short and sweet

Well, I've once again been temporarily M.I.A., this time thanks to the process of lining up a post-grad, career-building job and moving to the big city (well, as big as you can get in this state, anyway). After a nerve-wracking interview today, I decided to relax a little by unpacking my kitchen things and making a pitcher of sweet tea. The perfect way to unwind and refresh myself.


Sweet tea 
8 C fresh water
8 bags Lipton tea

1/2 C sugar 


Bring the water to a boil, then let it rest for about two minutes. Add the tea bags and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags. Stir in the sugar until it is dissolved. Refrigerate the tea until cool, and serve in a large tumbler full of ice. Ahhh...


Sweet tea is one of those Southern things that's hard to find here in the Midwest, but super easy to make! And it's easy to experiment with... I like peppermint sweetened with honey for a change of pace. Try your own combinations - tea and sweetener varieties abound! Feel free to share whatever you discover sweetens your day. :)

Cheers! 

à votre santé

It never fails that when anyone close to me gets sick, my mother hen instincts kick into overdrive. Case in point: when Parker came down with strep throat last week, I instantly made sure he got on the right antibiotics and stayed on the couch, and supplied him with plenty of Gatorade and chicken soup.

Depending on how much time I have, I either buy a rotisserie chicken for meat and use bouillon cubes for broth, or I buy a whole chicken and make homemade stock.

monday tradition: hot wings

Funny story... I used to kind of hate wings. I felt like they were too fiddly and messy to eat - generally not worth the hassle. And the whole meat-on-the-bone thing? Believe it or not, I was once really squeamish about such things. (Had you told high school me that I'd one day prefer cooking raw, whole chicken for soups and stocks rather than using boneless, skinless chicken breasts and carton chicken broth, I would have laughed. And laughed. And maybe given you a dirty look.) Then a little rumour started circulating in Cedar Falls. It changed everything.

The summer of 2010, over our weekly cup of Cold Stone (why is it that my friends and I always seem to form food habits?), one of the guys mentioned that he heard a Buffalo Wild Wings was going to open just across the street.

comfort food, southwest style

I like cooking. I really do. But sometimes I just run out of fresh ideas, or feel too wiped out to try anything new and complicated. Thankfully, my guy is good at coming to dinner's rescue. He suggested enchilada casserole the other night - something I'd never made, but he assured me it was quick, easy and inexpensive... not to mention it would be an ample amount of food for all the boys. Perfect!

on a roll

'Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.'            
                                                  - James Beard

You know how a while back I confessed I'd never really made a pie crust? Bread is sort of the same story. I've made a few attempts, but since I moved out of my parents' home - hence away from the bread machine - the one or two loaves of bread I tried making just seemed to fall flat (literally). Maybe it was old yeast, maybe impatience in kneading... whatever the case, I kind of let bread-making fall away from my skill set. 


Of course, there's nothing better than a freshly baked loaf of bread or batch of rolls just out of the oven.

pig on pig

'If you want a subject, look to pork!' 

                        - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Digging through my fridge yesterday morning hoping to find some inspiration for dinner, I hit the jackpot with the discovery of a thawed pork loin (thank you, past self!) and a few slices of bacon. Combined with the makings for green bean casserole, which I found in my pantry, and some homemade rolls and apple sauce, we'd have a nice dinner - enough to share with friends, even.

car bomb cupcakes

There are only two kinds of people in the world: the Irish,
and those who wish they were. 


I have two traditions on St. Patrick's Day: drinking from dawn to well past dusk, and supplying friends and bar staff with car bomb cupcakes. The latter is thanks to one of my friends who a few years ago, on his way to work at 5 a.m., woke me up with a text demanding that I bake him Guinness cupcakes with Bailey's frosting. Two of my favourite drinks in a delicious portable dessert? Yes, please!