Sauced In New York Sometimes the food is in the sauce, sometimes we are
I’ve recently been attacked by the green-eyed monster.1 My friend Elizabeth has left once again for adventure in a foreign land. She taught in Thailand for over a year and recently spent 8 months in Peru teaching English. Now she’s in Costa Rica, searching for a job amidst the sunshine and surf.
The week of Thanksgiving seems an inopportune time to be envious of what another has, but it is a bit difficult not to be jealous of a one-way airplane ticket to a beautiful locale and the adrenaline rush of not knowing exactly what is going to happen next.
But the cure for any kind of malaise is to find something with which to occupy your mind and hands. So this week, I’ve tackled some new dessert recipes and found success with an espresso mascarpone chocolate pudding lifted from Martha Stewart. It’s easy to make and densely satisfying as a little sumpin’ sweet (note: the use of locally grown eggs and mascarpone cheese from the Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery were definitely key ingredients so if you make this pudding, I would use the highest quality eggs and mascarpone available to you). I also added Grand Marnier to both the whipped cream and the candied orange peels (again: muchas gracias to Martha for the recipe) because rarely do you hear, “Uggh. Grand Marnier. No thanks.”
I’ve been put in charge of cocktails for Thanksgiving, so between making rosemary infused vodka and cranberry simple syrup (not to mention picking out the perfect hard cider for the bourbon pear cider cocktail), I should be able to keep my envy at bay . . .
1William Shakespeare alludes to the color green when describing jealousy both in The Merchant of Venice and Othello. Duplicitous Iago warns: “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock.” Iago probably should have taken his own advice and saved everyone from all his scheming.
