valentimes day.

most people left the term "valentimes" behind in second grade. not me. February has not exactly been my favorite month in years past and it isn't even because it's single awareness day. let's be honest, it's that day every day of the year and i love it. except for when i don't but you know. i think my favorite valentimes day memory was two years ago when the coolest person ever and i made valentimes with construction paper and crayons and delivered them to our friends. this year, i'm workin' a little bit harder to make valentimes day fun. this weekend was a good start. you know, lots of baking, chocolate, and sprinkles. AND more to come! no worries, i'll share it with you come tuesday. in the meantime, listen to some rosi golan, and stock up on chocolate...or bacon...or both. you know.

last friday night

good food, a great friend, and some kick butt bowling at eleven thirty at night.

for the love of egg plant.

i've found myself a slight obsession with eggplant. the vegetable, the color, all of it. i made a pretty kick butt eggplant dish. look for that eventually. in the meantime, laugh at this.

i couldn't help myself.

photos via pinterest.

let's talk chocolate...but mostly spanish.

*es un poco terrible, pero pienso que me encanta espanol mas que comida ahora. mi profesora de espanol es muy buna con ensana. ahora yo quiero ser una profesora de espanol desupes de collegia.

please ignore my spanish, i'm kind of in love. sorry foodies, i've found a new love. just kidding. i just need to figure out how to balance out my two loves. and quick! sorry for the lackage of posting. i think we've all figured out by now that i'm not a very consistent poster. hopefully now that my work hours have changed, things will start to get better. i'm gonna try, i swear!

starting to combine my two loves is easy with the song above. Jesse y Joy might be the current reason for my existence. or not. they seem like the spanish version of my other love Rosi Golan. maybe i'm crazy, but you know. anyways. they have this song called chocolate. it's awesome. 

that is all.

*translation: it's a little terrible, but i think that i love spanish more than food right now. my spanish teacher is really good with teaching. now i want to be a spanish teacher after high school.

i gnome you're jealous.

while at the mall on Saturday, i cam across the perfect addition for my kitchen. gnome salt and pepper shakers, aren't they lovely!? i immediately texted my best friend a picture to which she replied "...you're so weird." it then turned into a discussion about grilled cheese sandwiches and i volunteered to name a sandwich in her honor. "the julianator" which is what my pepper shakin' gnome is now named. thanks for the dare julia, i now own a gnome that's name has something in it besides 'gnome'
salt gnome has not yet been named. i'm thinking salty. any better ideas?
happy eating!
sarah

darn good chocolate cookies.

fast sunday: a day which benefits my culinary mind. all day long i sit and thing about what delicacy i'm going to make once five rolls around. today it was all about the chocolate. i'm not normally a huge chocolate fan and could pass up a chocolate bar any day. hand me a slice of banana cream pie and it's a totally different story. cookies on the other hand have become a forgotten love in the past year, becoming replaced by cakes, pies, and cupcakes of a much higher culinary expertise. sorry cookies, i won't do that again.
i went home and dumped a bunch of stuff into nutmegan. the result was fabulous, and ten chocolate cookies later  i'm in love.

triple chocolate cookies.

1 stick butter

1/2 c. butter flavored shortening

1c. granulated sugar

1c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 c. nutella

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp special dark cocoa powder + 3 tbsp regular cocoa powder

2 c. milk chocolate chips

m&m's (optional)

Preheat oven to 350*F

beat butter, shortening, and sugars until combined, add eggs and vanilla. mix on slow. add nutella and beat until well incorporated. in a separate bowl mix together remaining ingredients until combined. add half to liquid ingredients and combine, once combined, add remaining mixture. fold in chocolate chips and scoop out tablespoon rounds onto a cookie sheet. you can fit twelve perfectly without having them melt together. once on cookie sheet press about four m&m's into each cookie if desired. 

place in oven for eight minutes, the cookies will be appear slightly raw but remove them anyway and allow to set for five minutes. transfer to a cookie rack.

makes approximately 4 1/2 dozen.

i hope you enjoy these lovelies as much as my family did! a glass of cold milk was the perfect companion.

happy eating!

when you're in new york.

i've had this little list for quite some time now, but as the clock is ticking away and applications are due in ten months,  this list is actually going to be put to use. new york is the avid food lovers dream and the perfect place to launch my culinary career. to get to wander these streets for the first time in a few months is going to be such a dream. hopefully, in just a year and a half, i'll be calling this place home.

New York TO DO's
~tour French Culinary Institute
~tour housing: EHS Clark and Roosevelt Island
~dine at L'Ecole
~Georgetown and Sprinkles cupcakeries
~Carlos Bakery
~breakfast at Tiffany's
~Rachael Ray show
~food network studios
~central Park
~statue of liberty
~times square
~church
~manhattan temple
~mesa bar and grill
~how to succeed in business (starring nick jonas and beau bridges) on broadway.
now i just have to figure out how to cram all of this into a three day trip.