As I sit in my little apartment on the eve of 2014, I have started to prepare for my New Years Eve activities. In past years this included getting dolled up in a snazzy outfit, battling the cold of Burlington which was alway frigid on NYE and deciding what to drink for an epic night of craziness. What I hate most about NYE is the fancy shoes (I walk like a bow legged cowboy in high heels) waiting in the cold to get into a bar, paying an extra cover and then waiting forever to get a drink. Instead I would head out with my ladies to a house party where much fun was to be had. Since I've moved to Philadelphia I am without my fun squad and refuse to hit up the clubs. If I thought it was hectic in Burlington, it's pure madness in Philly. 

Last year Nate and I were contemplating our plans for our first NYE together when inspiration hit. I was reading one of my favorite magazines, MARTHA STEWART LIVING and the last article of the December issue was about a woman who I could easily relate to. 

When I was a kid NYE was a big deal. It was one of the few nights Mom and Dad let us eat junk food.  Soda, chips, dip and special nibblies that Mom only made for NYE such as Pop Pop's Spicy beef ball, cheese ball, Old Bay steamed shrimp, chex mix and the best part CATERPILLAR. It's a huge sub with tons of meat and an addicting oil and vinegar dressing that soaked into the bread. My sisters and I would fight over the leftover sandwich the next day. We would struggle to stay up till the ball dropped by watching Twilight Zone marathon on the Sci Fi Network (One of Dad's fav channels). 

As I got older I would bring friends over and eventually I was old enough to drink.  The woman described her parent's NYE celebration as a night in with pajamas, Masterpiece Theater marathon and extra special food treats.  That's when I proposed the idea of celebrating NYE like I did as a kid. We ate wings, beer and a blooming onion from Outback while we watched movies in our pajamas and watched the ball drop from the comfort of our warm and cozy apartment with sparkly hats and shiny decorations.  As I prepare for our second NYE celebration I have wings marinating in the fridge, stocked up on our favorite beer and picking out my favorite loungewear to prance around in. I dug up photos of previous good times with friends and family as I think of how lucky I am to have such a stellar clan of people in my life. HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!!

As I was headed home from a companion care shift in Exton, PA, I remembered that I needed white wine to test out a new recipe for mushroom barley risotto. It just so happens that there was Goodwill in the same shopping plaza (What luck!) and an Indian Market. Obviously I needed to scope out the thrift shop. All of the goodies were in back stock while all of their Christmas items were jam packed on the shelves. I didn’t find anything too appealing except for some juice glasses. After I grabbed my bottle of cheapo wine I entered the Indian Market. It smelled spicy and foreign. There were bag and cans of who knows what, it was a mystery to me. I wish I knew more about Indian cuisine but my repertoire is pretty limited. What I was hoping to find was some garlic pickle.  Heather went to college with a couple of gals who were from Nepal and treated my family to some tasty cooking when they came to visit Vermont. One of the condiments I was obsessed with was the garlic pickle. It’s not like a vegetable soaked in vinegar brine kind of pickle. It’s thin slivers of garlic in a spicy, pungent, salty paste. A little goes a long way. I had been keeping my eye out in H-Mart and regular grocery store but never found any.  This seemed like the right place to find this exotic condiment. I FOUND IT! Along with a bunch of other pickles: Mixed vegetable, lemon, lime, tomato, mango and gooseberry. I grabbed some garlic pickle and the hot version of lime pickle. I couldn't wait to try these out at home. Both of them are really delightful.  The lime pickle is chopped up preserved limes, chilies, and mysterious spices and is very salty. Pretty much right up my alley but it wasn’t very spicy, false advertisement. The garlic pickle on the other hand was HOT and tasted just the way I remembered it. I have no idea what to put them on but I need to research some dished that I can use these as condiments. I was so excited I offered a smidge to Nate who politely said “Maybe later” which basically means no way in hell. I guess that means more for me!

The majority of shoppers headed out for Black Friday sales hit up the stores at the crack of dawn and have a real game plan. My plan? Sleep in and hit up the thrift shops. Nate and I visited 3 shops in Durham. Poor Nate usually doesn’t find much but I got the blue light special. I don’t even know what that means but I got the deal of the century. I only browse through the housewares section. I have never been one to dig though racks of clothes. I don’t have time for that. No patience for clothes. Sarah on the other hand is the queen at shopping through clearance racks, that’s why I bring her along when I am in need of expanding my wardrobe. Since she’s not close by I have had to settle for shopping all by myself. This means I haven’t really shopped. I can’t hold focus for too long, I get overwhelmed by the massive racks of shirts and stacks of jeans in most stores. I went into a Forever 21 and just about died. There is so much merchandise, if you find something you like grab it because if you think you can back track and find it after scoping out the whole store it will be impossible.

 Back to my original train of thought. Nate and I were walking out of Goodwill when something sparkly caught my eye (not surprising) and I stumbled upon these BRAND NEW sparkle flats. YESSSssssss! I hate heels and these are so cute. And guess what, they were only $3. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT! I was psyched, made my purchase and we headed to our next stop. Yet again there was nothing of interest there, as we were leaving we passed by the shoes and I couldn't believe my eyes. A pair of gently used DANSKO CLOG… IN MY SIZE! I popped those bad boys on my feet and they fit like a glove. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH, I’m the luckiest girl in the world. Yet again they were only $3!!!!!!! I was high from the adrenaline rush and relieved that we were done thrifting for the day. Our last stop was to check out an Asian market. I love pot sticker dumpling dipping sauce. It is impossible to find in grocery stores. I have only found it at H-Mart. Unfortunately there isn’t an H-Mart in NC. I popped into one small Asian market in Carrboro but the smell inside the store practically gagged me and they didn’t have the sauce I was looking for.  Li Ming looked like it was the equivalent to H-Mart so we headed over. Right before we turned into the shopping center I noticed a Salvation Army Warehouse. NATHAN WE HAVE TO STOP! IT was the biggest thrift shop I have ever been in. Massive deals. This time Nathan was able to find a diamond in the rough. A mint condition Wham record with ravishing pictorial spread of George Michaels in his best 80’s attire and some other dude. Looks like it has never been used!  Can’t wait to crank that up on the turntable. “ Wake me up before you go go…”

 After we paid for our rusty gold we hit up Li Ming Market. JUST LIKE H-MART! Exotic produce, funky smelling seafood section and even little glass cups of sake.

Yet another reason I can’t wait to move down to NC. You can buy beer and wine in the grocery store! No more beer distributor for this chica. And they had the dumpling sauce I was looking for. Can’t believe it. As we were in the check out line I saw these juice pouches that look like the pureed veggies that toddlers are currently addicted to but these are for adults. They’re a line of vinegar based digestive juice pouches.  Delish. Unfortunately it took my less than a mixture to drain the pouch of its sweet and tangy nectar but it was fun. Can’t wait to buy some more on my next trip.

I recently finished up reading My Berlin Kitchen by Luisa Weiss. Excellent book peppered with recipes. The book is about her life, growing up in Berlin, Germany with an American father and an Italian mother. At a young age her parents split and her time was spent between Boston, NYC, Italy and Germany. There's a bit of a love story  and all the recipes that she cooked during different trials and tribulations. I have never been very keen on Italian cooking but have sparked a new interest after reading this book. I can't wait to try out these recipes. 

It's a long one guys...

Since Nate and I had some free time on our hands while we were in North Carolina and were traveling a bit we decided to hit up some Good Will goodie huts to see if they had any treats for us to take home. Boy oh boy did I find some good stuff!!! I know you are probably going to say “Ashley, you don’t have a job and you’re apartment is so small, how do you afford this and where will you put these trinkets?” Already got it covered. My next apartment will hopefully be bigger than my current humble abode and I will be moving into that soon so for now my treasures can hang out in a random spots in my house. I have also been lucky enough to have found a family who is in need of some babysitting so my income has increase slightly and I ONLY SPENT $25 ON ALL THIS STUFF!!!!!  Bazinga. We probably hit up 10 shops during the week and I found the real treasures. 

Day one of thrifting we were in the town of Winston-Salem where I will be working and had to do some pre-employment screenings. The Goodwill’s in North Carolina are so nice, one had a café, another was set up like a bookstore and they’re pretty clean. I was digging through heaps of plastic ware, cheap cruise hurricane glasses and dingy pans and that’s when I saw it. Hanging out on the end of the shelf, hidden in the back. I discovered this super cool avocado green vintage Italian kitchen scale. It’s perfect for my future kitchen. I can’t tell you how many recipes are written with the ingredients by weight. I have always had to eyeball it and hope for the best. Especially in canning recipes. I had added a kitchen scale to my recent Christmas list but when I found this one for ONLY $5 I couldn’t pass it up.

Later that day on the way back Heather and Anthony’s in Carrboro we stopped into a brewery on the side of the interstate called RED OAK. They only sell German style lager as far as they can transport it. So you can only taste it in NC. Yummy brews.  Back on the road we kept on seeing signs for J&R Super Store. I was almost like seeing signs for South of the border. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a deal on cigarettes; perfume and Wrangle jeans so we veered off the interstate again and checked it out. HUGE DISAPOINTMENT. I’m not sure why I’m surprised. It was full of junk.

Back on the road I started to feel the pangs of hunger hitting me pretty hard and we were still 45 minutes away from Carrboro. So we veered off the interstate again for something to hold us over. That’s when we discovered a Mexican restaurant in a shopping center. Ole! It was 3:00 on a Monday afternoon and the place was dead. The drop tile ceiling was painted black, the walls were bright orange, soccer was up on the TV and there were weird pieces of art on the wall. A mix between hotel lobby art and the kinds of art that you plug into the wall to create the affect of moving water over the scenic waterfall in the landscape scene. We were the only customers in the joint. We sat down and looked over the appetizers in hopes of getting some Nachos. We had a lovely waiter who I am guessing was the owner as well.  They had Michaeladas on the menu, SCORE! When we placed our order I asked for a Michaelada. “No, we don’t have any of those today” Okay I said I’ll just have a Corona Light. “We don’t have any of the Coronoa Light” all right I’ll just have a plain Corona “We don’t have any of those either” Ok, WHAT DO YOU HAVE?  As Nora would say “C’MON!” I settled for a BudLight with a lemon slice. I got a BudLight with a bowl of lime wedges. What Mexican restaurant doesn’t have Corona. It’s on the menu!

With a drink in hand, Nate and I Googled any nearby thrift shops. Coincidentally we were near Burlington, NC, which had a Good Will on Church St. What are the odds? Let me tell you, Church Street in Burlington NC was such a disappointment compared to the Vermont version. This town was tiny, run down and there was a whole lot of nothing going on there. This Good Will was sandwiched between a Dollar General and an Ollies Bargain with a Dollar Tree across the street. We thought for sure this would be a bust.  I HIT GOLD! They had a set of Pyrex mixing bowls and a glass lidded casserole. SCORE!!! I practically danced to the check out.  I still can’t believe my luck. Loving all my new kitchen goodies. Can’t wait to put them to good use.

Thanksgiving has to be one of my favorite holidays. Actually the whole span between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve is my favorite time of year. Colored lights, holiday cheer, festive food and family time. This year Heather and Anthony hosted a lovely Thanksgiving dinner for Nate and I. Then we were lucky enough to have Nate’s Mom, Dad and Nana join in on the fun. This is the first time anyone beside myself from the Socha gang has mingled with Nate’s fam. SO MUCH FUN! Nate and I spent the night with Nate’s Mom in High Point and I had my first and definitely not my last helping of fried okra and collard greens to go with my BBQ platter at a family run Christian restaurant.  

The next day we headed over to Carrboro to aid Heather and Anthony in the turkey prep but were greeted with the most organized couple I know. They were dressed, house cleaned and prepared with a typed up timeline of food prep for the day. Heather even planned enough wiggle room in her meal plan to handle a disaster. I will fess up now. I almost ruined Thanksgiving. Heather got the bird all ready and stuck him in the oven and set the timer for 1 hour. Then she needed to flip the bird and put him in for another hour and start the basting process. Naturally I am a helpful sister, so when the timer went off after 1 hour I helped her pull the bird out and silenced the timer. Little did I know that I turned the oven OFF instead of the timer. An hour later we pulled the bird out and noticed that it didn’t look as cooked as we had hoped. That’s when Heather noticed the oven temp. WHO TURNED OFF THE OVEN! Yikes! That would be me. Luckily we got back on track and the bird turned out fine. I ate plenty of it. Nate’s family had been warned that my sister had an enthusiastic dog before they accepted their dinner invitation. My biggest concern was how Norm the ferocious bulldog would behave around all of the holiday guests. I could just imagine him jumping all over Nana and being a wild beast.  Much to my surprise he was SO WELL BEHAVED. I don’t know how he did it. They must have put a spell on him. On top of all the delightful dishes we had our entire meals was gluten free. Heather and Nathan’s Mom are sensitive to gluten so we made some adjustments. You could hardly tell with the exception of my own personal bowl of Stove Top Stuffing. Heather made this AMAZING eggplant dish; I don’t even like eggplant but was hooked. It was marinated in some sort of vinaigrette. She got the recipe from Michelle… Conte, Corbierre, Obama. I don’t know which one but I would like to get the recipe so I can make myself a platter of this stuff. HINT HINT…Nate even tried it.  We were lucky enough to have plenty to eat and good company to share it with. Everyone had a good time and hope we can have more of these family gatherings once I make a home base in NC.

I was in charge of appetizers for Turkey day and decided to follow this idea that I read about in Bon Appetit for the Southern PuPu platter Essentially it’s a variety of dips, spreads, crackers and pickled treats served out of mason jars my favorite glass receptacle (except for Pyrex) I had gobs of pickled treats from my canning craze this fall and they provided a couple of spreads with common southern ingredients that fit in with our gluten free feast. I think it went well because everything was gobbled up and this masterful chef received tons of compliments… Yay me! To quench our thirst I made a signature cocktail for the holiday that could easily be used for Christmas or New Years festivities, Cranberry Margarita! You could also make this a virgin cocktail by substituting club soda for tequila. I hate tequila so I didn’t sample any of these cocktails I whipped up but everyone slurped them down so they must have been palatable. We used cheap tequila and I ran out of cranberry simple syrup so I just boiled then same cranberries over again and it worked out great! I got this drink idea from Bon Appetit too.I love that magazine! Thanks Amelia and Greg for gifting me a subscription!!!!!!

Deviled Ham Spread
From Bon Appetit
Makes 8 servings

Pulse 8 oz. coarsely chopped ham or good deli ham in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in 4 oz. room temperature cream cheese, ¼ c. mayonnaise, 1 Tbsp. hot sauce, 2 tsp. whole grain mustard and ¼ tsp. cayenne pepper. Fold in 1 chopped scallion. Season with salt and pepper.

Collard Greens and Pecan Pesto
From Bon Appetit
Makes 8 servings

Cook ½ small bunch collard greens (they don’t sell anything small in the south. I picked the smallest bunch in the store and it was still MASSIVE), center ribs removed and stems removed in a medium pot of boiling salted water. Cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain. Transfer to a bowl of ice (or just run cold water over them) let cool and then squeeze with paper towel to dry. Blend greens with ¼ c. EVOO, ¼ c. toasted pecans, 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar, ½ tsp. honey, 1 clove garlic, ¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes in a food processor until a coarse puree forms. Season with salt and pepper.

Cranberry Margarita
From Bon Appetit & Martha Stewart Living
Makes a whole bunch depending on how strong you make your drinks

Yields 1 ½ c. Cranberry Simple Syrup

SIMPLE SYTRUP

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 c. sugar, 1 c. water and 1 bag of cranberries to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until cranberries are tender but haven’t burst, about 10 minutes. Let cool and strain through a fine mesh sieve.

Margarita

Fill a glass with desired amount of ice (I use a pint size mason jar)

Add -   -1 shot of tequila

            -1 shot of cranberry simple syrup

            -1 shot of lime juice

Stir and top with a lime wedge.

Trying to sound a bit gangsta and crack a joke at the same time. It’s that magical time of year when my favorite dairy beverage of choice is available. EGGNOG!!!!! Nate brought me home some holiday cheer in a milk carton from his place of employment. I can’t tell you where he works but it rhymes with La La. I can’t drink a whole container of this stuff by myself before it goes bad and since Nate hates to drink it (WHAT?!?!) I had to do something with it. I hate to waste good food.  Luckily Nate loves Egg Nog French Toast.  As a special treat I like to make it with Challah, which stands up better to the egg batter compared to regular sandwich bread. The only thing about Challah is that it can be pricy. At the local Acme it cost $9.00 for a loaf. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? It’s BREAD! I tried looking for Texas Toast or something thicker in the bread aisle so that I wouldn’t have to pay an arm and a leg for this luscious loaf. There was none to be found. Somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind I remember finding cheaper Challah but then I thought it was just my desire to find cheaper bread and couldn’t remember my original thoughts. So I went home with my expensive loaf and made up my French toast. While I was slicing it up and bitching to Nathan over the price of Challah at Acme he pointed out to me “Hey, didn’t you find cheap Challah at Trader Joes before?” LIGHTBULB! I knew I wasn’t crazy; there was a cheaper place to buy this bread ONE BLOCK AWAY, ARHGIEOHGDJKF! Whatever, may be I will remember for next time…

Challah Egg Nog French Toast

One loaf of bread
1 c. Egg Nog (or you could use milk)
3 eggs beaten
Sprinkle of Cinnamon
Butter

1.)  Slice up your bread, not too thick and not to thin

2.)  Beat eggs and nog together in a pie plate, sprinkle with cinnamon

3.)  Heat up a skillet, add about ½ Tbsp of butter to grease your pan

4.)  Take a slice of bread and dip both sides in the nog mixture and throw it in a pan

5.)  Cook till golden brown on both sides

6.)  Repeat until you run out of bread or egg mixture

7.)  Continue to add butter to your before adding new pieces of egg soaked Challah.

WARNING: For the next couple of days I will posting about all the details and stories of my weeklong trip to NC with Nathan. Much of the discussion will be focused around my Goodwill adventures. If that bores you then come back when I’m cooking again.

For the Thanksgiving holiday week Nate and I headed down to North Carolina to celebrate with our gracious hosts Heather and Anthony. Our original plan was to hit up Goodwill shops along the way down but decided to scratch that idea and instead made a side trip to Blue Mont Vineyard in Virginia. We were there in August 2012 for Greg and Lauren Wilbur’s wedding. It was GORGEOUS and the wine was so tasty. They have a cute little hut on top of the hill that overlooks the vineyard where you can do tastings and grab nibblies. We enjoyed it so much we knew we would come back someday to visit. Low and behold our current road trip adventure. We headed up but it was much colder with some wild wind compared to our first trip. We ordered a couple of glasses of wine and a meat and cheese plate. On the menu it states that the plate can feed 2-4 people which made me nervous that we would have too much eat. Well once the bar lady brought us our plate I realized it would easily feed 2-4 Barbie’s. There was like NO FOOD. It was delicious but Nate and I could have each eaten a whole plate. I don’t know what we would have done if we had 2 other guests. Maybe eat off our fingers and toes to make up for the lack of food? We lazed around and soon snapped back to reality that we had to make it down to NC. The rest of the road trip seemed to last FOREVER. Once we hit North Carolina in was dark and Nate says “It’s so dark here on the interstate, I don’t know if I feel comfortable going the speed limit” WHAT? That’s why we have headlights?!?!?! I think the point he was trying to make was that the wooded area ( as Nate likes to call the forest) was so close to the road that if a deer wanted to leap out in front of us there wouldn’t be a lot of time to react. Fortunately we arrived at Heather and Anthony’s in one piece. 

I love sour! Sour candy, sour beer, sauerkraut, pickles, lemons etc. I was so addicted to the sour tang of WarHeads candies that I could eat an entire bag in a day. The unfortunate side effect was on my poor tongue. I produced this weird white film on my tongue that could be peeled off like wet grass off cleats. You could even see the holes where my taste buds have been. I know, gross... but SO COOL !!! 

Growing up we went down to Maryland to spend some quality time with relative and would often make visits out to see my Aunt Val and Uncle Roy when they first moved into their house out in PA. In the front yard they had a sour cherry tree. Man I couldn't get enough of that tart fruit. They were so shiny, bright red and tart. A few years ago I got the itch for some of this fruit. I wasn't able to find these treats in any grocery stores in VT so wi went looking at local farms. I was able to find one farm that was open for only 1 weekend for sour cherry picking. I got there in the late afternoon and the trees were almost picked clean.  Imagine my delight when I discovered Sour Cherry Juice and Trader Joes! OOOOoooo it is so good. I like to mix it with seltzer for a bubbly drink. I got the bright idea to turn this marvelous juice into jelly for gifts this holiday season and for my own personal use. SO EASY TO MAKE! Literally just add sugar, pectin and pour into jars for processing. Can't wait to spread this on toast, biscuits, oatmeal, greek yogurt, my bod (JUST KIDDING!)

Sour Cherry Jelly
3 1/2c. Sour Cherry Juice
1 package powdered pectin
1 Tbsp. Orange Zest
5 c. Sugar

Combine juice and zest in a pot. Whisk in pectin and bring up to a boil over high heat. Stir frequently. Add sugar and boil hard for 1 minute. Remove from heat, skim foam and pour into hot jars. Process for 10 minutes