Peppermint Bark and some other stuff

My life has been full of work, work, work, and trying to get into the Christmas spirit. I think with enough 98.5FM blaring out of my car speakers and a lot of holiday baking, I just might reach Christmas euphoria a little early this year. Christmas euphoria is that delightful time of year when my brain stops functioning and I say things like "Well, isn't this just lovely?" and "How delightful!" and "Who ate the last mother effing piece of turkey?"

I wanted to mention the product that has been getting me through my wintery dermatological slump (this year and past.) If you are like me and have skin with a water activity of the Sahara desert even in the middle of summer, I recommend old-fashioned grandma's worst kept secret Pond's Cold Cream. Slather it on in the shower, remove with a clean wash cloth, and voila! Nice, smooth, moisturized skin. Even my cousin who lives in the coldest place I have ever been (Nebraska) uses it to fight off wind burn. (As a side note, the second coldest place I've ever been was Toronto, and it has nothing on the winds whipping o'er the plains.)

I also finally broke down and bought a coffee maker. It's a Festivus miracle! Britton's uncle gave us a brick of Brazilian coffee by Cafe do Ponto he grabbed after a flight to South America. IT IS ORGASMIC. Very clean roasted, no funky tastes. Just amazing black coffee.

Unfortunately, it was already ground, so our reliable french press was useless. Luckily, the fates saw fit to allow me to win a raffle at work for an $18 crock pot which I promptly returned at Wal-Mart for a full refund. There I placed my hands on a Mr. Coffee programmable coffee maker. I know that talking about a coffee maker for so long may seem a little ridiculous. People give away their old coffee makers left and right. But I've never owned a coffee maker, and it sure feels good.

Okay, now the important stuff. This is perhaps the easiest peasiest recipe I've ever posted. The combination of peppermint and chocolate is very Christmas-y, and just happens to be my favorite flavor duo.

To make peppermint bark, you'll need just a few things.

2 bags of white chocolate chips

1 package candy canes

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

I doubled the recipe. Don't look at me like that.

Thanks to my little sister, I've realized working with melted chocolate can be an epic disaster. AND DON'T PUT CHOCOLATE TO MELT IN A MICROWAVE. Seriously. Just stay away from the radiation. You'll have to use a double boiler or some other contraption. I don't have a double boiler and in fact, I have no idea what one looks like. I just guessed that it would look something like one pot of boiling water with another smaller pot on top.

Yeah. Something like that. I used a wooden spoon to brace the small pot since my pots are nonstick and don't take kindly to scraping and scratching. You want the water to come to a calm boil. Don't let it go nuts down there. As you melt the white chocolate chips, you'll need to continuously stir until it is nice and smooth.

Next, place your unwrapped candy canes into a gallon size plastic bag. Place a towel underneath the plastic bag and a towel on top for cushioning. (You don't want to crack those stain-collecting builder's grade laminate counter tops, now do you?)

Grab an unopened wine bottle, or if like me, you can't cook something without a beverage, then grab a rolling pin or other pounding-worthy device. Wail away. You are going to get some chunks that just won't crush. That's okay. It's all part of the master plan. Drink the kool-aid and you'll see what I mean.

Add the crushed candy canes to the molten chocolate mixture. You'll also want to add a teaspoon of peppermint extract for every two bags of white chocolate you used.

Spread evenly over a pan lined with parchment paper. Allow to cool in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

When the chocolate is completely firm, break into chunks by whatever means necessary. I used brute strength and a wooden spatula.

This stuff is rich. Allow your boyfriend to have a couple pieces, but then immediately place the rest in adorable Christmas tins or goody bags and ship them off to your friends so they will be all fat and when you see them you can say hey, lay off the peppermint bark, you crazy beyotch. Just kidding. But in moderation people or all your teeth will fall out...maybe.

Happy Holidays!

A weekend in Asheville, NC

On a sunny Friday morning, Britton and I set out for Asheville, NC to meet up with some of his former coworkers and their assorted girlfriends and to enjoy the scenery. After breakfast on the road, we made pit stop at Tallulah Hydro where Britton spent a couple weeks on a project while he was working with the Athens test group.

There were steps outside the building. No one was sure what it was we needed refuge from, but...you never know...zombies, velociraptors, the Illuminati. It's a jungle out there.

Below is a video of the Georgia Power guy heading down to the hydro facility at the bottom of the gorge. A wee bit north of us was the state park. The elevator looks safe enough, but carries you down at a weird 25 degree angle.

When we finally arrived in Asheville, just a couple hours later, we had some time to kill before we met Aaron and Darren (Britton's former coworkers) with their girlfriends Kari and Angie (respectively.) Britton discovered a coffee shop/chocolaterie (just made that word up) on a side street close to the art museum.

It was called French Broad Chocolate Lounge. IT WAS GLORIOUS.

Every kind of chocolate imaginable with only the finest local and fair trade ingredients. Chocolate liquer, hot chocolate, brownies, cakes, pies, truffles...along with some of the best coffee I've ever had via Counter Culture Coffee.

Britton tried the quintessential chocolate cake while I noshed on the flourless chocolate truffle torte with a raspberry sauce.

I was in a very very VERY happy place.

French Broad Chocolates is family owned and operated by two young entrepreneurs, and they ship to anywhere in the U.S.! So check them out already. Geez Louise.

After meeting up with the crew and settling into our hotel room, we headed over to Biltmore estate for the Christmas Candelight tour.

There's no filming in the house itself, so I'll just have to describe it.

This place isn't just a big effing house. It is a monument to American domesticity. With 250 rooms, it boasts a grand banquet room, billiard room, parlor, winter garden, master and mistress wings, bachelor's wing, numerous guest rooms, a full library, a bowling alley, an indoor swimming pool, fitness changing area, indoor gym, servants quarters, at least three kitchens, a rudimentary walk-in cooler, stables adjoining the house, and numerous gardens. The tour was a lot of fun...self-guided with the house all decked out for Christmas. There were dancers and Christmas carolers in the winter garden on the ground level.

Unfortunately, the tour offered little in the way of Biltmore history even though the guides stationed all around the house were extremely knowledgeable if you had any questions. Our tickets included a visit to the grounds (designed by the man who landscaped Central Park) the next day, but we did not have time to return. Britton and I agreed we would save that for another trip.

My favorite room in the whole house was the library. I know. Big surprise there. The library is two levels with an ornate spiral staircase accessing the loft-like second floor. George Washington Vanderbilt II owned over 23,000 books and could read in multiple languages. There were around 10,000 books in the library.

The next day we visited Chimney Rock State Park. Chimney Rock is a granite rock formation most known by me for its appearance in the final scenes of The Last of the Mohicans starring a sexy Daniel Day-Lewis.

The mountains were just shedding their fall colors, and the park was full of scenic photo opps.

Please enjoy this brief introduction to the park. It's the main title from The Last of the Mohicans featuring solo artisit Britton Carter in his film debut.

Britton playing photographer with Aaron and Kari on top of Chimney Rock.

This is a picture taken from the Opera Box which overlooks the top of Chimney Rock and Lake Lure below that.

Britton and I found a comfy patch of granite in the Opera Box.

That is correct. I hiked a freakin' mountain in a freakin' lacy dress. That's who I am.

This morning, before heading back home, we grabbed brunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe. Minus the 25 minute wait to get into the place, the food was delicious and the service was prompt.

Warm pimento cheese and tortilla chips.

Britton's lump crab omelette with a real orchid on top.

And a GIANT sweet potato pancake with granola and roasted pecans. I hate this picture of me, but I wanted to show you the scale of this pancake. I ate 1/4 of it and threw in the towel.

Don't worry about my booty, everybody. I just got back from the gym, and Britton's Dad, the patriarch, has a treadmill. Which reminds me. Thanksgiving 2010 is going to be broadcast from Tampa, FL this year. With the help of my mother, Pioneer Woman, and Mark Bittman from the NY Times, I will slay this honey-baked holiday beast.

WISH LIST

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into Springs
These are a few of my favorite things...

HedgeHog Necklace by Piggy.

Proudly Posh Heel by ModCloth

Faux Ostrich Purse called "Lacy" by Miche.

Paris Oui Oui Earrings by Betsey Johnson.
Tibetan Alter Cabinet from Pearl River.

Blooming Teas by Tea Posy.

My Cat Odie

This is my crazy kitten, Odie. I found him on a pool inspection in Suwanee, GA. Britton and I spent a month of our lives waking up twice a night to nurse him and stimulate his bowels. Needless to say, after all those late night feeding sessions and a few close calls, we are quite attached to the little monster.

He leaps. He twirls. He gnashes.

Then just when you want to whack him with a pillow, he purrs and rubs his little head against your neck and...it's over.

But lately I've discovered my cat has a strange obsession. An obsession that involves interrupting us at our most intimate moments...

That's right.

The shower. Odie scrambles at the sound of flowing water. As soon as Britton or I grab a towel to dry off and sometimes even before, Odie is slipping between our legs to lick up the remnants of our shower water. IT IS WEIRD.

Observe.

He is a weirdo, but we love him anyway.

NYC NOMS: Day 5 and 6 and 7

Day 5:

Wednesday morning Britton and I fought our way through the steady rain to the South Seaport TKTS booth to round out our NY experience with a broadway show. A friend recommended this location for the short lines, but you still needed to get there early. Summer=tourists=lines. So we finally made it into the tiny ticket booth, and being Sinatra fans, we went with Come Fly Away.

We were meeting Britton's sister at the The Met in the afternoon, so we made a stop by Grand Central station to grab some lunch. Being completely drenched by the rain, Britton may or may not have removed his underwear in the men's restroom and dried them with a hand dryer. Though the food court at Grand Central seemed ridiculously large, we settled on Cafe Spice, an Indian fast food place.

Chicken tikka masala, chicken curry, and mango lassies. Yum!

After lunch, we made our way over to The Met. This museum is gorgeous, and I could spend several days looking at every exhibit. Their Egyptian collection is extensive, and we also enjoyed the armory exhibit. I went completely nuts over the Italian and French decor section of the museum. Whole rooms from Venetian and Parisian palaces and hotels were removed and transported the the museum. It was simply magical.

The Met has thousands of Egyptian artifacts on display. This is just a few of the many.

For dinner we took the subway to Chinatown to have soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai. THEY WERE SO DELICIOUS.

Scallion pancake. This didn't last very long.

And of course, soup dumplings. Britton shows you how to eat these little gems in this wonderful, though awkwardly long video.

SOUP DUMPLINGS!!!NOM

We closed out the night with Come Fly Away. There was no dialogue in this show, but various dance sequences set to the music of Frank Sinatra. It did not blow my mind, but it was enjoyable. We had seats in the front row, and the dancers were flinging sweat like crazy. We were terrified we would wacked with sweat during the first half of the show.

Day 6:

Thursday morning we hopped on the Subway for the long ride to Coney Island. Britton and I took a whirl on the famous Wonder Wheel while waiting for his sister to arrive from Queens.

For lunch, we ate at the original Nathan's hot dog stand. Britton was raving about these dogs, and they did not disappoint.

When Britton's sister arrived, we watched the all-girls Coney Island Freak Show, and afterward, had a freaky beer at the bar outside.

A view of Coney Island from the beach.

Dinner was at Katz's delicatessan. We grabbed a couple sandwiches, and as I was ordering my New York egg cream, I watched this Puerto Rican lady go completely bonkers on one of the carvers. Lesson learned. Don't separate a lady from her sandwich.

Hot Pastrami w/ half and full sour pickles.

Our next stop was the Empire State Building. As a child, I had seen Sleepless in Seattle a MILLION times on day time television, so the Empire State was the only very touristy item on my to-do list in New York. The lines were horrific, and the employees assigned to hustle us from one waiting room to another were loud, curt, and dressed in dull red. At one point in line they were shuffling people in front of this enormous camera for the token expensive we-were-here photo with the Empire State Building hovering in the background. Britton, his sister, and I decided we would pretend like we were flying, but when our turn came, the man yelled "SMILE!" and took the picture too fast for the three of us to get into position. The photographer laughed at the preview of the photo as we walked away. Later, when we saw the picture, I had my arm completely blocking my face and Britton's arms were partially raised. Britton's sister somehow managed to look like she was flying, but overall, a big fat FAIL.

Just spectacular views from the observation deck. We had to fight a million European and Asian tourists to get this unobstructed photo.

And this one.

It was chilly and VERY windy. In this picture I am holding my clothes on my body.

We bought a little magnet for our fridge that looks like this figurine. King Kong is like, "Who? Me?"

A lovely pitstop at Momofuku Milk Bar on our way home. On the left, a slice of grasshopper pie. Two pork buns w/ some sriracha. One container of cereal milk (which tastes just like the milk leftover from a bowl of frosted flakes.)

Day 7:

Friday started off with a tour of NBC Studios. We hung out with NBC interns while viewing the set of Nightly News with Brian Williams and SNL. After our tour, thanks to Britton's sister and Living Social, we got free froyo from Red Mango as well as a free SNL-themed t-shirt from the gift shop downstairs.

As I was devouring my froyo, I discovered this thing. It wasn't a computer...it was a big effin' table.

OOOOHH. Microsoft Surface. Britton was embarassed I was playing with it, but it had a virtual koi pond on it for goodness sake.

We also stopped by the Lego Store next to 30 Rock. BEST STORE EVER. There were lego depictions of different parts of New York, including statues from Rockefeller Center.

We also took a long stroll through Central Park.

I think this was a view from Belvedere Castle in Central Park.

Strawberry Fields memorial.

We three met Britton's friend at the Peking Duck House in Chinatown for dinner.

This place had FANTASTIC Peking duck, but I cannot vouch for the other dishes. The sweet and sour pork had pickles in it. Ew.

For dessert, we grabbed some free cupcakes (again, thank you Britton's sis and Living Social) from Butter Lane. I think this place is in "The Village" but don't take my word for it. I had a the banana cupcake with peanut butter frosting. Delicious. And Britton's sis gave the leftovers to a homeless man to spread the love even farther.

Video from the Lego Store.