Deirdre: Tis the Season!

Greetings from Cleveland!

I flew home yesterday and I am so excited to be in Cleveland with my family and friends. (And NOT to be at work!)

So I feel like I should have coal in my stocking for lack of posting but c’est la vie!

First, thanks for the birthday wishes for both me and Amelia. Yes, it is crazy that we have birthdays so close to each other. We were obviously meant to be friends and it means party party every year. Our 21st bdays were quite interesting because they were so close.

Second, I WON THE BET! My favorite Michael Voltaggio won!

(photo courtesy of bravotv.com)

I was so excited because I truly because he was the most inventive chef even if he did have an attitude every now and then. And now Amelia has to cook two full meals for me. Don’t worry we’ll post the pics!

Finally, I leave you with some pictures from Christmas time in the Big Apple.

The Cartier store on Fifth Avenue. Those are all red lights that twinkle!

The most famous Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center

Snowflake lights on Saks Fifth Avenue

I hope everyone has a great holiday season and I’ll try to keep posting while I’m home in Cleveland. I’m off to brunch at Lucky’s Cafe with my aunt and uncle. My uncle is a huge Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives fan and this place was featured on the show, but I guess my brother goes there all the time.

What person’s gift are you most excited to give to him/her this year?

I am most excited for the gift my siblings and I are giving to my mom. We all chipped in and she’s gonna be shocked!

Amelia: Happy Birthday Deirdre!

I want to send a (belated) birthday shout out to my bestie Deirdre!  Her big day was this weekend.  Yes, we celebrate our birthdays just DAYS apart!  We were totally meant to be friends.

Deirdre is one of the most genuine, caring, and generous people I know.  She has a tremendous bubbly outgoing personality, which I strive to emulate.  And she laughs at all my moronic jokes…so I keep her around.

Happy 25th bud!  Keep up the awesomeness!

Deirdre: Happy Birthday Amelia!

Yes, today is Amelia’s bday!

Amelia and I met our freshmen year of college when we lived on the same floor. We’ve been friends ever since.

She is my partner in crime, sister from another mister, and one of my best friends. Heck, she’s lived with me for two years and hasn’t stopped being my friend so clearly she has saintlike qualities.

Here’s to you, friend! I hope you have a great year!

Deirdre: Terrific Turkey Weekend

Yes, that was my lame attempt at alliteration.

Point being I had the best Thanksgiving vacation at home in Cleveland. It is always good to see my family and friends, but this year was particularly awesome. I feel like the longer I am a ‘real’ grown up the more I appreciate family traditions and down time.

Thanksgiving Eve

It is a tradition in my family to make pies on Thanksgiving Eve. We always make one apple pie and two pumpkin pies. My brother and I always make the apple pie  and my sister makes the pumpkin pies. When we were younger, my mom did a lot of the work but now she supervises.

We use ‘My Perfect Apple Pie’ recipe every year. The book always falls open to the page and notice the cinnamon stained pages!

My brother, Thomas stirring the seasoned apples.

While Thomas stirred, I enjoyed a Christmas Ale. Clevelanders wait all year to enjoy this amazing brew as it is only available in November and December.

Even Marty wanted to help!

Finished product! It was so good I ate my piece before I could take a picture!

Thanksgiving Day

I woke up at 7:30 so that I could workout on my mom’s treadmill. Since I don’t really like treadmills I switched between power walking and jogging. I ‘burnt’ 382 calories.

Then I joined my family to watch the Macy’s Day Parade. It was great as it is every year but gosh did I feel old when I didn’t know half of the teeny boppers singing on the floats!

Afterwards, we all got ready to go to my aunt’s house. My dad is one of seven children and five of the children live in Cleveland. My aunt Clare usually has everyone over for Thanksgiving and my aunt Kate has everyone over for Christmas.

My brother Thomas and my sister Sarah getting excited to eat.

I only had one drink before dinner: a fabulously strong Cosmo made by my aunt Clare. She uses orange liquor and it makes all the difference.

My plate: roll, mashed turnips, mushroom stuffing, turkey, and green beans.

My uncle makes one of the turkeys in a fryer and it is AMAZING. I can never go back to eating regular turkey. It is just so moist and flavorful when it is fried.  I had seconds of turkey and mashed potatoes.

I also had two rounds of salad. My dad made it! For the holidays, each family brings something. My dad is usually in charge of the salad or the vegetables. This year he out did himself. This was a spinach salad with tomatoes, hard boiled egg, crispy pancetta bits, goat cheese, and a balsamic dressing. SO GOOD.

Since I was at the kids table (I <3 the kids table) sitting next to some of my favorite girl cousins there was no wine bottle on the table. It was truly a healthy blessing in disguise.

This was the only glass of wine I had along with lots of ice water.

Afterwards, I had an unpictured piece of apple pie. I never felt too full. It was great!

Overall, it was a fabulous vacation. I got to spend time with my family. We went out to some great restaurants and even saw The Blind Side which I really enjoyed. I even went to a family birthday party where I got to spend time with my second cousin Sarah who I had gotten to know better at my cousin’s wedding in Denver this past summer. I was sad to go back to New York on Sunday and even sadder to go to work on Monday, but I am excited because this is a special celebration week and my sister is coming to New York on Friday. Christmas is just around the corner and then I will back in Cleveland.

Marty says see you soon!

Deirdre: I <3 Tofu & Turkey Day!

Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry I’m a little excited right now because at this time tomorrow I will be home in Cleveland with my family and Marty! I don’t know what I’m more excited about being home or not having to go to work for four days.

First, onto my latest obsession:

BBQ Tofu with another new obsession, brussel sprouts and of course some cheese

Fry style tofu with tomato sauce (who needs mozzarella sticks!)

So why is Thanksgiving my favorite holiday:

-Food

-Family

-Football

I’ve never really been a fan of Christmas because there is so much more to do in preparation. In particular, I REALLY don’t like to shop, not even for myself so Christmas kinda stresses me out. I think Thanksgiving is the best holiday because it has all the fun of Christmas minus the stress. Its a more low key holiday.

The only real stress for me around Thanksgiving is getting home to Cleveland. Flying out of  NYC on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is an experience to say the very least. I feel very thankful that I am leaving early tomorrow morning, and I will hopefully miss the big rush.

My family has many Thanksgiving traditions. I hope to show you guys some of these traditions in the following days.

Something we do is watch the Macy’s Day Parade.

Courtesy of

My family religiously watches the parade every year. Even though I have lived in New York for the past 6 years I still haven’t gone to the parade because I am always in Cleveland for Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, attending the parade is definitely on my NYC bucket list.

So what are your favorite things about Thanksgiving? Or do you like another holiday better?

Did you hear that in certain areas they might run out of canned pumpkin? I blame food bloggers and their readers! Too much pumpkin oatmeal!  ;)

Amelia: Marathon Post

Hey kids!  Miss me?  I took a bit of a blog hiatus, but I’m hoping to be back to regular posting and commenting.  (I’m JUST catching up on what everyone’s doing.)

Soo since I abandoned y’all for so long I figured I owed you a big post.  And not just any big post.  A big post with a BIG announcement at the end! Yay!

First up, I wanted to share some pics from my experience volunteering at the NYC Marathon!  For the second year in a row I joined the Junior League to hand out wet sponges to the runners at Mile 17.

The sponges:

 

Elite women – led by Paula Radcliffe:

Elite men:

Volunteers:

My favorite part of volunteering for this race is yelling for the people who have their names on their shirts.  You can tell how much they appreciate it.  A bunch of people actually thank the volunteers while they run past.  This FLOORS me every time.  I want to say “you’re at mile 17!  you don’t need to thank me!  you’re my new hero!”  I have to remember to do this in my next race.

In my opinion this is the absolute best way to see the marathon.  You cannot get any closer to the runners.  It’s so inspiring to see everyone pushing themselves to do their best on one of running’s biggest stages.

I was so inspired by the runners that I threw my name in the lottery for next year’s race!  With any luck, I’ll be taking sponges from my fellow Junior Leaguers next year, rather than handing them out!

Before I hit the streets of New York, I’ll be sprinting through one of New York’s newest hot spots.  The new Yankee Stadium!  Next weekend I’m going to be participating in the The Damon Runyon 5K Run/Walk for Cancer Research.  This race, which is just starting this year, sounds very exciting and different.  It goes through the baseball stadium and ends on the track that surrounds the field!  My one reservation about this race?  Since it goes through the stadium there will be STAIRS!  Hmm that could be interesting during a race…

Ok, shall we get to that big announcement?

Writing it on the blog makes it real doesn’t it?

Eeek!

I’M RUNNING A MARATHON!!!

Yep, that’s right, Disney here I come!  26.2 here I come!

Now before my readers freak out and start worrying about how I’m going to train for this in just two short months, I should let you know I’ve been planning this since late July.  After running two half marathons, I knew I wanted to give myself a new challenge.  I decided a marathon was the best way to test myself.  Since I started seriously running I knew that I wanted to take part in the Disney marathon.  It is supposed to be so much fun (perfect for a first marathon) and I absolutely LOVE Disney World.  Seriously.  I want to live there.  In the park.  In Cinderella’s castle preferably…

I’m psyched about this crazy new running adventure.  I had a lovely 16 mile run today and I’ve been plugging through my training schedule (which I got from a Runner’s World magazine btw).  I can’t wait to share more with y’all soon!

Anyone else ever done a marathon?  Any tips would be amazing!

 

 

Deirdre: Baked Tofu Virgin

First, an AC/DC Halloween picture:

An angel and a devil

Okay, let me first say I’ve always liked tofu. I am one of those weird omnivores that really likes supposed ‘vegetarian’ food. I like tofu plain and raw. It tastes good to me in any form. I have used it before in stir-frys. I’ve eaten it plain on salads and fried from Chinese restaurants, but I had NEVER baked it in the oven a la Gliding Calm.

But the other night I made baked tofu and it was delicious.

I didn’t use the rub Gliding Calm uses, but I followed her baking method. Instead I dipped the tofu in a little bit of vinegar and this:

Adobo! Adobo is a blend of various spices and since I usually use it on meat I thought it would work on tofu. I baked the tofu in the oven at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. It turned out well. Next time I will be a little less liberal with the Adobo because some bites were especially salty, but I do love salty foods so it was all good.

In other news, I finally saw Wicked on Broadway and I was so in love with the songs that I purchased the soundtrack on iTunes.  People who know me know that I am obsessed with musicals. I’m actually listening right now to one of my stations on Pandora that just plays songs from musicals. I mean wouldn’t life be better if we could just randomly burst out in song? I think so.

Here are some of my favorites:

-Wicked ( a newbie, obvi)

-RENT (I’ve seen it 3 times and know every single word)

-West Side Story (Romeo & Juliet meets gangs that dance=awesome)

-Grease

-Sound of Music

-Guys and Dolls (if you haven’t, you gotta watch the movie because Marlon Brando was a STUD who could sing!)

-Beauty and the Beast

-My Fair Lady

Fun Question: Any musical fans out there? What are some of your favorite musicals? Don’t worry I won’t tell anybody!

Deirdre: Bribing You With Dog Pictures

So hi old friends! Yes, its been way too long. I had to go home for a family emergency and then haven’t gotten my stuff together to post. So now I’m gonna try to win back your affection by bribing you with pictures of Marty, my family’s dog.

Sound like a plan?

Marty McFly (yes that’s his full name) is six years old. My family actually got him a month after I went to college. The joke was I was replaced with a dog. He is the sweetest and one of the best parts about going home to Cleveland (besides my family of course!)

So do you like me again?

Now its time for food.

I was inspired by one of Bobbi’s post a while back to make some pumpkin chili. Please note that I didn’t follow her recipe exactly because I didn’t use corn or turkey, but thanks Bobbi for the inspiration!

Here were the ingredients:

Look at that steam!

I combined all the ingredients, brought them to a boil, and then let it simmer for 10 minutes.

I have to say I could barely taste the pumpkin and the pumpkin seemed to mute some of the spiciness to the extent that I had to add some Texas Pete to kick it up a notch. On the plus side, I felt that the addition of the pumpkin made me feel full faster and definitely added some nutritional value.

In Top Chef news, both of the Voltaggio brothers are still in the competition so our bet is in full effect. On last night’s show, tempers flared between the brothers despite being on the same team. They are fiercely competitive with each other so it should get interesting as the season progresses.

Fun Question: Last thing you ate?

I just had some wasabi flavored almonds.

Deirdre: Banana Cookies & Purplepalooza

Happy Hump-Day! I hope you are all having a good week.

A past weekend I saw that I had four bananas that were about to go bad. I decided I should put them to good use and immediately googled banana cookies. I found this recipe. I made a few adjustments:

-I used vegetable oil instead of butter because I didn’t have any.

-I used only a half a cup of sugar and then a half a cup of unsalted creamy almond butter.

-I used whole wheat flour.

-I didn’t add any nuts.

I think the cookies turned out pretty well. They were definitely healthier than most cookies I’ve ever made, and when I brought the cookies into work a co-worker said ‘you could taste the fact you didn’t use butter.’ I appreciated the honest input and I will admit they tasted healthier but I liked them. They were like banana bread in cookie form.

Yesterday, I had absolutely no desire to go to the gym. I just wanted my day to be over, but I knew how good I would feel if I worked out so during my lunch break I made a new workout playlist.

I didn’t make it all the way through the list, but it still totally psyched me up . It is filled with a lot of music I’ve just gotten and some oldies but goodies. Rap and country are some of my favorite types of music to workout to because they always pump me up. I punched out 40 minutes on the elliptical and power-walked for 10 minutes on the treadmill. I ‘burnt’ 421 calories.

So in this post, I talked about how I own way too many purple things.

Exhibit A

Of course my gym water bottle on the far right and my home water bottle to the left of it are BOTH purple. Also, I hope you notice that not only is my iPod case purple but so are my headphones. Ridiculous! Anyone else have any color themes with her/his belongings?

Fun Question: What is one of your favorite quotes from one of your favorite movies?

Here are two quotes from one of my favorite movies, Say Anything:

-Corey Flood: No. The world is full of guys. Be a man. Don’t be a guy.

-Lloyd Dobler: I am looking for a dare to be great situation.

Amelia & Deirdre: TOP CHEF BET

There are many things that Amelia and I have both like and a few of these things are : friendly wagers (bets), delicious food, and the television show on Bravo called Top Chef. For those of you who do not watch the show, Top Chef is a competition reality show which pits young chefs against each other. Every week they cook various meals either individually or on teams with other chefs. Eventually, someone is named Top Chef and they are rewarded with prize money and various appliances. Amelia and I have been watching the show for a few years now and it is definitely one of our favorites. Amelia is definitely a foodie  (and an amazing cook) and the longer I live in New York and read blogs the more I feel I have become a foodie. Besides the food aspect, the show always has a small selection of hot guys! This season, the hottness comes in the form of:

The Voltaggio Brothers!

We each have our favorite.

Amelia’s favorite is Bryan Voltaggio.

My favorite is Michael Voltaggio.

(all photographs courtesy of bravotv.com)

They each have their own unique styles both in the kitchen and in their outward appearance. Bryan is very clean cut and Michael has tons of tattoos. They cook differently, but they are some of the best competitors this season. They have finished in the top four chefs almost every week so far and the majority of the weekly contests have been won by either one of them. They are certainly forces to be reckoned with on the show.

So we got to thinking and we decided it would be fun to have a friendly bet. If your favorite Voltaggio brother wins/goes farther in the competition, then the other person has to cook you two full meals.

We will definitely let you know how the bet goes and you will get to see the pictures of the amazing meals the loser cooks.

So who out there watches Top Chef? Who are your favorites?

Besides the Voltaggio Brothers, we like Jennifer Carroll.