Spooooky Salem! :)

Hope you enjoyed my Mystic recap!  It really is such a cute little town...but if you want TRUE HALLOWEEN FUN, you MUST hit Salem, Massachusetts!  (I would have waved hi had I known you were so close, Carolyn,:)  Yes, Salem, Mass is covered in dark and really sad history...but today, Halloween time in Salem is all about fun ghouls & spirits...complete with psychic fairs, ferris wheels and 'Bewitched' in bronze :)

Oh, and did I mention fair food vendors???  Which we hit as SOON as we got into town, because we were in NEED of a SNACK after hitting a WALL of traffic heading into town.  We were SOOO happy to park our car at the hotel and head right over to the fair alley:)  Anddd...I got to try my first corn dog..ever!  Sad and oh-so-unAmerican of me, right?? :)

Dinners were a little on the fancier side:)  We actually liked this place so much....we ate there both nights!

Can't really beat waterfront dining complete with a fireplace, right?? :)  Plus the food was awesome, so we figured why mess with a good thing:)

The first night I started by nibbling on my friends roasted beet & goat cheese salad with bacon dressing...Thanks for sharin, Aim! :)  This was awesome!  Tangy & salty fabulousness:)

But I had to save room for MY MAIN COURSE....When in Rome, right?? ....

Can't really beat fresh lobster in New England:)

Night 2's dinner was just as ridiculously decadent:  I went with the surf & turf.  Charcoal grilled filet mignon, shrimp, scallops and the piece de resistance:  LOBSTER RISOTTO!  Oh yes...it all was good as it sounds:)

Anddddd...sad to say, but BOTH nights were finished up in the same way:  With HOT Sticky Toffee Pudding dessert.  Have you ever had these things??  Heaven, I tell you!  They are little hot toffee cakes FILLED with hot toffee sauce and COVERED WITH ICE CREAM....to quote my friend: "Some desserts are just TOO good" :) 

My other friend also got the White Chocolate Creme Brulee, which was ALSO deliriously good.  Let's just say:  We ate well at Capt's Grill:)

Our breakfasts weren't too memorable in Salem since we were sorta short on time in the mornings...but we did manage to find this ADORABLE little coffee shop up the street from our hotel, which COMPLETELY lured us in with this sign: 

Too cute, right???

And as much as I wanted to try the Red Velvet Hot Cocoa...I had to go with the Maple Soy Latte for first thing in the morning, and I was QUITE happy with my choice:)  I also liked the cinnamon muffin...even if it's been a LONG time since I had one of those "muffins the size of your head" situations.

Aside from the Eats....we also enjoyed the town by taking a few tours, like my favorite: The House of Seven Gables...

Visited the oldest candy shop in America: "Ye Olde Pepper Company"...

Had a Witch photo shoot (SOOOOOOOOOO FUN!!!  A must do if you're ever in the area!)....

Took the Ferry to Boston for the afternoon....

And took a tour of Harvard ....or "Hahvahd" as our tour guide called it... :)

 And enjoyed the effects the fog had on my pictures:) ....

Thanks, fog....you made my day:) hahahahahhahaha.....

SPOOKY!

And with that, I hope you enjoyed my Salem tour and are having a wonderful Weekend!!!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!

MMMMMMMMystic:)

Hi everyone!  I'm back...again:)  Sorry for the delay!  For whatever reason, it's taken me longer to get back into the swing of things after this little trip then from our week long deal:)  I need a good weekend to get me back on track...and thankfully ONE STARTS TODAY at 5:00! :) hahahahahha....

Butttt....before the weekend starts, I thought I'd share my little Mystic recap with you, since we managed to have some gooood eats in this teeny tiny town:)

After our 2 hour road trip up to Mystic...you KNOW our first order of business was LUNCH! :)  We headed over to the Olde Mistick Village which was right across the street from our hotel (the VERY reasonable and a lot nicer than expected Mystic HoJo!) and went to "Ten Clams".  The place was just a little diner type place with SUPER cheap eats (all under "Ten Clams"...as they say:)....AND the food was SOOOOOOO GOOD!!!  I started with a cup of Potato and BACON soup (couldn't pass that up:)...complete with oyster crackers, which I heart:)

Butttt I was MOST excited to try my 'main dish'...my first ever LOBSTER ROLL! :) 

I was actually AFRAID to have any more of these for the rest of the trip, because this one was just sooooooooooooooooooo good!!!  Stuffed to the GILLS with HUGEEEEE Lobster chunks and made stratospherically outstanding because it was served on a BUTTERED ROLL.  HELLLLO?????  Heaven, I tell you! :)  Lobster goodness...for like, $6.95....Can't beat that!

After lunch, we went to troll around the little shops in the adorable village....

And managed to pick up a little treat on the way...coconut truffle the size of a golf ball?  Yes, please:) 

For dinner that night, we headed down to the main street in Mystic near the drawbridge which had plenty of cute shops and restaurants along the water.  We decided to try out "Ancient Mariner" which we LOVEDDDD because not only was it cozy and nautical...but it was also pretty decked out to put us in the spirit for Salem:)

We started by splitting an order of the garlic bread.  And this was no ordinary garlic bread...because how can you make garlic bread better??  Answer:  Add BLUE CHEESE!  Hell yeah!!  Soooo good:)

And for dinner...my friend & I decided to play a little round of angel and devil, as we decided to split a salad and an order of mac and cheese....

And no, not regular mac and cheese:)  When in Mystic, LOBSTER Mac & Cheese is the only way to go:)  Check it out...they weren't even skimpin on the good stuff... :)

Devil...Angel :)

The salad was actually really good too:)  It probably wasn't TOO much of an "angel" since it was packed with craisins, blue cheese, spicy walnuts, apple slices and apple butter dressing...butttt we figured it was better than 2 HUGE bowls of mac and cheese EACH:)  hahahahhaha....

After dinner, we decided to forgo dessert in the restaurant since my eyes just naturally gravitate to any signs that scream "ICE CREAM!" :)  And even though it was freeeeezzzing, we decided to head over to Drawbridge Creamery and check out their delights:)  As soon as I saw Apple Pie Ice cream on the menu, I knew I had to have it!

OK...I lied...I did spend a good 5-10 minutes in contemplation since they had soooo many good flavors:)  But my FALL instincts won out and I got to enjoy this cinnamony sweet treat while THANKFULLY keeping warm INSIDE:) hahahahahaha....

Breakfast the next morning was about as quaint & cute as the town of Mystic itself:)  After a quick Google of "Best Breakfast in Mystic", we found ourselves at this place...Kitchen Little.  Seriously, how cute, right??

And since the place was SUPPPPPPER TEENY-TINY (I can't even IMAGINE breakfast there during the HIGH SEASON!!) we snagged a table outside in their little heated tent...

The tent was actually SUPER warm & toasty AND we got to enjoy some BEAUTIFUL FALL views while we ate:) 

Win/Win!

Well, it was actually a Win/Win/WIN because the food was REALLY good!  How could I complain when the special breakfast of the month was Pumpkin Walnut pancakes???  UGH!  SOOOO delicious and perfectly seasonal:)  I heart you, Kitchen Little:)

After that, we headed on our way north to Salem!  I'll post more about that tomorrow! 

However, I do have one more Mystic eats for you:)  As I'm sure you're wondering...and YES...we did make a stop at Mystic Pizza on our way home...

Was it good?  Yes.)  However, we Jersey folks are a little jaded & spoiled with our pizza since we have some of the best IN THE WORLD right in our neighborhood, let alone the surrounding states...so I will say pretty much what everyone told us before we went: "It's pizza" :) hahahahahahahahhaah.....

...but we got our Hollywood fix before heading home:)

So can anyone else NOT believe Halloween is THIS WEEKEND?????????  Where did the year go???  I feel like I blinked on Labor Day and now it's OCTOBER 29th!  I better start slowing down and enjoying all of these days cause they are flyin FAST!! :)  Hope you guys have great Halloween plans this weekend!  I gotta run home after work and get busy cooking because we're having some folks over for dinner and to get our carving on!  And I MIGHT just be trying out a new treat invention of my own....MWAH HA HA! :) 

Have a great Friday!!

Oh...and since it's Friday, I'm still adding one dish to EKat's Potluck despite feeling off my cooking game this week:)

Check it out!!  There are some GREATTTTTTTTTTTT Halloween entries for today!!!!!!!!

Dinner, Dessert & A game of tag....

So last week, after our long trip of good eats, I knew an extra healthy meal was in order.  Sooo...we went with one of our old favorites:  Spaghetti Squash Casserole.  It's how we keep all things in balance:)  One week: Monster Burgers...the next:  Spaghetti Squash:)...

Buttt...don't think I let my sweet tooth linger for too long, as I had a small bowl of all of our popcorn samples from Lake Placid...all of them were SO GOOD! :)  But I think the sweet/salty and dotted with toasted Coconut "Almond Joy" was my favorite of the bunch:)...

So since this post is so brief, I thought I'd share something new with you!  Carolyn over at the BEAUTIFUL "All Day I Dream about Food" tagged me in a game of foodblogger tag.  I am suppose to answer eight questions and then tag eight other foodbloggers who must answer questions of my choosing.  So here goes:

. 

1. What is your go-to recipe when you just can't figure out what else to make for dinner?

Spaghetti with Garlic & Oil...it's a 10 minute meal and 99.9999% of the time, I will ALWAYS have the ingredients in my kitchen!

2. What is your "guilty pleasure" food (i.e. junk food that you don't like to admit to)?
Oh gosh, I'm sure quite a few, but my daily dose of Coffee Creamer was the first thing that popped into my head, so I'll go with that:) 

3. If you could use only one kitchen gadget for the rest of your life, what would it be?
My slow cooker!  I heart thee.....

4. What's your favourite recipe "short-cut" to make things easier and faster?
A husband who also loves to cook:) 
I jest:)
Probably getting any prep work that can be done ahead of time.  It's important to keep the healthy ingredients handy when it's too easy to reach for the take-out menu during the week!

5. Are you a coffee person, a tea person or a hot chocolate person? Or none of the above?
I guess I'm NOW a coffee person after YEARS of disliking the stuff:)

6. What song, when it comes on the radio or stereo, do you just HAVE to get up and shake your thang to? (Not food related, but hey, it's important!)
Anything by Britney Spears, Madonna or Michael Jackson:)

7. What's the last "specialty" ingredient you bought for a recipe?
A Gallon of pure maple syrup to use for all my FALL/Winter delicacies:)

8. Out of all your recipes that you've made in the last three months, what's your favourite?
Oh Gosh!  TOUGH QUESTION!!!  I'd say: Basil Gnocchi with Summer Sauce, All-Out Onion Burgers & Sea Salt Apple Crisp!

Thanks again for tagging me, Carolyn!  I'll have to tag a few folks when I come back!!
Have a great Wednesday everyone!!  I should be live & in person again starting tomorrow:)

Sweeet Potato

Hi everyone!  Hope you're having a good week so far!  I must tell you about the ULTIMATE FALL dinner I made last Tuesday.  I followed the guidance from Kristin and made Sausage, Apples & Onion Sweet Potatoes...

Tell me that doesn't just SCREAM Crunching Leaves & Plaid t-shirts:)  It has almost all of the good elements of the season:)

Scott was kind enough to get the potatoes started in the oven when he got home from work...which could be one of the best smells to walk home too on a cold day:)
When I got home, I got sauteeing the rest:

• 1 diced up apple
• 1 diced up onion
• 2 links of Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage (or whatever you have on hand...but this one was PERFECT...)

Once the potatoes were ready, I remashed them a bit with a little Apple Pie Spice for a little extra FALL...

And (as you see above) added all of the sautee pan to the top of the potatoes.  Simple, lightening fast & delicious!  Can't beat that trifecta for a Tuesday night:)

As our side, we had small spinach salads and decided to crack open our NON-maple purchase from Morse Farms....sooo perfect-o for us:)

A perfectly little cozy dinner:)  Try that one tonight for a healthy meal:)

Monday Salad...

So usually I'm posting these babies on Tuesday morning, but since this was our salad from LAST week...maybe it will inspire your own "Salad Monday":)  And if you start with this one, you just may convert to a 'day of salads' every week...because THIS one was SOOOOOOOOOO good!

In the Mix:

• Shredded spinach
• Chickpeas
• Blue Cheese
• Toasted Walnuts
• Craisins
• Diced Apples
• Maple Balsamic

Where do you get Maple Balsamic, you ask??  Well...from in your pantry! :)  All I did was pour a little less than a quarter cup of balsamic in a small saucepan and allowed it to simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes (while I mixed up the salad).  After the balsamic is slightly reduced, I added a couple tablespoons of maple and let it all heat together.  After letting it cool for a moment, it was the perfect consistency to drizzle on the salad...

I don't know if it was the warm/sweet balsamic, the warm toasted walnuts, the tangy cheese or the chewy craisins or all of the above...but this salad was DELICIOUS!!  SO WARM & FALL-Y! :)  And the chickpeas added an extra BOOST of "Filling" :)  Try this one, you'll LOVE IT!

One More for the Road...

So I managed to sneak one more dinner on here after all:) 

(ps-Cirque du Soliel "Drallion" was INCREDIBLE tonight!!!  Go see it-or ANY of these shows-if they ever come to a city near you!  You will NOT be disappointed!) 

And I wanted to share this one with you because I was sooooooo excited about making it tonight...as in:  I thought about it starting around...hmmmm...12:21 when I finished my lunch;)

We made 5 spice Shrimp with Pumpkin Peanut Butter HALLOWEEN Noodles based off of this recipe...

While the pasta was cooking, we made a quick sauce by adding:

• 1 15oz. can of pureed pumpkin
• 1/4 cup peanut butter (or to taste)
• 1/3 cup soy sauce (or to taste)
• Salt & Pepper

...to a pan of garlic sauteing in sesame seed oil.  Once the pasta was cooked, we added 2 ladles of the cooking water and stirred until the sauce was thin enough to pour over the pasta.

And Now for what made my noodles HALLOWEEN noodles????  I added some toasted black sesame seeds to the Orange sauce! :)  A dual purpose since I equally love HALLOWEEN AND sesame seeds;) hahahhaha...

The shrimp was coated in 5-Spice powder and sauteed in a skillet with olive oil and garlic for about 7 minutes.  Once the shrimp were cooked, I added them to my noodles and topped the whole thing with chopped scallions:

FESTIVE, RIGHT?????  Annnddddd delicious!  The smooth peanut butter/pumpkin sauce complimented so well with the 'slightly crunchy' spiced shrimp.  And of course, let's again not forget those lovely-and ever so HALLOWEEN appropriate-seeds:)

Alright!  Well, now I'm off to pack and then to BED!  Annddd...speaking of HALLOWEEN, I'm heading off to one of the East Coast's best  HALLOWEEN destinations in the morning:  Salem, MA for some witch trials fun! :) 

Have a great weekend!

Back to Cooking...for a brief spell...

Morning Everyone!  Can you BELIEVE October is almost OVER?????  Where is my precious FALL going??  YEESH!  So I've been trying to make some good FALL dishes over the last few days.  I'll show you what I made last night and then I'll catch you up on the rest while I'm off on the road again early next week!

So dinner came together last night with a little help from this:

And this....

And Ellie wasn't lyin!  This dish was INDEED "So Easy":)  Since Scott is STILL sick, I told him I'd do him the honors of cooking him dinner while he relaxed on the couch.  And I think he was SHOCKED when I told him dinner was ready in about 20 minutes!

And a no joke dinner, AT THAT!  We had Chipotle Orange Maple Pork Chops with Maple Squash & Spinach Apple Salad...

All you had to do for the pork was mix 2 tablespoons of orange juice concentrate (high in flavor!), a tablespoon of maple syrup, and a sprinkle of salt and chipotle powder (enough KICK for me:).  I coated them with the glaze and placed them glaze-side down in a hot pan and topped them with the rest of the glaze, flipping part way.  The glaze gave them a Sweet & Spicy KICK and suchhhhhhh a good color.....

What made this dinner even easier, was using 2 boxes of frozen butternut squash to make the mash.  I let them defrost on a pot on the back of the stove (with a quarter cup of water), while I made the pork.  As soon as they pork was cooked, all I had to do was add a tablespoon of butter & 2 tablespoons of maple syrup to complete this creamy and sweet mash!  So yummy!

And the salad was a quick toss of spinach, apple slices, craisins & toasted walnuts mixed with olive oil, balsamic, Dijon mustard and yet another touch of maple syrup:)....this actually might have been my favorite part of the dinner:)  I just love warm walnut in salad....

Loved this dinner...and like I said: FALL appropriate & SUPER QUICK!  Anddddd seeing as how it was the ONLY actual dinner I posted from this week, I suppose it shall be my entry in EKat's Potluck this week:)

Hope you had a great week and have fun plans for the weekend!  I'm hoping to be able to post one more meal for you guys before I leave tomorrow morning, but between packing & heading out for some "Cirque Du Soliel" tonight, I might be cutting it close:)  If not, I'll have some "catch up" stuff for you until I get back later next week.   Till then, have a great weekend!! :)