2010: A review through food

I'm not a big New Year's Eve partygoer. I've been to some parties over the years, but generally I prefer to snuggle up with my husband, watch a movie, and avoid all the drunk drivers. Also, my husband is usually asleep by eleven.

I decided this year to make a great dinner for my husband to ring in the New Year, and I had the brilliant idea to make a dinner buffet that reflects all the things we did over the year. The highlight was our trip to Spain, of course, so I decided that tonight would be the night to attempt paella. And what goes better with paella than sangria!

Spain wasn't the only place we traveled, however. We went to Charleston, SC to celebrate our eight year wedding anniversary. We splashed around at the beach, had a carriage ride, and topped our evening off with dinner at the Peninsula Grill where we ate an amazing dinner of upscale, southern comfort food and the most delicious coconut cake ever baked (it's so famous you can order it online!). Naturally, I had to include coconut cake in the review of 2010 menu.

We also went to Atlanta for a baseball game, and what represents Georgia better than peaches (which we incidentally picked up at a roadside stand on our drive down). Naturally I had to make a peach cobbler, following the recipe of a good ol' Georgia girl, Paula Deen.

We also visited a few places in North Carolina, like Raleigh and Asheville, and had our share of visitors as well! One of our favorite places to bring visitors is Mac's Speed Shop for some Carolina BBQ. I've learned the difference between Western Carolina, Eastern Carolina, and South Carolina bbq and am happy to share my knowledge with visitors as they choose from the variety of sauces available at Mac's. Naturally, our New Year's feast had to include some pulled pork with a choice of Western or Eastern Carolina bbq sauce.

I rounded out our feast with chocolate frogs to remember my sister's visit to Charlotte for the opening of the newest Harry Potter movie. We both love Harry Potter, and it only seemed appropriate that her first visit to Charlotte coincide with the opening of the movie. I made chocolate frogs when she visited, but I tried a new recipe this time around and they were quite delicious.

I had a great 2010 and it was fun reminiscing about all the fun times as I ate some pretty darn good food. I hope you had a safe and fun new year as well!

(Pictures and recipes to come...)

Damn you, Trader Joe's

Remember when I decided to just say no to Trader Joe's? Yeah. I can't anymore. They win.

The apple cider was addictive and I'm pretty sure they put some sort of drug in it to keep me coming back. But the apple cider is gone now, and I thought I was free from Trader Joe's hook. Wrong. They have a new cider - pear with cinnamon - that is also quite good. It's not quite as good as the apple cider, but it's still festive and delicious, especially when warmed. But this has moved far beyond frivolous cider, into world of real life needs.

Saffron.

Have you ever bought saffron? I haven't, and it's because it costs $17. I'm not exaggerating. I don't care if a little goes a long way, that's a ridiculous price to pay for a little spice that turns food yellow. Unfortunately, it's also a key ingredient in Spanish cooking. Ever since we returned from our trip to Spain, my husband has been asking me to make paella. I told him I would, with the caveat that I was sure it would never taste anything like what we ate in Spain and that would have to be okay. It was okay, and every now and then he asks when I'm going to make it. My one hesitation was the cost of that darn saffron.

Last week, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona played against each other. Oh wait, I should translate that: A soccer team from Madrid and a soccer team from Barcelona played against each other. These are the two  best professional soccer teams in Spain, and probably two of the best professional soccer teams in the world. They also happen to be the two teams we saw play (not against each other) when we were in Spain, so watching them play against each other brought up a lot of memories from our Spain trip. And inevitably, paella came up again. Thankfully, I was sick last week so I didn't have to make it. I really did not want to pay $17 for a stupid spice.

Enter Trader Joe's.

I went to Great Harvest to pick up bread for my husband's birthday french toast, and I picked up a couple of other remaining ingredients at the Trader Joe's next door. While I was there, I looked at the spices because I was running low on a few things and they usually have good prices on spices. And there it was, in all its flowering glory - saffron for $5.99.

I knew at that moment that I could no longer be mad at Trader Joe's for making me spend money on things I don't need. Don't get me wrong, they still have plenty of that, but they also had the one thing I did need at a much lower price than I had ever seen, and I knew it would make my husband so happy to finally have his paella.

Damn you, Trader Joe's!!!

I kid. You win.

Soccer crush

Remember how I said that my husband was going to name our hypothetical child Arjen, after the soccer player Arjen Robben? Well, move over Arjen! Our new hypothetical child will be named Cesc.

Meet his namesake, Cesc Fabregas:

Cesc plays center midfield for Arsenal and the Spanish National Team (that won the 2010 World Cup). My husband and I both love him, but in very, very different ways.

Just another reason to love Spain.