Vacation Porn!

Dear lovely, lovely readers,

Red is off to sunny Miami for the long weekend, and she's so excited she can hardly contain it. Since she really, really, desperately, horribly, tremendously needs a vacation, eatmywords is taking a short break for the holiday. See you on Wednesday for a return to our regular schedule, and until then, think of me! I'll be right over here....



Love,

Red

Perpetual Kid

Yes, yes. It's nice when things are nice and pretty and wrapped with a bow. And it's also nice when things coordinate just so and come together to form the most perfect, most put-together look. But sometimes it's nice to break out and have a little fun. Any room without its humorous, quirky touches is a room without personality--or simply a room with too boring or too fancy a personality for my taste.

That's why I'm loving this site I recently discovered, called Perpetual Kid. It's filled with all sorts of cheeky (sometimes plain silly) accessories for the kitchen and home--and most of them are quite budget-friendly, too.



This cheese board, for instance, is one of my favorites. I like to host regular wine and cheese parties, and though the wine is usually enough to get us all laughing, I think this would really start the party on a pretty entertaining note. At $18, it's not too pricey either.


Doing dishes wouldn't be as much of a chore if I had one of these--blowing bubbles is one of life's most underrated pleasures and I'd be happy to bring more bubbles into my everyday routine. Not so sure how my floors would feel after a week of this, but hey! It's a fun a thought.



Since I generally like to leave you with three items of choice, I'll round out my list of fun finds with these super cute S+P shakers. There's a big kitsch and nostalgia factor here, which I think makes them more than worth the $8.49. I'm constructing an entire breakfast nook in my head around these little guys--bright walls, mod chairs, and a bunch of cool prints in frames on a single, perfectly cluttered wall. Love it.

Anyway, find all these cute things and more over at Perpetual Kid by clicking this little link. Enjoy!

Write Prettily, Be Happy.. Or Something Like That

It's Monday again, and when I'm lagging on sleep and wishing for an extra day to my weekend, I realize I should count my blessings: I'm a lucky gal being able to incorporate so much of what I love into my workday. I'm always advocating that people follow their gut and do what they love, and to get creative when your passions don't seem to be lucrative in any way. Jenna of the blog Love, Jenna is one of those kinds of people. I love pretty handwriting, but who on earth could think of ways to put that to creative, business-minded use? Well, Jenna did.



Look at these gorgeous images and check out her blog here. And, if you're in a pickle about turning your life around during this hideous economic crisis, think of me and Jenna and the rest of us who are finding ways to just do what we love--eat, write, write prettily, whatever. It's always possible.

Chocolate Show Coverage, Part 2: My Favorite Things

So I know I'd promised you all some good ol' chocolate show coverage yesterday, but Red got distracted by ugly pillows and aebleskivers. Sorry! I won't make you wait any longer to hear my favorite picks from this year's show. So here you go, Red's Chocolate Awards 2008!

Best Design:

Pralus Chocolatiers put together these beautiful arrangements called Des Pyramides Tropique, a set of ten chocolate bars each from different parts of the world. They're all made with the exact same recipes, so that the only difference between the bars comes from the nature of the beans and the geographical conditions in which they're farmed. It's a fascinating concept, but the color-coding really hit my aesthetic soft-spot.


Best Guilt-Free Snack:


Since I went to my first Chocolate Show, Romanicos has always caught my eye. Coming from Miami (like me!), they also specialize in healthier chocolate treats. Their pure dark chocolate truffles, which they call "Original Sin," are quite sin-less in fact, with only 38 calories apiece. How do they do it? No butter! And this new line, photographed above, uses Miami's Latin fruit flavors--papaya, mango, guava--to decorate and flavor the truffles that are shaped to look like sushi. Chocolate masquerading as health food? No need to masquerade, Romanicos!


Best Indulgent Treat:


Roni-Sue's chocolate-covered bacon, also called "Pig Candy," a surprisingly delicious execution of the salty-sweet combo, harkened back to the days when my friends overcame my skepticism to show that potato chips dipped in chocolate are seriously tasty. Apparently, after talking to Roni-Sue, I wasn't the only one to have that epiphany who-knows-how-many-years-ago, as it was one of the inspirations for the deep-fried, pork-based chocolate treat. Having frequented her store at the Essex St. Market, I'm not sure why it took me this long to muster up the courage to try them. If there was one thing I wanted to purchase at the show, a bag of this stuff was it. The label aptly reads, "Pig Candy--it's addictive!"


There were so many delicious chocolate confections at the show this year that it's hard not to mention the rest... so stay tuned as some other special chocolatiers may make eventual appearances here at eatmywords. But for now, I think I need me some choco-indulgence!

TWB's amazing apple pie, finally!

Finally, TWB has surrendered the wonderful recipe which he uses each year to create a delectable apple pie for me to decorate and eat! Here it is, for your edible pleasures--

TWB's Perfectly Simple, Perfectly Delicious Apple Pie




For the Crust:

2 Cups flour
1 3/4 sticks butter
1 tbsp margarine
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup ice water

For the Filling:

6-8 apples, depending on size, cored, peeled, and sliced
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp lemon juice
zest from 1 lemon (optional)
1 egg (also optional, for egg wash)

Combine all the dry ingredients for the crust in a bowl (that's really just the flour and salt, unless you're compelled to add sugar to the crust)

Cream in the butter, add margarine and cold water, and mix together (you can do this by hand; no fancy tools necessary!)

Knead dough until it comes together nicely, then separate into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other

Wrap each piece in clip wrap and refrigerate for an hour

In a large mixing bowl, toss the apples with the sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, and zest until the apples are nicely coated

Roll out the larger piece of dough and carefully place it into a pie pan, allowing extra dough to flop over the edges (this helps when you're going to seal the pie)

Pour in your apple filling

Roll out the smaller piece of dough and carefully cover the pie, using and excess dough to make pretty shapes and cutouts for decoration

Make sure to properly seal the pie by pinching together the sides, and then poke some small holes into the pie so that it can vent while cooking (you really don't want to deal with the mess in your oven otherwise!)

If you want your pie to be pretty and shiny, brush an egg wash (that's just some egg white for you beginners) over the top of the pie

Bake at 375 for about 45 min to an hour, or until crust is golden

Let cool (but only a little bit so that you don't burn yourself!) and enjoy!

Bounties of Fall

(Red has been trying to post this since yesterday, but having to copy/paste in periods is messing with blogger's mind_ For that reason, and for that reason only, Red is attempting to salvage her post by replacing periods with underscores_ Like so_ Apologies for the terribly horrendous awkwardness of it all_)

And so the post begins_ _ _

Where I grew up, the only indicator of fall was the start of the school year_ The leaves didn't change colors, the weather didn't cool, and the supermarkets never made a big deal out of squash_ Seasons are one of the reasons why I love living in the Northeast, and apples are one of the reasons why I love the fall_ This past weekend, I had the wonderful pleasure of going apple picking with TWB and a bunch of his new friends from med school_


We bonded, we ate, we climbed, and occasionally came close to losing our shoes in the mud (OK, maybe that was only me)_ But the best part was coming home with a huge bag of apples waiting to be turned into pie_ _ _


If you're lucky, TWB's famously perfected recipe for apple pie will grace the pages of this blog sometime very soon! (wink, wink!)

But before I head out for the evening, I wanted to share the coolest kitchen gadget that I've seen in a while--I'm calling it the Apple WIZARD!



This guy cores, peels, and slices apples in one swift go_ And, as TWB noted, it's pretty impressive how little resistance you're met with when the apple meets the blade_

The Apple Wizard, also known as the Apple Peeler-Corer in Boring-Name-Land, is available right here at Williams Sonoma_

Stay tuned for more on apples, including the perfect pie recipe and a link of the day for tomorrow that'll help you use up the rest of your apples (post-pie, of course)!