December, 2009
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Wednesday, December 30th, 2009
Home Cookin’ for Xmas – New England Style + Some Family Traditions
• Lobster is one of my favorite foods. I have to eat lobster every time we go to Maine. Eating it at home is as good as eating it at restaurant if not better!
It is currently very affordable because of the overabundance of lobster due to the overfishing of its predators.
Pull out your Joy of Cooking and boil those “lobsta’s.” Serve with melted butter.
Click for “How to prepare lobster”.
• Gjetost Cheese Spread
Gjetost is a cheese that is a combination of goat and cow’s milk. Our family heats the Gjetost very slowly in a pot until the water has evaporated and the milk sugar forms a kind of brown caramelized paste. Then milk or cream is added to change the fat content of the finished product which looks like peanut butter that you can spread on crackers. This is a family tradition to make Gjetost around xmas time passed on by Swedish relatives from Minnesota.
• Peanut Butter Fudge from Kellie’s Belly
Tasty recipes we either prepared or had prepared for us for xmas:
Click to continue »
Posted in Desserts, Home Cookin', Main Dishes, Maine, Out of Town | No Comments »
Tags: Desserts, gjetost, home cooking, leg of lamb, lobster, Maine, Pasta, pears, Recipes, seafood
Sunday, December 27th, 2009
• Awesome Online Portland, ME Visual Food Map: http://www.portlandfoodmap.com/
• Novare Res: Great Bier Café w/ Artisan Cheese Plates – We want this in our neighborhood!
• Breakfast: Hot Suppa! – Best Corned Beef Hash Ever!
• Cookbook Bookstore: Rabelais
Over the holidays we headed home to Maine. This gave us the chance to checkout Portland’s foodie claims that attracted our attention in this years Bon Appetit article “Portland, Maine–America’s Foodiest Small Town.” Portland has certainly changed since the last time we visited five years ago with much more than your traditional seafood spots and pubs. There are more local breweries and bakeries, quaint & kitschy cafes that highlight modern takes on comfort food, and creative fine-dining with daily designed menus offering creative interpretations of regional favorites. We also went to a wonderful bier café with a beer list of more than 200 beers along with Maine made Meed as well as featuring great mix and match artisan cheese plates.
The Portland Food Map: This is awesome. It is a visual guide to food and drink in Portland separated by category such as kind of food, bakery, and specialty food shops and so on. When you click on the restaurant name it shows you a rating number as well as a list of the reviews about the restaurant. We are looking forward to every town having one of these.
Click to continue »
Posted in Drinks, Eating Out, Maine, Out of Town | 1 Response »
Tags: Bars, Beer, Breakfast, Eating Out, Foodie Town, Maine
Friday, December 25th, 2009
Another great recipe from Kellie’s Belly! This fudge melts in your mouth. Fudge is not one of my favorite things but this fudge is wonderful.
Peanut Butter Fudge
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. whole milk
1/4 stick butter
pinch of salt
3/4 c. peanut butter
3/4 c. marshmallow fluff
1/2 tsp. vanilla
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Posted in Desserts, Home Cookin' | No Comments »
Tags: cookies, deserts, home cooking, Kellie's Belly, Peanut Butter, Recipes
Saturday, December 19th, 2009
Our friend Kellie from Maine of www.kelliesbelly.com told us about this great recipe. She says “the cookies are soft, fluffy, and delicate. The icing really helps the eggnog flavor stand out, so don t omit the icing if you try this recipe!”
Easy Egg Nog Cookie
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup Garelick Farms Egg Nog
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Click to continue »
Posted in Desserts, Home Cookin' | No Comments »
Tags: Baked Goods, cookies, desert, Holiday, home cooking, Recipes
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
For some reason everywhere I went in Maui and Lania, they had blueberry drinks! Pretty tasty!
Serenity Blueberry Mojito
- 1 1/2 oz. Blueberry Stoli Vodka
- 8 Fresh blueberries (can thaw frozen ones)
- 8-10 mint leaves
- 3/4 oz. Blueberry Flavored Syrup (Monin Blueberry flavored syrup- instead of simple syrup)
- 1 oz. fresh lime juice
- 1 oz. Club soda
Muddle mint leaves and blueberries in a hi-ball glass. Add vodka, lime juice, blueberry syrup, and shake well. Pour in soda and garnish w/ lime slice and mint sprig.
Pineapple Blueberry Lemonade
- Pineapple, cut into chunks & some Pineapple juice
- 10 Blueberries
- Lemonade (1/4 cup of sugar, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of lemon juice)
Cut up a pineapple into chunks and then blitz it in the blender for a couple of seconds with some pineapple juice to break it down to drinkable sizes before mixing it with lemonade or blueberries. Muddle 10 Blueberries in the bottom of a Boston shaker. Add ice, pineapple puree w/ juice, and lemonade and shake. Pour contents into a hi-ball glass. Garnish with a Lemon wheel.
Posted in Drinks, Out of Town | 1 Response »
Tags: Bars, Cocktails, Eating Out, Recipes
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Cookie Recipe:
- 5 cups flour
- 2 cups butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg
Combine ingredients with blender. Roll up cookie dough in wax paper and place in refrigerator until the day you are ready to bake the cookies.
Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out 1/4″ thick. Cut into diamonds using a knife (see photo). Bake 12 minutes. Frost and add sprinkles.
Frosting Recipe:
- 1/3 c. butter
- 3 c. powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp. cream or milk
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- Assorted food coloring & sprinkles
Beat together all ingredients until smooth. Use food coloring and make several different colors of frosting.
Dean Jacob’s Sparkling Sprinkles $4.99 and up
Posted in Desserts, Family Favorites, Home Cookin' | No Comments »
Tags: baking, christmas, cookies, family recipe, holiday recipe, sugar cookies
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
$1.49 & $1.50 & Wow, $12.95 (+$6 shipping for the copper version)
Now that’s a Super Cheap California Foodie Gift right there!
Tomorrow I will give you my Grandma’s famous sugar cookie recipe.
Posted in Foodie Gifts, Store Bought | 1 Response »
Tags: California, cookie cutter, cookies, deserts
Sunday, December 6th, 2009
We at BiTF appreciate a good blog, especially when it concerns tasty beverages. This blog not only appeals to our search for new tastes, but also to our aesthetic sensibilities. With its faux polaroid/recipe card layout, one has the ability to experience a blog in a different (to us) and refreshing way, even if it solely aggregates the work of our bloggy brethren. We invite you to check out Liqurious.
www.Liqurious.com
Along these same lines, we finally got our hands on a beer we’ve been jonesing to try. The beer is a Rauchbier, made with malted barley that has been dried over an open flame. We tried the Schlenkerla version, which seems to be the most available brand. According to Wikipedia, there are a few US microbreweries that make rauchbiers, along with some interesting international varieties including a Japanese beer named after the smokescreens used by ninjas. But, you certainly don’t need to be a ninja to enjoy this style of beer. As we love some BBQ smoke in most of our food, this beer hit just the right spot. Truly, if you were craving bacon and beer, this would satisfy both. Not only is the flavor in the beverage, but it will carry over to any food that you happen to be eating. Feeling too lazy to get out the grill? Grab a few rauchbiers and take a sip before each bite, it’s that easy. I look forward to pairing this with an actual smokey meal to fully enjoy the experience.
www.Schlenkerla.de
Posted in Drinks, Store Bought | No Comments »
Tags: Bars, Beer, Cocktails, Distillery
