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Entries Tagged as 'party'

Saints Sunday

February 8th, 2010 · 10 Comments · Boston, party, restaurant reviews

This pretty much summed up last night…

I’m not much of a football fan but the Super Bowl is a big deal. I almost forgot about it so I started my morning the way I plan on starting all my Sunday mornings for the next 4 months – with a run!! But first…

PRE-RUN FUEL

Nature’s Own 12 grain toast with Barney Butter + 1/2 banana

[226 calories]

RUN

So I met up with my old running partner and friend, Molly, for a run. It was SO good to get back into it! We spent so many hours running last year, catching up on everything in life and I really missed that routine. Molly is running a half marathon in a few weeks but I decided to wait for a warmer race. This was my first week of training for the Run to Remember on May 30th. I have plenty of time to train, and I plan on killing this race. Yep, you will be reading about a very strong finish this time around! (I’ll do a separate post about my training plan, etc.) Is anybody else signed up for this race? Molly, did you sign up yet? If not, this is your reminder!!

Oh yeah, so back to my run. I was hoping to do 7 miles but I was super slow in the morning (forgot my shoes at the gym so we had to go there and get them, that kind of slow) so we ran out of time and only did a little over 6 miles. Still good though! I felt like we were flying but I know that wasn’t really the case. The wind just made it seem like we were working extra hard. It was 19* outside!!! About half-way in, I twisted my ankle badly, rested for a few minutes and felt ok to keep going, albeit a bit slower. Towards the end of the night, I couldn’t even walk though! Maybe it wasn’t the brightest idea to keep running. Oh well, I’ll recover. It was nothing too major.

LUNCH

The best thing about long Sunday runs (ok, 6 miles isn’t that long but the runs will get longer) is refueling!! I made the best little burger: TJ’s chicken patty with laughing cow, mushrooms and bbq sauce on FFL english muffin + snap peas

The patties are already pre-cooked and are really flavorful. I will be buying these even after our kitchen remodel is done – so quick and easy and packs a lot of flavor!

[408 calories]

MID-AFTERNOON SNACK

[80 calories]

DINNER

So yeah, since I forgot what a big deal Super Bowl is, Adam and I stopped by for food before the party. Our friends live in Allston, very close to Super 88 and the 88 food connection. Basically, it’s an Asian food court full of super authentic Asian eats. I’ve been on an Asian kick lately, so this was my idea actually.

The place even reminds us of Asia. Adam says it smells like Hong Kong (it’s a compliment). I may not have such a strong reaction to the smell, but I can tell you – the food is GOOD!

Adam pretending he can’t see me with the camera.

The Smile Thai Noodles stand caught my eye – particularly the Pacific Basil soup picture. When a soup picture calls your name, you have to listen, right?

The staff at Smile Thai Noodles was super friendly and knowledgeable. I’m embarrassed to admit that I was surprised they spoke English (that’s how authentic this place is!) but they did and that was really great because I was able to tell them to omit the onions from my soup and they did so with no hesitation! Awesome!!! So here is my final order…

Pacific basil soup: carrots, peppers, mushrooms, thai rice noodles, shrimp, squid, scallops and thai basil in a spicy thai broth

This was AMAZING!!! I was planning on only having a little and bringing the rest to the party to nibble on later but I couldn’t stop eating it! It was so flavorful (lots of thai basil!) and fresh with all the veggies… and there was a ton of seafood. I love love loved it! This is the kind of Asian food I love, not the gross Chinese takeout we got on Friday. I’m still bitter about it (post to come, I have to warn all Bostonians out there).

THE SUPER BOWL PARTY

So silly Adam and Elina have dinner before a super bowl party. Rookie mistake!! There was so much food there!!! A lot of New Orleans inspired dishes (and beer) – we were all about the Saints tonight. (Thank god they won, I think there could be crying otherwise). I’ll let the pictures do the talking. I had dinner so I only tried a bite of each savory dish/dip, but I definitely had my share of dessert + 1.5 Magners! Oy.

Are you ready for this week? I’m already looking forward to next weekend. This one really flew by!!

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New Year’s Eve 2009

January 2nd, 2010 · 14 Comments · Cooking Light, entertaining, party

Wow, 2010 is finally upon us! I’m excited for what this year will bring. I think we definitely celebrated the end of 2009 in style, though. Adam and I hosted a little get together for about 20 friends and I think everyone had a great time. I know I did!

Despite a late-ish get together, I couldn’t help myself with a few appetizers and desserts

An antipasti plate with grapes, aged gouda, smoked gouda, four pepper goat cheese, salami and mixed olives

Tzatziki which I made by following this recipe from Cooking Light. I substituted 2% greek yogurt for nonfat plain and used dried dill and no mint. The result was so fresh and delicious. I think this was the best thing I made for the party!

Fresh cauliflower, baby carrots and cucumber slices for dipping…

My mom helped out with some cooking as well, and made these little cheese puffs. They have cheddar baked right into the dough, and are stuffed with russian cottage cheese, A LOT of garlic and fresh dill. This is a recipe my mom got from a German magazine when we were kids so although it’s not Russian, it really reminds me of my childhood. Everyone loved these guys of course!

Bacon potato chips I got from Foodzie for Adam’s Christmas stocking. The reviews on these were mixed. They are definitely on the weird side – lots of smoky flavor for sure!

Crab dip based on this recipe from Cooking Light. I halved it (because crab is expensive!), used claw meat (see previous reason), used 4% cottage cheese (I wasn’t sure how the fat-free would melt) and omitted the scallions. I tasted the batter before baking it and thought it was amazing. Post baking it was a little fishy, although one of our friends was converted into a crab lover during the party (the first bite was just okay to him, but he kept going back!) which I guess is the best review that could be given to this dip. It was also gone by the end of the night – another good sign.

I tried it with some cauliflower…

Trader Joe’s ham & cheese puff pastry bites

No prep required, just pop in the oven and bake. Perfect for a random get together or when you want to keep the cooking to the minimum! This was actually my strategy for the party – I made a few dips, but then relied on some store bought extras (cheeses, meats, chips, veggies, etc.). It worked out great – I was hardly in the kitchen to pull this off!

DESSERTS!

Desserts I made a few days before the party, to make sure I don’t run out of time. That would be criminal

I started with Ellie Krieger’s no bake lemon cheesecake bars…

They set a little better over the next 24 hours (after the last post), but I still served them in little muffin liners with spoons. This was definitely less messy! Overall I really liked the taste of them, but the texture just complicated things too much. I wouldn’t make them again unless I figured out how I can get them to perfectly set next time.

Next, my mom surprised me with a cake for the party. This one is called “holiday” in Russian, which was quite appropriate. The base is an almond meal crust (I think), topped with custard and chocolate ganache.

I was in heaven after the first bite. Here it is cut into party size bites. Mmm… thanks mom!!!!! My mom’s goods were my favorite from the whole spread!

Lastly, the peppermint bark cookies made an appearance as well. Of course!

Some alcohol was also involved We had some wine and glasses set up…

And a make your-own mixed drink set up. It worked out really well. People were making all sorts of fun concoctions!

+ a lot of beer! We have so much left now because everyone brought way more than they could drink. Not the worst thing in the world

I had a few glasses of red...

Then Pran showed up with sangria and I couldn’t resist… drank a few glasses of that. I love sangria!

A little posing action

Somebody wasn’t too amused. Hehe (actually he smiled right after the camera clicked – tough guy!)

So much fun! How did you celebrate New Year’s Eve?

I spent the majority of my first day of 2010 on the couch, watching reruns of the Next Iron Chef. Good times. I’m off to the gym now. I’ll be back this weekend with my New Years Resolutions for 2010 (want to digest them for a few days). Did you make resolutions yet? Have a fabulous weekend and a happy 2010!!!!!!!

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Thanksgiving day 2009

November 27th, 2009 · 12 Comments · Cooking Light, baking, party

How was everybody’s Thankgiving day (for those who celebrate)? Mine was a lot of fun, as always. I worried a bit about my ugly apple pie that I made for the dinner, but otherwise it was a nice day to just relax and enjoy some time with the fam. My sister in law, as always, did a great job with dinner! One day I hope to host my own Thanksgiving gathering

The day was so relaxing that my only exercise was mashing potatoes

Actually it was hard work! My mom’s exercise was playing with baby Colby…

She wouldn’t leave the little guy! I think someone wants grandchildren, but she’ll have to wait a while for that. Hope she got her fix

Justin helped us really get into the spirit of Turkey day!

And then there was food, lots of food!

APPETIZERS

I had 2 little buffalo chicken in puff pastry guys, 1 piece of smoked gouda and a bunch of fresh carrots. The carrots were the perfect thing to munch on while we were all just hanging out before dinner time! Speaking of dinner…

THANKSGIVING FEAST

Before:

After:

Turkey (duh). I’m always surprised at how perfect it looks!

Sweet potato casserole (with brown sugar, pecans and cranberries) – as always, one of my favorites! It’s like dessert for dinner, and you guys know I’m all about that

Cheese & broccoli casserole

My sister in law made a special one for me, sans onions

Same with the stuffing, these stuffing muffins were made for me without onions… love the presentation!

Cranberry sauce with dried cherries

Mashed potatoes (professionally mashed )

Something here is not like the others… my mother in law made a Russian beet salad with walnuts, apples, garlic and light mayo. I LOVED it! This is actually what comfort food is for me.

My plate ( + some green beans that came out minutes later)

Crescent roll that I kind of ate out of habit.

Nothing (except for the green beans) was healthy so I tried a tiny bit of everything (minus the mashed potatoes, I know what mashed potatoes taste like) and kept the portions small. Surprisingly, I was very satisfied after finishing this plate. I grabbed a tiny bit more of the beet salad for seconds. That’s it!

Oh, of course I also enjoyed a few glasses of wine with dinner

DESSERTS

Oh yeah, this is what I live for, people. Desserts!! I was so excited for this spread because every single thing sounded amazing. Let’s start with my ugly apple pie… I followed this recipe from Cooking Light for caramel apple pie (you know I had to make the healthier version!).

Making this thing was such a project! My crust dough was too crumbly after the first step but I saved it by adding another tablespoon of water and letting it do it’s thing in the fridge for 15 minutes. Then it was too small for my pie plate. I spent a while stretching it, but as you can see above, those little dough pieces I added, just ended up falling off. Finally, the top wouldn’t brown! I cooked it for so much longer than the recipe called for (like 25 minutes longer!) but it was just looking soggy and bluh. At the end, I covered the crust and broiled the top for a few minutes. This resulted in slightly burnt apples. *Sigh.* A looker it was not…

… but it did taste really good!! Everyone seemed to enjoy it (including myself). My nephew even said I had to make it again next year and this kid doesn’t lie (5-year olds definitely tell it like it is). Not a complete failure I guess! I’ll keep working on my pie crust skills!

SIL also made a yummy pecan pie

A chocolate pudding pie (I didn’t try it)

Purchased an awesome pumpkin cheesecake from Costco…

And my mom made one of my favorite cakes – the black poodle (because it looks like curly hair on a poodle’s head)

Creamy filling, raisins, walnuts, chocolate ganache… what more can you ask for?! Thanks, mom!!

black poodle cake

The whole spread:

My plate:

Again, I was proud for tiny portions of everything. I had all the intentions of going back for seconds and doubling this, but was satisfied with just this (whoa, is this intuitive eating actually starting to work?!!). After a few hours of chatting, I went back for a slice of mom’s black poodle cake. It was exactly what I wanted and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And that’s my Thanksgiving 2009 recap. I read through last year’s recap and noted slight differences in my thinking this year. Last year I was counting calories. I made a conscious decision to enjoy the day’s eats but not go overboard last year, just like this year. It did seem to be a little harder for me last year. I appears that although I probably ate nearly the same amounts on both occasions, my experience mentally was a little different. Last year, I think taking a break from calorie counting, my instinct was to eat as much as possible since it was “allowed” but I fought it. This year it was completely effortless. I didn’t try to “be good” and didn’t fight the urge to go back for more. I listened to my body, and it told me exactly what I wanted and in what portions. I guess I am growing!! Hey, that’s something to be thankful for!

A few more family pics for the road… my mom and I. See the resemblance?

The whole family (minus my dad… he’s back from Israel tomorrow)

Adam and I

I hope you had a wonderful day. Anyone out there doing crazy shopping on Black Friday? Go out there and support the economy, will ya?! I’ve been doing my part for months!!

***

If you haven’t already, enter my NuNaturals stevia giveaway here.

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Housewarming party

November 15th, 2009 · 21 Comments · Cooking Light, baking, dessert, entertaining, party, snacks

Last night, Adam and I officially celebrated with all of our friends the purchase of our first house. After a very wet 5.5 mile run and a shower, I pretty much was kitchen bound for 7 hours or so. SO worth it!! It was a really great time, and I think having yummy food definitely helped.

APPETIZERS

Mashed potato and mushroom filled cups with dollops of sour cream (I was going for a Russian inspired appetizer)

Fresh mozzarella/grape tomato skewers (Adam assembled these babies. Pretty, no?)

Endive boats stuffed with oranges, goat cheese and candied walnuts (I followed this recipe from Cooking Light, which I found through Good Things Catered)

These were so fresh and tasty… a great combination of flavors!

Beef sliders with toppings…

I made the burgers by adding some salt, pepper, garlic powder and Country Bob’s all purpose sauce to ground 96% lean beef, and then grilling them (obvi ).

The star of the show (unsurprisingly) – spinach artichoke dip (using this recipe from Cooking Light).

This is the BEST spinach artichoke dip (including less healthy versions)!! I’ve made it numerous times before (I found at least 4 posts on my blog with pictures of it and happy “customers”) and really have no desire to ever try another recipe. Why mess with perfection?!

DESSERTS

Blondies (I followed this recipe from Cooks Illustrated)

They were delicious, but unfortunately a little dry (I got busy and overbaked them by mistake ). Most of them are gone, though, so I’d say they were still a “great success.”

Lauren brought the most delicious Veganomicon’s Apple Peanut Butter Caramel Bars

Molly brought some yummy brownies (Molly, do you want to share your secret recipe with us? )

And Shannon brought apple and carrot shortbread cookies (I believe she followed this recipe). These were a little more subtly sweet than the rest of the over-the-top desserts. I personally really enjoyed them (you’ll even see them in my breakfast this morning )

My sister and I split this little plate and enjoyed it very much

We also enjoyed some pomegranate margarita!

Oh yeah, I also can’t get enough of this seasonal hard cider:

GOOD FUN

My friend Pran being silly (I thought she was a little close to me when we were posing… )

Shannon, me, Pran, Dina and Katy

More posing…

Adam and me

Black is where it’s at

You know the party is not bad when people start doing tequila shots at the end of the night (not moi). A little salt helps it go down easy…

It was so much fun! It was a lot of work, but I think Adam and I did a great job organizing everything and everyone seemed to have a really good time… that’s all you can ask for! Do you love entertaining?

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Halloween 2009

November 1st, 2009 · 19 Comments · baking, dessert, party

Wow, what a weekend! Sorry I’ve been kind of MIA on the weekends lately; somehow they seem to fly by. I’ve been eating a lot these past few days, so instead of boring you with way too many details I’ll do a recap of last night’s Halloween festivities, with a recipe that you won’t want to miss!

The day started bright and early with the search for a costume for me. The past few weeks I refused to be bothered with costume talk and said I was just going to put on my back-up devil horns and tail and wear all black. Of course the day before the party, with everyone around me super excited, I got the Halloween bug. Once Adam and I were at the iParty store I got so many ideas and actually ended up wearing my costume for the majority of the day (running errands and all ). [If you're impatient, scroll down to see my costume, otherwise let's talk about the yummy food ]

The party hosts mentioned they’d like me to bake something. I had dozens of recipes bookmarked but at the end settled on making pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese frosting. My co-worker sent me the recipe on Friday, saying I had to make them because they were the best thing she’s ever had in her life. That’s a hard review! Here is the recipe. Yes, they were fantastic!!!

Ingredients

For the pumpkin whoopie cookies:

· 3 cups all-purpose flour

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 1 teaspoon baking powder

· 1 teaspoon baking soda

· 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

· 1 tablespoon ground ginger

· 1 tablespoon ground cloves

· 2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar

· 1 cup vegetable oil

· 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled

· 2 large eggs

· 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the cream cheese filling:

· 3 cups confectioners’ sugar

· 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

· 8 ounces cream cheese, softened

· 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

3. Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism*, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.

4. Make the filling: Sift confectioner’ sugar into a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add confectioners’ sugar and vanilla, beat just until smooth. (Filling can be made up to a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate; let stand at room temperature to soften before using.)

5. Assemble the whoopie pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end. When cookies have cooled completely, pipe a large dollop of filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate cookies at least 30 minutes before serving and up to 3 days.

*This recipe makes 12 large whoopie pies if you use an ice cream scoop. I used a medium cookie scoop (leveling off against the bowl) and this recipe yielded 33 mini whoopie pies. Perfect for a party! The result:

The cake was so moist and the filling was absolutely delicious. Cream cheese frosting is the best! I think you may be able to cut the sugar by a bit even. I may try that next time. Here is another pic of one of the babies, in more natural lighting. I can tell you that I had about a million of them by now and they are really amazing.

THE PARTY FOOD

The hosts apparently asked everyone to bake because there were SO many sweets. Very dangerous for someone who has no self control around baked goods and candy. Here is most of the stuff – so festive!

I will not go into details about what I ate; honestly because I don’t remember. I tried most things and enjoyed them all. I had a few of my own whoopie pies too. These things are addictive!!!