dinner on Sunday night. I did a little searching and came across this Incredible Vegetable Cassoulet from Not Eating Out in New York. This fit the bill perfectly… I even got to break out my Le Creuset French Oven! This was exactly what I had in mind – something with lots of vegetables, that would stick to your ribs and felt worthy of Sunday evening dinner. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly (I rarely really follow a recipe), but I was certainly inspired by this one. I used what I had and went with my gut and I suggest you do the same. Because of this meal’s rustic simplicity, it lends itself well to improvisation. What I did is detailed below.

So it didn’t exactly photo well (not to mention the complete lack of natural light I had to work with), but here’s the cassoulet plated:

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons Butter

1/4 cup Flour

1 medium Onion (diced)

2 stalks Celery (diced)

2 Carrots (diced)

Salt and Pepper

1/2 lb Baby Portobello Mushrooms (sliced)

3 cloves Garlic

Sage

Rosemary

Thyme

1 lg can Diced Tomatoes

About 1/2 lb of Squash of your choice (I raided my freezer here and used a slightly odd combo of zucchini and butternut squash)

A couple handfuls Chopped Spinach

1 cup Vegetable Stock

1 cup Red Wine

3 cans Cannellini Beans (drained)

3/4 cup Breadcrumbs

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

First, melt the butter and add your flour in a large heavy bottomed pot to form a roux. Stir frequently. You’ll know it’s done when it’s a nice medium brown.

Next, add your carrots, onions and celery, and season with salt and pepper. Once they’ve softened up a bit, you can add the mushrooms, garlic, herbs, tomatoes, squash and spinach. Add the red wine and vegetable stock to the mix. Bring to a boil. Add the beans. Cover and Simmer. Cook until carrots have softened. This took me about 30 minutes.

Top with a mixture of breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Throw in your oven set to 325 degrees for roughly 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Kevin!

Kate Czlapinski — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 18:36:57 +0000

So it’s really a belated happy birthday, as Kevin’s birthday was last Sunday, but we didn’t do much celebrating until this weekend (we spent last Sunday night at a wake), so I feel it’s actually perhaps more appropriate to wish him a happy birthday now than it was last week. Right? Right.

It was good to get out and socialize a bit. I work from home a lot and with all the snow we’ve been having lately (and I hear there’s more to come this week!), I definitely wasn’t going into the office, so I hardly left the house all last week. By Friday, I was just itching to get out of the house and see people. Maybe I really am an extrovert…

On Friday night,we went out with Kevin’s parents for his birthday celebration. We went to Smokin’ With Chris in Southington, which was awesome as always. I think I’ve probably mentioned here before that I really don’t eat a lot of meat as a rule. I’m not quite a vegetarian, but I probably keep my diet about 95% vegetarian. I’ve always found, however, that it’s worth making an exception for Smokin’ With Chris.

I had the pulled pork sandwich, which was awesome as usual, and well worth the exception. Although, I do have to say, that it wasn’t quite as good as it normally is. The pork wasn’t quite as pulled as it normally is, and maybe a little drier. It was still quite tasty, though. I took half home with me, which will probably be lunch one day this week.

(probably worth mentioning that this is not the sandwich I had on Friday, but a photo from a previous visit – didn’t feel like taking out the camera)

Last night, we went out with Tom and Heather for more celebrating, since we didn’t get to see them last weekend. We ended up going to Plan B Burger Bar in Glastonbury, so another exception night for me. They actually have a really good veggie burger, but their real burgers are pretty amazing, and I just couldn’t pass one up. Again, it was totally worth it.

We started with an order of the Jalapeno Poppers, which were less like a popper, and more like, as Kevin put it, “potato skins with jalapenos instead of potatoes”. They were good, but I don’t know if I’d order them again. It was kind of too much…

For my dinner, I ordered the Pretzel Burger, which is a favorite of mine. It’s on a pretzel bun, with spicy mustard, lettuce, pickles and cheddar. It’s one of the simpler burgers on the menu, which I really appreciate, because it doesn’t take away from the flavor of the beef. And while I’m not normally a big fan of beef, when it’s done right, it can be really excellent, and Plan B definitely does it right.

On the side, I had the Truffle Fries, which were quite good… definitely Truffley.

Heather had the Disco Fries with her burger, which were covered in cheese and gravy… I think the consensus was that the cheese was too artificial tasting – like cheese from a can or something. Oh well…

After Plan B, we went back to our place and had a few beers. I think, overall, Kevin had a pretty good birthday – even if it was almost a week late

Garden Pool

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 17:34:55 +0000

A friend of mine shared this video on Facebook earlier today and I thought it was pretty fascinating and had to share with you. More information can be found at GardenPool.org

Happy (Belated) New Year!

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 18:29:20 +0000

Soo… haven’t checked in in a little while. How’s everyone holding up? Has everyone awaken from their eggnog induced comas?

As usual, the holidays totally kicked my ass this year. Besides the normal last minute shopping, crazy deadlines at work and random social engagements…

There were cookies, lots and lots of cookies… just like every year. This is an example of small tray that my mom and I put together. I believe we baked 15 different types of cookies this year. Out of control, I know, but if you’ve been reading I’m sure you’ve come to expect that from us.

And of course, there was lots and lots of alcohol consumed. Sometimes you need a drink or 6 when spending that much time with your loved ones.

Like most people, I felt crazy busy most of December, just trying to get things done, and then Christmas and New Year’s finally arrive and it’s great, but it goes by far too fast. And when it’s all over, I feel a little sad, but mostly relieved and just kind of happy to get back to the normal grind. Does that make me Scrooge-ish? Probably. And I think I’m OK with that.

Happy New Year, Kids! Now get back to work!

Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake

Kate Czlapinski — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 13:10:36 +0000

My contributions to my family’s out of control dessert table on Thanksgiving included Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with Cranberries and Walnuts and my famous Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake. I know, I know… I was contributing to the problem, but my Pumpkin Pecan Cheesecake has become a tradition for the last 5 years or so, and I get asked about it throughout the year. As it gets closer and closer to Thanksgiving, I just get asked about it more. I can’t just show up at my Aunt Debbie’s house empty handed and disappoint the masses. Trust me, it would not be a good scene.

If you need to bring a dessert to some sort of social gathering this time of year, I highly suggest you make this. It never fails to impress and it’s actually pretty simple to make.

Ingredients

The Topping:

3/4 cup brown sugar

6 tablespoons butter (chilled)

1/2 cups pecans (chopped)

The Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter (melted)

The Cheesecake:

24 oz cream cheese

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

5 eggs

1 lb canned pumpkin

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

The Topping:

In a small bowl, cut the butter into the brown sugar until well mixed. Stir in chopped pecans. Set aside.

The Crust:

In a separate bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter and press into the bottom of a 9” springform pan. Place in the refrigerator for now.

The Cheesecake:

Preheat oven to 325 F.

In mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth.

Add sugar and brown sugar.

Add eggs one at a time.

Blend in pumpkin, whipping cream and pumpkin pie spice.

Pour into crust.

Bake approximately 2 hours – until center of cake doesn’t move when pan is shaken.

Remove from oven and spread topping over your cake. Bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Cool and refrigerate overnight.

The Dessert Table – Thanksgiving 2010

Kate Czlapinski — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 21:50:29 +0000

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving yesterday and a restful, or perhaps productive, Black Friday today! I think it’s fair to say that we all go a little overboard on Thanksgiving, right? We eat a ton of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and all sorts of other good stuff and then pass out on the couch while watching football. That seems to be the normal game plan for the holiday.

Well, my family goes a little overboard on all holidays, and Thanksgiving, of course, is no different. Yesterday, I spent my afternoon/early evening over my Aunt Debbie’s house just like every year with about 20 family members and way too much food. No, really. I know everyone says they had too much food at Thanksgiving, but this just our dessert table - just to give you an idea of the excess I’m talking about. That’s 10 desserts (I counted) for just 20 people. Call me crazy, but that just seems a little out of control to me… Next time this happens, I think we should select a buddy and a dessert and nobody can leave until the table is clean!

MasterChef Final 2010

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 18:12:29 +0000

Kevin sent me this one this morning and I just had to share it. I don’t normally laugh that hard before noon. Enjoy!

Eating My Way Through Portland, ME… Part 1

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 22:10:07 +0000

If you follow my tweets, you may have noticed that Kevin and I spent last weekend in Portland, ME with our awesome friends Tom and Heather. You may also have noticed that I basically spent my entire weekend eating and drinking. No really, that’s about all we did – we ate and we drank. I guess we also did a good amount of wandering around town and shopping in between all the stuffing of our faces and abusing our livers, but that was mostly just the filler between one bar/restaurant and the next. I had a great time! It was ridiculous and completely gluttonous, but it was really fun.

I’ve been meaning to blog about it all, but there’s just so much! I thought I’d take some time to share some photos and a few words about some of the awesome places we went, though, to appease the angry masses (Mom and Dad! Ok, mostly mom…) who have been asking me when I’m going to update. I’ve decided to break it into parts, because there’s really just too much to put it all into one post.

Our first stop of the evening was Gritty McDuff’s, where Kevin and I each just had a beer while we waited to meet Tom and Heather. Kevin has fond memories of a Beer Summit he attended at which Gritty McDuff’s actually brought a bar with them while most others just had boring tables. I, sadly, have no pictures from Gritty’s, but I will say the beer was great and I really liked the relaxed atmosphere. It was a little crowded, but everywhere was crowded – it was a Friday night.

When Tom and Heather showed up, we finished our beers and wandered around town for a bit and tried to decide where to grab some dinner. Tom read a review somewhere of a place referred to as a “five star dive bar” and that sounded perfect for us! To Bull Feeney’s we went!

I started with an Allagash White. They had a pretty decent selection of beer, but I wanted to drink Allagash when I was in Portland, because they’re local (there are actually a TON of breweries located in Portland).

I also had an order of their fried shrimp, which came with a couple different choices for sauce – a sort of Thai Lime Chili Sauce and an awesome cocktail sauce with a big lump of horseradish in it! Love it!

After dinner, the night was still young so we decided to continue on to a place Kevin and I had stopped by earlier in the evening (but didn’t stay because it was so crowded) that looked very intriguing – Novarre Res. This place was great! I wish there was a place like that somewhere near us at home. They had a really impressive beer menu and great food, too! To drink, I had the Allagash Fluxus ’10, which was just about the most delicious thing ever! We also split a Bahn Mi among the four of us. Awesome, just awesome.

After Novarre Res, we decided it was time to part and head back to our hotel to rest up for the next day, which I will talk about in my next post.

Heather’s Birthday : Part Deux

Kate Czlapinski — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:55:54 +0000

My last post detailed the little gathering we had last Sunday night to celebrate Heather’s birthday. That just didn’t feel like it was quite enough, though. On Saturday night we went out on the town and gave Heather a more proper birthday celebration; one that did not include our friend Fudgie The Whale.

Our evening started at Feng in Hartford for sushi and cocktails (nothing says celebration to me better than sushi). Here’s a much better picture of Heather than the last one (not that she ever saw it, because she doesn’t read my blog – whose fault is that?). Give the girl a drink and you’ll get a smile. Works every time!

The food was awesome and the mood was relaxed. I really like Feng a lot. It’s the second time I’ve been there and both times I’ve had a really great experience. It’s the perfect place for a birthday celebration.

We ended up just deciding to do an assortment of rolls to pick at – including the Green Peace roll, which is one of the most interesting rolls I’ve ever had. It has “Asparagus, Avocado, Cucumber, Mango, Sun-Dried Tomato, Kiwi, with Strawberry and Yamata Sauces”. I’ll be honest. I was a little worried about it, but it ended up being great. And it’s what the birthday girl wanted; and what the birthday girl wants, the birthday girl gets! We also ordered an Autumn of Connecticut roll which was probably my favorite with “Spicy Alaskan King Crab, Salmon, Avocado,Yuzu Masago, Wasabi Pepper and Momiji Sauces”. Then we got a few more standard ones – Eel with avocado, a California Roll and a Tuna Roll. Everything was wonderful.

Dinner was followed up by a trip to City Steam for a few pitchers of beer (Acapulco Gold – an IPA and then the Summer Stout) and nachos (yes, we ate again – don’t judge)… and a Lisa’s Pie for Heather.

Acapulco Gold

Standard Nachos (don’t ask why they’re Standard – inside joke)

Lisa’s Pie

We had a great night out… with waaayyy too much food and alcohol, but I really don’t know a better way to celebrate! And it was definitely a good way for me to kick off my week off from work. Happy Birthday, Heather (again)!

Happy Birthday, Heather!

Kate Czlapinski — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:26:14 +0000

After dinner tonight, Kevin and I took a little stroll down to Tom and Heather’s house to help them celebrate Heather’s 32nd birthday with her dear old friend Fudgie The Whale… yes, you heard me, Fudgie The Whale. When was the last time you had a Fudgie The Whale? I honestly don’t know that I ever have, but I have to say, it really was most delicious. It also lead to some highly entertaining innuendo surrounding Fudgie’s blow hole and fluke. Great times.

The Birthday Girl… this is honestly about the happiest I could get Heather to look in any picture.

Tom, getting ready to battle Fudgie

Fudgie The Whale (he looks a little scared if you ask me)

The Final Product! Tom won his battle vs the whale and the Birthday girl got the fluke!

In past years, we’ve spent long weekends in Boston for Heather’s birthdays (which is also my half birthday, by the way). This year, clearly, was a little more low key. This year, none of us could really get away for the weekend to help her celebrate her birthday due to busy work and school schedules, but I think we just may try to get away sometime in the next couple weeks (I have all next week off from work). Then, we’ll really celebrate! But for tonight, a little ice cream cake with some friends was the perfect way to end the weekend. And I was even home in time for Mad Men!

Blueberry Pancakes

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:31:41 +0000

I’m not the biggest breakfast eater. Now I always eat a little something every morning – usually oatmeal or toast with peanut butter, but I’m just not generally a huge fan of the big traditional breakfasts. I’d rather just save my appetite up for lunch. Kevin, on the other hand, LOVES breakfast and I’m pretty sure he’d just eat breakfast all day and be perfectly happy.

While I for the most part can just do without most breakfast foods, there is definitely something special about waking up bright and early on a Sunday morning, throwing on a little jazz (always jazz on Sunday mornings – it’s a rule), and getting to work in the kitchen. This past Sunday morning, I decided to throw together some pancakes. I do have a special place in my heart for the pancake as it is what I consider to be the King of Breakfast Foods. Of course they were blueberry pancakes, because I still have pounds and pounds of blueberries hanging out and taking up space in my freezer from my trip to Evergreen Berry Farm a couple of weeks ago.

Now, I don’t really have specific recipes that I go to time and time again for just about anything (there are a couple of exceptions). I just always like to try out new things or I just completely wing them, so I went to my friend Captain Google and typed in blueberry pancakes and one of the first results I got was this one from Smitten Kitchen. Perfect! I have never had bad luck with any of the recipes I’ve tried from SK. I also appreciate the thorough lesson she gave on how to make a proper pancake – as I have been known to occasionally screw mine up.

These pancakes were wonderful – I did over whisk my batter a little bit (I get a little overzealous with these things), but that’s just me. The recipe was great I also topped mine off with a fairly ridiculous amount of the homemade blueberry syrup and served with some surprisingly not bad veggie bacon strips (“Fakon”?) from MorningStar Farms.

Kevin, needless to say, was very happy to wake up to a proper Sunday breakfast and I got to use up some more blueberries. A great way to start the day!

Blueberry Picking At Evergreen Berry Farm!

Kate Czlapinski — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:53:49 +0000

Blueberry picking season is in full swing and I recently joined my mother for our annual trek up to Evergreen Berry Farm in Watertown, CT.

The berries were plentiful and we were able to do all our picking under the shade of a giant tree. The shade was much appreciated as it was a very hot and humid day. Luckily we went early before the heat got to be too much. As long as we stayed in the shade, we were pretty comfortable. Here’s a picture of my mom with her berry picking bucket heading towards the tree.

We’ve been going to Evergreen Berry Farm for all our blueberry picking needs the last few seasons and have always had a great experience. There’s nothing like picking your own. It’s really neat to know exactly where your food is coming from. Every year we pick a fairly ridiculous amount of berries (last year we actually went twice) and this year was no different. Between the two of us, we had roughly 10 pounds!

Here’s my 5 pounds:

I know it sounds like a lot, and I guess it is, but no worries – they freeze beautifully. The trick is to not wash them before you put them into the freezer (just remember to wash them when you take them out) and then you have blueberries ready and waiting for you throughout the year. I actually still have berries left over from last year in my freezer – and they’re still fine!

So now you can expect a ton of posts (okay, probably more like one or two) from me about my baking adventures trying to use up some of these blueberries! Just this morning I made some really awesome blueberry pancakes (no pictures – they weren’t exactly pretty ) with homemade blueberry syrup. The syrup really made them special. And it was so simple! Who knew?

Do you have any good recipes to share to help me use up some of these berries? I’d love to hear them!

No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars

Kate Czlapinski — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:41:22 +0000

So it’s that time of year again…

I know what you’re thinking ‘ The time of year that you just totally neglect your blog?’ No. And yes , because it’s that time of year that our weekends fill up with all sorts of parties and picnics where you’ll be expected to bring some form of baked good. Yes, you should bring something. Don’t just show up empty handed – you were raised better than that. OK, maybe you weren’t, but now you know. You’re welcome.

Over the last couple of weekends, I’ve had a couple of parties to go to and I have made this recipe for No Bake Chocolate Oat Bars. It has been a huge hit each time. The best part, I think, about this recipe is how easy it is. And even better, you don’t even have to turn on your oven in this heat!

I did make a couple of small changes to the recipe per suggestions from the reviews, so here it is the way I made it.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups quick oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter

Directions:

First, grease a 9×9 inch baking dish. Next melt butter in a large sauce pan over medium heat and add the brown sugar and vanilla extract. Mix in oats. Let cook for a couple of minutes.

Press 1/2 of the oats mixture into the bottom of the baking dish. Set other 1/2 aside.

Next, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth.

Pour the mixture over the oats in the dish. (I saved a little bit to drizzle over the top)

Crumble the remaining oats over the layer of chocolate and press down gently.

Drizzle extra chocolate peanut butter mixture over top if desired.

Refrigerate for a few hours.

Wait until back at room temp to cut into bars.

Really, everyone should try making these for their next party. They went over really big the two times I’ve made them so far. Also, despite all the butter, I like to think oats = healthy. I would make a double recipe and keep some for yourself for breakfast.

Happy 5th Anniversary To Us!

Kate Czlapinski — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:45:43 +0000

Today, Kevin and I are celebrating our 5th Anniversary together! To celebrate, tonight we will be heading to Toshi , where we had our second date (and where we now go every anniversary), and if we have room, we may even hit up J Fosters for some ice cream afterwards. I also took a few days off from work so we could spend some time together and do some fun stuff. As always, I’m sure there will be lots of eating and drinking involved (it’s kind of what we do), so I’ll be sure to let you know all about it!

Happy Anniversary, Hon!

Homemade Potato Chips In Your Microwave

Kate Czlapinski — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:30:53 +0000

The other day, I came across a ridiculously simple recipe to make your own potato chips using your microwave. It’s something that I just would have never thought possible and I, of course, couldn’t wait to try it out! Also, it’s got to be healthier than the greasy fried stuff you get in a bag!

All you need is one or two Yukon Gold or Idaho potatoes, olive oil, and the seasoning of your choice.

– First, you just cut your washed potatoes into super thin slices ( a mandolin would probably be great here, but I just used a good sharp knife and did my best).

– Next, toss them in about a tablespoon of olive oil ( I find that throwing them into a plastic bag and giving them a good shake works best for me).

– Arrange slices on a microwave safe plate. Try not to overlap too much or they’ll stick together!

– Season them to your liking (I like to use a little black pepper and garlic salt on mine).

– Heat on high for 5 minutes.

– Take out plate and flip your chips.

– Heat on high for another 3 to 5 minutes.

– Take chips out once they’ve browned up a bit and let cool for a few minutes.

Cooking times will vary a little depending on thickness of your slices and your microwave. You’ll probably have to do them in a couple of batches.

I’ve tried this a few times now and it’s definitely a work in progress. I don’t think I’ve quite perfected it yet, but I’ve definitely had some pretty good results. A little time consuming, but a fun project.

Give it a try and definitely let me know how it works out for you! Maybe, I’ll even try it using sweet potatoes next…

The Corner Pug – West Hartford, CT

Kate Czlapinski — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 01:40:48 +0000

A few nights ago… or okay, probably a couple of weeks ago, it was really hot out – and also quite sweltering in our apartment – and I really didn’t feel like cooking at all. When I got home from work I asked Kevin what he wanted to do for dinner and strongly suggested that we go out. As per usual, he shrugged and said “I dunno”. He’s very helpful like that. After a few minutes of throwing suggestions out there, we decided on The Corner Pug.

“The Pug”, as we like to call it, has become sort of our go to spot over the last couple of years. It’s just a good pick for when you don’t really know what you want. It’s just warm, comfortable and dependably good. There’s usually not too long of a wait, it’s in a very convenient location for us, and the food and beer are great! I’ve never left disappointed. It’s mostly typical Irish pub fare – stuff like Fish And Chips, Shepherd’s Pie, Mac ‘N Cheese – just the sort of thing we like.

Kevin started with the French Onion Soup. Kevin is basically a French Onion soup aficionado and he has always said that they make the best he’s ever had. Nothing else he’s tried has ever come close.

He also had the Chicken Cuban Sandwich - which has chicken, ham, Monterrey Jack Cheese and an awesome Cilantro Jalapeno Pesto! It was served with a big pile of waffle fries. Really yummy!

I ended up getting the Fish and Chips… I frequently get the Fish and Chips at The Pug. They do it right – and they always keep malt vinegar on the table for me to soak my fries in. I love the stuff!

Oh, and maybe you’re why it’s The Corner Pug? Well, the place has pictures of cute little smushy faced pugs everywhere. They might just be the best part. I love the little buggers!

Lenny & Joe’s Fish Tale – Westbrook, CT

Kate Czlapinski — Sun, 23 May 2010 13:30:07 +0000

Last weekend, I did a little shopping and lunch with my mom down at the outlets in Clinton and Westbrook and we had a couple of special guests with us. My brother Dan and his girlfriend Angie came along to pick out her birthday gift from my mom… a new Coach purse – and boy, is it beautiful!

In between outlets, we stopped for our normal lunch at Lenny and Joe’s Fish Tale in Westbrook, CT (there’s also a convenient Madison location that we sometimes go to). Lenny & Joe’s has been serving up great seafood with great service since 1979 and has become somewhat famous in the area. If you eat seafood and you live in Southern New England, chances are you have at some point eaten at Lenny & Joe’s. I’ve been going with my family for years and have never had a bad meal.

The atmosphere is relaxed and casual with a sort of nautical theme. There are t-shirts and hats that can be purchased at the front of the store for only $6 (I’ve actually purchased a few myself over the years). Also, if you wear your shirt while you’re on a vacation or you’ve bought a t-shirt while you’re visiting our lovely state, you can take a picture of yourself in it and send it to them telling them where the photo was taken and they’ll hang it on the wall. The are tons of pictures all over the restaurant of people sporting their Lenny and Joe’s apparel. I think it’s kind of neat.

Notice the cool light fixtures (sorry for the dark picture – I’ve been messing around with the manual settings on my camera):

The food, as always, was great. First, we split a couple of appetizers (shopping can build up quite an appetite!) . We had the fried calamari and their onion rings, which are pretty amazing. Their portions are huge and with four of us eating, we didn’t even finish them.

For our meals, Mom, Angie and I all chose the lobster roll! My brother had the crab cakes, which I did not get a picture of but I hear they were pretty awesome. The lobster roll has become my usual when I go to Lenny and Joe’s. It’s really all you could ever want – hot, buttery chunks of lobster served on a hot dog bun with a side of their coleslaw – and I’m not normally a coleslaw fan, but theirs is really quite good. I’ve heard that other parts of New England do the lobster roll a little differently – that if you go a little north, you’ll be served some sort of lobster salad on a roll. Now, I think that’s just wrong, but that’s me. Take a look what a real lobster roll should look like!

Really, how can you beat that?

Overall, we all had a really great meal and good times at Lenny & Joe’s – as always. Look at Danny and Angie’s smiling faces!

If you’re visiting the area and you enjoy seafood, you really need to stop in at Lenny and Joe’s and maybe even pick up a t-shirt!