Sunday, February 23, 2014

Birthday Brunch!



This week is very special because my best friend and mom is turning the big 5-0 on Thursday!  We obviously had to commence the festivities the weekend before her birthday, so we decided to have a girls day complete with brunch, shopping, and coffee.  We started the day off right by ordering delicious mango mimosas at Press Wine Bar in Tremont.  They were so good that we felt obligated to get a second round during our meal...it's a celebration week! 

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Valentine's Day!


Valentine's Day was great this year because it was full of surprises!  Howie and I tried Chinato, a fantastic East 4th Street restaurant that I hadn't been to before, a new type of wine, French Pinot Noir, which I didn't know existed, a new brand of chocolate from Lilly Handmade Chocolates in Tremont, and a new dessert recipe I invented: Baileys-infused chocolate cake with a chocolate mocha mouse and Heath bar bits.  Any day that involves you and a loved one consuming Italian food, wine, chocolate, and then more chocolate, coffee, and Baileys afterwards is bound to be an excellent day!


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Sweets For Your Sweetie


Valentine's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays.  I love the romantic dinners, flowers, and cards...but my favorite part is without a doubt eating as many sweets as my heart desires for the entire day!  My love for this day and all of the sweets that go along with it began when I was younger.  My mom would bake my brother and I our own massive cookie hearts in our favorite type of dough, and it made me look forward to the holiday every year.  Now that I'm older, I like to bake all the people that are special to me something delicious to carry on the tradition for Valentine's Day.  I promise my Italian Buckeyes and Nutella Heart Cookies are better than any storebought chocolates!


Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Tortellini Soup

If you saw my last blog pot, you can imagine that I was looking forward to a Superbowl Sunday filled with snacks, beer, and friends.  But by the time the weekend got underway, Howie and I were both feeling under the weather.  Since we didn't want to go anywhere, we made the best of a bad situation and stayed in with all of the essentials: cable, big bowls of tortellini soup, cheesy garlic bread, and Blue Moon with gigantic oranges to get some Vitamin C.  Unlike many soups, this tortellini soup can be made in less than 45 minutes, and always hits the spot on a cold winter night (the leftovers hit the spot anytime...the recipe tastes even better the second day)!  The only thing that could have made the night better would be a football game with 2 teams playing well!