When In The Big Apple...

After a couple weeks of forgetting about my blog I'm back again. I've misplaced the camera so I haven't had a chance to take any shots of anything i have made this week. So today I will pick up on my Honeymoon food streak.

I waited 23 years to see New York City and I had 3 separate trips canceled almost last minute. Needless to say at this point I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to see and do. A small culinary adventure point we had made for ourselves was to hit up a few of the popular stands and try the famous treats of the city. It was so much fun running around seeking them out. The only place i wanted to go to that I never made it to was the A. Carnegi Deli and B. Katz Deli. I was down for either or but ended up getting to neither. A late night walk to the MAXIE deli on the last evening was in order to get the long awaited, New York Corned Beef On Rye.

Here We Go!

1. First Stop- The Black And White Cookie!


Seinfeld had it right, this cookie is neither a cake, or a cookie. But eating it cautiously, black and white icing at the same time makes for one hell of a yummy treat. We picked these up in Times Square at the Roxie Deli.

2. New York City Pizza- The best!


We didn't make it to the 11th street Rays, which I'm told is the "real" one. But the one in Times Square and just around the block was A.O.K scrumptious. Very cheesy, very greasy. Just like it should be.

3. Corporate Juice Pimps


They make one hell of a smoothie. Jamba juice was a place we stopped in more than once as my husband has a serious smoothie lust. The first time I had a peachy smoothie. It was nice but it didn't blow me to the moon. They were handing out samples that day of a very delicious little smoothie I tried on the next stop in. No idea what it was called but it has strawberries, Bananas, soy milk, oatmeal and peanut butter. It was awesome. I'm not a big smoothie drinker..or in this particular case eater. But I plan to figure this one out at home.

4. The New York Hotdog and Drink Combo- Grays papaya


When I was much younger I saw the Movie Fools Rush in. In it Matthew Perry tells Salma Hayek that his favourite part of New York is Grays Papaya Hotdog, and for his birthday she has a box of hot dogs sent to him in Nevada. Since then I really wanted to try them and this famous Papaya juice. We took a considerably longish walk to the nearest Grays papaya stand and got the recession special. 2 hot dogs and a medium drink for $3.99. Not bad. The juice was delicious and even creamy. The Hotdogs were fabulous. The restaurant was open, and covered in garbage that had fallen out of the over full bins. Maybe next time we can hit the more uptown location.

5. The New Yorker Sandwich- I think... Corned Beef On Rye.


This sandwich was big. So big. So juicy. I had to take half of the Beef out because trying to get my mouth around it was giving me lock jaw. I was disappointed my first NYC CBOR wasn't from KATZ or CARNEGIE but it was still delicious. Hubby didnt have one due to 2 weeks of rich eating leaving him at maximum capacity. Next time, we will make it to KATZ.

There you have it. I think we did pretty good in our treat adventure. Of course you can see we ate terribly but hey, how often do you get to have a tiny culinary adventure?

The other restaurants we ate it were:
Bubba Gumps- good fun, great waiter
SWIZZ- adorable little fondue restaurant
Roxie Deli- overpriced but delicious breakfast
Heartland Brewery- Fun tiny beer sampling restaurant- food not awesome
The Met Basement Cafe- awesome fun selection- delicious coconut cupcakes

Lickety Split Pea Soup

There is an awesome little shop just around the bend from me called The Bean Ladies. I first became familiar with them at Kempenfest, then the Canadian National Exhibition, then at the Barrie craft show all in a few months. They sell awesome roasted soy beans in all kinds of awesome flavours, along with pre mixed soups.

I shopped there for some stocking stuffers for some fam and friends at christmas and picked up a soup for myself. Lickety Split pea Soup! It was fast, easy and pretty tasty. Very thick but we like that. Next time I stop in I'll grab this again and maybe try one of their other soups.

Lickety Split Pea Soup

1 Package Bean ladies Lickety Split Pea Soup
1 Cup cooked Ham, cut into bite sized bites
1 medium onion, finely diced
1/2 cup carrot, finely diced
1/2 cup celery, finely diced
6 cups water buttered croutons
sour cream

This recipe can take one hour in a pot on the stove or 5 hours in the slow cooker on high- whichever way you like. Rinse the mix of peas and lentils well and place in your pot with the ham, carrot, celery, onion, water and seasoning pack (included in the package).


Stovetop Method: Bring to a boil and simmer for one hour
Slow Cooker- Cook on high for 5-6 hours (mine took 5.5)

When soup is finished garnish with buttered croutons and a dollop of sour cream. We added a multigrain tomato sandwich because we are beats. This was so easy and nutritious and all in all a good little comfort food.



Next Post: New York food adventures

Top Five Honeymoon Dinners

I got married in June and for a honeymoon we chose to take an Eastern Caribbean cruise from New York. The Caribbean Princess has a really wonderful Italian chef who's name escapes me today. This is Hubby and I's list of the top 5 non dessert dishes we ate.

#5: Pot Aux Roux?

The hubby chose this dish as his main on seafood night. I'm not a huge crustation fan but he is, and he was ecstatic with this dish.

#4: Steamed asparagus with Hollandaise sauce and pancetta

This was really nice. It was decadent and savory, I will definitely be imitating this one day.

#3: Cocoa Crusted Pork Tenderloin with Champagne Risotto and Ratatouille

This pork was so tender and sweet, the cocoa was such an awesome ingredient to use, I have only ever seen recipes that involve cocoa and meat. What a treat! The risotto was so perfect, so sweet and my first taste of ratatouille was even more exciting then imagined. The movie seems to have really boosted it's popularity.

#2: Shrimp Diavolo

Shrimp simmered in a hot pepper and tomato based sauce with both tasty and adorable polenta and your everyday steamed broccoli. This year is my first year enjoying and actually ordering shrimp

#1: Garlic and Goat Cheese Souffle

The most amazingly delcious,tart and garlicy thin I have ever had the pleasure of eating. This souffle was featured on the Chef's showcase menu. It was so good that all we both could think about for days was this delicious masterpiece. As God is my witness, I will make this one day. I will never be able to live in a world where I don't get to eat one of these annually!

Cakes For All

3 posts this week! Score! Just a small picture full blog featuring a few cakes I've banged out. I am by no means a cake decorator of professional sense but I like to play around. Hopefully I can take some classes in the next year to help me step it up a notch. In the last year I have made a few cakes I have been considerably proud of. One from this pile is from 4 years ago and my first bachelorette cake ever.

Cake One: The Dick Cake

I
made this cake for my big sister's bachelorette cake. I was made fun of for this one, as I drew it freehand and managed a vein texture. This shot is before the writing was piped on, as i screwed it up.

Cake Two: The Boob Cake

I made this cake for my buddy Jeff's birthday. I was pleased as punch when I went to the Bulk Barn because they always have so many colours of dye. I found fleshy colours and it really made the cake.

Cake Three: The Baby Cake

My Friend K.T's son turned one and she trusted me enough to ask me to make his cake. I made this Elmo cake. I was really busy at work that week so to save some time and frustration I commissioned an UN-DECORATED cake with cream filling from Costco. I'm not sure how but I messed up his nose a bit. Elmo has an oval nose and I Sort of made the top of his nose go into the eye as opposed to over it. Eh, it was still a damn cute cake!

Cake Four: The Cup Cake

For Christmas last year my Aunt bought my sister and I both these Wilton cupcake-cake mold. It was super cute and the possibilities are endless. I actually used the top piece mold 2x to craft my boob cake!

Next Blog: The cutest and craziest cupcake book I have ever seen.

Sugar High Ham

Two days, two blogs. What a role!
Matty and I had most of the family away during the New Year break and so the kitchen was available for play time. One thing we never really made in our house was glazed ham. Perhaps this can be contributed to the whole being Italian thing as we tend to be chicken and beef and *sigh* lamb and rabbit people. But whenever someone had us over for dinner and made us Glazed Ham I was always excited for the change.
I had leftover pineapple from the new years pizza and so I referenced some "how-to" glaze recipes online and spun up this ham glaze. In the end, this was really nice but maybe a little too sweet. Next time I may need to hit it up with some vinegar to knock it back a peg. I served it with my cheesy cauliflower mash which was delicious and considerably nutritious, sweet potatoes and grilled tomato. I felt pretty good about it, next time more leafy greens needed.

SUGAR HIGH HAM

1/2c Brown sugar, packed
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp Frank's Red Hot
1/4c Pineapple Tidbits
1/2c Pineapple juice (from can)
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp prepared garlic
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4c Coca Cola
2-4 lb cooked ham

Mix all ingredients discluding the coca cola and ham (of course) in a container and whisk together. Can be used immediately but if you have a couple hours to let it sit, you should give it a whirl.

Cut small diamonds into the ham and rub the garlic into it, pushing in as far as you can. Be careful not to tear it open. Stab the ham 6-8 times with a toothpick as long as possible and pour over coca cola.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour sauce into a saucepan and bring to a quick boil. Reduce heat to medium low and let simmer and reduce by half, about 15 minutes. Pour half of the hot glaze over the ham, letting it drip from the top down the sides.

Bake for 30 minutes, uncovered. Pour remaining glaze over ham and bake for another 30 minutes until golden and sticky looking.

Remove ham and let it rest, covered for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. Easy, just takes a little while to cook!

Cauliflower Mash!

clean and cut up a head of cauliflower into small florets. Steam until just more than fork tender. Mix with butter- 1 tsp garlic salt - 1/4 c grated cheddar and mozzarella mixed-pepper to taste. Mash up the cauliflower and mix well until it becomes numerous small bits but stop before you get to a mashed potato consistency. This is meant to be pretty chunky. Enjoy!

Next Post: Christmas Breakfast? Something from last year? Naughty cakes? Stay tuned!

Happy New Year! A Foodsie Resolution

Happy New Year! Seeing how it is that time of the year where you are supposed to make a resolution, I made a couple small ones. I didn't set one huge unsustainable goal, instead I set a few small personal notes for myself.

1. Attempt to tidy up a little more everyday, because the hubbster and I tend to let the apartment get away from us. Who wants to spend their whole Saturday off cleaning?

2. Cook Cook Cook! We're currently waiting out the building process of our apartment and staying in a loft apartment, sans KITCHEN. With only a microwave, a rice cooker and a bar fridge to keep some milk and condiments cold, we eat out more than we like to admit. We can however have access to a kitchen off and on so I have managed a couple New Years recipes. My resolution was to cook more, eat out less, try new things and eat healthier.

I started a kitchen journal and so far so good. (Thank's for the tip Michael Smith!) In it i made a list of things I really want to try to make this year. Here goes!

Polenta- Pad Thai - Butter Chicken - Sushi - Roast Chicken - Pizza Dough - Pasta Noodles - Borscht - Miso Soup - Yorkshire Pudding - Brownies - Red Velvet Cupcakes - Green Tea Cake - Buttercream - Pie Crust - English Trifle and more!

The list in my head is much bigger of course, but these are just what stood out in my mind. They also give me more blog goals, as I will post whenever I get through one.

On New Years I only had 6 guests, 8 including us. I kept it easy and pretty quick.

The Menu:
Meat Lovers Pizza- Bacon, Pepperoni and Ham
Hawaiian Pizza- Pineapple, Ham and Pepperoni
Family Cheeseball- delicious tradition!
Veggies & Dip- Roasted Garlic and Cheddar by DEB'S DIPS




***Next Blog: Sugar High Ham and Cauliflower Mash - Stay Tuned!

A wedding day Rundown

I just reformatted my blog page, and switched it from a dark blue background to a creamy colour. All my text in the other 57 posts are bright pinks, blues, tangerines.... a horror to the eye really when i think about it. But this page gets to play with ALL colours. If the look of the page doesn't make your eyes bleed, that's a good day.


My last blog wave was back when I was planning my wedding and right before things got HECTIC. I'm talking, living out of a suitcase cause my house is a big wooden box still and I'm planning a wedding for 250 people. But seeing how everything went so swimmingly and I am finally getting more settled in my newly married life I can get back to blogging...for a while at least. So here are just a few shots from the wedding to give you an idea of the day. It was sunny, we were on top of the world and I have never danced so much in my life.

The Hairdo

The Ladies Help Me Prep- Just thought it was a nice shot

The Ladies in a row

Happy Over Eccentric Newlyweds in the limo


A decent shot of my dress without using a photographers shot


Our First dance was gonna suck because we are not the most compatible on the dance floor together. But we are musically compatible and so we did a first song instead of a first dance. My Husband Matt played Guitar and I sang Jack Johnson's "Better Together"

That's it for today I'm thinkin. ciao!

Can It Be?

ok, im in a new house. my wedding has already 6 months come and gone. in fact, my blog has not been updated in like, 10 months or sumn! insane! the reason i strayed away? my blog was being a pain in the ass! im not exceptionally tech smart, i have a husband who fixes everything for me. But this blog was becoming so hard to do. My net, my laptop and more all made it very hard for me to upload pictures, or even to drag and drop. it owuldnt let me drag, the nightmares i was having. and i got pissed and gave up for a little wee while...10 months wee while.

but i am on a new computer, with a proper mouse, in a new home with shitty country internet but i'm going to give this another try. I really love doing this blog and i love reading other foodies blogs.... and i just want to learn how to make a decent one! lol




to test todays little entry, a photo! This smoggy, grey, finger smudged photo is believe it or not, a sight that made me almost cry. This is my shot of the NYC city skyline as our plane landed in LaGuardia. I waited my entire life to soo the big apple, and 3 separate attempts prior to this FAILED. so when you finally get to see something you always wanted to, you get...well... HAPPY!


now to test photos again....i added only one photo and it did not allow me to drag it down without dropping it in the middle of some text....i dont get it there is sooooo much white unused space on the screen why cant it be more open? *sigh*



ok...drag and drop didnt work...bastardo. however, i switched over to html and took a guess at what could happen if i cut and pasted all that jargin that represents a photo and that worked out to my favour....feeling better! This shot is one we took of the pond in Central Park, it was a gorgeous day!

now that the shoot the shit trouble shooting blog is done, let's see how i can get a years worth of back bloggin up hahahah. look out!

Lion Man tries on suits

Matt took 2 years to agree to grow his beard back! Which i love!~ But now he has a big beard and his hair got long, and he hasn't had a chance to get it cut! So I have started teasing him.

We went to pick out the very dapper sexy suits for our wedding. Matt looked like Lion Man from these car commercials these days. He was so furry and unkempt in the hot suits We had to take pictures to laugh at. I know when he is all clean and unkempt it will be even hotter than it is now! weeeee...

First we tried on a chocolate brown suit with a couple different ties. SEVENTIES MUCH? it was awesome for like a night out or sumn to be silly but not for a wedding. 8 groomsman in brown= shit parade?



We tried on the brown suit because I was hot for this brown tie! it looked hot but the suit didn't work for the wedding. And the tie didnt work with out final suit choice!

The final suit choice is sweeeet. this is it here! Matt is making a silly goodball face!
OW OW what a sexyyyy suit.




Thats it for the suits! I am planning to make covered button boutenniers! what fun!

Thats a spicy pasta (and a sexy dress!)

Hello everyone!

Lot's of crazy things going on in my little corner of the world! I've been so good at staying on top of this wedding planning,working full time as a cook and then a baker, getting ready to move, and more that my poor blog had to take a backseat for a bit. Not because I don't love it, or whoever out there reads this but because I just am too wrapped up!

So this week I shall bring you a sexy, spicy new pasta I tried out on matt recently. 2 spicy italian sausage (yay for meat counters)I hadn't had pasta in weeks and being that I'm an Italian girl who's spent her life eating pasta 2x a week, i needed a hit.

I was thinking about a soup I saw rachael ray make that had sausage in it and i thoughts mmmm. But it was a thick soup (she calls it stoup, its adorable) and when i was trying to come up with recipes i wanted the ground sausage. I also wanted pasta....why not try a twist on bolognese? but i need veggies in me today...peppers? peppers are boring! cubanelle peppers?

Long, shiny, different... i'll do it!

So matt documented as i cooked this up....

SPICY SAUSAGE AND CUBANELLE BOLOGNESE ON RIGATONI

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 hot italian sausage, removed from casings
1 cubanelle pepper, diced
1 lg can crushed tomatoes
1 sm can diced tomatoes (I live by Aurora)
1/2 cup of warm ro room temperature water
salt and pepper
garlic salt
Olive oil
350 grams rigatoni


In a hot large sized sauce pan (or just your fave pot you know can handle a litre ...ish or 2) brown the sausage, breaking into chunks. halfway through browning toss in the onions and sweat. When onions are translucent and sausage is brown toss in the garlic. Stir about for a minute to release oils and flavour and add the peppers. If looking dry, add a turn of the pan of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to flavour. Cook until peppers are browning and starting to soften.


Add all your tomatoes and water. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 35-40 minutes until sauce has thickened and peppers are mega soft.

Mix with rigatoni, and enjoy the pockets of yummy sauce in the pasta.


MMMMM. It was really good but i didn't break up the sausage as much as I would prefer! We gave it 4/5 and docked it the 1 point for a sometimes status as opposed to often and always status lol.

WEDDING NEWS!

Well the bridemaids are singing as they all got to see the dress we chose for them. It's very gorgeous when you see it upclose and personal. And the colour we tried it on in (and ordered it in) is COOLWATER. a very light blue green pastel. gorgeous!



unfortunately this dress shot is pink. When i get the shots from the ladies of the real dress I will post it!

Dress Shopping Easy as 1, 2 ,3

About 2 months ago i had a day off from my then busy work schedule. I didn't feel like sitting at home, or cleaning. I couldn't decide if i wanted to watch a movie or listen to music. I couldn't sit down and i wouldn't stand still. I was going stir crazy! So after managing to flip through a page of a bridal mag and a quick glance at the calendar i figured " today might be a good day to go check out a few of the local bridal shops. " So i called up my Bridesmaid Kristin and we headed out on the town. We started at Elmwood Brides, a beautiful old house with different levels and rooms full of bridal goodies.

My main goal for this excursion was to check out dresses for my bridal party and get a better idea on what colours are available. But what self respecting bride-to-be can walk around in
a shop and NOT peruse the dresses? Being that i'm a rollie pollie ollie I thought my chances of a decent sexy dress would be pretty frustrating. Elmwood had a large rack for the plus sized gals but a lot of them were TOO plus and a few were just scary. Amidst all the dresses i got really full of butterflies and next thing I knew, i was pulling an armful of dresses in my size off the rack.

Dress #1 I tried my first dress and of course got all full of happy emotions and perhaps there was a tear or 2. It really was very pretty. It fit almost perfectly except my buzzies were a little too small for it. Big problem! 8 foot train on a 5 foot girl. moving on...

*~This is a shot of the first dress. NOT MY DRESS! Can you see how short I am now? hehe. But in this shot you can't see the huge train.~

Dress #2 didnt fit at all. 2 sizes too big, it was oddly shaped for someone who looks like me and i didnt even need to do it up before expelling it to the rejects hook. And another...

Dress #3 was very pretty, very comfortable with the kind if tummy hiding capabilities i wanted but it felt a little prom-tastic and i wasn't sure it was quite me.

Dress #4 Then kristin held up the last dress i had nabbed. I hadn't look at it just it's tag. She had it all bawled up so i could get into it. I slipped my head through the top and felt it hug my body as kristin got to work on what i then realized was a different back then i was originally looking for. I stared at myself in the mirror and realized what an AMAZING dress i was wearing. and it fit. I mean it FIT...PERFECTLY. I was amazed and how small my waist was, how well it complimented me and well at just how damn gorgeous it was. The only fault it had was a small train on the back that still proved a little too long for little 'ole me. Of course, i paid the extra cash to order it with a small train and plan to have it altered further when it comes in. I wish i could show you or give you the details but of course this is a TOP SECRET DESIGN. Can't give anything away until those big doors open at 1:30, 8 months from now.

I did go to a couple more shops. The service wasn't as good as Elmwood, the dresses weren't as good. Most places had tiny dressing rooms and a big room in the middle of the place to look at yourself in. NO THANKS.


When i told my mother i had found my dress she suggested i hold off and go to Buffallo. Try on more in a boutique that has blowout sales and all that jazz. But when she came to see the dress and on me all done up she didn't say another word about looking for another one.


How EASY was that? it was easier to pick my dress than it was to pick my DJ! The picture to the left is as much of the dress as anyone not in the female side of the wedding party gets to see! sorry peeps! I have to find a tattoo cover up at the request of the entire family.....even though Matt and I would really rather it was left out in the open. After all, it's who I am.

But don't worry I didn't forget to look at bridesmaids dresses~ I'm going with a nice cool blue. Although i wont know the exact shade until the ladies see all the choices. My 2 favourite dresses!

both will be in the blue, though the dress in brown comes in a gorgeous ice blue and its my favourite with a big lead!


Well that is my ramble ramble. Hope it satisfied any wedding news cravings some of you have been having :P I know I've got a long and short 8 months to satisfy all mine!