Friday Faves 1/3: 90 Day Fiancé, Skillet Breakfasts, Happiness, and Holidays

Best Activity

The holidays are always full of good stuff. Here’s a few things that I enjoyed over the last two weeks.

Clifton Mills: This place is an electrician’s nightmare. Millions (yes, millions) of Christmas lights cover the entire property out in southern Ohio. The mill is still active, and in the holiday season thousands of people pay their $10 admission fee to walk through a covered bridge and into a Christmas wonderland. There’s a light show every 30 minutes to the tune of TransSiberian Orchestra’s “Carol of the Bells.” Between light shows you can check out the miniature model of the Clifton and the surrounding towns, full of flashing lights and sounds and even a flying Santa Claus on a string. It’s rather impressive. They serve some damn good hot chocolate with legit whipped cream (any more whips and it’s ice cream. Just delicious).

Last year, Clifton Mills won $50,000 on ABC’s “Great Christmas Light Fight” in the heavyweight division.

December Hike: We were blessed with some really nice weather in Ohio, so we decided to stretch our legs one afternoon and go for a hike in Yellow Springs. The Glen Helen nature preserve has the actual yellow spring, where minerals turn the water and some rock a yellow-orange color. It was a lovely day, and even though we weren’t quite dressed for a muddy hike, it was very pretty, and I’d imagine the other three seasons have their own charm in those woods.

Flying on Christmas: We travelled back to Boston early Christmas morning, and it was rather delightful. The airport was quiet, and even though we had a layover in Baltimore, it was stress free. If you’re even thinking about flying on Christmas, I suggest doing it.

QuipLash: We spent our seventh straight New Years Eve with our friends Lindsay and Dean. We alternate trips, so this year we drove down to see them in New Jersey. We were all introduced to an incredibly fun game called Quiplash. It’s a little like “Cards Against Humanity” but you use your phone to actually create your own answers that everyone else vote on using their phone. Every round, you get two prompts. You answer them however you’d like. One other person in the room gets the same prompts as you, so you’re going head to head for everyone else’s votes. The winner receives the most votes over the three round game. It’s exceptional, and if we didn’t have to worry about the midnight ball drop, I think we might have played it for a couple more hours.

Best Watch

90 Day Fiancé: This TLC guilty pleasure was introduced to me by my sister and reintroduced over the holidays when we were looking for something to watch one night. The premise of the show is couples have 90 days to marry their non-citizen fiancé from another country. The K-1 Visa allows them to enter the country for 90 days, if they marry in that window, the non-citizen receives a green card. The season follows a bunch of couples who all have crazy stories bordering on the absurd. But they have real stuff to deal with before deciding if they really do want to get married. The images that some of them have of America are incredible… just watch this clip of Robert and Anny in a second-hand store.

Best Listen

Bachelor Party: This Ringer Network pod is a weekly during the Bachelor season, but over the last month, the pod has ranked every single Bachelor/Bachelorette season from 1-39. The top ten, which is broken into two parts, is exceptional. Chris Harrison is the guest and he is honest and tells some excellent stories. #6-10 Pod and #1-5 Pod

Best Read

Is Anyone Happy Anymore?: Written from the west coast of Ireland, this quick NYTimes article takes a look at what happiness means to us and how we try and find it. Of course, an old Irish guy from across the street delivers the Earth shattering quote at the end. NYTimes.com

Best Eat

Sunrise Skillet: There are three things I expect when we travel to Ohio: Polite people, long conversations with strangers, and a trip to Bob Evans. To give you a sense of how omnipresent the delicious chain restaurant is, as we drove to Bob Evans with Tiff’s second-cousin, an 8-year-old, they were debating which of the three Bob Evans in the town was the best. THREE BOB EVANS!? I wouldn’t mind if midwest shared some of the deliciousness and sent some of Bob’s food this way (We’ll trade you a bunch of Dunkin’ Donut stores…). I tried something new this time around, the Sunrise Skillet, basically an open-faced omelet with sausage gravy, home fries, and cheese on top. It’s um, amazing. A once a year type treat, but perfect for the glutinous holiday season.

Irish bacon and sausage: Another staple of home is my mom opening the freezer before bed and pulling out the bacon and sausage to thaw. This used to be a more rare tradition when there wasn’t a British store down the road that my mom could drive to. We used to have family in Ireland ship the stuff to us. If you’ve never had Irish sausages, you’re missing out. They are miles better than the American version. The bacon isn’t quite Canadian bacon, but it also isn’t your typical strips of bacon. My mom’s homemade Brown Bread tops the whole thing off. I like to slice the sausages the long way, splay it open on the bread, and dig in!

Pavlova: If you like meringue, then this is the dessert for you. We’ve coined this fluffy, fruity dessert the “Pope’s Pillow.” It’s a meringue base, topped with whipped cream, and then whatever fruit you can get your hands on. This has been a Christmas tradition in our house for a while, along with an Irish Pudding that you pour whiskey over and light on fire before serving. Pavlova is delicious in any season.

Best Drink

Irish Coffee: I can’t remember the last time I had an Irish coffee, but as I sat sitting at home last week, my sister looked up from her computer and said, “I think I’m gonna make an Irish Coffee.” Well, Irish Coffees we did make. My mom, who has never drank any alcohol (except for the desperate Hot Toddy when a cold gets really bad) has these glasses that give you the proper proportions of whiskey, coffee, and cream. The key is pouring the cream into the coffee using the bottom of a spoon so it doesn’t go to the bottom. We used bourbon for the whiskey, so we just didn’t add any sugar.

After reflecting on the last two categories, I am realizing I need to take it easy this January…

Best Plugs

The Random Division Season Finale: Tiff and I wrapped up our Decade in Review with a recap of events and people of the decade. iTunes (rate, review, subscribe, tell you friends!). Spotify (Follow!)

The Bachelor kicks off with a three hour episode on Monday night. Follow our IG handle for some live updates during the show! @TheRandomDivision. We’ll be podding too, but probably not until later in the week.

My Ohio State Fandom was confirmed: Last Saturday the Ohio State Buckeyes lost a heart-breaker to Clemson. It really bugged me. More than it should have. My fandom application is now complete….

Friday Faves 12/20: Themed Yankee Swaps, Gingerbread Coffee, Jason Mesnick, and Dal

Best Activity:

Holiday Party: This weekend, we hosted a holiday party. It’s become a bit of a tradition at this point. We hmm and haw over the date starting around Halloween, wanting to pick the one that will be best for the most people. Some years we’ve had small groups of 7 or 8 and other years, like this one, we have about 20 people crammed into our apartment.

Over the years, we’ve streamlined the prep for the party. Food is easier, we’ve dialed in the booze purchasing so we’re not left with a year supply of beer the next morning.

This year’s party had some new additions, either people that we’ve befriended in the last year or folks that could finally attend. Much like a wedding, it’s always gratifying to have people from various parts of our lives come together and get along. We had a Yankee Swap this year with the theme of “hometown” which could be interpreted in different ways. We all gathered around, opened, and exchanged gifts. The theme was clever (and, naturally, Tiff’s idea), but the unintended consequence was it offered everyone a chance to explain their gift and where they’re from. It was a great excuse to have everyone in the same room for 30 minutes to hang out, joke around, and learn about each other.

Best Read:

Decade in Pictures (and some words…): Some stunning stuff in here to remind us all of the good and bad of the last decade. NYTimes.com

What the Digital Revolution Really Did To Us: From Joseph Bernstein at BuzzFeed… sadly, the toothpaste is out of the tube… “Comparing the coming changes to the Enlightenment, Katz lauded an ‘interactivity’ that ‘could bring a new kind of community, new ways of holding political conversations’ — ‘a media and political culture in which people could amass factual material, voice their perspectives, confront other points of view, and discuss issues in a rational way.’ Such a sensible, iterative American public life contained, Katz wrote, “the … tantalizing … possibility that technology could fuse with politics to create a more civil society.”

Best Watch:

Collateral: A British four part mini-series that zooms around London following the murder of a pizza delivery man. The murder sparks inquiries about drug deals, immigration, and honesty. We’re two episodes in and it’s very good, you know, like every British TV show. Is it the accents? The storytelling? The cityscapes? Outside of the modern Sherlock series, this is the first British show we’ve watched that is set in London, usually we’re out in the countryside or an industrial town. Find it on Netflix.

Bachelor on Netflix: Last week, Jason Mesnick’s season of the Bachelor was dropped on Netflix without any marketing. The season aired in 2009, and if you like the series this show is a great reminder of what it was like before the Instagram/influencer angle swept through the contestants. If you don’t know how the season ended, it’s amazing. It’s also a much smaller time commitment. Fewer shows (I’m on episode 5 and there are five women left) and no commercials.

Best Listen:

Reading Adventure: I have been in the final phases of working on a massive writing project. The “Reading Adventure” playlist on Spotify has been superb to listen to. It’s a list of instrumental songs from epic TV shows and movies. You can find it on Spotify’s “focus” channel. Put it on and it will make doing the laundry feel like your hero’s journey

Best Eat:

Ritz Peanut Butter Cookies: Tiff makes these, and they were a hit at our holiday party. She makes ritz peanut butter sandwiches and then dips them in melted white chocolate (milk chocolate would work, too, I’d imagine). My friend Eliot said they tasted like a homemade Butterfinger.

Cannoli Dip: This Wegman’s pre-made dessert was insane. Basically it’s all the good parts of a cannoli without the challenge of eating a tube of cheese. This ricotta dip was served with cannoli chips (the shell of a cannoli). The cannoli “chips” were delicious on their own and stayed good for a few days after that they went well with hot chocolate later in the week. Add this to your shopping list.

Masoor Dal: This red lentil dish was incredibly simple to make and fed us for two nights this week, with enough left over for a lunch portion. While I love sweet potato, chopping it into small pieces is always a bit of a pain. But that’s the only chopping you’re doing aside from an onion. We had it with some white rice I dug out of the back of the cabinet and some naan I bought at the store (I’m not a bread maker…).

Best Drink:

Gingerbread Coffee from Trader Joe’s: The season is running out, but this flavored, affordable, coffee is one of the best I’ve had. It doesn’t smack you in the face with gingerbread; I dare you to throw in a little maple syrup or, if you’re feeling feisty, some eggnog. I’d imagine this flavor will be replaced with the January/February blend of “I hate the winter" very soon.

Best Plugs:

The Random Division: Tiff kicked me off the pod for the week in favor of Lindsay so they could talk about musicals and theater of the last decade (I would have been a horrible cohost on this one…) It’s a great listen; even if you’re not a big musicals person you’ll learn something and definitely see the crossover between theater, television, movies, literature (Moby Dick: The Musical is coming….) and (duh) music. Listen on iTunes (subscribe, rate, review!) or Spotify.

The Imperfect Game: In the fifth installment of our Past and Present series, Both and I talk about Sheffield Wednesday. This one has everything, match-fixing, crosstown rivals, stadium tragedies, and modern-day financial shenanigans. iTunes (subscribe, rate, review!) and Spotify.