December » 2013 » semisweet&nuts

National Bouillabaisse Day

December 14: National Bouillabaisse Day

I don’t know much about bouillabaisse except that it’s a fish stew. And I don’t know if this has come across, but I don’t do fish. Especially fish in an instance where I’d be buying literally $50+ worth of ingredients to make a dish I guarantee would make me want to barf.

Work around? Vegan bouillabaisse! I found a delicious recipe (except I left the fennel out… I bought it and was all set to use it until I cut it open and the room was filled with the aroma of black licorice. Again, I wasn’t about to waste all the other ingredients if the fennel was just going to make it taste like old lady candy.), and promptly made it un-vegan by using chicken stock. Whoopsie. Anyway, it ended up being a fragrant (hello, rosemary!), thick vegetable stew. And it was good!

Was it the most authentic bouillabaisse? Most definitely not, but that’s okay.

Tomorrow: National Cupcake Day

Ice Cream and Violins Day

December 13: Ice Cream and Violins Day

What does this even mean? I had no idea, but I went with it. I ate a mini ice cream cone while listening to some violin music on the internet. #winning?

Tomorrow: National Bouillabaisse Day

National Cocoa Day

December 12: National Cocoa Day

I don’t drink coffee so if I’m go to Starbucks with someone I always order a hot chocolate and feel like a toddler. Finally, today I had a good excuse.

Tomorrow: Ice Cream and Violins Day

National Noodle Ring Day

December 11: National Noodle Ring Day

Did anyone know that noodle rings were a thing? Because I sure didn’t! I had to go out and buy a bundt pan (for $35!!!! I’m making a lot of bundt cakes in my future, I guess).

There were a ton of different recipes for these rings of noods. It seems like one popular way to serve a noodle ring is with tuna in the middle of the ring. So I guess it’s a weird version of a tuna casserole? Maybe? I’ve never had a tuna casserole. And I don’t plan on starting anytime soon.

I chose the “sour cream noodle ring”. It was noodles, sour cream, cottage cheese, an egg… I think that’s it? You mix it all together and bake it in a ring shaped pan for an hour or so. Then a noodle cake comes out. It’s definitely one of the weirder things I’ve made, but it wasn’t bad. It tasted a little like lasagna without any red sauce.

Tomorrow: National Cocoa Day

National Lager Day

December 10: National Lager Day

Back when Bryce and I lived in Evanston, we went to pub trivia every week. Not to brag (okay, to brag), our team was great. We went to regional tournaments and missed going to Vegas by one question. Stupid zebra sharks.

It’s one of the things we miss most about the Chicago area, and we’ve gone to a few area trivia nights to try to re-create the magic. It will never be the same (shout out to team All That!), but it’s nice to be able to play trivia again once in a while.

We went to trivia on December 10 at Rose & Crown (apparently Mark Zuckerburg’s favorite bar? Not that I care, just letting you know for the sake of TRIVIA) and I had a lager for National Lager Day. I probably should have gotten an American lager since it’s a NATIONAL holiday, but I went German since it was on tap. And if I got a Coors light I would have been laughed out of the bar.

Tomorrow: National Noodle Ring Day

National Pastry Day

December 9: National Pastry Day

Does anyone remember when McDonald’s had cheese danishes? I fondly remember getting cheese danishes for breakfast (it was always a struggle deciding if I wanted hot cakes or a danish) with my dad. The danishes were wrapped in cellophane packaging, it wasn’t like they were made on-site or anything, but I loved them. I’d eat the whole bread-y outside first, saving the delicious cream cheesy middle for last (which is how I still eat them, actually).

Needless to say, McDonald’s no longer carries their danish line. I was forced to go to Starbucks. Sigh.

Tomorrow: National Lager Day

National Chocolate Brownie Day

December 8: National Chocolate Brownie Day

Maybe this is a dumb question… but aren’t all brownies chocolate? Isn’t that why they’re called brownies? What is a brownie that doesn’t have chocolate? A blondie? But that’s a blondie, not a brownie.

Whatever.

I was super pumped that my friend Natalie decided to have a last minute birthday party for herself on National Chocolate Brownie Day! It gave me somewhere to bring them! Thanks for being born, Natalie!!

Tomorrow: National Pastry Day

National Cotton Candy Day

December 7: National Cotton Candy Day

When I saw this day, I was worried I was going to have to buy myself a ticket to the circus ( :(! Clowns! Abused and sad elephants!) in order to get my grubby little paws on some cotton candy. If not that, I thought that I’d have to get that gross cotton candy flavor of Bubblicious.

(Do they still make Bubblicious? Or Bubble Yum? Why has bubble gum gone the way of the dodo bird? It’s so much better than its sugar-free chewing gum cousin.)

Anyway! I didn’t have to go to the circus! Or buy stale gum off the internet! They sell cotton candy at the grocery store! Which I think is weird, but whatever!

Tomorrow: National Chocolate Brownie Day

Microwave Oven Day

December 6: Microwave Oven Day

When you think of things you make exclusively in the microwave, what do you think of? Lean Cuisines? HUNGRY MAN? Popcorn?

I actually make popcorn NOT in the microwave under normal circumstances, but in honor of Microwave Oven Day, I decided to make an exception.

At work we have a “Munchie Mart”, where you can buy snacks and the proceeds go to our employee recognition events. Some of the snacks have little notes on them and you’re encouraged to give them to your coworkers. Or… yourself?

Tomorrow: National Cotton Candy Day

National Sacher Torte Day

December 5: National Sacher Torte Day!

Sacher Torte! I don’t know what that is! I thought all tortes are created equal… but apparently that’s not the case. Since I’ve begun this Quest, I’ve tried to read a week or so in advance to see if I’ll need to special order anything (see: chocolate covered bugs) or make a special trip somewhere. I guess Sacher torte slipped through the cracks. I assumed it was just like, a torte. Um, no. It’s some fancy Austrian thing I guess? Viennese? From what I can gather (again, based on MEMORY since I’m flying through the air at like, 500 miles an hour or whatever and cut off from civilization as we know it aka wikipedia. Anyway, it’s a chocolate cake with some raspberry (I think!) layer and a chocolate ganache coating.

I guess people special order these suckers for NATIONAL Sacher Torte Day? Who knew? These are probably the same people who buy Nouveau Beaujolais at 12:01am.

What further complicated my completing this mission of my Quest was that I had my work Christmas party after work on December 5th from 5pm-10pm. How was I going to procure (or god forbid MAKE) a torte after my party??

Work to the rescue!

One of my department’s supervisors was promoted and switching out of our department, so there was a big ole cake. A big ole chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate frosting. If that’s not the poor man’s version of a torte, I don’t know what is!

Tomorrow: Microwave Oven Day