Peanut Butter Milky Way Blondies

with sea salt

I had a really great long weekend. Kramer and I went to Vermont with some friends for a weekend of snowboarding, antiquing, reading by the fire and, of course, plenty of eating. We may or may not have had tater tot breakfast tacos one morning. It was pretty sweet. I want to tell you all about it, but I had a really shitty experience on my subway ride home last night and while I am totally fine, I want to share what happened because I believe that the more women that speak up about their experiences, the more other women will be empowered to do the same. I think that if you silently accept what happens to you, others will follow suit, and that doesn’t help anyone. Obviously other women have had far more scarring things happen on their commutes, but what happened last night still really shook me up and made me feel awful. I was on yet another overly packed subway car, but I was on my way to meet some friends for drinks and wings, so I was in a good mood. At the stop before the one I was getting off at, this guy behind me started grabbing at my ass. I think at first I thought it was just someone’s bag pushing into me or something, but then the feeling of someone pawing at me was unmistakeable and I turned to this guy with my mouth agape because I couldn’t believe he was squeezing my ass. We were at my stop when I finally got myself together enough to say something to him. “Were you touching me? Were you grabbing me?” I kept asking him, but he averted his eyes and pretended not to hear me. “This guy was grabbing my ass!” I yelled to everyone on the subway car, but everyone just kind of looked at me, and I pushed my way through the people and walked above ground. I felt shaky and upset and really angry. I wanted to punch the guy in the face, but in the moment, I was thinking about all of the things that could go wrong in that scenario, like maybe he had a weapon, or maybe I had just imagined the whole thing. Other thoughts running through my head included, but were not limited to: Did I not make big enough scene? Should I have grabbed him and dragged him to a cop or MTA employee? Should I have taken a picture of him? Should I have screamed? I don’t know. I always thought I was the kind of person who didn’t take this kind of thing, that I’d know how to react in this kind of situation, but I was stunned. I know it’s not my fault and I know that I’m lucky it was just this and not something way worse, but I still felt bad about myself after it happened and I did have a little trouble sleeping last night because I couldn’t stop replaying the incident over and over again in my head.

peanut butter milky way blondiesDun-Well Doughnuts and some photos from our trip to Vermont.

Kramer and my friends were all really awesome and supportive. They reminded me that this guy was a piece of garbage and that I shouldn’t let him bring me down, and I feel a lot better this morning, albeit still pretty angry. What the hell? This is the kind of thing that makes me just hate everyone forever, you know? I hate that I felt anxious on the subway this morning, and I hate that I’m probably going to be thinking about this for a long time. I don’t want to, and I also kind of feel like I’m blowing it out of proportion because, again, overall, I’m fine and I didn’t get hurt. I just feel violated, and the whole thing just sucks. There’s not much more to say about it other than that, I guess. I hope that in plastering my experience all over the internet, insignificant in the long run as it may be, that it reminds people that this shit happens to women constantly, all day, every day, in every city in every country all over the world. Women walk around with this weight on their shoulders, having to watch out for predators and perverts and everything in between. Women question what they’re wearing, how they are behaving and how they can prevent these kinds of things from happening, and it’s really awful that we can’t just get up, get dressed and walk out the door without having to worry. UGH. At least I can always drown my sorrows in food.

peanut butter milky way blondies

So when you’ve had a bad day and you want to dropkick people on the subway, the best thing to do is turn to some good old fashioned comfort food. For example, last night I immediately inhaled a plate of buffalo wings. I think that these peanut butter blondies would have also cheered me up, too, if I had any left in my apartment. I actually made these way back in November, but things got crazy with the holidays and I forgot about them. How could I? They were so good! Chewy peanut butter blondies dotted with caramely Milk Way bars and salted peanuts – what’s not to love? I had my hands full of Milky Ways because I have no shame and I had Tweeted at Milky Way asking for free candy. Well, ask and ye shall receive, because a few weeks later, a big box of Milk Way bars arrived at my doorstep, begging to be put into some kind of baked good. I went with the classic peanut butter and chocolate combo, but the caramel and sprinkle of sea salt turned these into a dessert you can’t help but sneak of piece of for breakfast. I brought them into the office and they were consumed within 20 minutes, as any good blondie is wont to do. Just a suggestion: for the ultimate comfort food experience, I recommend warming these up a bit and putting a scoop of ice cream on top. You can thank me later.

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Butternut Squash & Bell Pepper Soup

with toasted pecans

It’s been both so dry and so cold in New York that I feel like I’m going to crawl out of my own skin! I haven’t been able to fully open my eyes in about a week. Either I’m squinting into the blustery wind on my way to work or wherever else I’m headed, or I’m at home or at work with the heat on full blast, drying out my eye sockets. I’ve been trying to be good about putting eye drops in, but seeing as how I’m a true believer (i.e. I wear glasses all the time and have never worn contacts), I have a really hard time getting them into my eyes, so whenever I attempt the eye drop thing it’s this big production where I stand in front of the sink squeezing my eyes together for a few minutes before I can open them again. I love a lot of things about winter, but the extra maintenance is not one of those things. I have to worry about putting lotion on my body and coconut oil in my hair…basically I’ve got a thin layer of something or other coating my person at all times so that I don’t turn into a cracked mess. Right now, the temperature says that it’s 30 degrees out but the wind chill takes the “real feel” down to about 20 degrees. I want to just stay under this blanket all day. It’s so toasty in here. For some reason, though, no matter what doe-eyed face I can muster up, I still have to leave the apartment and make my way into the world. What’s up with that?

butternut squash and bell pepper soupThe baker’s muffin from City Bakery, some mimosas at home, homemade garlic knots (recipe soon!) and a clear winter day. Follow me on Instagram for more!

In order to avoid having to leave the office and go back out into said world for sustenance, I try to make sure I have lunches prepped for the week for Kramer and myself. This butternut squash and bell pepper soup was one of those lunches a few weeks back. I’m a huge bell pepper fan and eat them quite often, so when a big bag of them were on sale (why are bell peppers so expensive?) I was excited to roast them until slightly charred alongside a big butternut squash and puree them into a warming winter soup. The bell peppers add a nice, bright contrast to the creamy butternut squash, and I threw some caramelized garlic in there with some roasted onions because that’s how you add maximum flavor to any soup. You can feel free to garnish a big bowl of this with toasted pecans and chives, like I did, or get creative: maybe some big, homemade croutons would be good and add a nice texture, or chopped pistachios or even just a swirl of yogurt or cream for color and body. Whatever you do, you know butternut squash soup is going to be good, so add your spin and enjoy.

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Kung Pao Shrimp

with hot chili peppers

I made a version of this kung pao shrimp a few years back, but I figured in the spirit of a new year and new diets and all of that, now would be a good time to revisit the recipe and maybe spruce it up a bit. We all know that kung pao shrimp or kung pao chicken are about as far from traditional Chinese food as you can get, but despite that, I still have a soft spot for both in my heart because I’m American and this is the first kind of Chinese food we’re typically introduced to before we grow up and discover things like xiaolongbao (soup dumplings) or spicy Szechuan peppercorns. Some variety of Americanized shrimp was always on the table whenever my family would go out to eat Chinese food, usually honey walnut shrimp more often than kung pao, but both made an appearance when I was a kid. Of course, I was never interested in the shrimp as a child, so I’d pick around them to get at the sweet walnuts or crunchy peanuts until I was in college, at which point I couldn’t get enough shrimp. This kung pao shrimp may have been a bit too spicy for my tastes back when my family would go out for Chinese food together, but if you like things a little more mild, cut back on the chile peppers or hot chili sauce, and you’ll be good to go. Of course, you’re welcome to go the other route and completely douse your shrimp in as much hot sauce as you can handle. As long as you have a healthy portion of warm white rice at your side to combat any painfully spicy bites, you’re good to go.

kung pao shrimpDinner at Okonomi, my New Year’s Eve recovery kit (pizza + egg + coffee), another delicious breakfast made by Kramer and a big ol’ chocolate chip cookie made by yours truly. Get more by following me on Instagram!

Another reason I’m a fan of the bastardized Americanized Chinese food genre of cooking is that, in general, it can all be prepared pretty fast. Stir fry is always your friend, and when it comes to American style Chinese food, it’s pretty much either fast stir fries or something deep fried. You know, the basic food groups. Kung pao shrimp takes almost no time to cook, mostly because shrimp itself cooks very quickly. Just cook down your onions, add your sauce, let it thicken a bit, toss your shrimp in some cornstarch, add it to the pan, cook for another 6 or 7 minutes, toss with your peanuts and garnish with some scallions, and ta-da! Kung pao shrimp is yours to enjoy, just like takeout but without feeling like a bloated, over-salted mess once you’ve finished eating. Don’t get me wrong, Chinese take-out is a staple here in New York, but I only order it if I know that I won’t have to get off of the couch for the rest of the night, and if I can wear my most comfortable pair of sweatpants. In contrast, this recipe for kung pao shrimp is light and perfect for a quick weeknight dinner – the leftovers make a great lunch the next day, too.

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Crispy Sea Bass with Roasted Vegetables

"escalivada"

The holidays are officially o-v-e-r. I can’t believe it either. Every year there is all of this build-up and excitement surrounding winter and the holidays and ~sweater weather~, then New Year’s comes and goes and the majority of us are left standing, somewhat hungover and probably a little plumper, to face the beast that is January. I’ll bet January is the most depressing month of the year. You ate and drank too much in December, and you probably neglected a lot of day-to-day tasks in favor of fun. I get it. You need to do that every once in a while! It’s healthy. But that doesn’t make the cruel mistress that is January any easier. Now it’s time to face facts, start putting your laundry away again, unpack your suitcase, get back on that diet and head into the office. I suppose if we were all constantly drinking champagne and opening presents the allure would wear off eventually, but what I wouldn’t give for just one more cozy day on the couch! Oh well. Such is life. Join me in getting back to reality today, and remember, Saturday is only 5 days away!

crispy sea bass with roasted vegetables

Getting back into the swing of things is tough, especially when that means eating right. As previously stated, I’ve been enjoying my fair share of pizza and big bowls of noodles and sweet treats over the past two months, but now is the time to get back to it, and that means more veggies, less pasta and maybe hitting the gym a few times a week. This crispy sea bass with roasted vegetables is a great way to reset your eating habits and remind yourself that vitamins can be a good thing. I first learned of escalivada from Food52 (thanks, Marian!), and it’s been a staple in my apartment ever since. Simply roast eggplant, bell peppers and onions in a foil packet flooded with good olive oil and sea salt, then sprinkle with a little sherry vinegar, and maybe a touch more salt, and enjoy. The richness of these unassuming vegetables will blow you away, and while they are delicious all on their own, they pair beautifully with the crisp skinned sea bass, again, made with just a little salt, pepper, butter and lemon. The whole dish will awaken your palate and get you ready for the new year – this I can promise you.

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Cranberry Lime Tea Cake

with cinnamon

I hope that everyone enjoyed their New Year’s Eve celebrations! Kramer and I went to our friend Danny’s apartment for a party. We danced and played games and went to the roof to drink champagne and briefly watch the fireworks go off, before immediately heading back to the apartment because OH MY GOD it was freezing outside. I couldn’t feel my hands when we got back and they started thawing out. All in all, I think 2014 was a good year. Working at Business Insider has been awesome, the blog has been doing splendidly and I’ve gotten to do plenty of freelance work on the side, I’m continuing to improve my photography skills, and we got to do plenty of traveling. Kramer and I went to Thailand, the Catskills, Montreal, North Carolina, Washington, D.C. and even back home to Phoenix. 2015 has even more in store for us, so I can’t wait to get started. Most importantly, today marks our 5 year wedding anniversary. I can’t believe it’s been 5 years. I was truly a child bride, ha. Kramer was 22 and I was 21 when we got married, if you can believe it. Now we’re real life human adults, paying our own rent in New York City, working grown-up jobs and just generally being somewhat upstanding members of society. I won’t get too sentimental on you, because that’s not really my thing, but I think we’re pretty damn good together and I couldn’t imagine being married to a funnier, smarter, more supportive person than Kramer. Without him, I don’t know how I’d function, let alone watch as much TV as I do when I’m with him. That’s what love is really all about – liking the same shows. Ask anyone. So, here’s to another 5 years of Kramer awesomeness and to the rest of 2015!

cranberry lime tea cake

This is a cake made up of leftovers. Mainly, leftovers from the holidays. Leftover limes from countless gin and tonics. Leftover cranberries from baking and sides dishes over the past two months. Leftover flour, sugar and butter from all of the treats I’ve made for friends and family. Throw it all together and you get this light little tea cake, perfect for having as a quick breakfast in the morning or as a simple dessert in the evening. It’s a festive, colorful little cake, but it’s not laden with too much of this or that so as to make you feel overly full. I’d like to call it a transition cake, when you’re ready to start cutting out frosting and chocolate, but you’re not quite ready to go on a diet yet (that’s what Mondays are for). Kramer surprisingly adored this cake, having two whole slices, which is rare for him. I also brought it into my office where it was immediately demolished, so yeah, I think it was a success. Make it and see for yourself.

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Lime Meltaways

soft and delicate

I hope that everyone had a good holiday, or at least a good day off of work! Kramer and I are staying local, as we usually do. I really love how empty New York seems this time of year. I’m sure that there are tons of tourists in the expected neighborhoods, but my day-to-day interactions with humans decrease drastically during the holidays. It’s great. I’ve even gotten a seat on the subway to and from work each day, which is basically unheard of. On Christmas Eve, Kramer and I headed downtown for a few drinks and some intense rounds of LOST QuizUp, then we made our way over to the new location of Mission Chinese for our first of many feasts. We had sashimi with wasabi mushrooms, pea shoot dumplings, shredded chicken and papaya salad, kung pao pastrami and, my favorite, squid ink peanut noodles. Everything was fantastic, and my cocktail was especially good…something with gin and coconut milk and ginger…I’ll admit that we had consumed a few adult beverages prior to our meal. We got home early and immediately started watching Orphan Black, which I am obsessed with and I’m not even ashamed to admit that we’ve already finished both seasons as of last night. I wish that there was more to watch, but sadly we have to wait until this spring for the third season.

lime meltawaysKramer at Huertas (more on that later).

On Christmas Day, we met up with some friends to see The Interview. I enjoyed it – it’s certainly not the funniest movie to come out of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, but I laughed all the same. After the movie, we went to Clem’s for a few drinks, then to M. Shanghai for soup dumplings, pork belly and scallion pancakes. After dinner, we hit up one more bar, Second Chance Saloon, for some pool and beers to close out the night. I love that even on Christmas you can go out to eat and drink in New York. The bars were all having pot lucks, the restaurant was busy – it’s a good vibe. I was definitely feeling it the next day, but no matter – that’s what the holidays are all about! On Friday, we took it easy as a result, though. We saw The Gambler after work (what a disappointing movie), then grabbed some ramen from Samurai Papa and called it an early night.

lime meltaways

I made these meltaways before Christmas, obviously, but I think they’d still make a good little snack for any New Year’s Eve party, if you happen to be throwing one or going to one. As previously mentioned, we had a surplus of citrus at my office after our holiday party, so I made lemon curd rolls for my office with some of the lemons. With the limes, I made these cookies, which are simple enough to whip up quickly, yet good enough to garner positive reviews. Kramer had two, and he’s usually not a big sugar cookie guy. You can obviously make these with any citrus, like lemon or orange or grapefruit, but I think that the lime is perfect. They’re subtle enough to enjoy with any cocktail, plus the sprinkles make them perfectly festive for this time of year. If you’re planning to start “eating right” (whatever that means) in the New Year, hurry up and indulge now! I highly recommend starting with these cookies.

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Lemon Curd Rolls

with a lemon glaze

We had a really nice weekend! I hope that you all did, too. On Friday night, I met with my friend Sarah for dinner to catch up over dinner at a place called Blueprint in Park Slope. It was freezing outside, so I was all too happy to have a cocktail or two in a cozy atmosphere. After dinner, I met up with Kramer, who was at our friend Matt and Amanda’s house. We hung out there for a bit before heading home. On Saturday, Kramer and I ran some errands and did some work around the house, then I got to work making lasagna noodles for a massive lasagna (what else?) that I planned to serve when a few friends came by later that night to play some board games. I know, we’re crazy party animals. I also attempted this baguette recipe, but my yeast didn’t foam enough and I also kneaded the dough with my mixer instead of by hand, so the results weren’t what I was hoping for. I will probably try the recipe again this weekend and see if I can get it right. I made my favorite lasagna recipe, minus the mushrooms, and I thought it was delicious, if I don’t say so myself. We played Pandemic and Settlers of Catan, then a quick round of Skulls before grabbing a quick drink at the Tradesman and calling it a night, admittedly much later than I usually do but hey, it was game night.

lemon curd rollsSo cute you could puke.

On Sunday, Kramer and I ordered in breakfast, then quickly showered and got ready to go to our friend’s baby’s christening. I wasn’t sure what to expect, because I had never been to one before, but it was a quick ceremony and the baby looked really cute in her insanely long dress. After the big event, we were invited to a reception where there was a ridiculous amount of fantastic Italian food. We had arancini, bruschetta, meatballs, garlicky pasta and pizza. I also had a perfectly cooked rib eye that I tried to eat but was so full I could hardly touch it, and Kramer had eggplant rollatini that he, too, couldn’t finish despite its cheesy goodness. Our friends Emily and Wesley were kind enough to give us a ride to Long Island for the ceremony and reception, so we were able to make it home early enough to veg out on the couch and watch Saturday Night Live before crashing.

lemon curd rolls

My office had its holiday party about a week and a half ago, and afterward, my colleague Kim and I realized that we way over-ordered on the citrus. We had about 2 bags of limes leftover and 4 bags of lemons. We both like to bake, so we figured why not take them home and make something out of them? These lemon curd rolls were my contribution. I love lemon anything, so they were the perfect way to dress up the usual sticky bun. I combined my Buttermilk Cinnamon Rolls with my Lemon Curd recipe to make them, and I was really happy with the result. The soft, tender dough is a perfect vessel for the sweet, sticky lemon curd. Rolling these guys up was a bit messy, sure, but it was completely worth the effort. A few people in my office even asked for the recipe, which is a sure sign that you made something good. I hope you’ll give these a try for your holiday brunch(es) this week! They’re still delightful on day two or day three.

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Apple Cider Fritters

with apple cider glaze

I finally got all of my holiday presents out. Thank god. I’m usually really on the ball with these kinds of things, but this year I fell really far behind. I’m kind of wiped. Womp womp. Now that the shopping is done and work should slow down a little bit next week, with any luck, I’ll be able to get the rest of my life together. I’ve got a list of things to do at work, and I also have a ton of stuff that I need to do in my personal life. AND they canceled The Interview? AND AND Serial is over? Blerg. My apartment feels like it’s a mess, I still need to book a hotel for our trip to Tokyo, I want to plan something for our five year wedding anniversary, and I need to start easing back into not eating like an insane monster person (but that can wait until after the new year, obviously). I guess I can go with the whole well at least I’m healthy and have a roof over my head, yadda yadda. Be thankful, ’tis the season. All in all, life is pretty sweet, and I’m just ready to start 2015 and wipe the slate clean and pick up new projects for the new year.

apple cider frittersPorchetta sandwiches from Roberta’s, a Mac graveyard, seeing Inherent Vice this past Sunday and my favorite brussels sprouts recipe. Follow me on Instagram for more!

My friend Jessie had left a big jug of apple cider in my fridge from Thanksgiving, so I was staring at it for a couple of weeks every morning trying to decide what to do with it. Cookies? Bread? Doughnuts. Definitely doughnuts. But I didn’t have the energy to roll out dough, cut it out, etc. So fritters it was. O figured I’d be able to add real pieces of apple with the fritters, too, which was an awesome bonus. The dough came together easily, and after a few minutes in the fryer, a drizzle of glaze, they were ready to be consumed. I am a little embarrassed to admit that Kramer and I probably ate 2 or 3 of these each before I sealed them up to bring them into my office. They will last well for at least another day, so go ahead and make them the day before. They are absolutely heavenly when dipped into a cup of coffee, trust me. If you’re afraid of frying, don’t be because I promise that these are foolproof. I know you’re all nuts for cider and apples right now, so bust out the ingredients and get to it!

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