My love for the first two seasons of Gossip Girl runs super deep. I watched the pilot live when I was starting my senior year of high school, and I remember this "grilled cheese with truffle oil" moment because I was largely unaware of what truffles were at the time (ha!). Of course, I knew it was fancy because it was Chuck and Serena and they were in The Palace, but then Chuck tried to use off-the-menu fancy grilled cheese as currency for sex and things were turned up to 100 immediately. After the pilot, they changed a bunch of things (like Chuck taking a limo everywhere instead of THE BUS (?!?!?!)), namely that he stopped being a sexual predator because...problems. Soon after the episode aired, the restaurant The Palace started offering truffle grilled cheese as a menu item for something like 15 dollars (or 30 for a soup pairing). I've always wanted to make one of my own, but the pressure honestly made me nervous. Grilled cheese is pretty basic, but this had stakes and I wanted it to taste extra special. Plus I have a bad habit of completely burning bread when I make grilled cheese. I added some extra flavors like crispy onions, used four cheeses and did A LOT of research on how to not completely burn the bread when melting the cheese. This came out delicious, flavorful, crunchy and cheesy on the first try. I may have teared up. xoxo....
Read more#tbt + Awards Show Eats: The Icehouse Shrimp Burger [Dawson's Creek]
For this #tbt show on a Friday, we're taking it back to 1998. Nearly 20 years ago, a Clinton was president but The Parents Television council found the show too sexual and many groups would protest it being on the air. It was this time when 2017 Oscar nominee Michelle Williams would come on the scene as the show's resident "rebellious girl" banished to Capeside all the way from the big city. Food doesn't play a huge part on the show, but since Joey's family and The Icehouse are synonymous until SPOILER it burns down at the end of season 2, it's what I went to when I thought to honor Williams's nominated performance in another role that takes place by a seaside town in Massachusetts.
Read moreAwards Show Eats: SAG Awards / Freddy's BBQ cauliflower [House of Cards]
I know House of Cards is an old name on the awards circuit, and it wasn't a favorite to win at the SAG awards, but how damn good do those ribs look every time Francis goes to his former favorite spot?! Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright were both nominated, so I thought a veggie version of the politician's favorite DC eats would be a good way to enjoy my favorite awards show. Food from a political show felt right on this particular night, anyway.
Read moreOlivia Pope's every meal popcorn [Scandal]
Olivia Pope has a lot things about her life "handled" (or, she did until things went CRAZY a couple seasons ago), but her diet was never one of those things. For someone so in command of insane situations, we pretty much only ever see her eating popcorn with red wine out of her signature Crate & Barrel wine glasses. Even though she's an established woman with more than enough means to at least get delivery, she makes the sad choice to eat several servings of popcorn on her own. But at least she has it together enough to always put it in a chic glass bowl. That way you know this questionable nutritional choice is deliberate.
Read moreI've created a muenster (mini) burger [Bob's Burgers]
I've been watching "adult cartoons" ever since I was probably too young and my brother had control of the remote, and when Bob's Burgers came along, I assumed it was one and the same with The Simpsons and Family Guys of the world—dysfunctional American family with lovable functional qualities. And though that's the idea, Bob's has a special, even more lovable punniness to it, both in the illustration and writing and it is always fun and fresh. One of its trademark features is its daily punny specials written on the chalkboard behind the counter. Some genius already made a blog and a cookbook from it, so I used it as source material to tackle all the delicious sounding burgers in the show. The Belchers don't have a ton going for them, but their burgers always sound pretty amazing.
Read more#tbt Sookie's not-for-kids mac and cheese [Gilmore Girls]
I started to watch Gilmore Girls almost a year ago. I didn't really like it when it was on originally, so I wasn’t really expecting to like it when I decided to give it a try during a winter laundry day last January. But I fell hard, and proceeded to watch nothing but Gilmore for the next 6 weeks. Now, although I’ve already watched it about four times through since my initial watch, I still associate it with a cozy, cold weather vibe. Winter also comes with one of the show's main features, the Gilmore Fantasy diet that comes with each episode. Some say gross, I say jealous. I digress. As soon as I read that there was going to be an unofficial Gilmore Girls cookbook in the middle of last year, my obsession was fresh and I was already in the planning stages of this blog, so I knew I had to have it. I backed the kickstarter and anxiously awaited my book, which came in the fall.
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