my favorites: hard apple cider

i guess i'm not a very good blogger.  as i see it, all bloggers are supposed to love fall.  and while i am excited for "it's the great pumpkin swap," i am NOT a fan of autumn weather, wearing tons of layers, replacing my sandals with boots, or ending golf and comfortable outdoor running season. 

one of the only thing i like about fall [besides the things i will be sending to my partner for the swap], is apple cider.  i really like regular cider, but hard cider is my favorite.  here are a few of the ones i enjoy:

mike bought us crispin "original" a few weeks back, and it was delicious!  however, it almost tasted a little more summery than autumny because it was crisp, but not sweet, and literally tasted like eating a red delicious apple.  it was best over ice.  next, we decided to try the "honey crisp."  it was a little more bitter, and we tasted the most honey flavor at the bottom.  because it's unfiltered, i would suggest rolling it before drinking to ensure an even taste throughout.

yuengling is a staple in my house [whenever someone brings it up from new york or new jersey], and it reminds me of football games - so i guess it fits the autumn profile.  we also tried crisp woodchuck cider, which pretty much tasted like watered-down apples.

instead, we prefer the granny smith woodchuck.  it's made with only granny smith apples, so it's much more tart than your typical cider. 

 the first ever cider i tried was the harpoon cider.  it's a bit sweeter than original crispin, but not too tart.  i usually don't like pumpkin beers, but harpoon has a very light-looking pumpkin cider [i'm not a big fan of dark beers] that i am definitely interested in trying.

i first had the original angry orchard "crisp apple" at a tailgate and fell in love.  it was a bit sweeter than other ciders and the first one was very enjoyable.  however, after that, it was a bit too sweet.  that's why i wanted to try the "traditional dry."  it tastes similar, but i've learned that it does not have extra apple juice added so that's what makes it taste less sweet.

i know they're not cider, but look at all of the fun wines, tequila, and vodka i received for my birthday and can't wait to try!

getting ready for halloween

i LOVE halloween!  it is exactly 4 weeks after my birthday, so it was always fun for me when my mom would take me halloween shopping for my birthday.  growing up, i was a WIDE variety of things: cat, bride, punk rocker (what was i thinking?), gwen stefani.  but my personal favorite costume was esmeralda from the hunchback of notre dame.

senior year in high school, my friends and i were "yahtzee" and won best group costume for our school

going to college wasn't any different.  i still loved dressing up! i was an angel (to my roommate's devil), a baby, a flapper, and a ninja turtle.

ever since i met mike, we have always done coordinating costumes.  the first year when i was donatello the ninja turtle, he was splinter.

last year we were thing 1 and thing 2.  we really just pranced around our house in our costumes since halloween was cancelled because of a crazy snowstorm, but it was still fun to dress up!

this year, we went through a variety of costume ideas: power rangers, mr. and mrs. potato head, toy story; but we settled on where's waldo.

i think this is going to be a fun one.  i can't wait for halloween! we already bought creepy decorations for outside our house, so all we need is the candy!

is anyone else ready for halloween?

chocolate chip cookie obsession

I LOVE chocolate chip cookies

But I can honestly say that I have NEVER found a better recipe than this guy: the original Nestle Toll House recipe on the back of every bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips...

However, over the years, I've found how versatile and fun chocolate chip cookie dough can be as a vehicle to make other varieties of cookie.

Here are a few of my favorites - some are pretty simple and self-explanatory and others took a bit of experimentation:

lactose free: replace the 2 sticks of butter with 1 stick of butter flavored crisco and 2 tablespoons of water
nut free: don't add walnuts [seems easy haha]
kids' favorite: half of the chocolate chips allotted, plus a cup of M&Ms
oatmeal chocolate chip: add 1 1/2 cups of oats
ranger cookies: add 1 cup coconut, 2 cups rice cereal, 2 cups oatmeal

banana oatmeal chocolate chip: post here

crunchy cookies: add 2 cups crushed pretzels
double chocolate: use 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, and an extra 1/2 cup sugar
mint cookies: crushed grasshopper cookies instead of chocolate chips and dip half of the cookie into melted Andes mints
kitchen sink cookies: any of the above, or I suggest peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, or any type of crushed candy bar
peanut butter surprise: make cookie batter, line bottoms of mini muffin pan with dough, put in a mini Reese's cup, and cover with more cookie dough

My two favorites are:

Lactose free cookies - scoop them onto the pan and wait 15 minutes before you cook them.

Toll House Pie - make the original Tollhouse cookie dough and place in an unbaked pie shell for 55 minutes at 325 degrees.