holidays Archives - 2 Sisters 2 Cities

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on December 10, 2012

likelii

With Hanukkah already here and Christmas and New Year’s Eve quickly approaching, you may be stocking up on wine for the holidays. Do you find yourself always buying the same types of wine time and again? If you are looking to mix it up this holiday season and want to try a new type of wine-buying experience, I recommend checking out Likelii.

The founders of Likelii wanted to create a wine recommendation engine that works like Pandora does for music and Netflix does for movies. You start off by entering a specific wine that you usually buy and the site creates a list of recommendations of other types of wine you might like. You can further refine the recommendations by adding other types of wine that you like and rating wines that you have already tried. And best yet, you can buy the recommended wines directly from Likelii.com and knock one less thing off your to-do list (if shipping wine to your state is allowed.)

I tried out Likelii by entering my two “house” wines that I always buy- J Lohr Cabernet and Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc. Likelii recommended that I try out Gordon Brother Cabernet, Brancott Sauvignon Blanc, and Kilikanoon Covenant Shiraz (among others.) I’m looking forward to trying out these new bottles of wine!

Whether you are looking for a wine recommendation for yourself or a gift idea for someone else this holiday season, be sure to check out Likelii for a customized list of wine picks.

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Likelii.com. However, all opinions are my own.

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Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on December 5, 2012

Still looking for the perfect gift for the sweet-tooth in your life? One of my favorite stocking stuffers ever is Taza Chocolate! Back when we used to get Boston Organics delivered in the city, you could do a Taza chocolate add-on service- so great! They are definitely one of my husband’s favorite things so I am planning on stocking up on a bunch to give to him (hope you are not reading this dear- haha!)

I received an e-mail from one of the Taza Chocolate employees letting me know about three upcoming holiday events they are hosting at their factory store in Somerville, MA. If you live in the Boston area, you have to check out this factory. I went a couple years ago to pick up T’s birth announcements from Albertine Press, which is in the same building as Taza. Let me tell you, the entire building smells heavenly! If you don’t live in Boston, I have something for you as well. I am hosting a Taza Chocolate Mexicana Sampler giveaway- go to the bottom of this post to enter!

Sat. Dec. 8th, 1-4pm: Liddabit Sweets Candy Sampling & Cookbook Signing

Come meet Liz Gutman and Jen King, the brilliant candy-crafters of Liddabit Sweets! Pick up an autographed copy of their brand new book, The Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook, and sample & buy their Taza Chocolate sea salt caramels and other delectable creations. Facebook invitation here.

Wed. Dec. 12th, 5-7pm: Bully Boy Distillers & Cocktail Sampling
Come sample libations from Boston’s first craft distillery! Try these locally distilled spirits both straight up, and mixed into cocktails. We’ll have plenty of chocolate samples on hand to explore pairing choices. Facebook invitation here.

Sat. & Sun., Dec. 15th & 16th, 11am-5pm: Holiday Fiesta

Join Taza Chocolate at our annual Holiday Fiesta at the Factory Store on Saturday and Sunday, December 15 and 16 from 11am – 5pm. Facebook invitation here.

Saturday December 15:
-FREE cocktail samples featuring Diabolique Infused Bourbon and Taza Mexicano Extract
-FREE samples of Counter Culture Coffee
-FREE cheesecake samples from 7ate9 Bakery, plus mini cheesecakes for sale

Sunday December 16:
-FREE samples of Oak Aged Mocha Stout from Peak Organic Brewing
-FREE samples of MEM Teas
-FREE sample of Night Shift Taza Stout Gingerbread from Sofra Bakery
Both days:
-The Taco Truck, selling authentic Mexican-style tacos plus a special Taza treat
-FREE Orange Cinnamon hot chocolate served up from the Taza Choco-cycle
-SPECIAL Taza treats for sale, including our new limited edition Spiked Eggnog Chocolate Mexicano
-FREE Chocolate Mexicano disc with any purchase of $50 or more

If you have never tried Taza Chocolate before, here’s your big chance. Taza has generously given 2S2C a Chocolate Mexicano Sampler to giveaway! The sampler contains a disc of each one of these flavors: Cacao Puro, Chipotle Chili, Cinnamon, Ginger, Guajillo Chili, Orange, Salt & Pepper, and Vanilla Bean. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Rules: Contestants must have a USA shipping address to be eligible for entry. No entries will be accepted after December 13th, 2012 at 12:00 am, EST. Entries that do not follow the entry requirements will not be considered. One winner will be chosen at random and will be announced during the December 14th, 2012. The chosen winners will then have 30 days to respond by e-mail to claim their prize. Please note that Taza Chocolate is sponsoring this giveaway. Void where prohibited.

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Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on October 15, 2012

With the holidays approaching, I know my Kitchen Aid Mixer is about to get a huge workout. K and I wanted to show how much we appreciate all our readers so we have decided to participate in the Ultimate Kitchen Aid Mixer Giveaway! What color will you pick? The empire red seen in the photo below? Silver metallic (my personal favorite)? Or perhaps a throwback shade like pistachio? Whatever color you decide on, the Kitchen Aid Mixer would be all yours right before Thanksgiving! There is a chance to enter daily between now and November 14th.

Welcome to the Ultimate Kitchen Aid Mixer giveaway event! Why ultimate? Keep reading!

I have teamed up with Musings From a Stay At Home Mom, Fabulous Finds by Tiffany, Only A Breath, Worthy of the Prize, The Mama Report, and Triple Braided along with more fabulous bloggers to sponsor this great prize!

The Prize:
One lucky winner will receive their choice of color/style Kitchen Aid Artisan 5 Quart Stand Mixer with a value of up to $350 from Amazon!

Entry:
Enter below with the Rafflecopter form. You can come back everyday for the daily tweet option – that gives you a lot of extra entries!

Rules:
This giveaway ends on November 14, 2012 at 11:59 EST
The winner will be picked randomly and will have 48 hours to respond by email before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is chosen.
Open to the US and Canada*
*If the winner is Canadian, they will be given a $350 Amazon.ca gift card to be used toward the purchase of the mixer.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: This giveaway is in no way associated with Amazon or KitchenAid.

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Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on September 27, 2012

I’ve been a busy guest-blogger this week- today I’m guest-posting at the Scribble Shop blog. I shared a number of K’s amazing (looking and tasting) cut-out sugar cookies that she has made to celebrate special occasions. The post also has K’s favorite cut-out cookie recipe. My Scribble Shop guest post can be found here.

Scribbleshop.com has tons of arts & crafts supplies, as well as an extensive amount of cookie and cake decorating supplies. They have set up a special coupon code just for 2 Sisters 2 Cities’ readers to receive 15% off your order. Just enter promotion code: 2CITIES2 to receive the 15% discount. This promotion code is valid until November 1st! It’s the perfect time to start stocking up for the holiday trifecta coming up.

Do you enjoy making cut-out cookies? What’s your favorite cookie cutter that you own? My personal favorites are some of the Christmas cookie cutters that my Grandma used to bake cookies with.

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on January 1, 2012

Posted by 2 Sisters 2 Cities on October 30, 2011

These cookies are the cookie I remember growing up with on Halloween. It was in our family cookbook and for some reason these cookies always stood out to me as the go-to Halloween cookie.

Maybe I am so partial to these cookies because of our late cat Cricket, a stray long-haired black cat, whom we had taken in and quickly found a place in all of our hearts. These cookies became even more important to our holiday traditions after owning a black cat. We often thought Cricket was an alien because he tried to act like our dogs and could sort of talk to us. I swear he would say “hellllwwoooo” when we walked into a room or “whaaaaaaaat” when you called his name (maybe not pronouncing the “t,” but you get my point.) A few years ago Cricket died from a bad heart and my mom made these cookies in honor of him. Every year since, we have made these cookies at Halloween time to honor Cricket (possibly our dog too because he once ate a whole tray of these cookies off the cupboard). These are some black cat cookies that you won’t mind crossing paths with (no bad luck here!)

Black Cat Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter (2 sticks) at room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

candy corn and red hots

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place butter in mixer and cream together with sugar.

Add eggs and vanilla, until all ingredients are incorporated.

In a medium bowl on the side, mix together flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Gradually stir in dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix well.

With the dough, form 2 inch balls, and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Take a glass, a small bowl of water, and a small bowl of granulated sugar, dip the glasses bottom in water and then dip in sugar.

Take the sugar covered glass and flatten the cookie balls, keeping the bottom of the glass well sugared, repeat for all the cookies.

Next pinch 2 “ears” at the top of the cookies, so they look like cat ears.

Then with a fork, press into the sides of the cookies to form whiskers on either sides of where the nose will be.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately add the candy corn for eyes (whites of the candy corn facing in) and a red hot for the nose. Let cool.

Makes about 3 dozen cats

Enjoy!

-Sister K