Archive for 2010


24 Things That Made Me Happy in 2010

I went back and forth on whether or not I should write a 2010 roundup. After all, I already blogged about the whole year while it was happening. And let’s be honest, lots of my favorites are likely to be the same as Chels’s favorites. But then I decided it wouldn’t be the end of the year if I didn’t do something… So I’m writing a list of the things that made me happy in 2010.

2010 was my best year yet! I say that every year, which I’m pretty sure is a really good thing. I hope I can say that every single year!!

#1 Our WANM 2-year blogiversary

Having all our family and friends join us at the Rattlesnake to celebrate our blog was one of the best nights of the year!
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#2 Hiking Mount Monadnock

I’ve always wanted hike more and hiking Mount Monadnock with Chris, my sister, and Adam was one of the most fun things I did this year. Once the weather gets warmer, I definitely want to find some new mountains to climb and trails to hike!
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#3 Discovering Mix Bakery Cupcakes

Cupcakes generally make me happy, but meeting Kelly and her bakery, Mix, definitely boosted by happiness level. Her cupcakes are out of this world amazing and she delivers them right to you!

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#4 The Bacon and Beer Fest

Bacon. Beer. Friends. What’s not to be happy about?
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#5 Seeing Frightened Rabbit in concert

Music makes me happy. And seeing bands I absolutely love makes me even happier. I saw Frightened Rabbit at the Paradise earlier this year and it was one of my all-time favorite shows. Even though it was on a Wed. night or something at 11 p.m. and I felt like the oldest person in the world trying to stay awake.

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#6 Discovering my new salon, Rock, Paper, Scissors

I haven’t had a salon to call my own since high school. For the last 9 years I’ve been bouncing around from salon to salon. Until this year. I discovered Rock, Paper, Scissors and have been back multiple times to get my hair cut, highlighted, and dyed by Sami. And I know I’ll be back tons more in 2011!

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#7 First visit to Virginia

This year, I went to visit Chris’s family in Virginia for the first time. I had never been to Virginia before and had tons of fun meeting Chris’s family and Ricky and Shelly and exploring the Richmond area. We’ll be going back in a couple weeks and I can’t wait to see more!

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#8 Spending lots of time in Maine

I grew up vacationing in Maine every year, so I was excited to spend a few days over the summer back in Ogunquit. And these pictures are totally making me lust after summer again!
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#9 Seeing Conan O’Brien Live

I saw Conan O’Brien for the first time when I was about 12 years old (and didn’t understand any of the jokes!). But this year, I got to go back and see him do his live show (and I understood a lot more, hehe). Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience!
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#10 Kyle and Jeff’s wedding and wedding festivities

Of course, my best friend’s wedding (and shower, and bachelorette party) was one of my favorite moments of the year! Everything about it was a blast and I’m so, so happy I got to be a part of it.

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#11 Moving in with Chris!

After living in my apartment for 5 whole years, I finally left my pad and moved (literally across the street) into a brand new place with Chris. It’s a whole lot nicer than the old place and we’ve been absolutely loving it so far!
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#12 Participating in Athenos’ Make a Change for the Feta campaign

Making salads involving feta every day for a month? That made me very happy.
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#13 Guacaholics Anonymous

Chels and I made bacon guacamole for the event and it seemed like the crowd really loved it! We were so honored to participate in the competition.

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#14 Margarita Cupcakes

One of my favorite cupcake inventions of 2010!

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#15 My new ice cream maker

I knew my new ice cream maker would mean trouble. And it was. But delicious trouble. I made A LOT of ice cream. And I’m planning on doing it all over again in 2011.
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#16 The opening of Brookline’s Meat House

A whole store filled with meat, baked goods, wine and beer, and all kinds of local products right in my neighborhood. I’ve been in the Meat House so many times since it opened and I’m planning to go back a whole lot more in 2011.

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#17 Baking Bread

I was scared of yeast at the beginning of 2010. But now that 2010 is over, I feel like I’ve almost mastered the art of yeast and baking bread (OK, maybe not mastered…). I made a lot of bread in 2010 and yup, many more loaves will be made in 2011!

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#18 Project Food Blog

It was a wild ride. But a super fun one!
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#19 Austin City Limits

Without a doubt, my trip to Austin for Austin City Limits was one of my happiest times. Tons of family, amazing music, and delicious food!
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#20 Back to Butterball University

Another fabulous few days with the ladies of Butterball University learning to cook the perfect turkey!

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#21 Foodbuzz Festival

The second year in a row we got to spent the weekend with some of our favorite bloggers and foodies in San Francisco!

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#22 Lots of Mitzi time

I got to spend lots of time in 2010 with my favorite dog, Mitzi. And, of course, I’m hoping I get to see her a ton in 2011, too. She’s basically the cutest, sweetest dog ever!
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#23 Thanksgiving with the family

For the first time in a long time, my whole family was together for thanksgiving. Me, Chris, my mom, my dad, my sister, her husband, and my neighbors Joan and Jim.
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#24 Getting engaged!!

Of course, the thing that made me the happiest in 2010 was getting engaged to Chris! It made for an extra special holiday season.

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Phew. Those definitely weren’t all the things that made happy. I had tons of fun times with my friends, family, and more. But I think it’s safe to say I had a pretty fabulous year.

2010 was also great for WANM as a whole. We saw our traffic grow and grow and had our best month yet in December :) We clearly had tons of blog-related fun, too! We both always wonder what we’d be doing without blogging! We can’t wait to see what 2011 brings for We are not Martha (we already have a few things in the works!).

Happy new year to you!!! I hope 2011 is wonderful for everyone :) :)

What are you most looking forward to in 2011?

[Sues]

My Favorite Food Snaps of 2010

Ladies and gentlemen. I have a confession to make.

A very serious confession.

We never talk about weight on here. But lately, when I get dressed in the morning, I have to do some extra lunges and squats just to get my pants on. I believe my sister’s friends used to call this “The Tight Jeans Dance”.

Why, you ask?

Because 2010 has been the best food year of my life. I didn’t hold back or question my food choices… I savored every morsel.

I lunched with winemakers from France at L’espalier.

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Made lunch with the chef and owners of Boston’s nebo… in their kitchen.

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Ate my way through Vancouver.

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Brought my favorite blueberry muffin from childhood back to life.

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Enjoyed the bounty of Summer.

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Of course, ate lots of sushi.

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And a whole heck of a lot of feta cheese!

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And then Mix Bakery hopped on the Boston food scene and cupcakes will forever be compared to these. And the fact that the owner, Kelly, is one of the sweetest people I’ve met in 2010 only makes me want to stuff my face even more with cupcakes from Mix. No big deal.

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Played in the state-of-the-art kitchens at Boston Center for Adult Education.

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Made a fried green tomato BLT, because, hello, that just had to be done.

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Ate lots of cheese (because that had to be done, too).

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Created my now go-to barbecue chicken meatballs.

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And took a break to indulge in some healthy carrot raisin muffins. I put a slab of melted butter on them, though. Eep!

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And then Project Food Blog happened and we went all out.

Naan and a full Indian feast were included.

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And a southern cuisine was also prepared.

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As were eggs benedict atop a homemade biscuit, all made from scratch.

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And we can’t forget this guy. Our Thanksgiving Pizza… Pie!

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And when the cool weather in New England hits, a bowl of chicken chili will always warm me up.

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A cider donut oozing with warm caramel while wine tasting doesn’t hurt either.

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A beautiful Butterball turkey is what now marks Thanksgiving for us :)

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And then, Blunch happened. I’m not typically a sweets person, but this chocolate chip cookie was the.best.cookie.ever. EVER. If you do one thing while in Boston, visit Blunch. And have a cookie. It’s a tiny space with long lines. But this cookie is worth the wait. My response while taking my first bite was “WHAT the hell”. No joke. And pardon my French ;)

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And when I visit San Francisco all food-related discipline goes out the window the second my plane touches down at SFO.

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this maple glazed bacon apple donut from dynamo changed my life. I ate two. To taste-test, of course.

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But can you blame me? It’s my favorite food city for a very good reason.

I went out to eat brunch more Sundays in 2010 probably more than I have in my entire life.

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And I discovered some new favorite restaurants in Boston, too. Including Anthem, which serves this near-perfect roasted chicken flatbread with caramelized onions, charred tomatoes, goat cheese, and fontina.

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And this tomato and mozzarella salad with warm fried green tomatoes, house made mozzarella, aged balsamic and olive oil.

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And Towne, which not only serves wonderfully comforting food in a cozy setting, but they have maple cotton candy. I just can’t find the words. Most likely because there aren’t any. All you can do is eat the entire thing and feel like a 4 year old.

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Then there was this mushroom tart from the Tartine cookbook which was the best thing to come out of my kitchen in 2010. I’m confident that I wept when I took my first bite. And then I dang near devoured the entire thing in one sitting. While weeping.

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So, my friends. My pants may not be as loose as they were in the beginning of the year. And I’m sure I’ll continue doing The Tight Jeans Dance through 2011. But the moral of this food journey is that my stomach is happy. And because I enjoyed all of this food with some of my very favorite people, my heart is full. And if that’s the case at the end of a year, I’m pretty sure that means it was an excellent one.

What was your favorite meal of 2010? Or what was the best thing to come out of your kitchen this year?

Have a safe and wonderful New Years Eve. See you in 2011!

Love, love, love you all. Seriously. I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to eat all this food if it wasn’t for this blog.

So maybe I should just blame all of you for my tight jeans? ;)

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[Chels]