My Love of Hockey

I was thinking as I miserably tried to stream a hockey game tonight with poor results (die, Comcast) how hockey is the perfect solution to all my life’s problems.
It fits perfectly into the off season of my first obsession, Formula 1. There is a little overlap, but for those terrible days between the beginning of November and middle of March, now I have hockey.
The only other sport I really care about is baseball, and I grew up a White Sox fan. To throw everyone off, in hockey, I root for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and have since before they won the Stanley Cup this summer.
My friend Cati lives in Pennsylvania and her love of the Pens rubbed off on me rather quickly…in fact, when I went on a cruise in 2008, I spent nearly every night watching them play in the finals, and ultimately lose. But that was okay, and it kind of went insane from there. I watched them every chance I could get. My dad wondered how the hell I decided to choose the Penguins. (Actually I think most people would assume that it’s the animal, but to me it’s the players. LOVE THEM.)
The Atlanta Thrashers play the Penguins 4 times a year…two times here and two times in Pittsburgh. My parents bought my boyfriend tickets to a game for Christmas…although I think this better served me than him, as he is an Avalanche fan. But hey, hockey’s hockey and as long as he gets to wear that jersey, I’m sure it’s okay. (Actually I think the most enjoyable part to him are the HUGE beers you can get for six bucks in the CNN Center food court…and I agree.)
It was FANTASTIC except for the fact that Evgeni Malkin’s hat trick turned out to not be one after all when I woke up the next day. That was sad.
A couple weeks ago, I was surprised with two tickets to the game this past Saturday for my birthday. Then on Friday, a jersey was hidden in my laptop bag. Honestly, I can’t stop wearing the thing. It’s become a jacket to me. I was in Whole Foods Sunday night and some guy was completely confused by me. As for the game, I didn’t eat anything, but I drank a whole lot of Sweetwater 420 and even ran into a friend in the BATHROOM BY OUR SECTION. I have like 4 friends in all of Atlanta and somehow I FIND ONE IN THE BATHROOM OF THE PHILIPS ARENA.
The Penguins won of course, but it was damn close sometimes. Although lately it seems they just thrive off making it way too suspenseful for me. I nearly cried through the last period of Game 7 of the finals this summer. Oh, and you know how I said the players are awesome? Sergei Gonchar was sitting in the penalty box dancing with some little robotic penguin they stuck in there. This was the greatest moment of my night.
Let me introduce you to my hockey boyfriend, Marc Andre Fleury. Unlike most girls, Sidney Crosby does nothing for me. French Canadian goalies on the other hand, watch out, and hand me the champagne.

I have officially joined my friend who is in love with Evgeni Malkin in silly wishful thinking about this man. It only occurs for a couple hours after I have watched the Penguins play. Personally, I think it’s the helmet. I have an attraction to helmets, I’m a weirdo.
So if you see someone wandering about Atlanta in a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey…it’s me…I’ve decided hockey jerseys are the new jacket.

Also I doubt I’ll have another post in the next couple days, I don’t have the money to go eat anywhere thanks to my car being a total disaster. SO since my birthday is the 25th, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME ALRIGHT?! I will be 22..or according to the guy selling me beer @ the hockey game…19.

Planet Shark at the Georgia Aquarium

One of my favorite quotes from 30 Rock is from the first season…Tracy Jordan’s advice to “live every week like it’s shark week.” Sharks have always been interesting to me, and obviously interesting to other people judging by movies like Jaws.
Planet Shark is a new traveling exhibit making it’s debut at the Georgia Aquarium. While there are no actual live sharks present in it, there’s plenty of cool features from fossilized shark poop to interesting shark facts.
Planet Shark will make you think differently about sharks…or so I would hope. We’re made to believe they are absolutely the scariest thing in the water, yet it’s not like they attack people that often. In fact, you’re 200 times more likely to be killed by a deer than a shark. Who’s the cuter animal now?
One of my favorite things was these touch screens that told you about all these different features of sharks, like how they can sense the electrical impulses of things around them. It also provided information on different kinds of sharks, so meet my new favorite… the glow-in-the dark, submarine biting cookiecutter shark :

(not cute at all but what awesome name and a sneaky little thing, right?)
Also super cool was the “frozen in time” mako shark and bluefin tuna fish…who weighs in at nearly 700 pounds.
In the totally creepy aspect of things, there is a display showcasing things that have been bitten by sharks. There’s a bitten and destroyed surfboard that looks like to a shark, it’s like breaking some styrofoam. Oh, there’s also some pictures of a guy who needed 400 stitches after being attacked. Don’t check that out right after you eat anything.
There is an additional cost to check out the Planet Shark exhibit, but it is well worth the money: with general admission to the aquarium it’s $31.50 for adults, $26.50 for seniors (65+), and $23.50 for children.
Check out the Georgia Aquarium’s website or twitter account, as well as Planet Shark’s for more information! Planet Shark is only in town for a limited time…not sure when it moves on to complete its world tour, but definitely check it out soon.

And since no pictures are allowed inside the exhibit, here are some pictures from elsewhere in the aquarium (I’ll have more on Flickr eventually.)

Iron Cupcake: Apple – Hard Cider Cupcakes with Cinnamon Mascarpone Cream

I was stumped when I first saw apple was the theme for this month’s Iron Cupcake…I knew the obvious apple cinnamon and caramel apple would be done repeatedly, so when I went back again to the website, I saw the word cider.
And I thought about my favorite alcoholic beverage. I had it.
One of the goals of my ~cider megapost~ (which I have yet to finish) was to find the perfect cider for what I wanted here. I wanted something that had a definite taste of apples, along with a sweet rather than dry taste. Before I even taste tested all of them, I decided on Hornsby’s Crisp Apple cider. For the one apple that goes in here, I used a golden delicious, granny smith would probably be a good choice too. At first I forgot which apple bag was which in my fridge and thought it was a cameo apple, but upon grating, it was obviously a golden delicious (at least if I had used a cameo apple, I’d have been half right.)
Honestly, if you eat one right out of the oven, it seems like it’s just a spice cake. That shredded apple does nothing. But the next day, or the day after, then we’re talking apple flavor.

IronCupcake:Earth Prize Providers:
The Demy™ by Key Ingredient
Hello, Cupcake by Karen Tack & Alan Richardson
Bella Cupcake Couture
Cupcake Stackers by Gourmac
The Cake Mix Doctor Returns! by Anne Byrne
Beautiful Baking Liners by Vestli House
Sweet Cuppin’ Cakes Bakery & Cupcakey Supply

Remember to head over to Iron Cupcake at the beginning of next month to vote for me so I can win all these wonderful things. It’ll make up for the fact that I don’t have a car till hopefully tomorrow since it just likes to bust what it can of its left front suspension…I could be the culprit but I like to pretend the car does it on its own.

Onto the recipe!
For the cupcakes:
1 12 oz bottle hard cider
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 1/4 cup flour
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 apple, peeled and grated or chopped
1 tsp baking soda.

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Boil the cider until it has been reduced to 4 oz, let cool.
1a. Open another bottle of cider for you to enjoy as this goes on.
2. Sift together flour and baking soda. Mix in cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. Mix the sugar and melted butter. Add in the egg, and mix together. Add vanilla extract, cider, and grated apple and mix well.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared cupcake pan and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. Let cool.

For Cinnamon Mascarpone Cream:
8 oz mascarpone
4 oz heavy whipping cream, chilled
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Beat the heavy cream and sugar until soft peaks form, add cinnamon and mascarpone and mix until well blended.
2. Top each cupcake with a spoonful of the cream.

Because sleeping is unlikely..

I keep hearing weird noises outside my window, but since I’m better at paranoia than logic (like, there’s a tropical storm out there and those have rain AND wind!) I am just going to sit here and play with my blog.
First off, I changed the layout! I like this a lot better and it’s got more of my own personality I guess, since I got to use my fake graphic design skills to make a header. It works, that’s all that matters.
The next step was to update the About page for the fun of it, since I realized the only thing really talking about me was the little box on the main blog page. That’s no fun. Even though I guess this is not that much more informative, but it works for me. Likes/dislikes always works in my book.
Now I am considering something that would involve spending money. That all depends on how generous people are for my upcoming birthday. I can’t believe I’m going to be 22 because it seriously does not feel like it’s been a whole year since 21. I LOVED when I turned 21, for a month afterward if I showed my ID anywhere while down in Atlanta, people wished me happy birthday! (I went to something 18+ at The Loft the weekend before and the guy checking IDs even wished me a happy early birthday!) It was so awesome…and in Chattanooga nobody cared or in the case of one bar I visited 3 days after my birthday, I was given back my ID with a curt “barely made it.” Someone must have had a terrible 21st way back, whatever. My friend Emma turns 21 a couple weeks after my birthday and I have decided we definitely have to go to some swanky cool bar…as for the actual day of my birthday, I don’t even know. I’m banking everything on finding a retail job before Black Friday so bad and I have to go back to Chattanooga two times, one definitely being before Thanksgiving day…meh. Obviously my b-day this year is the day before Thanksgiving, and I’m guessing I’ll spend it driving to Chattanooga, yaaaaaaay…
I am going to the Terminal Brewhouse upon arrival.

This weekend was full of tasty homemade food…well kind of. Friday night involved pesto tortellini, arrabiata sauce (marinara sauce’s better, cooler cousin), and a bottle of Lambrusco wine all from Trader Joe’s for a little over ten bucks. I immediately felt like a moron as we’re eating this because that was the first time I’d been in TJ’s since I moved to Atlanta…3 months ago.
Saturday night, Joe made us filets and mashed potatoes. We both had our own bottles of wine because I wanted Cabernet and he wanted Merlot. I again just randomly picked something else thinking it was what I wanted. In the case of Lambrusco, I have no idea what I was looking for, but decided it was a good idea, which it honestly was. The Cabernet I got was 337 and I wasn’t really that impressed with it, but hey it tastes better than Merlot. That was so good though, I still kind of want steak. Anyway, then we finished that up later with some ice cream. Again, we cannot agree on things so Joe got Blue Bell and I got Haagen Dazs’s five ingredient which is AWESOME and doesn’t taste like frozen sugar, like Blue Bell.

Lastly I am working on a super awesome post that will involve my favorite beverage, cider….as in the alcoholic kind. If you know of any interesting places to check for ciders, please let me know. I’ve been to Green’s and Total Wine, but I’d also like to find some on draft besides the usual Strongbow and Woodchuck, or even bottles I’ve never tried. I’m not sure when this post will ever be complete because I want to try EVERYTHING I can find.

Now that it’s almost 3am, I’m going to go attempt to sleep, since I have to be up for school in 4 1/4 hours…only a month left! (And I have no idea what I’m doing next semester.)

Homemade Mochas!

The other day I was thinking about how I really want a peppermint mocha, but I do not want to go to Starbucks. I hate their coffee, and maybe this has something to do with becoming a French Press snob, but seriously, no. It costs too much for how not good it tastes.
So I was thinking…you can buy peppermint syrup…now how about that chocolate part? After searching online I found that the best way to do this is to make my own. First though, I am perfecting the mocha part. This is essentially for about a 16 oz mocha, so tweak as you see fit.

The Coffee
Now, my method involves using a French Press, which will cost you only $30 compared to some fancy pants espresso machine. I used a French Roast coffee for this, and basically you really just need a dark roast and you brew it really strong. There’s no reason a regular coffee brewer wouldn’t work, just remember: STRONG is the key. You’ll need 3-4 oz depending on how much coffee flavor you’d like.

Milk
Milk is of course easy. Simply heat up 12 ounces of it in a pot. Don’t let it boil, because that gets gross. Or, of course this whole time if you DO have an espresso machine you can do that whole frothing and steaming thing.

Chocolate
So since you’re saving money not buying $3.50 mochas, you can splurge on the good stuff for making your mocha deliciously chocolatey.

This will even make you some amazing hot chocolate, and I am pretty sure it’s going to end up in some cupcakes. Supposedly using a dutch processed cocoa powder is not as good as using a natural one, but you know what? I would eat this powder by itself. It just tastes that good. Another excellent option would be Scharffen Berger, and theirs is natural, but it’s gonna cost you a bit more than the bulk Valrhona cocoa. But really, WHO CARES because in the end, you’re still saving money. I do believe you can get a 6oz canister of SB cocoa for $7 or $8 at Whole Foods. Another option I noticed was Dagoba, who also makes some decent chocolate. I am now kind of sad it’s not what I opted for ASAP after using SB’s AMAZING bittersweet chocolate in baking…I still have some left, chocolate chip cookies anybody?

Putting it together
So here is what you need for a great big mocha, I am not including any numbers on making the mocha paste because you’ll need to experiment with that yourself to find what you like. I personally am good with a cocoa to sugar ratio of 2 to 1. I also want to try it using honey rather than sugar, or maybe even brown sugar. Put this in your mug and add a bit of hot water, just a little bit at a time since it’s obviously easier to add than to remove. Mix it up after each addition until you get a paste. Now, add the heated milk and the hot coffee and stir it up until everything’s mixed together. Finally, drink and enjoy the fact your mocha most likely doesn’t taste like warm, burned chocolate milk and you just made a huge one for a fraction of the cost.
When I do get around to purchasing my peppermint syrup, I’ll probably add no more than an ounce of that into the mix, and it’s going to be perfect. I’m even thinking about how blood orange syrup might work…

Review: Kokai Thai Bistro

I don’t know what is wrong with me but I need to eat at Kokai more. One thing that has driven me crazy through the bunch of times I’ve been there is the spice level is so inconsistent…however after last night I can throw that right out the window.
Being a girl, it is hard for anyone to take you seriously when you say you want something spicy. Yes, I am sure. English is the only language I fluently know, so the word “hot” is definitely a part of it. Only once have I been given a dish that is so spicy I couldn’t eat it, and that was a couple years ago. I have built up my spice defenses.
Oddly enough the spiciest thing my dad probably eats is Chinese restaurant mustard. He put habaneros in a salsa once, and seemed to enjoy that but when it comes to spices that are more Asian, he doesn’t touch it. My mom will eat Thai and Indian with me but she doesn’t go for hot stuff. I am not sure how my brother and I became such spice fiends, but again, he’s like my dad…he’s never touched Thai and I seriously don’t get it.
If I can get him to come down to Atlanta sometime, I am taking him to Kokai.
Kokai Thai Bistro serrrriously brought on a good challenge for those previously mentioned spice defenses though. I thought it would be an excellent idea to have some Tom Yum soup, and to get it spicy. Of all the things I eat spicy, I really fail at eating spicy soups. We do not need to go into the time I thought it would be brilliant to replace a jalapeno pepper in a tortilla soup recipe with a habenero. I coughed after every spoonful. But it was delicious.
Luckily, I was able to keep coughing to a minimum this time…even though chili oils are floating on the top of the soup in more spots than any mushrooms. Oh man this soup is SO GOOD. I only thought to get it because I was thinking about how I had a Thai soup on a cruise ship…this may not be the place to try out a soup like that, but I just now figured out it was Tom Kah instead, though I’m sure I will try that one next time around at Kokai! I loved the flavor of lemongrass so much, it’s been awhile since I had something to eat where that was such a prominent flavor. The chicken in the soup was so tender too, and really helped not making the spicy oilis overwhelm my throat. Also, the blueberry black boba tea was ridiculously helpful.
By the time my kee mao noodles arrived, I was still working on the soup. I ate so much of the soup, I don’t think I made it through half of my noodles, which is okay by me…I always welcome having more to eat at another time. Even though these too were spicy, it was far from the Tom Yum soup.
Their Panang curry, when it’s hot, is so ridiculously good too. At first you think, oh this isn’t spicy at all, and then it just kicks in with a nice burn. I’ve had their Massaman curry too, and it’s not bad either, especially for the price. I don’t think any entree except for one involving seafood is over ten bucks, I know for a fact the curries are seven and most noodle dishes are eight, and you get probably the same amount of food for any place that charges $10-11 for a curry.
The Chicken Basil Fried Rice is amazing though…this is coming from someone who shuns fried rice in any way shape or form. I love it so much, but one time I had it, there was no spice to it at all, which made me sad. They did however provide a couple little containers of chili sauce, which were happily included in my rice. Also, if you get this to go, it feels like a neverending carton of tasty tasty fried rice all for seven bucks.
They are apparently opening up a new location by what will eventually be a Super H Mart on Peachtree Industrial right inside 285, which makes me happy because that will be much closer to where I live, and probably easy to get to from where my boyfriend lives.
In any case, I was craving kee mao AGAIN this Monday…as in 2 days after I published this. I was like whatever, I’m making the drive up 85 and it was worth it. Good spice level again, and I opted for Tom Kha soup this time. It was still spicy and caused me to even sneeze three times in a row, but the coconut milk helps cool it down slightly. I LOVE THIS PLACE SO MUCH.
I feel bad that I never take my camera anywhere cause I need to get pictures I hate having a main page of just a ton of words. I am not a dictionary.

Oh, and after you eat here, at least until the end of the year, if it feels like a bomb just exploded in your stomach, you should drive right over to the Chick-fil-a in front of the place and get that Peppermint Chocolate milkshake.

Review: Noche

I am seriously considering a food coma, still, and I stopped eating well over 3 hours ago. Every time I go to Noche, there are so many things I want to eat. I want to try new things, but there are things I’ve had that are must haves.
Honestly, I was planning on going to Eclipse di Luna tonight, but our table was in such a crappy spot and our server was horrible that we got up and left. I knew it was going to be a disaster the moment she didn’t even ask if we wanted anything to drink, HELLO we are sitting right by the bar, and you are too lazy to ask this question? Generally when this happens I’m like, fine, if you want to be bitchy, I’m not going to order a drink, and you’ll lose out on a bigger tip then. However I haven’t particularly been having a good week, so the combination of things annoying me led me to leave. Normally I can’t do that, like the time we ended up in Mimi’s Cafe.
Anyway, enough of that, I’m not sure if I’ll ever go back and sadly I have a gift certificate…ugh. So, I said, well what about Noche? It’s down the road and a couple left turns. Seriously, Google Maps, you need to give those directions to Virginia-Highland from my place EVERY time. No speed bumps, no weird turns, thank you so much.
At Noche our server was friendly even telling us about DRINK SPECIALS! We sat out on their patio which was perfect, I could hear Joe even though he was across from me, and it was still loud, as expected in a tapas bar. Sitting next to him in Eclipse di Luna, I kept saying what even for the whole 3 minutes spent there. Since it’s nice and cool now, they even have heaters, and it was wonderful. So those drink specials right, they have 4 or 5 flavored vodka cocktails, and I had the Kiwi-Strawberry Tart. It was delicious, at least because I like kiwi, strawberry, watermelon, and vodka. I wanted to try another but I’ll explain why that didn’t happen now.
We settled on seven plates, which was kind of too much. Six would have probably been perfect but that’s difficult. I could have picked at least 2 or 3 more things I wanted.
First up was the hummus with pita bread and tomatoes. The pita slices are grilled and they’ve got just this perfect bit of crispiness on the outside. The hummus is pretty standard but the tomatoes that come on the pita slices are delicious. I can’t pinpoint the flavor but they are definitely marinated in something tasty. Even Joe the vegetable hater said he would definitely eat tomatoes all the time if they tasted like this.
No visit to a tapas bar is ever complete for me without the fried potatoes. At Noche, they come with a roasted red pepper sauce rather than a romesco sauce, but I LOVE this sauce. The potatoes could be a bit crispier for my taste, but seriously…I can make these things, so obviously a tapas place can do better.
Next up was the chicken empanadas with a pico di gallo. The outside of the empanada was really flaky, but the inside was kind of dry and tasteless without a bit of pico to go along. Then, it was absolutely tasty. I wanted another.
Okay maybe not….there’s still four more plates. Noche is the first place I ever ate lamb and decided I was really missing out. The mini lamb gyro is so good, and even though my last bite had a big mouthful of sauce and pita, I still made a rather audible “nom” noise. I will admit it. Also, you get more potatoes with this, so it’s really a win-win situation.
The fried chicken with chipotle mashed potatoes is alright. I love the mashed potatoes because they’ve got a bit of a kick. Because the chicken partially sits on the mashed potatoes, the skin gets a little soggy, which is sad. The chicken itself was good, not dried out.
At this point I was getting full, but I love love love their BBQ chicken pizza. The barbeque sauce is so good, and this is coming from someone who generally does not approve of pizzas not involving tomato sauce. It’s even so good, I eat the onions on the pizza.
Lastly, we got the steak taco. I don’t know how you could split this between more than one person unless you don’t care to bite food others are eating, which generally you’re okay doing with the person you’re dating. It was kind of hard to keep all the peppers and tomatoes inside the tortilla because it was just massive. It was also hard to get a normal bite. The steak didn’t have any distinctly wonderful flavor to me, so I only took a few bites.
I love this place, I also love their tomato and mozzarella, I’d never had anything where I could distinctly taste truffle oil before and I have to say, it was an interesting flavor that fit in well with the cheese and tomato. The mini burgers are good too, although they should come with the fried potatoes rather than french fries. All their drinks are tasty, and seriously, take advantage of the crazy fruit infusions Pinnacle Vodka has come up with in the cocktails here. I seriously love that vodka even though it’s relatively cheap compared to others…THEY HAVE A BANANA FLAVOR.
Oh, and if you don’t overstuff yourself on tapas, you can go to Paolo’s after! Or you can overstuff yourself on tapas, get cheesecake gelato from Paolo’s and wish to die when it hurts to lie down in bed. Someone else told me about that, I don’t know from personal experience….