Holiday - - Page 21

by BS

Putting a Little Luck in Your Mouth

Forget cooking with Guinness. If you want to really taste Ireland in your mouth this St. Patrick’s Day, you should be eating shamrock.

I was previously unaware that lucky four-leaf clovers were actually edible (and I’m still not sure they are). However, Keogh’s, the Irish potato company that has brought us such treasures as roast beef and Irish stout potato chips, is now offering the perfect treat to dip in your pint of green beer: chips with real, 100% Irish shamrock.

Not surprisingly, they expect the snacks to generate the most interest outside of Ireland:

“The idea for a Shamrock crisp came from our absolute pride in being Irish farmers and a constant need to be innovative in our offering, we are very excited about them and already have interest from abroad” Tom Keogh said. They are expecting high demand from abroad for the snack.

Of course, it raises the question, what the hell does shamrock taste like, and should you really be eating it?

More Irish food ideas in Endless St. Patrick’s Day.

by BS

Endless St. Patrick’s Day

With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to best pay homage to everyone’s favorite emerald isle. And ya’ll know that here at ES we go way beyond just green beer.

Whether you’re looking for something sweet (Irish cheesecake bites), savory (Guinness and steak pie) or somewhere in between (Irish soda bread), we’ve got all your St. Patrick’s Day recipes in one place. For you comprehensive folks, there’s 100 ways to cook with Guinness; just don’t forget to top everything with some Kerrygold butter

Find it all in Endless St. Patrick’s Day

in Holiday 0 comments

by bakersroyale

Booze Bites: Irish Car Bomb Jell-O Shots

Chewable beer bite? Sure, you probably associate that phrase with a less-than-pleasant experience, something that might have involved hanging out a car door window like a dog on a drive. Luckily, we’re here to supplant that memory with a chewable beer bite you can enjoy. Let’s talk Irish Car Bomb Jell-shots.

No more worries of having to invoke those college days when you had guzzle this drink quickly just to avoid the curdle. No, we’ve grown up, we can self-moderate and we can do so gracefully with a treat that won’t leave guzzling trails at the corner of our mouths.

*To make this fun treat we we used two types of molds. The layered Jell-o shot on the right is made using a mini muffin pan. To acheive the shot-in-the-glass look like the ones on the left we used this mold found here.

Irish Car Bomb Jell-o Shots

in Desserts / Holiday / Recipe 27 comments

by Emily

Top 10 Break-Up Foods

For some, Valentine’s Day is a time of magic and romance. For the rest of us, it’s a pain in the ass. I’m not a big proponent of feeling pressured if you’re dating someone, or sorry for yourself if you’re not. Come on, we’re all gonna get laid sooner or later, who cares if it’s on V-Day, right? And most romances end in heartache, so let’s just indulge ourselves and talk about something more realistic than the perfect confections to buy your sweetheart.

Maybe you’re feeling bitter because you got dumped right before Valentine’s Day, maybe you found out through Facebook that your high school lover is engaged, maybe you just realized that every dude on this season of Mtv’s Real World/Road Rules: The Challenge somehow resembles one of your ex-boyfriends. (I mean…hypothetically, of course.) At least there is always food and sweet, sweet alcohol.

Just in time for everyone who is feeling bitter over this “holiday,” we present Endless Simmer’s Top 10 Break-Up Foods.

10. Bananas

I know, we’re starting off with a weird one, but bear with me. For a lot of us, when we’re upset or depressed or convinced we will die alone, sometimes it’s hard to see the point of eating. (If you are in this heartbroken place, don’t worry; in my experience, this unwillingness to stuff your face will pass soon enough.) While you might feel dramatic and slightly excited by the possibility of effortless weight loss, you need something to provide you with energy, or at least keep you from fainting at your desk. I read somewhere that the human body could technically live off bananas. I don’t know if this is actually true, but this “fact” stuck with me, and now whenever I’m depressed and have to force myself to eat, I choke down a banana.

9. Coffee

You might be waking up alone, but at least you have a daybreak companion to look forward to: coffee. If you’re been up until 4am crying, or maybe writing angry emails, or pathetic “I am so lonely without you” texts, it’s gonna be a rough morning. You need to force yourself to get out of bed and face the day somehow. What is the answer? Caffeine, of course. There is something about a sober, steaming mug of black coffee that is bleakly comforting.

8. Pizza

You’re in no mood to cook. Everything is too much effort. Nothing says “I’m lonely and lazy” like some cheap pizza. Plus it’s oily enough to soak up a boozy hangover if you’re been drinking away your sorrows. Whether it’s local delivery, late-night drunken desperation, or a cold slice out of a greasy box you find in the back of the fridge, pizza is a tried-and-true break-up binge classic.

in Cheese / Desserts / Drinks / Featured / Holiday / Lists / Personal / Photos / Red Meat / Top 10 Lists 11 comments

by BS

Baking Your Way Into Bed: Endless Simmer’s Valentine’s Day Dessert Guide

Seriously, why would anyone want to go out for dinner on Valentine’s Day? Eating out on the busiest restaurant night of the year has always struck us as significantly more exhausting than enticing.

If you’re really looking to get lucky, take if from ES, there’s no better tactic than staying home and making dessert. So check out our top picks, sorted by what type of date you’ve lined up for this year.

The Classy Date: Banana Cream Pie Cupcakes

Sorry, guys — if you’re skipping the night out, you can’t just order up a pint of B&J and call it a day. Staying home for V-day usually requires presenting something both pretty and impressive. These banana cream pie cupcakes ought to do the trick.

The Quirky Date: Trashy Cupcakes

If you’re looking less for knock-her-socks-off impressive and more show-how-cute-and-quirky-I-am, these cracked-out cupcakes will display your silly side. Plus, if you’ve left it until the last minute and the only things you have in the kitchen are ramen noodles, Cocoa Puffs, and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, we’ve got your back: trashy cupcakes.

in Desserts / Holiday / Lists 0 comments

by Emily

Finally, Easter is Here Again

Check out the massive display currently featured at my local Safeway market:

Okay, American consumerism, I get it. Christmas is over, you need to find the next holiday to shove down our throats. But really, spring is in the air? IS IT? I think not. Plus, what happened to making us feel like shit because Valentine’s Day is coming?! Nope, now we’re just on to Easter? Apparently, April is just around the corner. Better start stocking up on your Cadbury Eggs and Peeps right now.

(To be clear, I love Cadbury Eggs and Peeps, but I categorically refuse to purchase and/or eat them until actual springtime.)

in Desserts / Holiday / Rants & Raves 4 comments

by Emily

Getting Real About New Year’s Resolutions

Well, another year has flown by and now it’s 2012. For many people, this means it’s time to put those New Year’s resolutions into action. Many classic goals involve improving exercise and diet habits. While we would like to support these resolutions in theory, let’s get real. People make the same resolutions year after year because they never stick! Instead of the tried-and-true, tried-and-failed resolutions of yore, we’ve come up with suggestions to spice up your eating and drinking in 2012… and yeah, be a little healthier, too.

Here’s a look at the four classic New Year’s eating/drinking resolutions…and the ES fixes

1. Drink Less Alcohol

What? No. We can’t even to begin to explain why this plan is destined to fail. But for starters, let’s get real, we even infuse our popsicles with booze. So… come on.

ES Says: Vow to try new alcohols. We’ve all had vodka, but have you tried akavit? Lillet? Aperol? Or, learn to love an alcohol you don’t like. Maybe you had a bad experience with gin in college, but it’s time to give your least favorite spirit the ol’… college try.

in Holiday / Lists / Personal 3 comments