Chocolate Toffee Saltines

Nothin' new over here. You guys saw the chocolate toffee saltines here, but this is the first time I tackle the recipe myself.

Bring a cup of dark brown sugar and two sticks of butter to a boil. It will look awesome, like lava.

Pour the toffee over saltines placed in a tin foil-lined pan. Bake at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes until toffee has set.

Pull the bakeware out and try not to burn your thumb like I did. Pour chocolate chips over the toffee and as they melt, spread the chocolate over the top.

Let the crackers cool, then put in freezer to get the chocolate hard.

Break into pieces like you would peppermint bark and serve!

I made these for movie night the other night and one of my guests shoved an entire cracker in his mouth. This is a bad idea. He said "Omg, this is just sugar." To which I said, "Well yeah."

You've been warned!

LOST in Translation V.2

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS TALKING LOST AND REVEALING SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!

Is it just me or was this week's episode a bit underwhelming after all of last week's whoppers? No matter, still plenty of mind candy in "What Kate Does."

Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly did an incredibly comprehensive job of recapping the season 2 episode, "What Kate Did," that walked us through her original crime — murdering her stepfather (or, as it turned out, birth father).

I hoped we'd catch a peek of that crime in the sideways storyline, but not so much. Instead we saw Kate's interaction and AGAIN, involvement with Claire during her pregnancy. Meanwhile, Sayid was back from the dead, or was he?

Here are some of my half-baked first reactions:

• Could the man inside Sayid not be Jacob, but be the Man in Black?
• Was the poisonous pill filled with the mysterious dark powder that repels the Smoke Monster?
• Can anyone remind me how so many of the former Ben followers ended up Dogan followers?
• Why is the Dharma Initiative/Others compound vacant now? If we're in present-day island land (present day being, what? 2007?), where should they be? My timelines are all confused.
• Where was Dogan/Lennon all this time? I seem to remember Richard being the main man for this group of Others, unless this is a group we've never encountered before that somehow absorbed Cindy and some other Others. Phew, confusing much?
• Why was Ethan Goodspeed working at an L.A. hospital? This opens up another level of intrigue for the sideways world. Is this a world in which the Island/Dharma/Others don't exist or are beyond ancient history? Is Ethan, in this world, a lifelong resident of the City of Angels?
• Did you see a flicker of recognition on Kate's face when Claire said her baby's name was Aaron? Kind of reminded me of that flicker on Jack's face when he saw Desmond.
• Unresolved question from last week: Michael and Walt were also MIA on the LA X flight. What gives?!

Here's my new crackpot theory that I'm still kind of working out in my head: what if the sideways world is not an alternative version of events or even a simultaneous other life happening at the same time as the island world? What if ... wait for it ... this is reincarnation. What if they have been reincarnated, back into their own bodies, given another chance and we're to see how their choices move them.

Kate is already back walking her path of one foot on the righteous, Ima-save-you side and one foot on the wild side. Could it be she will get another chance to finally make that choice? Marshall Mars still has a shot to bring her in ...will she admit she was, in fact, not innocent? Did she even commit the same crime in this version of events?

Shew. I'm going to go read Doc's entry now and I'm sure all my theories will be blown out of the water and my brain will hurt double time. But I wanted to share my initial reactions, unfiltered and pure! At some point soon, I'd like to share some of my more general LOST observances, not tied to any specific episode.

Old Bay Breaded Chicken

If you haven't noticed, I eat a lot of chicken breast. Like, a LOT. This is for several reasons:

• Chicken breast is versatile and adaptable.
• You can take one down and freeze the rest.
• It's perfectly proportioned for cooking for one.

There is really only one bad thing about chicken breast: it gets SO BORING. Sure, you can spice it differently, but there's only so much you can do if you didn't prepare a marinade ahead of time.

So the other night, I decided to try Panko bread crumbs (I usually make my own) and while I was in that aisle, I noticed Old Bay sells Old Bay Bread Crumbs. That sounded delicious but also like a waste of $3 for something I hoped I could make myself.

I set up my usual assembly line: Flour with salt and pepper, beaten egg and a dash of milk, and panko crumbs mixed with Old Bay seasoning.

Work down the assembly line and set the breast aside.

Put some vegetable oil in the pan and fry up your chicken breast.

And dig in to deliciously flaky, spicy chicken breast (with salad on the side).

It totally worked! Old Bay + Panko crumbs = subtly spiced, super quick weeknight eating for one.

Chilly Weather Chili

There is something about snowy weather that has me craving Tex-Mex food. I'm not the biggest fan of beans, but aside from that, I LOOOOOVE Mexican food and flavors.

So when I heard we were getting snow last week (I'm a little behind on my blogging!), I had Sean get the provisions to make Liz's Chili.

Chili, as we know, is a dish everyone likes to play with. There are so many recipes, so many ways of doing things. But I have to say, this recipe is one of the best chilis I've ever had.

But here's where I make myself vulnerable to your angry comments: I didn't put beans in my chili.

I know, I know...sacre bleu! I was gonna go for it, but Sean didn't really want them either.

First off, chop up your peppers and DO NOT RUB YOUR EYES RIGHT AFTER LIKE A DUMMY. Who would do that? This girl.

Then dump a can of diced tomatoes in your stock pot. I crushed them in my hands (ewwww).

Brown ground beef spiced with ...

Cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper. I tossed in some of my chipotle chili powder as well.

It will smell insanely delicious and make you crave tacos. But carry forward! The end game is worth it!

Liz recommends adding the beef to the pot with a slotted spoon and push the extra grease out with a spatula.

Don't do anything with that grease! Add diced onions to the grease and let them saute until they're fabulous and toss them in your pot.

Then add peppers and garlic to the now oniony grease. Liz warns it will hurt your nose, so we turned on the fan and didn't lean in too close. Once they're done, toss them in the pot.

Add half a beer; we had Yuengling. Melt a square of bakers chocolate in the pan. Beer and chocolate and chili? No, not crazy. Delicious.

Try to get it thick. We struggled a little because I didn't have baker's chocolate, so I was scraping by with chocolate chunks.

Add the beer chocolate to the pot and bring it to a boil. Once you get to the boil, turn it down and simmer for an hour or two. Yes, this demands some serious planning ahead. We were starving by the time we ate so we may have eaten too much.

Top with cheese, a dollop of sour cream and crushed tortilla chips.

It was sooooooooo goooooood. I made us go stand on the porch in the snow so it would be that much better when we came in to eat and it was. But I ate a little too much and got a little too stuffed and had to lie down and moan a little. And it was worth it.

Sunday Best v.11

Swoooooooning for this dreamy bouquet of peonies and English roses, found on Style Me Pretty.

• Cory and Zack created a little time capsule of love notes at their wedding. LOVE that idea.
• Kendall celebrated the return of LOST with themed cookies!
• Speaking of LOST, this blogger is going to attempt reviving his LOST blog after missing the fifth season due to illness.
• Wishing I knew how to fold complicated valentines like this.
• And in the spirit of Valentine's Day, pretty, pretty underthings.

Snow Day Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup is my hands-down favorite. It was one of the first things I really wanted to learn to make, but I was always a little too intimidated which is ridiculous because it is SO EASY.

When I'm sick, I like to eat something spicy to clear my sinuses. Well let me tell you, if you've got the sniffles, this soup is the cure. My kids will be the only kids on the block who have chicken tortilla soup instead of chicken noodle when they're sick, I promise you.

I ended up merging a couple different recipes, taking tips from my college classmate Aliya and from This Week For Dinner.

I wanted to make those delicious crunchy-yet-chewy tortilla strips they serve in restaurants, so I rubbed chili powder and lime salt (you can buy this in the spice aisle; it's one of my favorite toppings for popcorn!) onto corn tortillas, then piled them on top of each other and sliced into strips with a pizza cutter.

I then fries the strips in vegetable oil and left to dry on a paper towel-lined plate.

P.S. forgive the poor picture quality. My camera battery was charging while we did the cooking.

Meanwhile, Sean was cooking a chicken breast on the Foreman Grill. The breast was rubbed with a mixture (I eyeballed the amounts) of chili powder, chipotle chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Once the chicken breast was done, I shredded it with two forks (sorry I didn't get an action shot!) which was kind of really fun and satisfying.

We then sauteed chopped red onion in olive oil, adding garlic when the onions were translucent. Once the garlic and onions looked done, I added a can of tomato sauce, a can of Rotel diced tomato and chiles, two chicken bouillon cubes**, chicken broth and water.

While I brought that to a boil, I added pinches of cayenne pepper, chili powder, chipotle chili powder, cilantro (unfortunately not fresh, but it works) and a hearty squeeze of lime juice.

** When I come out with my own line of ingredients, I'm going to call mine chicken boo-yah cubes. Just sayin'.

Look my camera is back in action! These are the tortilla strips, patiently waiting.

Bring the soup mixture to a boil, then add the chicken. Turn down the heat and simmer for 20ish minutes.

I like mine with a handful of shredded cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream (which immediately drowned, lol).

Spoonful of goodness! It was spicy and had me breaking a sweat, but in the best possible way. I would like to experiment with my levels of lime juice and definitely make it with fresh cilantro, but this was still as good as restaurant soup if not better. Definitely a new snow day standard.

Snow Day Tortilla Soup

Chicken

1. Rub chicken breast with a mixture of cayenne pepper, chili powder, chipotle chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, pepper and if you want, cilantro flakes.
2. Grill or fry chicken breast.
3. Shred the chicken with two forks, with the tines pointed at each other as you work.

Soup

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1.5 cups water
• 1 small red onion
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1 can of Rotel Tomatoes and Chiles
• 1 small can of tomato sauce
• 1 to 2 diced cloves of garlic
• A squeeze of lime juice
• Pinch of chili powder
• Pinch of chipotle powder
• Fresh (or dry) chopped cilantro
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Rub corn tortillas with chili powder and lime salt. Cut into strips with a pizza cutter.
2. Fry tortillas in vegetable oil, then dry on paper towel-lined plates.
3. Rub chicken with spice mixture, then grill or fry. Shred with two forks and put aside.
4. In a stock pot or high-walled pan, saute red onions in olive oil. When translucent, add garlic.
5. Once garlic and onions look ready, add chicken stock, water, tomato sauce, Rotel, chicken bouillon cubes and spices.
6. Bring to a boil.
7. Add shredded chicken and turn heat down to simmer.
8. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
9. Serve with shredded cheese, tortilla strips and dollop of sour cream if you so choose.

You can always add more veggies, like black beans and corn. I don't roll like that, though.

LOST in Translation V.1

My friends, is there anything better than watercooler television? I love that conversation the day after shocking television and I live for discussions of LOST. My coworkers at my last job and I would talk about all our crazy theories for the entire 8 hours of work the day after a new episode aired.

Now, I'm hoping to bring that conversation to a new forum, here on my blog. I understand my blog is not supposed to be about LOST. I also understand that other people have far more sophisticated blogs/Web sites that track all things LOST. But this is my blog, dammit, and I would love to converse with you guys about your LOST theories.

So for this year only, we're going to celebrate the brain attack that is LOST. Please share your theories in the comments and keep it nice; no berating other commenters! And if you want to read the best LOST blog in the history of the universe, make sure to stop by Doc Jensen's blog for Entertainment Weekly. He does the most amazing job of breaking down the hidden clues and sharing his theories, based on his encyclopedic memory. If you don't have an encyclopedic memory, Lostpedia is your friend. And without further ado ....

LOST SPOILERS!!! LOST SPOILERS!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU VALUE YOUR LOST EXPERIENCE!!!!

So, let's recap. We saw two possibilities: life if the plane hadn't crashed and life on the island if the bomb didn't work (or if it did, as Juliet says). Right off the bat, this raises a question.

1. Did we see an alternate reality or two realities, happening at the same time and we pick which one is real?

My theory: Not sure about this one. I have a feeling this is alternate simultaneous realities, kinda like the plot of the newest Star Trek movie. I've always felt that, for whatever reason, the island forces the Losties to face their demons (sometimes literally). That theory seemed to be proven when the safe landing reality started to lead our Losties down their original, not-so-great paths. Charlie overdosed and got arrested. John had the walkabout experience, but still can't walk. Jack's dad is STILL missing.

In the safe landing reality, people with the potential to change each other's lives are also introduced. Jack offers to try to repair Locke's spinal cord. Kate jumps in a cab with Claire (whose baby she once stole/raised).

It seems to me that if it continues, the safe landing reality could be course-correcting. Does that term sound familiar? That's because Desmond learned in season 3 that the future can be predicted and delayed, but not changed. This is a fancy sci-fi version of what most of us call "meant to be."

Speaking of Desmond, that leads me to my second question:

2. Where did Desmond go?

One minute Desmond was on the plane, sitting next to Jack. Jack goes to save Charlie and when he returns, Desmond is gone and Rose didn't notice where he went. We don't see him exit the plane or in the airport. What was he doing on the plane in the first place? THOUGHTS? I have no ideas.

3. Who the hell are those indigenous people?

I have a pretty hard time keeping track of the groups of people on the island. We've got the crash survivors (Beach people, Tail people), the Dharma group, the followers of Ben who came after Dharma, the Others (seemingly a mishmash of Dharma survivors, kidnapped plane crash survivors and maybe indigenous people), and who knows who else.

Jack and company were sent by Jacob (via Hurley who SEES DEAD PEOPLE) to the Smoke Monster lair to save Sayid. They ended up at a temple where I thought I spied jughead, the bomb, which means we might be back in the camp where Ellie and Widmore were ruling the roost.

I'm not sure I can handle more characters, but I do love the fella who was translating (he was great in "Me and You and Everyone We Know"). What do we think is in the restorative water? Why is the hourglass necessary?

I have a LOT more I could babble about, but I was saving the best, most intriguing for last: Jacob vs. His Enemy (who I call the Man in Black).

The appearance of Jacob and the Man in Black in last year's finale might have been one of the most intriguing LOST moments ever for me. I believe Jacob and the Man in Black signify Good vs. Evil, much in the way Christians interpret God vs. Satan.

As you may recall, in the finale the Man in Black asked Jacob why he constantly brings people to the island just to see them fight and kill. Jacob says any move is progress, which I think could be the argument for why God allows wars to occur.

For any of you behind on your Old Testament (don't feel bad, I had to google lots of this), here's some Biblical background for some names that might have inspired LOST characters:

• Jacob: Isaac's second-born son, twin brother of Esau. At the urging of his mother, tricked Esau into receiving his birthright blessing; Esau vowed to kill Jacob. Saw the ladder to Heaven and heard the voice of God. Wrestled an angel.
• Rachel: Jacob's long-barren wife. Died in childbirth with Benjamin. (Juliet's long-barren sister was named Rachel; Ben's mother died in childbirth and Ben fancied himself Jacob's favored one.)
• Ben: Jacob's son.

So, let's say the LOST tale somewhat parallels the Biblical one. I like the idea that Jacob and the Man in Black are brothers in some way (like Jacob and Esau) and that somehow Jacob received a birthright from some higher being, thus creating a centuries-old rivalry.

I have long held the theory that the smoke monster had the ability to manifest in the form of people's demons and as soon as the Man in Black appeared last year, I told Sean I thought he was the smoke monster. I was SO HAPPY to see that turned out to be true.

This leads to several questions:

4. Why couldn't the Man in Black kill Jacob himself?

If the smoke monster/Man in Black can manifest into other forms, why couldn't he devise a scheme to kill Jacob earlier? And is Jacob dead at all? I've already seen some theories that Jacob is now reincarnated in Sayid; that hadn't occurred to me, as I thought he was using Hurley simply to warn the Others about the smoke monster. Sometimes I miss some pretty obvious clues, which is why I like talking about it to all of ya'll.

5. Where is home?

The Man in Black said he wants to go home. Where is home? What's keeping him from there?

6. What power does the black powder have against the smoke monster?

The Others and that one dude sprinkled powder in a circle to keep the monster out. Does the powder serve the same purpose the Dharma electric fence served? How does it work?

7. Who, once and for all, is Richard Alpert?

I thought maybe he has the ability to travel through time (like Desmond) but has better control of it. Now, I'm not so sure. He seems to go back as long as Jacob and the Man in Black.

Okay, that's it for my crazy theories. Have it out in the comments!

Let It Snow

Mother Nature dropped about a foot of snow on Hampton Roads this weekend, transforming me into a shut-in of epic proportions. I love snow days purely for the excuse to not go anywhere or get dressed. It's a great opportunity to cook (something you'll see more of in the next day or so) and indulge in movie marathons. I watched The Fugitive and Sleepless in Seattle on Saturday — all-time Amber classics.

Sean and I bundled up to go clear off his car and put the ice scraper to good use.

A Facebook friend's status mentioned that she was trying the 14-day free trial at Ancestry.com and I thought, "What the heck?" It is SO addictive. I've spent 3 days piecing together my family tree (much of it my dad has already pieced together, but so what?). Came across some great shots, like this one of my dad's grandmother as a young mom.

And this one, showing five generations. The handsome fella in the center is my great-grandpa.

Sunday Best v.11

This week was celebrity doppelganger week on Facebook. I got Natalie Wood, which is ridiculous, but I'll take it. She was one of my faves; if you've never seen it, rent "Splendor in the Grass" post-haste.

• Check out these adorable alphabet rings I saw on Cup of Jo this week.
• In case you missed it, a breathtaking performance of "Hallelujah" by Justin Timberlake and former MMC castmate (all grown up!!) Matt Morris.
• And while we're at it, a classic MMC clip, featuring JT, Ryan Gosling and JC Chasez (of NSYNC).
• I want this hipster memory game, also seen on Cup of Jo.
• How stylish is this laptop cover disguised as a book?
• In memory of JD Salinger, walk in the shoes of Holden Caulfield.
• The captions are hilarious at Unhappy Hipsters, a blog tracking shots of dreary looking hipsters staring out the windows of their amazing Swedish homes.

I'm Still Here

Forgive me. I'm not taking an intentional break from blogging. I just seem to have taken a break from living.

My week so far: 2 night meetings, 2 morning meetings, a caterer interview. That means there's been no cooking on my part.

We've had some "bull in a china shop" moments this week. Sean managed to break one of my antique plates and my cilantro and parsley plants seem doomed after someone decided to open the window because he thought it was warm enough. I love that someone, but I sure was gritting my teeth over that one.

Hoping to do some cooking tonight and get back into the swing of things. I've been doing a lot of deep wedding pondering this week, which means changes may be afoot.