We all know my love for all things cake and I’d venture to say that muffins come close. Let’s face it, muffins are basically cupcakes without icing and are widely accepted as a suitable breakfast food. (Some may frown upon cupcakes for breakfast, you won’t find any of those people in my house though!) I will also say that a muffin with crumb topping is just about the best kind of muffin there is. And so, when I found this recipe on Pinterest, claiming to be the “best muffins ever” and saw that they include crumb topping, I was in.

I actually made the recipe with just blueberries the first time, back in the Winter and loved it. When I picked up a pint of local blueberries along with a quart of strawberries, the blueberry-strawberry muffin was born. The recipe is simple but the best part, besides the crumb topping, is that you make a berry compote with half of the berries and some sugar and then mix both fresh berries and the compote into the batter. The compote really brings out the deeper flavors of the berries and adds so much more to the batter than just plain berries do. It also needs to be said that as I’ve demonstrated, you can make any kind of muffins you want to with this recipe, just change out the fruit. I’m thinking maybe a peach-raspberry muffin will need to be made come August.

Start the recipe by making the fruit compote on the stove and then set it aside to cook. Pouring it into a cold bowl helps to speed the cooling process along. Simply put the fruit along with a tablespoon of sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Use a potato masher or a fork to break down the berries and release their juices. Simmer until the mixture is chunky and reduced by half, then set aside.

Mix up the dry ingredients in a large bowl and then mix up the wet ingredients in a separate smaller bowl. Mix the two together until just combined. Add the fresh berries to the batter.

The recipe says to place the batter in the cupcake pans and then follow behind with a scoop of the compote. I’d say that’s probably the way to go for the best results however I’m very lazy and hungry in the morning and decided to add the whole compote to the large bowl of batter and gently swirl the compote through to achieve a similar result. Do whichever method you prefer! Here’s my big bowl of swirled batter and compote.

Fill the cupcake pans and then mix up your crumb topping. Simply mix all the ingredients together paying close attention to the ratio of butter and flour. You may need to add more of one or the other to achieve a nice crumbly consistency.

I usually end up having to add more flour because the topping is clumpy and wet, like wet sand, instead of dry and crumbly like it should be. Top each muffin with about a tablespoon of crumb topping.

Bake those babies and you’ll get some muffins that look like this!

I loved having strawberries in muffins, I feel like strawberries are not used enough in the muffin world.

How is everyone doing as Summer is finally here? Our house is getting into a groove now that we are 3 instead of 2. I’m psyched about getting more sleep and night and have discovered the lovely sanctity of the morning and afternoon nap. I love that I can finally have a few hours at home to bake or clean or do whatever needs done. My house is finally starting to feel like I’m managing it again instead of it managing me. What are you guys up to? Any new moms out there in the trenches with me? I’d love to hear from you!

Here’s the muffin recipe from A Cook’s Quest blog:

Rees Elizabeth was born at 10:43am and weighed in at 7lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long. Giving birth is no joke and like all women who have been through it, I now feel a new sense of self and am still a bit stunned that my body not only created this tiny human but that it also birthed her. I also now have my very own story of childbirth to share and I’m going to share it with all of you.

My due date was March 26 and as you can see I did not have a March baby. By the time I was 5 days past my due date (and SO over being pregnant) my doctor suggested scheduling an induction. This was the one thing I had wanted to avoid with birth and asked for a bit more time. My OB agreed and let me wait out the weekend. After 3 more days and another doctor’s appointment to check on the baby, I was informed that the doctor did not want me to go past 41 weeks and they were recommending induction. All the walking, spicy food, squats, pregnancy tea, evening primrose oil and acupuncture to start labor were for nothing. I was devastated but in the effort to have a healthy baby agreed to follow the doctor’s recommendation.

We arrived at 8am the following day and by 10am I was in a gown and had been given some drugs to try and start labor. These drugs I was told, would take 4 hours and then they’d check me to see if I needed a second dose. I remember thinking this was going to be a very long day and it was. Eric and I waited and watched lots of TV. Eric went home several times to feed and walk our dog and I was feeling nothing. A few contractions here and there but by 3pm I had made almost no progress and the midwife decided to switch me to pitocin. They were bringing out the big guns. I got hooked up and thought contractions would start immediately. Nope. We waited some more and although I had a few more contractions, by 10pm I had still made zero progress and my contractions were not consistent. At this point I was thinking that this baby was going to live in me forever. I was exhausted and disappointed.

The midwife came in and told me they were taking me off the pitocin. I would be monitored for an hour and then they were going to try a method of manually dialating my cervix, a method that would take 12 hours, so they’d let me try and sleep until the following day. When she said 12 hours I thought I was going to kill someone. And then the midwife said the one sentence I will never forget, “this is why inductions take anywhere from one to 4 days.” FOUR DAYS! WHAT?! Someone forgot to mention that to me when we discussed induction. I felt doomed to be there in that hard bed for 4 days.

The nurse and midwife left the room, I started to cry and then something amazing happened. God answered my prayers and knew I couldn’t survive in there for four days. Suddenly, I started having contractions, big contractions, contractions lasting a few minutes each and coming one on top of the other and it was happening on its own without drugs! The nurse rushed in, I started screaming and trying to breath through it and the room filled with people. They were prepping the infant bed and getting instruments out. Then I heard the best words of my life, the nurse said, “call the anesthesiologist” without even asking me, she knew I was in some serious pain. The epidural was on the way! Waiting for the anesthesiologist to arrive was the longest  20 minutes of my life.

After getting the epidural in and getting the good stuff started, I felt immediate relief and suddenly the pain was gone. The midwife checked me and in two hours I had dilated 3 centimeters, more than I had dilated all day. The nurses got me comfortable and the contractions slowed down a bit, enough for them to tell me to try and rest and sleep if I could (yeah right). But I did send Eric home for a few hours to sleep, thank goodness we live 5 minutes from the hospital.

At 4am, the midwife checked me again and broke my water but told me to get back to resting. I figured I would be in that bed for the rest of the following day and maybe this baby would be born the following evening. At 7am there is the shift change and my new nurse came into check on me. She took one look at me and said, “oh, you’re a natural red head, you know what they say about red heads, once labor gets started you go fast and furious. I think we’re going to have a baby this morning.” I smiled and thought, “yeah right, you have no clue lady, I’m going slower than anything over here.”

Eric arrived around 7:30am he was planning to check on me and then get some coffee and breakfast. Around 8am the nurse said, I think I’m going to have the midwife check you. I figured it was just because I hadn’t seen the new midwife on duty yet and she’d want to get updated on my progress.  She came in checked me and as I expected to have made zero progress she looked at me and said, “You’re fully dilated and at station +2 you can start pushing.”

Wait…WHAT?! I’m having a baby, like right NOW?! Ok, I wasn’t expecting this yet. Suddenly I was a little scared. This was the part, the crazy part where I had to push this baby out and we finally got to meet her. Eric looked at me and I thought, poor guy he hasn’t even had coffee yet.

The next two hours flew by and I pushed for all of them. The nurse and midwife were amazing and Eric was right in there holding my legs, getting me water and encouraging me (while I told him not to look). And then it was here, the moment, then one where they say, her head is out, one more push and suddenly there is a slimy wet noodle on my stomach. Eric cut the cord and I could see her getting cleaning up beside me. At first, she didn’t cry and I was worried something might be wrong but since then we’ve discovered its just how she is, Rees doesn’t cry much, she’s very content and chill (nothing like her mother). As they fixed me up and cleaned up, Eric was the first one to hold her and I could see how in love with her he already was. The nurses talked about how perfect she was and I tried not to fall asleep on the bed. I was the most tired I have ever been in my entire life. When they finally put her on my chest, I could barely hold her because I was so weak. But she was here and she was ours.

It’s now 6 weeks later and we’re finally getting the hang of things around here. I’m getting a little more sleep and so is Rees at night and we’ve gotten to know our daughter and what she needs and when she needs it. Like I said, she’s the best baby, eats well, sleeps well, smiles lots and rarely cries. Seriously, sometimes I just find her awake in her crib hanging out after sleeping. We love watching her grow and snuggling her.

Rees has added so much to our family already and even when I’m exhausted from a long night, all I need to do is look at her sweet face and I don’t care anymore. Being a mom is already the best job I’ve ever had.

Moving forward, I will continue to share my cooking adventures with all of you but I’ll also throw in some posts about my life and my new role as a mom. I hope to get some time to cook in the coming weeks and plan to start cooking dinner again now that I’ve gotten into a better and more predictable routine. What has everyone else been up to? Any other new moms out there? Any moms have suggestions for this newbie??

Anyway, since there is no snow and no “good” excuse for me to sit on the couch watching movies all day, I guess I’ll catch you up on one of our latest meals at the local restaurant Maison. We actually went here for my birthday back in January and I’m finally getting around to telling you about it, but they deserve a great plug because it was one of the best meals I’ve had in a long, long time.

Maison is located on Prince Street in downtown Lancaster City and used to be our other favorite restaurant, Effie Ophelia. When Effie Ophelia left, Eric and I wondered if the next restaurant would be able to take their place in our hearts and our stomachs and although Maison has been established for a while now, we just didn’t make it a priority to try them out. Perhaps we needed a grieving period. We started hearing that this place was good and even tried to make reservations once or twice but they’ve got the tiniest dining room and we could never get a reservation. My birthday was coming up and we decided to take a later reservation just so we could finally find out if this place was any good.

Maison is BYOB, a feature I happen to love because it saves you money and you can bring a special bottle of whatever you like with you! Eric brought a little something for himself and I stuck with my favorite beverage of the last 9 months, water. The first indication that this place was going to be right up our alley was when the waiter told us that the appetizer special was fois gras. (Anytime fois gras is mentioned, Eric gets a giddy look about him and a sparkle in his eyes. He absolutely loves the stuff.) Then the waiter mentioned a special entree of beef cheeks. I thought Eric might kiss him.

We made our selections and sat back to enjoy this special meal. First came the fois gras with caramelized shallots. Yum.

The shallots added to the sweetness of the rich fois gras and each bite just melted in your mouth.

The fois gras was followed by my entree, rosemary rabbit ragu with home made pasta.

I love rabbit. It’s not as common of a protein and whenever I see it on a menu, I get it. It has great flavor and is never dry. This ragu was perfect; it coated the pasta well and had so much flavor. It was paired with chanterelle mushrooms, another favorite of mine, and pancetta. I loved every bite!

Eric’s braised beef cheeks came out with my rabbit.

Just looking at the picture makes me want to taste this dish again. The beef cheeks were perfectly braised, full of flavor and melted in your mouth; they even had a bit of horseradish to add another layer of flavor and spice. They were served over home made spaetzle which soaked up all the delicious sauce. Eric and I both loved it.

For dessert, we shared the Earl Grey creme brulee. And, yes, we were so busy eating it that I forgot to take a picture. Sorry! It looked like creme brulee but was the color of Early Grey tea. I’m not one to go for a flavored creme brulee normally. I like the traditional creme brulee, however this flavor intrigued me and I must admit it was one of the best I’ve ever eaten. In fact, I’ve been contemplating adding some Earl Grey flavor to my own creme brulee the next time I make it.

To sum the evening up, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the food. Maison has a warm and cozy atmosphere, excellent service and incredible food. They are BYOB so don’t forget to bring along your favorite drink and make sure you make reservations; they’re very cozy and can’t accommodate too many people in the dining room at once. If you’re a fan of local, fresh, farm to table food (if you’re not a fan of that, you’re nuts) go here. Plain and simple. Check out more about Maison, including their current menu, on their website: maisonlancaster.com.

Also, small plug, it’s restaurant week in Lancaster! From March 4-10 you can enjoy special menus and amazingly low prices from all your favorite Lancaster restaurants. Check out more information and restaurant specials on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/LancasterCityRestaurantWeek  A word of advice, this is a great chance to try a restaurant that normally might be too expensive for a night out, try something new! Also, make reservations, especially if you want to go on a weekend night, these deals fill up fast. Take a night off from cooking and go on a date with your special someone or a group of friends!

**Check out the food section of the Lancaster Newspaper today! There’s a great article that mentions The Red Velvet Blog! Click here to read it online!

Here is her latest cookbook, it’s another winner for me!

My love for Ina’s cooking style began about 7 years ago when I purchased my first Barefoot Contessa cookbook. It was actually a purchase that I settled for with reward points from a credit card that were about to expire. I was reluctant because although I knew she was a famous celebrity cook, I didn’t really enjoy her TV show and didn’t understand the hype. But given then fact that it was either the cookbook or a cheap foot sauna, I went with the cookbook. A few weeks later this arrived at my house:

I paged through it and thought some of the recipes sounded really good and I found that the recipes were simple to make without all sorts of weird ingredients. I began to try some of them out and each one came out perfectly. As the years went by, I found myself enjoying Ina’s point of view and her TV show more and more and I would search through her recipes listed on FoodNetwork.com whenever I needed something that I could trust to turn out exactly how it was supposed to.

Then I found out that Ina loves Paris, almost as much as I do. Again, my love for her grew and I recently was given her Paris cookbook which is filled with even more delicious and simple recipes. This lady knew what was up and she made cooking accessible to home cooks. Her story is one that in a lot of ways, reflects Julia Child. Her food career was a mid-life 180 and when she started out with her gourmet food store, she knew nothing about running a store and less about cooking but she followed what she loved and look what it’s turned into?! She also had a husband who supported her dreams and desires; we often don’t realize how crucial love and support for our ideas can truly be.

So, back to last night, even though the evening was a little poorly planned (the venue’s fault, not Ina’s), Ina proved again why I admire her so much. She was gracious, patient and warm hearted as the audience shouted out compliments and questions at her on stage. She shared a bit more of her story and of her life in the Hamptons with her husband. Through the entire evening, I was continually amazed by how graceful she was and nothing seemed to rattle or annoy her. She certainly has not allowed her celebrity to go to her head and seems to take it all in stride.

Alas, she did not pick me out of the crowd and offer to be my mentor and leave her empire in my care when she decides to retire someday. I guess I’ll just keep wishing for that one! But I left last night with a greater love for cooking and a better sense that I, myself will figure out what is next for my career. I’m not sure what the future holds but I hope that it will involve food and or cooking. Until that dream becomes a reality, I’ll be here, blogging away and testing out new recipes from one of my favorite cooks, the Barefoot Contessa.

Alright, back to some recipes, again, I’ll reiterate that I haven’t been cooking quite as much as I’d like to. As I get larger and less mobile, being in the kitchen on my feet is harder and harder but today, I’m finally getting around to sharing with you my red velvet cake disaster followed by triumph.

This whole recipe testing began years ago. Obviously from this blog, I love red velvet cake. I remember the first time I ate a slice, my mom brought some home from a Christmas party when I was a kid and I fell in love with it.  She asked her friend for the recipe and that’s the way she’s been making me red velvet cake for as long as I can remember. I love that recipe, however it calls for 2 cups of vegetable oil; yes 2 whole giant cups! That’s ALOT of oil. And as I’ve gotten older, my poor intestines have decided they do not enjoy 2 cups of oil in one cake. My favorite red velvet cake recipe became my worst enemy; it was so good when I was eating it and then I’d regret it shortly after. I was a love/hate relationship and I was determined to find a recipe that I loved and that loved me back.

Over the last 10 years or so, I’ve been searching for that perfect red velvet recipe, in vain. Red velvet is a very difficult taste to get “just right.” You want to taste a hint of the cocoa in the recipe, but not so much that the cake tastes like a devils food cake dyed red. The oil adds the correct moistness and flavor but I really needed to avoid that much oil.

The images of the red velvet cake on my blog are from a recipe from Paula Deen and it was good, but not quite what I was looking for. It also looked great in the photos, it was the perfect red.

For my birthday last month, I decided it was time again to try a red velvet recipe. I had gotten a beautiful new cookbook from my in-laws for Christmas, it’s all vintage cake recipes, and the red velvet recipe was calling my name. This particular recipe include zero oil, already I was intrigued. I mixed up the ingredients and as my lovely red cakes were cooling, I mixed up what was supposed to be mascarpone cream cheese icing. Here was my first “red” flag (pun intended). The icing was like a thin glaze not a thick frosting. I began pouring cup after cup of powdered sugar into it and got nowhere fast. I put the icing in the fridge in hopes that the cream cheese and mascarpone would thicken up.

Two hours later, the icing was still runny but I attempted to put it on the cake. I iced the cake and quickly put the whole thing in the fridge to set. Set it did not. After giving up on my icing, I decided to cut a slice of this cake that I’d been thinking about for days. The cake was terrible. The flavor was off, the consistency wasn’t dense or moist. It was a complete failure. A failure that I didn’t take any photos of (sorry!) the evidence has been destroyed. I threw the entire cake away in the garbage disposal (which looked like a bloody mess thanks to the red cake) and went to bed. Low point.

Has this every happened to any of you? Everything in a recipe just goes completely wrong and you’re left with time wasted and something gross to eat? Ever feel like you have to eat it anyway since you spent so much time on it? Yeah, I’ve done that before too. But those just end up being unnecessary calories that aren’t worth it. I’ve learned to get over myself and throw the food away. Mistakes happen. They happen a lot in cooking/baking. It’s OK. Learn from it. I learned that both of these recipes were terrible and I should trust my instincts more. If the icing seems like its going to be too thin based on the recipe, then maybe opt for a different recipe instead.

A few days later, and after some research online, I was ready to try again and this time my red velvet cake ended up looking like this:

It looks decently normal!! I pulled a recipe that I found online from Bakerella and then used an icing recipe that I’ve made lots of times so I knew it would turn out. The recipe does call for 1.5 cups of vegetable oil. So I wasn’t cutting down on the oil very much, but it also called for buttermilk, an ingredient I liked. I have found that most recipes call for one or the other, this is the first one that calls for both. I wanted to see how it would come out.

The recipe is pretty standard. Mix the wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately, then slowly combine them all together in an electric mixer.

The cake batter should look like this:

Divide the batter evenly between two 8 or 9 inch cake pans.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool the cake completely, ice it with your favorite icing. (I prefer butter cream to cream cheese on my red velvet) Slice it up and enjoy!

Wow, I’m just realizing how terrible those colors look on camera, the lime green plate with my butcher block counter top and the red velvet cake. Whoops! Sorry people. I’m no photographer, I’m a cook. It tasted good and that’s all the matters! The taste wasn’t exactly “perfect” for me, I think it could have used a bit more salt and cocoa, however the consistency was perfect and (best point of all) it didn’t make me sick! Win.

A note about the icing: The recipe that I used from Bakerella was made with a cream cheese frosting and that is traditionally paired with red velvet cake. However, the original red velvet cake recipe from the Waldorf Astoria, in NYC, was made with a butter cream icing that was prepared on the stove top. I happen to prefer an easy version of vanilla butter cream with my red velvet cake. I suggest if you ever have the chance, you try your red velvet cake with lots of different icings. I also enjoy red velvet cake with a chocolate filling, it really brings out the cocoa flavor. Don’t pigeon hole yourself to the traditional, it’s never a bad idea to try cakes with different fillings and icings.

Here’s the Bakerella recipe link to her site, complete with her cream cheese frosting and might I add, much prettier photos of her cake! And here is my quick and easy butter cream icing recipe:

]]> http://www.theredvelvetblog.com/2013/02/19/dessert/the-tale-of-two-recipes/feed/ 0 http://www.theredvelvetblog.com/2013/02/12/uncategorized/the-day-of-days/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-day-of-days http://www.theredvelvetblog.com/2013/02/12/uncategorized/the-day-of-days/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2013 18:17:52 +0000 Marah http://www.theredvelvetblog.com/?p=2284 It’s THE day, the greatest day of the entire year and my favorite day always, it’s FASNACHT DAY! I post about Fasnacht day each year and this year is no exception. I wait and count down the days until this most delicious day in February and then I stuff my face with as many potato doughnuts as humanly possible. In case you’re not a resident of Central PA or have been living under a rock for your entire life, Fasnacht Day is the glorious way that the PA Dutch celebrate Fat Tuesday. In New Orleans, they have Mardi Gras but in Lancaster, we have Fasnachts. The tradition sprang from trying to use up all the lard and leftover tastiness in one giant way before the celebration and fasting of Lent. Thus the Fasnacht was born.

As less people, including myself, actually celebrate Lent in a traditional way, Fasnacht Day has become a day in which we celebrate the deliciousness that is the potato doughnut and all the wonderful deliciousness that it brings to your belly. I won’t lie, doughnuts are easily one of my favorite foods and I have a remarkable ability to eat a lot in one sitting. I can pack away 4-6 doughnuts and not even feel it, if I want to. It’s almost as if doughnuts, once in my belly, vanish completely and I feel the urge for another one because my doughnut craving has not been satisfied yet.

Anyway, enough about my doughnut eating capabilities, if you’re in the Lancaster area today, be sure and stop by somewhere for a Fasnacht, I recommend the powdered sugar or the rare glazed Fasnacht because the plain ones are just plain gross. Who actually eats the plain ones, I’d like to know. They can’t be good.

How are you celebrating Fat Tuesday? Do you love a good Fasnacht as much as I do?

We had a wonderful Christmas. We got the rare opportunity to spend most of Christmas Day at home, just the two of us. We slept in, ate homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, exchanged gifts, watched A Christmas Story and stayed in our PJ’s until the last possible minute when we needed to get ready to go see family for dinner. It was truly one of the most relaxing Christmases that we’ve ever had an given the fact that next year we will have a 9 month old, it was quite a fitting last Christmas as a twosome.

Between gifts from Eric and gifts from other family members, I got many nice new kitchen toys! Kitchen stuff is always a safe gift for me and each year I say, “I really don’t need anything else for the kitchen” yet, somehow I end up finding all sorts of new things that I could totally use. This year’s gifts included: a few new cookbooks (Vintage Cakes, the Pie Bible, Barefoot Contessa in Paris), smoked glass juice glasses, a grill press, a zester, wet stones to sharpen my knives, a digital meat thermometer with remote and a hot dog roller. Yes, you read the last one correctly; I LOVE hot dogs. Perhaps, that is not a food that someone who cooks like I do should love but I always say, I love a cheesesteak or a hot dog just as much as I love a souffle or some fois gras; if the food is tasty, I like it, plain and simple. But back to the hot dog roller, don’t you love hot dogs that are grilled on a roller better than any other kind of preparation of a hot dog? It’s hard to achieve at home but not anymore! Check out my little baby in action:

Sorry for the picture being blurry. Not only does the roller grill that tubular meat to perfection, but the entire house smelled awesome. Hot dog roller for the win! Merry Christmas to me! I can’t wait to try out all my other gifts in the kitchen over the next few months.

What about you guys, any special Christmas gifts, kitchen related or otherwise? Any ridiculous presents that compare to my dorky hot dog roller?

Since Christmas, we’ve been working and turning our thoughts and plans on to our estimated March arrival. It’s crazy to think that its only a matter of weeks until we meet our daughter. I’ll warn you again that my time in the kitchen has been much less lately so I apologize in advance for a lack in good recipe posts. It’s just harder to be on my feet for long periods of time lifting heavy pots and pans. I will share with you my latest cinnamon roll success from Christmas and I may have a cake post coming this week in honor of my birthday this Saturday.

In the middle of getting ready for the actual day of Christmas, I’m also trying not to forget about our annual Christmas party which is scheduled this year for the Saturday after Christmas. We like having our party after Christmas, between Christmas and New Years. It makes Christmas last a bit longer and we have found that more people are free to come after Christmas than in the weekends before so it works out well.

This is our third year throwing our bash and I’m starting to get the hang of it. Typically we have about 30-40 people coming in and out of the house that evening and I make all the food myself. Yes, its alot of work, I won’t pretend like I’m a miracle worker, but this type of work I actually enjoy. Entertaining is one of my favorite things to do, whether its a small group or a big party, I love it all.

I wait to buy all my groceries until after Christmas so that my ingredients are fresh but right about now I start making lists, lists and more lists. Currently I have two lists going and a timeline. I’ve learned that when planning a party, organization and a timeline are absolutely the key to saving your sanity. If you can think of as much in advance as possible and write it down, then you don’t have to try and remember it later and feel overwhelmed or scatterbrained. (I hope that my baby brain doesn’t make this year’s planning too difficult.)

My first list is the list that includes all the food and beverages for the menu. I split them up into desserts and hors d’oeuvres and drinks. It’s not fancy by any stretch of the word, its just a small tablet that I add to for a few weeks before the party when I think of something I want to include.

After the menu is finalized, I’ll make the big grocery list which usually ends up being two or three lists according to where I’m shopping; one for the grocery store, one for market and another one for any specialty stores I may need to stop at.

The final list is actually the timeline. I like to start it 4 days ahead and I write what I want to accomplish on that day. As I get to the day of the party the timeline gets more detailed with actual times of day that I want to get things done and get scheduled down to the minute the day of the party. Yes, I realize this reveals how anal I truly am about schedules and organization but this is what keeps me sane when planning a party and honestly I recommend it to you. If you can see exactly everything that needs to be done and what time it needs to be accomplished, you’re more likely to stay on task and even have time to get yourself ready for your guests, which means you’re less likely to find yourself at the eleventh hour scrambling around, yelling at your husband as guest arrive to find you still in your PJ’s covered in food from cooking all day.

Here’s my “simple” timeline:

That’s where I am with holiday party prep. Anyone else have any tips for throwing a party and making it easier on yourself? This year, Eric will be taking a much larger role in the cooking and prep since my kitchen time has been decreasing but he’s already eager to help so I’m not worried. Have any of you got any great party disaster stories? Something always goes wrong, you have to count on that but its how you handle it that can make or break the party spirit. I’d love to hear from you!

My last post was pre-Thanksgiving and we’ve been busy. Over Thanksgiving we took our last big trip before the baby to Normandy and Paris, France. We spent Thanksgiving eating French food in Paris and loving every second of it (of course we missed seeing family too!).  It was a learning experience for both of us, traveling in the second trimester and aside from some back pain caused by too much walking, we enjoyed our time together. France is one of our favorite places in the world and we can go back again and again and never get tired of it.

This was our first trip to Normandy and although it was the off season, we were able to see most of the sights of the D-Day invasion which hold a special place in Eric’s family. His grandfather was a part of that historic and incredible day; we think we even found the church yard where he was given the mission of setting up communications early in the morning of June 6. If you’ve never been there, go. Most Americans have heard the details of that invasion in history class and watched Saving Private Ryan but to actually be there, on the beaches where so many young men lost their lives, it touches you in a way that you don’t expect. Those men are true heroes who saved the world from evil, against all odds.

Here’s Eric on Omaha Beach:

Another highlight of Normandy was seeing Mont Saint Michael; I’ve wanted to see this place for a very long time. It’s a very old abbey built on a rocky island that is surrounded by water when the tide comes it, but when the tide is out, you can walk right across the sand to it. It’s also incredibly beautiful with its Gothic architecture and the way it rises out of the sand.

This preggo walked all the way to the top of that mountain, on cobblestones I might add and was treated to one of the best crepes/omelette things in my life on the way down, complete with caramel apples. YUM! I mean, check it out for yourself, they made these omelettes over a wood fire and its so fluffy, I have no idea how they do it but it was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten.

Some other highlights of the trip were seeing Rouen Cathedral, made famous by Monet who painted it over and over again in an attempt to capture it in different light. We got to see the Bayeux Tapestry, the longest remaining tapestry in the world of its kind documenting the life of William the Conquerer; it was pretty incredible.

We spent the last days in Paris and since we’re becoming regulars in that city, we didn’t have a whole lot of tourist attractions on our list, we’ve seen most of them already. Mostly we ate at some amazing places, walked around, shopped and we did hit up a museum that has been closed for renovations every other time we’ve been in Paris, the Orangerie. You can find it at the end of the Tuileries, close to the Champs Elysees and Louvre. It houses circular rooms in which Monet painted canvases of his water lillies that encompass the entire rooms. You’re literally surrounded by water lillies. We must have sat there taking them in for at least 30 minutes each. I’m so happy it was open this time! If you’re a fan of impressionism, make sure you see this in Paris, they also have a wonderful permanent collection which includes works by Renoir, Picasso, Cezanne and many more.

I’ll go ahead and blame our great trip for throwing me off my game and messing with my internal calendar, perhaps skipping Thanksgiving had more of an effect on me than I realized. The other game changer for me lately has been my back trouble. Each day is different, sometimes it hurts a lot and other days its better but I’ve started noticing that when I spend a lot of time cooking in my kitchen, my pain increases. I’m pretty sad about it and as a result I haven’t been cooking much which means nothing to blog about.

I do plan on having my mom help me make Christmas cookies so I’ll share with you those details and we’re having our annual post-Christmas bash so I’ll be cooking and prepping for that. Thank goodness for my helpful sous chef (Eric) who has been doing everything and anything I need and making sure I rest. Not sure how I’d manage without him!

In an attempt to keep myself accountable and actually write these posts, here’s my list of promised December posts:

• Christmas Home Decor
• Christmas Cookies/Baking
• Holiday Party Planning
• Holiday Party Prep
• Holiday Party Recap
• Anything else that comes up!

Thanks for reading and I hope you’re having a joyous holiday season! Take a moment to enjoy it and slow down.

I decided to theme it with the harvest/Fall and wanted to host enough people to put all the leaves in my table (I have 4). I ended up with a menu consisting of 3 courses and a guest list of 12 people! The menu itself came easily to me, a few new items and a few sure things combined to create the ultimate Harvest Dinner Party. Here’s my menu, along with live links to the recipes used:

Cocktails: Great Pumpkin Stout

The Montparnasse

First Course: Butternut Squash Soup

Second Course/Main Event: Maple-Brined Pork Roast with Apples and Onions

Honey Glazed Roasted Carrots and Parsnips

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Raisins

Potato Gratin with Leeks

Third Course/Dessert: Chocolate Pecan Pie (recipe from the Tupelo Honey Cafe Cookbook)

Sweet Potato Pudding (recipe from the Tupelo Honey Cafe Cookbook)

I think I can safely say that each one of these dishes was a hit and I was very proud to serve each one. My favorite of the night is a tie between the brussels sprouts (which is the only dish that came back completely empty) and the chocolate pecan pie. It was my first time making both of these recipes and they were both outstanding, not to mention easy. I was able to make the brussels sprouts while my guests were talking to me and having cocktails in the kitchen and the chocolate pecan pie was a cinch and came out so delicious. It might be my new favorite fall pie.

Here are a few photos one of my guests was able to capture for me while the evening progressed (Thanks Mike!).

My table set and ready for food, the mismatched chairs remind me of Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving, though the table was not a ping pong table.

Cocktail hour in full swing.

Action shot of brussels sprouts and butternut squash soup.

Pork being sliced. The apples and onions combined with a maple syrup glaze gave incredible flavor to this roast. I will be making this again, it was simple and so delicious.

A sweet finish to a great evening, made even more sweet with homemade vanilla bourbon whipped cream.

I wanted my harvest dinner to reflect the flavors of the season without using any Thanksgiving “staples” as a part of the menu. I think it was a success! I can’t wait until our next dinner party, I’m going to need to start writing down ideas!

Are you all getting ready for Thanksgiving? Are you making the big feast or bringing a dish to share? Any suggestions you can share to make the day successful? Mine is, make as much the day before as possible, even prepping ingredients and get that table set so you don’t have to worry about anything like that as you’re putting everything together and visiting with guests.

Lastly, I’m hosting Bean Chat for Gevalia Coffee this Thursday from 10am-11am. I’ll be discussing some food related topics on from their Facebook page. I’d love to see you over there so go to Gevalia’s FB page and “like” them, then on Thursday click on Bean Chat between 10am and 11am or join via Twitter chat. See you there!