Week 6 - Italian

With so many options for the Italian challenge, the toughest part was figuring out what to make. I narrowed down the options and then let A pick one since we were already at the store shopping and I couldn't decide. That's how we ended up choosing an Italian sausage and chestnut pasta recipe from BBC Good Food. I had been really intrigued by it since I had never made a pasta recipe like that before and was excited to try it.

The ingredients for this recipe, as adapted, were:

- 1 tbsp olive oil ($0.20)

- 1 large onion, chopped ($0.50)

- 1 lb sweet Italian pork sausage, removed from casings ($4.71)

- 100 g package of roasted chestnuts, chopped ($1.50)

- a few garlic cloves, chopped ($0.10)

- dried rosemary, a few tsp ($0.20)

- fennel seed, about 1 tsp ($0.15)

- 1 glass of red wine ($0 - gift)

- tomato paste, a couple of tsp ($0.45)

- about 1 cup of water ($0)

- one bag of zucchette pasta ($1.99)

- 1/2 package of parsley, chopped ($0.90)

- parmesan for serving ($0.75)

Not the most inexpensive dinner at approximately $11.45, but totally worth it and cheaper than it would be to get this much pasta at an Italian restaurant.

We followed the recipe fairly closely and the steps were:

1. Heat olive oil and fry onions until soft. Start pot of boiling water for pasta.
2. Add sausage meat and chestnuts, and cook for another 10 minutes or so while breaking up the meat.
3. When meat and chestnuts are done, add garlic, rosemary, and fennel seeds and cook for a couple more minutes.

[As an aside, this all tasted really, really good at this point. I think I tried a little bit of the sausage mixture at every step to see how the flavors changed, and was so excited at this point because it tasted so good.]

4. Add the red wine and let most of it boil off.
5. Mix the tomato paste and water (or just use tomato sauce, but we didn't have any), and add to the mixture. Add a little more tomato paste if it doesn't have enough tomato flavor.
6. Cover and simmer sauce for 10 minutes while cooking pasta in salted water.

7. Reserve a cup of pasta cooking water and then drain pasta.
8. Add pasta, a few tbsp of the cooking water, and most of the chopped parsley to the skillet with the sausage pasta and mix well together.
9. Season to taste if necessary. [We didn't, although I suppose we could have added a little more rosemary.]
10. Top with freshly grated parmesan (and freshly ground black pepper if needed).

On the side, we made some simple sautéed zucchini with tomatoes. It didn't really go that well with the pasta, but we needed some more vegetables. They were fine but not a great match.

The pasta itself, however, was amazing. It actually tasted like a restaurant-level dish, and with the pasta cooked perfectly al dente by A, it was restaurant quality to us. We loved the zucchette pasta as the big pumpkin shaped shells held so much meat sauce in them and were perfect for this recipe. I would absolutely make this again. It was so good.

Teremok

Once upon a time, near Madison Square Garden, there existed one of NYC's few branches of Yogurtland. We had tried Yogurtland out in the LA area, really liked it, and were very excited when this branch opened close to us. They gave out samples all the time and the yogurt was good, but they never seemed particularly crowded so it was disappointing but no surprise when they closed down. That disappointment subsided somewhat when news broke that the location was going to be transformed into NYC's first branch of the Russian fast casual chain, Teremok, specializing in bliny and other casual Russian eats.

Teremok opened a little over a year ago, but we never made it there until this weekend. I was originally going to walk down on Inauguration Day for lunch, but decided that might not be the most fitting for a resistance meal. Anyway, we finally made it there when our original plan (hoping that the naked chicken chalupa was still at Taco Bell) fell through, and were confronted with tons of options for bliny, soup, kasha, and more.

The wind chill outside was in the teens all afternoon, so we really wanted soup. When we were looking at the menu earlier in the day before braving the cold, A was really intrigued by the salmon chowder, uha, so we lucked out that it was part of the daily 25% off special. Since we were up for trying just about anything, we also decided to go with the sunrise bliny that was also part of the daily special.

The salmon chowder was made with smoked salmon, carrots, chives, parsley and other herbs, and a cheesy, creamy broth, and came with thin housemade chips on the side. The soup was rich while still feeling light. It reminded me a little bit of a soup I had made previously (also a salmon chowder), but I didn't realize that until later when we were walking around and discussing the flavors of this soup. There wasn't a lot of smokiness from the smoked salmon, but that's because a lot of that flavor was stewed into the soup. The herbs gave the soup a nice freshness and tied everything together. The chips were delicious, but neither of us could figure out what they were made of. They were really light and crisp, and they were the perfect complement to the soup.

We've only had bliny a couple of times before, so we're not experts, but they're similar to crepes. (They actually have a sign in the restaurant talking about the differences between bliny and crepes, how texturally they're a little different, but it's probably the closest way to describe it for those unfamiliar with it, just like people call the Chinese jian bing a Chinese crepe.) The way they describe it on their website, they're like Russian pancakes made with flour batter, eggs, and milk, and stuffed with sweet or savory fillings.

We got the sunrise bliny, which was technically a breakfast bliny but served all day, which had eggs, Swiss cheese, and a choice of meat as the filling. The options were bacon, ham, and sausage, so we went with bacon, like a Russian version of a BEC. The eggs, bacon, and cheese were fine and well-flavored, not too salty which was nice, but the real star of it was the pancake exterior. Soft with just the right amount of chewiness, it was exactly what we were hoping for.

We really enjoyed our lunch at Teremok. It was more filling than we expected, even though we split both the soup and the bliny since our next stop was for doughnuts. Based on our first time there, we would definitely return to try more of the menu.

Krispy Kreme

One year ago today, after our delicious dinner at ShopHouse, we went to Krispy Kreme because I wanted a little dessert. They had a couple cute looking Easter donuts so we decided that we should get one. We opted for a regular glazed and a chick donut.

The neon sign out front of the store said they had hot donuts, but neither of these donuts seemed very freshly made or hot. That was a bit disappointing when it came to the glazed donut since we've had their fresh, hot glazed donuts before, and they are simply delicious. These, on the other hand, were a little on the cold side. The glazed donut was still airy and fluffy, but it was a little denser and less fluffy since it wasn't fresh. The chick was filled with cream and not custard and topped with glazing and crunch sugar along with some piped frosting for the design.

I preferred the glazed donut because it just tasted better. M preferred the chick because she loved the crunchy sugar topping, and she also (intentionally) didn't have much, if any, of the cream. I found the cream to be a little too sweet. I prefer custard filled donuts because custard tends to be a little less sweet when it comes to donuts. All in all we were happy with our dessert, but we know that we've had better experiences at Krispy Kreme in the past.

Toscano Cheese with Black Pepper

We may have mentioned before that we're terrible at describing cheese. If you've ever perused the adjectives used on a menu at a cheese-focused shop or restaurant, that's just not something we're able to do (and may never be able to do). So we're going to change our cheese "reviews" here a little bit to just give some quick thoughts on each cheese, and then rate them from 1 to 10 (10 being the best) for how much we liked them and decide whether we would get them again.

Granted, these ratings don't mean much to anyone else unless you have similar cheese tastes, so here's the quick snapshot of where we fall on the cheese spectrum. M is not really into most cheeses that are super soft or super stinky or blue, preferring some of the milder ones, cheeses with herbs and other flavors mixed in, and chèvre. A likes these soft cheeses, though he's never had a real, stinky blue cheese. One day he hopes to try stilton or the US equivalent.

First up in our new cheese "reviews" is the Toscano cheese with black pepper, which Trader Joe's describes as having elements of parmesan and cheddar (two of our likes, which probably explains why we liked it). The cheese wheels are hand-rubbed with cracked black pepper, which you can still see on the cheese that you buy. We aren't sure if this one is new, but we never noticed it until a recent visit.

M's quick review: Mild cheese. Nice texture on the firmer side. Pepper flavor definitely present but not too strong or overpowering.

M's rating: 8/10

Buy again: Yes

A's quick review: Mild peppery flavor even from the rind pieces that are caked in it. Very pleasant addition to the firm cheese. The cheese itself doesn't have a ton of flavor so the mild peppery flavor is more noticeable. This was a very enjoyable cheese.

A's rating: 8/10

Buy again: Yes

Raising the Bar

Product name: Trader Joe's Raises the Bar Chewy Granola Bar

Price: $2.79 for box of 5 bars

M's quick review: I was excited to try this because of all the good stuff in it - oats, millet, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat - and hopeful that it would be a good replacement for the regular granola and cereal bars you find at the store. It was okay. I liked the texture - it reminded me of the chewiness of a rice krispie treat - but something about the taste, I didn't love. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, but I thought it was just okay as far as flavor.

Buy again? Probably not for me.

A's quick review: I didn't mind this bar. I figured it wouldn't taste exactly like all of the other granola bars, and it didn't. There was a hint of seed/nut flavor to the mix from the other ingredients, and that gave it a bit more of an earthy flavor. One annoying thing was that the chocolate chunks kept falling off. I don't know why that happened, but at least 3 of them just popped off as if they weren't really mixed in to form the bars. They aren't my favorite granola-ish bar, though, and I'd prefer getting the ones I like more.

Buy again? Not necessary for me.

February Cronut

Continuing our exploration of the Dominique Ansel Bakery Cronuts thanks to the convenience of pre-ordering, the February Cronut flavor was lychee rose jam with pistachio ganache. Since Cronuts are a treat, now that we've gotten them for a couple of months, we've decided that we should probably only pre-order for the months where we are really intrigued by the flavor. The February flavor was an absolute yes for both of us, so we happily put in the order.

M's review: I was really excited for this Cronut. I love lychee, I love rose, and in recent years, I've had greater appreciation for pistachio. My first thought biting into this Cronut was that the rose flavor was really nice, very floral, but from then on, the subtle flavor of the rose just got overpowered by the cream. The filling in the Cronuts is really rich and creamy, another reason I probably shouldn't get them that often. For some reason, I missed the fact that there was pistachio ganache and thought it was only the pistachios on top and thought the inside would be all lychee and rose jam without cream. I guess I was kind of confused about the flavor, but it probably also shows how little pistachio flavor there was. I did like the lychee part of this a lot, especially since it seemed like there was actual lychee jelly in it, sort of like the ones you would get in snack-sized containers in the big tubs at the Chinese grocery store once upon a time.

M's Cronut rankings: 1) blueberry elderflower, 2) lychee rose jam, 3) golden honey vanilla

A's review: Unfortunately since the day we got them was so cold, by the time M got up to my office for us to eat this month's flavor it was cold and sort of tough from starting to freeze. That being said, the flavors were still great, and the Cronut itself was still good despite being slightly firmer and tougher. The rose flavor in the cream was very pronounced and offered a wonderful, floral flavor. The lychee jelly tasted heavily of lychee, and I think I found bits of actual lychee in there as well. The pistachio I didn't get as much flavor on. Yes, there were actual pistachios on top, but I didn't really detect a ton of pistachio anywhere else. This was really tasty, and I think it cemented the fact that we definitely prefer the fruit-centric cronuts better.

A's Cronut rankings: 1) blueberry elderflower, 2) lychee rose jam, 3) golden honey vanilla.

Cronuts We've Tried

June 2016: blueberry elderflower with lime sugar

January 2017: golden honey vanilla with lemon sugar

February 2017: lychee rose jam with pistachio ganache

Nectar and Ambrosia

We had high hopes for Santorini, since so many people described it as an absolute dream destination, but adjusting to the island, even in the spring when it wasn't as busy, was tough after our wonderful time in Naxos. It was much more crowded, there were so many more people, and we could feel the frenzy in the air that just wasn't there in Naxos. Add in a motion sickness-inducing taxi ride from the ferry, sudden cold and windy weather, and parades of ants everywhere, including right outside our cave studio, and we weren't the happiest people on the island.

We tried to make the best of it, and spent our first afternoon exploring the village of Oia in Santorini. Our hotel was in Oia, and it was supposed to be the most picturesque part of the island. It was definitely nice wandering the narrow streets, and the landscape of Santorini, especially the caldera, was breathtaking, even under the thick clouds. We had wanted to watch the sunset but considering the clouds and then the rain that started to fall, we just gave up for the day and decided to grab dinner. We picked Nectar and Ambrosia, a place we had on our list (I don't remember where we heard about it - maybe Chowhound?), which has apparently closed sometime between our 2011 visit and now. We didn't make advanced reservations, but since we were eating relatively early on Greek time and most of the tourists were trying to catch whatever sunset there was going to be, it was pretty empty.

We started off with some wine, choosing a local white wine made from grapes grown in the Cyclades. The winery was called Atlantis, and we got a blend of Assyrtiko, Athiri, and Aidani. Assyrtiko is a grape that is indigenous to Santorini, Athiri is indigenous to Rhodes, and Aidani is another grape indigenous to Santorini. The wine itself was similar to the retsinas we had in Athens as Athiri grapes are used a lot in those, but aside from that we don't remember a lot about it.

We started off with the Santorini Island Fava, which was a fava puree with caramelized onions, local capers, and pita triangles. When we had done our research in advance, one of the things everyone said you had to try in Santorini, as far as spreads, was the fava, as it was a local specialty. For our first dinner in Santorini, we knew we had to try it, and we were not disappointed. Fava spread is thicker than hummus but it has such a deep and unique flavor. It was a great start to our meal.

For a starter, we also ordered the Santorini Salad. If it's not already obvious, our plan was pretty much to order anything that sounded local, whether it was a specific dish unique to Santorini or, more likely, ingredients that were locally grown. This salad had small island tomatoes, cucumber, olives, capers and caper leaves, and green peppers on a bed of green leaves with Santorini Chloro soft cheese, balsamic vinegar, and Greek olive oil. (Thank goodness for photos of the menu when you don't have notes.) Everything was extremely fresh, and similar to when we were at Lefteris on Naxos, you could just taste the difference when the ingredients were local. We don't remember a lot about the cheese, but we do remember that everything in this salad felt and tasted so clean and fresh. You can really tell when food didn't have to travel far before being prepared.

For the main course, A got Nectar's Oven Lamb, which was lamb stuffed with manouri cheese and Florina peppers with herbed potato puree and rosemary sauce on the side. The sauce was very rich as it was made from stock (most likely lamb), and it paired very nicely with the roasted lamb. The lamb itself was cooked very well and was very tender. A doesn't remember much about the cheese, but he does remember that the potato puree in the rich sauce was quite delicious and the perfect complement to the lamb.

M's choice for her main course was the Santorini Moussaka, described as "white Santorini aubergine/eggplant layered with country lamb, beef, and pork, topped with a yogurt creme and red paprika accent." Moussaka is basically comfort food, and this was a very good version of it, even if it was a little bit fancier than your normal moussaka. It was rich and heavy, but that was to be expected.

The meal ended with a digestif that neither of us really remembers. This seemed like a fairly common practice in the Greek Islands though, as we got the same treatment (digestif) while in Naxos as well. All in all, we had a nice dinner at Nectar and Ambrosia. We had a little bit of sticker shock though, having just come from much more affordable Naxos. Here our entrees were around €18-19 with our appetizers coming in around €8-9 (and this was the pricing 5-6 years ago), while in Naxos our dishes were more around this appetizer price. The cost of being in a tourist haven, and also at what seemed like one of the nicer restaurants in the area! We did enjoy our dinner though, and strolled around Oia some more afterwards, as much as we could take since it had gotten pretty cold. After that, it was back to the hotel for a stressful night with the ants that we had realized were also all over our room, so invasive that we considered changing hotels if we couldn't get another room that was ant-free. At least we had a nice, filling dinner before having to deal with that.

Maple and Ancient Grains

I was supposed to write this post days ago but got a little bit distracted that night by the release of a new generation of Pokemon in Pokemon Go. Oops. That distraction is a big part of why we haven't posted over the weekend, not any type of holiday traveling. Anyway, back to it with a yogurt review.

I previously mentioned interesting Fage Crossovers yogurt combinations when I reviewed the carrot-pistachio one. When we were at the store that time, I picked up two different types, and the second was this maple syrup blended Greek yogurt with ancient grain granola. As I looked back over my purchases from that weekend, I realized that I'm a complete sucker for anything that has "ancient grains" in it. I'm kind of obsessed with ancient grains since they're good for you, so getting this one was a no-brainer. As far as which ancient grains were in it, there was amaranth, millet, quinoa, and chia seeds.

I tried the maple syrup yogurt part first on its own and found it really, really sweet, too sweet for my tastes (which quite honestly has me worried about other maple-flavored yogurts in the fridge). However, with the ancient grains mixed in, it was much better. Although it was still a little on the sweeter side, it was much more bearable. I liked the addition of the grains which were hearty and had a nice crunch to them. They would be a good topping to any yogurt flavor and were definitely my favorite part.

Week 5 - Tex-Mex

I had lots of ideas for the Tex-Mex challenge, but what I ended up doing was mostly driven by the fact that I was buying a Costco-sized bag of sweet potatoes (which should sound familiar after the last two challenge posts). Since I knew I was getting the sweet potatoes, I just googled sweet potatoes and Tex-Mex which led me to a recipe for a Tex-Mex style sweet potato skillet which I used as a starting point for the challenge.

The ingredients we used were:

- 2 large sweet potatoes, cubed ($1.50)
- coconut oil for cooking ($0.15)
- 1 large onion, chopped ($0.50)
- a few garlic cloves, chopped ($0.08)
- 2 large red bell peppers, chopped ($1.98)
- can of black beans ($0.75)
- can of corn ($0.75)
- can of diced tomatoes with juices ($0.75)
- a tbsp of cumin ($0.10)
- a couple tbsp of taco seasoning ($0.15)
- salt and pepper ($0.05)
- juice of one lime ($0.29)
- shredded Mexican cheese ($1.75)
- sour cream ($0.72)
- 2 avocados, sliced or cubed ($2.33)
- scallions for garnish ($0.65)

The total for dinner was about $12.50 and it made enough to have some leftovers. Not that cheap considering it had no meat in it, but bell peppers and cheese aren't cheap these days. We also bought our avocado bag right before the prices started dropping. Within a week, the Costco price had dropped $2 for the same size bag, so unfortunately that raised the price here a little bit.

I was icing my knee because I was a klutz while walking out of Costco that evening, so A actually did most of the work for this challenge meal. Basically you heat coconut oil in a large skillet, and then add the sweet potatoes, cumin, and salt to cook for a bit. Next was the onion, red peppers, and garlic, and then a few minutes later, the black beans and corn. After that, it was time for the diced tomatoes (with the can liquid), cumin, salt and pepper, taco seasoning. Once the mixture was boiling (even though not much liquid in it), you put it over low heat, covered, until the potatoes are cooked through (which was at least 15 minutes but probably more like 20-25). We added the lime juice to finish it once the potatoes were done.

On top of the sweet potato mixture, we put avocado slices or cubes, scallions, sour cream, and the shredded cheese. Although the original recipe directed you to broil it to melt the cheese on top (and we're sure that would have been tasty), we still haven't figured out our broiler situation and the cheese melted just fine thrown onto the mixture on the plate while hot.

This skillet meal was really good and pretty simple to make, other than having a bit of prep work. Not having had that much real Tex-Mex food, it's hard for us to say whether it was authentic as far as Tex-Mex goes, but whether it was or not, it was tasty and we'd make this again.

Week 4 - Chowder

My original plan when the Week 4 challenge was announced was clam chowder. Since I didn't want to use heavy cream and didn't really feel like making a Manhattan clam chowder, I figured I'd go with the Boston/Rhode Island variety which is my favorite anyway. Then, as the meal plan evolved as our shopping date got closer, I realized it would make a lot more sense to make a sweet potato-based chowder so I could buy a giant bag of sweet potatoes from Costco. So that's what I did instead, taking inspiration from a recipe for a vegan sweet potato chowder from The Kitchn.

The ingredients for our adapted version of the chowder were:

- olive oil ($0.15)

- 1 large onion, chopped ($0.50)

- 3 stalks of celery, chopped ($0.30)

- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped ($0.05)

- 4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped ($3)

- ground coriander, about 1 tbsp ($0.30)

- paprika, about 1 tbsp ($0.10)

- sage, a few tsp ($0.10)

- salt and pepper ($0.05)

- 2 large spoonfuls of vegetable bouillon ($0.50)

- 7 cups of water ($0)

Since we ate the chowder on its own for dinner, it was relatively inexpensive, coming in at approximately $5.05. Not bad for a whole meal, plus another nice-sized bowl of soup on the side for lunch.

The steps for making the chowder were:

1. Prep - chop onions, celery, garlic. Peel and chop sweet potatoes. (The sweet potatoes are the part that always seems to take me forever.)

2. Heat olive oil in large soup pot over medium heat. Add onions and celery and cook until softened.

3. Add garlic and cook for another minute or so (until fragrant).

4. Add sweet potatoes, coriander, paprika, sage, salt, and pepper and mix everything together well.

5. Add 7 cups of water along with the vegetable bouillon. (The recipe called for less water, but the amount of water they said didn't cover all of the sweet potatoes, probably because I used an extra one and they were huge. 7 cups of water was what it took for ours to be covered.)

6. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium low. Cook until sweet potatoes are soft. Adjust flavors to taste.

7. Smash sweet potatoes on the side of the pot to thicken up the soup. Let cook for another 5-10 minutes after that. (This does take a while and can be kind of tedious, but we were watching a boring episode of the Walking Dead, so it was fine. The recipe instead scoops out cups of soup and purees them in a blender, but (a) I like texture in soup, (b) I didn't want to waste the blender (and didn't have the space) just for that and we don't have an immersion blender, and (c) it seemed in my head like the result would be similar but it didn't quite get as smooth even after smashing them.)

The soup was pretty good. Would it have been different and maybe a little more like chowder if I pureed it? Probably, but I was fine with it the way it was. It was relatively thick and creamy, and it was starchy, so that was chowder enough for me for the challenge without creating extra messy dishes. As far as flavor, it was pretty good. It tasted really healthy (no surprise, since it was) and the simple seasonings were nice and complementary to the sweet potatoes. We don't generally buy a ton of sweet potatoes from Costco, but if we did another time, this would be a great way to use some up.

Week 3 - Made Healthy

Figuring out what to make for the Week 3 challenge was tough, mostly because the philosophy I already employ for home cooking is to try to make it healthy. I rarely cook red meat, I don't deep fry, and we try to leave the more unhealthy stuff for eating at restaurants instead of at home. The challenge introduction gave examples like substituting lean meat for fattier ones (already do that), using whole grains instead of white (almost all our grains already are), avoiding heavy cream and using low fat substitutes (already do that whenever possible), baking instead of frying (have you seen all the baked substitute disasters?), and lots of vegetables (already our philosophy). What could I make that was new that was also making something healthier? The only things I could come up with were substituting zucchini for starches, until I found a sweet potato shepherd's pie recipe on Skinnytaste. That would work - substituting sweet potato for regular potato and turkey for less healthy meat.

There were a lot of ingredients for the pie and I mostly stuck to the recipe, although I increased a lot of the vegetable amounts. (Healthier!) The ingredients, as adapted, were:

potato topping:

- 3 large sweet potatoes ($2.25)

- 3 cloves garlic ($0.08)

- 1/2 cup milk ($0.20)

- 1/2 cup chicken broth ($0.20)

- 2 tbsp light sour cream ($0.45)

- salt and pepper ($0.05)

meat filling:

- 1 lb ground turkey ($4.34)

- olive oil ($0.10)

- 1 large onion ($0.50)

- 3 celery stalks ($0.30)

- 2 parsnips ($0.72)

- 3 cloves garlic ($0.08)

- a few handfuls of white mushrooms ($1.95)

- frozen mixed vegetables (didn't measure exactly but just did what looked like a good amount) ($1)

- 2 tbsp flour ($0.10)

- 1 cup chicken broth ($0.40)

- 2 tsp tomato paste ($0.20)

- Worcestershire sauce, a couple tsp ($0.10)

- dried rosemary, a tsp or so ($0.10)

- salt and pepper ($0.05)

- paprika ($0.05)

The ingredient list was not short, so probably not surprising that the total wasn't low either at $13.22. But it made enough shepherds pie that we were able to save at least 40%, if not 50%, of it for another day. I guess we'll see at a later date how well it reheats after being frozen, but being able to make this for two meals definitely made it pretty affordable.

The process for making the dish was:

1. Peel and chop sweet potatoes. Begin heating a large pot of salted water to a boil, and drop in sweet potatoes whenever done chopping. Add chopped garlic cloves to pot. Cook until sweet potatoes are very soft.

2. While sweet potatoes are cooking, cook ground turkey, seasoned with salt and pepper, in large skillet. (Thankful A was able to help by doing this, so I could prep other things.)

3. Also while sweet potatoes are cooking, prep other ingredients. Chop onion, garlic, celery, mushrooms. Peel and chop parsnips.

4. When turkey is cooked, remove to separate plate. In the same skillet, cook the onions. Add the celery and parsnips with salt and pepper and then cook until softened.

5. Add garlic and mushrooms to skillet, and after the mushrooms have released most of their water, add the flour, frozen vegetables, chicken broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, rosemary, cooked turkey. Cook until vegetables are no longer frozen and most of the liquid has evaporated from pan.

6. While meat mixture is cooking, make the mashed sweet potato topping. Add the chicken broth, milk, sour cream, and salt and pepper, and mash and stir potatoes until smooth.

7. Grease a large baking pan and add meat mixture, evening out the layer. Add the sweet potatoes on top and cover the entire pan with the sweet potatoes.

8. Use a fork to create ridges in the sweet potatoes and top with paprika.

9. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and then let stand a few minutes before eating.

When the shepherd's pie came out of the oven, there seemed to be liquid pooled on top of the sweet potatoes in certain parts, and when we started scooping out the pie, it seemed a little watery. I guess I didn't let enough of the liquid evaporate before loading the filling into the baking pan. (It was getting late.) The dish sat longer as we ate, and by the time we got to the end, it wasn't quite as watery which was good. I think if I make this again, I'll just let the filling cook until all the liquid is gone.

As far as flavor, the dish was really good. Of course, it wasn't a traditional shepherd's pie since it was made with turkey and sweet potatoes, but it tasted healthy and had lots of flavor. It reminded me of when we would stir fry turkey with vegetables and eat it over rice, but here it was with sweet potatoes. While we liked this, it wouldn't really be a shepherd's pie replacement for us since the heavy comfort food aspect of that, with all of its luxurious and fattening items, is part of what makes "real" shepherd's pie so good (and also why I don't make it at home). A also noted that the sweetness of the sweet potatoes was too noticeable for it to be a true replacement in his mind. This was good for what it was, and something I might make again at home, but just not sure it would hit the spot if we were looking for the real thing.

Blue Star Paros

Our trip from Naxos to Santorini was on the Blue Star Paros, another large ferry with lots of amenities (unlike the small ferry we took to get to Naxos). We paid for business class again to get some space to comfortably relax on our afternoon journey, and it was totally worth it. About an hour into our trip, we decided to get some lunch, and we were happy to see that there was another Goody's restaurant on the boat so we could get more from the Greek fast food chain. Unfortunately, since it's now almost six years later, we don't really remember that much about all of the stuff we ordered (really wish we took notes back then so we didn't lose all these memories; at least we've learned our lesson now), but here's what we got.

Onion rings fried in olive oil, which were like the soft onion rings with mashed up onion inside:

I love onion rings like that, but I have no idea where to get them regularly at home. Sometimes the AYCE Chinese buffets have them but it's very hit or miss.

Fries, just like the ones we got last time, fairly standard and just lightly salted:

"Chicken Fillet Goody's," breaded chicken breast fillets (basically chicken nuggets) served with mustard sauce and salad with vinaigrette sauce:

It was nice to get some salad with chicken nuggets, and I wish that was common here too.

Western barbecue burger, which added barbecue sauce, cheese, bacon, and onion rings to the burger:

After eating, we just rested and watched the seas and islands pass by from our window. The boat stopped briefly at Ios, where it was raining, and then finally we were in Santorini, the last Greek island on our adventure!

Goodbye Nissaki Beach

Our last morning in Naxos was bittersweet. While we looked forward to new adventures, we loved our time in Naxos, had made so many good memories, and were so sad to leave. Leaving also meant we had gone past the midway point of our honeymoon and were that much closer to the end of our vacation. We tried not to think about it and attempted to extend the morning as much as possible before our ferry departure, even wading out into the shallow water at the beach one last time.

Before we left, we had one last breakfast at the hotel, which would also be our last meal in Naxos. We indulged in pasta salad, feta cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, eggs, and Greek pies. Not only did they have spinach pie this time, but also a hot dog pie. The breakfast spread at Nissaki Beach continued to be incredible day after day, and we were so happy we had chosen to stay there.

We also got our usual fresh squeezed orange juice, yogurt, and fruit. We certainly ate better breakfasts at the hotel than we ever do at home.

After breakfast and beach time, we bid farewell to the Nissaki Beach Hotel, and walked down the waterfront to the pier where we would catch our ferry to Santorini. (No need for a taxi this time since we knew where we were going and how close it was to the hotel.) Although we had high hopes for Santorini, we knew it was a lot more crowded there and would be a lot more touristy, so we were a little sad to leave quiet, peaceful, relaxed Naxos. We hope we'll be able to return someday. Until then, farewell Naxos and goodbye Nissaki Beach, and thank you for such an amazing time!