Wilde Week #1

I have been mulling this over for a while and I have decided to add a weekly post - "Wilde Week."  Every Sunday will bring seven highlights of happenings in my life this past week.  They could be silly and useless (see number 3) or something a little more important (nothing strikes me as terribly important this week).  I'd like to use it to share something more personal from my life with friends and family that I don't see nearly enough and everyone else out there in the intertubes who I call my blog friends (we're friends, right?) 

Maybe you'll see something that you really like (hello number 5).  Perhaps you'll be concerned over my living situation (yes, number 1, I'm looking at you).  You could even have a solution to my problem of the week (this week, went rather smoothly, unless you know how to methylate alpha to a ketone with 100% yeild.  Yes? No?)  Or you could just decide to skip Sundays post and wait to hear from me on Tuesday with a new recipe!  It's all good! 

So I hope that you had yourself a great week.  I present you with my Wilde Week.

1. Boyfriend has lost his mind. In living with a crazy person.  You saw a glimpse of this a few weeks ago when I made hot dog shaped cookies.  Well, he's done it again.  And while yes, he is a bit of a crazy person, I love him and he makes me fall off the couch laughing.  Please enjoy - Born to be Tasty. 

2. Buffalo Pretzel Chicken.  I made this Taste of Home recipe earlier in the week.  Except, I made it more amazing.  Please please please, go to the store and buy some Hanover Buffalo Pretzels.  Use those in this recipe.  Replace the dressing with blue cheese dressing and prepare yourself to be amazed.  Maybe I'll post this recipe to the weekly post another time.  I made it and immediately ate it this week.  No time for pictures, too hungry.

3. Iodine is super pretty.  And when you dissolve it in liquid, it turns the liquid pink, then red, then purple!

4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.  I usually read at least a book a week while spending four hours a day commuting to and from work.  This weeks book is The Night Circus!  If you are a fan of fantasy reading, this book is one that you should check out.  Set in the late nineteenth century, it's about magic, love, mystery with a little bit of suspense.  I've still got about 80% left to read and I can't wait to see how it ends! 

5. Cindy's Kitchen pear vinaigrette.  I am totally addicted to this salad dressing.  It has increased my salad consumption by 300% and I already eat a lot of salads!  I have only been able to find this dressing at Fairway Market, though I've gotten some of the other flavors at Whole Foods (the Asiago and Cracked Peppercorn is pretty darned good too).  I will put this pear vinaigrette on salads, grilled chicken, pork, breakfast cereal, hot dogs, tater tots.  Seriously, anything would be more delicious with this stuff drizzled over it.  You'll notice I have two bottles, I don't want to run out!  (Disclaimer - Cindy's Kitchen doesn't know me, I bought all that dressing myself, I am a salad dressing addict now.  Please send help, or more salad dressing.

6. iPhone camera lenses. BF got these for me for christmas this year and they have seriously improved my camera phone pics.  You stick a metallic ring around the camera on your phone, then these guys just clip on and off with use of magnets!  I've got the macro lens and the fish eye lens.  They are totally useful when I want to take a nice picture while out in the city, but don't want to look like a lost tourist.

7. This hat is awesome.  I had to wait for the train for twenty minutes on Wednesday night.  It was very very cold out.  You know what wasn't cold?  My head.  Because of this awesome hat!  You know what was cold?  My butt.  Because I'm too stupid to buy a coat that covers my rear end.  Luckily we are in for a warm spell next week, because while this hat is super warm, I look like a total goofball when I wear it.

Cavatappi Pasta with Sausage and Butternut Squash

Winter has finally struck the New York City area!  I knew this was coming, we can't go a full year without a week or two of frigid temperatures.  I'm just going to say that I would have been perfectly fine if the temperature never dropped below freezing. 

I know my mom is reading this and saying "But you grew up in Buffalo!"  Yes I did.  I also went to grad school in Wisconsin and spent a year living in Colorado.  Yet, I moved to the coast and have since thawed.  No longer do I want to deal with minus twenty wind chills and three feet of snow on my car.  I no longer own a winter coat that resembles a down comforter with sleeves.  I don't want to wear two pairs of pants while I wait for the train to work.  If there were jobs for chemists in Florida, I would be there in a second!

January is almost at it's end and February in the Mid-Altantic region is a smattering of warm and cold days.  I just have to make it through two weeks of wind chill.  There is only one problem with these cold days.  Boyfriend and I are house hunting.

That's right, we are getting ready to put down some roots and stop paying the ridiculous rent on our current apartment.  It's exciting, overwhelming and scary all at once.  Our first major problem, we're not set on a location yet.  It's not as simple as, do we live in this neighborhood or the one next to it?  Our question is - Do we live in New York or New Jersey?

There are a million factors to take into account.  Boyfriend and I work in two different states, he drives, I commute via train.  New Jersey has high property taxes yet New York has those darned city taxes.  Brooklyn is so hip and cool, Jersey city is... well, I have no idea what Jersey city has to offer.  I've only been there a few times!

So, see all the issues we have to deal with!  Add in the fact that it's chilly out and we are spending our Sundays trekking all over the two cities looking at open houses, you've got two very chilly individuals.  Luckily we have a few months before we have to leave our current apartment, the weather can warm up before we have to move. 

I'll just be a little crazy for the next few months, what with the stalking the NYtimes real estate page for new listings.  During that time I plan on making lots of dinners like this.  Ones that make a ton of leftovers! 

Anyone out there recently buy a house and have some tips and tricks for us?  While Boyfriend has previously bought a condo in Buffalo, this will be our first place together and my first purchase (Hello Property Virgin!).  So much to do, will we ever find a place?

Why Bother 2012 - Crackers

Before I can get started on those 2013 goals, I have to finish my 2012 ones!  We've only got two challenges left in the Why Bother, make it at home challenge!  I'm almost 100% recovered from my bout with bronchitis (Did you know the cough from bronchitis can last for up to three months!???!  Boyfriend knows all too well) and I spent the weekend making crackers!

Crackers are a very prominent snack in the Wilde household.  About an hour after dinner, every night of the week, boyfriend heads to the cupboard and brings a box of Wheat Thins to the couch.  He proceeds to eat about half of the box.  I'm thinking I need to feed him larger portions for dinner.

For the Cracker Challenge, I thought that I should try to replace Boyfriends favorite snack with something a little healthier.  The first recipe I made was a simple wheat cracker, with a hint of salt.  They were beyond easy to make and came out just like the plain store bought brand!  The trick?  Sizing bands for the rolling pin.  I use a Wilton brand fondant rolling pin with the ring guides.  The 1/16-inch guide gave a nice even dough for cutting the crackers.  They came out crispy and delicious!

Did boyfriend have any of them?  No, he did not.  He is a fan of the highly flavored variety of the crackers and I am at a loss at how to make a powdered sun-dried tomato flavoring.  The whole wheat crackers are all mine!

I thought that I would try to ply BF with a flavored cracker, since it's his vice.  Rather than make him something that we could pick up in the cracker aisle, I decided on something fresh and flavorful.  We both love Indian food, so when I saw this recipe for ginger and curry crackers I knew it would be a winner. 

The dough for these crackers came together just as fast as the first batch and they came out such a beautiful yellow color!  The apartment smelled warm and inviting and it made me want to order in some curry.  Topped with a smidge of cream cheese and red pepper jelly, these crackers are the perfect snack.

So, will I stop buying crackers at the store?  I don't think boyfriend will let me, he loves his nightly Wheat Thins too much.  I am happy to know how easy it is to thrown a batch of crackers in the oven.

One more challenge to go before we head into the Restaurant War!  Stay tuned in two weeks for our final homemade challenge - soft cheeses!  It's going to be so exciting, maybe I'll make some bagels to pair up with my homemade cream cheese.