When I packed my bags & left for Boston last September, I reassured my very concerned parents that I would be just fine in a place where you can tell the Earth clearly revolves around the sun (ie there are seasons unlike California’s 2: hot/not hot). I’m not saying I was wrong, I’m just saying record breaking storms (six, you guys, SIX, & more snow in two days) hitting New England is incredibly irritating. As I write this, winter storm Neptune is raging outside with hurricane-like conditions. Sounds way worse than Moaning Myrtle, I tell ya whut. It stopped snowing midday yesterday, but the harsh winds portray the illusion of snow being flung at your face at 30 MPH since it’s picking up snow from the rooftops of houses.
It’s not that I’m ill prepared for the blizzard, I just didn’t think I would ever need to invest in a Ninja mask to deal with windy chills in my face. I also underestimated the amount of snow walls I’d have to climb to get around. The rest of my body is pretty darn warm when I walk to school, but man, my face feels like….well, honestly I can’t tell you what my face feels like because I can’t feel it when it’s below freezing. However, if you’re in the New England area–no, not New York because they’re experiencing diddly squat–a great way to warm up & avoid cabin fever is making a hearty pot of delicious clam chowder. Not Manhattan clam chowder, real New England clam chowder. I’m only hating on NYC because I’m jealous though; let’s call a spade a spade.
New England Clam Chowder
It’s not necessary for you to trek out into the snow to find live clams, especially if you’re on a budget. Just use the canned ones & chop them up. If you decide to make this recipe, using canned clams will make it a lot easier for you to make this a simple one pot recipe. Just make sure to save the clam juice, add white wine, & a bay leaf to get your ultimate clam chowder recipe going. Get toasty, my friends, & warm up to my New England Clam Chowder recipe. Fun fact to add: I used almond milk instead of heavy cream to save on them calories, so this is lactose-free!
Also, if you’re not new around here, you’ll see that I’ve added nutritional values to my recipes! Not all of them are accurate, so take it with a grain of salt. Any pasta dish will have a higher sodium count than it should because I list how much salt you should add to the water to boil the noodles, which obviously doesn’t mean you’re consuming all of that salt. Some recipes will have obnoxiously high caloric values, but that’s also because I forgot to put in a serving size. Regardless, they’re still fun to look at.
More recipes, pictures of food, pictures of the snow + my apartment, & pictures from my trip back home to California from December to come. Lastly, if you haven’t seen Georgina’s A Day in the Life Linkup you should take a looooksie. It’s very similar to my Ma Belle Vie posts, except this is a linkup so anyone who wants to participate will be linked, yada yada yada more exposure for you, yada yada yada go check out the rules if you’re interested. The next date is February 20th & I’ll be in New Orleans with Josh, so it’ll be a good MBV/ADITL post.
Agent Q
“Not all of them are accurate, so take it with a grain of salt.”
HA! Not sure if you were deliberate there, but I appreciate the pun. xD
Regarding salt though, I never found the need to add additional amount for taste purposes, since the residual flavor from the raw ingredients will seep out throughout the process. My mom never added additional salt and now I don’t either. This is why I usually warn people how bland my food may taste, only to be told that they’re fine even without the extra flavoring. I think we just spared them from the excess sodium consumption.
Enjoy New Orleans! 😀
Tiff
Yep, pun intentional!
One of the restaurants back at home believes that there’s nothing worse than bland food, so a lot of their dishes are on the salty side. I tend to agree with that, except it’s harder to fix overly salted food than bland food, which can be fixed with some salt. I don’t think it’s terrible to use salt unless you have a medical condition that says you shouldn’t. It’s a great way to really bring out the flavors of your ingredients. I don’t think I’ve ever had to warn people about whether or not my food is bland, that’s kind of a mark of a bad chef! Should be confident in your meals. If you tasted it & it tastes bland to you, don’t serve it until it has flavor. If you tasted it & it tastes great to you, pft don’t even say, “it might be bland!” Fish sauce or soy sauce is normally my go-to for flavor enhancement though. MSG works too. Fun fact: it’s not as bad as we thought it was.
Tara-Chan
Mmmmm. I love how that chowder is lactose-free due to almond milk! That’s a good idea, actually. If I ever make chowder in the future, I’ll use that 😀
And, uh, yeah. If it’s that cold, I’d definitely invest in a face mask or something. I know when it gets unbearably cold for me, I wrap my face up with my Slytherin muffler, which helps a lot. That thing is my saviour when it’s super-cold out.
Still wish we’d get a blizzard. We had one day that really “blizzarded” and only gave us two inches of snow, so that was disappointing!
Tiff
Yep! I actually haven’t bought regular milk in a long time, so if you can get your hands on soy, almond, or coconut milk, all unflavored & no sugar added, it’s a great alternative!
Haha! I often wrap my face around with my scarf. It does the trick for now, but I do need a real face mask.
Aw I can’t believe you only got 2 inches! We got 2 inches this morning, but we’re supposed to get an additional foot of snow in the next few days. So much snow & nowhere to put it. 😐
Nancy
So Cal is still hooooooooooooot!!! I don’t think we had a proper winter this year; though it was “cold” enough so that I could wear one of my oversized jackets. I can’t believe how heavy the blizzard is on the east coast! At least you have the perfect opportunity to make some delicious warm soup.
The clam chowder looks so delicious! I didn’t know you can use the clam juices to make soup too :o. I’m always skeptical about what sorts of juices I can or can’t use *__*.
Stay warm!!
Tiff
I don’t think SoCal ever has a “proper winter” although I do recount my high school days wearing scarves & tights underneath my pants. It also rained a lot back then. Thanks drought, ya ruin everythang.
This was one of the worst blizzards New England has seen in a very long time. The average snow we see in February & March was surpassed this month due to the blizzards.
The clam juice is absolutely essential to making the clam chowder, just the way fish heads or chicken heads + feet + bones are essential to making a fish or chicken broth. If you don’t know about what you can or can’t use, just Google it! Cooking is pretty easy. It’s really difficult to make yourself sick from using a broth you make yourself unless you let it sit out…for days…then yeah you’ll probably get sick, hah!
Dani @ Food Recipes HQ
It must be seriously frustrating, I feel for you. Snow is only nice on the first day or in the mountains if you like skiing.
Anyhow, enjoy this yummy soup and hold on, soon you’ll be feeling the warm embrace of Josh in New Orleans!
Tiff
Yep! You got it! 🙂
Cat
Wow, that’s crazy that you’ve had so much snow and so many snow storms! Keeping my face warm is always a problem I have whenever I’m in a cold area. I feel like a ski mask would help a lot, but then I wonder if that’d make me look like a burglar, haha.
Your clam chowder looks sooo good and fitting for the cold weather 😀 I haven’t had clam chowder in a long time, especially since it’s not very common here. I love that you added nutritional values too! That’s super helpful for people who count calories and stuff (which I do on and off). By the way, I see the text cut-off at the top of your non-blog pages. I’m not sure if anyone else sees that though ^^;; It’s like the first line is going under the banner.
Looking forward to the photos coming up!
Tiff
Thanks for letting me know about that little hiccup, Cat! I fixed it shortly after I saw your comment. Always lookin’ out; so appreciative!
Those are my exact concerns – looking like a burglar. I guess it’s just completely acceptable when the wind chill is gonna freeze your face off!
I used to count calories too, lost a good amount of weight in a few weeks when I stuck to my semi-low carb diet + lots of exercise, but I was so unhappy. Carbs & grains make me happy, so I’m never getting on that paleo train anytime soon. Plus, as someone who studied anthropology, I can tell you that early humans did not eat the way the diet preaches. They ate anything & everything. They also lived a very active lifestyle with lots of stress & danger, so they still died earlier than the average American.
Alice B
I’ve been MIA for so long ugh I’m sorry >A<
anyway, yay for chowder recipe!! great, now my stomach is grumbling… the only "chowder" i cook for myself is that instant canned soup from campbell HAHA it's not even a "chowder" i suppose.
ugh i seriously want to live in snowy places. i want to see the snow everyday. yeah, i know how winter doesn't work for everyone but try living in a tropical country and boy do i wish to see snow on my doorstep and on the street 😛
speaking of almond milk, do you make it yourself or do you usually go get it at the grocery store? there's no almond milk here (much less canned clams) and my cousin actually told me to make my own homemade almond milk from pure almond nuts by using this grinder or something…
i need to start going back on tracks sigh. been leaving a lot of stuff lately.
seriously, i don't know why i love torturing myself by going through your blog. in the middle of the night too.
Tiff
Don’t worry about it, Alice! I haven’t really been great at returning people’s comments in a timely manner lately. I suppose I choose to binge watch Netflix than to visit other blogs these days, mostly because I get so bored reading about people’s days (oh wow, you ate your favorite café & went to school, COOOOL STORYYYY BRO). I feel like a child who needs pictures with her books or else I have no interest in reading it haha.
I’m definitely a winter person, so I feel you. I absolutely love the snow, but it’s difficult to walk around & get to places when the streets aren’t shoveled properly.
Also, I just looked up “almond milk indonesia” & found a bunch of different brands that sell almond milk almost exclusively in the Greater Jakarta area. I don’t know what kind of grocery stores you’re going into, but I can assure you if you live on a tropical island, canned clams & almond milk are probably in your grocery store! You just have to ask or really look. I buy the grocery store almond milk because I haven’t had time to make it on my own. It’s also significantly more expensive for me to make it on my own because almonds are really expensive in bulk. You can use soy milk or regular half & half or regular milk if you wish. I only used almond milk because it’s what I had & because I choose not to buy milk (slightly lactose intolerant). You could also use coconut milk from a carton–not from the can, way too thick, save for curries.
You could try making a chowder without the clams & fish instead! Or even just corn chowder or something else. It’s really easy to make & all goes into one pot!