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Bacon & Legs

Food. Beer. Nerdery. Classy as Fuck.

Fontina Turner

Fergie’s Redemption Dip

Fontina Turner

Taco Your Damn Tuesday

Fontina Turner

Cocaine-Dusted Bearclaws

Fontina Turner

Winter Sangria Chicken

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Fergie's Redemption Dip

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Fergie’s Redemption Dip

Fuck yeah, Super Bowl!! I actually don’t give a shit. I’m one of the countless Americans that tune in every…

Chicken Mango Tacos and Avocado Crema

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Taco Your Damn Tuesday

I’m not one to do cute weekday-themed meals every week. Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday… it all seems great in theory…

Cocaine-Dusted Bearclaws

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Cocaine-Dusted Bearclaws

It’s no secret that I’ve got a huge crush on Pam Poovey. (See previous recipes: Holy Shit Snacks and Green…

Pork 'n' Bean Grilled Cheese

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Pork ‘n’ Bean Grilled Cheese

The concept of comfort food is really dependent on your life experiences. But whoever you are, there’s nothing better than comfort food in the dead cold of January. Personally, I love grilled cheese, mashed potatoes, baked beans, mac and cheese, chicken pot pie… shit, now I’m hungry. Which is why I’m happy I did this……

Porky Tenderloin and Porky Brussels Sprouts

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Porky Tenderloin and Porky Brussels Sprouts

In case you don’t have your Christmas dinner planned… I have ya covered. This super simple and delicious dish is fancy enough for guests and easy enough that you don’t have to spend your whole holiday in the kitchen. Plus there is lots and lots of piggy in it. Merry Oinksmas! Porky Tenderloin and Porky…

Gingerbread Challah

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Gingerbraid (Gingerbread Challah)

We’re halfway through Hanukkah and on our way to Christmas. Living in a household that celebrates both holidays, I love combining them and making our own traditions. This year, I did just that by making some Gingerbread Challah. If there’s one thing that always disappoints about gingerbread, it’s that it’s not actual bread. If there’s…

Deluxe Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

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Deluxe Peppermint Mocha Porter Cupcakes

Deluxe Peppermint Mocha Porter Cupcakes I bake cookies for Christmas all the time. Occasionally I throw in some candy or nuts. But how much can you really do with nuts? I wanted to embody what I love about Christmas into one dessert. Every year, just after Thanksgiving… or lately, just before… the Starbucks red cups…

Lembas v. Honey Cakes

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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Two Nommies

I think the first time I identified myself as nerdy was when I watched the Lord of the Rings movies… then promptly purchased the books and began reading. So yeah, the Hobbit movies have pulled on the little love strings in my heart. So much so, that in lieu of a Christmas or Hanukkah recipe…

Boozy Figgy Pudding

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Lil Fig Puddings with Boozy Caramel Sauce

I’ve been listening to some Christmas music… a lot of Christmas music… lately. But I’ve been actually listening to it and processing the lyrics. I have to say, I don’t like what I’m hearing. I’ve even put together my list of Top Five Most Fucked Up Christmas Songs. Merry Little Christmas – I thought this…

Mussels-from-Brussels

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Dream Dinner in Belgium

Dear Strangers: plane tickets and hotel stays encouraged as Christmas gifts this year. If I could have dinner ANYWHERE, where would I go? I’ve done some travelling in my little stay on this Earth so far, but not a ton. The one place that QUICKLY came to mind though, was Belgium. Firstly, and if you’re…

Bourbon Caramel Apple Pie

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Bourbon Caramel Apple Pie

There’s something to be said about a solidly delicious pie after Thanksgiving dinner. It’s classic and comforting. Seeing as I’m not a pumpkin girl, I decided to go with an apple pie. I hear it’s American or something. Well, I American’d it up some more by adding some bourbon caramel to it. (Any excuse, right?) It’s…

Christmas Ale Stew

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Christmas Ale Stew

As I write this column, the snow is falling outside my new place in the Cleve. I have moved from my beloved Philadelphia, where I have been for my entire adult life, back to my home state. While I am sad that I will be leaving so many wonderful people and places behind, I am…

Holy Shit Snacks and Green Russians

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Nerdy Costume Sidekicks

Some of you are dorks. Full-fledged, no-shame dorks. And I love you for that. You dorks that will be dressing up as your favorite TV, movie, book or video game characters for halloween… I love you even more. A lot of us don our dorky little costumes and then go off to a house party…

Dream Dinner in Belgium

December 3, 2014

Dear Strangers: plane tickets and hotel stays encouraged as Christmas gifts this year.

If I could have dinner ANYWHERE, where would I go? I’ve done some travelling in my little stay on this Earth so far, but not a ton. The one place that QUICKLY came to mind though, was Belgium.

Firstly, and if you’re reading this you probably know… //whispers// I like beer. Secondly, I married into a Dutch family and I have a bit of a preoccupation with France. It seems like the perfect place for me to end up is a place like Brussels. I don’t know the language, that’s for sure. I can get by with a little French. Or at least I think I can. (After a proud moment of ordering museum tickets to the Musee D’Orsay in Paris, the gentleman behind the counter called me Miss America.) I know absolutely no Dutch or German.

An hour and a half outside of Brussels is the Westvleteren Brewery. To go to the Abbey itself and get their Trappist would be like, woah. Dinner’s done. Who needs food? Beer has sustenance.

But if I am talking food here… I’m going to get mussels, I’m going to get frites and I’m going to dip my frites in mayo. From what I hear, the place to go is Aux Armes de Bruxelles. They are old-as-shit (1921), so they probably know what they are doing. (It’s even said that King Leopold III used to get his munch on there.) It’s like, the obvious place to in Brussels and apparently, for good reason. So, their THING is moules. You can get the mussels with a three different sauces and I’d want them all but I’d likely get the mariniere preparation (white wine and cream sauce). I definitely want to take friends and tell them what to order so I can eat off their plates as well. (I’m a good friend, shut it.) I’m looking for volunteers to order the:

Beef Stew with Gueuze
American Fillet (which funny enough, is steak tartare and decidedly, not very American)
Wild Boar with Cranberries
Lobster with Morel Mushrooms and Tagliatelle

I know I’d end up with chocolate for dessert. Cuz, Belgium, yo. I know it would be to die for and I’d love every moment of it. But in all honesty, it’s not what gets me all tingly inside. It’s the expertly crafted savory cuisine and accompanying out-of-this-world beers.

So there ya have it. That’s what I would pick if I could go anywhere in the world for dinner tonight. Or any night. Beer and mussels… forever.

While I am more of a go-to-a-restaurant for mussels kind of girl, if you guys wanted a delicious-looking recipe, I’d go straight for David Lebowitz’s Moules Frites recipe from his cookbook, My Paris Kitchen which is definitely on MY Amazon wishlist. .

Moules Frites

4 tablespoons (60g) unsalted or salted butter
1/2 cup (55g) peeled and finely chopped shallots
6 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
pinch of salt
3 cups (750ml) dry white wine
1/4 cup (15g) chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 pounds (1,8kg) mussels, cleaned and debearded

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the shallots, garlic, and salt, and cook, stirring frequently, until the shallots and garlic are soft and wilted, 1 to 2 minutes.

2. Add the wine and parsley and bring to a boil. Add the mussels to the pot, stirring them a few times, then cover and steam for about 5 minutes until the mussels open, lifting the lid midway during cooking to give them a stir.

3. Remove from heat and serve the mussels with French fries and hearty, coarse bread, to soak up the liquid.

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