Spreading joy and sugar for the holidays!

As promised, here is a review of the Drop in and Decorate Event we held this past Monday.
It was a great success, we had about 175 cookies to decorate and given the turn out and the sheer speed at which we little elves worked, we had them all beautifully and colourfully decorated within the first two hours.
It was such a fun way to spend our Monday afternoon, whenever I looked around I would see my friends with their heads bent over their work, frosting tube in hand, it was like we were all kids again!

I think the winners as far as innovative designs went go to Emily and her cow pig:

Paul and his cartoon/frog creature:

and the special sprinkle technique and innovation behind making this upside church bell into a tulip: (this one was mine!!)

Every single one was done with care and joy and I truly think the receivers will feel these things as they sink their teeth into these deliciously festive sugar cookies.

The charity we chose to donate to is Casa Myna Vasquez http://www.casamyrna.org/ which is a local shelter for domestic and date violence. I really hope they enjoy the cookies as much as we enjoyed making them.
This event is a perfect way to have fun and give at the same time, I know it lifted my spirits for the week!

Drop in and Decorate Event!

There is nothing better than spreading cheer and joy during the holiday season.  Most charities have special Christmas events and activities and many other organisations hold fundraisers to help disadvantaged groups in society so that they too can enjoy some of the things we have come to associate with Christmas time.
I am very glad to introduce a relatively new organisation called 'Drop in and Decorate' which is a non for profit that bakes and decorates cookies for donations towards individuals and other charitable organisations in the community.

Founded by food blogger extraordinaire, Lydia Walshin, Drop in and Decorate is a great concept because it allows any group of interested people to participate.  You bake your cookies, decorate them and send them off to any group from a list provided on their website: http://www.dropinanddecorate.org/

The ballet will be participating in a Drop in and Decorate event this coming Monday. It is our only day off during the Nutcracker season, so why not spend a couple of hours decorating some cookies for people who will truly appreciate them!?

I agree with Lydia when she says that 'money is great, but cookies are something special' - and it really is, because I know we will put a little bit of joy, love and festive spirit into every cookie we make! And as you can guess, I am a huge proponent of food being one of the best ways to spread joy for the holiday season!

Check out their website for more information http://www.dropinanddecorate.org/ and be sure to check back here, I will be documenting the entire event!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas!

Welcome to December 2010! December represents many different things to different people.  To me, it means the count down to Christmas can officially begin, the mad shoppers multiply as they suddenly realise the time is a ticking and certain things are permissible, for instance, I will not feel badly about taking out my winter coat, I will also not be angry when we get our first snow. (When the first snow is in November...I am none too pleased!)
I do love the Christmas feeling that encompasses almost every aspect of the city, I love the holiday decorations, I love the holiday cups and specialty drinks that come out at Starbucks...it's all such good fun! Speaking of holiday specialties however, I must let you in on some of the limited edition cupcakes at Kickass Cupcakes.  The last Monday of November, Kickass cupcakes hosted their usual happy hour from 5-7.  They were sampling three different kinds of cupcakes:

At the top we have the Yule Nog: Gingerbread cupcake with Brandied Egg Nog icing and a touch of nutmeg. To the right we have the Choc-o-tini: chocolate cupcake with vodka, whipped cream center, godiva liqueur frosting, chocolate shavings and to the left we have the Lemon Fizz: lemon cupcake with a limoncello curd center and meringue on top...now that is a happy hour!

Of course that wasn't enough for my two friends and myself, so we bought two more and were actually given a third as a bonus!

To my utmost excitement, they had 'The Oink', which is a limited edition cucpake: chocolate cupcake with whipped cream center, maple frosting and candied bacon on top. (Oh yea!!!)

Their Great Pumpkin is probably their best cupcake in terms of moistness (sometimes theirs are a little on the dry side, but you forgive them because of their delicious frosting).  The Great Pumpkin is a carrot cake cupcake with nuts and raisins, an amazing cream cheese frosting and candied orange peels on top.

Of course, all of this would have been impossible to digest without some whole milk from a glass bottle which we procurred from the Dairy Bar conveniently located right next door.

Kickass Cupcakes, located in Davis Square is really worth the trip out their all by itself, but it is also important to note that this area is really up and coming in terms of restaurants and cool new boutiques.
http://kickasscupcakes.com/ ENJOY!

Reminiscing...

For those of you who were not following this blog during the summer months, the Boston Ballet went on tour to Spain for five weeks. It was a great tour, full of theaters, planes, buses, luggage and hotel rooms.  More importantly however, the trip was also filled with Sangria, tinto de verrano (summer wine) and great tapas. It's hard sometimes, to come back to reality and realise that you can't just nip down the street for some fabulous bocadillo con jampon y queso...or aceitunas in olive oil...it becomes even harder when you are aware of the fact that you live in proximity to Toro - a great tapas restaurant which happens to be among one of the busiest restaurants that doesn't take reservations.
Having been to Toro once before, I know that the tastes you will encounter at this restaurant live up to (and in some cases exceed) much of the food I experienced in Spain.  This weekend, it was a good friend of mine's birthday and I figured we should go the extra mile and head back to the tastes of the summer... I also figured that if we went after our last performance on Sunday evening, we wouldn't be greeted by the usual 2 hr wait time. I was still surprised however at how busy it was; we ended up waiting about 30 minutes...but as you will see, it was well worth it.

By the time we were seated with our tinto de verrano, we had our order planned out and ready.  We got the 'Datiles con Jamon', medjool dates filled with Marcona almonds and Cabrales blue cheese, wrapped in Jamon Serrano - in other words, bite sized pieces of heaven.

Maíz Asado con Alioli y Queso Cotija is also a must have at this place, it is their house special grilled corn with alioli, lime, espelette pepper and aged cheese - I failed to get a picture of this, they disappeared too quickly!

Garbanzos con Chorizo: chickpeas with chorizo, greens and hard boiled egg - delicious when soaked up with bread.

Also delicious was their 'Costilla de Bourguignon', Red wine braised beef short rib with bacon, mushrooms and pearl onions

And lastly, their 'Ensalada de Otoño' : Heirloom squash and maitake mushrooms with crispy jamon, fried brussels’ sprout leaves, pumpkin seeds and Valdeon...sublime!

Everything was delicious and just the right amount.  That is the art of tapas, you can order many little plates and share them all.  The tricky part about tapas restaurants is that you forget how quickly the price can rise, most dishes range from 8-12 dollars, pincho plates are cheaper and some of the heavier tapas are more costly. It is not a cheap place, but it is certainly much cheaper than a flight to Espana!

http://www.toro-restaurant.com/