Kiss Cookie Cups

We had a Thanksgiving Dessert Party at work this past Friday so I had to make something for a crowd. The solution were these cookies with a twist - a hershey kiss jammed in the center as they came out of the oven. I made a variation of these a couple of years ago for my year of cookies adventure, but it was a peanut butter based cookie. Those were a bit better than these, but these were definitely delicious. Very easy to make as well - a welcome relief during the busy holiday cooking/baking!

You can get the recipe here. You'll notice these are for "pumpkin spice cookies" since they use a pumpkin spice  hershey instead of a milk chocolate. I couldn't find the special hershey kiss so just stuck with a milk chocolate variation.

Food for Thought

Sometimes you have to put your sail up, close your eyes, and hope you're going in the right direction!

The Southerner's Handbook

I am a born and bred Brooklyn girl, but I have an affection for the South - - so much so, I sometimes think I was a Southerner in a previous life. I love the hospitality, the food, the drawls, the sprawling fields, the mountains, the moss hanging off the trees, the heat, the tea, the pineapples, and the genuine welcomeness you feel in any of the Southern cities. I subscribe to Southern Living and visit family in Virginia and travel to any Southern city as much as I can. There's so many great places! So it only made sense to order a copy of this new book when I read about it in a recent cnn article.

I'm learning a lot from the book so far, even if I'm not living south of the Mason-Dixie line. Things like how to make a biscuit or how to season your cast iron skillet (which I recently got and apparently cleaned all wrong ... oops!). So really, you don't need to be a Southerner to do any of the things in the book. And really, let's be honest, everyone should have some of the South in them just as the South should have some of the North in them. Makes for a well-balanced individual don't it?

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

Tea anyone? These cookies go excellent with it ... I hosted a tea party over the weekend and this was the newest recipe I tried out for it. VERY simple to whip up and were well received. Apparently, they taste better the next day. I wouldn't know since I didn't keep any leftovers for myself! Next time ...

I used Lady Earl Grey tea for this recipe, but will do Earl Grey next time. I also was just below 2 tablespoons of tea so I'll need to be more exact which will result in more of a tea flavor. Note that when they say "loose tea" I really think they mean you cut open the tea bag and use the smaller ground tea - - not literal leaves of tea. Learned that the hard way when I used a good blend of Earl Grey which stubbornly would not pulse in the food processor. Just cut a tea bag open - it's much easier.

You can get the recipe here.

Happy tea time!

Baby Blankets

I've been knitting for about 5 years now and pretty much the only things I knit are baby blankets and scarves. At some point, I'll need to learn something new to make - like socks or a hat! For now though, I do the basic knit and purl. Sometimes I get super fancy and do the seed stitch! 

Baby blankets have become something special to make because they have unique stories associated with them. I won't get into those stories here since they're all rather personal, but I did want to share photos of the blankets I've made and the adorable babies they were made for. 

Baby Finn

One of the first blankets I made was for Finn. It was small, but I was proud of my accomplishment!: 

Baby Cleo

Next up was the blanket which has become my favorite one, especially with the yarn used - oh so soft! I saw the pattern for this while studying a girls knitted hat on the train one morning. I really like this pattern - simple to do and looks very clean and cozy. This was for Cleo!:

Baby Caiden 

Then there was the blanket for Finn's brother, Caiden! I decided to use the same yarn so they matched, but after a couple of years experience, Caiden has the better looking blanket: 

Baby Hadley 

I had bought this yarn at the same time as the yarn for Cleo's blanket and just kept it in my yarn basket. Then randomly last February I started to make a baby blanket with that yarn. No one I knew was pregnant, but I kept at it determined to get it done. And then one night over dinner, Hadley's amazing mommy Ryan told me she was expecting a little girl and it all suddenly made sense why I had spent the previous months making that blanket. Seems like Hadley was getting her way well before she was born :) 

Baby Piper 

Another baby girl was on the horizon and so I wanted to do something a little less pink, but still girly so I got a wonderful yarn in a salmon-like color and after a few false starts, finally picked up speed and made a soft and most perfect blanket with the basket weave stitch (probably the most advanced pattern to date). I was really proud of this one! I'm waiting for a picture still of Piper with her blanket, but here's the blanket in the meantime! 

Baby Drew 

My very near and dear friend Leanne told me she and her husband were expecting their first child. I was so excited for them and even more excited it gave me a chance to knit another blanket! They weren't finding out the sex of the baby, so that gave me the challenge to figure out what gender neutral color to do. I stressed about the color for awhile and then finally decided on grey and creamy white. When visiting Leanne about a month shy of her delivery and about half-way through my blanket making, she showed me some things she had purchased for the nursery and I saw the material of her rocker was grey and white. Immediately, I knew I had picked the right colors! Drew was born in late summer and when I met him, I passed over the blanket. The design of the blanket is of one I saw in a catalog for a non-handmade blanket and figured I could recreate it. I like the rib design, seems preppy and appropriate for the little man that Drew already is!

Chicken Fricassee

I've had a recipe for Chicken Fricassee for awhile now (a year to be exact, I pulled the recipe from Martha Stewart's October 2012 issue) and just the other day, I finally made it!

Now, I'm recently obsessed with French cooking. Obsessed meaning I want to cook it for every meal, collect tons of recipes, and then shy away from it when push comes to shove. I've had Julia Child's notorious cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking for about 6 years now on my shelf (I think it makes my look like a more serious cook when people see it on my kitchen shelf!) and I've been vying over a Le Creuset pan for as long as I've owned a stove. Finally, after stumbling upon Dorie Greenspan's French Friday's with Dorie, I decided it was time to go French. Except before I embark on Dorie's blog/cooking club, I decided to give it a try with a dish that seemed easy enough and without the pressure of a club.

Cue the Chicken Fricassee recipe that's been on my bulletin board for a year. The pictures looked mouth watering, but then again, what Martha Stewart recipe doesn't?! I made a little trip to Williams Sonoma after work one night and picked up this delightful new addition for the kitchen and decided it was a good investment for all this French food I'll be doing! It is well worth every penny! Very easy to care for and to cook with!

And so French Friday's commenced with Chicken Fricassee quite successfully. The only deviation I made from the recipe is cooking all chicken breasts, instead of a whole chicken. I just don't find it very appetizing to eat a whole chicken and would rather my guests get equal portions of meat. A slight tweak I have is to add salt to the broth as the dish seemed to need some more of it.

A tres bon recipe you can find here! I hope you enjoy it very much!

Chicken Fricassee served with egg noodles

Berryville, VA

From November 1 - 3, I retreated at Holy Cross Abbey in the most beautiful Berryville, Virginia. It was a silent (mostly) retreat and provided a nice reprieve from the hustle and bustle of Halloween, which was a large production at my cousin's house in Williamsburg, VA. I'm sure he needed the retreat more than anyone since he had been building props and masterminding a terror night for all the kiddies since before Labor Day! But I made my way to Berryville instead and in the darkness of the night, arrived at the retreat house - - very unsure of what I was going to be waking up to. It's bizarre arriving anywhere in the pitch black, but more so when you're traveling on a road that no one really frequents unless there's a need for it. Would there be all woods? Rolling hills? Were there other houses around? So many questions of what awaits in the light ... my mind couldn't quiet from the curiosity!

But the next morning, I woke up to this:

There's a song about this place, maybe not the exact place - - but close enough to it: 

Almost heaven, West Virginia 

Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River...

Almost heaven indeed - or what I imagine heaven would look like. Such quiet, pure nature, and the most amazing fall scenery. I was lucky enough to see Vermont this fall and Virginia - - colors I never remembered seeing before and smells of crispy fall. Fall seems more beautiful this year, is it just me? 

Here are some other photos from my walks on the grounds of Holy Cross Abbey: 

I hope your fall has been enjoyable!