mulled cider with spiced rum, topped with cinnamon whipped cream.

mulled cider with spiced rum and cinnamon whipped cream.

mulled cider with spiced rum, topped with cinnamon whipped cream.  it was omg delicious.

i've been wanting to do something apple cider-y for a while.  after all we're living amongst trees and autumnal colors here, and there's something about brisk fall air rustling leaves on trees that sounds a lot like a voice whispering "apples are delicious.  eat apples.  bake apples.  drink apples."  okay, maybe there is no omniscient narrator in the woods telling me what to eat, but there is something about cold air that makes me want (wait, need) cinnamon and apples.

sure, there's apple pie.  it's delicious and trust me i've baked more than one this fall (and even if that meant i only baked two, which i'm not even saying i meant, that means at least one pie per person living in my house has been consumed).  but while at what i call "the farm stand near brattleboro" but is actually called dutton farm, i saw a packet of mulling spices and knew that mulled cider would have to be in my future.  

i started dreaming up what creative/fun thing i could do with the mulling spices.  i mean, mulled cider should be enough, but something about the christmas tree in the living room and these wonderful new irish coffee glasses that garret's aunt rusty gave us made me want (wait, need) to make something especially delicious.  i got to thinking about those warm, apple, spicy cocktails that wine bars, etc. have around the holidays.  i'm not one usually for cocktails (a good glass of cabernet or a cold beer is more my speed), but make it fancy enough, and i'll partake.  so i dreamt this up.

mulled cider with spiced rum, topped with cinnamon whipped cream

          you will need:

- mulling spices.  these can be found near the apples in most grocery stores. they come in tea bags or as loose spices.  or, i suppose, you could make them. 

-  apple cider.  i got locally made vermont cider. 

-  heavy whipping cream 

-  confectioner's sugar 

-  spiced rum, such as captain morgan's or bacardi.  i got bacardi oakheart.  note! i know nothing whatsoever about what constitutes "fine" rum, but i do know it should be spiced for this recipe. 

directions:

-  put the cider and the mulling spices on a low heat on the stove and let the cider heat and simmer slowly for at least a half hour.  the packet your spices came in should give you instructions as to a spices/cider ratio.

-  when your cider has simmered a while, it's time to make the whipped cream.  throw some cream (about 1/2 a cup) into a cold metal bowl.  add two tablespoons of confectioner's sugar and a sprinkle (or two or three or four) or cinnamon.  using an electric mixer, whip the cream until it gets firm.  it takes about 40-45 seconds. 

-  pour your cider into cups.  fancy glasses or cozy mugs seem best.-  pour a shot of your spiced rum into each.  give it a good, good stir. 

-  top with whipped cream

 enjoy!

a few notes:  i'd like to say this was all as perfect as the starry sky over vermont on a clear evening (seriously that is perfection) but actually the rum in the drink (or maybe it was the heat) started to curdle my whipped cream ever so slightly towards the end of my enjoying the heavenly flavor of the concoction.  

also if these had been really fancy, i would have at least thought to put a cinnamon stick in each glass.  just sayin'.

also i should note that i thought this up a few weeks ago, but didn't actually get around to making it until tonight.  that's because liquor stores are surprisingly hard to come across here!  wine and beer are both sold in the grocery store, but liquor is sold in state-run stores and in my experience at least, they are few and far between.  i'm not a big liquor drinker, so the only other time this was a problem was when i wanted to make penne a la vodka and just made "pasta with tomato cream sauce" instead.  i believe (though this might be me making things up) there was a liquor store in wilmington that got flooded in the storm.  so on my typical traveled paths, the only liquor store is just outside of brattleboro, which is about a 30 minute drive for me.  not necessarily a drive i felt i needed to make for this cocktail, delicious as it may have been.  anyway today we went grocery shopping in brattleboro, and apples on the brain, i stopped at the store on the way back to get some spiced rum.

in case you are curious (i was) this wikipedia article on what alcohol can be sold where and when in the US is pretty interesting.  

sushi for me please

now this is one thing i miss about brooklyn.

i woke up today feeling kind of like i was getting a cold.  nothing major, but still, there was something there.  in brooklyn, if this feeling would hit, i'd head to the starbucks across from my office for a green tea latte.  ah, yes.  sweet, sweet, (sugary), matcha fun.  what the green powdered stuff didn't knock out, i'd fend off by heading to the sushi place across from my office (note: i didn't work in a big or busy part of brooklyn, but we did have EXCELLENT sushi and coffee) to order the best spicy crunch salmon roll on the planet.  i have no medical information whatsoever to back up the claim that "salmon rolls help kill a cold before it takes over your body" but there was something about the raw protein of it all that had me convinced i was on the mend.

so today when i started to feel a cold coming on, i was a bit lost.  there's no starbucks to be found (literally, i haven't found one anywhere nearby at all).  and as for sushi?

in our part of vermont, there's two places that i've found.  two.  that's not many for a girl who ate sushi at least once a week in brooklyn.  one is called "shin la japanese restaurant" and it's in brattleboro.  we went there once and it was a really festive night in brattleboro, at the beginning of october.  everyone was out - brattleboro does a thing called "first fridays" where on the first friday of each month, the local businesses and galleries have special late hours and draw in new customers (or, celebrate the existing ones?).  it was warm out and many were partaking, and like us, many had decided sushi would be a good option.  well, we went, we ordered.  and... drumroll please (mmm. drum roll - that sounds delicious, what's in that one?) ......we were disappointed!  it was mostly rice and what fish was in there was stale.  ...i'm convinced that miso in brooklyn was so delicious that it ruined me.

the following week we went to panda north, a chinese restaurant that i knew also had sushi.  it wasn't terrible.  it was on par with non-miso-in-dumbo sushi in brooklyn.  okay, that will do.  it's not poetry, but it'll do.

will i find a miso in dumbo equivalent?  i doubt it.  but that's okay; brooklyn's there for that.

anyway, i woke up today and i needed sushi.  my made-up cold remedy.  garret was headed to brattleboro anyway to get a haircut, and so i mentioned casually (read: stated that i wanted) it might be fun to get takeout sushi.  my non-money-efficient dream came true when around 5:15 garret called to ask me what i'd like.  panda north (the better of the two options) it was.

so, we had a sushi takeout dinner!  we ate right out of the containers with throw away chopsticks that came wrapped in red paper.  it all felt very brooklyn... except that this one came in our own car and travelled 30 minutes with garret to get to me.  not quite the same as calling and having it show up 10 minutes later in the hand of a stranger, but it was delicious nonetheless.

and mysteriously... my cold seems to be gone...

sushi from panda north in brattleboro, vt.

sushi from panda north in brattleboro, vt.

(photo a day) november 14, 2011

to the left, our newest antique store find.  it was actually the cardboard on the back of framed sheet music - it was holding the sheet music in the frame.  but visually i loved the cut-off quality of the text with the old writing and for two filmic people (and in that my dad is a photographer), it seemed all too wonderful that it was an old camera ad.

our latest antique store find is to the left.
i found it at "twice upon a time" in brattleboro, vt.

(photo a day) november 13, 2011

at 'antiplano', a lovely gift shop/boutique in brattleboro, vt.

some photos

hello!  we've had a busy couple of weeks and have another busy couple of weeks coming up.   two weeks ago garret's parents visited, and that saturday my mom, grandma, and garret's aunt rusty came to the house for dinner.  it's so nice to be able to have family dinners like that!

this past weekend, we were in latham on saturday to see my brother's band play a gig in troy (they were AWESOME!).  sunday garret headed down to the city to finish filming "called up" (congrats on wrapping!) so i stayed in latham with my mom because... surprise! i was too afraid to stay at the house in vermont alone.  i have faith in myself that i'm going to become less of a baby as time goes on, but for now i was a total baby, and therefore appropriately stayed in my childhood bedroom.

this weekend i'm headed to salem, ma with my mom, my aunt, and my cousin for our annual october salem trip.  we may or may not all be witches.

anyway, it's nice to be in proximity to home and family and be able to do all of these things at ease!

here is a very random array of pictures we've taken over the past couple of weeks:

that beautiful vermont foliage! we took this on a hike recently.

little murgs enjoying the deck.

murgs and headed down a path after taking in the view
at hogback mountain, between wilmington and brattleboro.

murgy's new chair.  we had this chair at our old apartment,
but something about where it is in the new house made it
her favorite.

a gorgeous sunset we saw one saturday night while driving
down the mountain.

the side of dot's restaurant, post-storm.  from what i've heard around town,
this is condemned and will have to be torn down.  

murgy's other new favorite spot - right in front of the fireplace.
(it's actually a gas stove that i call a fireplace!)
she gets herself too overheated and i have to physically remove her -
she loves the fire!

a storefront window in brattleboro, vt. brattleboro is big
on fliers - it always strikes me when i'm there to spend
a minute or two in front of the windows and bulletin boards
so that i know what's going on.
note the sign about marble ardvison.  he's been missing since the day
before irene - the search effort is ongoing.