There comes a time in everyone’s life where they decide that they would like to throw a little get-together with food, drinks, and friends. It sounds so fun! They just can’t wait for the day to arrive.
But on the day of, about an hour before guests arrive, they’re frazzled and in freak-out-mode from everything that has gone wrong in preparation for the party. (Trust me, things go wrong. Either they forgot to buy ice, or the appetizers didn’t turn out, or something is taking longer to cook than it should– or all three…)
I know it doesn’t just happen to me, so I really hope you are nodding your head and “mmhmm”-ing as you read. However, we learn from our mistakes and adjust accordingly. We learn that simplicity is the way to go more times than not, because food and drinks don’t have to be complex to be tasty, elegant, and impressive.
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Tag Archives: Cheese
Chile Relleno
I’ll cut to the chase: This is good. I mean, it’s really good, the type of really good that makes it difficult for me to not leap out of my seat, speed off to the grocery store, and stock up on ingredients to make another batch. It’s the type of Chile Relleno you find in the authentic Mexican restaurants– the ones with charmingly odd decor, cramped eating area, and heaping portions of flavorful Mexican favorites that are nearly impossible to eat in one sitting. Those restaurants always have the best Chiles Rellenos. Now, so do I (and soon, so will you).
Forgive me if that sounded over-the-top, but I can’t help it.
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Grilled Mac n’ Beer Cheese Sliders with Bacon, Beer, & Tomato Jam
From an outsider’s perspective, one might say that police lights seem to have a comparable effect on me as strobe lights do to an epileptic. All it takes is one flash of red and blue to get me uncontrollably trembling and flailing, and the cop doesn’t even have to be near me. I’m not exaggerating; if you filmed one of my panic attacks and laid a music track over it, it would make a fantastic Harlem Shake video.
Getting stopped on Wednesday was no exception.
I attempted to simultaneously pull over and pull myself together (which, if you’ve ever had a panic attack, you know is difficult pretty much impossible to do), and I did manage to make it safely to the side of the road. My mental state, however, was still in hazardous territory, and I didn’t even know what I had done wrong yet.
As I rolled down my passenger side window, a young, blonde-haired state trooper folded his arms and rested himself slightly over the ledge, his elbows sticking well inside of my car. For a moment, I thought, Okay, he seems calm, and he doesn’t look angry at all. That has to be a good sign. Then, I don’t know exactly what happened, but I must have done something spastic, startling, and/or strange because he quickly stepped back and very loudly demanded my license and registration. Great.
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Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Syrup
Cupid’s arrow often points me in the direction of Valentine’s Day catastrophe. I will spare you the gory details of my many V-day disasters, but think messy break-ups, dislocated knees, stomach viruses, and an overwhelming heap of steaming disappointment, and you won’t be surprised to hear that Valentine’s Day has never been my favorite holiday.
However, this year I have high hopes for Valentine’s Day, because I’ll make no frills about it besides using it as an excuse to indulge in far too much food, wine, and Netflix movies. The saying goes “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” and I have no problem with that. As long as I get a plate piled up with goodness, too, I can boost your affections through food. You’ll bump yourself up a few notches in my book if you volunteer to do the dishes afterward.
One thing that I find really romantic in the food department is breakfast in bed. While I’ll never turn down bacon and eggs, Valentine’s Day is all about sweets, so breakfast on that day, in my opinion, should be a special treat to the sugar-lover.
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Spanakopita (Spinach and Feta Phyllo) Triangles
I have been craving Spanakopita (Greek Spinach & Feta Pie) for weeks now, but I just haven’t known what to tweak about it. I have a favorite Spanakopita recipe I’ve used many times, but first of all, I despise working with phyllo, and second, it’s not very finger-food friendly, which was where I wanted to go with this one.
I realize you’re probably thinking, “Wow, you hate working with phyllo? That’s interesting. So does everyone else in the world.” I know, I know. I’ve heard it a million times, too. But seriously, the stuff is so annoying and time-consuming that I made a goal for myself: do something to make the process easier, but still have the result taste great and be easy to eat.
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