French Onion Soup

Three day weekend! Three day weekend!

I never quite understood President's Day. What are we celebrating? George Washington's Birthday? Abe Lincoln's? Barack Obama in general? I don't get it.

Well I just typed "President's Day" into Wikipedia and "Washington's Birthday" popped up so I guess that settles that. But new question...why are we still celebrating his birthday hundreds of years later? Was he even that good of a president? No. Not good enough for everyone to get his birthday off! What is this world coming to? There are a few people I could see deserving a holiday. Abraham Lincoln's birthday?...okay. FDR's...sure. Hillary Clinton's...most definitely! Okay, I digress.

Since it was a three day weekend I got to go hang out with some family last night where I got to use a KITCHEN again!!! Yay! I think they really enjoyed it too because I made French Onion Soup!

Jealous? Thought so.

But don't fear because this is a very easy recipe and it tastes just as good as any soup you'll get in a restaurant and it's probably even healthier!

I adopted this recipe from Real Simple magazine and you probably have most, if not all, of these ingredients already in your kitchen. Super easy! Give it a shot!

French Onion Soup
Serves 4

Ingredients

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 large onions (any kind will do)
• 1/2-1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2-3/4 cups of Sherry
• 14 oz (1 3/4 cup) chicken stock
• 2 1/4 cup water
• 3 tsp soy sauce
• 4 slices of baguette (I like to use multigrain for extra healthiness)
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella (optional)
• 4 slices Swiss cheese

Directions

1.  Slice up all three onions into thick ribbons. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large saucepan and add the onions. Stir to coat in olive oil and add your thyme and a little salt. Stir it all together and partially cover the pot, stirring occasionally, and let them caramelize for about 15 minutes until they have a golden brown color.

2. Once caramelized, add the sherry and allow it to cook down for about 2 minutes.

3. Add chicken stock, water, and soy sauce. Stir everything together and bring it up to a boil. Then reduce to low to simmer for about 20 minutes partially covered.

4. Meanwhile, slice your baguette and toast the slices (either in a toaster or under the broiler in the oven). Once toasted, cut the toast into bite-sized pieces.

(You can use one slice of bread or however much you want, I just used up the whole loaf. And for the cheese, I would buy pre-sliced swiss just to make your life easier, but we got a block of it because it was on sale and it worked just fine. I'm just not a very good cheese-cutter)

5. After 20 minutes, taste test the soup. Add some more thyme, salt and pepper to taste. In a separate bowl, combine the cornstarch with a ladle full of soup and stir until the cornstarch is dissolved then stir mixture back into the soup. Let it cook a few more minutes.

6. Preheat broiler to high. Place soup bowls on a sturdy cookie sheet or any oven-safe pan. Divide the soup evenly among the 4 bowls. Add the cubed bread into each bowl and top with the shredded mozzarella (if using) then layer the swiss cheese on top.

7. Place bowls under the broil and broil until the cheese is melted and bubbly and French Onion Soupy.

Make sure you use oven mitts to touch the bowls because they will obviously be hot. And I would put them on plates. You could also make the soup part ahead of time and put it in the fridge and then just bring it back up to a boil and start with Step 6 when you're ready to eat. It's a little time consuming but so worth it! Classic comfort food!

CLICK HERE for the printable version.

Everyone enjoy! And have a Happy Washington's Birthday? ...I still don't get it.

Valentine's Day!

Happy Wednesday everybody! I hope you had a fantastic Valentine's Day! Of course my Tuesday's are the busiest days of my week, but that didn't stop me! I got out of class at 8pm...me and my roomie ordered some sushi delivery from Kayuga down the street on Comm Ave from seamless.com. We mostly just did this because we had $5 coupons but even still it was a really good deal! We got the spicy tuna roll and a shrimp tempura roll and they were each about $7 plus $3 delivery charge and tip. It did take a little longer for them to deliver because it was Valentine's Day but overall I was pretty pleased. Check out Seamless..it's an interesting site for us lazy people. Or us people who feel we deserve to treat ourselves like princesses on Valentine's Day!

As far as the food goes, the shrimp tempura roll (on the right) was probably the most delicious roll of sushi I've ever had. (Which really isn't saying much because I've only been living in the city for a year and a half now so I really haven't had that much sushi. And I definitely haven't had high-quality (read:expensive) sushi before. But it was still delicious!)

The spicy tuna was pretty bland. It wasn't spicy at all so it was just kind of sushi...it needed a good dousing in soy sauce first but I won't complain.

We also picked up some chocolate-covered strawberries and NEON YELLOW sweetheart-shaped cheesecake from our food court.

The cheesecake looked prettier before it fell all over the place in our bag but still. It was very good (despite being neon yellow).

And of course...what would Valentine's Day have been without seeing Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams practically naked? Not Valentine's Day at all..that's what. So me and my girlfriends went to the movies and I convinced (read:threatened) them to let us stay until 10:15 to see The Vow (because the 9:30 one we wanted to see was sold out..shocker) and as much as I want to see both The Descendants and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I was not going to not see the Vow on Valentine's Day and that's final!

This is us waiting the 45 extra minutes for the movie to start.

I never get the stupid face memo..I just innocently smile in every picture.

And then of course when they both behave I'm laughing like an idiot at something..sigh..

I think this represents our personalities much better anyway!

So anywho, the movie was pretty good. Not as good as I was expecting, but typical, predictable romantic movie. The plot was interesting I just wasn't drawn in enough I guess. A successful romance film requires me crying, me laughing, me staring at the screen shouting WHY DOESN'T THIS HAPPEN TO MEEEE??? I don't think my standards are that high, but still.

Which brings me to my final thought...I CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THE LUCKY ONE!! Another Nicholas Sparks movie! (Side note: When the heck did Zac Efron get hot??? And can all men take his advice and do the same? Damn) Check out the trailer if you have not already done so and join me in waiting with baited breath for it to come out!

Well, ta-ta for now!

Roast Beast

Well...my life has been pretty anti-climactic lately. I guess after you watch the Giants beat the Patriots in the Superbowl in Boston, you can really only go down from there. Oh well, it's a price I will willingly play. Although I still have no idea what I'm going to do with myself all day tomorrow. When does football season start again??

I finally watched The Silence of the Lambs. Now, I like scary movies. I am OBSESSED with the Paranormal Activity movies! (Well, mostly just the second one, but they're all fun to go to and just stare at the people you're watching the movie with...I'm telling you..THAT is entertainment!) But my point is, this is one movie that I was absolutely petrified to see! And I have my mother to thank for that. She had me convinced that I would not be able to sleep for years and when I did fall asleep all I would dream about was killer cannibals (not that regular non-killer cannibals are any better...in fact, they are probably worse).

But I am here to ease your minds, readers who have not yet seen it. It is not that scary. Creepy as hell? Yes. Clever as hell? Yup. One of the better storylines I've ever seen/read? Definitely. But not super scary. Even my roommate who gets scared during the trailers for scary movies admitted that in hindsight, it wasn't that bad. (Even though she was half-crying throughout the entire thing..no exaggeration).  So case and point, definitely see this movie. It's brilliant! And Anthony Hopkins is a God. That is all.

The second interesting thing to happen to me A.S. (After Superbowl) was going to Roast Beast. It's a tiny hole-in-the-wall/ground restaurant on the Eastern edge of Allston. I've head people rave about it since I came to school here and finally tried it out for myself! Their menu is very simple. You get roast beef (duh), on your choice of bun (onion, whole wheat or classic deli) with your choice of a million different sauces (including their famous Thermonuclear Sauce) and then your choice of toppings (lettuce, tomato, onions, and a million cheeses). And that's it. Simple.

I went with the onion roll after hearing wonderful things about it on Yelp. (Oh and you also choose regular, large or mega) I went with regular and it was perfect to fill me up, even after a long workout at the gym. And I got the sweet hot chipotle sauce with lettuce, tomatoes, and caramelized onions. So good!

My friend ordered the same only she got the Thermonuclear Sauce because she clearly has no taste buds. (There's a challenge to eat a mega-sized sandwich with the Thermonuclear Sauce in 5 minutes in order to get a free T-shirt. Now, I don't know about you but I don't think I could even eat a plain mega-sized sandwich in 5 minutes, but that's besides the point). Anyway, she said the sauce was really good and "not that hot." Yeah, okay. I'll take her word.

There's the blurry insides of my sandwich. (I forgot to bring my camera and I have THE crappiest cell phone on the face of the planet..so don't even). Mmmm I love caramelized onions!!

My friend also got the spicy pickles that are also raved about. For 50 cents you get a tiny little sauce container without about 5 pickle slices in it. But man, were they good! They definitely had a spicy kick at the end, but definitely the best pickles I've ever had.

So overall, I recommend it. The regular-sized sandwich is $6. My total came to $7.22 because they charge extra for tomatoes and onions (really?) and even more if you want cheese, so be prepared. But I think it was worth my money and I'll definitely be returning there in the summer when I'm no longer on BU's dining plan.

Have a great rest of your weekend! And all my football fans out there...hang in there tomorrow...it's only like 8 more months... =\

We Did It!

Ahhhhhhh!

You can only imagine how happy I am this morning. Seriously. I couldn't sleep last night. And then woke up at 7:30. And now I'm waiting until I get to go to work!! You heard correctly! Haha this is the wonderful thing about living in Boston.....allllll the disappointed Patriots fans! Mwa-ha-ha! And I have a $10 bet to collect on. Andddd this is two years in a row now that I have won the football pool at my mom's work because I am amazing at picking the winning team and how many points they will score. This year, I of course picked the Giants with 37 total final points. The score was 21-17. I was closest. I won. Yay me! Happy happy day!

Okay...I've calmed down a little. A little.

Let me tell you about this awesome Superbowl party BU threw last night to try to keep people off the streets (you know, because of all those happy riots that broke out after the Pats won...oh wait). Anywho, they threw a party at our giant hockey arena. The game was displayed on the Jumbo Tron, there was free ice skating, free food and drinks, and a crap ton of disappointed Patriots fans by the end of the night. Okay, sorry..I can't stop. Andddd...a REALLY BIG CAKE!

A really big, DELICIOUS cake that I now need to go spend 3 hours in gym because I ate too much! But hey...calories don't count when your team wins right? Right? Well regardless...I definitely burned off a few slices of cake from how much my body was shaking for the last 15 minutes of the game. But maybe not the 3 slices of pizza, chicken wings, and hot dog I had. Oh...and the M & M's my aunt sent me.

Love her!

So much fun! Going to a $50,000 school actually pays off every once in awhile!

And good thing the Patriots vacated the premises as quickly as they did or they would have had this to just rub salt in their wounds. Ohhh happy day!

Have a great week everyone! I know I will!

Let's Go Giants!

Beautiful Boston and an Encounter with the Bruins

ONE MORE DAY! ONE MORE DAY! ONE MORE DAY!

Okay, now that that's out of my system...

I love Boston. It's such a great city. Absolutely beautiful. My favorite part of Boston has to be the Esplanade. It's a very long trail that encircles the entire Charles River through Boston and Cambridge. It's awesome! I go running here, ride my book, even rollerblade! And it doesn't even feel like exercise because there's so much to look at. I also like just taking walks and chilling with friends. That's what I did yesterday. My friend Nick told me he found this awesome playground by the Boston Pops' Hatch Shell so of course we had to go!

Here's what our walk there looked like..

That's the Citgo sign from allll the way across the river. And the three tower building to the right is part of BU's campus.

I thought the reflection of that one building in the Hancock Tower was pretty awesome!

So now let's discuss this playground. A: It had a "Jungle Gym" aka: a random assortment of thick black rope crisscrossing in every random direction that the kids had to climb their way through just to get to the slide! Now that's cruel! But I'll tell ya...it probably builds a LOT of character! And if they fall..they would hit about 20 ropes on the way down to break their fall. No biggie.

B: It had a zip line! A ZIP LINE!!!???!!!

Legit spent a good half hour on this baby! Good thing all the little brats were in school...I would've knocked people out to get to play on that thing!

From here we decided to grab some coffee and head to the Frog Pond to watch people fall down on the ice. So we grabbed some coffee (I finally tried the new Blonde Roast from Starbucks and I actually really like it! It wasn't ridiculously overpowering like normal Starbucks coffee) and then headed over to the Commons.

Buttttttt...guess who was there?? Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand!! I die! Did I mention I love living in the city?? You don't run into NHL players in rural Northern New York. A bunch of little kids were playing in some charity game for the Bruins Foundation and they were there taking pictures and signing autographs for the kids. (Unfortunately Timmy Thomas wasn't there =[ ) But still awesome! So naturally, I got some stalker photos of them!

Oh man, Seguin is cute!! Unfortunately he didn't propose, but that's okay. I'm holding out for Victor Cruz anyway! Well, I hope my discussion of Boston sports teams didn't jinx anything for tomorrow. Although they aren't the Boston Patriots...they cheat and call themselves the New England Patriots so they can have 5 states rooting for them instead of just 1/3 of one state. Pathetic.

So anywho....GO GIANTS!!!

Antico Forno

Hello all and Happy Friday!! (aka 2 days until the most important day of my life thus far....i'm not exaggerating)

But anywho...luckily an old friend from high school is going to college in downtown Boston so I finally had an excuse this semester to go downtown and walk around and eat delicious food! After some online research, I decided we should try out Antico Forno in the North End on Salem St. Aside from getting yelled at seconds after walking in the door for wearing a Giants hat, I would have to say it was overall a great experience! And this mostly stems from the price! For two of us, the total came to $24!!! And the food was delicious! And it was perfect portions. My friend...a male...finished it all of course. But I have enough leftover to enjoy for dinner as well. Not bad for $11! I really don't think you could possibly find cheaper Italian food in the North End that tastes that good!

I got the Gnocchi di Patate.

It was very good! The sauce in our dishes was still bubbling when it got to our table and it stayed hot throughout the entire meal. (A plus when it's 25 degrees outside). The gnocchi was perfect consistency..my friend didn't believe me that gnocchi was made from potatoes. The tomato basil sauce was was great and you can never go wrong with mozzarella cheese melted on top.

My friend got the Rigatoni with Sausage (only it had some Italian word for sausage that I can't remember).

He claimed it was the best sausage he'd ever had in his life, however, I would disagree. It did have a lot of flavor but it did not have any heat to it. Maybe it's just me..but I think sausage should be at least a little spicy. Also, I thought it was weird that it was topped with ricotta instead of mozzarella, but again that's probably just a preference of mine. His sauce however, was probably the most delicious tomato-based sauce I have ever had in my life. For rizzle.

After we left there, all fat and happy, we decided it was time that we both lost our gelato virginity. I had passed places selling it in the North End all the time but had never tried it. So alas, we went into the first place that we found that sold it and ordered a cup of tiramisu gelato. It was very very good! (And it better be for $5 for this tiny cup).

And I apologize for the lack of picture, but once I took the first bite this was the next moment that I was not shoveling gelato in mouth long enough to take a picture. And look at how adorable those spoons are!!!! Like little mini shovels. I died. But then again, it doesn't take much.

Overall, a very good day! I did get accosted in the street quite a bit for the Giants hat I was wearing. (And I'm pretty sure someone through a bottle cap at me, but when I looked around they had disappeared). But the one person who looked and said "GO GIANTS!" made it all worth it. So to quote my new best friend from downtown Boston...GO GIANTS!!!!