My Nonna's Birthday Cake

This weekend was a blur because I spent it back and forth on NJ Transit. I was severely overdue for things like a hair cut and my yearly physical and a dentist appointment, so I figured I would just schedule them all at once to get them over with. Hence the trains. 

I took a half day on Friday and met my mother in Summit, NJ where we had a quick lunch and then went strait to my first appointment. When I visit my parents I like to also visit all my old haunts as well, but my all time favorite has to be Time to Eat Diner at the Somerville Circle. I had a hefty brunch there with my grandparents in between the dentist and the salon. Soooooo gooooood!!! :-)

The only meals I didn't eat on the go this weekend happened to be dinner. Friday night my mother and I tried out a Thai style sauce similar to Pad See Ew with chicken, mushrooms and peppers. Dad approved - and he doesn't like Thai - so I'll call that a success. 

Saturday was sort of an impromptu early birthday dinner for my Nonna. We had her and my grandfather over for dinner and my uncle and his girlfriend joined us. My mother made a simple chunky tomato sauce with penne and Chicken Marsala for dinner but the real conversation starter of the night was my tiramisu. 

I've been making tiramisu for a few years now. I've worked hard to perfect my recipe. I'm proud of my recipe. What did my Nonna think of my recipe?!     

Wrong.

She saw me putting the finishing touches on it as she arrived and had a list of reasons ready to tell me why it wouldn't come out right. I probably didn't beat the eggs properly, and did I use the right cheese? Just the fact that I didn't prepare it a day ahead was apparently a no no. 

Well. We served it as her birthday cake - what was I to do, it's the only thing we had prepared - and what do you know!? She actually liked it. She was impressed and actually told me that maybe she had been wrong to judge so quickly. 

I can appreciate that she has decades of experience on my few years preparing Italian food, but it was still nice to hear that she liked what I had made her. :-) 

Winter Wonderland

This Saturday I found myself waking up at a leisurely 9:30am to snow! Lovely pure white snow! On the ground! This just added to my excitement for the day - you see - I already had plans to trek up to the Bandshell at Central Park for Winter Jam: a man-made snow-shoeing hot-cocoa-filled extravaganza!!

Gore Mountain pumped in lots of snow on top of a nice foundation that mother nature laid down over night. If you were under the age of 10, or just really eager and willing to wait in a looooong line, you could rent show shoes, cross country skis, or even try your hand at quidditch. My favorite part had to be the doggy snow zone! Not only could you watch the array of adorable pups running around with their owners but you could adopt! On the spot!

Both Mayor's Alliance and North Shore had vans on site with a plethora of dogs and cats of all sizes. One particularly sweet pup named Bear caught our attention. He gave my friend Steve a big smooch :-)

Bear really was a sweet dog. We gave him some treats but eventually had to continue on our way. It's now two days later and I keep finding myself seeking out his adoption page. If I'm not careful (and against my better judgement) I might just take him!

Weekend Recap

Happy Inauguration Day!!!! I especially enjoyed James Taylor's 20 seconds of limelight this morning :-)



I had a pretty awesome weekend - did a lot of cooking.

On Friday I tried out a recipe for General Tso's Chicken which my boyfriend devoured! I will definitely be adding a copy to my permanent recipe box. I found the recipe on yahoo last week but I tweaked it a bit so my adapted recipe is as follows:

Serves 4

1 cup      all-purpose flour
1/2 cup   panko bread crumb
1 tsp.      sea salt
1 tsp.      freshly ground black pepper
2 cups     milk
1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and diced into 1" chunks
1 cup      water
1/3 cup   soy sauce
1/8 cup   apricot jam
1/8 cup    honey
3 tbsp.    hoisin sauce
1 tbsp.    chinese cooking vinegar
2 tbsp.    cornstarch
2 tsp.      vegetable oil, plus 1/2" in saute pan
4 garlic   cloves, finely grated
1 tbsp.    fresh ginger, finely grated
1/4 tsp.   red pepper flakes

1. Cover chicken pieces in shallow bowl with milk - set aside

2. Combine flour, bread crumb, salt and black pepper in shallow dish - set aside

3. Whisk water, soy sauce, jam, honey, hoisin sauce, vinegar, and cornstarch until well combined in a medium sized bowl - set aside

4. Heat 2 tsp. oil in a large saute pan over medium heat, add garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes. Cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Whisk in soy sauce mixture, bring to a boil then lower to simmer and cook until thickened, 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and keep warm.

5. Meanwhile, heat 1/2" oil in large skillet over medium heat. Dredge milk-soaked chicken through flour mixture and pan fry in oil until browned and chicken pieces register 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer, about 5-7 minutes. (Turn once to fry both sides)

6. When chicken is cooked, return the sauce to a burner over medium heat and toss with the chicken to coat. Serve with steamed rice.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Saturday night we had some friends over for food and drink so I cooked down some fruit that I had to make a nice bright simple syrup to go in our cocktails :-)

(a handful each of blueberries and pitted cherries, simmered with the juice of a lemon and 1 cup of sugar)

Surprisingly - Sunday morning I woke up early and eager to bake! I found a quick biscuit recipe on thechew.com c/o Michael Symon. I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing - snacking on biscuits, eggs, and other accoutrements . Here is a peak at how they turned out.