A quick comment

I just want to say a few things about last night's performances at La Vie Boheme.  Great music everyone!  There was a band of young men that I had personally not heard play before and they were phenominal!  Extremely talented and when I asked them what the name of their band was they said "We have been playing together for a year now and we still haven't figured out a name for our band". 

I told them name or no name keep doing what you do because you are good!

Here's a picture of two of the members.....the picture was taken from La Vie Boheme Bistro's website.

Now on a cookie/ muffin note.... we did as well as we always do as far as sales...so we want to thank everyone out there who enjoys our FOOTIE'S GOODIES.  

Cookies & muffins

MMMMM' CAN'T YOU JUST SMELL THE ZUCCHINI MUFFINS!
Well we have finally graduated from cookies to trying some muffins.  We baked zucchini muffins that we will be selling tonight at La Vie Boheme Open Mic Night.  Just in case you don't what day it is... today is Friday.....I know I have had some trouble these last several weeks remembering what day it is simply because we have had snowy overcast days now for too many days in a row!
I wake up and it seems like the day looks exactly as it had the day before.  Now that I am done complaining  about the lack of sun you may have guessed that I have mild seasonal affective disorder.  I definetly do better when we have more of that good old sunshine....plus I have to take more vitamin D when the sun is not out.

Well here is our FABULOUS FRIDAY COOKIE + MUFFIN MENU:

BLUE & WHITES.....blueberries, white chocolate & macadamia nuts

DOUBLE CHOCOALATE EXPRESSO WALNUT.....I think these are self explanatory

MINI ZUCCHINI MUFFINS

WALNUT CRISPS.....a waffer like crispy cookie with walnuts

CRANBERRY PECAN BISCOTTI

MINI COCONUT MONSTERS.....peanut butter, coconut, m&m's, chocolate chips

TASTY TREATS THAT GO GREAT WITH TEA OR COFFEE!

Clutter...clutter....clutter!

Is it too early to start spring cleaning?   My husband has been on my case for the last 3 days about the clutter in the house, but mainly in our joint home office.   It is hard when you share an office with a person who has a totally different style of storing papers, important documents and reference books ect.  I will begrudgingly admitt that I have been known to be a pack rat, but on the flipside he saves nothing!......  And when I say NOTHING, I mean even the records that you are supposed to keep for five years (or whatever the rule is in case the IRS wants to audit you)  gets tossed in the garbage, unless I am standing in the room and scream "don't throw that away"!

So come on let's compromise with this.  I like horizontal filing systems that are open so that I can see my papers; because we all know that I am not a spring chicken and if I can't see it.... I forget about it and that does include bills that have to be paid.  He likes enclosed filing cabinets that have folders to keep everthing separated.   In a perfect world we would have 2 offices, a his and a hers, but in the cozy little house we share there is only 1 room to be claimed as an office.   So I guess that we will have to come to a compromise after all. 

So if any of you out there have been in this pickle....feel free to weigh in on the sticky subject.....cause I will need any support I can get!

After the sugar wore off

How did everyone make out on Valentine's Day?  I know my family is still craving the sugar that had been consumed regularly since Friday afternoon!   My daughter and I did do some baking today.....we had to finish up an order that was to be picked up today.  After my daughter was done with the order she went off to play with a friend and I decided to experiment in the kitchen.

So from the fruits of my labor I give to you a recipe that I adapted.  This is a biscotti and believe it or not it really does not contain that many calories per cookie......of course I consider this to be a bonus since I have been working out like a maniac ever since we started this sugar crazed business.

Cranberry Pecan Biscotti with chocolate tips

2 1/4 Cups All purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder
3/4 tsp. Salt
6 Tbsps. Unsalted butter room temperature
3/4 Cup Sugar
2 Large eggs
Zest of 1 whole lemon ( or 1/2 tsp. orange extract)...I used the lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 Cup dried sweetened cranberries
3/4 Cup chopped pecans

1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Sift Flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl.
3. Use mixer to beat butter and sugar until well blended. Then beat in eggs 1 at a time, next mix in lemon zest or orange extract, vanilla, and cinnamon.
4. Beat in flour and nuts ( dough will be really sticky).  Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface. Divide dough in 1/2.  Roll each half into a 12" log.
5. Place both logs about 4" apart on your lined sheet and bake for about 28 minutes or until almost firm to touch and still pale in color.
6. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes on sheet. Turn oven down to 325F.  Remove biscotti with parchment paper onto a cutting board.
7. With a serrated knife gently cut crosswise into 1/2'' thick slices.  Place all slices on sheet lined with parchment cut side down and bake again for about 9 minutes.  Then flip the slices over to bake on the other cut side down for another 9 minutes.  Cool on racks.

*Optional
Melt about 1 Cup of dark or white chocolate chips in the microwave: stirring frequently until completely melted.  Then dip 1 end of each biscotti slice in the chocolate. Place them back on the parchment lined sheet and refridgerate for about 30 minutes or until the chocolate has hardened.

Hope you enjoy these!  We sure have.

Wicked Cool

My daughter and I had a lot of fun on Friday a La Vie Boheme.  Lots of cookies sold and I met a really talented artist who does drawings in ink.  The music was great and yes the girls did get up and sing, but not my daughter.....at the very last moment she chickened out, but in the end they all had fun so that is really all that matters.

On another note, my husband and I really had no plans for this Valentine's Day weekend....partly because he works a crazy schedule and we never are quite sure how tired he will be or I will be for that matter!  Sucks to get older, you just can't run yourself ragged and expect to recover like you used to.  So as usual we had to make our plans spur of the moment!

Since our daughter was invited over to a friends house yesterday/evening....We decided to try out a local restaurant that some of our friends have been raving about.  Of course with it being Valentine's Day weekend we thought how perfect is that.  So at 5:15pm I called the restaurant....."ZABROSO" and made a 5:30pm reservation.  Good thing it isn't far from our house.  The restaurant is housed in part of the Oneida Community Mansion House here in Oneida that once was the home to the religious based perfecionist community that was started by John Humphrey Noyes.  The Mansion is a 93,000 sft. property that operated between 1848-1880.   Enough on the history lesson......this picture to the left is the part of the building that "ZABROSO" is housed in and this is the restaurant's entrance. 
The atmosphere in this place is simply awsome!  Between the interior of the great old architecture and the european decor it definetly sets the stage for the food that is to be indulged in.  Let me give you a taste of what my husband and I had last night.  The menu was a special offering for the holiday.  We started out with a small appetizer of swordfish on a bed of quinoa salad....this was then followed by our choice of goat cheese and pear tartlett with greens and balsamic vinagrette......we then had our main course.  I chose lamb chops on a bed of rice spiced with cumin and laced with chunks of butternut squash and spinach, while my husband had the hanger steak that is topped with a avocado sauce and a side of mashed potatoes. ( He wants to thank our friend Ramona for that suggestion).  We ended the meal with of course a dessert that was to die for and you know that here at Footie's Goodies we like our sweets.  We both chose the molten chocolate cake with jalepenos and hot vanilla sauce with a side of chocolate ice cream.  That was a mouth full to say.  I have to state that we give that meal 5 stars out 5 stars!  We will definetly go back.  If you want more info about the Oneida Community Mansion House or Zabroso go to: ocmh@oneidacommunity.org