Friday Cheer! Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet

It's Friday!!!  It's time for some Friday cheer!!! With wine!!!

Though I've enjoyed more than my fair share of vino, I'm far from a wine connoisseur.  My tastes run to dry wines, whether its red, white or bubbly. I typically buy bottles priced between $5 - 10, though I sometimes splurge with a whopping $15 bottle. My choice in wine is based largely upon label appearance (sorry, it's true) and description written on the back of the bottle.  I am most often drawn to Spanish temperanillos but am willing to try any dry wine. Heck, I'll try a sweet wine. It's wine!

One of my friends has tried the Red Velvet wine from the increasingly popular Cupcake Vineyards. They're a California based winery producing a wide variety of wines from grapes grown on the premises as well as grapes imported from around the world.  They produce multiple reds and whites as well as some bubbly.  Recently, they entered the realm of spirits with the release of Cupcake vodkas.  I've eyed the bottles in the store. I've even been enticed by the label's descriptions. But I'd held off trying any of Cupcake Vineyards wines until this week, when I popped open the Red Velvet.

Red Velvet is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah; each variety lending structure, aroma, depth of flavor and a long creamy finish to this wine. 

Our first blended red wine for Cupcake Vineyards has over the top aromas of chocolate, deep rich blackberries, red fruits that follow through the palate to a creamy mocha finish that is unmistakable in its intensity and length, with a hint of coconut. It’s reminiscent of a blackberry chocolate cupcake with a mocha coulis    (Cupcake Vineyards)

My take:  Red Velvet was very smooth and drinkable, with a dark fruit taste that dominated a hint of chocolate.  It wasn't jammy and never brought to mind rich berries or dark chocolate.  Instead, it was a blend of more moderate versions of both flavors.  I never tasted the coconut mentioned in the description, but I preferred it without that flavor.  While I didn't feel like I was drinking a piece of decadent red velvet cake (oh, how I want a red velvet milkshake!), it did bring the dessert to mind in the same way that the Republic of Tea's Red Velvet Cake tea does--all the flavors are there and working in harmony...it's only the actual cake texture and richness that is missing. I'd buy this bottle again, though it won't be my go-to red wine.  I can't abandon the lush juiciness of my beloved temperanillos!

I also tested Red Velvet in two cooking applications.  First, apples baked with molasses, Red Velvet wine, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans.  While the apples were delicious, the wine was not a prominent flavor in the dish.  I definitely enjoyed slurping the wine reduction in the bottom of the cooking pan!!!

Second, I stewed prunes (don't even say Ewww! Prunes are delicious and under-used!) with two cinnamon sticks in two cups of Red Velvet.  The smell of the stewing prunes was positively intoxicating! I may or may not have hovered over the pot repeatedly to inhale deeply.  In this dish, the wine transformed into a sweet, decadent, slightly spicy (thanks to the cinnamon) syrup that I ate by the spoonful.  Over Greek yogurt, the stewed prunes and wine sauce are incredible. Over ice cream, they'll blow your mind.

Prunes stewing away in Red Velvet wine with cinnamon sticks

Happy Friday!  Hope you enjoy some well-deserved cheer!

Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon Marmalade (for the fridge/freezer)

I have two confessions to make.

One: I'm a hoarder. Of blood oranges. I can't go to the grocery store without purchasing another bag of these two-toned delights. Currently, I count 2.5 bags in my apartment, giving come-hither looks at me every time I walk by.

Two:  I am diagnosing myself with the inability to prevent myself from purchasing jams/preserves/marmalades.  It's bad. You don't even want to know how many different jars of these beauties are in various fridges and cabinets. In two cities. (oops...)

When you get to the heart of the these two issues, though, it really isn't all that bad.

Blood oranges are gorgeous to look at, messy to play with (just ask anyone who has sliced or juiced them), and delightful to eat in any form.  Sometimes called moros, blood oranges have an orange rind that often--but not always--displays a crimson blush that hints at the deep red flesh inside.  In comparison to your standard navel orange, blood oranges are slightly less sweet (though not bitter) and have a more complex flavor.  Okay, "complex" isn't exactly the best descriptive term to share the rich, juicy, less sweet, slightly tangy, indisputably citrusy flavor that is a blood orange, but it is probably the word you'll most often see paired with the fruit.  Since they are only available during the peak citrus season of winter months, I become an obsessive collector of blood oranges.  I love them plain/raw, I love cooking them, I love mixing them into fruit salads, I love using their juice in drinks...but the best way I've found to keep their wonderful, complex (yes, I said it!) flavor in my reach year-round is to make them into a marmalade.

Which brings us to my other obsession, jams/preserves/marmalades. It's not that eat a lot of jam. I don't have toast and jam all that often.  I very infrequently pack PB+J's for lunch (usually when I'm out of other options).  Only occasionally do I use jams in baking, for a glaze or something.  So my obsessive collecting of jams is caused by something else entirely; I have to try the flavor. I can't resist jams with delectable names like Raspberry Peach Champagne Jam or Orange Cranberry Marmalade or Mimosa Jam.  Pumpkin butter or pear butter is in my hands before you could even blink (I had a huge apple butter stage in college, but seemed to have moved on to other fruit butters).  Unusual combinations of flavors sing their siren song, from raspberry - rhubarb preserves to grape jelly made from wine grapes. And I'm a total sucker for a beautifully written description, like Sassy Radish's Peach Jam with Bourbon and Vanilla.

So when I saw my two obsessions come together in a single recipe?  I had to make it.

And I have made it twice in less than a month. Because I have that many blood oranges and I want to enjoy them well into summer and fall.


Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon Marmalade
Adapted from Sassy Radish 

Don't be intimidated!!! This is a recipe where you make the marmalade, but you do not have to go through the canning process. Instead, put the marmalade into a jar (or even an airtight plastic container!) and keep it in the freezer indefinitely. When you open a jar, keep it in the refrigerator. 

Ingredients:
6 small-to-medium blood oranges
4 small-to-medium Meyer lemons
2.5 cups turbinado or demerara/raw sugar

Preparation:
Put a few small plates or bowls in the freezer.

Wash blood oranges and Meyer lemons thoroughly before slicing. You're going to be eating the rinds, so make sure they're clean!

Cut off and discard the ends of the blood oranges and Meyer lemons (the green or black or white points where the citrus was connected to the tree and the point opposite that).  Cut each citrus in half lengthwise, then slice the half into approximately 1/8th-inch pieces (they look like half-moons).  Remove any seeds and any pieces of exposed membrane (the white pieces you often find connecting the segments at the ends).

Blood orange slices - gorgeous!

Measure your sliced citrus. You should have about 2.5 cups.  Put them in a large heavy-bottomed pot.  Add an equal amount of water.  So if you had only 2 cups of citrus, add 2 cups of water. You get the idea.

Slices of blood orange and Meyer lemon, waiting in the pot

Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Continue to boil for 20-30 minutes, stirring every few minutes.  Boil until the citrus peels are very soft and can conform itself to your stirring utensil.

Fully cooked citrus peels

Once the citrus peels are fully cooked, add the sugar to the pot and stir to evenly distribute.  Turn the heat up to high and return to a boil.  Once you reach a boil, lower the heat to medium and simmer for another 30 minutes, until the marmalade is done.  To test for doneness, put a small dab of marmalade on one of your pre-frozen plates. Pop it back in the freezer for 20 seconds, then take it out and tilt the plate. If the dab runs easily across the plate, like water or liquid soap, keep simmering the marmalade.  If the dab moves slowly across the plate, like cold molasses or honey, the marmalade is done.  If you have a candy thermometer, your desired temperature is 222 degrees Farenheit.

Turn off the heat and let the marmalade cool in the pot for at bit. Ladle the marmalade into clean jars, being very careful not to burn your hands with the marmalade or with the glass jars--they will become very hot! Allow the jars to cool to room temperature on the counter before storing in the freezer (long-term) or refrigerator (immediate use).

Finished marmalade, cooling on the countertop

Notes:
This recipe is fairly forgiving. For my first batch, I accidentally added the sugar before boiling the citrus peels.  I just continued to boil, stirring occasionally, until the marmalade was done according the pre-frozen plate test.  Keep the the amounts of each ingredient equal, and all will be good.

One recipe yielded 2-3 glass jars (half-pint sized).

Your kitchen will be filled with the most wonderful aroma of citrus.

My favorite way to enjoy this marmalade?  On a scoop of plain Greek yogurt, sprinkled with walnuts.  I also hear it makes a delicious tea if you put a teaspoon or two in the bottom of a mug and add hot water. I bet it is even good with ice cream or on top of a polenta cake.

Friday Cheer ~ Lychee Jello Cups with Rum

It's Friday. Hooray! We've survived another week of work and chores and getting to bed too late/waking up too early. To start that weekend off properly, you really do need a drink. Okay, you don't actually need a drink...but it certainly is nice to sit back and relax after leaving work on Friday. The way I practice that action is most often with a drink in hand.

Today, my Friday Cheer is inherently fun--an adult (read: alcoholic) jello cup with some unique flavors...Lychee Jello Cups with Rum.

Lychee Jello Cup

Lychees are the fruit from a tropical tree originally native to Asia.  On the tree and immediately after harvesting, the lychee looks like a small pinkish-red sphere, about the size of a ping-pong ball, with bumpy, hard red skin that must be removed before eating.  Inside the protective skin, the flesh of the fruit is white, succulent, and highly nutritious (vitamin C, copper, phosphorous, potassium, polyphenols).  Fun fact: the white portion of the fruit is called an aril, just like pomegranate seeds!  In the center of the fruit is a single dark brown seed that is inedible. Lychees have been consumed in China and other parts of Asia for centuries (back to 2000 BCE!) and are known for their delicate, perfume-y flavor, though the perfume-y flavor is typically lost when the lychee is canned (so try it fresh for maximum impact).  

I've been intrigued by lychees and wondered how to use them. Honestly, I imagined they'd have the crunchy texture of a water chestnut, but they're actually a great deal softer and squishier. I stumbled across a recipe using lychees in jello and decided that was my chance.  So here we go...

Lychee Jello Cups with Rum

Adapted from Ingrid Hoffman, Simply Delicioso.

Ingredients:

2 small boxes of jello mix (preferably flavored with pineapple, lime, or tropical fruit)

1 tbsp. granulated sugar

1 can of lychees (preferably in juice, but mine were in heavy syrup), with 1 cup of juice/syrup reserved

1 cup water

1/3 cup white rum

To make:

-Bring the water to a boil.

-While that happens, combine the jello mix and sugar in a heatproof bowl.

-Add the boiling water to the jello-sugar mix and stir until the mix is fully dissolved (you'll know this has happened when you can no longer see or feel--with your spoon!--any gritty pieces of jello mix or sugar on the bottom of the bowl).

-Add the lychee juice/syrup and rum, stirring to combine.

-In each serving container for the jello (go for something heatproof here, like ramekins or glass cups), put a few lychees, cut in half.

-Ladle or pour the jello over the halved lychees.

-Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours. 

Notes: 

-Thinking a bit ahead is key, since you need to refrigerate to set the jello. I make mine the night before I plan to eat them, though this is simple enough that you could make it in the morning before work.

-You could also use fresh lychees (skin and seed removed) and substitute a fruit juice in for the lychee juice/syrup.  Or you could use a fruit other than lychee entirely. 

--Depending on your taste preference, you could swap the white rum for vodka.  Or you could make it non-alcoholic; maybe add some seltzer or sparkling water for a fun, fizzy texture instead.

I only used half my can of lychees, so I'll be testing some other lychee cocktail recipes in the near future!

Happy Friday!

See the Sexy Oatmeal

Thanks to my incredible new camera, I can share pictures of my previously posted Strawberries & Cream Oatmeal recipe. It has the magical ability to get me to eat every last bite of my oatmeal...and to enjoy it. So while you may not think it has the greatest looks, trust me on the taste and give it a try.

Instant oatmeal cooked (ahem, microwaved) in milk, with a strawberry-citrus sauce and chia seeds. 

Chia seeds are one of my more recent food discoveries, and remind me in size and texture to a poppy seed. But they have excellent nutritional value. Try some. You'll never notice them!

The strawberry sauce spreads out under the surface of the oatmeal, so each bite yields that delicious strawberries and cream flavor...

More food and pictures soon!

Strawberries & Cream Oatmeal

I'm going to gloss over the fact that I've been absent for awhile. Over a month, if I am correct. Oops. Unintentional, I promise. Life became that crazy but wonderful swirl of preparation and party that Christmas time engenders.  We'll sorta catch up soon, I promise.

Until then, I needed to tell you about this sexy oatmeal creation I enjoyed a few mornings ago. Yes, oatmeal can be sexy. At least this oatmeal is. Inspired by Women's Health magazine's recent article on variations on your everyday oatmeal, I tried my own recipe.

1.  Combine a packet of instant oatmeal (I love the Nature's Path brand) and milk in a microwave safe bowl. I added more milk than the instructions called for, but not too much because I didn't want soupy oatmeal. Just eyeball it. 


2.  Microwave according to packet's instructions


3. After microwaving, add more milk to get a thick soup/stew consistency.  Add strawberry sauce (recipe below) and walnuts.  Devour.

*Strawberry Sauce:  in a saucepan, combine a package of frozen whole strawberries (or you can use fresh, trimmed of their leafy green tops), some orange juice, some lemon juice, some lemon zest, and a hearty pinch of tapioca pearls (for thickening).  Bring to a boil for a minute or two, then turn off heat. Store in refrigerator and use on yogurt, ice cream (especially tasty with chocolate sauce!), or oatmeal. You can do this with nearly any fruit and juice combination....so use your imagination.


I apologize for the complete lack of photos...but I'm sincerely hoping to remedy that problem very, very soon. In which case I will make this oatmeal and show it to you in all of its delicious, sexy glory.

Time Warp

You know how some people have a theme for the month, like a lot of guys have a month where they don't shave their facial hair -- No Shave November or October Mustache Month.  Well, I apparently had No Blog November.  I wasn't aware of this fact until I looked at the calender, saw it was December (already???), and realized November had flown by.  It didn't feel like it was flying at the time, but it never does.  It only seems like it zipped past when viewed retrospectively.  Still, I think November moved along with a wee bit more speed than a month usually does.

This November, I...
(get ready, it's a list!!! yay!)

• Was bursting with pride when the new store space for Runners Plus & Soccer Plus officially opened on November 1st!!!!  The stores moved into a new space that was bigger and that they remodeled to their specifications. It looks amazing and I know how much hard work was put into this massive project, because Eric had some very late nights during the move. I'm so proud of Eric and the store and I'm so happy for them. If you're in town, you have to check it out. If you're not in town, check out their Facebook page. 

• Attended another science conference, this time in Cleveland and with more of my coworkers. To me, the highlight of the trip were our two dinners.  The first night we went to Michael Symon's B Spot Burgers, and I went bananas over the pickle bar (!) and fell in love with three of the six house sauces. They also had an entire wall covered in retro beer cans--including several brands I'd never heard of--making the logo of the restaurant. The second night, several of us students went to a fancy French restaurant.  While it was obvious we were not the typical clientele, the food was incredible! 

• Took a road trip with my guys to see two of our friends in Indiana.  We've been wanting to make this trip for over a year and it finally became reality. And it was awesome!  I wouldn't expect anything else from a visit with Jac and DB.

• Went on another road trip with Eric to Tennessee, where I attended my very first Tennessee football game! I'd believed it to be my first D-I collegiate football game, but I was wrong. I have a very hazy memory of attending a Notre Dame - Michigan football game in South Bend when I was a wee tyke. I can't recall any of the game, but I clearly remember being enamored and impressed with the incredibly cool football shaped menus at whatever restaurant we went to.  They even wrote the score of the game on the menu! Oooooo, right?  

• Discovered Trader Joe's Apple Cider. It's perfect. Go try some.

• Had two Thanksgiving dinners in one day...and didn't get sick from it. That's an accomplishment if I've ever heard one!  It probably helped that I ran the Turkey Trot race that morning, to make room for all that deliciousness.

• Re-discovered and most likely enhanced my love of drinking champagne. Kayleigh tried a new drink recipe (I believe we're renewing our weekly make-a-drink ritual, which is quite fun) that featured champagne. Now we're hooked. Here's the recipe (from Wegman's):
• Put about a cup or so of washed cranberries on a baking sheet. Sprinkle ground clove on top (about 1/4 to 1/2 tsp) and roll the cranberries around to coat.  Put in a 450 degree F oven for about 10-15 minutes.
• While the cranberries are cooking, make a simple syrup on the stove. In a small saucepan, combine equal amounts of sugar and water (I used 1 cup each).  Over low to medium heat, stir until the sugar dissolves, then turn off heat. Avoid high heat or prolonged cooking, so you don't make caramel!  The end product should still be clear, with no visible sugar granules.
• When the cranberries are done cooking, put them directly into the simple syrup. Let them steep for at least 15 minutes (that's how long we waited) and up to an hour. The syrup will turn a lovely pink color.
• Ladle some of the simple syrup plus a few cranberries into the bottom of a class. Top with chilled champagne. Careful, it fizzes like crazy, so we added champagne in increments and held it over the sink.
• Cheers! 

• Helped host a dinner party in honor of my mom's birthday. We had a scrumptious Italian feast, with an antipasti plate, two pastas, salad, garlic bread, and chianti. And don't forget the desserts! Leftover Thanksgiving pies (I loved the elderberry, from a family friend's bakery in Columbus. My first taste of elderberry and it was glorious!), plus a flourless chocolate cake made with 70% chocolate. It was served with raspberry sauce (a la Ina Garten) and three ice creams (pistachio, vanilla, and Jeni's Queen City Cayenne).  My contributions to the party were a from-scratch marinara (using Mario Batali's Basic Sauce recipe plus some red pepper flakes), compound butter for the garlic bread (hot damn, garlicky!), the flourless chocolate cake and the raspberry sauce. I had so much fun working with my aunt and uncle to prepare this dinner and I believe everyone enjoyed themselves. This underlines the fact that I love dinner parties, especially relaxed ones.

• Finished my crystallography class, woohoo! Let me tell you, there is a lot of math involved in understanding how crystallography works.  Also let me tell you, Wikipedia can be awfully useful in reminding you about math concepts when you haven't taken a math class in over 10 years. Thanks, Wikipedia.

• Also finished my TRX  circuit class. After the first session, the only people who showed up to any (and to all) of the other classes were the instructor, myself, and the only other girl in the class.  Even though it kicked my out of shape butt, I had a blast and plan to sign up for at least one TRX class next quarter.  I have to admit that I'm on a TRX kick right now, so much so that I spent some time perusing their website.  I am even so crazy that I want to buy a TRX setup to use at home and I even want to take their instructional/certification classes. I'm obviously obsessed at the moment!

November, I'm sorry I didn't take the time to savor you, but I certainly had some fun!

December, I'm looking forward to all you have to offer!  Family and friends, getting into the Christmas spirit, binges of baking Christmas treats, dressing up for holiday gatherings (I promise to continue to wear my collection of leather boots at often as humanly possible on the weekends), Christmas ale/Winter ale (try Christain Morlein's Christkindl!), planning Christmas gifts to delight my loved ones (I'm seriously addicted to that), hot cocoa, hot cider, and champagne toasts!  

Happy December!!!

Sweet Revenge

Happy Halloween!!!!

 As you get older, Halloween is celebrated so differently from when you were a kid. Back then, it was all about the coolest costume and how much candy you could acquire in a single night. You'd look forward to Trick-or-Treating with the same, overwhelming amount of anticipation that you'd feel on Christmas morning. I remember my favorite costumes were the ones my mom made - Princess Jasmine from Aladdin and Pocahontas (but way before Disney came out with their movie). I definitely wore those a few years each!

 This year, my Halloween encompassed going out on Saturday night in a costume cobbled together at the last second with my regular wardrobe. Yup, I was a "cowgirl", in my plaid button-down shirt, jeans, a leather boots. Sorry, I didn't even have a cowboy hat to make the ensemble work. We visited two bars, neither of which was very busy or having a Halloween party. It was a complete reversal of last year's Halloween festivities in downtown -- every place was packed with costumed people, it took forever to get a drink, and we had to park blocks away.

 And my plans for tonight, Halloween Eve, are to hit up the grocery, then hang out at my apartment with my roomie, watching a Halloween movie on tv. Not a scary movie, though, since I'm such a chicken. We were planning to enjoy the first case of Ohio-issued Yuengling, since it was scheduled to be released today in southern Ohio. Sadly, though, the release date in stores has been pushed back to mid-November...so we'll be prematurely (by one day) celebrating Dia de Los Muertos with Rogue Dead Guy Ale. [side note: I love the colors and traditional imagery of Dia de Los Muertos - and I've always loved the idea of a day to celebrate the lives of your ancestors.] Sounds perfect to me! Plus I get to eat all the candy I bought, instead of giving it away to kids. Ha, okay, I will eat some of it, but I'll try to incorporate most of it into some baked goods, like cookies or something. Sigh. Behaving is such a challenge...

 Unlike my Halloween festivities, my celebration of fall-inspired cooking are in full swing.

 Two weeks ago, I made a pumpkin pie from scratch, meaning I chopped and roasted a small pie pumpkin instead of scraping it out of a can. I learned that I prefer the ease and bright orange color of the canned pumpkin puree to my sad, pale brown pie. Both taste quite good, though.

 Last week, I took the leftover roasted pumpkin and pureed it for a Pumpkin-Ginger Bread Pudding, with raisins and a hefty dose of cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. Very tasty, especially when warmed and drizzled with heavy cream. Okay, what doesn't heavy cream make better? And there was plenty of heavy cream and gruyere cheese in the fennel-potato gratin I made, which was such a comfort dish, I know I'll made it again this winter.

 This past weekend, I was a baking fiend. I'd postponed some of the baking I'd meant to do during the week and had to get it done on the weekend, so that my ingredients didn't go bad. I made: baked mac and cheese with ricotta and squash puree, brownie cookies, brownies (with the leftover batter from the cookies), and Alton Brown's Super Apple Pie. Yup, that's right, I made my second attempt at the apple pie that had so disappointed and frustrated me a few weeks ago. This time, I came in armed with a brand new pie bird (an adorable white and blue rooster with red rooster trimmings!) and a springform pan (in lieu of the 2 inch deep tart pan AB recommends). I made the dough for the pie crusts over 24 hours before I made the pie, so they had plenty of time to firm up in the fridge. This pie takes a bit more time than I usually commit to pies, thanks to peeling and slicing all the apples, then coating them in sugar and letting them drain out some of their juice for 30 minutes. The task was made even more difficult by the ancient peeler my mom owns, which took some serious pressure to get peeling. Naturally, that brings about a serious fear of injuring myself with said peeler. I actually longed for the lovely, sharp oxo peeler in my apartment (nerd!).

 I was worried I'd have a repeat of my previous frustrations, or an entirely new set of difficulties to deal with; it'd be my personal Halloween horror story, made worse by the need to re-try baking the pie. I cannot let a silly pie recipe defeat me!

 The chilled crust rolled out nicely. The filling had more liquid than I thought was a good idea, so I added a bit more flour. It didn't seem to do much...but it was worth a shot. I even took the time to arrange the apples around the pie bird in a manner similar to AB's demo video, though I didn't arrange them nearly as neatly as he did (this young grasshopper has no patience!). The head of this wee pie bird poking out of the top of the pie was a strange sight, and he looked as if he might be screaming "Nooooooo!" I almost felt bad. There were only two minor problems with assembly: 1) the edges of the crust were difficult to seal together in the springform pan. I did my best, but it wasn't a pretty job, and 2) the reduced apple juice was a bit too reduced, almost like candy syrup, so it didn't brush across the crush. My lack of artistry is apparent in the smudges of candy-apple-juice around the emerging head of the pie bird.

 In the looks department, this pie isn't going to win any awards. In the arena of taste, though....mmmm! This pie has it. A tender, flaky crust with just a hint of apple from the applejack brandy. Apples kept juicy with apple jelly and apple cider, complete with a subtle hint of spice from the addition of grains of paradise. And a fresh acidity underlying it all, thanks to the lime juice. Marvelous! Definitely a Super Apple Pie. My revenge on this recipe was complete and so very delicious!

 Happy Halloween!
And Feliz Dia de los Muertos tomorrow!