Winter 2014 book giveaway!

Hi girlfrans!  I've got a special treat for you today.  Five of you lucky lasses will win one of these five cool reads!



Here's what's up for grabs:

Blankets by Craig Thompson  One of my favorite graphic novels about coming of age.  Seriously good.
The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer  I read this for A Beautiful Mess's January book club.  Not my fave, but give it a whirl!
The Stench of Honolulu by Jack Handy  Jack Handy!  Need I say more?
Divergent by Veronica Roth  This book will take you about 2 minutes to read.  Definitely young adult, but definitely entertaining.
Fables Vol. 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham and Lan Medina  This may will get you hooked on comics.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck friends!  Giveaway will be open until the end of the day on March 13th.  Winners will be emailed shortly after.

Have a great weekend!

Trish

Homemade Irish cream

Who's ready for a boozy gut bomb?!  A totally delicious and worth it boozy gut bomb!?  Me.  That's who.  And hopefully you.  Irish or not.  It is March after all, which makes me a super super happy girl.  Thank you March, I've been waiting for you to show up.



St. Patty's is right around the corner friends!  Seriously, 2 weeks away.  Wow.  On a Monday though, wah-wah.  No Irish car bombs for this Scottish lass.  Hangovers are NOT my bff.

I'm getting into the spirit though.  This weekend Jerdy and I hit the road and stayed in the beach house in Shelton, WA where we were married.  Mimosas in the hot tub, naps on the couch, and homemade Irish cream makin!  I had never made it before, and although I sort of knew what was in it, I forgot we didn't have the internet to look up the recipe.  Woopsies!  I made do with what we had though.  This recipe is definitely more chocolaty than Bailey's Irish cream, and I think a splash of vanilla would have been killer.



Homemade Irish Cream:
Makes 6 cups
Hands on time: 10 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
8oz heavy whipping cream
14oz sweetened condensed milk
1-3/4 cup Irish whiskey
1 Tbsp of finely ground coffee
3 Tbsp chocolate syrup

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  That's it.  Seriously.  This can be kept for quite a while because of all that delicious whiskey.  I would say about a month.  Just be sure to shake it up really well before each use.



What are you plans for St. Patty's friends?  Any great recipes you are planning?  I'd love to hear them!

Cheers!

Trish

Sriracha honey popcorn

Yes, you read that correctly.  Sriracha honey freakin popcorn.  Totes delicious.



I have this thing with Sriracha, where I like it A LOT!  A lot a lot.  I find myself constantly wondering if the food I'm eating would taste better if only it had a squeeze of Sriracha on it.  I've even put it in yogurt before!  So, naturally, I put it on popcorn.

Sriracha honey popcorn
Servings: about 3 small or 2 medium sized bowls.
Hands on time: 15 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp coconut oil (you can use canola or olive oil here too)
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp Sriracha
1 Tbsp salt



Make:
Heat the coconut oil in a large pot with lid over medium high heat.  Add the popcorn kernels, and cover with lid.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter, honey, and Sriracha until just melted together over low heat.  Keep warm, while keeping an ear out for popping popcorn.

Once the time in between pops of the popcorn reaches 5 seconds, take off heat.  Pour half the popcorn into a large bowl and cover with half of the Sriracha sauce and 1/2 Tbsp salt.  Pour the rest of the popcorn into the bowl and cover with the rest of the Sriracha sauce and salt.  Give a good stir.  Serve immediately.



Are any of you guys Oscar junkies?  I adore watching the Oscars, but alas, we do not have cable so we can't watch TV.  I watch all my TV online.  Anyone know where I can stream it?  I'd love to put on some jammies, grab myself a cocktail, and sit down with a big bowl of this while watching the Oscars.  Yes please!
Any good Sriracha recipes out there?  I'm trying to think outside the box with this stuff.  I'm thinking Sriracha pickles, or maybe some sort of sweet and spicy popsicle.

Cheers to Oscars week friends!

Trish

Currently

Hey dudes and dudettes.  Enjoying your Sunday?  Here are some snippets of my life according to Instagram.

I became a bit obsessed with instant oatmeal for breakast this winter.  I mean, the sugary crap that tastes really good but is REALLY bad for you.  We bought a case of it from Costco on a whim, and the only flavor left is the plain.  Ick.

Seattle skyline on a January morning.  Walking to work has it's ups and downs, this day was an up for sure.

I narrowed my cookbook collection down to just these books!  Well..... almost.  About 5 that didn't make it onto this shelf.  Jerdy was NOT pleased.  ha!

Puzzle time!  I freakin love puzzles.  I only allow myself one per year, because it is literally ALL I do until the puzzle is finished.  I'm nuts.  This 2000 piece puzzle took about 3 days.



Mrs. Roll has developed a love for being totally covered up by blankets.  When we wake up in the morning it's hard to find her on her bed, she is so buried.  What a weirdo.



BEFORE: Jerdy and I rearranged our living room.  It's about a 250sq ft space, so it's not an easy thing to do with as much crap as we have.  We need a serious purge.  Tootie was NOT into it, as you can see.

AFTER: Looks a little better eh?  I'm totally digging it.  And instead of purging, I bought a new pillow.  Woopsies!

Currently reading Divergent by Veronica Roth.  My BFF gave it to me as a Christmas gift and has been hounding me to start it.  Finally did, and I'm almost finished.  Speedy little read this one.  I would say I like it, but not love it.

The sun came out this week.  And the birds were chirping on my walk to work.  The ground doesn't look disgusting and muddy like it has for the last 4 months.  This makes me a happy girl.

Well, that's been my uneventful life this winter!  I'm still visiting my grandfather in the hospital at least once a week, which has been emotionally draining and time consuming.  I'm heading to visit him today, because I got a horrible case of fever and cough and haven't seen him in about 2 weeks.  Fingers crossed that SOMETHING has changed with his condition.  It's been 3 months at this point.  Enough depressing shit....

JellyBones around the web:
I was featured on Grimmricksen's Bookwork Wednesday!  Thanks Jennifer!
The Sparkly Panda gave my slutty french onion soup a shoutout.  Woop!

Links I'm digging:
How Sweet It Is added meatballs to a grilled cheese.  Oh. My. Jesus.
Shutterbean stole my heart with her cherry vanilla hot chocolate.  This lady is my hero.
Little Lady Little City took walnuts to a new level and made a pie I'm dying to try out.
Say Yes made this adorable bracelet with just some wire.  Awesome.
Cooking Stoned got all MacGyver on food scraps that regrow themselves.  I'm adding this to my to do list TODAY!

I've been thinking of doing a book dump giveaway.  Give away all my read and used books to you lovely bloggers out there.  Is that something you guys would be into?

Also wondering what you want to see on this bloggie!  Any recipes you want me to try out?  Any food or drink item you'd like me to get creative with?  I'd love to hear what you want to see!

Cheers to a wonderful end of winter........ and transition into spring coming up.

Trish

P.S. Here I am on Instagram if you want to follow.

Slutty french onion soup

Whooooooo doggies it's cold outside!  Seattle is seriously living up to it's rainy rep this week.  SO. MUCH. RAIN!  This calls for a soup celebration.  A slutty soup celebration.

May I present..... slutty french onion soup.  You're welcome.



SLUTTY FRENCH ONION SOUP
Slightly adapted from Tyler Florence's recipe
Makes 6 servings
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 2 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 yellow onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 fresh bay leaves
2 fresh thyme sprigs
salt and pepper
1 cup bold red wine
3 Tbsp flour
2 quarts beef broth
1 baguette, sliced into 2 inch pieces
1/2 lb grated gruyere cheese



Make:
Melt the stick of butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onions and next 4 ingredients through salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are caramelized, about 1 hour.  The onions should be a deep rich brown color, and very soft.  You want them to brown, but not burn.

Add the wine and bring to a boil.  Simmer until the wine evaporates, and the alcohol flavor has been cooked out, about 20 minutes.

Discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs and add the flour.  Cook, stirring often for about 10 minutes.

Add the beef broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer on low for 20 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat your broiler.  Ladle the soup into oven safe bowls and top with baguette slices and gruyere.  Broil uncovered until cheese is melted and begins to brown, about 5-10 minutes.



Look at that greasy, gooey, slutty goodness!  I may have discovered a new winter tradition around these parts.  I had never made french onion soup before and now I think I'm hooked.

Warning: This soup is incredibly delicious, but the aftertaste gives you breath like a demon.  Heh.

Trish

Cinnamon candy cherry cider

Happy Gal-entine's day!  I'm actually home from work sick today (boooooo!).  Total bummer.  Way to ruin Galentine's day Trish!  I'm hoping I can pop out of my Nyquil induced coma long enough to at least say "I love you" to Jerdy tonight.  Poor Jerdy.

Well, I made this fancy Valentine inspired cider last weekend for both of us, so at least I did that.  As well as the tea bag valentines a few weeks ago.  At least he got something right?



This is SUPER easy, and pretty damn tasty.

CINNAMON CANDY CHERRY CIDER:
Makes 2 cups
Hands on time: 10 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes

2 cups unsweetened cherry juice, like RW Knudsen Just Cherry
3/8 cup hard cinnamon candies, like Red Hots, or cake decorating candies
2 Cinnamon sticks (optional, for garnish)



Bring the cherry juice to a soft boil.  Turn heat to low, and very slowly add cinnamon candies, just a few at a time, stirring while adding.  Keep stirring until all the candies are melted completely, about 5 minutes.

Pour cider into 2 glasses and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

Seriously, that's it!



This was a total experiment, and I gotta say it ended up pretty tasty.  Very fall-esque.  Jerdy and I actually tried adding whiskey to this, and it was pretty raunchy.  Something about the hot and cinnamon with booze just didn't work.  Guess you can't add whiskey to everything!  There goes my philosphy on life!

Have a wonderful Galentine's day out there friends!  I'll be cheersing my hubby with some Nyquil.  Huzzah!

Trish

Tunes I'm digging

Some newbies, some oldies.  All good.




Any music you guys are loving this winter?