Birthday Brunch We had a birthday brunch for my sister this past weekend and it was super fun. While all of the items were homemade, I am highlighting the Potato Stackers because I was shocked at how simple it was to make and how this makes such a great side dish that can really elevate your plate. It was a small family affair with great food, conversation, and wine. After brunch, we headed to the movie theater to see The Post. It is based on the actual events and government deceit at the time of the Vietnam War and how the…
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Whew! Thanksgiving, Hannukah, Christmas, New Years, and then Snow-mageddon. I need a drink! Good thing the January SC2RW wine tasting and social is set for January 18, 2018, at Monarch Wine Merchants. Justin, owner and wine man extraordinaire has put together a great line up of five fabulous pinot noir wines to taste and share. This tasting is that is not to be missed. Did you see the article in the Post & Courier last week about the “‘new’ wine school train of thought” and how Charleston has jumped on board? Monarch Wine Merchants is central to this story, so there is no better…
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I had lots of great responses to the pickled shrimp recipe that I posted last week. And just so you know I ate it for several days and while it evolved, it remained delicious to the bitter end. So now let’s talk about the beverages that we enjoyed on New Year’s Eve. Pickled Without Trying To be clear there is very little forethought that goes into what we drink on NYE. Every one of us brings several wines that we want to share. We then line it up and decide the order that it should be consumed based on our…
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My neighbor, Natalie of Designer Bags & Dirty Diapers, has two lemon trees in her yard that are prolific producers of huge, juicy fruit. We have two lemon trees that produce nothing but thorns. Thankfully, Nat is very generous with her bounty and tells us to take what we want. A friend of mine who is a food photographer and stylist had just made lemon curd, and it was fantastic. So I asked for the recipe. Fresh lemons right off the tree would make fantastic curd. Here we go! I have made it twice. It is really delicious. And yes, I…
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During my childhood, we ate pumpkin pie from Thanksgiving to Christmas. I love love, love pumpkin pie and I can never get enough of it. I also love croissants and bread pudding too. So this year I had the hair-brained idea to make a bread pudding using croissants and pumpkin pie filling. To make the custard I slightly modified the recipe for the pumpkin pie custard by adding more liquid and eggs and adjusting the spices. This dessert has a milder flavor than pumpkin pie but still enough to satiate my cravings. My turkey may be the centerpiece of Thanksgiving, but to…
3 CommentsLast Sunday, we got together for Happy Hour with our fave neighbors Michelle and Natalie. Michelle hosted at her house which was perfect because both families of kids could all play together in another room and toys were aplenty to keep them occupied. I volunteered an appetizer to help out. I have been daydreaming about making a gruyere and caramelized onion tart, but I was too exhausted from Saturday’s wedding to deal with and make a crust so I decided that Bisquick biscuit bites would be the way to go. For some reason using Bisquick for a drop biscuit is acceptable in my brain…
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It is autumn, so my cravings for apple desserts has been building. I wasn’t sure if I wanted a crumble, a crisp, a cobbler, a buckle, a Brown Betty, a grunt or a slump. Confused? A crumble has an oat-based streusel topping. A crisp has a streusel topping sans oats. A cobbler is topped with individually-dropped biscuits. A buckle uses a cakey batter underneath the fruit and as the fruit sinks to the bottom the cake “buckles” over the edges of the fruit. A grunt and a slump is the same thing; it just depends on where you live. They are both cobblers that…
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I promised that I would share with you one of the “grilled out” dinners from last week. This Brined, Grilled Pork Loin with Kale Pesto was the bomb, as were the sides so you will get all three today. But before I get there, I gotta tell you I am moving a bit slow today. I even needed another cup of coffee after I drained the pot. This cup is even topped off with a shot of espresso! Cheers everybody. You see, we had our new neighbors over for happy hour. A great couple and their two young daughters moved here from Hawaii. We…
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