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December, 2010

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How to get – and keep – your New Year’s Eve guests in good spirits. Circa 1985.

Monday, December 27th, 2010

1985 New Year’s Eve Cocktail Party Bar Necessities

In McCall’s Cooking School Magazine from 1985 we found this list of bar supplies for a cocktail party.  Apparently they could booze it up in 1985!

Booze for the Party • Approximately $309 (without tax, from Bevmo for all the Booze (used 750 ml bottles), mixers, & garnishes below)

*Note to self, don’t invite 30 people! AND, if you do, many DD’s are a good idea!

Here are their recommendations from American Bartenders School:

For a 4-Hour Cocktail Party for 30 people (multiply or divide as necessary):

  • 4-6 drinks per person
  • 1 Liter of Alcohol = 22, 1 1/2 ounce drinks

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Most worth-the-work Family Holiday Recipe! Danish Pastry Wreath Recipe

Friday, December 24th, 2010
To pull my mom’s leg we joke that the Danish Pastry Wreath is my Aunt’s recipe and it gets my mom going because it was originally a recipe that she found in a 1960’s or 70’s cooking magazine.  The proper credit to the right person for this Danish Wreath is a clue straight off the bat that the Danish is remembered and desired by all of my family members on Christmas.  Admittedly, the Danish takes a couple of days to make unless you want to cram all day long.  Also, it takes a bit of help from a friend with some baking experience if you haven’t done much bread baking in the past, but it’s worth it!
We typically serve the Danish with an egg casserole on Christmas morning.  Enjoy!

Holiday Danish Pastry Wreath Recipe
2 wreaths
Baking time: 30 minutes
*Start early in the day to allow for chilling, rising, and cooling.

Posted in Breakfast, Family Favorites, Home Cookin' | 3 Comments »
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Still need a Homemade Holiday Gift? Tijuana Tidbits

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

Chex Mix or Tijuana Tidbits?  You either love em’ or your hate em’ or you start munching on em’ and can’t stop.  Either way, party mix gets consumed and that seems to be what the holidays are all about!  AND, the lucky recipient of your TT’s won’t forget you because love and hate are strong emotions.  But really, this recipe is a little bit different.  My mom claims that Tijuana Tidbits are a snack mix that even men like.  I think she is onto something here.  Who knew that men liked em’ hot and sweet?

Tijuana Tidbits Recipe

Makes 18 cups

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups tortilla chips, broken into 1 1/2” pieces
  • 3 cups Crispix cereal
  • 1 bag microwave popcorn popped (8-9cups)
  • 1, 12 ounce can of mixed cocktail nuts
  • 1/2 cup light corn syrup
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 TBSP chili powder
  • 1/8 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/8-1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Preparation:

Heat oven to 250F.

Combine chips, cereal, popcorn, and nuts in large roasting pan. Combine other ingredients in small saucepan, heat to boiling.   Pour over cereal mixture in pan, stirring to coat. Bake 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Remove from oven and turn onto sheet of wax paper to cool.

Store in airtight container up to 2 weeks.

Posted in Appetizers, Family Favorites, Foodie Gifts, Home Cookin' | No Comments »
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A Unique Xmas Gift for the Carnivore: Mom Wilson’s Candy-Cane shaped “Cracker Sausage”

Saturday, December 18th, 2010

A few years ago my cousin’s wife, originally from Ohio who now lives in Florida, told us about Mom Wilson’s Country Sausage that is actually located in my childhood hometown.  She told us that each time she drives through our hometown in Ohio on her way to Northern Ohio that she stops at Mom Wilson’s Country Sausages to pick up a Smoked Ham. It was weird to me because I had lived near Ma Wilson’s for twenty some years before moving to California and had no idea Mom Wilson’s was that good. I finally figured out that it is a local gem and on todays visit we spotted something too good and too kitschy to pass up, a Candy-Cane shaped spicy “Cracker Sausage.”

Inside Mom Wilson’s they have lots of tastes to figure out what you may want to buy from hot pickles to spicy sausage, braunschwaiger, caramel corn, and other country sausages and cheese. I asked them what their biggest seller was and they told me it was the Cracker Sausage. After tasting it and finding out it was delicious, I looked in the refrigerator and saw a Candy-Cane shaped Cracker Sausage for $5.60. John and I both said, “That is awesome!”

You can’t order it online, yes, that is how local they are, but you can call them and they will ship it out to you. Then pair it with a box of crackers or their horseradish cheese and it’s a unique gift for friends or your holiday party.

Mom Wilson’s Country Sausage
7720 U.S. Route 23 North
Delaware, Ohio 43015

Phone (740) 726-2636

Posted in Foodie Gifts, Ohio, Out of Town, Store Bought | No Comments »
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A Local’s Local: Cicero’s Pizza in San Jose/Cupertino

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010

Cicero’s Pizza opened in San Jose, CA (Cupertino, CA to be exact) in 1968 which has given it thirty years and three different locations to build a local following.  We’ve tried so many pizza joints around San Jose from A Slice of New York (we like the garlic knots and cannoli’s @ Slice of NY) to Rosie’s New York Pizza, Pizza Chicago, Pizza My Heart, Thunderbird, and few others.  Cicero’s feels the most like a neighborhood joint, that you would go to after a softball game or swim meet, even though it is located in a a Safeway strip mall in its current location.  It is a comfort zone where you can wear your sweats and feel nostalgic for your hometown pizza place like my beloved Pizza Villa that I grew up frequenting every Wednesday night in the summers.  Local folks seem to stop by Cicero’s to pick-up pizzas on Friday nights on their way home from work to take to the family.  Cicero’s also has a decent size dining room (please don’t modernize it) where you can order at the counter and take a seat at a booth or table and sip on a draft Sierra while you wait.

Our favorite is the shredded Italian sausage, very fine crumbs, topping on Cicero’s thin crust pizza (crust is not so crispy that it is like a cracker, just not deep dish).  Lots of people suggest the Belly Buster but once we found the crumbled sausage pizza, we were hooked.

Cicero’s Pizza
6138 Bollinger Road
San Jose/Cupertino
408-777-0690

Posted in Eating Out, South Bay - Silicon Valley | No Comments »
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A Favorite Holiday Salad Recipe: Persimmon & Pomegranate with Endive & Sherry Dressing

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

This is a California salad that I made for our first thanksgiving on the West coast.  Each year, it is requested by friends as being one of their favorites.  There are so many recipes for using persimmons such as cookies, cakes, puddings, salads, and dried fruit roll-ups.  My next experiment will be a Persimmon Pudding in the fashion of our Brazilian friends Passion Fruit Pudding.  Can you juice a persimmon? Hmmm….

Hachiya: Deeper orange color, sweet and slightly tangy, and you want to wait until they are liquidy-ripe and or else they will be bitter (these are my favorite choice for the salad).

Fuyu: Are short and squat, and a bit firmer than the Hachiya, with a honey sweetness when ripe.

Pomegranate Persimmon Salad with Endive and Sherry Dressing Recipe

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2010 Cheapskate Foodie Gifts • 20 Under $30

Friday, December 3rd, 2010

For the Photo-Foodie:

  • The Camera Lens Mug (for Canon or Nikon lovers) $24-30 + Shipping – For the Photo & Coffee Geek by Photo JoJo OR Give the foodie photographer or blogger a Studio Photo-Tent Dome for their plated foods too (OK, just a bit more than $30, range from $35-100)!

For the Mess-in-the-Kitchen:

- Hand screen printed using color-fast ink in red. Washing machine/dryer safe. Absorbent flour sack is 28″ x 29″. Colors: Dark Blue , Arctic Blue (light) , Sweet Pea Green , Clementine , Red Raspberry , Chocolate Pudding Brown

For the OCD-Kitchen Cook:

-Slice your veggies or any food item precisely and more quickly than pulling out your big-old $200 Mandolin.

For the Wine-Lover:

- James Beard Foundation Book Award Beverage Winner 2010 – Written by visionary California winemaker and founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard (from Santa Cruz!)

- 12 Zodiac Animal Head Choices

For the Sweet Tooth:

For the Fashionable Foodie’s Stocking:

For the Herb Lover:

For the Bacon Lover: Are we still loving Bacon Stuff? YES!

- This is a savory jam cooked down with onions and spices. – Serve it on sandwiches and such

  • Bacon Explosion - 1/2 Bacon Explosion – $17.99 Full Bacon Explosion – $29.99 + shipping

- Quilted Bacon (retains all of the fat, so watch out) with sausage, BBQ sauce, BBQ rub and it is then smoked – Put it on toothpicks to serve because it has a pretty intense, rich flavor

Posted in Foodie Gifts, Store Bought | 2 Comments »
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NY Times: “For Every Holiday Party, the Right Drink” & a Cranberry Bourbon Cocktail Recipe

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010
Dining & Wine NYTimes
Published: November 30, 2010
Cocktails that will match the food, match the company, match the feeling in the air. Twelve cocktail recipes!

BITF Tested Holiday “Corktail”:

This cocktail is a great introductory drink for a holiday party cocktail hour. It can please the ladies and the gentleman.

Grateful Cranberry Cocktail

from: http://www.drinkoftheweek.com/drink-of-the-week/grateful-cranberry-cocktail/

1 1/2 oz. bourbon
1 oz. cranberry-honey syrup (recipe below)
Green tea flavored ginger ale (or regular)
Frozen cranberries
Crushed ice

Fill collins glass three-quarters full with crushed ice and frozen cranberries.  Pour in bourbon and syrup, then top off with ginger ale.

Cranberry-honey syrup

Boil equal parts water, honey and cranberries. Strain out solids, then refrigerate the liquid syrup.

Posted in Drinks | 2 Comments »
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