From the category archives:

Winter Wonder

Baby Its Cold Outside…

by agirlandhermutt on December 10, 2010

Brr…Boston is experiencing a serious cold front right now.

I’m not complaining…I LOVE WINTER! I enjoy all the coats, gloves, and scarves. I don’t really do hats (I hate messing up my hair), but I also love earmuffs!

Since its cold outside, its getting down right cozy up in my house!

Yep, you see a digital clock right above my roaring fire. This is a fireplace DVD that my parents gave me last year. It snaps, crackles and pops…just like the real thing!

In addition to getting the fire going, I was feeling the urge for something super warm and comforting. I opened up the website of one of the local food delivery places, but then realized that just wasn’t going to cut the butter. I was kind of craving something creamy and delicious.

Rather than gorging myself on the creamy likes of alfredo sauce or vodka sauce (my fave!), I decided to make my own version.

Hello Pasta with “Vodka Sauce”! I put that in quotes because this is as far from vodka sauce as you can get, but still creamy and quite tasty.

Start with…

I had Laughing Cow Blue Cheese on hand, but the Swiss would probably be even better.

Combine it with…

1/2 cup of warmed spaghetti sauce. I used Trader Joe’s Basil Marinara sauce.

Just stir together until you get a creamy consistency.

Pour over whole wheat pasta and top with this…

My little basil plant is no longer up and running so this will have to do. Believe it or not, its pretty tasty!

Those little chunks are something familiar…GARLIC GOLD! WOOT! I am excited for the return of these little nuggets. By the way, these would make for some awesome stocking stuffers.

Delicious, nutritious, and oh so…wait, I don’t have another word that rhymes. Hmm. Can someone help me out?!

This hit just the right spot. I wanted a nap after eating this meal. Either that or a glass of wine. I’ll give you $1 if you can guess which one I chose. Winking smile

CHEERS!

QOTD: What is your go to comfort food? Do you make it or would you prefer to order out?

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They say "Eh" and that is A-ok!

by agirlandhermutt on February 18, 2010

2 major blog posts in one night! Don’t get used to it. I’m just super excited that I got all my pictures loaded and I’m ready to share.

A while back I saw an episode of The Office where Jim and Pam run off to Niagara Falls to get married. While Jim and Pam where falling in love with each other, I was falling in love with all that water! I must have mentioned it a few times because when The Scientist and I started talking about where to go for my 30th birthday Niagara Falls made the list of places to visit. Now that I have “been there, done that” I can tell you that I made the perfect decision!

Rather than bore you with all the details of our trip, I will let the photos do the talking. A photo is worth a million words…and all that jazz.

We made it to Buffalo!

View of the Falls from the room. I just noticed my big toe is making a guest appearance too.

Getting up and close to the Falls!

We left the cold to go to even colder.

A view of the American Falls and Rainbow Bridge, which connects the US to Canada.

Journey to Behind the Falls

Canadian’s and their humor…eh? I believe Americans call these just boring ol’ fingerless gloves.

Niagara Falls is like the Las Vegas of Canada!

Although the Falls were my original reason for going to Canada, after a little investigating Niagara-On-The-Lake came on my radar. NOL is the land of vineyards, wine and Great Lakes.

The first winery estate, Chateau des Charmes.

One of my favorite stops, Ravine. The little house to the right is the restaurant that is run by a Food Network Canada chef, Anna Olson.

Look how sleek their bottles are!

A stop at Stratus to try some great ice wine in red AND white.

Jackson-Triggs was our official tour. We checked out the whole facility, learned a little about making wine and had a nice little private tasting.

Southbrook Vineyards was one of the more unique wineries. They are biodynamic and are the home to sheep who eat and fertalize the ground. This was our last wine stop and we ended it with a flight of ice wines…mmmm.

In addition to visiting the wineries, I also got to see my 3rd Great Lake, Lake Ontario!

Over the two days in NOL we visited MANY wineries, ate at some great restaurants, and enjoyed a wonderful bed & breakfast. Eventually it was time to head back home, but not without a final good-bye to the Falls.

It was a great birthday weekend combined with a wondeful Valentine’s Day! I will be back and I’m coming to find my pot of gold at the end of that rainbow.

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w-w-w-what?! I forgot to tell you!

by agirlandhermutt on February 18, 2010

All about my Dad’s visit! For the past few years my Dad has come to visit me during the weekend of the Avon Walk. We always have a great time, but because of the time commitment the walk took we rarely had much time for just “hanging out”. Enter my mom. She gave my Dad a fun trip to visit at the beginning of February! Complete with a trip to snowmobile. How great is that?! Big thanks to Mum!

Anywho…my dad came to visit. Our weekend was full of eating great food, doing fun outdoor things, and tons of laughing.

We started off with a trip to North Conway, NH.

First thing on the agenda? Snowshoeing at Great Glen Trails.

The views of the White Moutains were absolutely gorgeous! Uber cold, but totally awesome scenery.

As always, I learn something new every time I am with my Dad. This time I learned that my Dad’s nose that I lovingly refer to as “growing at a rapid pace” and “getting bigger as he gets older” is…wait for it…the exact same nose I have! I have always thought I have my Mom’s nose but apparently I am just years away from having the same schnauz as my Dad.

Dad’s Nose

My goodie

Wow. Just wow.

After a long day of snowshoeing, Dad and I hit up Flatbread Pizza Company for some pizza and wine. Their pizza is made of organic and local products and cooked in a wood fired oven. Have you ever enjoyed goat cheese on your pizza? Well, I’m just saying you should. Do it! Do it now! Kidding…at least wait until you finish reading this blog.

Can you spy the tell tale sign that I tried *both* of the wines?

Goat cheese, kalamata olives and crimini mushrooms…yum-my!

We kind of enjoyed the pizza. I’ll let you guess whether or not the glasses were just as empty as our plate.

The next morning Dad and I were up at the crack of dawn to get down to business and do what we came to New Hampshire to do…Snowmobile! Last year we went on our wave running tour so this year we took it to the snow.

Lil’ Man Snowmobile Rentals had a good deal that let us rent one snowmobile for full price and get the 2nd snowmobile 1/2 off if we showed up by 9a. I don’t think I have ever been so excited to get up and get going.

Our snowmobile trails went through White Mountain National Forrest which means that yet again the scenery was absolutely fantastic, but it was ccccooooollllldddd. I’m pretty sure I got some icicles on my teeth.

Dad says hello from New Hampshire!

Ok, how cool do I look?!

If you remember from previous posts, I went on a little wine tour of New Hampshire in the Fall. Since I knew were a few vineyards were located I popped by one with my Dad to do a little tasting.

Once we got back to Boston Dad and I endulged in a little more eating (and maybe some more wine!) and got ready for another busy day. I had gotten tickets for the Harry Potter exhibit at the Museum of Science for Saturday morning.

Although I don’t think my Dad is the biggest Harry Potter fan, I do know that he enjoyed the movies and appreciates all the work that went into making them as magical as possible. Unforunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the exhibit, but we did take some photos in the museum.

Dad is in Boston AND Cambridge!

View from the museum. Brrr.

In between all of this fun that we had, we also did some hard work. We walked our miles every day, including the 8 miles on Sunday and 5 miles on Saturday. My Dad is a training machine!

Spending a weekend with my Dad was just fantastic. Mucho thanks to my Mom for sending him up this way! The next time he is in Boston it will be for the big walk…get ready for Team M&M!