660 Peachtree St. NE

Atlanta, GA

http://www.foxtheatre.org/

The Varsity
61 North Avenue
Atlanta GA 30308

The Varsity is located on North Ave. not far from Fox Theatre. I haven’t actually been to Fox personally but I passed it when I was going to the Varsity. As any downtown area, it’s pretty cramped and pressed for parking and opportunities for a decent place to eat. The Varsity is just on the outer rim of downtown and is known as an Atlanta institution. Of course if you’re already from Atlanta then you already know that. You have the option to park or do a drive up. The menu is relatively cheap but something to note is that it’s cash only. But you can fill up on a hot dog, onion rings and a shake for under $10. This location is open until 1130pm on Sunday-Thursdays and 1230 am Fridays & Saturdays so perfect for pre and post shows.

Merry Christmas everyone! I’m spending Christmas in Atlanta with my cousin and nephews. I’ve been doing a lot of baking and cooking and not a lot of picture taking or writing up recipes.  My bad but you’ll just have to deal until the new year….

One thing I enjoy making is rainbow cupcakes. It’s just fun to do and the end product looks rad. They’re usually so colorful that you don’t need to put frosting on top (which I did eventually for these plus with red and green sprinkles but I have no picture of that).  I decided to make a batch of Christmas colored cupcakes to take with me to work.  As if we weren’t getting enough sweets sent to us from different companies and what not.  But I figured one last bit of sweetness couldn’t hurt.

– 2 boxes white cake mix
- eggs (egg substitute), oil and water according to cake mix directions
- Red & Green food coloring

Frosting
- 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened (Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Christmas colored sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mix cake mix, eggs, oil and water to create a smooth batter. Separate the batter into 3 equal bowls. Add Red food color to one bowl and mix with a spoon.  Keep mixing until there is no white batter left in the bowl.  If you know your color wheel and what not you know that red and white obviously make pink.  Keep adding red food coloring until you get an actual red color in the batter.

In the second bowl add green food coloring to the batter and mix until there is no white left.  Leave the third bowl with the white batter.

Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.  Now, you can really do this however way you want; I personally liked layering the different batter colors alternating so i had some that were green on top, then red and so on into each cupcake liner.  Once you are done filling all the liners, using a toothpick, stick into the batter of each liner and slowly swirl them around to get a swirly, paisley effect.  Place them in the oven and bake for about 20-22 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test.

Remove from oven and allow them to cool.

For the frosting, add softened cream cheese to a bowl. Add vanilla extract and mix. Once all cupcakes are cooled frost each one. Sprinkle Christmas colored sprinkles on top.

Makes about 2 dozen

I try not to eat a lot of candy around the holidays but one of my favorite combinations any time of the year is mint and chocolate.  I always look forward to grabbing a bag of Hershey’s Mint Kisses because they’re always available during Christmas-time.  It can get a little dangerous, me, alone with a bag of mint kisses.  So instead of devouring them one by one I figured I would make a bark to share with my family and co-workers so I didn’t hog it all to myself.

- 1/2 bag mint-chocolate chips
- 1/2 bag white chocolate chips
- 2 tbsp Christmas colored sprinkles
- wax paper

Place a layer of wax paper onto a baking sheet. Use a double boiler to melt chocolate. Start with the mint chocolate chips first. Melt them in the double boiler and whisk as its melting. Keep whisking until all chips are melted and you see a nice sheen in the chocolate. You want to keep whisking in order to prevent the chocolate from being too hot and burning or curdling. Once all the chocolate is melted then remove from heat and pour onto wax paper. You want to pour it in the middle and allow itself to spread. Use a spatula to evenly coat the shape of the pan. If your chocolate doesn’t reach the edges that’s fine it doesn’t need to, just make sure it’s even to prevent it from being too thick or thin in certain places. Let it set, clean out your bowl or use another bowl because you will want to make sure it is completely dry.

Repeat process with white chocolate chips. Once all white chocolate chips are melted add sprinkles and continue to whisk. Once white chocolate is done pour over the mint chocolate on the wax paper. Use a spatula to smooth over white chocolate. If you mix the mint chocolate and white chocolate together don’t worry, not only will it make some fun paisley designs I like to say it gives the effect of “snow on the ground.” Set the tray in the fridge to harden for at least one hour, best overnight.

Once the chocolate has hardened, remove wax paper from the underside of the chocolate and begin to break into chunks. It doesn’t really matter how big or small you do it it’s not meant to be perfect shapes. Then eat and enjoy or this also makes a good gift in a tin or bag.

It may sound blasphemous, but I never, until I made this had ever had butternut squash.  It’s sad but true, you would think as a self-proclaimed foodie that I would’ve tried it.  So therefore it’s odd when I say that the fall/winter makes me think of butternut squash and specifically butternut squash soup.  I decided it was time once and for all to try it out.  I knew that butternut squash tends to be a bit sweet and mild so I figured I would counterbalance it with some habanero pepper and top it off with some caramelized shallots. The slight kick of the habanero gives you all the warmth you need. The soup turned out to be very delicious!

- 2 small bags pre-cut butternut squash (saves you the time of peeling and de-seeding)
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter or margarine
- 1 small shallot chopped
- 1 can vegetable stock
- 1/4 of very small habanero pepper seeds removed
- 1/4 cup milk (plain soymilk) — this will help alleviate some of the heat of the habanero
- nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste

Garnish (optional):
- cilantro
- sour cream

Heat a pot on medium-high heat. Melt butter or margarine. Once butter is melted add shallots. Cook until shallots are slightly caramelized. Remove a small portion of the shallots and set aside to use as topping for the soup. Add squash and vegetable stock. Reduce heat to a medium-low and cook squash in stock for 15-20 minutes or until it is tender. Once the squash is cooked, remove each piece with a slotted spoon and put into a blender with the habanero, and milk. Now if you’re unsure of how much habanero you are putting in, put little bits in at a time and taste. If it doesn’t seem as hot add a bit more at a time until you get the desired heat. But be careful, habanero is the hottest pepper out there so a little really goes a long way. Also after handling the pepper DO NOT go anywhere near your eyes or really anywhere on your face for that matter. Puree until you get a smooth consistency. Pour pureed squash back into pot with stock. Stir and season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Remove from heat and serve in soup plates. Top with a dollop of sour cream, cilantro and caramelized shallots.

I love Auntie Anne’s Pretzels that they have at the mall. I hadn’t however had one in a really, REALLY long time.  I had this sudden inexplicable craving for them one night but by that time the mall was naturally closed.  I decided then to try my hand at making my own.  The results tasted JUST LIKE Auntie Anne’s (with maybe a little less butter).  Now I don’t need to go to the mall to get my pretzel fix.

- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp yeast (you can find in packets at the grocery store)
- 1 1/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 tbsp jalapeno chopped
- 1 tsp sugar
- coarse salt
- melted butter (unsalted margarine)
- 1 tbsp baking soda
- 3 cups water

In a bowl of room temperature water add yeast and allow to sit for about 5 minutes or until it gets foamy. In a bowl combine flour, sugar and yeast. Add chopped jalapenos. Knead the mixture to form a dough. Roll it into a large ball. Remove dough from your bowl and lightly oil the entire inside of it. Place the dough back in the bowl, cover with a dish and allow the dough to rise for about 20-25 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.

Lightly flour a surface for you to put the dough out on. Divide the dough up into equal parts. Take each part of dough and roll out into a “rope.” Be careful not to make it too thin. Then, make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U in order to form the shape of a pretzel. In a small pot simmer 3 cups of water with baking soda. Keep the heat very low. As you finish each pretzels quickly dunk into the baking soda water and then place onto baking sheet.

Bake pretzels for about 10 minutes or until the outsides start to turn a golden color. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter immediately. Sprinkle coarse salt over each pretzel if desired. You can eat them warm or wait to eat them later. With the salt and the spice from the jalapenos I didn’t create a dipping sauce to dunk these in. They were flavorful on their on.