First Blog of 2012

2012.  A New Year.  It brings new expectations and new hopes for changing for the better.  Last year I made my resolutions, and for the most part I’ve stuck with them to this day.  I haven’t regretted one single minute.  My life feels fuller, it feels more blessed, and I truly recognize how lucky I am.  Leave it to the year you turn 30 to make you re-examine yourself and your life.

This year I want to continue to participate, continue to challenge myself and continue to try and be someone other people want to be around, but those technically weren't my resolutions.

In all honestly I only made one resolution this year, and I broke it on the second day, so it doesn’t say much about the resolution or my commitment level.  Coke is just too good, and I love my mid-day treat with lunch.  I need to go back to convincing myself that water tastes just as yummy.  I have a hard time with that.

And I apologize for the lack of blogging, as I’m sure everyone has been anticipating some excellent little passions.   Stay tuned for some very passionate posts (for me at least) on sauces, being left-handed, Cadbury Mini Eggs and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  Who wouldn’t be passionate about those things?  I guess if you love your food dry, are right-handed, hate the Easter holiday and think orange powdered cheese gives you cancer, then you might not, but let’s not dwell on your imperfections (I kid, I kid).

To sum up, this year will be great – I can feel it in my 30-something year old bones, and I go forth with the knowledge that it will be lucky, because I had my black-eyed peas on the 1st.  Yay for 2012!

Cinnamon

I love cinnamon, and pretty much in all its varieties.  Many people think of cinnamon as a holiday thing, but it pretty much stays en vogue all year ‘round in my house.  So in honor of my love of cinnamon and the time of year, I’ve highted some of my very favorite things.

Scents

Home Sweet Home by Yankee Candle
Pretty much the best cinnamon candle out there.

Cinnamon Brooms
Ahh that holiday classic you smell as soon as you enter your neighborhood Publix come October.  I love these things.  Of course I never buy one though.   I have a four-legged feline that would probably try and eat it.  Scratch that, would eat it.

Flavors

Crest Pro-Health Clean Cinnamon
Fewer and fewer establishments are carrying this flavor of Crest toothpaste, but I still manage to find it every once in awhile, and boy, do I stock up.  I don’t want minty fresh breath people, I want cinnamon-y fresh breath if you please!

Cinnamon Disks by Brach’s
Oh yes, from the Brach’s candy dispenser in your neighborhood Publix.  My grandparents always had a little candy jar on their bureau when I was growing up, and it was filled with cinnamon disks and butterscotch candies.  Needless to say, I always went for the cinnamon disks.

Trident Cinnamon Gum

This little gem went missing from shelves a few years back, and it was impossible to find, so you had to settle for the Trident Cinnamon Whitening gum instead.  To me, it’s just not the same.  I’m thinking there was a huge outcry of disappointment and despair over its disappearance, so they brought it back.  I’m not a huge gum person in general, but you can believe I have several packs stored just in case.

Stuffing

Such an appropriate time of year for this blog post.  I’m passionate about stuffing.  As in the food.  That you eat with your Thanksgiving turkey.  I love it.  A lot.

I hope my numerous periods throughout that first paragraph really helped you understand the gravity of the situation.  If the only thing served at Thanksgiving was the stuffing, that would be A-OK with me.  

Even though my love for stuffing is very dear, I probably only eat it at big family dinners on Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I’m not a huge fan of the box stuff – even though Stovetop makes it so accessible anytime of year.  It’s just not the same.  I love the good stuff, the stuff your grandma makes from a long held family recipe (or one she made up on the fly).  My grandma’s recipe (that she got from my grandfather’s grandmother) uses cuban bread, and I think it makes all the difference.  So in honor of my grandma’s amazing stuffing, below is her recipe.  Try it out.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Grandma Ruth’s Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 pan cornbread (crumbled)

10 inches Cuban bread (broken into small pieces)

20 saltine crackers (crumbed – can use Ritz crackers)

1 cup cornflakes (crushed) – optional

4 cups of chicken broth

1/2 stick butter (melted)

1 1/2 cup onions (chopped)

1 cup celery (chopped)

2 tbsp parsley (chopped) – optional

2 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

Directions:

Sauté onions and celery in melted butter. Combine rest of the above and mix with chicken broth. Stuff bird or put into greased baking dishes and bake at 325 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

Simon & Garfunkel

Sometimes you just need a little Simon & Garfunkel in your life, right?  Right!  I mean, who doesn’t love the sweet sounds of the 60s to either brighten or soften your mood?

Although I’m a child of the 80’s and 90’s, the car rides with my mom growing up were always accompanied by great music from all eras.  Mainly the 60’s and 70’s, since that’s when she grew up.  She tried to instill a love of everything and not just what was popular.  I would say to this day I like pretty much everything.  I may listen to certain genres more than others, but if an oldie comes on the radio, I’m down to jam.

One of my faves from the past is Simon & Garfunkel.  I mean, what’s not to love?  They had awesome music, great classics to this day, and a unique sound all their own.  One of my fave songs is Cecilia because that’s my mom’s name – but she’s not a huge fan of the tune.  It may have something to do with the fact that the Cecilia in the song is kind of a slut.  I mean, she breaks a lot of hearts. 

My all-time favorite song though is A Hazy Shade of Winter.  I don’t know what it is about that song, but I just love it.  It’s so catchy, has a great beat, and when I need a dance break in the middle of the day at work – I do a little Simon & Garfunkel blasting.   I usually make sure a coworker or two is around to join in.  I like to call it my Simon & Garfunkel break, and I know DY and KK Reno have joined me a time or two.

So while this blog wasn’t very ground-breaking or all that insightful, I just wanted to share my passion of a well-known duo  like Simon & Garfunkel.  Maybe if I blast it now, I’ll get inspired to do some much-needed filing.  Or maybe not.  Oh well.

Cheese & Queso, Queso & Cheese

I know some of you are thinking, really, it’s taken her this long to write a blog about her most favorite food on the planet?  I know, I know.  I’ve really fallen down on the job, and for that I apologize.  So I’m here to rectify the situation.  Although, I should just go ahead and rename the blog right now, because this isn’t a “little“ passion.  It’s a huge one.  I love cheese.  A lot.  A really, really, really lot.

So cheese.  Delicious, delicious cheese.  I pretty much love all varieties.  There’s nothing better on a Friday night than settling into my big, comfy couch with a movie, a plate of cheese and a big (big) ‘ol glass of cold Chardonnay.  Ah yes.  Definitely the ideal Friday night of this single gal.  A Friday night of champions. 

Lately, my go-to cheeses have been the Dubliner Irish Cheddar and the Publix Deli Asiago wedge.  I slice myself off a few pieces (okay a lot of pieces), and then I drizzle with the greatest invention known to the modern-day man – Savannah Bee Company’s Cheese Honey.  Yes, you heard right.  Cheese honey.  It is sooo good. 

I really do think anything and everything is better with cheese.  Bleu on salad or plain, yum. Parmesan on pasta, delicioso.  Swiss, american and provolone on a sandwich, the more the merrier.  Gorgonzola and brie for special occasions, divine. 

So sums up my love of cheese in its pure form, but what about artificial cheddar flavoring you ask?  Please, I don’t discriminate.  Cheese-flavored whatever ranks high in my book as well.  Cheese puffs, cheddar pretzels, florescent orange nacho cheese, and if you recall, Cape Code White Cheddar Cheese Popcorn.  My love isn’t limited to the original form. 

But if I had to think long and hard about what form of cheese I like the best – it would have to be queso.  I pretty much could live off of chips and queso.  Three square meals a day – breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It wouldn’t matter to me.  Sometimes decisions on where to eat will revolve around whether or not the place has queso on the menu – it’s gotten that bad.  I keep a stash of it at home in the refrigerator.  Right now I’m into Gordo’s Cheese Dip Mild.  It does the job, so on those nights when I’m just not motivated to cook myself anything substantial, you can bet it will be a chips and queso kind of night.

And so we come full circle.  The moral of this compelling story...Every situation in life is better with a little cheese.

Cape Cod White Cheddar Popcorn

There are two kinds of people in this world, people who love popcorn, and people who don’t.  If you were to ask me in conversation, “Do you love popcorn?“  I’d probably say not really.  I don’t crave it – I don’t make it – I don’t even get it when I go to the movies, except on rare occasions.  And kettle corn?  No thanks.  Microwaveable?  I’ll pass.  It’s just not all that important to me. 

BUT, you put a bag of Cape Cod White Cheddar popcorn in front of me, and I devour it like there’s no tomorrow.  I can easily eat an entire bag in one sitting, but I usually try and minimize it to just half a bag.  I eat it for lunch, I eat it for dinner, hell, I’ll even eat it for breakfast.

Now I’ve tried other brands of white cheddar popcorn, and they just don’t stack up in my opinion.  They may be decent, and I guess if I had to eat them, I would, but nothing compares to Cape Cod.  It’s so delicious, and I’d definitely say I’m a bit obsessive about it.  Seriously, everyone should give it a try.

So in my quest to eat every bag ever produced, I’m always on the hunt for it.  The scarcity of the product probably drives my ever-increasing desire.  I wish more Publix‘ carried it, but only a few do.  And I know I can special order it through Customer Service, but a special shout out to my mom for keeping my supply of this delicious delicacy in stock in my pantry.  She goes above and beyond in bringing me a bag or two every time she sees me.  Without her, I’d probably be going through withdrawals.  So thanks mom for keeping my obsession alive…and stop trying to keep a bag for yourself now and then.  Your Publix carries it every day of the week.

The moral of this little diddy is this – if we’re just talking popcorn, eh, I can take it or leave it.  But if we’re talking Cape Cod White Cheddar popcorn, well then, that’s a much different story.  Why didn’t you say so?  Of course I’d like a handful or two or three, or the whole bag.  I mean, we wouldn’t want it to go to waste, would we?  In fact…there’s a bag in my pantry calling my name right now.  Cape Cod deliciousness here I come!

Happy to be here...

A lot of my friends have become self-reflective over the past week, and its understandable why.  So I wanted to take this opportunity to remind myself of what I'm most grateful for - beautiful locations I'm still able to visit, amazing friends and family, and my mom, dressed like the ultimate tourist.  Love to you all!