World Cup Rules!

With all the controversy regarding the deafening drone of the vuvuzela, it may be better that we've been enjoying World Cup soccer from our living room. Apparently the horn that makes the droning sound we hear on our tv's can lead to permanent hearing loss and the spread of cold and flu. Well then.

To celebrate the US VS England game, we had friends over for sports and socializing. What is a good theme for a soccer party? Balls. Like soccer balls. To take the theme to the next level, we also labeled our plates with silly names. Nick also invented a drinking game for our event based on soccer play, cards, and goals. Our menu included:
* cheddar cheese ball + crackers
* goat cheese balls + crackers (aka "goat balls")
* meatballs (aka Nick's "shweaty balls")
* popcorn balls (regular via a Martha Stewart recipe and chocolate via Paula Deane's recipe, aka "sticky balls")
* cherries (for balance of power)
Of course, our friends were inspired by such an amazing theme. We had additions of a soccer ball shaped cake, rootbeer cupcakes, guac (pit dropped in) + chips, mangu, grapes, peanut butter/pretzel/chocolate balls, and sausage balls. I had never had a sausage ball before, but discovered that I love them. Kristy made two versions. The gluten-containing version, and a GF batch made with Bisquick. Thankfully, Kristy left me her recipe.


Kristy's Sausage Balls
3 cups GF Bisquick
4 cups cheddar cheese
1 lb sausage
1/4 teaspoon pepper
EVOO

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prep a baking sheet with a thin coat of olive oil.

2. Mix all ingredients together. The mixture will be crumbly.

3. Form the mixture into balls and place the balls onto the baking sheet.

4. Bake the balls for 20 minutes. Serve warm and enjoy!

Cookies, Ice Cream and Rum Balls

My afternoon turned into culinary experimentation yesterday. With a *free* day of no work and no pre-scheduled errands, I had a large window to create a few tasty tidbits for upcoming events. I started with pre-cut cookies in a box to bring to a dinner and charades party at a friend's house. That turned into needing ice cream to make ice cream cookie sandwiches. Once I ate some lunch and finished those two projects, I moved onto rum balls for our soccer-watching get together this weekend. When all was said and done, I was tired.

ICE CREAM
When my sister gave me the ice cream maker for my birthday/Christmas gift, she also gave me the Ben & Jerry's recipe book. I made Jerry's Chocolate to pair with the cookies. Aside from lots of dairy (not so friendly for me), it involves melting chocolate over a (make shift) double boiler before titrating in the remaining ingredients. It's a little time consuming, but melting chocolate slowly can be quite the enjoyable contemplative activity. Once the ingredients are put together, it has to cool in the fridge, leaving a bit of time to: a) bake the cookies and b) eat some lunch. Once it's cool, it's time to throw it in the ice cream maker.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Dad brought me the cookies in a box to try a while back. French Meadow's idea behind the box was that you can make them one by one and have a hot cookie whenever you want one. It's genius. I decided to make the whole box since I was planning on feeding more than one person. They would have been perfect. When I took them out, they needed like 2 more minutes. And then I forgot about them for about 5. Oh well. The bottoms are a bit dark, but the rest of their GF, CF, SF cookiness is great- crumbly, not too sugary.

RUM BALLS
Our theme for World Cup soccer watching (US VS England) is balls. Yes, balls. Meatballs, cheese balls, popcorn balls, and rum balls will all be included. I can count the times I have eaten rum balls on about two fingers. I really didn't know what I was getting into. I used Martha Stewart's recipe. It involved making a brownie (I subbed regular flour for GF flour), then letting it cool. The cooled brownie is crumbed into a mixing bowl and rum is added. What should happen, per the recipe, is a giant ball should form. No clumping happened for me. Clumpage is essential for forming the balls. I added Karo syrup and a little more rum until the crumbs clumped. Whallah! Balls. We'll see how good they are when they get served cold on Saturday.

Saturday in Sandy Springs

After all the traveling I've done lately, I was thrilled to be home for an uninterrupted weekend. I slept in yesterday, made easier by the cloud cover. We cleaned house before scurrying out the door to the Farmer's Market and Lowe's. Then we took an epic nap before dinner out with friends. And this morning? We've slept in again.

Nick found the Sandy Springs Farmer's Market online someway somehow. When I pictured the market, held in the Goodwill/former Target parking lot, I imagined it to be more like the Dekalb Farmer's Market. My vision consisted of a place filled with tons of produce and a few secondary items like flowers, baked goods, jams/preserves, etc. What it really consisted of was a small amount of produce, dairy farmers with milks/yogurts/cheeses, salsa and preserve makers, plant vendors, live music, pastas, baked goods (wish Sally's had been there!), honey, a dog biscuits, a soap maker, and a few other things. It was on the small side, but we had fun. Nick sampled a few things and bought a bag of this year's first peach crop. I took home a roma tomato plant for the upside down tomato plant holder and handmade pepper chevre for this afternoon's lunch with Mom. Next weekend, we'll probably check it out again, and get some more fresh things. Now that we live so far from an indoor farmer's market, this is a true treat.

Check it out at
http://www.sandyspringsfarmersmarket.com/

As for my apartment gardening, I'll keep you posted on how my upside down tomatoes grow. I've heard good things. Since I'm not really a major green thumb, we'll see how this all goes.

Back from ASW

Last weekend I was the inpatient nurse for the sports weekend hosted by Shepherd Center in Alabama called Adventure Skills Workshop (ASW). Participants with physical disabilities come to this workshop to do various activities from jet skiing to scuba diving to confidence ropes courses. Shepherd brings inpatients and invites outpatients and community members to this annual event. Each year it is exciting and fun for campers and staff.

For me, part of the excitement was spending time with former patients. In my cabin, I had a few inpatients and a few recent people in Shepherd's day program. I've known some of them for a year, and some for just a few days. It's inspiring to see my adolescents "all grown up" and able to be so independent. They, in turn, are inspirations for the newcomers to the Shepherd community and to ASW.
After 2 nights and 3 days of 24hr nursing, I was very exhausted. Leave it to my darling boyfriend to have dinner on the stove when I stumbled in. He told me there would be chicken, veggies, and a surprise. The surprise was:

Rice Pasta & Cheddar!

It was the Trader Joe's version of Kraft mac & cheese. Boy was it nice. It is for sure about as close to the blue box as it gets. So go get you some and enjoy it!

Sally's Bakery

This week at work we had a health fair. HR pulled together lots of places- banks, supplements, chiropracters, chair massage, insta-lipid panel testing, exercise programs, and so much more. The thing I was most excited about was running into Sally from Sally's bakery. At the hospital I work at, quite a few people eat GF. Even more employees are related to someone who live GF. So, having a GF bakery represented was really great.

Sally's bakery is located on Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. Daily, they make fresh-baked treats. Everything (except the cookies) are soy-free, and more than half of their products are egg and dairy-free. They have quite a selection of things in stock- breads, hamburger bun, English muffins, take-and-bake pizzas, sweet loaves of bread (banana, pumpkin, sweet potato). Cakes are made to order. And they ship wherever in the US.

I tasted the moist, sweet, and delicious banana bread (twice). I am looking forward to tasting more great things from Sally. Check them out:






http://www.sallysbakery.com/
Monday - Friday: 10:00am - 6:30pm
Phone:(404) 847-0211

Rena's Birthday with Mezza Lebanese Food

When we lived in Massachusetts, I discovered the Ninja Turtles. I used to pretend to be a turtle, fighting evil with my neighborhood friends. At Pamela's house, we'd steal her brother's figurines and play with them, too. I guess you could say I was on the brink of tom-boyhood. Really, I just wanted to be a strong girl who could kick butt one minute, and be a lady at a fancy dinner party in my dress-up clothes the next.

I guess things don't really change a whole lot as we age.

When we moved to Atlanta, my parents enrolled us in popular Southern sports. They attempted golf, while I did an embarrassing job on swim team and made descent attempts at tennis. When all of the Brownie troops were full and a re-attempt at ballet seemed uninspiring, my mother had me signed up for my first free karate lesson. I was hooked. We did a little shopping around for karate schools in our area, and settled into dojo life at a little school in Alpharetta. The people here became my second family, and life long friends.

After 15 years in and out of a few styles of martial arts, I decided I was a bit burnt out. I decided it was time, at 24, to try a few other things. Since then, I've dabbled in various types of dance lessons, taken up running (and by that I mean jogging), restarted jewelry making, yoga, and taken various types of gym classes. Some of my karate buddies are still practicing the art. One of my dearest friends, Rena, now hikes with the Trail Dames on weekends and belly dances during the week. Her belly dancing is so inspiring, that belly dance is my next class to tackle.

For Rena's birthday, she chose a Lebanese restaurant in Decatur called Mezza. Mezza features small plates and belly dancing entertainment on weekend nights. We were a large party, seated across the floor on low benches and cushions; Rena was surrounded by people who have come to know and love her over the years from karate, dance, drumming, and social circles. Instead of family style service, we all decided to order individually. The waitress was very helpful in identifying the GF items, and informed me they only cook in olive oil. Narrowing the list down to what I could actually eat was a tad difficult.

By the time the waitress got through the group and over to me, I blanked on what to order. Trying not to take too much time, I started with one I did remember "goat balls." The waitress gave me an expression indicative of stifled laughter. I realized I had omitted the word "cheese" from my order.

"Goat cheese balls?" the waitress asked, straight faced.

"Exactly," I replied. "Goat balls. The bigger the better." My table mates laughed.

I went on to order a few other dishes. My favorite things (mine, and samples of other people's food) were the potatoes, goat (cheese) balls, olives, and grape leaves (non-veg). I found the lamb to be a bit too vinegary for my taste- I'm not a fan of vinegar. I loved the social aspect of sharing the small plates and socializing in between watching the beautiful belly dancer memorize us with her fluid movements. I supposed to go tip her politely (by throwing money over her head) during her final routine. Only, I was so distracted by the sword balancing on her head and hip, that I just could not move from my seat.

We even snuck in an impromptu belly dance lesson in between dinner and coffee, thanks to Rena's belly dance teacher, Fox, being there and providing us with fun scarves.

I highly recommend going to Mezza for a fun evening.
GF Accommodation Skills: check.
Good Food: check.
A Fun Environment for Social Interaction: check.

He's 70! Boston, MA and Milford, NH Trip

New England's weather was definitely rainy, cold, and windy this past weekend. Only, the elements did not affect me greatly. The company I was in was much more important. This past weekend was my father's 70th birthday weekend. Instead of celebrating here, my father, his girlfriend, Nick and I all joined our family up in New England for a wonderful weekend of family fun.

With distance, jobs, homes full of kids, social lives, and other pieces of life, we all find it hard sometimes to stay connected. I love my family dearly, and what is lacking in face to face or on the phone communication is supplemented with warm thoughts, the occasional visit, and the magic of Facebook. I am always thankful that when we are given an opportunity to see one another, we all come together as a whole family unit. The distance between us closes. I know for my dad, this weekend of family time was refreshing and grounding. He was the happiest father, grandfather, and great grandfather that could be.

***

Nick and I chose to go up on Thursday, a day ahead of my father. I thought it would be nice to have some uninterrupted together time, without schedules or to-do lists. We ended up making an earlier connection-less flight to Boston, getting us to vacation-land 3 hours earlier than expected. We checked into the hotel and wandered the Commons before meeting my brother up for dinner at Meyers + Chang.

Meyers + Chang is a hip little restaurant in the city with a diverse menu. The GF menu is printed on the back of the "regular" menu. Food at Meyers + Chang is meant to share. Since my brother and I were eating GF, we shared the omelet (okay) and the fried rice (spicy, rich, and delicious). We even downed a few GF beers. I enjoyed the ambiance as well as the food. Since I am more limited than some, I would return to try the fried rice again. For the rest of you soy-eaters out there, the page long menu has plenty of exciting choices to offer.

Friday morning we ate at the hotel's restaurant, the Boston Park Plaza's Pairings. I had a delicious scramble of eggs, lobster, green onions, and bacon. I mean, wow. Lobster for breakfast.

Friday afternoon (and Sunday afternoon) we ate at Durgin Park. This restaurant is a Boston trip staple; it is simply Yankee cuisine. Durgin Park has both surf and aged-to-perfection turf. Despite my love for meat, both times I ate a steamed lobster. Lobster is my favorite seafood, and my lobsters were caught off the New England coast. The seafood can be fried or steamed, and they use real butter to dip foods in. They were sensitive to my family and I's allergen needs. Also on their menu is Stewart's root beer, a GF soda.

Friday night we met Nick's brother up at Elephant Walk near the Green Monster. The ambiance was classy yet earthy. I particularly loved the muted amber lighting across the blue cieling. The gluten-free menu was impressive. My brother and I had trouble narrowing it down to one dish a piece. I ended up with the trout, a whole fish fried with a spicy and sweet sauce. I ate off of Nick's plate- he ordered the Nataing with crispy rice for dipping. I loved the creamy peanut flavor with an edgy after flavor. I'd love to go back and try everything on the menu, right down to the GF brunch.

Saturday our major eat out was Amigo's in Milford, NH. Milford has a suprisingly large GF community, so we had plenty of places to choose from. The Koranda clan descended on Amigo's for party day. The staff were all gracious hosts to our huge gathering. While waiting on dinner, I snacked on GF tortilla chips and salsa. Nick and I started walking down the expansive list of fabulous margaritas. My favorites were the Mi Amigo John and the Millionaire's. The GF menu was rather expansive. The food is just fresh, good Mexican food. I tried the tostadas and loved them. For dessert, we ordered Dad a piece of GF carrot cake. It looked amazing, but I was too busy socializing to try a bite. I had every intention of getting my own, but I was so stuffed from the goodness of dinner, that the closest I got to the birthday cake was dreaming about it later that night. My brother is so lucky to have a great GF place to eat within walking distance to his house!