Keep Me Warm

I had an article all planned to write this week. It was about holiday hairstyles featuring a funny story about how growing up, for special occasions, I always begged (err bribed) my twin sister into fixing my hair, and she’d always royally mess it up, not looking at all like I’d pictured: I’d walk off in a huff and we’d end up not speaking for several hours until I’d apologize for being such an a-hole and we’d be friends again.

There was going to be some great metaphor about family and friends and looking ones best, but instead, I’m buried in deadlines and just trying to peel myself out of yoga pants long enough to attend a restaurant opening on top of a holiday party I already RSVP’d to when all I really want to do is curl up on the couch, listen to the song below all day, and not worry about what I look like.

This year has been filled with plenty to keep me warm, and I’m so very grateful for it all. It’s all beyond what any person could ever hope for. I’ll be back with fresh content January 4; until then, here’s a year-end video … the best my eyes have seen in 2011. Happy holidays, everyone.

Engagement Chicken

Years ago, I remember reading the “Engagement Chicken” article in Glamour magazine. It circulated for a while among my single girlfriends. Do you recall? It was a simple recipe for a roasted chicken with lemon and herbs, and upon making it, many women were later proposed to by the respective consumers of that gorgeous meal. The recipe (and article) can be found here.

It got me thinking about those recipes we pull out when we’re trying to impress. These are meals that set the bar a bit higher than others, but that doesn’t mean they require 15 kitchen gadgets to make. Most often, I’ve found the dishes that appear gussied up really are just simple ways of cooking. In this season of holiday madness and loads of kitchen time that’ll happen between now and New Years Day, here are some of my takes on special meals—most of which require very little effort, except good, high quality ingredients to make memorable bites.

One of my favorite desserts is when my sister-in-law bakes her individual little molten lava cakes. There’s just something so beautifully decadent as the rich chocolate oozes out of individual cakes the second it’s punctured with a spoon. You can find the recipe here.

I’ve been on a mussel kick lately. Which means that everywhere I go, if it’s on the menu, it’s my order. Steamed mussels really are a cinch to make, so I’ve heard. Before 2012, I’d like to attempt the ones here. I mean, it doesn’t get any better than a broth composed of garlic, shallots, butter, herbs and wine all waiting for sweet mussels to take the stage.

According to my husband, his sweet grandmother (who I wish I could’ve met) made a very special beef braciole with egg this time of year. I’d like to make him this showstopping recipe here, no matter the season.

Mussels, chocolate, braciole, a few simple ingredients, plenty of friends and family to share it with, is there anything better?

I suppose a proposal.

One to Grow On

We just bought our plane tickets to head to my family’s house for the holidays, which got me reflecting a bit on the spirit of the season. When I was younger my family had a phrase—one to grow on—that little extra push could set us apart, which could be applied to many things (but I remember it the most with sports, regarding a few more sit-ups or another lap around the track). I find myself thinking about all those things family and friends teach us along the way. Here are my top 10 (plus one to grown on) words of wisdom (or just plain actions I’ve admired) from the loved ones in my life; some, I wish, were still around to continue teaching me. These are my one to grow on moments pushing me to be better.

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TiVo Detox

My hairdresser once told me a story of him watching television on the couch with his boyfriend and he got annoyed when his man stopped flipping through channels at Oxygen’s “Bad Girls Club.” He responded with something like, “You wouldn’t let these women into our house if they knocked on our door, so why are you letting these women into our house?” Touché.

It’s been said that what you do in the privacy of your own home—when no one is looking and you cannot be found out—that’s the guts of who you are.

I’ve called watching totally dumb television my guilty pleasure. And I have something to confess: I’ve watched marathons of this substance-less crap. Hours of grown women arguing about $50,000 sets of veneers and calling themselves “classy” to valley-girl sounding stylists acting as if they have the cure for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and talentless hacks profiting from a sham marriage sponsored by Living Social. Bleh.

I’m now comparing this television drivel to fast food. The equivalent notion of being fully aware that you’re eating garbage, yet continuing to gorge, french fry after french fry. No more. I’ve purged my TiVo. I’m not buying into it any more. Not consuming it. I’m not saying it’s going to be replaced with documentaries on bird migration flight patterns on PBS or anything, but I might curl up with a good book (is anyone else STRUGGLING with Walter Isaacson’s Steve Jobs?), my addictive “The Wire” discs from Netflix and call it a day.

Up next in the proverbial tasteless pop-culture detox? My RSS reader loaded with salacious celebrity gossip, which has become beyond dull and uninspiring. Though, it’ll be tough to part with surisburnbook.tumblr.com.

It’s interesting that once you start the cleaning out process how much of it filters into other areas you might want to give an ol’ scrub to.

Turkey Tension 4.0

Can you believe Thanksgiving is tomorrow? I don’t know about you, but I sort of feel like I could just as easily be back in March at St. Patrick’s Day–this year’s been such a blur, though the vibrant-colored Atlanta trees and stocked shelves of canned pumpkin tell me otherwise.

Which means it’s time for the annual turkey tension playlist and as we near the close of 2011, I’m feeling a bit nostalgic, so making the cut is a mix of young and old. #grateful

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My Mom Said…

My mom said: To take the week off and spend time with her while she visited me last week in Atlanta, so I did. I’ll be back next week with new content. Until then, I’m relishing in all the sweet doting and tight hugs from her that will carry me through to December, when I see her next.

Bargain Hunters

Admittedly, math has never been my strong suit and certainly balancing a checkbook falls into the, oh shoot, numbers again category. I have a vague memory (that I’ve really tried to block out) of my older brother and sister-in-law (who, in my opinion, both hold the title of finance whiz) helping me with my bills once in college, and it ended up with me sobbing and my brother having to leave the room to pour himself a stiff drink after declaring something along the lines of “not knowing what to say anymore” about the disaster that was a manila envelope of unopened credit card and utility bills.

A similar discussion went down several years later with my sweet brother-in-law trying to help me suss out a new car to purchase within my budget and ending with him just sort of throwing up his hands, leading us to both decide that maybe I’d better hold off a bit on such a big purchase.

Unfortunately, I’ve never been one of those women who has her eyes on a purchase and waits for it to go on sale. Or one of those women excited to open her 100 deal emails flooding her inbox. Seriously, I adore you Groupon, Scoutmob, DailyCandy Deals, but damn, girl, it’s too much. Way. Too. Much.

Because of my own experiences, I obviously know how stressful budgets are and how important getting one’s financial house in order is. That said, I’m now living the stage of my life that I like to call the thank-gawd-I’m- married-and-my-husband-pays-the-bills-as-long-as-he-never-has-to-use-a-Clorox-toilet-wand. But, I’m trying to stretch out a bit more into the gray area of the money realm and not just pull a disappearing act when my husband asks me what outstanding invoices my business has this month. Huh, what? Oh um, let me quickly go check (tires pealing out of the driveway).

Because of this, I wanted to talk to real women about their real budgets, so I reached out to five of the most fashionable and smart gals I know to find out how their households survive on a budget all while looking like a million bucks.

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Soup Season

Fact: fall and soup go together like drag queens and fake eyelashes. Seriously, there’s something about the leaves falling from trees that makes you want to cozy up with a bowl of steamy goodness.

Three soups I’ll be stocking the freezer with this fall come from Art Smith, Sophie Dahl and Jacques Pepin, respectively. The first: Mr. Smith’s chicken noodle from his book Back to the Table: The Reunion of Food and Family. I was recently gifted this at the opening of Smith’s restaurant in Atlanta, Art and Soul (which is fabulous, by the way), in which he signed, “food is love” and I couldn’t agree more. But, pretty sure I’ll be altering his “everything from scratch” version by buying a rotisserie chicken and prepared stock.

I love everything in Dahl’s cookbook, especially her chestnut and mushroom soup. It sums up the November weather in one slurp. I think I made this soup three times in one month last year. The third: Pepin’s recipe for bread and onion soup, featured on NPR’s “Splendid Table.” But, I’ll be experimenting with this one (I know, gasp, how dare I tinker with an expert?) because my husband, while he likes onion, hates soggy bread in soup.

Though, how can I talk soup without mentioning my grandmother? James Beard or not, the best of the bunch (at least in my house) is my grandparents’ recipe for tomato cheese soup. My grandfather made it until he couldn’t, then my grandmother took over stove duties. Here it is.

Templeman’s Tomato Cheese Soup
2-3 stalks of celery
2 onions
1 carton of chicken broth
8-10 fresh chopped tomatoes (or 2 big cans of chopped tomatoes)
1 can Ro*tel
2 tsp. baking soda
1 T sugar
1 lb. Velveeta cheese

Cook celery and onions until tender, then add one carton of chicken broth over vegetables. Add tomatoes (either canned or fresh). Add Ro*tel and sugar (this is noted in the recipe as an addition from my grandmother, not from my grandfather’s mother). Simmer and add the baking soda, salt and pepper (to taste). Turn off stove and let cool for 10 minutes then add the Velveeta cheese to melt in soup.  Enjoy!

Crazy About Krakow

About a year ago I traveled to Krakow, Poland for the wedding one of my best friends. I held off on writing about it on dp in order to give first dibs to other publications. Now, I can finally shout it from the rooftops (err computer) what an amazing city this is.

I’m not certain that had the occasion not been there, I would’ve ever ended up in Eastern Europe before Western. Because, I’m admittedly embarrassed to say, I’ve never been to Europe, and I always thought I’d roam wine country in France or eat my way through Italy long before exploring former Jewish settlements in Poland.

This trip was taken at a pivotal point in my life. My husband had just gotten a job after a nine-month layoff, but we were still very much feeling the financial and emotional effects of that period; my mom was just starting treatment for her second cancer battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The timing juxtaposed, a really happy, special time in my friend’s life against some personal gunk that was both sad and hard. In all actuality, this feeling isn’t unlike the duality of Krakow—it’s sleek, cosmopolitan, and hip (supposedly it’s becoming what Prague was for American tourists about 10-15 years ago), against a rich (and tragic) history, renaissance and gothic architecture, and ample grittiness. Here’s my pop on Krakow.

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Smiling’s My Favorite

So, I was supposed to read this title for book club in October. Last month, I read the book (Bossypants), but couldn’t make the meet up. This month, I can make the discussion, but didn’t so much as read one page, go figure.

But, the book selection (and interesting conversation surrounding it) got me thinking about those moments of respite when it’s hectic, those sweet spots along the way. I’ve had several lately, here are the things giving me particular joy—my own happiness project for the week.

I’m officially stepping outside my comfort zone. That’s right, after countless InStyle magazine articles about classic prints and raves about the closet staple up there with a LBD, I purchased an animal print top. And wore it. Plus, I recently went to a hip-hop festival for three days. I don’t even recognize myself.

We’re approaching the time when it’s Facebook wall overload of cute kids and animals in costume, and quite frankly, I find nothing funnier. I stumbled across this gem image of my nephew’s first Halloween. He’s the hot dog with mustard. I’m certain today my sister couldn’t bribe him with anything to sit still long enough to sausage him into this thing (he looks so angry), but it’s nice to remember when she could. Also, the smile on my niece’s face is so precious; she already looks hopped up on candy like she’s thisclose to losing it.

Surprise! We surprised my mother-in-law for her 70th birthday and my brother-in-law for his 40th. Each of them thought they were surprising the other and well, it was so fun to see the reaction and have a somewhat impromptu (scratch that, when there are approximately 40 emails to coordinate, it’s not spontaneous) trip to Cincinnati. And there’s just something about the Midwest in the fall that I’ll never tire of, especially when driving through the Smoky Mountains.

Not to get a Buddha, but I’m feeling very Zen right now with work. After a rough patch over the summer, I do feel like the act of closing one door is opening tremendous new ones. I’m rounding out my year with two writing projects I’m particularly proud of, one of which includes an article to be published March 2012 in a national magazine.

I know it’s a little happiness moment, the teeniest around, but here it is, my counter to all the folks going ape doo-doo about pumpkin spice lattes back at Starbucks; I just discovered hazelnut half and half at Whole Foods and if this doesn’t sum up the season in a mug, I don’t know what does. It gives me a little bounce in my step while walking the dog in the morning since I basically go bonkers for anything involving hazelnut.

Where does your happiness live this week?