Saturday, August 14, 2010

Monday, February 15, 2010

Post Dessert Party

Hello dear readers. Ken and I and our lovely party attendees know today that we indulged properly on 2010 Valentine's Day! Here's a little accounting:
  1. Chocolate espresso fudge cake - really wonderful
  2. Chocolate chip peanut butter cake - remains will go to Records & Registration today
  3. Triple chocolate pumpkin pie - ho hum
  4. Chocolate pudding pie with whipped cream (aka fire) - untouched, it went home with Carly.
  5. Apple pie - A++
  6. Lemon bars - very lemon-y
  7. Large & luscious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies - A++
  8. Deep dark chocolate fudge cookies - A
  9. Chocolate chip cookies - A+++
  10. Fudgy brownies - brownies were not a major hit
  11. Salted fudge brownies
  12. Supernatural brownies
  13. Fruit crisps - just did not go
    Apple/Cherry
    Cranberry/Apple
    Blueberry/Raspberry
  14. Ice cream - Stewart's & Soy
  15. Fruit - mixed
  16. Cupcakes brought by Carly
  17. Chocolate chip pie brought by Wilma
For the future:
1 batch of cookies will be sufficient
1 batch of brownies at most
1 crisp
1 marquee cake
Apple pie always a favorite
The cheese brought by Shelly was a hit
Mostly regular coffee

For the present: lots of cookies and brownies need a home

So now we are post Ken's birthday, post Valentine's Day and on the lip of Lent. Can spring be far behind?

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Dessert Party

Happy Valentine's Day - a day early. We are having our even-year-dessert party on Valentine's Day, celebrating love with much chocolate. And fruit, don't forget the fruit. Here is the list:
  1. Chocolate espresso fudge cake
  2. Chocolate chip peanut butter cake
  3. Triple chocolate pumpkin pie
  4. Chocolate pudding pie with whipped cream (aka fire)
  5. Apple pie
  6. Lemon bars
  7. Large & luscious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
  8. Deep dark chocolate fudge cookies
  9. Chocolate chip cookies
  10. Fudgy brownies
  11. Salted fudge brownies
  12. Supernatural brownies
  13. Fruit crisps
    Apple
    Cherry
    Cranberry
    Blueberry
  14. Ice cream
    Stewart's
    Soy
  15. Fruit - mixed
Our recipe sources:
How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman (our new food bible)
Vegan Express by Nava Atlas (a local woman, she got a master's from SUNY New Paltz)
Death by Chocolate by Marcel Desaulniers (given to me by Candace Vancko after our first party in 2007)
Various things clipped from the New York Times and magazines, including the Thanksgiving issue of the Martha Stewart magazine, seen at TresOlay, my salon in New Paltz.
Our food sources:
Local as much as possible. Flour and oatmeal from Wild Hive (://www.wildhivefarm.com/), local and close. Ice cream from Stewart's (made near Albany). Eggs from Farm and Granary (farmandgranary@gmail.com), local and close. Organic chocolate. Unsalted butter made as close to the Hudson Valley as possible. Apples, blueberries and cherries frozen from the local harvest last fall.
Already stored in the garage: cookies and brownies. To come today: everything else.
Excess on the way!

Monday, January 25, 2010

The real new year...

The spring semester begins today, which means 2010 is really underway. For my readers in the higher education biz, happy new year!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Happy New Year

Well, 2010. It even resists the keystrokes. How often will we write 2009? Or 2020? Or 2001? What will we call it? Two Thousand and Ten? Twenty Ten? Two Thousand Ten? Ten? We'll have to wait and see, eh?

We celebrated the new year with friends and it was perfect. Dinner with Bud and Millie, with Paula's lasagna and Barbara's apple pie! Oh heavenly. The luxury of good friends. Barbara and Tom came over to our B&B in Frederick and we talked and exchanged gifts. Ken and I were sound asleep at the turn of the decade/year.

We then drove to Deb and Greg, having breakfast with them and Casey and a slew of her friends, who had had a New Year's sleep-over. Amid memories of Casey on the volleyball gym floor in Ann Arbor all those years ago, we toasted the new year and promised to see each other more often. I will see Deb and Greg later in January, so we're getting a good start on that resolution.

Then on to New York City, and a Broadway show and a movie. It was cold, but festive in the city. We oh-ed and awe-d at the tree in Rockefeller Center and watched the skaters in Bryant Park. We saw "In the Next Room, or the Vibrator Play," which is about exactly what the title suggests. It was written by Sarah Ruhl, and was definitely from a woman's point of view. Movies today. Ken saw the Sherlock Holmes movie and I saw the Tom Ford movie, "A Single Man." Very painterly. We saw "Invictus" on Wednesday night, so that makes four movies so far this season. I have ambitions for more.

We came home from the city late this afternoon to a very cold house: the motor that moves hot water throughout the house was burned out. Let's hear it for small towns - the fix-it man was here within two hours and the hot water is circulating as I write.

A new year and a new decade - I hope for the best for all of us.