Brooke's Bday Part 2

For Brooke's "friend" birthday party, we went to Collina's in the Heights for some yummy dinner. This place has amazing pizza and it is BYOB!

For dessert, I ordered a birthday pack from Sprinkles! They have a couple of options of flavor combos, I chose red velvet, chocolate and vanilla. Yum!

Even Winston and Gus got a doggie treat too! 

Happy birthday, Brooke! 

Brooke's Birthday Part 1

Last week, Brooke celebrated her birthday with several get-togethers. I think I've said this before, but our family likes to extend our birthdays as long as possible. First par-tay, family dinner at Melting Pot. She chooses this as her family dinner every year, and you get no complaints from me! We always do the 4-course fondue feast. 

We started off with 2 different cheeses to pair with breads, veggies and apples.

We then had a salad and moved on to the meats! We got a mix of everything. The pork and lobster were my favorites.

Birthday girl with the desserts!

Johnny's Birthday!

Johnny's birthday weekend began with dinner at Quattro at the Four Seasons downtown. It was delish. We had a great view of downtown from our table. I highly recommend. The bar in the restaurant was fun and vibrant and a great place for a pre or post-dinner cocktail. 

Part of our view of downtown.

Taking a birthday phone call at the table.

First course, Caesar Salad.

For the main course, I had the fish, the boy had the filet. 

Shared dessert, flourless chocolate pie with ice cream.

Bar for post-dinner drinks!

Saturday, we had a friend dinner at my house (recipe post to come!) followed by bar time after. Sunday, we went to Mark's with my family. Amazing.

Panini Press

For my birthday, my parents gave me a panini press! I had been eyeing one for a long time now. My parents have one and it gets used all of the time. When there is a big group at their house, it is easy to get out the sandwich toppings, have people make their own sandwich, and grill. This panini press was on Oprah's Favorite Things this year so I was worried it would be sold out everywhere. Luckily, my mom bought this for me back in November. You can also use this press as a grill for meats, think George Foreman.


Of course, I wanted to use my new gadget immediately. I searched the internet for a simple panini recipe and I found a great one! You can use this recipe and substitute your favorite ingredients. Here it is!


Prosciutto and Fontina Panini


Ingredients

• 1 package of Focaccia (Italian flat-bread) I found this in the bakery at the local grocer
• 8 Slices Prosciutto (in the pre-sliced deli meat section or at the deli)
• Fontina cheese
• Arugula
• Red onion slices, separated into rings
• Balsamic vinegar
• Fresh cracked black pepper
• Salt

1. Turn on the press to warm (mine has a "panini" setting)


2. Prep all of your ingredients: slice the bread, cheese and onion

3. Open the bread, place the cheese, meat, arugula and onion. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and top with S&P.

4. Spray the press with cooking spray and place the sandwiches at the lowest point. I learned that I was supposed to do this after the pic!

5. Grill until crisp and the cheese is melted, about 5 minutes


6. Slice! I used my new Panini Spatula. The silicone tips are great for the non-stick press and it is also used to support while slicing.

Pic after slicing:

I served with some store-bought soup. Enjoy!

Birthday Brunch

For my birthday earlier this week week, I wanted to get my girl friends together for a casual brunch. I decided to have people to my house because A) It's easier/cheaper/casual and B) I love having people over. I was already getting anxiety about making reservations, splitting the check, and feeling stuffy! Everyone was more than happy to help out by offereing to bring or do something. Brunches like this are easy to pull off, especially with a little help! Here are some pics with recipes and how-to.

For the menu:
Rachael Ray's Elsa's Egg Cake
Build-Your-Own Waffle Bar
Fruit Salad
Confetti Cupcakes
Coffee
Mimosas 


Egg Cake
This is a family favorite! I have written a few alterations to fit the way we like it. I've made this for a brunch shower in the past and it was a hit. You can easily double or triple the recipe to fit your group. It can be put together the night before, just bake right before you are ready to serve. Note: the pics are from the doubled recipe. 


Ingredients (to serve 4):

• 6 slices thick-cut bacon (we always use 1 lb. pre-cooked sausage)
• 1 medium onion
• Salt and Pepper
• 3 cups soft bread (1/2 bakery loaf)
• 1 cup plus 1/4 cup shrdded sharp white cheddar cheese (I could only find yellow)
• 8 eggs
• 3/4 cup half-and-half
• Few dashes of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggino Cheese

1. Prehead the oven to 400F. Lightly spray an 8-inch cake pan with cooking spray. I use an 8-in square Pyrex.


2. Slice the sausage. I cut each piece in half so there would be lots of sausage spread out. 

3. Brown the sausage and set aside.

4. Chop the onion.

5. Use some of the sausage fat to brown the onion until tender, about 5-6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. It will look like this when ready:

6. While the sausage and/or onions are browning, cut the bread into small cubes. (Thanks for the help sister!)

7. To the cake pan, add 1/2 of the bread, 1/2 of the cheddar cheese, the onions, and 1/2 of the sausage. I forgot to take a pic of this but it's pretty self-explanatory! 


8. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, half-and-half, a few dashes of nutmeg, and some S&P. Hint- whisk the eggs before you add anything else so you can see if there are any unbroken yolks, we learned this the hard way...

9. Pour 1/2 of the egg mixture over everything in the pan. 


10. Add the rest of the bread, pressing down slightly, the remaining cheddar cheese and sausage to the pan. Pour the rest of the egg mixture over the top and sprinkle the Parmigiano Reggiano over everything.

11. Bake until puffy and golden brown on top, about 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Waffle Bar
I got a waffle maker from Williams-Sonoma a few years ago and love it! It is perfect for weekend breakfasts or breakfast-for-dinner. My sister, Brooke, had the idea to do a "choose your own toppings" waffle bar for a dinner I had a few months ago. I think it is a great idea to get people involved at a party. Anything where your guests help make their own drink, food, dessert is fun. My friend Charlotte brought some toppings: cool whip, chocolate chips, and berries. I always keep syrup stocked in my pantry for waffles. I bought waffle tongs from Williams-Sonoma and I found this cute syrup pitcher from WS too.  I made the batter before my guests got there so it was read to go!

Fruit Salad
My friend, Evan, pitched in and made a wonderful fruit salad.


Confetti Cupcakes
For dessert, I used store-bought cupcake mix with whipped white icing. With cake mix costing $0.99, it would seriously be cheaper (and easier!) than making cupcakes from scratch. I was so excited to finally have an excuse to buy the Williams-Sonoma cupcake/muffin tins. For decorations, I bought clear sugar sprinkles to go on top. I also found a cupcake decorating kit from (again) WS. I couldn't find it online but it had a set of 24 themed paper liners and paper toppers. I used a fondant set my mom bought me a few years ago to make initials of each of the guests. Super easy! For display, I borrowed my mom's cupcake stand. This thing has been used more times than I can count. 

Coffee
I had coffee ready for when the guests arrived. I like to collect different coffee cups so each person will have their own print and style. Nerd alert: picking out which mug I want to use is a highlight of my day.

Mimosas
Enough said. Friends volunteered to bring the ingredients! 

We had a great time getting together in this casual celebration.

Brooke's Bday: Melting Pot

In my family, you get to choose your birthday dinner restaurant every year. (Unless you are my mom and me because we have to share one dinner- Thanks Dad!) My sister, Brooke, always chooses Melting Pot. I cannot say that I mind, it is delish! If you have never been, you must do the four-course Big Night Out meal: cheese fondue, salad, meat fondue, and finally chocolate fondue. My personal favorites are Wisconsin and Swiss Cheese, Coq au Vin for the meat, and the Flaming Turtle chocolate. It is such a fun experience! The wait staff prepares each fondue at your table, serves the accompanying dippers (veggies, bread, meat, dessert), and you get to have at it. It takes some skill to master the dipping, but I believe in you. The first pic shows the cheese course being made. I am drooling just thinking about it.

Birthday girl with her special dessert dippers!

Special birthday plate

The "flame" of the Flaming Turtle. Apparently the waitress has done this a time or two because she (correctly) told me my pic would turn out better with the flash off. I think it looks pretty sweet (Pun. Intended.)

The family+boy posing after dinner. This was Johnny's first time at Melting Pot and I hope he is now as obsessed as my family is.

Things of the fall: NOLA

For my dad's 65th birthday, we wanted to celebrate with a trip! We headed to New Orleans for a weekend of food (mainly) and sightseeing! We stayed at the Royal Sonesta. My family has stayed there before and it is classic New Orleans. It is on Bourbon Street but the rooms stay quiet. It is a perfect location (we walked nearly everywhere) and great service. I highly recommend. 

We started the weekend off at Emeril's NOLA restaurant. I got the shrimp and grits, and you should do the same! 

The next AM, we took a cab to Commander's Palace. It is a historical building famous for their jazz brunches. Musicians walk around and play while you eat. My dad was convinced they made up some songs but we loved it anyway! This picture turned out to be our Christmas card pic. 

Next, we headed to high tea at Windsor Court. It was a traditional afternoon tea in a beautiful location.

After some napping and digesting, we ended the food-filled day at Pascal's Manale. They are known for their barbeque shrimp. They serve it with a bib... and you can see why!

Sunday morning, we met a friend of my dad's from high school and his wife at Cafe du Monde. He reconnected with his friend on Facebook! So funny. After some coffee, beignets, and souvenirs, it was time to hit the road.