The Cake Boss

So week one of waiting for the Superbowl is nearly over...and it's Friday!! Yay! And now that I've officially had a full week of class and work, I am very happy with my schedule! Also, I went on a 4 mile run along the Esplanade yesterday morning (because I don't have class until 2 =] ) and it was wonderful! The Charles is so beautiful that you almost forget how out of breath you are and how much you want to stop. Almost.

See...I'm trying to force myself to become a runner because I generally gravitate towards any from of exercising EXCEPT running, but...it is a wonderful workout. Trust me, I can tell by how every single part of my body is almost too sore to move today. So I suppose I'll do regular weights at the gym tomorrow and try this whole long run thing again on Sunday. Who knows, I may develop a habit and actually start to like it. (Of course all of this is shot to hell if winter starts to actually show up and it's not in the 40s and 50s all the time, but I'll jump that hurdle when I get there).

But anywho, I digress. Oh yes...we were talking about the Superbowl!! Check out this awesome cake Buddy Valastro, star of TLC's Cake Boss made for the G-men.

Adorable! And a very accurate account of what is actually going to happen!

Fun Fact: I've actually met Buddy Valastro. Yuppers....it's true. On my birthday last year. Don't believe me? I'll prove it.

Bam! (Check out my crazy red hair! Oh the things we do when we're young and crazy!)

I mean, come on...that is RED! But anyway, I digress again. Buddy came to BU's bookstore last year on my birthday!!! It's like he knew! So I ran down there between class and work in the pouring rain, bought his book for an obscene amount of money, waited in line for an obscene amount of time, and got him to sign it and take his picture with me.

He even said "Happy Birthday" to me. I'm practically famous! And NO...before you say it, that is a rushed "18", not a "16". People need to stop ruining my brush with fame by trying to tell me he got my age wrong. He was just in a hurry. Or busy dreaming about all the gorgeous, delicious cakes he should be making instead.

So there you go, if I hadn't likeed him a lot already, his cakes for the Giants made me like him that much more! You can check out more of his cake designs for past weeks on the Giants' facebook page. And hopefully one of these days I'll get the chance to go down to New Jersey and stand in another ridiculously long line to pay an even more ridiculous high price for one of his cakes!

Have a fabulous weekend everybody! For all the sports fans out there, enjoy the Pro Bowl. My favorite players won't be there for me to root for, and my least favorite players won't be there for me to wish bad things upon, so sadly..I have no reason to watch. And as always...GO GIANTS!

A Beautiful Day in Boston with Bon Me

Let's get this out there...I LOVE food trucks! They are adorable and convenient and like little mini restaurant meals for fast food prices. Love! The only thing I don't love is that they aren't on my BU dining plan so I have a little bit of a problem justifying that purchase when I have tons of food I could go get for "free" (or $53,000..whichever way you look at it). However, yesterday I was in a bind and had absolutely no time between 2 pm and 8 pm to grab food and if you know me, I can't last that long!

Luckily, as I'm walking out of a meeting and heading across the street to my next class I see a giant yellow box of wonderfulness!

I've had Bon Me before at the SoWa Open Market and LOVED it and knew that they came on campus almost every night, but like I said..I have trouble justifying it when I already paid for $53,000 food. But I also recently participated in a Social Media Challenge with my PRSSA chapter for Bon Me to come up with successful ways to keep them going strong during the rough winter months. (And my team won...obviously). So you see..I was really just trying to keep them in business during winter. Yay me! I won't mention that it was actually almost 60 degrees yesterday because no one in their right mind would believe that in Boston...in January.

So on to the food... You can choose from a rice bowl, noodle bowl, or a sandwich. They each come filled with assorted veggies, this delicious soy glaze stuff, and your choice of: chicken, pork, or tofu and shitake mushrooms. They also have daily specials and drinks and last night they had this delicious looking Special 8 Treasures Good Luck Bar in honor of the Chinese New Year that looked absolutely amazing! Unfortunately, I have now officially gone one week (and one day) without a single sweet or item of junk food. I know right! What's wrong with me? So anywho, I settled on a brown rice bowl with the tofu and mushroom mixture (which is to die for!) and NO CILANTRO!

It was exactly like I remembered it! I don't know what they put in their sauce but it is perfect! I inhaled this thing! And not just because I was rushing to class. So good, and very reasonably healthy. Yay Bon Me!

So like I said..it was nearly 60 degrees outside yesterday. This is the view out my window.

This was the view 4 days prior.

Yesterday.

Four days prior.

Really Boston? Not that I'm complaining, because as much as I love snow, it's not as fun when I live in the city and have to walk everywhere in it and slip all over the place. And I am loving the warm weather! It's only about 45 today, but hey..I'll take it!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Wednesday and wherever you live, I hope it looks more like yesterday's picture than Saturday's. Ta-ta!

GIANTS GIANTS GIANTS

AHHHHHH!!!

Words can't describe how stressed out/extremely happy I was last night! Leave it to the Giants to leave us on the edge of our seats through 4 and a half quarters instead of the usual nail-biting 4. But nevertheless, the best team came out on top meaning...rematch between Giants and Patriots! I mean honestly...how did I get this lucky? My absolute favorite team and the team I hate more than words can describe meet in the Superbowl twice during my football-loving lifetime. Crazy!

Well, I was watching the Superbowl 4 years ago when Eli, Tyree and Plaxico Burress brought it home, while Strahan and company on defense put a stop to Brady and his undefeated Patriots, and I will definitely be watching on February 5th for a repeat.

Here's that on the helmet catch in case anyone forgot..

And I was also there, in Foxboro, on November 6th of this season (the day after my birthday) way up past the nose bleeds in seats I still paid $200 for to sit next to Pats fans and get harassed al night when the Giants gave me the best birthday present I could have asked for. That's right...Patriots redemption was a no go as they were stopped once again.

We came away with a 24-20 win that of course came down to a 4th quarter drive by Eli Manning to get the game-winning touchdown. As glorious as I thought watching the Giants beat the Patriots at Gillette would be, (and trust me, it definitely was glorious) it wasn't quite as I expected. It's weird to be surrounded by so many misguided souls cheering for the Patriots that when you see your favorite team score a touchdown and you scream at the top of your lungs, jumping up and down, only to realize you're one of the very few people doing the same...let's just say it's weird. I kept thinking I was seeing wrong because I couldn't understand why everyone else wasn't cheering. Poor, poor Patriots fans!

So here comes Round 3....and I know the Patriots would KILL to put a stop to this madness once and for all, but sorry Tom Brady...third time is rarely ever a charm. Maybe next year Pats, because this has been our year! Coming back from a 7-7 season after losing to the Redskins (the Redskins....) and needing 2 wins against the Jets and the Cowboys to even make it into the Playoffs. And then to face Atlanta and the nearly undefeated Packers and Aaron Rodgers?? Well..let's just say it hasn't been easy and we certainly aren't going to let YOU put a stop to our thunder.

Now I have to sit and wait for 2 weeks. I've got my Cruz jersey on (I was wearing both my Cruz and Manning jerseys AND my long sleeve Giants shirt during last night's game...don't judge me, it worked, didn't it?) and I'm ready to go out into BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS and let every single Patriots fan who is coming away with Superbowl XLVI. Until then I will relive Superbowl XLII again and again and marvel at the wonderful stress-bomb that was last night.

The play that turned it all around. A recovered punt return that hit the 49ers knee. (But don't say that to the 49ers player because clearly he "didn't feel it." Nice try buddy.)

Victor Cruz...enough said. Marry me already? Please?

Of course, my hero...

And finally, Tynes and Weatherford! Weatherford for handling that really low snap and setting it up in time for Tynes to lay his magic foot upon the ball and kick it through the uprights and all the way to Indianapolis!

Love them!! Is it February 5th yet??

GO BIG BLUE! #ALLIN

First Week of Classes!

I am DONE with my first week of classes! Yay! And something amazing has happened...I thoroughly enjoy every single class that I am taking! It feels good to be done with liberal arts classes I really don't care about! And this is probably a really good sign that I have chosen the correct major for me.

Here's a review:
Spanish: Awesome. I can tell we're definitely learning more advanced stuff, but it's not as intimidating as I thought it was going to be. My professor is adorable in his cute little sweater vests and he seems very helpful.
Storytelling for Film and Television: Although this class seemed to drag on, I still really liked the professor and I only have lecture once a week so I guess that's the price you pay. I've always been interested in screenwriting but didn't really know where to begin and I think this class will help me and enable me to get some great ideas down on paper. Also..our movie-viewing list is full of awesome movies, such as Ordinary People (haven't seen yet, but have heard wonderful things), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (love it!), The Godfather (didn't really get it the first time around but I'll have to give it a second chance), Sixth Sense (awesome!), and The Shawshank Redemption.
Writing for Mass Communications: This class is going to be the most relevant and helpful towards my major because we are learning how to write everything I'm going to encounter later in my career (including blogs!) Plus, my teacher's cute and quirky and she managed to make a 3 hour class completely bearable. Kudos!
Persuasion and Public Opinion: I had my doubts at first. The first class was very boring, but it got better! My professor has this very dry humor that only about 5 of us in the class get and burst out laughing. He talks about interesting topics which made class go by relatively quickly, I just have no idea where we're going with any of this. What are we going to be writing papers or taking tests about? I guess I'll have to wait and see.

I have also been eating very healthily since I returned to campus, which I LOVE BU's dining options! I'm already excited for Extreme Pita for dinner (which is a Canadian chain that serves small and large pitas with your choice of filling [grilled chicken, steak, turkey, veggie, buffalo chicken, etc] with grilled mushrooms, peppers and onions if you'd like, plus the rest of the pita is filled with whatever you'd like, Subway-style. Each small pita clocks in around 300 calories and they are plenty big to fill me up! And if I'm extra hungry, a large usually doesn't break 500. Love it!

Well, I need to go get ready for the BU Men's Hockey game. Go Terriers!! And speaking of team spirit..is it Sunday yet??????? My Christmas present from my step mom came in the mail last night just in time!!

CRUUUUUZZZZZ! GO GIANTS!

Back to the Grind and Vegetable Lasagna

So today was my first day of classes of my last semester of my second year of college!! Boy I feel old! Well, I guess technically it still is my first day of classes because I have one more class from 6-8. It's storytelling for film and television and it's kind of just meant to be a fun class! See...I was originally minoring in business because I thought it would look good and be useful and I like math and accounting stuff. But I soon realized that it was going to be A LOT of work for something I don't need at all and it wasn't even the stuff I liked and it was like 77 credit hours (slight exaggeration). So case in point..(or is the expression "case and point"? hmmm) I decided to take everyone's advice and let my minor be something fun that I will enjoy. So.....MOVIES! AND TV! YAY! The end.

While I am kind of glad to be back, I just hate the leaving my mother behind part. I mean really...parents should get free housing so they can live near their children and do their laundry and watch TV with them and COOK FOR THEM! It especially sucks because now there's no big, dumb dog following her around all over the house anymore to keep her company. So she needs a new dog! They are wonderful companions and also keep you safer. Except for Skipper...he mostly just slept on the couch and ignored any strange sounds. But anyway, I had a dream she got a husky puppy. Of course I was still in high school during this dream and I know she would definitely not get a puppy, but still... I also miss my kitchen. A lot. But here is the last meal I made before returning to the wonderful city of Boston. I'm rather famous (among friends and family) for my vegetable lasagna. And my mother always makes me cook it before I leave so she can freeze the rest and keep eating it all during the semester. It's like I'm not even gone! So hear it is ladies and gentlemen, my famous Vegetable Lasagna!

VEGETABLE LASAGNA


INGREDIENTS

• Olive oil
• Any and all vegetables you have on hand that you would like to get rid of. (I used 1 green pepper, 1 onion, 1 container of mushrooms, a handful of fresh spinach, about 1/2 cup of leftover brocolli and a few chopped up carrots)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 15 oz container ricotta  cheese
• 1/2-1 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 egg
• A ball of fresh mozzarella sliced in thin circles
• 1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 box oven-ready (no-boil) lasagna noodles

DIRECTIONS

1. Chop up all your veggies into bite-sized pieces and sautee them in olive oil until tender. You may need to do this in a few batches, especially if you use A LOT of vegetables like me!

2. While the veggies are cooking, combine garlic, ricotta, parmesan, spices, egg, and salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl, reserving some of the parmesan cheese to sprinkle on the top at then end.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and cover bottom with enough marinara sauce to coat. Layer 4 lasagna noodles (or as many will fit across) on top of the sauce.

5. Next add half of the vegetable mixture and top with half of the ricotta mixture. Top with 4 more lasagna noodles.

6. Add enough sauce to cover the noodles and add half of the mozzarella slices. Top with remaining vegetables.

7. Add another layer of sauce and 4 more lasagna noodles. Top with remaining ricotta mixture and 4 more noodles. 

8. Cover in sauce and remaining mozzarella. Sprinkle reserved parmesan over top to cover.

9. Cover with aluminum foil (sprayed with non-stick spray on the side that will be touching the lasagna) and bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes. With about ten minutes to go, remove the aluminum foil to brown the cheeses on top.

10. Enjoy! Without guilt! I mean come on...look how delicious that looks!!
**Disclaimer: it gets less healthy the more servings you shovel into your mouth. Unfortunately.

My mom's slice kind of fell apart. The first one's always the hardest! But it still tastes delicious! I promise.

Mine, however was perfect! O=]

And this is what your plate will look like in a matter of minutes.

Sexy Sherlock and Crepes

So...I finally got to see Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows!! And let me say...I was NOT disappointed. I must say, I was skeptical when I heard everyone saying that it blows the first one out of the water because, who are we kidding, the first one was incredible! But...I must agree! It was incredible. I love how realistic, yet still in-depth, they are. You have to have half a brain to completely understand it which I love. And it's also quite hilarious. If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for? Me and my mom even Netflixed the first one just to watch it again because now we're Sherlock obsessed. And I really want to go see the second one again to see if I can catch everything the second time around. And I must say...I LOVED the ending. Which is rare for me. It takes a lot for me to enjoy an ending, and this one did not fail to wow me. And of course I need to mention the best part of the movie, which I think can be best summed up by my roommate's facebook post from the other day..

"Okay... Sherlock Holmes was really good. But there was one really big problem I had with it and it needs to be resolved: is Robert Downey Jr. or Jude Law the hotter of the two?"


I, or course, would choose Downey, but it is a very close competition. My mom said, "Duh...Jude Law." So I suppose this is one of the movie's questions that just cannot be answered.

Anywho..something you should know about me..I love breakfast! Especially sweet breakfasts. So I have decided to tackle the deliciousness that is called crepes.

I decided to start with this recipe from Allrecipes.com.

However, I forgot to read the directions and kind of just threw all the ingredients together, but luckily it still turned out fine. This recipe is also supposed to make 4 crepes but I used a lot more batter than called for for each crepe because the first one was so thin that it just ripped apart when I pulled it out of the pan. I suppose if I had greased it perfectly it would have came out better, but anyway I guess I just like my crepes thicker. So for me..this recipe made one super-thin broken crepe and two perfect ones.

Crepes

Ingredients

         1/3 cup all-purpose flour

         1/4 teaspoon white sugar

         1/8 teaspoon salt

         1 eggs

         2/3 cup milk

         2 teaspoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Sift together flour, sugar and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs and milk together with an electric mixer. Beat in flour mixture until smooth; stir in melted butter.

2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe. Tip and rotate pan to spread batter as thinly as possible. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

I then filled my mom's with some cinnamon sugar, pecans and coconut. For mine, I sliced up a banana in thin slices (length-wise) and heated up a skillet over medium heat. I sprayed with nonstick spray and sprinkled a cinnamon sugar mixture on one side of the bananas. Then I put then into the skillet sugared side down and let them grill for a few minutes while sprinkling the other sides with more cinnamon sugar. Then I flipped them and let the other side caramelize. Then I just laid them on my crepe and folded it over. We sprinkled them with powdered sugar to be all fancy and ate with maple syrup...because quite frankly, I have an unhealthy obsession with maple syrup and would put it on ANYTHING if I could. I tell you..I'm as bad as Will Ferrell from Elf. But we won't go there, because crepes are a perfectly normal thing to put syrup on.

Enjoy these gorgeous pictures and fire up the skillet.

Mother's pecan and coconut..

Check out those gorgeous grilled bananas...they taste even better than they look!

Happy Wednesday!

RIP Skipper

I lost one of my dearest friends last week. Skipper James Losada. My ten-year-old beagle who has been with me through EVERYTHING. We got him right around my parents divorce and he has been by my side to listen and console me through everything since. He got very sick in the past few months and me and my mom, unfortunately, had to make the horrible decision to put him down. I know that he's much happier right now, chasing squirrels up in puppy heaven than he was hear on Earth coughing 24/7 and probably in a lot of pain. But that doesn't make this any easier.

I have had dogs all my life so it is so weird not to have one around. The house is so empty! It's weird how much I still expect him to be there. I walk in my room and the first thing I do is look on my bed to see if he's laying there. When I turn off the TV for the night, I still walk toward the back door to let him out. I keep leaving a little bite of food on my plate for him to eat. It's very weird.

I go back to school in a week so it will get a lot easier for me, but I feel awful for my mom. I hate that she has to come back to an empty house. I hope she gets another dog..it would be good for her. It's going to be so weird not receiving a million adorable pictures of Skipper all the time. All in all, it just sucks. This is the only bad part about pet ownership. They're family. And when they die, you have lost family.

This is our last family picture.

And this is the most priceless picture ever...the only thing that could make it better is if the tree was half falling over in the background.

This is what happens when he decides he want the biscuit strategically placed in front of the camera BEFORE the picture takes. Haha I miss him so much!

Mushroom and Spinach Risotto

Well it has certainly been awhile since I've last posted. It's funny how I can do nothing but sit on the couch watching television and reading books for the past two weeks and still rarely find time to write a new post. I have brought new meaning to the term laziness. And now I am staring at our Christmas tree, still sitting in the living room, reminding me that one of these days I need to take off all the ornaments and candy canes and garland and Christmas lights and put it away. But the problem is, that means Christmas is officially over, and I don't think I am quite ready for THAT yet. I'm in my own little world, so if I want to pretend it's still Christmas, I will!

Luckily, despite my excessive laziness, I have still found time to cook and bake nearly every day. Of course! And I finally was brave enough to tackle one of my favorite dishes...risotto! And yes...it did take a ridiculously long time, but it was so creamy and amazing that it was definitely worth all the patience. (And trust me..you will need a lot of patience once you start to see how creamy and delicious it begins to look!) So if you have time to make a gourmet meal for your family (or even just for yourself..no shame. and it actually reheated quite well the next day) it's actually really simple! And feel free to tinker with it and add whatever veggies, wine or cheese that floats your boat!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2-3 cups sliced mushrooms
• 3 cups baby spinach
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced or diced very small
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2-1 cup Sherry (or any wine of choice)
• 4 cup container of chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (or cheese of choice)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add sliced mushrooms and sautee until tender. Add spinach and stir until spinach has wilted. Remove from heat and set veggie mixture aside in a bowl.

2. Add 4 cups of chicken stock to that saucepan and bring up to a boil. Once it is boiling reduce heat to very low and cover just to keep warm while you cook the rice.

3. In another saucepan heat up 1 Tbsp of olive oil and melt 1 Tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add diced garlic and saute for about 30 seconds. Add in arborio rice, coat with butter/oil mixture and let toast for about 2 minutes. Add wine and reduce heat to medium-low. Let simmer while occasionally stirring until the rice has absorbed the wine.

4. After rice has absorbed most of the wine, begin adding the hot chicken stock to the rice 1/2 cup at a time. Stir occasionally and allow rice to absorb must of the stock before adding another 1/2 cup. (This takes time..about 20-30 minutes..so you have to be patient. It will be about 3-5 minutes between each addition. This slow cooking process it was gives risotto its amazing creaminess. You may not need to use all the stock, just keep going with this process until the rice is tender enough to your liking. You can also add a little more than 1/2 cup at a time if you want to speed things up, but I would recommend 1/2 cup)

5. Once rice has reached desired tenderness, stir the mushroom/spinach mixture into the rice. Add a Tbsp of butter and stir until it has melted. Stir in basil and parmesan cheese until cheese is melted and veggie mixture has heated through. After plating, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and serve.

Now doesn't that look delicious! Trust me..it is. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE for the printable version of the recipe.