Wilde Week #25

Busy busy week in the Wilde household.  It's been a fun combination of going on interviews (yay!) and spending days with other unemployed friends (more yay!).  I'm trying to enjoy my unemployed time, because it (hopefully) won't last forever!

Curious about how a science interview works?  Stop back Tuesday and I'll explain the whole long, involved process.  I'll also treat you to some cake.  That involves cookie dough.  Yum.

- Looking for a fun place to have lunch of dinner in NYC?  BF and I headed to the East Village this week and had dinner at The Meatball Shop.  It was delicious.  You can choose from naked meatballs, meatballs piled on top of pasta, potatoes or veggies, meatball sandwiches or meatballs smashed on toast.  They also have homemade cookies and ice cream sandwiches.  So good.

- I am a PB&J lover at heart.  Audra made these amazing looking PB&J cookies this week and I'm totally in love with them.  Look at how perfect they are!

- We don't spend all our time in the city, BF and I explore what New Jersey has to offer too!  We spent Saturday in Hoboken and had some ridiculous pancakes at Stacks.  I had the Chunky Monkey - their original fluffy pancakes, topped with peanut butter, bananas and chocolate chips.  I was full after one pancake.

- Chocolate pretzel bread pudding?  I'm in love.

- BF and I are two weeks away from doing our second Spartan Race.  Last year I finished the 11-mile race in just under four hours, the last three miles during an outright downpour.  Here's hoping they adapted the course for this year and that I don't have to run up a ski slope three times...  Anyone else headed to the NJ Super Spartan?  See you there!

- Question for you - What candies remind you most of Halloween?  I'm getting ready for a candy-filled fall and I'd love some suggestions and requests!  Pop your favorite in the comment section!

Blueberry Chocolate Truffles

I haven't made you candy in such a long time!  In order to make up for it, I made you the most decadent chocolate treat around - the truffle.

Made from chocolate, heavy cream and butter, these truffles are not diet friendly.  In reality though, you won't want to eat more than one.  They satisfy a chocolate craving in just two bites.

These aren't just chocolate truffles though, they are infused with blueberry flavor!  You don't have to wait for blueberries to be in season to make these, you just have to find a box of blueberry tea at the store.

After making these truffles I realized that I've been missing the fun of candy making.  Get set to see some more candies this fall!  The holidays are going to be sweet around here.

Wilde Week #24

- It was a week of amazing food in the city.  I'm still job hunting and have copious amounts of weekday mornings to meet my former coworkers in the city for brunch, lunch and treats.  I'm totally recreating that pizza from Risotteria at home.  (Risotteria is home to amazing gluten-free pizza, pasta and risotto)

- My Ph.D. days are behind me (finally!) but this Buzzfeed post still hits home...  I totally relate to #17.

- I am a sucker for all things Rice Krispy Treat.  But Krispy treat frosting?  I'm going bananas.

- I want an entire pan of these brownies.  I don't want to share them.  Where are my fat pants?

- Weather in the Mid-Atlantic has been totally manic-depressive these past few weeks.  Chilly in the morning, hot in the afternoon, mild in the evening.  I have to wear three different things over the course of the day!

- The in-laws were in town this weekend and we enjoyed some of the usual NYC suspects.  Times Square for people watching, Ground Zero to pay respects, a walk around the villages to get some tasty treats and...  The Stardust Diner!  I've never been there before but it was so much fun!  Totally touristy and goofy (the waiters sing while you eat your breakfast), but they have banana and nutella stuffed French toast.  OMG.  Amazing.  Go. Eat.  Sing along.

Stuffed Chicken & Quinoa Pilaf

I want to eat this meal for the next month.  Simple, flavorful and delicious.  Shallots are magic roots.

This dinner was super simple.  I prepared the stuffed chicken a day ahead of time, giving it some time to meld together and make it easier to cook.  When dinnertime rolled around, all I had to do was prepare the sauce and saute the chicken.  It was so simple and easy!  This shallot sauce would be amazing over pork, fish, it might even make tofu taste good.

The side dish was just as easy to put together.  Nothing is simpler than making quinoa.  Just boil up the grain with some chicken stock and water, saute some red peppers and pistachios.  Poof!  Side dish is ready to go.   Dinner in a snap.  And it will be so good.  Do it.

Peach Melba Linzer Bars

I am totally in love with these bars.  

I've never made a Linzer bar before, but I will definitely be making them again.  They are so stinkin' good!  The reason why they are so delicious?  Toasted hazelnuts.  Amazing.

These bars were a lot of work to make.  Between roasting and skinning the hazelnuts, preparing the dough and rolling out and filling the pastry, it probably took half the day to complete this dessert.  It was so worth it.  I refused to share any of these bars with anyone else.  So. Good.

The major delicious part of this dessert is the hazelnut dough.  You can totally fill the pastry with your favorite jam.  I went with a combination of raspberry and peach, a little take on the peach melba.  Since this treat is filled with jam, rather than fresh fruit, you can make it at any time of the year.  I plan on making it again in the winter, with jam made from this summers farmers market fruits.

Stitch Fix #4 - Review at WITC!

Hey foodie friends! In order to keep WITK all about food, I'm relocating my Stitch Fix posts over to Wilde in the City! Stop by at check out my latest fix.  And if you're a size medium, enter to win a cute skirt that just wasn't my style!

Wilde Week #23

I'm officially unemployed today!  The past three months have been a part of a generous severance from my former company, kind of like a three month paid vacation.  Now that the three months are over, I have to really hit the pavement and find myself a new gig!  In my last week of paid vacation I had lots of fun...

- Weekday brunch is one of the best parts of my summer this year.  There is a very popular place in Montclair called Raymond's.  They make the best French toast.  It's crunchy on the outside, creamy in the middle and the absolutely perfect way to start a Tuesday.  Just not every Tuesday, the portions are enormous!

- Maybe you're not likely to come out and visit my in Montclair, NJ, but you might be heading to NYC sometime soon.  Weekday brunch with my city friends this week found us in the West Village at Cafe Cluny.  Hello amazing French fries.  So good!

- My August Stitch Fix box arrived in the mail this week!  I asked for some summer to fall transition pieces and they delivered.  Check out the details of the Fix later this week at Wilde in the City.  A giveaway is involved this month!  Now I just need to get myself a new job so I can keep having clothes sent to me by mail!

- Owls are still showing up in fashion this fall!  I'm jazzed because owls are super adorable and I really want to wear my owl sweater this winter!  (this cute number is from Anthropologie)

- Want a fun and quick read for a day at the beach?  I just finished reading Waiter Rant and really enjoyed it.  Of course I don't want to hear about any waiter being malicious to customers, but I love hearing stories about crazy customers!

- Nothing says business formal like socks with hot dogs on them.  Drop by Urban Outfitters and get yourself some.  And some for your friends.

Time to hit the internets and find a new opportunity!

Vanilla Soda & Ice Cream Floats

Carbonate everything!

Ever since I got my soda siphon at the flea market, I've been making so many different homemade sodas!  I seriously want to carbonate everything.  Pretty much anything I can pour into the siphon has a chance of being carbonated.  Except milk, I'm pretty sure that would be just weird.

Having an endless array of soda flavors also gives me endless possibilities of ice cream float flavors!  Which is exactly what I had in mind when I prepared this all natural vanilla soda.

Sure, you could buy some cream soda from the store.  Or you could quickly make this vanilla soda from all natural flavors!  It's seriously simple too.  All you need is a vanilla bean and some palm sugar.  Sure, palm sugar is a specialty ingredient (you can find it in my aStore on the bottom right!), but it gives this soda an distinct flavor.

Make it.  Pour it over ice cream.  Enjoy in a comfy spot outdoors.  Do it do it do it!

Chile-spiced Chicken with Mango Salsa

How is it August 6th already?  It was just fourth of July like two days ago!  This summer is running away from me and I'm even unemployed and can enjoy every day in the sun.

July was jam-packed with travel.  I spent a week in Buffalo, visiting family I hadn't seen in years, eating locals treats and playing with my parents puppies.  After that I was in Arizona with BF for another week, sweating it out in the Phoenix heat, being awed by amazing geography and taking the longest hike I've even done in my life.

Upon our return from Arizona, we returned to New Jersey to find milder temperatures and rain.  Lots of rain.  That's okay though.  I use the rainy days to focus on my future career plans.  I'm really ready to head back to work after three months off.  I'm running out of things to do at home and I really miss working in the lab!  I'm going to try to make the most of my remaining time off (which hopefully isn't too much more!) and enjoy the last few weeks of summer!  Mostly by eating more fruit.

I made this chicken dinner last week and knew I would love it.  I also knew that BF would leave every last bit of mango on his plate.  He just really doesn't like fruit.  Such a weirdo!  Personally I love fruit with savory dishes and loved the mango salsa with the spice rubbed chicken.  I also got to use one of my new OXO tools - the mango splitter!  While it's totally easy to pit a mango without one, it took about three seconds to pit the mango with it!  I also thought I would show my step-by-step how-to cut a mango pics.  Now you know and it's so much easier than you thought!

Thanks go to OXO for sending me an amazing package of summer fruit tools, including this mango splitter, through the blogger outreach program.  All opinions about the tools are my own, but I have yet to find an OXO tool that doesn't do it's job!  Check out some of their fruit tools and enjoy the summers bounty!

Say Hello to WITC!

I've been wanting to expand my online postings from the food arena and post about some of my other loves - fashion, photography, NYC, travel, etc, etc...  In order to keep WITK focused on cooking and all my fun adventures in the kitchen, I've launched Wilde in the City!

Feel free to stop by occasionally and see what life outside the Wilde Kitchen is like.  And thanks so much for making the internet such a fun place for me to come!

Why Bother? Challenge 2012

There are some things that you think, "Why bother making this, when I can get it from the store?"  Like, why would I make my own sausage when it comes in all these delicious flavors in the meat case?  Or, why bother making my own crackers when Ritz makes one fine butter cracker?  It's these questions that I plan to answer.  Is it worth making your own?

Using all of your suggestions, the 2012 calendar has been prepared and the challenge is ready.  The Wilde Kitchen presents...

Why Bother? Challenge 2012

January 12 - Chicken Stock & Vegetable Stock

January 26 - Soft Pretzels

February 11 - Fondant

February 23 - Flavored Bagels

March 8 - Fat-Free Yogurt & Greek Yogurt

March 22 - Buffalo Sauce

April 12 - Potato Chips (baked & fried)  This challenge beat me & I'm still working out the recipes!

April 19 - Salad dressing (creamy & vinaigrette)

May 3 - Hamburger & Hot Dog Buns

May 24 -  Ketchup & Mustard

May 31 - Pickles

June 14 - Ricotta Cheese

June 28 - Gnocchi

July 12 - Canned Jam  (strawberry-lemon & ginger-pear)

July 27 - Corn Tortillas & Flour Tortillas

August 9 - Mozzarella Cheese

August 23 - Sandwich Bread (Whole Wheat & Pesto Swirled White Bread)

September 6 - Thai Chili Sauce & Coconut Milk

September 20 - Homemade Sodas (Strawberry Cream Soda & Raspberry-Lime Rickey)

October 4 - Pasta (Sun-dried Tomato Ravioli and Basil Cream Sauce)

October 18 - Almond Milk

November 1 - Breakfast sausage  Cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy!

November 15 - Nut Butters

Bronchitis Struck the Wilde Household!  The following challenges have been pushed into the new year!

January 3 - Granola Bars (Granola Bar Muffins & No-bake, Chewy Granola Bars)

January 17 - Crackers  (Thin Wheat Crackers & Ginger-Curry Crackers)

January 31 - Flavored Soft Cheeses (Honey-Cinnamon Cream Cheese & Sun-dried tomato-Basil Cream Cheese)

Restaurant Wars Challenge 2013

Restaurant Wars!

We all love going out to dinner, but there is nothing like a homemade meal.  Apparently we just can't be satisfied.  But what if you could replicate your favorite restaurant experience in your own home?

Eating at home, you save money, time and calories.  So maybe you want to recreate the whole experience, from bread basket to dessert.  Or perhaps you just can't get enough of that one dish from your favorite place.  This year is about making your dining room the most popular place to get a Friday night reservation.

Starting in February, twice a month I'll bring you a new popular restaurant, straight from my kitchen.  Boyfriend and I will do due diligence and eat at each restaurant, to be sure we have an understanding of the entire restaurant experience.

Here's to another delicious year!

February 14 - Chipotle

February 28 - Olive Garden

March 14 - Red Lobster

April 18 - California Pizza Kitchen (Rosemary Chicken & Potato Pizza)

May 2 - Cheesecake Factory (Raspberry White chocolate mini cheesecakes)

Due to my unexpected loss of employment, I've become a bit distracted from this challenge!  Some restaurants have been shifted around, some removed.  Thanks for your patience!!!

July 12 - Dairy Queen (Cherry Magic Shell)

July 25 - IHOP (Stuffed French Toast with Peach Compote)

August 1 - Swiss Chalet

August 15 - Red Mango  (Pumpkin Spice Frozen Yogurt)

August 29 - Panera (Mac 'n' Cheese & Fall Harvest Turkey Salad)

September 19 - Auntie Annies  (Cinnamon Raisin Soft Pretzel & Pretzel Bites)

Candy Collection

Thanks for coming along on Candy Challenge 2011!!!  I can't believe what a year it has been and how much sugar, corn syrup and chocolate I have gone through!  While the year is over, my candy-making adventure has only begun.  This year has really taught me that you can make anything yourself, you don't have to resort to buying it from the store.  I have several requests from you all to complete and a new candy cookbook to delve into, so look forward to new candy recipes in the new year.  Haven't tried making candy yourself?  Give it a go this year, it's totally worth it.

Sponge Candy FAQ

If you want to make your own candy, the following tools with come in handy!

1a. Candy Thermometer (makes boiling sugar a lot easier)
1b. Digital Candy Thermometer (My new favorite!)

2. Heavy pot with tall sides

3a. Parchment paper
3b. Silpats

4. Pastry scraper

5. Cookie sheets

6. Candy molds (they are super cheap, between $2-3 a piece!)

7. Plastic spatulas

8. Stand mixer or Hand mixer (you'll develop some mean biceps using a hand mixer!)
9. Gloves (you can get these at Michaels or other craft store)
10. Candy dipping tools

Wilde Week #23

It's been a quiet week around the Wilde household.  I'm happy to tell you that I've fully recuperated from our 15 mile hike in the Grand Canyon and I've gotten back to my running/BodyPump home routine.  I've been spending most of my time this week networking and applying for jobs.  So instead of telling you all about that, I thought I would share with you some of my favorite things from this summer.  From apps to nail polish, food stuffs to clothes - maybe you'll find a new favorite too!

Stylebook (app) - I downloaded to my iPhone this after reading about it in one of my magazines.  It costs a couple of dollars but it keeps track of all of my clothes!  It's like having Cher's closet from Clueless (which was released in 1995!!!) in the palm of your hand.  After putting all of my clothes, shoes and accessories into the app (it took a long time), I can now keep track of what I wear each day and create new outfits for days I'm too lazy to pick something out.  My only disappointment - it doesn't make outfits for me.  Maybe in the next update?

Bones (TV) - It's official, I'm totally addicted to this show.  I first started watching it because it is on for four hours during the day on FX.  It helps fill the air as I work on my resume and interview presentations.  The only problem was - FX doesn't air the show in any order!  People are pregnant/dating/married/dead in one episode, next hour they're non-pregnant/separated/alive.  It's confusing.  I switched over to watching it on Netflix and finally the last season on Hulu.  Sadly I've run out of episodes and have to wait until season 9 begins in a few weeks.  What should I watch next?

Julep Maven (subscription box) - I just talked about my Stitch Fix box earlier this week, but really my favorite monthly box is Julep Maven.  What's in it?  Nail Polish!!!  And you know me and nail polish.  I have a problem/addiction.  It costs $19.99 a month (which is a deal because a single bottle costs $14!) and you get 3 items.  2 polishes and one extra item or 3 polishes.  I always get fun colors and it cheers me up when I see the box in the mail!  Click here if you want to check it out! (It's a referral link from me!)

C Wonder (clothing store) - A few weeks ago while wandering through Soho, I came across this shop.  I always thought it was a paper store because of the bright colors.  When I finally went in I discovered a shop filled with color and some seriously adorable clothes, jewelry and home goods.  Most of their stores are located on the East Coast, but you can order online and get some color for yourself!

Red pepper Jelly - Sometimes I find that making lunch and sitting down to eat it is a lot of work.  I've found myself slathering thinly sliced whole grain bread with laughing cow Swiss cheese spread and topping it with a good portion of red pepper jelly.  It is so good.  I get my red pepper jelly from Berkshire Berries at the Union square green market.  Do it do it do it!

That's all for this week!  What have you been loving recently?  I always love a new find!  Stay busy and enjoy the nice weather!