December 2009

Brrrrr. Can I just say brrrr? I can not remember being this cold in a VERY long time. I am home from my office holiday party at the Algonquin Club, and it was beautifully delicious. I am, however, not feeling great and glad to be home. Over the course of the party I had a glass of Forestville Cabernet Sauvignon, a bacon wrapped scallop, salad, great roasted vegetables and fresh mozzarella, mushroom ravioli, and some salmon.

Since tomorrow is my first Friday Foodie Feature, I figured I would kick it off by answering the interview questions myself.

How long have you been blogging?

I started blogging on June 1, 2009 so almost 7 months, though it FEELS like I have been at this forever!

What is your favorite thing about blogging? Least favorite?

I work in a Marketing Communications role where I do a lot of copywriting, but it is not necessarily always about things that excite me. Writing about food, wine, travel, and other fun things has allowed me to be creative, kept me looking for new recipes and events to write about, and has allowed me to kind of “let out” some of the thoughts and dreams that I would otherwise neglect on a daily basis due to general life business. In addition to the actual blogging part, I love reading blogs and have met many amazing bloggers over the past few months. If I hadn’t started blogging I would never have found the Healthy Living Summit or the Foodbuzz Festival or the dozens of blogs that I now read.

My least favorite part is just the frustration that sometimes comes with wanting the blog to grow more quickly both in content and in traffic. With so many other things going on, work, volunteering, marathon training, actually cooking, family time, friends time, and husband time,  I don’t get to devote as much time to writing as I would like. But at the end of the day I guess I am happy living more than spending more time writing about living!

What has been your most fun blog post to write?

My favorite posts are definitely my travel posts, especially the ones about Ireland, Spain, Austria, and Napa/Sonoma wine country. I also loved covering the Foodbuzz Festival for my blog, then reading everyone else’s coverage. What a fun way to relive an event!

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Where do you see your blog this time next year?

Well, I hope that this time next year I will still be blogging, hopefully with a nice big group of readers 🙂 I have done some guest posting lately, and I would love to have more opportunities to guest post on blogs and also to write for other sites or even for print if the opportunity came up.  As you know, I love travel, food, and wine, so really I hope to continue focusing on those things but with other lifestyle things thrown in, like my running and my love of volunteering and charity to keep the blog well rounded and about things that matter to a variety of people. I am also really interested in social media, so I could see myself doing more work in that direction both personally and professionally.

Is there anything else about your blogging experience you would like to share?

Just a lot of gratitude! Everyone who reads and comments and shares links to my blog has a part in what its become! I am thankful for all of my readers as well as the kind and generous companies who have sent me samples and giveaway items. I only accept products from companies that I would buy from myself,  so reviewing products is fun and completely easy for me!

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to check in tomorrow for the first featured foodie. Would you like to be featured? Simply answer the questions above in an email and send them along with a photo of your lovely self!

Off to get the Theraflu. . . I guess the whole “marathon training keeps me healthy in winter” theory is officially gone!

Last night, I finally opened the lovely gift sent to me on Friday by Jacob’s Creek.

In addition to a bottle of 2004 St. Hugo Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon, they sent me a lovely wine bottle stopper and recipes for food pairings including a recipe for lobster sliders which I hope to incorporate into our New Year’s Eve seafood feast. The whole package was really beautiful, and it made my week.

We opened the wine while making last night’s dinner and let it breathe on the counter for about 45 minutes. The nose of this wine was of subtle cedar, and the the color a deep, beautiful red. My husband called it a confident wine, and he is right. It would be perfect for a holiday dinner or other special occasion. Flavors of ripe juicy fruit mingle with that same gentle cedar that came from the bottle when opened. I slowly drank two small glasses, enjoying the lingering finish. A very satisfying wine, and one that would probably be even better a year or two for now. I honestly have not purchased Jacob’s Creek wine before, but the St. Hugo Cabernet Sauvignon has me wondering why! Thank you again to Jacob’s Creek for such a great new wine experience!

While sipping on the wine, we put together a last minute meal, starting with an easy side that included one of my favorite all time vegetables: Brussels sprouts!

Whether made in the amazing Namu fashion, a la the Foodbuzz Festival or simply tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper and roasted as I did last night, I love these green globes of goodness.

I also wanted to make something with shrimp and had a tub of Greek yogurt available, so I pieced together ingredients from a few online recipes with these ingredients and came up with a creamy, garlicky shrimp. I started with a whole lot of garlic, sautéed until golden with olive oil and cracked black pepper.

Then I added cracked coriander seeds, a big spoonful of cumin, a dash of curry, some sea salt, and 1/4 cup of water, thoroughly blending the spices in for a rich, red broth-like liquid.  

I stirred the raw, cleaned shrimp into the mixture and let the shrimp cook until  fully pink. Then I spooned in 1/2 cup of Oikos 0% Greek yogurt. Turning off the heat first, I blended the yogurt into the mix until it was a lovely orange color and a uniform, creamy consistency throughout.

Served with the caramelized, sweet and salty Brussels sprouts and garlic naan, this turned out to be a delightful dish made from some random ingredients I wanted to use up. Next time I would add more spice, maybe some habanero oil, but I really like my food spicy.

Once dinner was done, we started in on the Christmas tree while watching Home Alone 2 and eating leftover cannoli from Joseph’s Bakery in South Boston. I have no idea how they survived in our house so long!

Our tree came out just perfect:

I love turning out the rest of the lights in the house and sitting around with just the white lights of the tree on. What a magical time of year!

Unfortunately, this morning after a killer workout, I started to feel a little eh, and by lunch time I was in the throes of sore throat, congestion, chills, and zero attention span. Off to bed early tonight, hoping to beat this thing before my holiday work party tomorrow and a 9 or 10 mile run Friday night.

Have a great night everyone! Its almost the weekend.