Ski Weekend in Stratton

About a month ago, I was at Mai & Paul's place mentioning how I really wanted to get back into skiing regularly this year, but it was hard to match up schedules with my few friends who do ski. They quickly told me how they had found a great deal on lift tickets at Stratton on liftopia.com, invited me to join, and in a matter of 5 minutes, I was on my way to booking my first ski weekend of the season. What a fun and yum weekend it was!

Post-Sandy Sandwiches and Cocktails

Well, I have my power back, but, I am still without heat, hot water, and gas. Since I could not really cook anything, Mai & Paul invited me over for dinner. They warned that they had to throw out all their food too, given the 5-day outage. I suggested something simple. Grilled cheese? Done.

After oooh-ing and aah-ing at the newest addition to Mai and Paul's family, a sweet, baby blue colored Le Crueset, we got to work at prepping. Paul ran out to get cheese.  We were dreaming of gruyere or emmentaler, but, the cheese section at Fine Fare was thread bare. Of course, the only thing New Yorkers want to eat after not having power for 5 days are fine cheeses and charcuterie. Of course. (Ok, to be fair, I'm sure that Fine Fare had to throw away a lot of cheese because of the power outage, and just didn't get a new shipment in yet).

{No fine fare for us! Photo Credit: Paul}

{Grapefruits ready to go!}

{A perfect pour}

{Keeping it classy with grown up martini glasses}

{I should never be left in charge of the cheese}

We devoured our grilled cheese sandwiches in the blink of an eye. And yes, that is in fact a yellow fever certificate in the background. You know, usual dinner conversation. We had a side of some roasted cauliflower as well, but I was too distracted by all the cheese to photograph it. I've had roasted cauliflower all week, yay!

Ok, I know this strays from my November is tribute to flat abs posts, but really, who doesn't love melted cheese and toasted bread on a cold winter-ish night? 

Open Faced Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, a Hom Nom/Mai/Paul original recipe

Serves 3

Ingredients

• A loaf of bread of your choice (I picked multigrain)
• Melt-y cheeses, could include any or all of the following: gruyere, swiss, cheddar, extra sharp cheddar, mozzarella, brie, etc. We picked up one block of extra sharp cheddar, one block of normal  cheddar and one block of mozzarella
• Red Onions, sliced into rings
• Tomatoes, sliced
• Olive oil and/or butter
• Garlic

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Set up one baking sheet with a silpat or aluminum foil. 

Mince the garlic. In a small pan, melt the butter and sautee the garlic (not too much or they will become bitter). Once those are done browning, turn the heat off (safety first!), remove, reserve. Heat up the pan again and brown your red onions. Remove from heat and reserve. 

Slice up your cheeses and tomatoes, and keep aside. 

In another small pan, butter the bread and begin to toast it to your linking. Remove from the pan, and place on the baking sheet. Drizzle the garlic/olive oil mixture on top. Top each slice of bread with some cheese (mix and match if you want to! we combined both cheddars together, and kept the mozzarella separate), the red onions, and the tomatoes on top. Bake in your oven for about 10 minutes (note: Mai's oven is really fierce - you may need more or less time so just check in on them.). Remove from oven, and cool slightly before eating. Best served with a Salty Dog cocktail (scroll down for the recipe)!

Salty Dog, recipe from Mai

Makes 6 cocktails (or, 2 rounds of cocktails for 3 people)

Ingredients

• Juice from 4 grapefruit (that should get you about 2 ounces of fresh juice per serving)
• 1/2 of a lemon, quartered for juicing
• 6-12 ounces of Vodka (essentially, you want 2 ounces of vodka per drink)
• Lemon peel for garnish

Mixologist Mai says "cooling the cocktail glasses first is always a classy move". So, stick your cocktail glasses in the freezer to chill while you prep everything else for your beverage.

Squeeze your grapefruit into a bowl or large measuring cup (i.e. a pyrex). Fill your cocktail shaker with ice. Pour the grapefruit juice into your cocktail shaker and shake, shake, shake.

Remove your cocktail glasses from the fridge and place a small sliver of the lemon rind in each glass. Using your juice squeezer thing, squeeze some lemon juice into each glass. Pour in the mixture from the cocktail shaker. Then proceed to get tipsy on Sunday night while eating grilled cheese sandwiches, repeating as often as necessary. 

Guest Post: Champagne Mojitos

Today we have a guest post by my college roommate, Lavina. Lavina hails from Miami, and she introduced me to mojitos.  I'm not sure where I had my first mojito, probably at 33 in Boston, but my most memorable one was at Nikki Beach in Marbella.  Lavina and I had spent the semester studying abroad in London and after we finished in May, we decided to beach hop through Spain and Greece for 2 weeks. Marbella was our 2nd stop. Also a memorable experience on this trip: I believe it was at the Malaga airport in Spain where I first realized I was totally in love with getting my passport stamped.  I can still clearly remember the excitement I felt going through the customs line and proudly smiling at what was probably the 5th stamp in my then shiny and new passport. 


To celebrate Hom Nom's first year anniversary, Lavina prepared delicious Champagne Mojitos. Welcome, Lavina! 

Mulled Wine

Mulled wine...because who doesn't want something warm to sip while gorging on turkey and stuffing?

The great thing about this recipe is that it is very simple and really hands off.  And, it tastes great!  Thanks Ina!

Mulled Wine, borrowed from Ina

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 4 cups apple cider
• 1 bottle of red (we used cab sauv)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 orange zested and juiced
• 4 whole cloves
• 3 star anise

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, and then lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Strain and discard the solids. Pour the drink into mugs or wine glasses and serve warm. 

Ending Notes:  VERY aromatic and reminds me of a ski lodge in Aspen.  The flavors meshed together really well and I would make this again on a snowy winter night!  

Champagne Jello Shots and Jigglers

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday.  More so than Thanksgiving (yes, shocking, considering it is food-centric and all you do is eat and spend time with family).  I don't know why I love Halloween so much.  Maybe because I still love dressing up.  Sanjay, Shrenik and I brainstorm costumes 364 days in advance (well, this year, even 366 days in advance as we were already planning for next year this Halloween).  Maybe because I love candy.  Probably the main reason.  For those of you who watch Modern Family - yes I will be Claire in 20 years.  In fact, in 20 years, if anyone says to me "are you trying to get candy or a Japanese business man" I might die of joy.  YOU DON'T MESS WITH TRADITION. 

Apple Sangria

Marisa's September 2010 Cooking Light magazine had a lot of great fall recipes I really want to try.  I love fall.  It is by far my favorite season for so many reasons.  The air is cool and crisp, so I can blow dry my hair and it won't fro out.  Sweaters, leggings and boots are great outfits.  The subway trains aren't 1,000 degrees and I don't sweat buckets on my way to work (no, I was not in spin class...just waiting for the 6 train).  I love apples and pumpkins and fall squash.  I also love halloween, which is the best fall holiday EVER.  Coincidentally, I also love sangria.  Apples and sangria?  Sold.