Figuring out what I was doing for Christmas was more work than necessary.
We can all thank this cake:

This was on the cover of Bon Appetit’s Christmas issue and as soon as I saw it I HAD TO MAKE IT.
It was a bit of work. I had never made meringue before and it did work but I spread it out farther than I needed because it was impossible to spread without getting it all over me and my kitchen.
Then I had to move them to Chattanooga, and luckily only one cracked, which was okay as I ended up having to crack them and put them back together like puzzle pieces to assemble.
Peppermint syrup is easy, and you’d think cake would be too, but this was unlike any cake I’ve made previously. It contains no butter, and is almost made in the same meringue process. It tastes delicious though.
Finally, the entire cake is layered and covered with a chocolate buttercream…containing 1 1/2 pounds of chocolate.
I couldn’t find cookies like they used, so I just got wafer cookies. It is entirely worth making and eating and I still have a ton of it that is just going into the freezer soon.
Here is the recipe, in case you’re interested. I didn’t want to copy and paste it all because it’s so lengthy, but entirely worth it. I can’t believe I made it.

I also made some macarons. They worked perfectly other than that I had overbeaten the egg whites but THEY STILL WORKED and that’s the best part!
I followed this recipe on Tartelette except for the frosting. Instead of cinnamon and nutmeg, I put in peppermint extract. Swiss meringue buttercream is now my go to frosting that’s for sure. It’s so light and actually far easier than I thought. It doesn’t taste entirely of powdered sugar (of course it doesn’t even contain any) and I definitely plan to make some again with my next cupcakes.
I have plenty of ground almonds to make more attempts at macarons and as a bonus, I got a food processor for Christmas so that I can buy whole almonds next time.

Other good baking and cooking Christmas goodies: A CAST IRON PAN! Pancakes, steaks, I cannot wait. I can’t think of what else to make at this point.
Also I got one of these Aerogardens and I am about to go set it up! I’m really excited because I want to grow Thai basil so we’ll see how it goes!

And on something not food related, I got DJ Hero and I LOVE IT. I am a fan of mashups so I greatly enjoy it and the mix of “We Will Rock You” by Queen and “Robot Rock” by Daft Punk is pretty much my favorite thing in the world.

Lastly: one little update from Chattanooga since August: The Terminal Brewhouse now has growlers! I just finished off one filled with their Belgian White and I can’t wait to get it refilled next month

I’m done with exams and I haven’t been having the best couple of days. The last time I spoke to a person face-to-face was on Wednesday, around noon. She was asking me questions in Italian for my grade and all. I’ve spoken on the phone twice. I wouldn’t call the second time me speaking very much because I AM NOW GOING CRAZY.
Anyway.
I have not had anything good to eat in the past 2 days. Maybe. I like those diet frozen meals for lunch because I absolutely despise frozen meats and they usually skimp out quite well. If you don’t believe me, I had some so called spicy noodles and veggies with chicken, and there was like 4 half-inch pieces of chicken, which I promptly removed and added in some chili paste. It’s sad when this is the best food you’ve had in 36 hours.
So finally after starving until 1:30am, I was like I want some pancakes. That turned into crepes after looking around for something involving amaretto, as I have a barely used 375 mL bottle and I’m not drinking that stuff. I modified it from here.
This should make you 8 crepes, as I did half this and got 4. You could easily use a different liqueur and zest (since the original uses Grand Marnier and orange + lemon zests).

2 eggs
6 oz milk
1 tablespoon amaretto
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
melted butter for cooking the crepes.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, whisk well.
Heat a skillet over medium heat until hot. Brush pan with melted butter. Pick up pan and pour 1/4 cup batter into it, tilting pan around to cover the surface. Place back on heat, and cook until golden brown. Flip, and cook till that side is golden brown.

If you need to, keep crepes in a 200F oven until you eat them.
I filled them with raspberry jam. Best 2am dinner/breakfast ever.

(I can’t believe my phone takes this bloody good of a picture in a rather low light situation.)
Yes yes I’m alive, maybe, there is just something about Flip Burger Boutique that brings out my inner glutton…although I’m sure she’s not THAT hidden…anyway.
I am totally late to the Flip party, not that it matters, I didn’t live in Atlanta when it first opened and I’m kind enough to not obsess to my boyfriend that we needed to go there pronto.
It wasn’t until my mom, out of nowhere, just says to me, “There’s some place with nitrogen milkshakes in Atlanta. Why haven’t you gone there?” Of course there’s also the fact that there are a bunch of amazing takes on the hamburger, which I have come to love again, so REALLY, why hadn’t I been yet?!
Flip is the restaurant-child of Richard Blais, the greatest Top Chef contestant until dear Ginger Santa this season. My grandma loves him, as we usually always talk about Top Chef, but she usually calls him Henry. So now, my friend Emma and I have an inside joke about calling him Henry. Let’s hope I never meet him now right?
My first experience with the tasty burgers of Flip came at Taste of Atlanta. Getting this burger was a bit of a holy grail mission which you can read about here. It was entirely 10000001% worth the effort, and Emma and I were like WE MUST GO SOMETIME.
In the meantime, I did go with Joe for lunch once. It was on a Friday, around 1:30, and it was ridiculously busy. RIDICULOUS. Howell Mill is a little bitch when it comes to traffic, and there were approximately 7 billion semi-trucks on it at the time. However, finally we were able to park somewhere and we were seated rather quickly. Flip is rather nontraditional about its tables, you can be seated between two other parties, and one might be really loud because they are having 1pm several cocktail hour. The style is really hip, and the chairs are amazingly light…and also silver, or gray if you are boring.
On my first visit I had the combo meal: $12 gets you a regular Flip burger, with cheese if you so desire, a side of fries, and a milkshake (the foie gras one will cost you a bit extra). If you are still hungry after this, you are an idiot. I got the Nutella and burnt marshmallow shake and it was glorious. It was seriously better than eating Nutella straight out of the jar, and that didn’t ever seem possible to me. The fries are so good too, they are sprinkled with sea salt, parsley, and heaven.
The burger though for some reason was not as tasty as it felt at Taste of Atlanta, but it was still good. But, I didn’t want to make a post after this visit, I wanted to wait to go again..which was today.
Although the drink menu looks ridiculously good…a Patron XO shake or an Apple Cinnamon Martini (!!!) I went with the Krispy Kreme milkshake, which I’m still trying to finish now. Please don’t stone me but I HATE KRISPY KREME DONUTS, SERIOUSLY. But I wanted to try this and oh my god, somehow this makes a Krispy Kreme donut taste like magic.
I also decided to get the farm burger, which is grass fed beef, the most amazing mayo I have had in my life and I also hate mayo, heirloom tomatoes that scared me because they’re yellow, grilled onions, and delicious lettuce and pickles. It was so big and messy and delicious. I could taste a difference in the beef compared to the normal flip burger (which I better for a $10 burger) and every single vegetable on that burger was tasty. I wanted to just eat the grilled onion by itself. Again, I also got the fries because I cannot resist them.
So this all came out to $18, which is uh, something I should not be spending on lunch at this time, but can you blame me? I’d gladly eat ramen noodles for three weeks right now, even though the thought of food at this time is too much to bear.
I forsee a future visit for the fauxlafel burger…and definitely that apple cinnamon martini…

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.

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.)

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.

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.)