Birthday! YAY!

Move over Turkeys!
My mom, the best lady on Earth, organized a birthday outing for me months ago and invited one of my closest friends. It was kept completely hush until the day, down to the minute of the event. The event: an Off Broadway Musical called: Girls Night. I have no photos from that because as you know, flash photography is strictly prohibited. blah. But it was a fantastic ladies only event that served the strongest adult beverages and contained the most x-rated dramatic content. It was a great laugh! Especially since like 70% of the audience was completely DRUNK. LOL. After the play my dad picked us up and took me to BBQs with momma. We were starving and the only place without a crazy line happened to be the place with the best frozen bevvys in the city. This is a TEXAS Sized Raspberry Pina Colada. Heavenly. And if your mother embarrasses you and tells everyone there its your birthday you get a free shot of rum. I love pina coladas but not a fan of the straight rum... (bad experience with Rum and Cokes a while back).

BIG sip! SOOO GOOD. Made everyone take a taste and they agreed it was pretty amazing.

Photo -whoring it with papa. He was enjoying a good ol margarita.

Me and Momma dukes. So... who do I look like? Mom or dad?

Me and My gorgeous parents... They might kill me if I said this but they look damn good for their age... heres a hint: two incredibly good looking peeps in their 50's. Yep. 50's. The fountain of youth is flowing through our veins!

I love resturants where menus and placemats are of the same. LOL.

GIANT shrimp cocktail. Chicken, ribs, and fries. its my birthday- I can eat what I want. Right.

Tongiht I am having a drink or two with some friends after work and then I am hopping into the kitchen to start my appetizers and side dishes for the big Thanksgiving event. No posts tomorrow because I will be cooking... but Friday might be a great day to re-cap.

Have a happy and healthy thanksgiving!!!!

Pre-Birthday Dinner

I'm getting old(er). Today is my last day as a 25 year old.
GAH!
Its so difficult with Henry still away on business to celebrate on a day when most people are away or preparing to cook massive loads of food... or cant wait till next year when my birthday will actually BE on thanksgiving. The crappy part about holiday birthdays are combination gifts and the horrible "Oops, forgot it was your birthday" kind of thing. I am now old enough to just think of birthday as just any other day because its cooler to have "make up birthdays" that can sometimes start a week before your birthday and end a week into december! score! Thats pretty much what is going on right now.
My best friend Jay took me out...gay boyfriend style. Dinner and a movie. :-) New Moon! YES! Nothing is better than having inappropriate thoughts about a 17 year old hot boy with your gay best friend... right> " Oh no Bella, You hit your head" {SHIRT COMES OFF} come to think of it Jacob, I'm bleeding right now... I need your tshirt now!
Jay is a foodie. I am a foodie. Together we make people fat! He's been dying to take me to this place in the city that seems to be popping up all over. SPICE. Thai food. I am so obsessed with this kind of food. Spicy, Noodley, peanutty goodness.... Obsessed! We had gone out to have a drink before dinner but it was packed so we had a drink at the resturant.

Dirty Grey Goose Martini please. Its my birthday- Make it dirty. I love these!

Round two. Feeling the tinglies in my knees! (tell tale sign of the feeling "NICE" part of boozing).

I let Jay do all the ordering and when you let a man order, you end up with "eye" food. I am guilty sometimes of doing this but it happens when you order with your eyes. Two Apps and two entrees, and here i was thinking thanksgiving was thursday.... he ordered thai spring rolls. Crispy light and airy spring rolls with a yummy garlicky dipping sauce.

and Fried calamari with chili marinara sauce. fab. completely fab. Cooked to perfection and the chili sauce was the perfect amount of sweet and spice.

Since he was app crazy, i ordered a noodle dish thinking it would be small. Drunk Man noodles. Next time i get the black noodles or the garlic chicken. I enjoyed the noodles very much but it was a little on the sweet side with sweet basil and chili. I was in the mood for savory. But the texture of the noodles was spot on! chewy braod noodles made me very happy!

Jay ordered some red coconut curry with shrimp. He let me sneak a taste and this was absolutely sinful. Smoky, spicy kind of sweet and completely satisfying. I will be ordering this again soon. I love indian curry but am madly in love with thai curry! yum!

While jay and I waited for a movie, we hit up a bar that was empty. And on the bar there were big jars of random pieces of fruit. The bartender told us the fruit was sitting in Vodka. the most popular flavor was pineapple. So he suggested we try the pineapple martini.

HOLY SHIT. this thing packed a SERIOUS punch. I was tipsy and couldnt get hte camera to focus. Homemade pineapple vodka, pineapple juice.... a few shakes later three pinapple chunks and I sip my cocktail. AMAZING. the drink was great... the garnish though? TOTALLY MESSED ME UP! Biting into what looks like a juicy pineapple is really a VODKA soaked pineapple chunk that will make you go from nice to totally Hammered!

Stay tuned for hte birthday pictures tomorrow.

Cheesecake

Cheesecake. I used to be ADDICTED to the stuff. Whats not to love, right? Sweet, creamy, Cheesecake! YUM! I actually havent had cheesecake in about 5 years. I had a traumatic experience with some cheesecake that put me off with the stuff INSTANTLY.
What was so traumatic?
I cannot disclose that information because I want you to enjoy the food porn you are about to see! If you REALLY REALLY want to know... I might email you the story if you ask for it... or if enough people want to know. I will post it- SEPERATELY.
One of my coworkers asked for a Cheesecake on his birthday.
Since Turkey Day is coming up and I needed to perfect a recipe- i said WHY THE HELL NOT!

This is an easy recipe! I will say that if you are searching for the perfect recipe- I prefer the ones that require baking. I do not like the texture of the no bake recipes. And Im a little snooty about cheesecake.
I googled a recipe for NEW YORK CHEESECAKE to get a refresher and I made a few little changes here and there. I started with 2 lbs of cream cheese or four 8 oz sized bricks of cream cheese. I unwrapped them and let them soften while the oven was preheating on 300.

If you have a spring foam pan you can make your crust with crushed graham crackers and butter or oreos and butter... or if you are looking for a shortcut - get a ready made pie crust. If you are taking it to someone's house, this is ideal because you can leave the entire thing there and not have to worry about losing your favorite pie pan or spring form pan. In a large bowl beat on medium 4 blocks of cream cheese, 3 tbsp of flour, 4 eggs, 1 tablespoon of vanilla, 1.5 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of milk, and....

SOUR CREAM! I used 3/4 cup of sour cream. Try not to overbeat the cheesecake batter. It should be creamy and not soupy.

Still a little difficult to whip in this shot but the next one yields a perfect consistency.

I did lick the beater. But ladies and gentleman if you lick the beater please unplug mixer first! Just thought I would put that one out there.

Pour the batter into the already made pie crusts.

gently tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles and bake for 45-55 minutes or until the center of the pie is slighlty firm (if you wiggle the pan and the center jiggles slightly- you're good).

Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Serve.

or serve with cherry pie filling. The cheesecake was a big hit and it went really fast.

Make this for one of your desserts this Holiday! It is a crowd pleaser!

P.S.

Mom on the Run is having a free magazine subscription giveaway!!!!

Happy Birthday Maribel

Jay and Maribel Strike a pose.

Its been AGES since I have hung out with Jay. Its been almost a year *gulp*. But good friends are always there and he is always reaching out to me for a night of fun on the town. How could I say no to that face? It was his BFF's 40th birthday (doesnt she look amazing!!?!) and both of them were delighted to have me. jay and I decided to pregame a bit... which is a disclaimer for the quality or lack there of in the photos to come. Having remained, for the most part, sober for the last 11 months, I drank like a party girl again for the first time in a while and the effects of alcohol are apparent if you continue to read. I will however note how impressed I am with myself that admist a night of debauchery I still managed to hold a camera and snap pics of the food that I ate. (I have no explanation for the mass texts that I sent out that night though... so to all those that received one- Please accept my deepest apologies)
See these? Yea. $4. What do you get when you have two cosmos before dinner? Blurry shots of $4 margaritas. How many margaritas can you get for $4 a piece... 5. So 7 drinks in one night...(shivers)

The place was El Cantinero and its in Union Square area. Actually its on the same block as Bowlmor lanes. Cantinero has two floors and on the 2nd floor is a bar area. On Saturday nights they have happy hour if you stay in the bar but you can dine all over this place.

We started with tortilla chips and homemade salsa. The salsa was great but I havent been anywhere that screws up salsa. It was a little thin, i like chunky salsa.

Being a little tipsy, I tend to eat with my eyes. So Jay and I agreed to share everything right from the start. WINGS! How do you serve wings with NO BLUE CHEESE!?!?! Not that Im big on the stuff but I like to dip a small piece into the stuff for its cooling effect. But the wings were OK at best.

I felt Steak Fajitas were a perfect dish to share and i was right. We got a sizzling platter of steak, peppers, and onions with some other stuff

With guac, sour cream, and pico de gallo on the side. After dining at 5 burro cafe, this place was not up to par. The meat was skimpy and the strips were scrawny. At first bite they were grisly and not moist like those at 5 burro. I crave the beef strips at 5 burro cafe whereas here... not so much. I could have probably done without the fajitas. I was full of tequila- which impaired my judgement- which allowed me to continue eating sub par fajitas.

Drunk shots.

Everyone now! See the rosy cheeks? Thats the best way to tell if I had been drinking. What a mistake it was to imbibe so much! I woke up with a RAGING hangover. I am definitely getting older (in 5 days to be exact). So next time I will remember not to drink on an empty stomach, not to say yes when the waitress says "want another one?" and NOT to text ANYONE while in my drunken stupor.

Veggie Fried Rice

Leftover rice. It can go one of two ways with leftover rice with me. It can be left in the fridge till its beyond edible (yeah, sometimes i just forget its in there) or I can make another use for it.
I wasn't loving the dry texture of this rice so i thought I would make another use for it. While spending yet another day on my couch I was sucked into the "Baby Hour" on TLC. You know the programs... "A Baby Story", "Bringing home Baby", etc etc. Yes I watch those shows partially because I am madly in love with babies but also because I love watching how different people approach parenthood.
But the last episode I saw was of this beautiful mixed couple, the guy was asian and I think the girl was hawaiin or phillipine - freakin gorgeous couple... ANYWAY hubs was making wifey breakfast and he whipped up Fried Rice... I was like HUH? And for the mere 5 seconds they showed him cooking i was thinking up brunch.
C'mere leftover rice... I got an idea. I was going to make my Hungry Girls recipe of Veggie Scramble using eggwhites, a little cheese, and a Dr. Praeger Veggie Burger (yum) and remembered that the Dr. Praeger Veggies burgers are CHOCK FULL of chopped up veggies. That would make a perfect crumble to make a veggie fried rice. Heat a pan and add a few drops of roasted sesame seed oil ( man this oil is deliciously fragrant when its heated!) And then throw in 1/2 a cup of rice. While you get the sesame oil lovin on the rice, defrost the veggie burger in the microwave for 20 seconds. After its defrosted, Crumble it over the rice. Give it a few folds to get the sesame flavor on the crumble.

then I add an egg to the party. Eggs in fried rice are kind of like Glue. While the egg is cooking with the rice, be sure to constantly fold the mixture to make sure the eggs are well incorporated into the mix. Add some soy sauce (I added a little bit of onion powder and garlic powder too).

This is after i added a 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce. You can add more or less according to your taste... but soy sauce gives it a nice color and a generous portion of salt.

It doesnt take too long to make ( about 10 mins or less actually) and it really helped add some moisture to my dry rice. I was a nice portion of rice and with the addition of the veggie burger proved to be a filling dish as well! I washed this down with a cup of coffee... not the greatest combo. Next time i will have my homemade iced tea.

Try this and feel free to add your own touch to it. Maybe some red pepper flakes for a spicy kick! yum!

'Tis the Season and a Blogger Exchange

Before i get into to today's post I wanted to share a great giving opportunity, Operation Christmas Child, that my friend Alyssa shared with me:
Samaritan Purse is an organization that offers emergency relief programs to victims of natural disaster, war, disease, and famine. They offer food, water, and temporary shelter, and try to meet critical needs and give people a chance to rebuild their lives. One are they concentrate on most is the children in these areas. They are dong everything they can to impact the lives of vulnerable children through educational, feeding, clothing, and shelter programs to let them know that they not forgotten and that life will get better. At Christmas time they offer a special program designed for the children of poor and diseased countries in the world, Operation Christmas Child. In this program volunteers around the world are asked to "fill a shoebox." These shoe boxes offer items that a child needs and wants, items such as a toothbrush and toothpaste to a stuffed animal or puzzle. Each box sent requires $7 to help cover shipping costs to these countries, found throughout places like South America and Africa. Thats where you can help! Would you like to help this cause and donate $7? Each dollar raised helps tremendously! Each dollar given allows a smile to be put onto a childs face. Each dollar raised helps a child celebrate Christmas, something they may not have celebrated otherwise.Please consider donating as little at $7 to the cause. You can follow the website below and make your donation online! To make a donation, please click here. 'tis the season ya'll!
On a personal note, I take charity very seriously and hope that you find it in your heart to give.

Okay... on with the post!
On my way to the dentist AGAIN, I decided to stop at Tim Horton's. I have been wanting to stop at Timmy Ho's since they made the switch back in the summer. The things i most wanted to try were the Timbits (like munchkins) and the frozen capuccino.
I was on the LIRR taking pics of donut holes and coffee. Someone next to me started to ask questions about why I was taking pictures. So I was polite and pretended i didnt speak english :-)
Now, about the time Timmy Ho's opened up, Dunkin Donuts put an frozen capuccino on the menu to compete. Not having the T.H. brand,I tried DD's and thought it was the most revolting thing ever! But today I walked into TH and ordered the best frozen capuccino I have ever had! It was sweet but not too sweet and tasted creamy and had a little teeny tiny bits of ice that reminded me of a granita that I used to drink when I was in High School. YUM!
The Timbits however were not my favorite. I got the old fashioned glazed and they tasted like french crullers. I do not like french crullers. I am a cake donut kind of girl so the timbits went to waste but it was worth it just for the frozen capuccino!
When I got home from the dentist I pulled out the still frozen beef stew that was in the fridge.
Ever since watching Dr. Oz I have been defrosting frozen meats in the fridge...its alarming how fast thigns like E.COLI grow! Dont know about you but I can't afford to get something like that! yeuck! When I get stewed beef I always bring it home, clean it and then season it before I freeze it. That way when i need it, its well seasoned and ready for cooking.

I thought i defrosted it enough... but i plopped the frozen brick into a pot and added my sofrito, sauce, seasoning, and diced potatoes. Im making carne guisada...or beef stew.

YUM! It cooked nicely! I went a teeny bit overboard with the salt so i made some rice and omitted the salt there that way everything was balanced. Its important not to cook beef stew too long or the beef will be rubbery and tough- thats a deal breaker!

Brown Rice. I simmered for 45 minutes. It cooked perfectly... but i like my rice a little softer. This was kind of dry.

Although my buddy Karen would love the rice this way!

Luckily, the sauce from the stew moistened the rice right up! I was delighted that the beef was succulent and flavorful. Once again... lots of leftovers. I invited a couple of friends over for dinner but they cancelled last minute so i had beef stew for dinner, then lunch, and then maybe breakfast the next day... maybe.

Now, My friend C.G. the Foodie is starting a blogger exhange... like a secret santa of sorts but Food Related. If you would like to receive local food items from another place in the country sign up! Details are here.

No More! Please! Make it Stop!

I am reaching my boiling point with the soft stuff. I was enjoying it. Really enjoying it. But something happened later in the day that broke me. oh the shame.
I started my day with my super food smoothie with green powder, chocolate soy milk, heaping spoon of peanut butter and a frozen banana. Its good! I enjoy it as it gives me energy and fills me up but I am starting to miss the sinful things... like bagels. mmm. carbs!

Pumpkin butter is back at Trader joes! yay!I love pumpkin butter and I norally enjoy it on toast but I decided to put a spoonful into my lunch time oats.

MMM. i used cinnamon spice oats.

The mixture was pumpkin-y and cinamon-y but it was really sweet. I might have to use less pumpkin butter or add more water and plain oats.

It was really difficult to eat my lunch when so many people are heating up delicious foods nearby. Someone (damn them) brought in taiwanese FRIED chicken. And it was so aromatic that I felt my stomach YEARNING for the fragrant forbidden "fruit".

And you know I can shrug stuff like that off once I have eaten but for some reason, Everywhere I went that fried chicken smell was wafting through the air. It was insane! Was EVEYRONE eating fried chicken????

UGH!

When I got to Queens, i was walking home and what the F do you think i smelled. Damn freakin right. Fried Chicken!

I took my dog for a walk with me while I went to the Golden Fountain- my favorite spot for Chinese food and i ordered.... Chicken wings.

Im laughing as I type this. I couldnt possibly make my own fried chicken because the chicken was frozen and taht would take too long. I needed instant gratification. I paid $4 for 4 wings (damn, back in the day they were $2) and went home. Mickey LOVES fried chicken so my plan of action was to chop some up for her (to avoid eating it all) and have 2, the most! With wings in tow, i need a side dish and since this was a comfort thing i did the unthinkable....

INSTANT. MAC. AND. Cheese.

What is wrong with you Diva?

I know I asked myself the same thing. I hate instant mac and cheese. But I didnt know what else to have and I sure as hell wasnt gonna have fried rice or french fries!

I was lazy and microwaved it.

and gagged as I poured powdered cheese all over the al dente pasta. I swear there is nothing more disgusting about powdered cheese. Im such a cheese lover that I cant even deal with this. But in the name of all that is comfort i will press on through this nasty powdered cheese and hope to salvage it enough to be mistaken for velveeta...

Since this was going NOWHERE, I added half and half (for creaminess) and a little bit of butter to cut the tartness of this powder cheese. It definately loosened it up. A little too loose.

But I popped it back into the microwave to thicken the new cheese sauce. It was a definite improvement but I wouldnt say this was the best mac I have ever had.
And I ate my two wings with my serving of mac and fake cheese and was satisfied (mostly due to the fact that the cheese put me off!) But these super food smoothies have really curbed my appetite.... despite the craving monster that kicked my ass today.

I am off the fried chicken craze and back on my smoothies. My tooth is better and I really enjoy the pick me up in the morning.

I'm glad I can share this crazy shit with you. :-)

Oh yeah and Mickey Loved her some wings... no more treats for her until next weekend when we go to Toby Keith's birthday Paw-ty!