Taste Testing
30 Friday Sep 2011
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in30 Friday Sep 2011
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in30 Friday Sep 2011
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inA few weeks ago I watched a documentary on Ben and Jerry, their famous friendship, and how a 12, 000 dollar investment turned an old gas shop into a multimillion dollar international ice cream business. After watching the documentary I gained new respect for the company and after recently visiting their factory in Stowe, VT, I’ve gained additional respect for the creative pair.
Like did you know they invented cookie dough?!
The tour gave us the opportunity to see the production floor and of course sample! Peppermint here and I also tried Jimmy Fallon’s concoction-Late Night Snack.
Also had a “small” serving of pumpkin pie. I think it’s fair to say add pumpkin, cinnamon, or graham cracker to something and I’m there, all 3, that’s heaven!
After eating our share of ice cream we walked to the flavor cemetery to pay tribute to flavors of the past, some good that had a long shelf-life, others…not so much.
Dairy cows.
Nicole
29 Thursday Sep 2011
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inWhat better way to take in fall than a beautiful, but challenging hike up Hell Brook in VT.
My legs are still feeling this trek. Can’t wait until the next!
Later,
Nicole
29 Thursday Sep 2011
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inHey Bloggies-
Sorry for the delay, I’ve been enjoying the first few days of fall and the continued warm weather.
Recently Matt and I took a little trip and in doing so stumbled across Harpoon Brewery.
We took a quick self guided tour,
and sampled a few of their seasonal blends along with some of their staples.
We also had a few bites at the brewery restaurant, black bean burger for her-doesn’t it look real:
Bratwurst and sauerkraut for him, I think he liked it ;):
Food was delicious and I loved the pumpkin ale so I grabbed a bottle to go! Yay for pumpkin season :).
Ciao,
Nicole
24 Saturday Sep 2011
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inI’m a planner, no question about it…unfortunately that means when things don’t go well I take it pretty personally. Thankfully Matt is able to let it go and have fun with it, which is very fortunate because it was his birthday dinner that became a disaster!
1st-The pretzel rolls I had in mind didn’t quite rise the second time around.
Which equaled flat bread, at least flatter than they should have been!
While I contemplated what to do we snacked on pub mix, olives, and cheese.
Thankfully the mushroom burgers I had in mind to pair with the rolls turned out fantastically, but I forgot to take a picture. Also forgot to picture the kale chips which were also a hit!
With dessert it was once again a fail :(. I had planned on Banana Foster Cake Balls. The balls came out well, but apparently butterscotch doesn’t really melt, either that or once again I had water in the bowl before I poured in the chips-whoops.
But as I said Matt had fun with it and became a mad scientist as he tried to fix the butterscotch.
In the end he just got silly with it and attempted to spread the mix on top of the balls.
Despite their appearance they were pretty decent.
Oh well, you win some, you lose some, it’s more important to have fun and learn along the way.
Ciao,
Nicole
23 Friday Sep 2011
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inHey Bloggies,
Welcome to another Friday! How was your week?
Earlier in the week I opened my refrigerator and staring at me I saw a bag of pears, the largest bag of pears that I ever did see. Why you ask? Well since my farm was put out of commission due to Hurricane Irene they opted to deliver our fruit every other week (they are still delivering fruit from the local orchards which survived the storm), which means 2x the amount of fruit given to me at once, that I must consume before it spoils. And yes, it’s true that pears have a nice shelf life, but I’m not the biggest pear fan. So what’s a girl to do?
Make pear butter!
2.5 pounds of pears, pealed and cut into small chunks, a cinnamon stick, and a cup of sugar. Place into the slow cooker on high for 1 hr,
and then on low for at least 12 more hours. I think it took me another 15 before I had a nice thick, congealed mix. Oh and make sure to stir from time to time, it really helps the process along.
Enjoy,
Nicole
19 Monday Sep 2011
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inSaturday night I thought I would try to caramelize onions. 40 minutes of watching and stirring to make sure the onions don’t burn but are able to brown and concentrate their sweet flavor.
I’m not so patient so while monitoring the onions I decided to make use of the pumpkin sitting in my refrigerator-I had pulled out the puree from the freezer a couple of days ago and needed to use it ASAP, so perhaps some forced kitchen time was in order.
I used a cup of the pureed pumpkin to make a batch of pumpkin muffins. I followed this exact recipe but only used 1 cup of sugar.
By the time the muffins were in the oven the onions where just about ready to go and I think I only burned a few 😉
I sliced up a couple of slices of rye bread and smoked gouda.
Once the muffins were out of the oven I turned on the broiler and slipped in the bread topped with onions and cheese.
Steamed up some veggies and dinner was ready to go!
Ciao,
Nicole
18 Sunday Sep 2011
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inBefore saying farewell to my friend Cassidy Saturday morning we had breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien. We had planned on grabbing a bite at a coffee shop so I could set up and work for the remainder of the morning, but we couldn’t find the place. Later in the evening when I returned home I realized I had the wrong cross street, grrr!
All the same we came across Le Pain just a block away. I was going to go with some yogurt and granola but then I saw oatmeal. Steel cut, with roasted fruit, and granola, I was there!
Along with a cup of coffee, the perfect breakfast.
Later,
Nicole
16 Friday Sep 2011
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inHey all-
I woke up to a nice crisp fall morning. It kinda came out of nowhere, wasn’t I just sweating on Monday from the heat? All the same I welcomed in fall today with open arms.
I was also so excited for breakfast this morning. Ever since seeing Angela’s Gingerbread Smoothie I’ve been a little bit obsessed. I’m all about ginger these days.
Last night I added oats and 1/2 cup of milk to my blender and put it into the refrigerator. This morning I added 3/4 of a frozen banana (I need to buy more, I keep forgetting to when at the grocery store), ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, chia seeds-same as Angela for the spices-1 tsp of molasses and drop of honey and a splash more of milk. Then I blended away.
Tasted just like spicy dough, so good!! After taking this photo I ended up adding some raisins as well. While the consistency was thicker than this picture would lead one to believe, I still needed a bit more chewing action-hence the raisins.
This weekend I look forward to catching up with old friends, reading, and some time in lab. How about you?
Catch ya later,
Nicole
16 Friday Sep 2011
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inLast Friday night started with a nice smooth beer-Shock Top Pumpkin Wheat. The best of two worlds, Pumpkin Spices with a hint of orange of a wheat beer
Friday night was very chill so we had little problems waking up at 6 am to hit the road for a weekend in DC. 3 short hours later we were checked into the 4 seasons.
After checking in we were off to brunch. I totally forget the name of the restaurant but this crab cake sandwich was very memorable. I ate it along with a cucumber salad. The salad was a little off at first, it was more like an early aged pickle salad. By the end it had me one and I might give it a try late in the week-it was a nice mix of dill (hence the pickle), some spice, and maybe some mint?
Brunch was followed by a Georgetown cupcake for dessert. I had the salted carmel-it was good, but I think Sprinkles (and there was one 3 blocks away) is better. Odd to say but I think Georgetown’s were too moist. The icing was falling into the cake.
A walk down Pennsylvania Ave allowed for digestion.
How crazy is this little guy?
Air and space Museum.
Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and passed out! Our little legs were exhausted, and we had to prep for dinner at Bourbon.
Okay, not photo's from dinner at Bourbon-though that was an AMAZING dining experience. Sea Bass, truffle mac' n 'cheese, sautéed mushrooms, brussels sprouts, and a few bites of a mousse like brownie. However, I enjoyed the experience and let the camera take a break. Oh, and this omelette, it was only so so, maybe a little dry, could use some seasoning.
Before driving back to Philadelphia we made a short detour to Virginia for the Air and Space located in a renovated hangar.