Kayla's "21st Birthday Anniversary"

Last weekend I went home to upstate NY to celebrate my younger sister's 22nd birthday. I decided to use this as an opportunity to try out a new recipe - especially since everyone would be three-sheets-to-the-wind anyway and would eat whatever I made. I mean if that doesn't scream perfect opportunity then what does?

After the long drive home on Friday, I finally made it, changed my clothes, and hit the town with my sister. We went to Bombers Burrito Bar in  Schenectady, and met up with some of our mutual friends who still live in the area - although secretly we  were hoping to catch a glimpse of Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, or Eva Mendes, who are all currently filming a movie in our area. When we failed to see them, we eventually decided to call it a night. 

We arose early Saturday morning and hoped to immediately start preparing the food and decorations for her party... but we instead spent the majority of the morning cleaning up my little brother's mess which had successfully consumed our entire basement.  After cleaning up we finally headed to the grocery store, followed by the liquor store :) - my menu for the evening was going to be salsa, buffalo chicken dip, caprese pockets, and white sangria. 

I've already posted a brief recipe for salsa, but here it is again....

The key ingredients are green peppers, tomatoes, garlic, jalepenos, red onion, cilantro, and lime. You should also season with garlic salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to add heat. 

        

I think that grilling the peppers and jalepenos just a little adds a
great smokey flavor to the salsa! They don't need to be cooked
through, just enough to have a nice char on the skin.

Ta-da! There would be two thumbs up but as you can see, he has a chip in the other hand.

Since I have an entire blog post dedicated to buffalo chicken dip, please feel free to check that out - I've actually updated it with some more photos about the process.  I will now jump right into the fun stuff - my caprese pockets. 

So these were a lot more work than I had anticipated. I was kind of tired from making the previous two dishes, so I couldn't really give this one my all. I made about 20 pockets and finally gave up because I was getting tired, and I needed to shower and start on the sangria... which was clearly going to be the most important "dish" of the night... especially if everyone was going to enjoy the pockets. 

For the pockets you will need the following ingredients:

Puff pastry

cherry tomatoes

fresh basil

mozzarella cheese (I used the smallest balls I could find... ha ha ha)

salt, pepper, and garlic salt

additional suggestion: drizzle the inside with a little balsamic vinegar OR serve some on the side.

So I started by rolling out the puff pastry... I soon realized that I suck at using a rolling pin. Suck. When you're doing this make sure to use enough flour so that nothing sticks. I should probably mention that you first need to let the puff pastry thaw before you roll it. I waited a little too long though and it got very sticky. I would recommend using it when it's still a little hard. Probably about 20 minutes into the thawing process.

I know it looks ridiculous... cut me some slack please. 

After you have rolled out the dough so that it's about an inch or two longer on each side, you need to find a cup or small bowl that will allow for about a 3 inch diameter. Use this as a "cookie cutter" and cut out a bunch of circles. 

Once the circles are cut, slice a cherry tomato in half, layer a basil leaf on top, top with 1 - 2 balls of mozzarella, and sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and/or garlic salt. After you do that, use a little bit of egg, and brush the edges of the puff pastry.

The greasy box in the back is a box full of pastries my sister
and I had picked up while out and about running our errands...
energy food!

Fold the puff pastry over and use a fork to seal the edges. 

So you might be saying to yourself, hmmm this seems a little time consuming - well you'd be right. This did take me a little bit of time, so I would recommend doing all the prep work beforehand, and then you can just assemble them in a more assembly line style - I think this would help move things along faster. 

I put together these puff pastries earlier in the day, and planned to pop them in the oven once party guests started arriving... I will get back to whether-or-not this happened a little bit later.

On to the fun stuff - Sangria! Here's something everyone needs to know about me... if I find white sangria on a restaurant menu, I'm ordering it. Morning, noon, or night, Monday through Sunday, I love white sangria. Sooo I decided I would make my own. I know everyone is hoping this will be followed up with a picture... but obviously both it and I were gone by the time I thought to take a photo. Regardless, here's the recipe:

White Grape Sangria

• 1 bottle of white wine, I used sauvignon blanc - one of the super big bottles
• 1 bottle of white grape juice
• 1 cup of vodka (approximately)
• Fresh fruit: (I used what looked good in the store)
• 2 green apples, chopped 
• 1 mango, chopped
• 1 bag of grapes, 1/2 frozen, 1/2 not frozen and halved

I chilled everything first, and then mixed it all together in a big bowl with a ladle for easing serving. The grapes acted as ice cubes, but I also served it with ice on the side. Don't add ice to the actual sangria because it will just water it down... and no one wants that.

The sangria was delicious... so delicious... and unfortunately I consumed a few glasses just before I put the pockets in the oven. My mom called to me while I was in the hot tub (obviously having forgetten about the pockets) and informed me that the pockets were done (We baked them in a 400 degree oven for 20 - 25 minutes. The puff pastry should be a nice golden brown).


Moment of truth....

I thought they tasted good, but they were a little bland, and definitely would have benefited from some salt and pepper. Next time I will absolutely s+p both the outside and inside of the pastry. After trying one I accepted the fact that they could have used a little more TLC, and headed back to the pool - only feeling slightly defeated. I was ecstatic, however, when I came back inside and saw a full kitchen of kids and only one pastry left! Alas, my excitement was short lived because not long after entering the kitchen my mom quietly informed me that the dog had eaten them all... 

Look at that face... I clearly couldn't stay mad.

All and all I would say that the party was a complete success. The weather turned out perfectly and was conducive to a pool party. The entire night was filled with great friends, somewhat delicious food, and lots of hot tubbin'. Oh and the most important - Cake from Villa Italia! (Amazing bakery located in Schenectady, NY).

Happy birthday Kay! <3

Saturday Night in Gloucester

After an amazing dinner the night before, we all woke up refreshed Saturday morning and headed out for breakfast. We went to the Atlantis Oceanfront Inn and it was delightful. I would strongly recommend anyone to go there if they're in Gloucester. I just had eggs and toast but our group ordered the eggs benedict, breakfast sandwich, blueberry pancakes, and oatmeal, and everyone's plates were licked clean.  After a few more cups of coffee (very necessary after our long Friday night) we made our way back to the house to change for the beach.

We spent several hours soaking in the sun at the beach, and I even learned how to play handball. I know – I probably should have known how to play a long time ago, or should have understood the concept of the game due to its name. But regardless, I learned how to play and I rocked it. After a long day at the beach Chris and I headed back to the house to cook up some pre-dinner appetizers. I would not recommend making these unless you are someone who can practice portion control prior to dinner. My boyfriend and I pretty much stuffed our faces before dinner, and therefore were way too full to truly enjoy anything we attempted to eat afterwards.

Anyway, I made my buffalo chicken recipe and Chris and I made salsa. For our salsa we used about five big tomatoes on the vine, half of a large red onion, 1 green pepper, 1-2 jalapenos, a hand full of cilantro, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, lime juice and garlic salt. We also add a little chipotle hot sauce as well.  Salsa is so simple – you just chop everything up and let it marinate together for a few hours. Note: We roasted the pepper and jalapenos on an open flame on the stove first. It really gives the salsa a great smoky flavor. Just slice the peppers in half, take the seeds and everything out, and let them sit over the flame until they become browned.

After our award-winning appetizer session we headed to another local favorite for dinner, the Rudder. For some reason we decided to take four cars to dinner – this was a poor choice since the parking lot was completely filled. We had to park on a side street nearby, which wasn’t too far of a walk for my boyfriend, but I was wearing four inch wedges and had already consumed two glasses of wine prior, so it was slightly more challenging for me. Anyhoo… We arrived at the Rudder and entered. You would have thought that it was the only restaurant within a 50 mile radius because to say the place was packed would be an understatement. It was honestly a little overwhelming – I don’t do well in crowds. Our wait wasn’t too long, maybe 35 minutes or so. We were truly packed in like sardines so I really wasn’t sure how dinner was going to go – I figured slow service and mediocre food – I was proven very wrong. Once we were seated our waitress was incredible attentive and friendly. The drinks were delicious! Definitely order the ruby red! My boyfriend’s mother ordered it and I wish I had! Like I previously mentioned, I was grossly full with buffalo chicken dip and I opted for a vodka with club soda (I assumed the soda would help settle my stomach – logical, right?).

Greek Salad

For appetizers we ordered like it was our last meal – calamari, spinach dip, eggplant napoleon, Greek salad, and fried clams. We like to eat. The eggplant was my favorite, it had fresh ricotta cheese on top and was flash fried and not greasy at all.

For entrees I ordered fried clams, and Chris ordered fried shrimp. Both were surprisingly light for fried food, and my clams were super tender and moist on the inside. 

Fried Shrimp

Fried Clams

Chris’s mom Jan ordered the seafood risotto. She got the half portion which was still big, so I’d definitely recommend only getting the half portion, especially if you’re ordering apps as well. Regardless of the food, the view was simply picturesque. And surprisingly the noise level was not bad, especially considering the amount of people in the place. Overall it was a very pleasant dining experience (despite Chris and I being physical ill the entire time).

Seafood Risotto

Another great dinner option in Gloucester! 

Simple Salsa Recipe:

5 tomatoes diced

1/2 large red onion diced

1 green pepper diced (and roasted)

2 jalapenos diced (and roasted)

1 lime (just the juice)

1/4 cup at most of cilantro finely chopped

salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic salt to taste

Optional: hot sauce (chipotle)

Mix everything together and let the flavors marry with each other for an hour.