Thanksgiving 2011

This Thanksgiving, I wanted to make some substantial contributions to dinner. I’m not much of a domestic, but since I’ve been so interested in food recently, I thought the holiday was a great opportunity to try out a couple of recipes. These are the recipes I tried:

1. Apricot Cinnamon Almond Hummus from Peas and Thank You
2. Applesauce Nut Bread from Skinnytaste
3. Cranberry Pear Sauce from Skinnytaste

My Body Really Hates Me, Doesn’t It?

I’ve never had a serious allergic reaction before. There are a few foods I’m allergic to – mostly raw fruits and vegetables – that have caused me to break out in hives along my jawline, or maybe get an itchy throat or ears. Always little inconveniences that go away on their own after an hour or so, even left untreated. The worst ever was the first time I drank soy milk – a bowl of cereal topped with it gave me a huge blister on my lip and scratchy throat, but I didn’t even take a Benadryl and everything was gone after just an hour and a steaming mug of green tea. For a long time after that, I’d made sure to only eat soy in small traces and tried to build up an immunity. I thought it worked, because recently I’ve been able to have tofu meals and soy-protein bars without any irritation whatsoever.

Until yesterday.

Disney Vacation Recap — Day 1

Thursday morning, Aunt Sue, Uncle Kenny, Kelly, Steve and I were headed for the airport at 4 am. It was ungodly early, but strong coffee and a breakfast parfait helped perk me up. Everything went smoothly, from security to boarding to the flight itself. I picked up a copy of Entertainment Weekly’s Reunions issue – so glad I did, because I didn’t know they had Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino do a Romy & Michele photo shoot! I also loved the articles on The Princess Bride, Office Space and Home Improvement. Perfect in-flight reading material.

"Have a Romy and Michele day!"

2011 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival

On Friday afternoon, I forewent lunch and dinner so I could instead enjoy all that EPCOT’s Food & Wine Festival had to offer with Caitlin and Kelly and their boys Josh and Steve. I’ve been really making an effort to open myself up to new and exotic foods recently, so I was excited to sample some dishes and drinks from all over the world. Unfortunately I didn’t get to try everything, but I still made out extremely well.

The first stand we hit was Australia. I got Penfolds Cabernet Sauvignon and Shrimp on the Barbie with a Citrus Glaze. I’m not a big shrimp fan, but it was delicious with the glaze. I’d order a full entrée portion. The Cab Sauv was fabulous and I almost got a second sample before deciding to save my money. I also tried a bite of the Grilled Lamb Chop Josh ordered – I’ve never tried lamb before and wasn’t expecting to like it, but I didn’t hate it. It was very tender and not as gross as I find most red meat.

Going to Disney World Looking Like Ariel & Not Coming Back Looking Like Ursula – Is It Possible?

This Thursday, I’m flying to Orlando for vacation with my family – we’re going to Walt Disney World! We’re kind of boring when it comes to vacations. We always go on either a Carnival cruise (which I do not enjoy so much, ever since I got seasick on my first one) or we head to WDW. We’ve been there enough times to know that October is the best time of year to go. EPCOT hosts an annual International Food and Wine Festival and the Magic Kingdom throws Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, both events we’re attending and I’m super stoked for.