I ♥ NY

Hi, my name is Kristie and I’m… a shopaholic. So for my 21^st birthday this weekend, I didn’t go to the cliché Las Vegas. Nope! Instead, I gifted myself round trip tickets to New York City! Why shouldn't I? Treat yo self, it's your birthday!

Actually, that’s not quite the entire story.

Weather.com reported that it’d be a nice and sunny 60˚. So, I packed my skirts and dresses and went on my merry way.But lo and behold, when I flew in to Cambridge on Friday to visit some friends, it was SNOWING. 60˚ my ass! What LIES!

But there was no turning back. So what if I was going to be that idiot walking around in a skirt in the middle of a freak storm? They already think we Texans are from another world…

My friends and I decided to go shopping for a bit in Boston before heading out for our Halloween festivities. 

I was Minnie Mouse! (Although the inner cook in me wishes I was Sexy Paula Deen, and not just for Halloween.)

I said I was heading to NYC, right? I also said there was a snowstorm. To continue the story, I planned to meet up with my friends in New Jersey on Saturday, so that’s exactly what I did. Or more accurately, that’s what I attempted to do. Except the metro lines from Boston to New Jersey were out. And there were trees all over the road. News reports said such an unexpected snowstorm hadn’t happened since the 1800’s! So what was supposed to be a half-hour-commute stretched to almost two hours.

I eventually got there safely though… in my skirt. Apparently, people from New Jersey find it important to photographically document girls wearing skirts in the snow. And laugh. GUYS, I’M NOT SNOOKI!

To reiterate, I said New York, right? Well, my friend and I made it to NYC Sunday morning! FINALLY! I shopped until my feet practically begged me to stop. I mean, what’s a shopaholic supposed to do with a Bloomingdale’s within a quarter mile? It’s like putting Morgan Freeman in front of a narrative script; he’s going to read it!

All of this inclement weather had me coughing something fierce. To my surprise, I got sick. So on my way home, I wanted two things: to crawl in bed and never leave, and to consume copious amounts of chicken soup. There’s just something about chicken soup that makes everything better. Well maybe not everything, but almost.

So if you ever get caught in a freak snowstorm during Halloween and get sick because you didn’t pack the right clothes, there’s a recipe for that!

Get yo sick ass to the store and pick up these items:
1 cup of carrots
1 cup of celery
3 cups of chicken
Chicken bullion cubes
1 white onion
1 bag of pasta
1 cup of mushrooms

Directions:
1. Boil the pasta and chicken in two separate pots. Dice the onion and slice the carrots, mushrooms, and celery. Once the chicken is almost done cooking, remove it from the water and dice it.
2. Under medium heat, sautée the onions. Once it loses some color and starts to brown, add the mushrooms, some sea salt, and black peppers.
3. Add the chicken broth to the mushrooms and onions after two minutes. Afterwards, add the celery and carrots. Wait for half an hour or until the celery and carrots are soft. 
4. Mix in a cube or two of the chicken bullion and flavor the broth to your liking. Add the diced chicken, and possibly water if you need to.
5. When you're ready to eat, add the noodles. 

What is your go to food/ritual when you're sick?

"Cool Weather" for 200, Trebek!

Fall is without a doubt, my favorite season. For Texans, fall means that the unbearably hot summer weather is fading. Goodbye, 100+ degrees every day and hello riding boots and scarves! Well, it’s not quite time to break out the peacoats and gloves, but it sure beats swimming in my own sweat. So what if Texas considers 73˚ to be a “cold front?” I’ll take "Cool Weather" for 200, Trebek!

For students, it also indicates that the semester is about halfway over. That can be a daunting and scary fact, as that signifies that graduation is just around the corner. It still feels like freshman year to me. Where did all that time go? You mean we actually have to grow up and do big people things? Yeesh.

Hey, if the semester is halfway over, that means the stress and anxiety you’ve probably been feeling is about to wind down as Thanksgiving nears.

The change in foliage that isn’t so obvious in the South puts me, like many others, in a pumpkin-y mood. So to celebrate the start of a new season, let’s kick it off with some sweet pumpkin and cinnamon croissants! The pumpkin is supposed to be healthy for you too! We can ignore all the sugar in it…

This recipe calls for:

8 oz. of cream cheese

3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice

2 cups of canned pumpkin

6 teaspoons of brown sugar

Ready made crescent roll dough

Set these aside:

2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

3 teaspoons of brown sugar

7 tablespoons of white sugar

1. Set the oven to 375˚. In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, pumpkin pie spice, canned pumpkin, and brown sugar together until it’s thoroughly mixed. In a separate bowl, mix the pumpkin spice, cinnamon, brown sugar, and white sugar.

2. Roll out the crescent rolls flat onto a cutting board and spread the pumpkin mix on the exposed side.

3. Roll the crescent dough as you would to make a croissant, leaving the pumpkin layer on the inside.

4. Cover the pumpkin croissants in the sugar mix and place them on a greased pan. Leave them in for about 15 minutes.

From One Apple to Another

Three apples have arguably changed the world. First, Eve ate the forbidden apple. The second one fell on Isaac Newton’s head like a ton of bricks. But the most recent apple stems from Steve Jobs.

My name is Kristie and I’m a huge Apple snob. iSleep, iEat, and iBreathe Apple. I’m actually typing this very entry on a MacBook as we speak. So, you can only imagine the overwhelming sadness I felt when I heard about Steve’s recent passing through Jersey Shore’s Vinny Guadagnino’s tweet.

Steve hasn’t always been the most upstanding citizen or business partner, but he has definitely made his mark in this world. As the former CEO of Apple, Steve renovated the way the world works. He made it seem cool to be different and unique, rather than trying to blend in with everyone else. Essentially, Steve was a hipster. But minus the dirty/no showering thing.

I mean, Steve has shown us that technology doesn’t have to be clunky and unfashionable; laptops, MP3 players, and cell phones all have the capability of looking sleek and embodying cool. But most importantly, he taught us that technology should be accessible wherever we are. It shouldn’t complicate our lives; it should make it easier.

So today, I like to pay a little homage to our buddy Steve by lighting some candles, dimming my laptop, and making apple crisps. Besides, who doesn’t like a good apple dessert to start off the fall season?

For the ingredients:

10 cups of apples

1 tablespoon of flour

1 cup of sugar

½ a cup of water

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 9x13 in. baking pan

Keep these items on the side:

1 cup of packed brown sugar

¼ teaspoon of baking soda

1 cup of ready-to-use oats

½ cup of butter

¼ teaspoon of baking powder

1 cup of flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

2. Peel, core, and slice the apples. Place them onto the baking pan.

3. Mix the sugar, ground cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon of flour together before pouring it over the apple slices. Add the water evenly over the apple slices as well.

4. Mix the oats, flour, baking powder, brown sugar, baking soda, and butter. Crumble it over the apple slices.

5. Leave it in the oven for approximately 45 minutes. 

Paris, je t'aime.

After studying and spending the absolutely most wonderful seven weeks of my life in Paris this past summer, it was only natural for me to experience a major meltdown at the Charles de Gaulle Airport. It felt wrong to be leaving this magical city. Describing my emotional state as “sad” wouldn't do it justice. But we all have our moments where we reminisce about all the good/bad things that happen to us.

Personally, I cope with my rainbow of emotions through cooking and baking. On several occasions, I’ve caught myself trying to recreate the sandwiches I’d buy at St. Paul’s on the way to the Catacombs. I even purchased a crêpe maker for all of those times I’d pass a patisserie. But for some odd reason, those macaroons, Belgian waffles, and pain au chocolats never taste quite the same here. Regardless, that doesn’t stop me from trying.

To quell the sadness that manifests at the bottom of my belly, I attempted to make faux éclairs so I could feel more at ease with the transition. Given, these aren’t the real things, but if you close your eyes and imagine hard enough, they’re damn close.

You’ll need:

2 packages of instant vanilla pudding mix

1 container of frozen whipped topping

3 cups of milk

1 package of graham cracker squares

1 container of Nutella

1 9x13 in. baking pan

Directions:

1. In a bowl, thoroughly blend the vanilla pudding mix, whipped topping, and milk.

2. Arrange a layer of graham cracker squares in the bottom of the baking pan and evenly spread half of the pudding mixture over the crackers.

3. Top it off with another layer of graham cracker squares and spoon in the remaining pudding mix. Add a final layer of graham crackers.

4. Depending on how you like to eat it, allow it to cool in the freezer or in the fridge.

5. Spread the Nutella over the cake and enjoy!

Do you have any suggestions or tweaks for this recipe? I’d love to hear some feedback!