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Awesome Vacation Waffles

June 20, 2010 in Uncategorized by traveleatlove | 6 comments

Happy Father’s Day to the dads out there! I am spending the day with my mom in NJ, so my friend Raija is stepping in for the day to share her uncle’s famous waffle recipe. Since these waffles are a new Cape Cod tradition for us, I thought it was appropriate timing to share her secrets. . .

Some of my happiest childhood memories involve vacations with my family. I have lots of older cousins, and we would all vacation together, my uncle, aunt, cousins, mom, and grandma. Vacation involved the ocean, a house overflowing with kids, and certain special foods cooked by my uncle.

His seafood chowder is to die for, and he makes a mean meatball, but his waffles hold a special place in my heart. Today, I vacation every summer with my college friends and have re-started the waffle tradition at the beach. My uncle gave me his recipe, and my friends enjoy his…let’s say enthusiasm, for making a perfect, light, delicious waffle.

The following recipe makes about 6 full waffles (using an average size waffle maker).

1. Gently melt (not on high heat) 5 tablespoons of butter.

2. Put 2 cups of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 3 level teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of salt into a bowl and mix together.

3. Separate two large eggs or 3 smaller ones. With an electric mixer (or whisk if you are an expert egg white whisker), beat the egg whites until they form small peaks when you pull out the beater.

4. Mix well the melted butter, and the 1 3/4 cups milk. Then add the two eggs yolks. (Doing this in this order avoids the possibility of scrambling the egg yolks if the butter is still too warm. If the butter starts to re-solidify in the milk as you are stirring, don’t panic…its going to all end up o.k., as long as the eggs aren’t scrambled.) Next, immediately…

5 Mix the liquid into the dry ingredients, but slowly and not aggressively leaving a few lumps to ensure you did not over-mix. If the batter is over-mixed and smooth, the waffles will be tough.

6. Gently FOLD the beaten egg whites into the mix. The whole thing will not look uniform and each batch you put into the waffle iron will have a slightly different look and configuration but that’s the beauty of it. Relax, they will be awesome.

To top the waffles, use REAL maple syrup only (come on and support a local and delicious industry!). The best way to serve syrup with this is to melt some butter in with the maple syrup over low heat as you make the waffles.
My friends like to top the waffles with Nutella, strawberries, or whipped cream – or all three. I love continuing this tradition, and making new beach vacation meal memories with my friends. I hope you enjoy them too!

Thanks for sharing, Rai!

I would love to post some of YOUR favorite summer traditions. Is it a vacation, a recipe, or a special event? Email me at traveleatlove @ gmail.com!

Tags: breakfast, brunch, guest post, recipe, waffles

Sunshine, Food, and Wine

March 7, 2010 in Uncategorized by traveleatlove | 7 comments

Glorious weekend! Saturday was a feast for the senses, and stepping outside has never felt so good! I started the day off by blogging about spring, then read a bunch of other blogs and did some other bloggy work.

Then the husband and I went to Castle Island in South Boston. Castle Island is a beautiful place to walk, run, or picnic and provides a nice paved loop that juts out into the bay. I love going there not only for the views and the lovely ocean air, but also for the zillion dogs out walking and running! So cute. There is also a refreshment stand, Sully’s, that sells all sorts of delicious treats. If you live in Boston and have never been, I would definitely suggest going.

After our 2.5 mile walk, I went for a run and did a hill workout. I felt great! This weather makes me feel so much looser and more free, and I think more of my energy is directed to running rather than my aches and pains.

I was ravenous when I returned home, and French toast was all I wanted. I made a simple egg and milk blend with freshly ground cinnamon and nutmeg for dipping the bread. Then we cooked it up and topped it with a mix of organic maple syrup and agave nectar.

We had our French toast with Trader Joe’s Organic Cranberry Green Tea. Since reading The 02 Diet (post to come this week), I have been trying to integrate more green tea into my diet. For some reason regular green tea makes me nauseous – to the point where I almost had to leave work one day. But this cranberry green tea blend tastes great and makes me feel fine.

After eating, we spent some time just lounging around the house with the windows open. My cats loved it.

This is Scout’s favorite time of year. She actually looks at the windows in the middle of winter and squeaks at me to open them.

Since the hubby didn’t have to work, we decided to go on a little date to celebrate the nice day with some food and wine. Since we have been talking about Morton’s a lot this week after my events post, he chose Mortons’ Seaport location for our dinner. We had previously only been to the Back Bay location and thought it would be fun to go somewhere near the waterfront.

We were able to get a reservation and were seated right at 7:00. Water glasses filled, and a giant loaf of bread served, we were then shown a presentation of the menu which involved a staff member going through the starters, sides, cuts of meat, fish, and any of the desserts that needed to be pre-ordered. Its fun to see how much attention is paid to the quality of the food.

We started with oysters on the half shell, of course. I don’t think we ever go to a restaurant that has oysters and NOT order them. These came with an entire little cup full of just horseradish, plus a separate cup of cocktail sauce. I was in spicy heaven!

I really wanted to have a couple of appetizers for my meal, as I often do. I ordered the tuna tartare which was stacked with avocado and served with a little side of cucumbers and tomatoes. I had a nice soy flavor to it, and the avocado and super fresh tuna went perfectly together. This was a pretty spectacular and healthy dish.

On the not—so-healthy side, the hubs and I split a wedge salad topped with homemade, out of this world blue cheese, tomatoes, hardboiled eggs, and crispy bacon. Quite obviously not the healthiest option on the menu, but it was oh so good. Morton’s does sides and salads incredibly well.

We each had a glass of wine with dinner. I stuck with the spring-like theme of the day and had a glass of Lunetta Prosecco. Light and bubbly, it was like honeydew melon in a glass. So refreshing. The husband’s wine, however, was amazing. He ordered the featured Charles Krug Cabernet Sauvignon, Krug 1881. It was blissful. A big, dark red Cab, it had a slightly woodsy nose to it and tasted of dark fruits. It almost coated the sides of the glass. If you can get your hands on a glass, definitely do!

After all of that, we were too full for dessert, and I was tired from so much fresh air! We headed home and watched some Mad Men before konking out at around 11.

I love how alive I feel right now! I normally find Sundays to be a little depressing, but today has been another great day of walking dogs at the MSPCA, walking around Castle Island, and I am off to a Yoga Nidra workshop.

I’ll be back later! Make sure to enter my giveaway if you haven’t already!

Tags: Boston, breakfast, Dining out, Food, giveaway, running, spring, tea, wine

Shockingly Delicious

November 16, 2009 in Uncategorized by traveleatlove | No comments

We woke up to yet another gorgeous California day, this time at the Yountville Inn. The Yountville Inn provided a great, complimentary breakfast bar that we took full advantage of before leaving for some early in the day wine tasting. The title of the post might give you a hint as to where we tasted first 😉

The inside lounge area was crowded, so we sat by the pool. It was warm enough. I love California. After breakfast we drove over to the Silverado Trail, passing by a gazillion wineries along the way, along with scenery that was complete paradise.

Our drive brought us up to Calistoga to Chateau Montelena. The property of Chateau Montelena is magical. It is worth reading about the history of the winery here: http://www.montelena.com/our_winery/history.html
Chateau Montelena was made famous by the 1976 Paris tasting where their 1973 chardonnay won the top prize, a feat in the days when American wine was not yet respected on the world wine scene. The event was made into the film, Bottle Shock. The film itself is quite cute and definitely worth watching. If you have Netflix, you can watch it online which is what we did a few weeks ago. It follows the trials and tribulations of winemaker Jim Barrett and his son as they make and bottle the wine that eventually puts the Napa Valley on the map.

We learned during our tasting that Mr. Barrett is very proud of his Irish heritage. Clearly, so is my hubs. Since it was 9:30 in the morning, we decided to share a tasting.

We started with what the tasting room staff called breakfast wine, the 2008 Potter Valley Riesling. Big, soft, and very full of ripe peaches and sticky apricots, this is a very drinkable white. Rieslings are definitely amongst my favorites when it comes to white wines. Chardonnays are usually not, but I could certainly not leave Chateau Montelena without drinking Chardonnay. The wine we were poured was a 2007 Napa Valley, and I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. Even thinking of some Chardonnay’s makes me cringe, the buttery, oaky flavor too much for me. But this one offered more of an acidic, fruity front of the mouth flavor with a definite mineral finish, as the tasting notes indicate.

The winning vintage alongside the 2007 that we tried We also tried Montelena Estate Zinfandel and a 2005 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. The cab was ridiculously good, so dark it looked almost black in the light. I got a velvety chocolate cherry feel and taste off of this wine. It had a long, lingering finish, and it was $135 a bottle. I would have loved to have purchased some, but its a wee bit pricey. The tasting room staff at Chateau Montelena was warm and friendly which, considering the fame that the winery has, was pleasantly surprising and welcoming. It reminded me again how friendly and unpretentious people in wine country are. We chatted with them about wine and also about the film and learned what was fact and what was Hollywood fiction. 😉 Then we wandered more of the chateau.

There was something more than meets the eye about the halls of Chateau Montelena. Now, I am not saying that I believe in ghosts (though for the record, I 100% do.), but I had a constant strange feeling while we were here, a warm chill up the back of my neck if that makes any sense. You could feel history and pride, and you could absolutely taste it in the wines. The story of Chateau Montelena is a special one, and if you get a chance to visit, let me know what you think.