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Weekday Scalloped Potatoes

2012-02-16T11:45:00.000-05:00

This past weekend we again made the Weekday Scalloped Potatoes from Cover & Bake. I can't believe it has been over a year since we last made these!

I like that they are cheesy, but not too cheesy. I like the thyme flavor. I like that the potatoes cook in the milk and chicken broth until tender before being dumped in a casserole dish, sprinkled with cheese, and baked until bubbly.

I especially like scalloped potatoes with ham and vegetables. Yum!

Orange-Almond Biscotti

2012-02-14T13:46:00.002-05:00

I'm much more of a cookie girl than a cake or pie or ice cream girl. After last week's disappointing cake, I wanted cookies for this week's evening treat. I think I saw in one of the cookbooks I borrowed from the library an Orange-Almond Biscotti recipe and that planted the idea. I definitely saw an Orange-Almond Biscotti recipe in Baking Illustrated. Baking Illustrated has never let us down, so we decided to make the Orange-Almond Biscotti recipe from that cookbook.

I measured everything, toasted the almonds, and started mixing the dough while SP unpacked groceries. He finished folding in the flour mixture and shaped the logs. In true geek fashion, he decided he couldn't just eyeball dividing the dough in half. He had to use the scale.

Whenever we make biscotti, our logs are never 13x2. We never seem to have that much dough. It doesn't really matter, though, because what we lack in quantity is there in quality. This is another tasty biscotti recipe. There's 4 tablespoons of butter and 2 eggs in this biscotti recipe, so the recipe said that the biscotti might be more cookie like than hard like a biscotti. We didn't find that to be the case! Ours turned out crispy and I had fun dunking them in some orange-spice tea.

The recipe called for vanilla and almond extracts, but I couldn't help wondering how it would be with orange and almond extracts. Maybe next time we'll try that combination. And maybe more orange zest. I like a lot of citrus flavor!

A Show & Dinner

2012-02-13T14:04:00.000-05:00

It seems to me that on two-thirds of the weekends so far in 2012, the weather has been awful. Overall, it's been a nicer than usual winter, but those nice days seem to be during the week. When the weekend rolls around and we're ready to go out, more often than not, it has been gosh darn cold and snowy. Miserable. Since January, I can remember trips to Bocktown, Rose Tea Cafe, Silk Elephant, Pino's - all freezing cold and/or snowy/slushy. This past weekend also was bitterly cold and snowy. Good thing SP got me earmuffs a couple years ago!

I mention the weather, again, because we had a date day planned, and it couldn't be cancelled due to weather because we had tickets to the 2 pm 'Billy Elliot' show at the Benedum. We left earlier than we normally would leave in case of bad roads and/or traffic, especially since there also was a 2 pm Pens game. Of course since we left extra early there wasn't any traffic and we were 45 minutes early!!! Plus, the roads were perfectly fine. 'Billy Elliot' was very good - I think Sunday was the last day, but if you have a chance to see it somewhere else or if/when it comes to Pittsburgh again, it's worth seeing. After the show, we went to dinner at a restaurant we've been wanting to try: Spoon.

SP likes to make our reservations online using Open Table. When he made our dinner reservation a week in advance, the only time available that would work for us was 5 pm (we didn't want to have a reservation as late as 8 or 9 pm because then we'd have to figure out something to do for 3 hours). We were a little concerned about the length of the show and then getting over to Spoon by 5 pm, but we went ahead and made the reservation anyway.

Of course the show ran until about 4:45 pm, then we had to wait for an elevator to get to our car on the 9th floor of the parking garage, then we had to sit in traffic to get out of the garage, then onto the road, and then we had to navigate the snowy/slushy roads over to Spoon. Seriously, City of Pittsburgh, how can you not plow/treat major roads like Penn and Liberty and Fifth? We went from clear roads near the Benedum to slushy and slippy messes on the roads in East Liberty.

We called Spoon right as we were leaving the parking garage to let them know we were running late and that if it was a problem, we could cancel and reschedule. They said it wasn't a problem. Happily, Spoon has valet parking located in front of Brgr, which was nice since we were running late and it was cold and snowy. Our table was ready for us. We were seated near the couches in the bar area next to a window at a table for two.

Spoon is very comfortable feeling inside. Relaxing. Deep brown and terra cotta colors. Low lighting. Dark wood. I settled in and perused the wine menu, deciding to try the featured white wine. I do not remember the specifics of the wine. Our receipt says 'GL Perrin.' I recall that it was a blend of white, including viognier, and that's what made me choose it since in the past year or so I've become a big fan of viognier.

I remember writing back in April/May 2010, after our honeymoon in Savannah/Charleston, that when we dined at The Charleston Grill on the last night of the trip, it was the first time I'd ever ordered a glass of wine and then been offered the chance to taste it first before having my glass filled. Dinner at Spoon is now the second time. Our server poured a taste for me before pouring a full glass. It was a delicious wine, one I would order again, if only I could recall the specifics!

We ordered our food and a bread basket arrived. It had three treats, two of each: french bread, dill cornbread, and cream cheese & chive biscuit.

I do not especially enjoy cornbread, but I tried it anyway because I do really enjoy dill. This was a very tasty cornbread muffin.

My favorite was the cream cheese & chive biscuit. I broke it in half to spread a bit of butter on the interior. Look at the cream cheese globs - yum!

The bread was tasty, too, and we each used our bread to mop our appetizer bowls clean!!! I chose the Lamb & Gnocchi:

Braised lamb shoulder, fresh made ricotta gnocchi, cipollini onions, local foraged mushrooms, shaved Ewe’s Dream romano. Whenever I order gnocchi, I feel like I am taking a risk. Gnocchi are deceptive. They seem easy to make, but really there is a large margin for error. They can be gummy or doughy or bland instead of soft, pillowy delights. These were pillowy delights nestled in tasty lamb and sauce.

SP chose Roasted Mushroom + Fennel Soup:

Crab ravioli, roasted garlic creme fraiche, trufﬂe essence. It was a huge ravioli with lots of crab. He loved this soup.

For my entree, I chose Fresh Made Pappardelle Pasta:

Forest mushrooms, fresh chestnuts, roasted red peppers + eggplant, pickled pearl onions, sherry cream sauce. I love pappardelle pasta. This dish had several flavors I really like: mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and eggplant. It was delicious. I could have devoured the entire dish, but I wanted to save room for dessert.

SP chose Tandoori Spiced King Salmon:

Braised lentils, potato samosa, yellow curry, tomato + red pepper stew, Riverview Farms goats milk yogurt. He said the salmon was the star of the plate, as it should be. He said he enjoyed everything else, too, but for some reason I had the impression that he didn't really enjoy the lentils. ? Maybe it's just that he didn't devour every morsel on his plate at record breaking speed, like he usually does.

Rarely do I order a side in addition to an entree, especially if I order an appetizer. But one side caught my eye: Forest Mushroom + Brie Cheese Strudel:

Mushroom and brie in a pastry? What's not to like? It was delicious. SP made the mistake of excusing himself from the table right around the time I decided to cut into the strudel. When he returned, it was gone. I didn't save him any. It was that tasty. I used the excuse that I know he doesn't really like brie and that usually he doesn't like white dough pastry. He gave me 'the look' but didn't seem too sad to miss out on the strudel.

It was around this time that I finally noticed that etched into the bottles of water was the Spoon logo.

I decided to order a decaf coffee after dinner. I wanted something hot to warm me up before heading back out into the cold. I was pleasantly surprised by the arrival of a large French Press, which had a little over 3 cups worth of coffee in it.

This was a delicious, dark coffee, lots of flavor.

We decided to share dessert. Spoon Bar:

Bailey’s coco bar, milk chocolate nougat frozen mousse, semi-sweet chocolate pudding. We couldn't pass up a chance to try this dessert, which was recently listed in Grub Street New York's Totally Sweet: 101 of America's Most Crazy-Awesome New Desserts. It was delicious.

We really enjoyed our dinner at Spoon. Despite arriving 20-25 minutes past our reservation time, we were not rushed. Our server (Alyssa M it says on our receipt) was friendly and answered questions we had (like my usual garlic query!). We loved the rich, dark, inviting atmosphere. The tables are nicely spaced so we weren't on top of anyone, getting jostled, or overhearing conversations. Or worse, realizing that people were listening to our conversations! Our meal was well paced. We will go back. It is more of a 'special occassion' restaurant since with wine, appetizers, entrees, coffee, dessert, a side, tax, and tip our bill was $100+. What can I say? We have food control issues! SP can't pass up tasty soup, I can't pass up dessert, and sometimes, after driving through the crappy winter streets, you just need a glass of wine! And then some coffee to warm up!

Collapsing Cappuccino Cinnamon Squares

2012-02-09T11:06:00.003-05:00

Recently, I borrowed Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours cookbook from the library. There were so many delicious looking recipes. Not to mention that for some time, I've been drooling over the blog posts from those bloggers who are a part of Tuesdays With Dorie and French Fridays With Dorie. This past weekend, we decided to make one of the recipes: Cinnamon Squares. We opted for the Cappuccino Squares option, which meant stirring an additional 1 tablespoon of instant espresso into the milk before mixing the milk with the other wet ingredients. The house smelled wonderful. The cake was puffed and starting to pull away from the edges after the full baking time of 40 minutes. The toothpick came out clean. We took it out of the oven to let it cool and within 15 minutes this happened:

Massive volcanic crater in the center. It completely collapsed. I was so upset! The last time I had a crater cake was the one and only time I made homemade brownies (about 12 years ago). That time, the edges were cooked way too long and were dry/hard while the center was gooey, undercooked, and inedible.

We went ahead and made the melted chocolate topping anyway, hoping that the center was just... soft?!

Of course I couldn't wait very long to try the cake. I cut myself a corner piece and encountered another disappointment: the center filling was basically a bottom crust. I started questioning SP, who put the cake together. Did he pour in half the batter before sprinkling on the filling? He says he did and the filling must have sunk. I don't know if he did or not because after measuring everything and helping mix a bit, I was off in another room doing another chore when he poured half the batter in, sprinkled with the filling, and then poured the rest of the batter on top.

So the center sank. The filling sank and became a crust. How did it taste? I'm torn. Part of me wants to say delicious in spite of the sinking issues, but... I can't quite love this cake. It's not horrible. I can taste the cinnamon, the coffee, and the chocolate. The topping is wonderful, if a bit messy. But the cake, while moist, seems a bit too crumbly. Every time I take a forkful, crumbs fall off the forkful and bounce around the plate. I end up mashing up a bunch of crumbs in the fork tines to eat it. I prefer my cake non-crumbly.

We spent a few days eating the edges of the cake before finally getting to the middle of the cake. Our fears were confirmed: it was undercooked. We tossed the center. The strange thing was that in the center, the filling was in the center, not on the bottom. It didn't sink. Below the filling was cooked but above the filling was not cooked and was where the volcano crater happened. Strange.

I spent a lot of time looking at all the blog posts about this cake, and while I saw a few photos showing a somewhat sunken filling, no one seemed to have the center collapsing issue. I guess we should have left it in longer, but... all indications were that it was cooked and this was not my first cake baking experience. This is the only time I've ever been wrong about whether or not a cake is done baking.

(The long ago brownies do not count because there was something just wrong with them - I knew the center wasn't cooked, but leaving the pan in only caused the edges to burn while the center stayed wet. Even after twice the baking time, the center was still not cooked. I remember scooping out the raw center and then chiseling our the edges because the edges were so burnt and dry and hard. Those brownies were just evil!)

Would I make this cake again? I'm not sure. It has a mix of some of my favorite flavors. It's easy to make. It's possible a few tweaks would help, like pouring in more than half the batter, then the filling, but a filling with milk chocolate or semisweet chocolate, not bittersweet, which I find I am not enjoying all that much, and I'd bake it longer.

But... it's disappointing enough that I can see me just not wanting to deal with it again. Only time will tell if we ever revisit this recipe.

For now, I know this for sure: we will not be trying any Dorie Greenspan recipes for a while because this is the second one we tried and the second one we disliked. The first was a Blueberry Sour Cream ice cream. To be fair, we have since discovered that we do not like an additional cream/fat like sour cream or buttermilk in homemade ice cream, but... we weren't the only ones who disliked that blueberry ice cream. No one else at the picnic especially liked it. We ended up letting it melt down the sink drain.

Return to Il Pizzaiolo

2012-02-07T12:32:00.003-05:00

This past weekend we again chose to dine at a restaurant we had not been to in quite some time: Il Pizzaiolo in Mt. Lebanon. It had been almost a year since our last visit, and while I again enjoyed my meal, I left a wee bit disappointed.

After we ordered, we received some tasty bread and olive oil to enjoy. Soon after, our appetizer arrived. It's an appetizer I cannot resist when we dine there: Arancini (fried rice balls filled with mozzarella):

As tasty as I remember. The sauce is very good. SP and I both used some of the bread to mop up the red sauce. I like the cheesy interior.

Our salad arrived at the same time as the arancini. We chose Insalata Misticanza (mesclun greens, roasted red and yellow peppers, cherry tomato, carrot, cucumber, olives, parmigiano-reggiano, balsamic vinaigrette):

Sorry for the blurry photo. This was the least blurry of the 4 photos I tried to take of the salad!! I didn't notice it Friday evening, but now as I look at the menu and the description, I realize our salad lacked the roasted red & yellow peppers, which is very disappointing. It was a large salad, as it should be at $10, lightly dressed, which was nice, and tasty.

SP & I decided to share a pizza and a pasta, figuring we'd have leftovers for my lunch & dinner on Saturday. Since it was the end of the week, there was nothing at home for lunch and he'd be doing the grocery shopping at lunch time, plus he was getting together with his gaming friends Saturday evening, so I needed/wanted a quick dinner for Saturday, like leftover pizza.

For the pasta, we chose the Paglia e Fieno (hand-made fresh spinach and egg tagliatelle, peas, prosciutto di parma, parmigiano-reggiano, cream):

This was very tasty, but I felt, and still feel, the portion was a bit on the small side for the price ($17). The pasta was a perfect al dente (in my opinion!), lightly sauced with a cream sauce (not drowning in it), salty prosciutto, and plump peas.

For the pizza, we chose Provola (smoked mozzarella di bufala, cherry tomatoes, San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh basil, parmigiano-reggiano, extra virgin olive oil):

We chose it because our server told us the smoked mozzarella had just arrived that morning and the last couple of times we tried to order a dish with smoked mozzarella, they were out of the smoked mozzarella. The pizza was tasty, thin and crisp crust, it wasn't soggy.

I couldn't help wishing for a bit more basil and a bit more smoked mozzarella. I had to concentrate to really notice those two flavors. Mostly I tasted the crust & tomatoes. I was a little disappointed, especially because it was an $18 pizza.

I was pretty full, but SP was dropping hints about dessert. Being a good wife, I agreed to share a dessert. We considered tiramisu or cannoli, and I let him choose since I really was quite full and wasn't sure I'd be able to eat much more than a couple bites. He chose the cannoli:

It was good. SP ate the pistachio end and I ate the chocolate chip end.

I have mixed feelings. I want to really love Il Pizzaiolo, but this time, I just can't. I was disappointed with the price/portion/quality ratio, especially when we recently were at Piccolo Forno and ordered pizza/pasta/tiramisu and our bill was much less and we had much more food. I shudder to think what the Il Pizzaiolo bill would have been had we ordered wine, or enjoyed the bottled sodas/iced teas (no free refills) instead of sticking with water. As it was, our bill was $66. I also would prefer a smaller/less expensive salad to the enormous $10 salad. I know SP wanted the salad for vegetable with dinner, and it was a huge salad, and we took some home, but I personally would prefer a $4-$5 side salad. With all the listed ingredients. If the description says roasted peppers, then they had better show up on the plate!

I'm sure we'll go again, but it might be another year+, especially with our desire to revisit Dinette and with how much we enjoy BYOB Piccolo Forno. Right now, I'm inclined to choose Piccolo Forno over Il Pizzaiolo, or delivery from Picasso Pizza, which has a delicious thin crust prosciutto & arugula pizza that's larger and less expensive than the one at Il Pizzaiolo.

Spiced Nutella Hot Cocoa

2012-02-04T17:23:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, February 5, is not just Super Bowl Sunday. It's World Nutella Day as well. I'm surprised I even know that since I'm not one of those people who absolutely adores Nutella. I also tend to roll my eyes at all the days/months celebrating foods/drinks/animals/flowers/fruits, etc.

Perhaps Giant Eagle Market District is also aware of World Nutella Day since in the February newsletter, which SP brought home today, there is a recipe for Spiced Nutella Hot Cocoa. It sounded yummy and on this snowy Saturday, I had an urge to sip some hot cocoa while watching the snowflakes slowly coat the backyard.

SP wanted to try some, too. We decided to share one serving, so we halved the recipe. Hot cocoa made with milk is still one of those dairy things that sometimes makes my stomach feel yucky, so I didn't want a whole serving for myself.

I should point out that a while ago, Burgh Baby posted some hot chocolate recipes, and one was to make hot cocoa simply by heating milk in the microwave and stirring in as much Nutella as you like. Pretty darn simple. And so obvious - why hadn't I thought of that?!!

GEMD added cinnamon and cloves to their Nutella hot cocoa. Even better, since I love the combination of chocolate & cinnamon.

Topped, of course, with whipped cream.

So good. We were supposed to share, but I think SP got the leftover in the pot (I guess my glass mug doesn't hold an entire cup) and 2 gulps from the mug. I guzzled the rest.

He says that tomorrow we are making two servings. I guess I need to work on my sharing!

GEMD's recipe:

Spiced Nutella Hot Cocoa

2 cups 2% milk (I used whole milk since that is the only milk I like!)
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp.ground cloves
2 Tbsp. Nutella
1/4 cup whipped cream
marshmallows (we didn't have any, plus, where do they go? under or on top the whipped cream?)

Combine milk, cinnamon and cloves in a small sauce pan over medium heat, stirring frequently until steaming, about 10 minutes. Add Nutella and whisk until well combined. Pour hot cocoa into 2 mugs and top each with 2 tablespoons of whipped cream and marshmallows.

Nutritional Information (Per serving)*: Calories 260, Fat 13g, Sat Fat 6g, Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 25mg, Sodium 140mg, Total Carbohydrate 26g, Fiber 1g, Sugars 25g, Protein 10g, Vitamin A 8%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 35%, Iron 2%

http://www.marketdistrict.com/Create/Recipes/Detail.aspx?RecipeID=237

Waffalonia

2012-01-30T13:29:00.000-05:00

After our dinner at Silk Elephant on Saturday, we crossed the street to get dessert at Waffalonia. I hadn't been to Waffalonia since last April. At that time, I thought the liege waffle was tasty, but not so tasty as to make me frequently crave them.

That changed this time. When we entered, I started studying the menu board, trying to decide which toppings would make the tastiest waffle. Nutella? Chocolate? Ice cream? Then my eyes fell downward, drawn to a sign for their Holiday Waffle. Liege waffle with chocolate ganache and peppermint whipped cream. I knew instantly I had to have the Holiday Waffle. It was so tasty! I wish this waffle could be a year round waffle. I love the combination of chocolate and mint, and the waffle seemed tastier this time.

SP & I shared one waffle. We were pretty full from dinner. It was so tasty that I wanted a second waffle, but in the end, I decided to not have another. Or at least SP decided for me since he piled the bags on my lap again and pushed me out the door and down the street to Te Cafe.

Part two of dessert was tea at Te Cafe. We hadn't been there in a while, either. We bought some tea to replenish our supplies (sadly, they were again out of the Lemon Spice). I wanted to try something new, so I tried a special of the day: cranberry clementine. It was OK. Maybe I was just too full or maybe I don't like cranberry flavor as much as I thought, but this wasn't one of my favorite teas. The hot tea did help me warm up since it was really windy and thus very cold. I felt like a mummy, my neck & lower face wrapped in a scarf, winter coat zipped all the way up, ear muffs, gloves, hood on my head. I wish the nice 50 degree winter weather would happen on the weekends and not during the week!

Silk Elephant

2012-01-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

After a windy and chilly Saturday zipping around to get my hair cut, find new boots for SP (2 pairs!), and assorted other errands, we were hungry. The mall food court Subway sandwich (me) and Sakkio chicken with vegetables (SP) for lunch hadn't left us particularly satisfied. We had been meaning to get back to Silk Elephant for quite some time, so that's what we decided to do. Silk Elephant has been certified by Thailand as serving authentic Thai food. Long time readers of this blog know that we both enjoy this restaurant. It has many tapas that I enjoy and the spicy Thai flavors that SP loves (and I don't). We arrived around 5:30 (surprisingly, there wasn't any traffic going into town) and were seated right away. It was wonderfully warm and cozy inside. I was happy to see that they still have the elephant trunk utensils!

I ordered a glass of Tempranillo Marques de Arienzo 2002 Rioja Spain. I wanted to try something different, and I figured that since '2002 Rioja Spain' was the only part I recognized, this wine qualified as different! It was pretty tasty. I looked up tempranillo and it's a black grape used to make full bodied red wines mostly in it's native country, Spain.

As usual, I ordered several tapas for my meal. Our server brought out 2 as an 'appetizer,' 3 in the 'middle' for us to share, and 1 for me while SP ate his entree. I ordered my usual tapas plus two new ones to try.

I ordered the Silk Elephant Rice Wrapper Rolls, with cream cheese & crab filling.

Moo & Goong Steamed Dumplings (shrimp & pork) with a very tasty ginger-sesame-soy dipping sauce:

While I ate those two tapas dishes (and shared with SP), SP ate his order of Potak Seafood Soup (shrimp, mussels, scallops, calamari, mushrooms, lemongrass. He ordered it at a level 7 spice level. There was a lot of very nice sized seafood in this soup.

Next up, Thai Shrimp & Pork Toast:

An order of Thai Crab Crowns (crab rangoon). These are my favorite of all the crab rangoon I've tried.

And I decided to deviate from my norm and try something new: Crispy Rice with Dipping Sauce. The sauce was ground shrimp, chicken, and peanut. It was really good! Not spicy. The crispy rice is good by itself, but it's really good with this tasty sauce.

For his entree, SP ordered Traditional Ginger with Chicken, spice level 4. The ginger was sauteed in a light brown sesame oil and then stir fried with the chicken, peppers, and scallions.

My last tapas was the Thai Style Grilled Pork Chop with a sweet & sour sauce.

The sauce was good. There was a bit of a kick to it, especially for a spice wimp like me. When I cut into it, I discovered this:

Pink. I should have thought of that. I have to have my meat well done because of my sensitive stomach. I know pork can be pink as long as it's cooked to 145, but look at that pink:

SP ate the part I cut off and said it was very good. I got the rest wrapped and brought it home. I wasn't taking any chances, especially since we still had some plans for the evening.

I was surprised to realize it had been 14 months since our last trip to Silk Elephant. The dishes I had were as tasty as I remember from past visits. The service is very friendly and accommodating. The arrival of all the tapas/coordinating their serving with SP's soup and entree was very well timed. Silk Elephant remains one of our favorite places to eat in Pittsburgh, it just makes us sad that somehow, we hadn't been there in such a long time.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Nachos/Tacos

2012-01-25T13:09:00.003-05:00

Last Sunday the NY Giants played the San Francisco 49ers, the winner going to the Super Bowl. Of course SP wanted to watch. So we again had to figure out a fairly easy dinner. The solution: Slow Cooker Pulled Pork.

I know I've blogged about this slow cooker pulled pork before, but I finally managed to find the recipe online, so I can link to it now. The wrinkled, food stained printed recipe page didn't have the blog name or any useful source information on it and previous searches did not locate the source, not until the most recent search. Sounds odd, but...

Anyway, this time we didn't have pulled pork sandwiches. We had pulled pork nachos. We have taco shells, too, but since I break my taco shells up, we just went with nacho chips.

Pulled pork with tomatoes, cucumber, and cheddar cheese. SP added salsa to his plate. I added sour cream. Tasty, and easy. We had the pork and sauce going by 11 am, SP shredded the pork around 5:30, and we ate around 6, plenty of time to settle in front of the TV for the 6:30 pm kick off.

This makes a lot of pulled pork. Especially for two people. I have a feeling that by the end of the week I will not want to see pulled pork again for a year. We even froze a container of it and it looks like there is enough for a total of 5 dinners.

Tasty, easy dinner.

And a great football game. SP is very excited. Me? Well unless the Steelers are in the Super Bowl, I'm kind of 'meh' about the whole thing. I had a tough time on Sunday because I don't like Manning, I despise the Ratbirds, I despise Brady and Belicheat, and the 49ers have 5 Super Bowl wins so 1 more win would give them 6 like the Steelers and that wouldn't be good.

My solution: I want to continue to have a happy marriage, so I enthusiastically cheered for Manning & the Giants and I will do so again on Super Bowl Sunday.

Recipe from Baking Bites.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

5-6 lb. pork shoulder/pork butt
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 cup ketchup
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup tomato paste
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp mustard
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
pinch cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
3/4 cup water

Place onion on the bottom of your slow cooker. Place pork shoulder, trimmed of any obvious excess fat, into slow cooker on top of onions. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients to form the barbecue sauce. Feel free to adjust salt and pepper to taste, if necessary. Pour half of the sauce over the pork and cover. Set
remaining sauce aside. Cook over low heat for about 8 hours (or according to your slow cooker’s presets). Remove pork to a large bowl and shred with two forks. Transfer meat back into slow cooker and cook for a few more minutes, until meat has soaked up the sauce. Pulled pork can be held on the “warm” setting in the slow cooker for serving.
Serve on soft sandwich rolls, topped with extra barbecue sauce.

Serves 10-12.

Wintry Trip to Pino's Contemporary Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar

2012-01-23T10:30:00.011-05:00

Between SP's preferred work schedule, traffic, and weather, we did not get to enjoy Pittsburgh Restaurant Week as much as we would have liked. Friday evening we had reservations at Toast, but the winter storm warning that went into effect at 7 pm scared us off. We were afraid that with on street only parking, we would have trouble with snow and the wheelchair. We didn't want to drive home in bad weather, especially after SP's Wednesday evening commute that took 2 hours (to go about 15 miles, usually takes half an hour), and we didn't want to be trying to push me on a snowy front walkway. Pittsburgh did get 4 inches of snow Friday night, but the winter storm event was over by the time we got up on Saturday. SP shoveled, did some errands, and we decided it was OK to head out because where we live, everything was completely clear and dry. We left at 5:15 pm for dinner and we figured that 7-8 hours was more than enough time for Pittsburgh to clear the streets.

Ha. On our way to Reynolds Street in Point Breeze, we drove on some slushy/less than ideal roads and we passed a lot of side streets that looked as if they had not yet been touched by a plow. Completely covered in chunks of dirty, dark gray slush. No visible road. As soon as we were in front of our destination, well, even before then, we regretted our decision to go to dinner at a restaurant in the city with street only parking. SP is out of practice with parallel parking in heap of slush/snow, so it took him about 4 tries. The street was a dirty slushy mess. He parked 2 feet from the curb because there was an enormous mound of snow on the edge of the curb, so we couldn't put the wheelchair up on the curb for me to get out. Turns out we could barely get the wheelchair through the slushy mess on the street between the car and curb. SP ended up 'shoveling' a path with his boots. Yup. The bottoms of his jeans looked great. We 'joked' about the need to buy a plastic shovel to keep in the car for such situations.

The street was a mess. We tried to go down the center, the least messy part, but even that was difficult to wheel through. I had huge chunks of slush stuck in the front tires, spinning and the spitting about. The leg rest was dragging through snow and slush because the snow/slush was piled so deep. The bottoms of my jeans got dirty and slushy and wet.

So we got to the end of the street and... um... curb cut? Apparently Pittsburgh doesn't care about clearing curb cuts. Terrific.

I was kind of in a super crabby mood by the time we made it inside the restaurant. I try to not let my health problems get me down, I try to not wallow in self pity over being stuck in a wheelchair, but the reality is that sometimes it just really sucks and it really prevents me from enjoying things that 'normal' people take for granted. It is not easy to move a wheelchair through snow/ice/slush. Street parking is always an issue, even in sunny dry weather, because of curb heights, and it's nearly impossible in bad weather like what we just had. Most people do not think twice before heading out to a city restaurant with street only parking, but for us, it can turn into a logistical nightmare, snipping at each other, near accidents. I've bonked my head countless times on the edge of the car sliding up and out into the wheelchair when it's sitting up on a 4 inch or higher curb. There have been many near sliding/wrecking disasters when the roads/sidewalks have been icy and SP loses traction trying to push me uphill. Like a car, even if I stop the wheelchair and put the brakes on, if it's slick, the wheelchair can keep moving. That's always fun. When sidewalks are uneven or missing chunks, the wheelchair can quickly and abruptly come to a halt, sending me pitching forward and nearly onto the street. So frustrating.

We made it inside with no near accidents, just us getting very wet and slushy and dirty. Our destination was Pino's Contemporary Italian Restaurant & Wine Bar. It was warm and inviting inside. The hostess was quite friendly and had our table ready for us. There were quite a few menus to sort through - the daily specials menu, the regular menu, the PRW menu, the wine list. Our server brought water and explained the specials, etc. While we thought about what to order, I admired the tables:

Interesting! There also is art on the walls, which I presume might be from local artists since there were numbers next to the pictures and I suppose the numbers correspond to some kind of key/information chart - ? The dark woods, maroon ceiling, green walls, and dim lighting were cozy and relaxing.

We both decided to order from the PRW menu. I chose to also try the wine pairing. As usual we each stole bites from the other's plate, and SP tried my wines. Here's what we enjoyed:

Tasty, warm white bread with a cream cheese spread - it tasted almost like a garden vegetable cream cheese to me.

First wine: champagne, served with my salad.

We both chose salad for our first course. It was served with a thick Italian dressing on the side. The dressing was very tasty. The salad was mixed greens, carrots, tomatoes, olives, chick peas, and onions.

SP's entree: Pasta Arrabbiata. Chicken, sausage, hot banana peppers, burgundy wine, and marinara. He thought it was quite tasty, not too spicy upon the first bite but with a heat that builds. I liked my bite of pasta & sausage.

I ordered the Eggplant Cannoli in addition to the two small plates I ordered for my entree. Eggplant, prosciutto, peas, cheesy risotto, marinara. This was good, but as I usually find, I had trouble with the eggplant skin. I find the skin tough to cut and tough to chew, but without the skin to help the cannoli hold its shape, this dish wouldn't work. The skin difficulty is an issue for me even at home when we make eggplant.

Stuffed Portobella - lamb bolognese, tomatoes, fontina, balsamic syrup. My favorite of everything I tried.

The portobella, all cut up and strewn about the plate. Sorry for the blurry photo.

Mac & Cheese. Seasoned ricotta, tomato basil cream. Tasty, but since I was filling up and still had dessert coming, I ended up getting this wrapped to take home.

Underneath the cheesy top layer. This was good, but I probably would not order it again because I definitely tasted garlic, and long time readers of this blog know that I avoid garlic because it bothers my stomach.

There were four wines from which to choose for with the entree. I chose a white wine, I think it was a Spanish Wine - ? I don't remember, I just remember that I didn't recognize anything in the description! A nice, crisp, dry white, whatever it was.

There were two desserts for PRW. SP ordered the Chocolate Molten Cake with Brandied Cherries. This was really tasty, especially the cherries, and not as rich/dense as I expected, which was nice.

The other dessert was Tiramisu. One of my favorites.

The dessert wine. SP drank most of it since I am not a huge dessert wine person. He really likes them. This was tasty - rich and chocolaty.

I have to say we were pleasantly surprised. We were a bit concerned after some of the reviews we read on Urbanspoon and we were starting to reconsider our PRW choice. Then on Wednesday, the City Paper reviewed Pino's and gave it a good review/CP Approved stamp, so we felt better and decided to keep our reservation.

Overall, we enjoyed our evening at Pino's. The hostess and server were very friendly and knowledgeable. The food was tasty. We didn't have any problems with lukewarm/not hot food. The wines in the wine pairing were very tasty. SP's iced tea was fresh brewed. It can get quite noisy once it fills up, but I find that to be the case in a lot of restaurants. I can't say that anything really stood out as 'must come back here because this was so gosh darn tasty' but at the same time, nothing was bad. I also think the service we had was quite good, so that would encourage us to return. I'd like to go back in warmer weather when the huge, glass front is open, and relax and enjoy a glass of wine and a small plate or two.

Bread & Soup

2012-01-19T14:23:00.000-05:00

It sounds odd, but we didn't seem to really have a good chunk of time to cook over the three day weekend. Saturday was errands and chores and then a movie & dinner, Sunday was laundry and football and a family dinner, and Monday was taking the car in for its 15,000 mile check up (or, um, 20,000 mile check up and an overdue oil change) plus we went out for Pittsburgh Restaurant Week plus we went shopping because SP desperately needs new boots (we were unsuccessful in finding new boots). We wanted some time for relaxing, too. So our solution to cooking dinner for this week was to throw together vegetable soup ingredients in the crock pot Saturday evening and let it slow cook overnight.

The ingredients were the usual: chicken stock, can of tomatoes, green beans, peas, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion. This time, SP decided to toss in a bundle of rosemary & thyme from the bags of frozen fresh herbs. Last October, we washed and froze a bunch of our fresh herbs from the deck and we've been slowly using them over the winter months.

I wasn't too keen on the rosemary idea, but I didn't say anything. Now I wish I had. The soup has way too much rosemary flavor for me plus a lot of the rosemary needles fell off the stem and are now swimming in the soup.

That is just half of the rosemary I plucked out of my one small bowl of soup. Ugh. Now imagine how much must be swimming the a whole large crock pot of soup. We decided last night that while we love the smell of fresh rosemary and while it grew well on the deck and looked pretty, we just don't much enjoy fresh rosemary taste. I confessed that all the fresh rosemary we used in lamb marinades and other dishes over the summer didn't impress me as much as the dishes made with dried rosemary. I expected more from fresh rosemary. SP confessed he felt the same way.

So I'm not much enjoying the soup. But I am enjoying the bread SP made Monday morning. He tossed all the ingredients into the bread machine before heading out to the car place. I listened to the bread churn and smelled baking bread aroma for about three hours - it finished right around noon, when SP got home from the car place.

I like this bread much more than the bread we made last Christmas Eve. SP used the same recipe, but he set the machine for a low crust setting instead of medium plus he used real milk instead of powdered milk with water. So much tastier and not as dry. This bread almost makes the soup taste good.

Cherry Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

2012-01-18T13:09:00.000-05:00

I thought there was a crisis Monday evening when I started looking for dessert and all I found was Swiss Miss Mini Marshmallow instant hot chocolate mix packets. As I discovered last week, the mini marshmallows disappear as soon as they come into contact with hot water - boo. Plus, it didn't taste very hot chocolaty to me. As soon as I tweeted my dessert despair, SP came wandering out of his office with a sly smile. He had a secret stash of Raspberry Shortbread Bars, his favorite of all the holiday cookies. There weren't many raspberry bars left, so Tuesday evening we made Cherry Chocolate Shortbread Cookies. We've made these before, but this time, we chopped the cherry bits into smaller pieces and we drizzled the chocolate on top.

Or at least tried to drizzle. SP was in charge of drizzling. I'm not sure what happened. Some, like the one in the above photo, look more like they were frosted.

Others are half drizzled and half dolloped with chocolate.

And some are simply drizzled.

These are as tasty as we remember, and quick to make. We had everything measured, the dough mixed mixed, and scoops of dough plopped on cookie sheets in about 15 minutes. Each cookie sheet baked for 28 minutes. They cooled for a bit, SP frosted/dolloped/drizzled, and then we enjoyed while watching the season premiere of Justified.

Dessert crisis averted.

Second Trip: Rose Tea Cafe

2012-01-17T14:16:00.026-05:00

This past Sunday, SP's family gathered for a family dinner to celebrate Googer's birthday. Googer chose Rose Tea Cafe for his birthday meal.

When Sunday rolled around, I was pretty grumpy about dinner. There were several reasons, but a huge reason was that it was pretty darn cold out. Yes, I know it's January in Pittsburgh. But due to my health issues, the cold really, really bothers me. It's more than me being slender/small. I have talked with my doctor about this, and basically, I'm out of luck. The solution to the cold affecting my muscles so much and making me even weaker and chilled to the bone to the point where when I get home and finally huddle under a blanket, I still cannot warm up? Stay home or move to a warmer climate. Not great options. The night before, we'd been out & about to see a movie and have dinner and I ended up so darn cold and miserable. Even after a cup of hot tea and curling up under a blanket to watch TV I was still thoroughly chilled when we went to bed that night.

So off we went, to a 4:30 pm dinner (yes, that's another huge grumpy factor, the ridiculously early dinner hour because of one person who is unreasonable & inflexible in regard to the hour of dining), me bundled up in ear muffs, gloves, a scarf, winter coat with hood flipped up, extra shirt under my sweater... I could barely move I was so bundled up! It was a 1-2 block walk from the parking garage to dinner, but as I expected, I was thoroughly, miserably cold when we got there. It was warm inside, but every time the front doors opened, a gust of frigid air blew through and chilled me again. I kept my scarf on as an extra layer across the back of my neck.

A big gripe of mine with this place is the lack of description on the menu. That drives me nuts because I want to know what kind of sauce comes on the food. 'Chicken with vegetable' just isn't enough description for me.
To start, SP ordered a jasmine bubble tea:

I was surprised he ordered a cold tea, but he wanted the fat, black tapioca pearls. The drink was served with a fat straw to suck them up.

SP might have ordered a cold tea, but he ordered a hot soup (of course!) for an appetizer. Hot & sour soup:

He likes this kind of soup a lot and said this is a tasty version.

For his meal, he ordered seafood rice noodle soup:

You can't really see in the photo, but there were skinny (angel hair like) strands of rice noodles in a broth with cabbage, bamboo, carrot, sprouts, onion, and seafood (I remember shrimp & scallops). He said it was good.

I also opted for soup. I chose noodle soup with pork. In my mind I was thinking this would be similar to the bowls of udon I ate when I lived in Japan.

The noodles were thick like udon, and they were tasty noodles, but overall this dish was pretty bland and flavorless. Definitely not as tasty as the udon I ate in Japan. I'm not a big fan of cabbage or bamboo, so those didn't do much to enhance the dish for me. There were slivers of pork, but I would have liked more pork slivers. It was disappointing.

It didn't taste salty to me, but it must have been pretty darn salty because after we got home, for the rest of that night I couldn't drink enough water to satisfy my thirst. Between all the water I was chugging to quench my thirst and the hot tea I kept drinking to try to warm up... well, I drank a lot that night!

Rose Tea Cafe just isn't my kind of place. There were 8 of us crowded around tables smushed together and there wasn't really enough space to be comfortable, especially with our cold weather layers and coats. SP & I kept bumping each other. Food is served as it is ready, not everyone's meals at the same time. Both times I've eaten here, the food has been greasy and/or salty and/or bland or just plain mediocre, but given that I do not especially enjoy Chinese food (or much of any Asian food) it's not surprising that I do not like this place much. To be fair, I've only ordered lo mein (greasy), this soup (bland and apparently salty), and the fried dumplings (mediocre). SP's family frequently dines at RTC, so if you like Chinese/Taiwanese food, I suppose it's a good choice. His mother likes the seafood soup, though she added a lot of salt to it. She also really likes the salt & pepper shrimp and the shrimp with broccoli. Googer enjoyed his squid dish and last time he had an eggplant dish that he liked a lot. Z & ZSO order the lo mein and fried rice a lot and seem to enjoy it. SP's dad always enjoys his food at RTC.

Pittsburgh Restaurant Week: The Cozy Cafe

2012-01-16T18:12:00.001-05:00

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which means SP has a work holiday. Today is also the first day of Pittsburgh Restaurant Week. We decided to venture out in the warmer & somewhat sunny weather in order to try a new place for lunch: The Cozy Cafe.

The Cozy Cafe is located in the West End. SP drives past it every day on his work commute and whenever we head into town, we drive past. Every time we drive past, we say, gee, we really should try that place, it looks cute, there always seems to be available street parking, why have we never gone?

It is indeed cozy inside. There's a counter in front when you enter. We saw several people picking up to go orders and/or coffee. The woman behind the counter said she would be right with us, or we could seat ourselves. So we did. We sat next to a window. The walls are painted orange-red, there's a very cool clock above the fireplace, a TV in one corner (tuned in to ESPN, which was fine with us because SP is not yet tired of the high-lights of the NY Giants victory over Green Bay last night). I like the mis-matched chairs and tables. It's not dim, but it's not bright. It's cozy and inviting.

SP ordered fresh brewed iced tea. I wanted hot tea and chose Earl Grey. I didn't see the entire tea selection, but there are several varieties from which to choose. My Earl Grey was from Harney & Sons, which made me happy because that is one of the tastier Earl Grey teas (in my opinion). I like that I was served a teapot of hot water and a tea bag, so I could brew it for as long/as little as I wanted and I could easily remove the teabag to prevent over-brewing. I also liked the adorable teacup. Yes, I am a sucker for cute things like this. Teacups like this seem to make the tea taste better - and I am well aware that's just in my head!

The PRW special is 2 sandwiches, 2 sides, and 2 beverages for $20. When we found out the soup of the day was a potato soup, we knew right away that was going to be one of our sides:

I had been thinking potato soup, not baked potato soup, so when I saw the huge, steaming bowl of creamy potato soup with real bacon bits and grated cheese, well, I squealed aloud in delight! It was very tasty.

Huge chunks of potatoes, but they were soft enough to cut with the soup spoon. Just enough bacon to have a bit of bacon flavor in every bite, but not too much. The same with the cheese. It was a big bowl of soup - very nice size, especially since we shared and SP loves soup and I love soup when it's creamy and bacony and cheesy!!

For our other side we chose a salad:

Lettuce (not iceberg) with tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese and balsamic dressing on the side:

Very tasty balsamic dressing. There are other dressings, too, I just like balsamic a lot so I always order balsamic.

The menu we saw was a bit smaller than the menu online, plus there were some items on it that are not on the online menu. Perhaps the sandwiches change on a daily basis? Whatever the case, there were still more than enough options. We decided to order sandwiches we both would enjoy so we could share.

First, this one:

Chicken, sun dried tomatoes, provolone, spinach panini. I think the menu said panini, and this was certainly grilled like a panini, but the bread seemed to be a pita, which is fine with us because it was tasty. The entire panini was very tasty. Sometimes pita seems to be simply a vehicle to get the filling to your mouth, but this pita-like panini bread had a nice flavor. Here's a close up of the interior:

Our second choice was mushroom and feta with roasted peppers on toasted wheat bread:

I was so full after the soup, salad, and half the panini that I didn't try my half the mushroom sandwich. I got it boxed to bring home. SP loved this sandwich. He said he liked it better than the chicken panini! Close up view:

We both really enjoyed the sandwiches and soup & salad. The teas were good, too. It was a bit of a hectic day for them. I think the chef's mom was filling in for his wife, who was home with their sick child, and mom had just reported for work right before we arrived, so she was unsure of the PRW special. But she was apologetic and offered an explanation, and when a restaurant does that, it makes it OK. We had printed out the PRW special ahead of time, so I showed her our print out, which was much appreciated, and the chef came out to talk to us, take our order, etc., and also apologized for any issues from the hectic day. Not a problem. The Cozy Cafe seems to truly be a family business, which is nice to see.

I also loved the plates. The patterns seemed so... cozy!

Cozy is definitely a good word to describe this cafe. Friendly. Family business. Those are also great words to describe it. SP & I were talking on our drive home and we aren't quite sure how to put into words what it felt like there, the atmosphere, but it was different from anywhere we've been in Pittsburgh. That's not to say this place is oh so unique or that something similar doesn't exist in Pittsburgh, we've certainly been in similar cozy cafes in other cities, but this place isn't just a coffee shop, not a bakery, not just take out, not a bar, diner hours but not a diner, cozier and friendlier than a chain sandwich/coffee/tea place... we just really liked it and we are very glad we at last went today. We would love to go again, the only thing stopping us is that The Cozy Cafe has diner hours (Monday-Friday 7 am - 3 pm, Saturday. 8 am - 2 pm) so we cannot go for a quick dinner after work, and since SP works in the city, we cannot stop in for breakfast or lunch. We'll have to make an effort to get there for Saturday breakfast/lunch!

Pittsburgh Restaurant Week

2012-01-15T13:21:00.001-05:00

Pittsburgh Restaurant Week kicks off tomorrow and ends next Sunday, January 22nd. We've been looking forward to PRW for a while. I am impressed at the number of restaurants participating in PRW.

Naturally, SP & I want to participate in PRW and take advantage of the special offers. But where to go? So many good options. For a complete list of participating restaurants, click here.

We've made our decisions, and we've made our reservations. We decided that we should try 'new to us' places. Which left us with a lot of options! It was very tempting to try a new place every night of the week. But then we realized that would be difficult. Tuesday-Thursday are not good days for us to go out to dinner because of how late SP works coupled with traffic in & out of the city. Since I feel I can no longer be a safe driver, I gave up driving. I cannot drive into the city to meet him. That means he would have to drive from the city back to Robinson to get me, then turn around and head back into the city. Ugh! Especially since anytime he tries to leave work early [leaving early for SP = normal rush hour] to get home early, it ends up taking him more than twice as long to get home as normal [normal commute home for SP = after rush hour for everyone else]. So unfortunately, we decided to pass on the special blogger dinner at Braddock's Tuesday night.

We will be trying new-to-us places tomorrow, Friday, and Saturday. For now, I'm going to keep our choices under wraps! But I will share last night's dinner, which was at Bocktown Beer & Grill (in Robinson). Both the Robinson & Monaca Bocktown locations are participating in PRW.

For us, since we live in Robinson, we are fairly frequent diners at Bocktown. Add to that the fact that I seem to always order the same sandwich, that means I haven't blogged about Bocktown in quite some time. Suffice to say that we enjoy Bocktown a lot. If we're eating in Robinson, it's almost always there (unless we're doing something really quick, like DiBella's).The servers are always friendly and chatty, know their beer, and are happy to make recommendations/talk about your choice with you, it's cozy, sporting events are usually on the TVs, and there's never too much of a wait. I think our wait was 20-25 minutes last night. Compare that with the 50-60 minute wait at Olive Garden last night, which is where we originally tried to dine in order to use a gift card we were given, but the traffic gridlock in the parking lot, the lack of a free parking space [forget a wheelchair accessible one], the long wait time, and the super crowded waiting area in which the wheelchair would not fit... well, we left that nightmare and headed over to Bocktown. So much nicer! Parking! Wheelchair accessible parking! Room in the waiting area! Shorter wait! And football on TV!

What made our visit last night noteworthy is that I ordered something besides that Bocktown Burgher! To start, I ordered one of the appetizer specials: fried cheese balls breaded in panko and served with marinara.

Sorry for the crappy photos - it's dark in Bocktown! Tasty. I devoured six of them, leaving just one for SP. That was OK because he ordered his usual cup of She Crab Soup:

I had a couple of spoonfuls. Soup always tastes extra good when it's freezing cold outside! SP chose the Cajun Shrimp Salad:

It comes with a tomato pepper vinaigrette which must be pretty darn tasty because SP practically licked the dressing bowl clean and I don't think I've ever before seen him use all the provided dressing on a salad!

I decided to finally try the B.E.L.T.CH.

Peppered bacon. Fried egg. Lettuce. Tomato. American cheese. Buttery, toasted, thick sliced bread.

So huge! And messy. But I managed to eat it all.

Bocktown has a lot of beers, but I am not a beer drinker. I always order the tasty fresh brewed iced tea. SP also orders iced tea, but he does like beer. Unfortunately, he's still supposed to watch how much alcohol he drinks. Fortunately, Bocktown offers a small, sampling size. So SP tried the Atwater Cherry Stout. He really liked it.

There are many reasons we always pick Bocktown over any of the gazillion chain restaurants in Robinson. If you haven't yet tried Bocktown, you should. And you should check out at least one new restaurant during PRW.

Coq Au Vin

2012-01-11T14:20:00.001-05:00

Sunday dinner this week, with leftovers for two more meals: our second time making Coq au Vin. Just as tasty as the first time. This time, served with noodles instead of baguette. Mushrooms, carrots, onions, bacon, chicken, red wine sauce... yum!

Sweet Orange Buns

2012-01-09T13:04:00.002-05:00

Have you ever been flipping through a food magazine or cookbook and suddenly, you stop, and gasp, and start drooling? And your husband looks up and asks what caught your attention? And you are so transfixed by the glorious food photo that you cannot even answer? That happened to me when I was flipping through the latest issue of Saveur. The culprit: Sweet Orange Buns.

I love orange buns. In college, I kept a supply of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls and Orange Rolls in my little dorm refrigerator. I baked them in my (illegal) toaster oven. Much as I love cinnamon, there was something about those orange rolls. They were yummier than the cinnamon rolls. You might be wondering, "Pillsbury Orange Rolls? Is she crazy? I've never seen such a thing in my grocery store." But I assure you, once upon a time, these existed, and I loved them, and I mourned the loss when I could no longer find them in the grocery store.

They might have disappeared from grocery stores, but those rolls lingered in my mind. I never tried to make them myself because, well, I am scared of yeast. I know. Crazy. But it intimidates me. Yeast and kneading and dough rising. It's magical. And intimidating.

Fortunately, SP is not at all intimidated by yeast. He mocks me for my fear of yeast baked goods. Also fortunately, he likes orange rolls, too. So we decided that he should make them for me. After all, he's the one not afraid of yeast and rising dough and kneading. Plus I needed something to console myself after that football game on Sunday. His team won so he was happy. I was stunned and unhappy about my team.

These orange buns take a bit of planning. The yeast & milk need to sit and get frothy for ten minutes. Then the dough needs to sit and rise for about 1.5 hours. After rolling the dough out, spreading on the filling, rolling it up like a log, slicing it into rounds, and placing the rounds into a baking dish, they need to sit 6 hours or overnight in the refrigerator before baking for 25 minutes.

I hovered over him as he made the dough for these. Are you doing it right? Is it getting frothy? Did you cover it with plastic wrap? Is it rising? Are you sure it's warm enough in here? Is it too cold? Is the dough growing? I think he was pretty happy when I made my evening tea and disappeared into the living room with tea & ice cream. Of course, I still called out from my comfy chair. Are you sure 1.5 hours was enough time? Are you rolling it the right size? Did you get the glass pan or metal? Will that make a difference? Did you zest lots of orange zest because I like lots of orange zest?

He did. Look at that orange zest:

And the buttery filling that melts and oozes out the bottom of the pan:

A close up of the filling ooze:

SP made the rolls Sunday evening after dinner. He baked them Monday morning before work, so I woke up to the scent of orange. Mmmmm. These are really tasty. Sweet. Lots of orange. So good. I ate two buns for breakfast.

I have a wonderful husband. These sweet orange buns almost made me forget about the football game. Except that I ate them while reading the newspaper...

Saveur Recipe Page here.

Sweet Orange Buns
Saveur

1¼ cups milk, heated to 115°
1 ¼-oz. package active dry yeast
⅓ cup sugar
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, plus 16 tbsp., softened
1½ tsp. kosher salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 cups flour
½ cup packed light brown sugar
⅓ cup orange zest (from about 4 oranges)
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. orange extract
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tbsp. fresh orange juice

1. Make the dough: Combine milk and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a hook; let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in sugar, melted butter, 1 tsp. salt, and egg; add flour, and mix on low speed until dough forms. Increase speed to medium-high; knead until smooth, about 8 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap; let sit until dough doubles in size, about 1½ hours. Meanwhile, beat softened butter, brown sugar, and zest in a bowl on high speed of a mixer until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add remaining salt, confectioners' sugar, and extracts; beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Transfer ¼ cup filling to a bowl; stir in juice to make an icing. Set filling and icing aside.

2. Transfer dough to a work surface; using a rolling pin, roll dough into an 18″ × 10″ rectangle, and spread filling evenly over dough. Lift up bottom edge of dough and roll it into a log; trim ends and cut log into 12 rounds. Transfer rounds cut side up to a greased 9″ × 13″ baking dish; cover with plastic wrap. Chill 6 hours or overnight.

3. Heat oven to 375°. Uncover rolls and bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Drizzle icing over rolls before serving.

Nutella Pizzelle Sandwiches

2012-01-06T11:14:00.000-05:00

I'm still a little undecided on how I feel about Nutella. The Nutella Pochettes we made were disappointing. The Nutella Cupcakes were even more disappointing. There's another Nutella recipe I want to try soon, but in the meantime, I want to share one way that I really do enjoy Nutella: spread on pizzelles.

Back in October, when we were still without a working oven, I made pizzelles for our dessert. For reasons I cannot recall, I spread some Nutella on a pizzelle. I really liked it.

I liked it so much that I decided to spread even more Nutella on a pizzelle and top it with another pizzelle. It was even yummier! We had some pizzelles leftover from our Christmas baking and they didn't last too long because for the past 2-3 days I've been obsessed with these Nutella-Pizzelle Sandwiches. Just be careful when you spread on the Nutella and press the second pizzelle on top - the pizzelles easily break!

Yum!

Shepherd's Pie

2012-01-04T10:04:00.003-05:00

We spent the first day of 2012 dismantling the holiday decor. I was ready for the tree to be put away since when I sat in 'my recliner,' the tree blocked one third of the TV! As usual we feel like the living room is huge now that the tree is put away! We also watched a lot of football and re-heated some food for dinner. No cooking.

Our first real cooking of the new year happened on Monday when we made Shepherd's Pie. We made it last year and it was really, really tasty, so we had high expectations. We ended up disappointed.

It looked OK when we put it on the table. Maybe not quite as brown on top as last time. The 'problems' started when we served it.

The mashed potato topping was runny, like applesauce. As someone who doesn't really like but rather tolerates mashed potatoes, this was very disappointing.

It also seemed a lot wetter than last time. More liquid seemed to ooze out when we started scooping it out. When I look at the photos from before, I don't think it was wetter this time, but it's definitely a lighter/less rich looking 'gravy.'

So what went wrong? Last time, we followed Anne Burrell's Shepherd's Pie recipe. This time we decided to try the recipe in Cover & Bake from Cook's Illustrated. So far everything we've tried from that cookbook has been amazing - until now.

Last time we used lamb shoulder/leg that SP trimmed and chopped into lamb cubes. This time, he couldn't find reasonably priced and appropriate lamb (what he found was $24) so we substituted ground lamb ('only' $15 for 1.5 lbs) since the recipe said that the ground lamb could be substituted.

Not a good decision. Maybe from a budget point of view, but not from a taste point of view. The ground lamb is much less flavorful. The ground lamb may as well be ground beef because I just do not really taste the lamb. It's a very weak lamb flavor.

Anne's recipe called for 2 lbs boneless lamb while Cover & Bake called for 3 lbs with bones/fat, trimmed down to about 1.5 lbs (or 1.5 lbs ground lamb). The 1.5 lbs was enough lamb if you used ground lamb, but if we were to use lamb shoulder/leg, I'd definitely want the extra half pound.

Anne's recipe may be more flavorful because she used a full cup of red wine instead of just 1/4 cup. She also used 1/4 cup tomato paste instead of just 1 tbsp. When I look at the photos from the last time, the 'gravy' is much darker and richer tasting, and we remember it being much more flavorful.

I think her mashed potatoes recipe also called for much less butter then the Cover & Bake recipe, which may explain the runniness. I never make mashed potatoes (since I don't really like them) so I have no idea what an ideal amount of milk/butter would be. When I looked at the Cover & Bake recipe, it didn't occur to me to question it. Plus, her mashed potatoes used heavy cream instead of whole milk, so of course they had a richer flavor.

Between the runny mashed potatoes and lack of flavor, we will be sticking with Anne's recipe and using lamb chunks, not ground lamb. We'll have to keep an eye out for sales on lamb. Fortunately, this will feed us both for 3 dinners, so six meals from it, so I don't mind paying for the lamb, but $24 seemed a bit much.

A Show & Dinner

2012-01-01T09:57:00.002-05:00

SP & I are not New Year's Eve celebration people. We gave up on having 'nice' dinners out because they were 1) too crowded and/or 2)prix fixe, which we don't especially enjoy (and in some cases can really add up once drinks, tax, and tip are added on), and/or 3) the food was sub-par compared to visits on other nights of the year. So we weren't planning on going out this New Year's Eve.

But then we decided to go see 'Memphis' at Heinz Hall. We opted for the 2 pm showing since we really, really did not want to be downtown during the First Night festivities. First Night is just not the kind of event we enjoy. But then, of course, we ended up wanting to have a bite to eat after the show before going home. But where to eat? We nixed anywhere downtown. But then it hit me: we had the time to drive north to Burgatory. I had never been there and we still had a small gift certificate. SP quickly agreed because when he was there in October, he really enjoyed it.

So off we went to Waterworks Mall, which I have visited maybe once before. It's not exactly near our home in Robinson. I knew there would be a wait at Burgatory, but they use No Wait so we figured we could browse through some stores while we waited. We arrived around 5:15 pm and were told it would be a 45-60 minute wait. Not too bad. We were seated around 6:15 pm.

Burgatory is known for two things: amazing burgers and amazing milkshakes. I was dead set against ordering a milkshake even though I have heard wonderful things about them. For one, SP wanted to share a shake, but I know what it's like to share something not-so-healthy with SP. I feared the shake being like the fries at Bocktown: he really wants some, but only a wee taste, so we order fries, which are not one of my favorite things, and then he eats maybe 5-10 fries and I am left with the other 100+ fries. Or they get tossed out.

I did not want to be stuck with 80+% of a milkshake because since my mid-20's, I have noticed I do not do well with dairy like milk and ice cream. I no longer drink milk except in coffee. As for ice cream, I have discovered that if I eat homemade or an expensive/high quality ingredient ice cream, I am OK. If I eat a regular grocery store ice cream (Edy's Friendly's, Turkey Hill, Breyer's), my stomach gets sick. My stomach aches, it rumbles and grumbles, and I will eventually need to dash to the bathroom as my stomach rebels. Not fun.

I knew he'd try to get me to order one. He doesn't play fair. He started lobbying for the Coffee & Donuts milkshake. He figured I'd cave in to donuts and coffee flavor. I refused. Then our server appeared and she told us the specials for the day. There was a special milkshake. A celebratory New Year's milkshake. It was champagne, strawberries, and pizzelle bits.

I think you know what happened next. I had to have the shake. It was huge. It came with 2 fat straws and a pizzelle wedge. It was magical. I have no other words. I am pretty sure I drank more than half the shake. So good.

I have no idea what makes it so magical, other than they must use really high quality ingredients and sprinkle in magic dust. I'm serious. Even before my dairy issues, milkshakes were not something I ever really enjoyed. I always wondered how something as good as ice cream could end up tasting so... disappointing and gross. To be fair, I started out with shakes from McDonald's, Dairy Queen, Wendy's Frosty shakes. Then I moved on to milkshakes at King's, Eat N Park, Friendly's. Then some places that made their own ice cream. And I never, ever truly enjoyed a milkshake. It was one day in my mid-20's, after I slurped up a Frosty while driving around and then felt the familiar bloating and sick feeling, that it hit me: I don't like milkshakes. So why did I keep ordering them? I'm stupid. From that day on, I never had a shake.

Until now. I'm telling you: this shake was magical. And all the whipped cream - I can't believe I nearly forgot to mention how amazing the whipped cream was. We may have fought over the last bits of whipped cream. Fat straws: genius. Especially for slurping up the pizzelle bits. I know, maybe I'm out of the loop on modern milkshakes and maybe they are all served with fat straws nowadays, but back when I was stupidly slurping them up, the straws were always skinny, which made slurping difficult if not impossible because they were just too darn thick for a skinny straw. Did I mention that this shake was not thick or grainy but super smooth and creamy? Yum.

We also ordered iced teas, which were tasty and freshly brewed.

On to our burgers. It's not all about beef burgers at Burgatory. There are other burger options, like chicken, bison, crab, veggie, and wagyu. We pretty much ignored the menu and went right to the custom creation notepad.

For me: beef burger (well done) on brioche with smoked gouda, bourbon BBQ, bacon (of course), sauteed mushrooms, arugula, cucumber, and tomato:

Look at it! Beautiful.

It was enormous. I could barely fit it in my mouth. In spite of me wanting it well done, the burger was not dried out. I'm not a burger connoisseur. I rarely eat them. And I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to calling this the best burger ever. But for me, it's definitely top 2 or 3 ever.

SP's custom card:

SP went a little... well, crazy. His burger ended up costing $18!!!! He indulged. To start, since he doesn't eat beef, he chose bison on a whole wheat bun, bottom only, no bun top. Add black peppercorn rub, buffalo cheddar, whole grain mustard, sauteed mushrooms, grilled onions, guacamole, field greens, arugula, tomato, poblano peppers, cucumber, and dill pickle slices.

Look at how big it was! Oink. Since it was topless, he ate it with a knife and fork. Yes, there really was a burger under all those toppings:

I cannot believe he ate the whole thing! He loved it.

I don't remember much about the decor. There was a bar area, some booths, some tables, pendant lights, concrete floor, silver chairs, a couple of huge heaters by the windows, some TVs showing football, small pencils and custom creation pads on the table along with ketchup, etc. Our server was very friendly. More than willing to answer questions. She seemed happy to be there and enthusiastically endorsed the special milkshake. We were not rushed despite the people waiting for a table.

No complaints. Just a full belly. And a bit of wishing we'd ordered a second special shake. Definitely worth the drive.

*I forgot my real camera, so the photos are from either my cell phone or SP's cell phone, which takes much better photos than my cell phone.

Meat & Potatoes

2011-12-31T11:04:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, SP & I had another 'Date Day.' All these extra company holidays = lots more fun for us! Normally our weekends are packed with errands and chores and all that homeowner/being a responsible adult kind of stuff so when we have these extra days to indulge in fun, well, I get kind of excited!

This date day was a trip to the Carnegie Museum to see the Teenie Harris exhibit (highly reccommend this exhibit) and the Madeleine Albright Pin exhibit (also very interesting). We spent nealy all of our 3 hours at the museum on those 2 exhibits and shortly before closing time, we left to head out for dinner.

We decided to try a new to us place, one that it seems every other Pittsburgh food blogger has already visited and one that was just named Best New Restaurant in Pittsburgh: Meat & Potatoes in the Cultural District. I was a little apprehensive given all the rave reviews - usually when a place garners so much attention and so much praise, I start to get a little... uninterested because of all the hype. That's why I have yet to try Salt of the Earth, Smoke, or Burgatory.

We arrived at 5:03 pm. The restaurant opens for dinner at 5 pm. Knowing that, I didn't see the need for reservations. In my mind, although I knew it is a very popular place, I didn't think it was a reservations necessary place like Eleven, Casbah, the Mt. Washington places with a view, etc. I thought of it along the same lines of Point Brugges, Park Bruges, E2, Piccolo Forno - places that are popular, always busy, but no reservations, although they do take reservations and with a large group I would definitely make reservations. But if you get there early, there's not a super long wait.

As we walked down the street to the restaurant, we saw that there were some people around the bar and maybe 2-3 tables occupied. Lots of empty tables. But when we entered, we were asked if we had reservations, we said no, and we were told they could not seat us. What? One of about 10 tables for two occupied and they cannot seat us? Reservations recommended/possible but not required and it's 5:03 pm, just minutes after opening, and they cannot seat us? I even mentioned this and the hostess shook her head sadly at me, like I was a moron. The she said we could eat at the bar, but the chairs are high and I am in a wheelchair. She totally did not want to deal with us and the bar stool/wheelchair issue.

This is where I started to feel like exploding on her. Sure, great, the bar area is open for those who are stupid enough to go at 5 pm without a reservation but I am in a wheelchair and a bar is ABOVE MY HEAD. She made NO EFFORT to find another accommodation. NONE. Every other restaurant we have gone to in Pittsburgh (and other places), if they have only high tables/stools available, has made an effort to find us a wheelchair accessible seat. SHE MADE NO EFFORT. Apparently she didn't want our business and she was practically telling us to leave. NONE of the other hostesses at the front intervened or tried to help or apologize or anything. It was like, you dared to come here without a reservation and even though we have lots of free tables, due to some restaurant business seating system (that of course as people who have never worked in restaurant you do not know/understand), you must turn around and leave because we are not going to try to accommodate you and don't want/need your business.

SP & I were not at all happy. We had already parked in a garage, so we were going to have to pay the night parking fee whether we left or stayed. We were hungry. So we decided to try it. That's right. We went to the bar, SP lifted me up onto a stool, and we dined at the bar. BUT we should not have to lift me up onto a stool.

So at this point my impression is not good. At all. Snotty, unhelpful hostess.

And to make things even worse - we watched. Oh yes dear hostess. If you tell a customer that you cannot seat them in your nearly empty restaurant and your only option is to be physically lifted into a bar stool at the bar, those people will watch the empty seats. And guess what? None of those tables for 2 started to fill until 6-6:15 pm. When we were paying our check, there were 2 tables for 2 STILL EMPTY. And at 6:30 pm as we were leaving, a couple at the bar was told their table was now ready - and then they were seated at a table that had been empty the entire time we were there.

So many negative points for front desk hostess customer service.

Fortunately, things were much better at the bar. There were several very friendly bartenders who knew their stuff. It's a very nice bar with a granite countertop. We studied our menus for a while (it was pretty dark in the restaurant, and the menu seemed kind of darkish, too, so I really had to squint and concentrate to read it!). Here's what we ended up ordering:

Dark & Smokey (rum, root liqueur, ginger, lime) for me, Gin Richard (gin, lime, lemon, soda, rosemary) for SP. Both were very good. Mine was a bit too spicy/gingery for me at first, but once some ice melted, it was better. SP loved both beverages.

Yukon Skins - pork belly pastrami, cheese, scallions. Very tasty, though the potato was not as soft as I expected. It was cooked, just still firm. Yummy sour cream, too.

Bolognese Pasta - gnocchi, short rib, pancetta, pork shoulder, parmesan. Good gnocchi, not gummy or hard. Tasty sauce and meats. I would have liked a bit more pancetta, there didn't seem to be much there. SP had a couple bites and I ate the rest. All of it.

Braised lamb shank with polenta, raisins, and other stuff I can't remember nor do I see it on the online menu. Very tasty, but then again we both love braised lamb. I had more than a few bites and we ate it all.

Chocolate Pot de Creme - served in a jelly jar. Very good - rich and chocolaty without being too sweet or too dense or too rich. A nice portion for us to share since we were pretty full.

My final thoughts? Borderline rude and definitely unhelpful hostess who basically told us to turn around and leave. Terrific, friendly, knowledgeable bartenders. Tasty, unique drinks. Food that we enjoyed a lot. A nice atmosphere - I read one review that called it a modern day speakeasy. Bare light bulbs hanging. The chairs were a soft, velvety looking brown. Mirrors. Concrete floor (which a bartender told us people have slipped on and he warned us to be very careful since my stool was missing the rubber stoppers on the bottoms of the legs so it scooted quite easily). Mounted cow heads on the walls. Our service was fine, we didn't wait too long for our food but neither did it arrive too quickly.

We would go back, we want to go back, but I won't dare go without a reservation even if it's a 5 pm reservation. This is not a spur of the moment, let's go check it out place.

Peppermint Ice Cream

2011-12-29T08:44:00.003-05:00

I have been craving all things peppermint this year. So we made Peppermint Ice Cream for Christmas Day and took it over to SP's parents' house for dessert. I don't really know what everyone else thought about this ice cream, but I love it. A basic vanilla ice cream with peppermint extract and crushed candy canes. Yum!

Recipe from Simply Recipes here.

Christmas Eve Dinner

2011-12-28T08:43:00.012-05:00

Holidays are hard. It was simple when I was single, but once SP entered my life, holidays got complicated. Plus, he has a much larger family than I do. The who, what, when, where of hosting and seeing family and trying to share... it's all so stressful and there's always someone who isn't satisfied.

There have been a lot of family issues the past year, a lot of stress, and me being a complete crying mess for many days and wondering why some people seem so hurtful and mean towards me and why does it seem that I am blamed when SP & I have always made decisions together and he has been OK with every single decision we've made. But I am at fault.

Sigh. So we spent much of spring & early summer trying to figure out how to make things easier/less stressful/happier for us because, as my parents have repeatedly told us for the past few years, it only matters if SP & I are happy with our decisions and everyone else just needs to accept and respect our decisions.

Which brings me to the 2011 holiday season. My parents came in for Thanksgiving, and since we hadn't seen my dad in 11 months, we made the decision to spend the entire week they were here with just them. So we figured we'd spend Christmas with SP's family. But we are not yet ready to host after the 'we hosted but someone clogged/broke our sewer pump and cost us a lot of money' situation (which admittedly was a while ago, but... we've had a lot of unexpected expenses this year and had no desire to possibly add on another!) so we decided we would not have people over. We also decided that we wanted one day for just us to do our own thing and we wanted that day to be Christmas Eve. We decided that Christmas Eve we would stay home and make our own special meal and open our gifts together and watch football and stay in our jammies all day.

I have to say it was one of our best decisions. It was so nice to not be getting ready for a bunch of people coming over or to be getting ready to go out to other places. It was so nice to stay home all day, watch football - the whole game while on the couch, not peering across the kitchen at the living room TV - and make some very easy but tasty dishes.

At the last minute, we ended up inviting over a friend whose only local family was in a rehab facility recovering from recent surgery. He didn't have anywhere to be and he doesn't cook. He's such a good friend and always there for us so we wanted him to come have a good meal and enjoy some holiday cheer. Here's what we made:

Pork Balls! My mom made these last Christmas Eve. They're a once a year treat. Ground ham & ground pork balls baked in a brown sugar-vinegar-mustard-water sauce.

Yum! I love these! My parents (who spent Christmas in GA with my brother) were a little jealous of our pork balls. This is my grandma's recipe and she used to make them at the holidays. My dad and grandpa love these and often fought over who got the last one.

We also made a white bread in the bread machine and pimiento cheese spread:

I love pimiento cheese spread. Grated white cheddar, grated yellow cheddar, pimientos, mayo, and cayenne pepper.

We had some carrots and celery with my mom's Parsley Dip:

8 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons parsley
1 teaspoon lemon juice
chopped onion

I also like this dip on sandwiches instead of mayo or mustard.

And we made Turkey Salad:

We baked turkey cutlets, pulsed them in the food processor, and mixed in finely chopped celery and egg plus mayo, vinegar, and some Dijon. And parsley, pepper, and salt.

We have leftovers, which we wanted, and I've been enjoying them for lunch. I've been toasting my English muffin then spreading pimiento on one half and turkey salad on the other half and eating them open faced. Mostly because I cannot decide which I'd rather eat, so I have both!

So that was Christmas Eve.

Christmas Day we went to SP's parents' house. I didn't take any photos on Christmas, but SP's parents made a turkey and a ham plus there were roasted brussel sprouts, roasted and pureed squash, sauteed green beans with almonds, mashed potatoes with caramelized onions mixed into the potatoes, a brown bread, 3 kinds of cranberries (regular, blackberry, and orange), and cole slaw. Tons of food!

Hope your holiday was, and continues to be, as yummy as ours!

Afternoon Tea at Omni

2011-12-26T15:03:00.001-05:00

Last Friday we had a 'Date Day.' We went to the Warhol Museum to see the Alex Ross exhibit, then we had afternoon tea at the Omni William Penn, made a quick stop at home, and then went to see The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. We really wanted to see the movie since we both really enjoyed the books and have seen the Swedish movie versions of the books. The American film version of the first book did not disappoint!

Here's a photo summary of our afternoon tea at the Omni William Penn:

Earl Grey tea

Inside the Omni

Close up of holiday decor

The savory & sweet treats

Goat cheese & cucumber on wheat bread

Smoked salmon mousse, cucumber, and dill on wheat bread

Chicken Waldorf salad on white bread

Pistachio petit four

Raspberry mousse in chocolate cup

Chocolate torte

Cranberry scone

Raspberry jam and clotted cream

The remains of the scone (I couldn't finish it!)

It was a nice tea, but having been there for afternoon tea before, I left rather disappointed. For one, we had reservations, and while our table was immediately available and set, it was off in a corner with a view of the signs to restrooms and other places in the hotel, not the pretty lobby and holiday decor. Very disappointing.

This is perhaps a minor quibble and beyond their control, but my loose leaf tea kept clogging the teapot spout, resulting in several major overflows, drips on the table cloth, and me trying to pick tea leaves out of the spout. Also, the loose tea means the tea keeps brewing and brewing... There is no way to stop the brewing. The constant brewing resulted in very bitter tea for me. Ugh.

And there were not any tongs for the sugar cube bowl.

The sandwiches were fine, and the sweet treats fine, but my scones were dried out. They were so dry, either due to over baking or being stale, that the preserves and cream couldn't save them nor could I finish them.

Also, the cream - it was not very good cream. It wasn't clotted. It was thin and runny, making me wonder if it had been left out next to a heater. I only had a wee bit of cream because it was such an odd texture/consistency compared to other creams I've had at afternoon teas.

SP's jasmine tea

We would probably go back, but at an earlier time (not 3:30pm) and when we make reservations, I'd request to not be sequestered back in a corner with no view.

On second thought, for $17, I think I'd rather go to afternoon tea at Hyeholde.

But I had a terrific date day with SP! Comics for him, tea for me, and a movie for both of us.

Happy Holidays

2011-12-25T00:12:00.016-05:00

I know that not everyone celebrates Christmas on December 25. If, like us, you celebrate Christmas, we wish you a very Merry Christmas today. If, like many of our friends, you celebrate another holiday during this winter holiday season (Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Kwanzaa, Festivus), then we wish you a very happy holiday season! May your holiday be filled with good cheer, good friends, family, and, since this a food blog, good food.

Santa Claus Is Coming!

2011-12-24T17:48:00.000-05:00

Santa Claus is coming! For most people, anyway. For us, he already came. Actually, he's been making repeated visits for the past month. There are still wrapped gifts under the tree, but a bit before Thanksgiving, Santa brought us some terrific presents. First, Santa SP showed me a coupon and rebate for a KitchenAid mixer at Costco. We've been wanting to replace his 13 year old, used, cobalt blue stand mixer for some time. Cobalt blue is not the color scheme in our kitchen! So Santa decided we should buy the mixer.

It has already been very useful. Not only is it shiny and pretty but it's a great color and can now sit out on the counter. No more pulling a 30 lb mixer out of a lower cabinet and praying we don't drop it on the new wood floors or crash it into the freshly refinished cabinets as we lift it up onto the counter. It mixed dough for all our cookies, mixed some dips, and mixed some flavored butter (for the Thanksgiving turkey). Did I mention it sits on the counter all the time, ready for immediate use? Oh yes. I love this new mixer.

Santa also brought us this as an early gift:

A new food saver. Also on sale/with coupon purchase at Costco. It takes up less counter space than our old one since it's a newer, more vertical one and it actually vacuums!! Our old one had some parts that were failing and when I tried to vacuum a few things, it failed. Miserably. No more!

Shiny new kitchen toys! Santa SP is wonderful! Of course, he wanted them, too!

But there's more!

Santa also visited us this past week. He had to buy us a new furnace. There is a long story of a furnace inspection that said our furnace was fine but our humidifier broken, then a furnace guy repairing a humidifier (to keep us breathing and our new wood floors happy) but breaking our furnace and being unable to repair it, followed by a second furnace guy who said that it was obvious our furnace was in serious trouble and how could the other guy have missed the cracked blower and scorched control panel but he got it working but it could die at any moment, followed by the information that repairs to our 18 year old furnace would cost more than half what a new furnace would cost and manufacturers say 15-20 years for a furnace, but a new one required new vents and lots of drilling through concrete, right after we had the house cleaned for holiday guests and.....

Three days later, 10 hours of furnace guy labor later, and thousands of dollars later, we have a working humidifier and new energy efficient furnace. And we had to re-clean the house.

Ho ho ho!

No wonder Santa SP just made me a spiced cranberry cocktail! Mrs. Claus is feeling a wee bit stressed and financially strapped!!!

But she's looking forward to opening her pajamas, new CDs, Baileys, and Godiva chocolate (sorry Santa - the credit card bill came and I checked it twice to make sure there weren't any unauthorized charges!)!!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Holiday Cookies 2012

2011-12-20T20:02:00.152-05:00

The cookie containers, piled on the table.

This past weekend we finished our holiday cookie baking. If my notes are correct, the 2011 cookies used 21 sticks of butter, 31 cups of flour, 8 cups of sugar, 22 ounces of cream cheese, and 22 eggs!!

In no particular order, here are the Holiday Cookies for 2012:

Cinnamon Bun Pinwheels - these are a new addition this year. We omitted the pecans and the $7/bottle cinnamon oil. These are quite tasty and we are pretty sure they will make an appearance on next year's cookie plate, too.

The vanilla part is flakier and more pastry like than cookie like while the cinnamon part is quite smooth and was almost kind of greasy when we rolled it.

Raspberry Shortbread Bars - SP's favorite, and a cookie I've been making every Christmas for the past 5 years. This year we used raspberry preserves, but in previous years we have used peach and cherry.

Citrus Spritz - SP's baking tradition is to make spritz cookies. One year we couldn't because the cookie press broke. This year, we decided to try citrus spritz cookies instead of vanilla.

We actually made two batches of these cookies. The first used orange zest & orange extract. The second used lemon zest & orange extract.

Pizzelles. Regular pizzelles, with vanilla and anise extracts. And made with butter, not vegetable oil.

Lots of pizzelles. Not the easiest cookie to store - I usually end up breaking 2 or 3 when I try to cram too many into one container.

Bow Tie Cookies with Apricot Preserves - a new addition that was just OK and will probably not make next year's cookie tray. I had fun with my new fluted pastry wheel, though.

Nut Tassies, this year with pecans instead of walnuts. These weren't going to make the cookie tray this year, but then we found a bag of pecans in our baking supplies, so we decided to make them after all.

Chocolate Cordial Tassies, with Kahlua. New this year, but similar to the Brownie Cups I've made in years past. These are OK, but most likely they will not make the final cookie list next year.

Mint Chocolate Chunk - I made these in November and liked them so much I decided they had to make this year's holiday cookie tray. Yum! I hope the Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Bits are around next year, too.

Sugar Cut Out Cookies - a must every year if only because otherwise, the Christmas cookie cutters would never get used! I still love this recipe from a very old cookbook my mom had when I was growing up, and they were one of the first cookies I ever made when I started baking holiday cookies.

Triple Ginger Cookies - three years in a row and we still love these cookies with ground ginger, fresh ginger, and crystallized ginger. Plus, they're soft, not hard like a gingersnap.

Spice Biscotti - the first cookie baked in our new oven this past October. We love the spice taste from the cloves, cinnamon, and ginger in a dunkable biscotti.

Dried Cherry & Almond Biscotti - these first make the cookie list last year and everyone liked them so much that we knew we'd have to make them again this year. Not a super hard biscotti, which is nice because I don't always have a cup of tea or coffee handy for dunking.

Chocolate Dipped Crescents - the first cookie made this year, the weekend before Thanksgiving, because my mom was coming into town and she loves these. We froze a lot of these so they will be included in our cookie gift packages this year.

We also made a batch of Madeleines before Thanksgiving, but we didn't think they would freeze well, so we ate them!

The Rugelach that we made last year made the final list this year... until we decided we'd had enough of baking! Then they got cut.

The Ischel Tartlets were considered... until we decided we had enough 'rolling' cookies. Neither one of us really enjoys rolling dough. Plus, with no one from my family coming into town, no one will ask for them.

The Candy Cane Cookies that my dad loves did not make the list. I think we both dislike shaping these more than we dislike rolling dough.

We've been enjoying lots of cookies. I'll be glad (and sad) when we make up the cookie gifts and give away 95% or so of our cookies. But until next weekend, I'll be happily devouring these baked goodies, hoping my mid-section doesn't expand too much, and pondering the lesson I [should have] learned from that Frog & Toad story "Cookies" that I read in first grade. Cookies & will power. Maybe SP should buy me that book for Christmas?!

Satsuma

2011-12-18T19:54:00.000-05:00

Sometimes SP goes 'off the list' when he goes grocery shopping. Sometimes this is a good thing. Like when he comes home with satsuma.

We enjoyed a satsuma this morning. I was thinking, hmmm, Japanese name, tasty, citrusy, super easy to peel - these are like the mikan I ate when I lived in Japan. I started wondering why, if our stores get satsuma, why hadn't we ever seen mikan?

So I did some research. I discovered satsuma = mikan. You'd think I'd already know stuff like this since I have a BA in Japanese.

Stupid me. Very tasty fruit.

More info on satsuma, aka mikan, here.

More Cookies

2011-12-16T22:40:00.000-05:00

Surprise, surprise - I baked more cookies today! One of our 'more favorite' cookies: Triple Ginger.

I got out all the ingredients, bowls, measuring cups/spoons, etc. last night. SP made the dough before work. I rolled the balls and coated them in sugar and baked them. The house smelled so good! Ground ginger, fresh ginger, and chunks of crystallized ginger:

They're as tasty as last year even though it seems like they baked flatter/thinner.

We also made Spice Biscotti, which we made in October and loved.

These have many of the same ingredients as Triple Ginger Cookies (ground ginger, ground cloves ground cinnamon) but since there's no butter, no molasses, and no brown sugar, they have a very different taste.

I mostly taste cloves. These ended up turning out well, but we were worried for a while because the dough was much, much stickier than last time. SP had a really hard time shaping the logs and had dough sticking to all his fingers and maybe even his shirt. When I tried to help, I ended up with sticky, doughy fingers, too.

Mmmm. So good when dipped in hot tea.

Holiday Baking: Two Kinds of Tassies

2011-12-15T19:14:00.000-05:00

Today I made two more holiday cookies. Both were tassies, cookies made in a mini muffin tin.

First up was one that seems to always make the final holiday baking list: Nut Tassies. This year, I used pecans (usually I use walnuts).

SP made the dough for me before he left for work. That was the easy part! I got to shape 24 round balls and then squish them into the bottoms and up the sides of each muffin cup.

Then I made the filling: brown sugar, vanilla, butter, egg, and pecans. This year, I vowed to not overfill the cups. Usually I spoon way too much filling in and then it bubbles over and all over the muffin pan and then I get to curse a lot while trying to chisel off a hard yet gooey and sticky mess.

I think I did a good job with filling the cups this year. I had only one very, very minor bubble over.

Originally, I wasn't going to make the nut tassies. I searched for other tassie recipes because I just had to use the mini muffin tin, but I was feeling pretty anti-nut cup this year. The mini muffin tin is like the holiday cookie cutters - it really only gets used once a year and if I don't use it, I feel kind of guilty for buying it in the first place (even if I did buy it 10 years ago). But then when I was taking inventory of our baking supplies, I found the bag of pecans. Since the only recipe I can think of for which we use pecans is these tassies, they made the final list.

Also making the final list: chocolate tassies.

As I said, I searched for tassie recipes to replace the nut tassies and I found several options. A pumpkin tassie, with or without nuts. Cranberry & nut tassies. Fruit tassies. Key lime pie like tassies. A chocolate peppermint tassie (which used marshmallow fluff in the mint filling!). In the end I opted for a Chocolate Cordial Tassie that is very similar to the Brownie Cups recipe I already have. But I changed the 'crust' of the cordial tassie.

The official crust for the Chocolate Cordial Tassie included cocoa and sugar with the flour, cream cheese, and butter, for a chocolate crust. But that didn't sound too great to me. I'm not sure why because normally, I really like chocolate. But sometimes a chocolate crust like that seems sort of... not chocolaty enough for me. So I decided to use the crust from the Brownie Cups recipe.

I liked the Chocolate Cordial Tassie recipe because the filling wasn't just chocolate brownie, it included a liquor for extra flavor. I chose kahlua. You could use Bailey's, Frangelico, Peppermint Schnappes, Grand Marnier, Chambord. These turned out yummy, but to be honest, the one I tasted didn't seem to have a very strong kahlua flavor. Maybe it's a flavor that comes out over time, as the cookie sits and all the flavors really interact...?

If you're going to make tassies, definitely splurge and buy the little paper baking cups. In the past, I scoffed at the idea of buying those mini paper baking cups because my muffin tin is non-stick. The paper cups really make it easier to get the cookies out of the muffin tin, especially the somewhat sticky nut tassies.

Nut Cups (Nut Tassies)

3 oz cream cheese
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup flour

1 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Combine cream cheese, butter, and flour. Roll into 1 inch balls and press them into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared muffin cups.

Mix butter, vanilla, egg, and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in nuts. Spoon into prepared dough cups. Do not overfill (do not fill all the way to the top) or else the filling will bubble over.

Bake 375 for 15-20 minutes, until crusts are golden. Makes 24.

Chocolate Cordial Tassies
Better Homes and Gardens

½ cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup sugar
¾ cup flour ¼ cup cocoa

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon chocolate or coffee liqueur

2 tablespoons milk chocolate pieces

Beat ½ cup butter and cheese on high for 30 seconds. Beat in 1/3 cup sugar. Add flour and cocoa; beat till well combined. Cover and chill 1-2 hours or till easy to handle. Divide into 24 balls. Press each
ball onto bottom and up sides of ungreased 1¾-inch muffin cup.

Melt unsweetened chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in ½ cup sugar, egg, vanilla and liqueur. Divide evenly among cups. Bake at 325º about 25 minutes or till set. Cool slightly; remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

Melt milk chocolate. Spoon about ¼ teaspoon on center of each cup. Let chocolate set before serving, Makes 24.

Brownie Cups

½ c butter, softened

3 oz cream cheese, softened
¾ c all-purpose flour
¼ c powdered sugar

½ tsp vanilla

3 oz semisweet chocolate
1 tbsp butter
1/3 c granulated sugar
1 egg

Mix cup butter and cream cheese. Stir in flour, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Pat scant 1 tablespoon dough in bottom and up side of each of 24 small muffin cups. Heat chocolate and 1 tablespoon margarine over low heat until melted; remove from heat. Stir in sugar and egg. Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full with chocolate mixture. Bake about 25 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool. Remove cups from pan.

Makes 24.

Holiday Cookies & Parties

2011-12-14T12:27:00.000-05:00

It's been an entire week since last I blogged. That's a long time for me! I made a decision to cut back on my computer time because I felt like I was spending way too much of the day sequestered in my office, which doesn't get a whole lot of sunshine/natural light, and sunshine/natural light is in short supply these days. Between the gray days and the sun setting so early, I was feeling like I was living in the dark! Plus the unread books and magazines were piling up, the DVR-ed shows were piling up, Netflix movies were lingering for weeks, the cross-stitch was sadly neglected, presents were still not wrapped, holiday cards were in a pile waiting to be addressed and mailed.

The lack of blogging is also because there hasn't been much to blog about. We've been so busy with other activities that we haven't tried any 'new to us' restaurants. Some out of town friends were here last Friday, and as 'the group' of friends gathered here, we opted for the easy thing: pizzas and sandwiches ordered from Picasso Pizza, which is now our favorite local pizza place.

Last Saturday was SP's work holiday party. I didn't take any photos, I didn't even take my camera, so there are not any food photos. The holiday party was at the Pittsburgh Glass Center. It was basically a 3 hour cocktail party with a dancing area and glass demonstrations. I found the glass demonstrations very interesting. Upstairs were two people making glass bottles and downstairs was a man blowing clear glass ornaments. Set up throughout the Glass Center were several bar areas with wines, beers, and mixed drinks. I enjoyed my cabernet sauvignon. There also was a vodka tasting area. I tried a sip of SP's black cherry vodka, but it tasted like cough syrup to me!!! There also was a coffee station as well as tea and hot cocoa.

The food was set up buffet style. Shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon with all the fixings (capers, chopped egg, etc.), soup 'shots' (wedding soup, tomato soup), chowder in a tiny bread bun with a delicious piece of bacon on top, a Thai shrimp sandwich, speck wrapped white asparagus, cheeses & crackers, fruit, hummus, baba ganoush, apple & fennel sausage, a cotton candy station, and probably lots more I am forgetting! Desserts included chocolate cake, pumpkin pie, and a cinnamony-appley bread pudding. Quite the snack selection!

Meanwhile, in our home kitchen, we've started our holiday baking. This year, we are baking early and freezing our cookies. It's just too much to try to do them the week before, especially without my mom in town to be my kitchen helper. Although I love cooking & baking, being in the wheelchair limits my mobility / ability in the kitchen so much that at times I get so darn frustrated and just can't handle things by myself! SP and I make a nice team, and with his help, I do not get as wiped out and frustrated. But baking solo? Not going to happen anymore, except for SP's birthday cake every year.

Two weekends ago, we baked the Raspberry Shortbread and Bow Tie Cookies. This past weekend, we made the Andes Candies Mint Chocolate Chunk Cookies:

Plus SP got to roll dough, one of his favorite kitchen activities, when we made the Sugar Cut Out Cookies:

And we made Spritz Cookies. Spritz Cookies are SP's holiday tradition. His family recipe is a basic vanilla and the spritz turn out thin and crispy. Since that basic taste is like the sugar cut out cookies that I must make every year (need to use those cookie cutters!) we have experimented with other spritz flavors. One year we made Chocolate-Cinnamon Spritz. Last year we made Spice Spritz. And this year we made a Citrus Spritz.

I know. Not very good photos. I forgot the 'natural light' rule. Since it was around 4:30 or 5, I didn't think twice about taking photos, I must have spaced out and not really registered the fact that the sun was gone! Also, I sort of forgot about photos when I packed up all the pretty cookies, stashed them in the freezer, and left out a dozen or so of the 'uglier' cookies for us to enjoy. So these photos are of the 'not so pretty' holiday cookies!The tiny holiday tree shaped spritz are so darn cute, but we froze all of them.

Back to the Citrus Spritz. We love, love, love these bite size cookies! This recipe uses cream cheese (his family recipe doesn't) and it makes the cookies so soft and delicious! We followed the King Arthur Flour Fiori di Sicilia Spritz Cookie recipe but we didn't pay $9 for the special fiori di sicilia flavoring. We used our orange extract.

After all that baking and holiday party fun, we didn't feel much like trying out new dinner ideas. Plus, we need to clean out the freezer to make room for more cookies! So we made two easy meals that we really enjoy for this week's dinners: Paula Deen's Pork Tenderloin (with roasted potatoes & carrots plus steamed green beans) and Chicken with Mustard Tarragon Sauce (with white rice for me, brown rice for SP, and steamed broccoli).

This weekend we plan to bake more cookies! And attend another holiday party. Before we know it, it'll be time to open all the presents Santa has been placing under our tree!

Sugar Cut Out Cookie Recipe
(from a very old holiday craft & recipe cookbook my mom had when I was growing up; much to my dismay, the book was thrown away during a parental purging for one of their moves but luckily I still have my handwritten recipe)

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
½ cup shortening
½ cup butter
1 and ¼ cups sugar
1 tbsp milk

Sift flour, powder, and salt. Cream shortening, butter, and sugar. Add vanilla, egg, and milk. Add flour mixture. Chill 1 hour. Roll 1/8 inch thick, cut, bake at 375 8-10 minutes; decorate.

Prosciutto~Mushroom~Pea Risotto

2011-12-07T08:15:00.000-05:00

For several weeks, we have been talking about how long it has been since we made risotto. Every week we'd say 'let's make risotto this Sunday' and then when it came time to actually plan, shop, and cook, the risotto idea would get tossed out the window.

Then, the Friday after Thanksgiving, SP headed over to Costco to pick up a copy of the Costco cookbook that is always available at Costco on that day for free to members. I flipped through it several times, not expecting to find much of interest since the last Costco cookbook wasn't too exciting. But this year, well this year there are several tasty looking dishes, including a risotto dish that I just couldn't stop thinking about: Risotto with Prosciutto, Mushrooms, and Peas.

Prosciutto. So yummy. Mixed in with creamy arborio and peas and mushrooms - these are a few of my favorite things!

This is the first risotto we've made that doesn't call for any white wine or cream. The 'cheat' for some creaminess is parmesan and mascarpone. There's also lots of chicken stock. About 8 cups, or two boxes. Good thing we recently stocked up on stock! And that SP bought the huge tubs of mascarpone. Sadly, though, we couldn't find any risotto at Costco, so we had to buy it at GEMD. Here's a closer look at the yumminess:

It was very tasty. There was lots of prosciutto. I used 1-2 more slices than suggested, and I sliced it smaller so there would be more but smaller chunks throughout instead of fewer and bigger chunks. I like a wee bit of prosciutto in every bite.

As SP said,"This one's a keeper!"

Bow Tie Cookie Bust

2011-12-05T15:08:00.001-05:00

Last year for Christmas, my brother gave me the Fine Cooking Special Holiday Issue of Cookies, Brownies, Bars, & More and told me that it's never too early to start planning next year's holiday baking. Then he snorted and laughed and I realized he was, as usual, mocking my holiday cookie planning & baking obsession (though he does enjoy eating the cookies). Then he hooted about 'remember those ant cookies?!' for a while. What are brothers for?

Anyway, I really liked my new holiday cookie source. There's lots of tasty recipes inside. I marked the ones I wanted to try and waited a whole year to try these: Bow Ties with Apricot Preserves. This might be the only year they make the final cut...!

As a little 'bonus,' I got to buy this neat pastry wheel at Williams-Sonoma:

Necessary for these cookies? Not at all. A pizza cutter or knife would have worked. But there was another recipe for Brownie Bow Ties and those had cool, fluted, zig zag edges. I just had to have the pretty fluted edges. It helped that we had a gift card for Williams-Sonoma, and that's what you do with gift cards - splurge on gadgets and tools you wouldn't otherwise buy! (Thanks Carla & Shaw!)

SP was, of course, in charge of rolling the dough and cutting the squares. I don't know if it's because he dislikes rolling dough so much or if he gets bored and just wants to quickly finish or if he just doesn't pay attention/care, but the squares were sometimes rectangular (despite using the ruler markings on the side of the bench scraper) and often the middles ones were too thick and the outer squares too thin. Sigh. I guess a little variety in shape and size is good...?

I was in charge of jelly and shaping. Put dollop of jelly in center, fold 2 corners in to center and pinch shut using beaten egg to help seal, bake. They looked pretty successful, before baking, sitting on our brand new Silpat (thanks Santa Mom!):

But after just one use, our Silpat looked like this:

Fortunately, turns out Silpats really are awesome and those burnt jelly blobs came right off. I shudder to think of the scrubbing had we not lined our cookie sheets. I might have just tossed the cookie sheet! We used parchment paper, too (we have just one Silpat).

This is what the majority of the first 2 dozen cherry bow ties looked like:

They unpinched/unsealed themselves while baking. The jelly ran out of them and all over the silpat/parchment. Grrr. We wondered if there was a reason the recipe specified apricot preserves and not 'assorted preserves.' But it makes 70 cookies so we decided to use various flavors of preserves. We started off with cherry.We finished with apricot, which seemed less prone to melting and oozing all over. Maybe because it was a Smuckers Simply Fruit and not a regular preserves?

Also, using a beaten egg to help seal the corners together? Didn't work so well. I dripped raw egg all over everything. I switched to water part way through and that seemed to work better.

The pinching/sealing? What a nightmare. Clearly, I wasn't pinching/sealing properly. But when I pinched too hard, preserves squirted out. Pinching in the center didn't seem to work. I finally started folding one corner way over the the other side and then the other corner way over to the other side and pinching on the side, then sort of patting the whole thing out flat.

The cookies were supposed to look like this:

They taste good, like mini pies. I'd probably make them again. After all, practice makes perfect, and I now have that cool fluted pastry wheel. If we can ever roll the dough out to an even thickness, cut it into squares, use the right kind of filling, and seal them tightly enough... well those would be some pretty great bow ties.

As SP pointed out to me, overall, of the 6 dozen we made only about 2 dozen unsealed during baking. So I guess it's not as awful as I think, especially for our first attempt. We just need better execution!

They taste good, though. I may have eaten about 6 yesterday.

Christmas Cookie Time!

2011-12-01T08:56:00.016-05:00

One of my favorite things about the holiday season is baking. Specifically, baking cookies. Lots of cookies. I usually start thinking about the final cookie list in October, I think I have it figured out by early November, I start making the master shopping list, and then throughout November I start remembering cookies from Christmases past and discovering new cookie recipes. My list grows out of control, I can't decide which ones should make the final cut, SP starts rolling his eyes and adds a few ideas of his own, family members start chiming in and expressing outrage if it looks like their favorite cookie might not make the cut, they make derogatory remarks about other cookies (it's hilarious to see my mom's sneer when dad starts campaigning for his candy cane cookies), and then after much cookie negotiation, the final list is made, the ingredient list compiled, the shopping done, the cookies baked, and waaaay too many eaten.

And of course, after all is said and done, as we crash back on the couch and rub our full bellies while gazing at the ridiculously huge cookie plate, my brother asks where the ant cookies are. Sigh. He's never going to let it go. The year when I was maybe 14 years old and I made snowmen cookies by forming 3 different sizes of dough balls and placing them next to each other to form snowmen. There is some truth to the ant like appearance of the final cookies, but...

Usually we make 12-14 kinds of cookies. At last count, I had 28 possible cookies on the master list. I need to stop looking at Christmas Cookie recipes. Meanwhile, we've already started stockpiling flour, sugar, and butter. Here's a look back at the last 2 years.

Last year:

Top: Candy Cane Cookies, Citrus Shortbread, Sugar & Cinnamon Palmiers, Rugelach
Middle: Pizzelles, Ischel Tartlets, Spice Spritz, Walnut Cups, Dried Cherry-Almond Biscotti
Bottom: Chocolate Dipped Crescents, Triple Ginger, Sugar Cut-Outs, Strawberry Shortbread

From 2009:

Row 1: Triple Ginger, Sugar Cut-Outs, Regular Pizzelles
Row 2: Walnut Cups, Chocolate Peppermint Bark Cookies, Raspberry Shortbread
Row 3: Chocolate Dipped Crescents, Candy Cane Cookies, Almond Frangipane Palmiers
Row 4:Cappuccino Pizzelles, Raspberry-White Chocolate Mini Whoopie Pies, Chipotle-Chocolate Shortbread

Cinnamon Pumpkin Roll with Chocolate Filling

2011-11-30T18:56:00.000-05:00

Rolled cakes always scare me. It doesn't matter that of the 3-4 we've made, all have turned out well. The whole 'bake the cake in a jelly roll pan and then roll it in a towel then unroll it and spread filling and then re-roll' process always makes me nervous. I think I always fear the cake breaking/tearing during the many rollings.

Since I am not a huge pumpkin pie person, I decided that I wanted pumpkin roll for my dessert the week of Thanksgiving. I was all set to bake EPAS' pumpkin roll with white filling, but then we watched a Giada episode. She made Cinnamon Pumpkin Roll with Chocolate Filling.

More specifically, chocolate mascarpone filling. Mmmmmmm. And as luck would have it, SP found huge tubs of mascarpone at Costco and impulsively bought them. I took that as a sign that we had to make this pumpkin roll.

It's easy to make. I measured (as usual being very generous with the cinnamon) and buttered the pan and parchment, SP mixed, the cake baked, and then SP rolled it in the towel to cool. He also made the filling, unrolled the cake, spread on the filling, and re-rolled it while I was busy with the madeleines.

I really like this pumpkin roll with chocolate filling. I thought it was very tasty - lots of cinnamon and a creamy chocolaty filling. Mom and SP said they prefer white filling. Dad was too busy eating the pie to care about the pumpkin roll. Oh well. Maybe next year we can have two smaller rolls, one with a white filling and one with this chocolate filling.

Thanksgiving Recap

2011-11-25T21:25:00.000-05:00

This Thanksgiving, my parents are in town, visiting us for a week. SP & I were happy to cook a meal for the four of us, with their help. Here's a quick recap.

Cranberry-Spiced Martinis for afternoon cocktails. Recipe from Noble Pig here.

A pretty pink color with a tasty cranberry-cinnamon-clove taste.

Dad's only responsibility: opening this after the martinis. The champagne is a wedding present which we had not yet enjoyed. Sooooo good.

Afternoon snack with martinis: mushroom turnovers, recipe here

Tasty mushroom-thyme-sour cream filling, flaky dough pockets

12 lb turkey, seasoned with onion-fresh sage butter

The plate of turkey

Mom's sausage stuffing, with mushrooms, too

SP's homemade cranberry sauce (cranberries, sugar, fresh orange juice & zest)

Green beans, portobellas, and onions sauteed in olive oil and with a splash of sherry (not even close to the recipe's full half cup since mom knocked it onto the floor and it was the last of our sherry). Recipe here.

SP's baked sweet potato, from our CSA

Brussel sprouts, from the CSA, roasted with olive oil & balsamic vinegar

My dessert plate: madeleine, chocolate dipped crescent cookie, sliver of pumpkin pie, pumpkin roll with chocolate-mascarpone filling

Pumpkin pie - homemade flaky pie crust (recipe from Joy of Cooking, uses butter & shortening); the filling is the recipe on the can of Libby's pumpkin

SP likes a lot of whipped cream on his pumpkin pie

The bottom crust stayed nice and flaky; it didn't get soft/mushy, maybe because we brushed the dough with an egg before pouring in the filling and baking

A very tasty Thanksgiving. There was gravy, too, which I forgot to photograph. And some canned jellied cranberry stuff. We ate the leftovers for dinner tonight and now all that is left is a bit of turkey and one piece of pie. Plus some cookies and pumpkin roll.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:01:00.060-05:00

Gobble Gobble!

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday!

There are many things for which I am thankful on this day of giving thanks and really, they are obvious and don't need to be stated (family, friends, health) but also I am thankful that my family values tradition so much and all the small things that make things 'extra special.' That turkey in the photo above? This is his 23rd Thanksgiving. Every year I pull him out and put him together and every year, my family lovingly mocks my turkey and notes his wear & tear and wonders how much longer he can last. But trust me, they would be sad if Mr. Turkey didn't grace the Thanksgiving festivities. Much like Frosty at grandma's house and my great-grandma's light up Santa that my brother has - Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the Hallmark turkey and the reminiscing / mocking it inspires.

Even SP has happily embraced the turkey. He rolls his eyes when it comes out of hiding, but also exclaims that Mr. Turkey still looks pretty good and he also carefully moves it out of harm's way when we cook.

That's what I love about this time of year - the small things that make us exclaim as we re-discover them (the turkey! the angel chimes! great grandma's bell ornaments!) and the things that make us reminisce with joy and nostalgia (grandpa's train set! grandma's turkey salt & pepper shakers!) even as we create new memories and traditions.

Sometimes, it's the small things that make everything extra special. Like Mr. Turkey.

Nutella Fudge Mini Cupcakes & Other Baked Goodies

2011-11-21T13:56:00.000-05:00

It was a food filled weekend, and yet not a food filled weekend. I know, that makes no sense.

Saturday we went to Peters for my every 10 weeks hair appointment. Afterward, we met up with L at a place called Farmhouse Coffee. It's a coffee shop on Valley Brook Road in an old white house. Inside, it looks like the original wood floors have been refinished. There are two fireplaces in the 'main' room and there's a gold pattern wallpaper which I assume is some kind of Victorian era type design. In any event, it's a very nice place to hang out and have coffee. There's also a small patio area out back and this place is right off the walking trail.

I didn't try their coffee, and neither did SP. We both had hot tea and shared a tasty biscotti with almond bits and chocolate glaze on top. L had a chocolate ice cream cone and some coffee. They sell quiche and some sandwiches, but I'm not sure that they make those items themselves.

Of course the one-third of a biscotti was all I'd eaten all day by the time we got to the Galleria around 1:40 pm so I was hungry. We detoured into Panera and each got a bagel. Asiago with plain cream cheese for me, whole wheat with garden veggie cream cheese for SP.

SP went out with his friends Saturday night. We made these mini Nutella Fudge Cupcakes for him to take. There's 4 ingredients, 3 if you omit the hazelnuts sprinkled on top like we did. Half a cup Nutella, 1 egg, 5 tablespoons flour, mix together, bake 375 for 11-12 minutes, makes 12 mini cupcakes.

They were just OK. I had half a mini cupcake. It might have been that I was too full after eating this for dinner:

Since SP was headed out for the evening, we grabbed a sandwich from Panera at Settlers Ridge for my dinner. It's a new one: Steak Balsamico (seared top sirloin, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, fresh baby spinach, tomato & basil balsamic spread on ciabatta ). It was pretty tasty.

But back to the Nutella Mini Cupcakes. Maybe I was too full to enjoy a mini cupcake, but I didn't think these were all that great. SP also thought they were just OK. And his friends thought they were OK. This is the second Nutella baked goodie that I thought was just 'meh.' The Nutella Pockets I made last August were also just OK. So far, my favorite Nutella treat is to spread it between two pizzelles for a pizzelle sandwich.

We spent Sunday doing chores like raking and laundry plus we made a batch of Mushroom Turnovers to keep in the freezer for the holidays. I raved about these last December. We served them at Christmas Eve dinner last year and they were a big hit. I haven't tried any of this year's turnovers yet, but I sampled the mushroom filling and it's just as tasty as it was last year. I can't wait to bake some of the turnovers!

We also made a batch of Chocolate Dipped Crescent Cookies since they are my mom's favorite and she'll be flying into Pittsburgh tomorrow. They don't look very crescent-like this time. More blob-like. Chocolate Dipped Blob Cookies.

I think the dough was too warm/soft/greasy because the butter was too soft. Oh well. I had the pleasure of shaping all 5 dozen. Roll small amount of dough into ball, roll into log, shape into crescent, repeat, your hands will get greasier the more you roll. I also had the pleasure of coating all 5 dozen with melted chocolate on one half. Have I ever mentioned that I do not enjoy making these cookies because of how labor intensive they are? And that I am now supremely annoyed and disappointed that they are blob like and not crescent like after all that work?

They taste OK. But I like them when they are a bit thicker, less spread out, and more crescent-y, like last year and the year before. Seriously - look how crescent-y the past ones are and then look at the photos above and see how blobby they are this year. Sigh.

We both were too tired on Sunday to make anything for dinner, not even scrambled eggs, not even a spinach salad, so we ordered a prosciutto-arugula pizza from Picasso Pizza and it was, as usual, tasty.

And that's our food filled but not food filled weekend! No dining out, no cooking dinner, just Panera and Picasso Pizza. Some disappointing Nutella mini cupcakes. Appetizers not for ourselves but for the freezer and the future. And pain-in-the-neck to make cookies that look blobby but hopefully will taste OK to mom since they're her favorite and she's coming in to town and I wanted to have a surprise for her.

But I am NOT making dad's Candy Cane Cookies. Sorry dad. I bought you a nice turkey...

CSA #32 - The Final One

2011-11-19T15:37:00.017-05:00

It's week #32 of the 2011 CSA. Our last one. Penns Corner is offering a winter CSA share, but we haven't decided whether or not to join a winter CSA. Here's what was in the final box:

~ mixed microgreens, Crighton’s Farm
~ Boltonfeta cheese, Hidden Hills Dairy

~ carrot bunch, Nu Way Farm, CF
~ brussel sprout greens, Clarion River Organics, OG
~ 2# white turnips, Nu Way Farm, CF
~ red oakleaf lettuce, Clarion River Organics, OG
~ spaghetti squash, Blue Goose Farm, CNG
~ 1/2 gallon apple cider, Kistaco Farm Farm
~ 2# white onions, Blue Goose Farm, CNG

GS took all the apple cider and we took the whole squash.

Until next year...

Orange Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

2011-11-18T13:34:00.000-05:00

Cookies. I love cookies. So even though I think I should take a little pre-holiday break from so many cookies and other baked treats... well, I just can't. I love our evening ritual of making hot tea and settling in on the couch, curling up with my legs in SP's lap, watching some TV together, or reading together, or just talking or goofing around. And that evening ritual includes having a little dessert treat.

This week the cookie treat is Orange Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate Chips. They're easy to make and only make about 2 dozen, so if I want my treat to last all week, I must practice portion control. Willpower. Not like the Mint Chocolate Chunk Cookie week when I ate 6-7 a day and we still tossed the last 3 because they got stale.

These taste like an Orange Milanos, only better. Much better. Orange zest, orange extract, chocolate.

Orange Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Bon Appetit February 2003

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup(1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons(packed)grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
1 large egg yolk
3 tablespoons whipping cream
8 ounces double chocolate chips (such as Ghiradelli)

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Butter and flour large baking sheet. Whisk first 3 ingredients in medium bowl. Beat butter, sugar, orange peel, and orange extract in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in yolk, then cream. Add flour mixture; beat until dough comes together in moist clumps. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop dough by generous tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet, spacing 3/4 inch apart. Using moistened fingertips, flatten each to 1/2-inch-thick round. Bake cookies until golden, about 18 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool. DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

Zupa Pomidorowa. And Egg Salad

2011-11-17T08:34:00.001-05:00

What's for dinner? Earlier this week I wrote about our pork chops & spinach-apple salad. But we didn't eat that all week. We also made tomato soup and egg salad sandwiches.

Tomato soup. I was thinking lots of tomatoes, some basil, maybe a splash of cream, maybe some croutons or crostini. Lots of tomato flavor. But SP's mind was on another path. His eyes lit up when I suggested tomato soup. But then he started talking about adding pork bones or pig feet to the soup. What??!!! I was aghast. He was going to ruin my soup.

He had this whole explanation / rationalization for doing it his way. It was simple: that's how his family made tomato soup when he was growing up. I know that's how most people like certain dishes - the way mom/dad/grandma made them. But... pork bones in tomato soup? Really? Of course in the midst of this soup discussion, we met up with his family for dinner, the tomato soup came up, and I was quickly outnumbered. Pork bones it was.

I don't know where the pork bone thing comes from. We thought maybe it's a Polish thing since his father's family is Polish. I tried looking it up. I found a scanned page from Polish Heritage Cookery cookbook. Tomato soup (zupa pomidorowa) with pork bones. I found this recipe, with pork meat in the soup.

I also learned that pomidorowa is one of the top comfort foods in Poland. And that searching 'zupa pomidorowa' leads to lots of information - in Polish. Duh. And not useful since I don't know Polish! Also, most of the 'Polish Tomato Soup' recipes I found used beef or chicken broth. And many Polish people are divided on whether this soup is best served with rice or with noodles.

I'm not entirely sure what went into our version! It's probably a version that would insult true Polish pomidorowa. SP made the soup Saturday night and I heard him in the kitchen but I didn't actually witness the soup assembly. He let it simmer in the crock pot overnight, the crock pot auto-shut off around 6~7 am, he let it cool, and before we left for brunch Sunday morning, he put it in a storage container in the refrigerator.

There were chopped onions, carrots, and celery. Cans of tomatoes. Water. Pork neck bones. Fresh basil (actually, frozen basil since we froze our fresh herbs last month). Pepper. And when we ate it, we dolloped in as much sour ream as we each wanted.

Did we eat it with rice or noodles? Neither. Those options never even crossed my mind. I was thinking tomato soup and grilled cheese, but I knew SP wouldn't be too excited about grilled cheese. But a side sandwich sounded good. Finally, I thought of egg salad. We've never made egg salad together and it was sort of in the back of my mind ever since we had that tasty egg salad at the Cafe at the Frick.

I don't like to eat mayo dressed salads the day, or days, after they are made. For some reason, the mayo bothers my stomach after the first day. This is why our potato and pasta and macaroni salads are all dressed with vinegar dressings. For the egg salad, we hard boiled eggs ahead of time. On our soup & sandwich nights, I chopped 3 eggs and a stalk of celery. I let SP make the dressing since he's pickier than I am about mayo stuff. He added some mayo and white vinegar plus paprika, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. We ate it on toasted swirl bread.

The egg salad was tasty. Very nice for something different. As for the tomato soup / zupa pomidorowa, it was good, but it wasn't what I had been wanting, so I was a little disappointed. It has, to me, a strong pork flavor, and while SP really likes that, and while I agree that it adds a nice flavor and richness, I think I would prefer non-porky tomato soup. On the plus side, SP used the immersion blender to puree the soup since I wanted a very smooth, no chunks soup, and it is very smooth.

Casbah Sunday Brunch

2011-11-16T10:12:00.000-05:00

Sunday we went to brunch at Casbah. We did the same thing almost exactly a year ago. Here's what I wrote then:

"I think I've mentioned before that if you sign up for Big Burrito's mailing list (to receive emails about Big Burrito News/Happenings), you receive, in the mail, a birthday coupon every year and that coupon is good for up to $30 off an entree for 2 weeks around your birthday. It's not good on Saturdays, and we had already made plans to dine at Wild Rosemary, and SP gets home too late during the week for us to head back out into the city for dinner, but I just couldn't pass up the birthday coupon! So we decided to use it on a Sunday brunch at Casbah (Eleven also offers Sunday brunch)."

That's pretty much the case this year, except we ate at Willow instead of Wild Rosemary.

Casbah offers a Prix Fixe Sunday brunch for $24 (last year it was $22). It includes a cocktail of your choosing (Mimosa, Bellini, Bloody Mary, Sangria, or Salty Dog), an appetizer, and an entree. They will substitute a non-alcoholic beverage for the cocktail if you want. For my cocktail, I chose Sangria. SP chose a Bloody Mary, which arrived with three large olives, a lemon wedge, and a celery stalk. He said his Bloody Mary is on the spicy side so I wouldn't like it. The Sangria was good.

Soon enough a bread basket was delivered by someone, not our server, so we didn't get descriptions of each goodie. This makes me sad.

Remember how I said I was having allergy/sinus issues? Along with that I've also been exhausted no matter how much/how little I sleep. Well, apparently my taste buds are also affected because I noticed no discernible differences in flavor between these 3 goodies. The small scone was my favorite. SP said he could taste different flavors. Not long after we ate these treats, we heard a server describe them to a nearby table. To my surprise, the scone was a banana scone. I usually don't like banana baked treats, but I didn't pick up any banana flavor. The muffin supposedly had coconut in it. I dislike coconut. I never noticed any coconut. The biscuit was just a biscuit. Yikes! My taste buds are really off!

SP started off with Smoked Salmon, truffled potato cake, aioli, capers, red onion, egg:

It was a very generous portion. He really liked it, especially with the capers, and I enjoyed my bite of potato cake.

I started with my usual: Arugula salad with crimini mushrooms, house-made pancetta, potatoes, pancetta vinaigrette, and goat cheese:

Tasty as always. But I was only able to eat about half of it. I was already slowing down, not a good sign. Was it because I have some sinus thing? Because I finished my leftover Elbow Room sandwich at 8:30pm the night before? It was lunch time, around noon, so I should have been hungry. SP happily finished the salad.

For his brunch entree, he chose Casbah Scramble: local eggs, zucchini, roasted shallots, chorizo sausage, Pecorino Romano, smoked paprika roasted fingerlings, fresh fruit, white or wheat toast:

He enjoyed his scramble, but couldn't finish it. He was pretty full, plus something he had eaten in the days prior to Casbah was bothering his stomach. He got the last bit of scramble and the toast boxed and brought it home.

I chose the same brunch entree as last year. Braised Lamb & Eggs - braised Elysian Fields lamb shoulder, spinach, poached local eggs, oregano, and grilled sourdough:

The first thing I did was pick apart the lamb and spinach, looking for garlic cloves. Last year I was surprised by their presence, two blobs of garlic, but I simply removed them and I was OK. This year, I uncovered this:

Many blobs of garlic. Way more garlic than last year. I was surprised. And worried. Especially since the amount of lamb seemed slightly less than last year. I went ahead and ate the lamb and spinach and bread, hoping for the best.

I asked for my eggs well poached, which I know makes them not really poached eggs, but I always worry how runny yolk will affect my sensitive tummy. Here's my poached eggs:

It was tasty, but I just wasn't enjoying it. I was already pretty full, and I left probably a quarter of the portion on my plate. SP tried a tiny bite but was too full to help.

We didn't even take a peek at the dessert menu.

I left Casbah feeling somewhat sad and disappointed and letdown. I'm not sure that it was Casbah itself. Our server was wonderful as they always are at Casbah. She asked if my egg was poached enough. She kept water glasses filled.

I think it's just that I was tired, messed up from the odd early then late dinner dining on Saturday, still suffering from sneezing and a pounding sinus headache. I didn't really taste anything - SP cannot believe I thought all 3 baked treats tasted the same and didn't taste banana or coconut.

And while I didn't have my usual garlic reaction, I did feel a little sick the rest of the afternoon. My stomach hurt a bit, and I had to force myself to eat dinner because I wasn't hungry at all.

I hope this 'not feeling right' thing passes soon because next week my parents are coming into town for Thanksgiving and an early Christmas celebration and we have a lot of stuff planned for the week that they are here. I haven't seen my dad in 11 months and I haven't seen my mom in 7 months, so I'm pretty excited for their visit. My mom is really excited - she's even talking about going out on Black Friday. In Robinson. We NEVER leave the house on Black Friday. I think she's nuts, but if she wants to brave the Robinson gridlock at 6 am, well, I guess I'll go with her!

Meanwhile, I still like Casbah a lot, and their brunch, and hopefully next time we go I'll be feeling much better.

Elbow Room

2011-11-15T12:23:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday evening, SP and I met up with his family for a 'birthday dinner.' This time, we were very belatedly celebrating ZH's birthday as well as celebrating my recent birthday. ZH and I chose Elbow Room for our birthday dinner.

I had never been to Elbow Room. It's on Walnut Street in Shadyside in the former Max & Erma's space. It describes itself as a casual, local, neighborhood tavern serving an eclectic American menu. Inside is pretty spacious, with lots of room between tables. We were seated off to the left next to the windows in an area that seemed a bit removed from the larger, main dining area and that was on the opposite side from the bar area. I don't really remember much of the interior - I guess my recollection, or impression, is just that it was a pretty standard tavern type interior with wood tables and chairs.

There are beers and wine and cocktails, but everyone ordered iced tea, hot tea, or soda. The iced tea was fresh brewed and it was pretty good fresh brewed iced tea.

SP started with a cup of one of the soups of the day (there were 2 soups of the day). Chicken & Vegetable Soup:

He said it was tasty. I'm not sure he's ever had a soup he didn't enjoy! It looked to be carrots, celery, onions, and chicken in chicken broth with some parsley.

I wanted to try the Asparagus, Prosciutto, and Mozzarella appetizer. "Tender asparagus and fresh buffalo mozzarella, wrapped in prosciutto ham and seared to perfection, served warm."

This was good. Nothing extraordinary about it, but good. Each bundle had 4 asparagus spears. SP and I split this appetizer, and one bundle was plenty for me.

I wasn't going to eat any of the rolls our server brought, but I ended up using one to mop up the balsamic on the appetizer plate! It was a standard roll, served slightly warm.

For his main meal, SP decided to try The Yukon – wild salmon fillet, tomatoes, bacon and lettuce on Indian harvest bread with Dijon mustard-mayo.

He said it was quite tasty. As usual, he ended up not eating all the bread of the sandwich, but that's because of watching his carbs and not being much of a bread person. He chose sweet potato fries for his side. They were tasty fries - I munched on a few of them!

Elbow Room offers several kinds of burgers, and in addition to a beef burger, they offer chicken breast, turkey burger, salmon burger, or veggie burger. The burgers are served with your choice of hand-cut fries, coleslaw, or you can substitute sweet potato fries or onion rings for an additional $1.50.

SP's dad and I ended up ordering the same burger: The Johnny Apple Burger – brie, apple wood smoked bacon and green apples. We both chose a chicken breast.

I decided to order the onion rings for the additional charge:

It was a good sandwich. I found myself wishing for maybe another apple slice and maybe some more cheese, but then again, I like a lot of cheese!

Z and ZH ordered the same burger: The Norman Rockwell Burger – a burger with bacon, egg and American cheese:

Z ordered the regular fries; ZH ordered sweet potato fries. The sandwich was enormous. I could never have taken a bite out of it - I would have had to take a bite from the top half, then the bottom half!

I didn't take any photos, but SP's mom ordered Crab and Asparagus Salad – jumbo lump crab meat, grilled asparagus, and julienned red peppers, on a bed of mixed greens with lemon red pepper dressing. She really liked it and ate the entire salad.

Googer opted for Grilled Chicken and Eggplant Salad – blackened chicken, grilled eggplant, red onions, olives, cucumbers, roasted red peppers and tomatoes, topped with feta. He said it was tasty.

Our server was very friendly and efficient. There was a point when a couple people drinking diet soda said it didn't taste like diet, and she apologized and brought new diet sodas for them. She brought lots of hot water for hot tea and sweetener for SP's mom (she uses like 4 packets per cup of hot beverage).

I liked Elbow Room. I didn't love Elbow Room. The sandwiches are good, and there are a lot of sandwich choices, plus if you're looking for a less expensive meal out, this is a good place. But I found myself thinking it was all good, all acceptable, but not anything special or extraordinary. I'm not sure we would drive out to Elbow Room unless we were meeting up with people at Elbow Room for dinner.

However - I wonder how much of my meal enjoyment, or slight lack of enjoyment, was because of the early dinner hour. I realize that SP and I eat dinner very late for most people (we eat between 7 & 7:30 pm) but meeting at 4:30~4:45 pm and being done with the main meal by 5:30 pm (I checked my watch)... well, it's just too early for me. Family dinners have to be at 4:30 pm as decreed by SP's mother, who claims that because of her type 1 diabetes, she cannot wait any later to eat (of course, she also skips lunch, and one could argue that she should eat a little something for lunch which would then enable her to have dinner a bit later). She's not the only family member with type 1 diabetes who is concerned about keeping their blood sugar level within a certain range. SP also has type 1 diabetes as does another family member. Eating 2-3 hours earlier than normal throws his sugar level off, and we've mentioned that it affects him, but that doesn't seem to matter.

Also, I always feel like some senior citizen out for the early bird special when we have 4:30 pm family dinners.

Anyway, since I had to have dinner so early, I ate only a quarter of my sandwich and I had to take the rest home. I feel like I didn't really have a chance to enjoy my meal. I suppose I should have skipped the appetizer, but one of the things we like to do when we eat out is try several things on the menu, especially when it's a place we don't know how soon we'll get back to again. Half the appetizer, half a roll, some onion rings, a few fries, and barely a quarter of a sandwich had me stuffed. I couldn't even contemplate dessert, which seemed to surprise Googer.

It could also be that I didn't enjoy my meal all that much because I've not been feeling all that great the past week. I'm not sick, but I am having a lot of allergy/sinus issues and for most of Saturday I had a pounding sinus headache.

I ended up eating the rest of my sandwich around 8:30 pm Saturday night.

Whatever the case, my one dining experience at Elbow Room leaves me thinking it's good, pleasant, dependable, and I'd go back.

What's For Dinner?

2011-11-14T13:23:00.001-05:00

Not a lot to say today. Friday night when we made the grocery list we played the 'What's For Dinner?' game. Sometimes I really dislike trying to figure out what's for dinner! It's easy when we have a new recipe in mind or a craving. But this weekend we had nothing. A big blank. Here's what we finally came up with: Pork Chops with Mushrooms & Shallot in a Vermouth-Mustard-Thyme Sauce and Apple, Spinach, Walnut, & Cheddar Salad with Maple-Balsamic Vinaigrette.

CSA #31

2011-11-12T12:29:00.001-05:00

Only one more week and then this year's CSA is over!

This week:

~ 3lb Fuji apples, Dawson’s Orchards
~ 1# crimini mushrooms, Wild Purveyors
~ carrot bunch, Nu Way Farm, CF
~ 1lb sweet potatoes, Weeping Willow Farm, CF
~ 1/3# Romaine lettuce, Nu Way Farm, CF
~ red kuri squash, Clarion River Organics, OG
~ 2# Russet potatoes, Weeping Willow Farm, CF
~ brussel sprouts OR aromatic blend, Crighton’s Farm

I only took photos of the carrots, sweet potato, and brussel sprouts.

This is the first time we've received brussel sprouts still on their thick, tough looking stem. Brussel sprouts are growing on me - these fresh ones roasted with some lemon or balsamic or maple syrup are a far cry from the ones I ate as a kid. Growing up I remember when mom would plop down a bowl full of stinky, steaming, plucked fresh from the freezer bag brussel sprouts. At the time, mom and dad always made us eat a certain amount and we'd always protest and gag and suffer. Years later we found out that mom and dad didn't really like the brussel sprouts either - mom was just looking for vegetable variety.

Crab & Prosciutto Stuffed Peppers

2011-11-11T08:30:00.085-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we watched a Giada At Home episode in which she made Crab & Prosciutto Stuffed Peppers. We both like stuffed peppers. We both like crab. And we have a stockpile of canned lump crab since we've been buying some whenever GEMD has one of their 'Seafood Stock Up' sales. So we decided to try these stuffed peppers.

They're easy to make. We bought a big bag of peppers at Costco, so I used red, yellow, and orange peppers. I was a bit concerned when I mixed the filling ingredients together because the 2 tablespoons of mayo and 1 egg just didn't seem like enough moisture. I was afraid they were going to dry out in the oven since they were supposed to cook for 40-45 minutes at 400 degrees. So I made sure to generously drizzle olive oil over the tops before baking, thinking it might help with the possible moisture issue.

I also added an extra quarter cup of chicken stock to the pan. These baked for 45 minutes and the peppers were cooked enough for us. Some might prefer a softer pepper.

I was dubious of the cornflakes at first. SP thought it sounded good and raved about some cornflake covered chicken he once had somewhere. Turns out I liked the cornflakes. Maybe like is too strong - more like I barely noticed the cornflakes but possibly would notice if they weren't there. These were tasty. Salty from the prosciutto. Tasty lump crab. Not dried out, although I think they were moister and tastier the second day we ate them. When I reheated them, I didn't put any chicken stock in the pan, but I did loosely cover them with foil. Not tightly, because I didn't want any sort of 'steaming' going on and making them too wet. Just loosely to keep them from drying out and to keep the tops from getting too crispy.

Next time, I might add a bit of lemon zest or lemon juice, just for a little extra flavor. Or maybe just squeeze some lemon on top after cooking. I would definitely add the full 1/4 tsp cayenne like I did this time. Overall, these were quick & easy to put together. They just took some time to cook (45 minutes). They were tasty and reheated nicely.

The Best Mac & Cheese With the Best Breaded Chicken

2011-11-09T08:49:00.000-05:00

SP said he would cook anything I wanted for my birthday dinner. My birthday was on Tuesday, and during the week we don't cook from scratch. We re-heat. So whatever he made on Sunday would be what we re-heated on Tuesday for my birthday dinner.

I had all sorts of pasta ideas (of course!) and what kept coming to mind was macaroni and cheese. With breaded chicken. The best breaded chicken. And a green vegetable. Turns out, when I checked my blog archives, I asked for the exact same birthday dinner last year!

This year, the meal was bit different. For one, it was a different macaroni & cheese recipe. And two, it was a different and yummier breaded chicken recipe.

Usually for macaroni & cheese we follow the recipe in our really old, tattered Better Homes & Garden Cookbook. This time, I wanted to try the recipe in Cover & Bake. I remembered that the scalloped potatoes in Cover & Bake had been so much better than regular scalloped potatoes so I figured their macaroni & cheese recipe would be amazing.

I was right. This is the best homemade macaroni & cheese recipe ever. Our old recipe uses American cheese and milk and some onions. This one uses colby and extra sharp cheddar. It uses chicken broth and milk. It has homemade bread crumbs on top. It includes some dry mustard and a tiny amount of cayenne plus garlic (which we omitted). And even though it looked incredibly soupy when we poured it into the baking dish, it firmed up nicely as it baked.

So good. After I divided it into smaller casserole dishes for re-heating, I scraped the pan clean and ate the last little bits clinging to the sides. I think this recipe is more work than the BH&G recipe, but it's so worth the extra effort. It results in a creamy colby-cheddar sauce. When I substituted cheddar for American in the BH&G recipe, the cheddar sauce always turned out stringy.

On to the best breaded chicken ever. Officially the recipe is Baked Herb-Crusted Chicken Breast and it's from the March 2002 issue of Bon Appetit.

We made homemade bread crumbs. We bought a loaf of plain, white bread to make the bread crumb topping for the macaroni & cheese, so SP just ground up the rest of the bread in the food processor, toasted the ground bread crumbs in the oven at 275 until they looked golden, then we added rosemary, parsley, basil, and pepper.

This recipe is so easy and so tasty. Marinate chicken in lemon juice for an hour. Remove chicken & pat dry. Brush chicken with a mixture of olive oil & melted butter. Dip chicken in herbed bread crumbs. Bake at at 450 until done (about 20 minutes). We baked ours at 400 since that's what the macaroni and cheese was baking at.

I love this chicken. I like the lemony flavor and the herby bread crumb flavor.

Seasoning the bread crumbs yourself makes for a tastier bread crumb than buying seasoned bread crumbs. Sometimes it's easier to grab a container of store bought bread crumbs. But homemade ones are so much tastier.

Our green vegetable was roasted asparagus. While the macaroni & cheese cooled for 10 minutes, we roasted it. I love asparagus. I love Costco for selling huge bags of asparagus at a reasonable price.

This was a really, really tasty meal. I really think this macaroni and cheese paired with this herb crusted chicken might be yummy enough to pass lasagna as my favorite/last meal ever.

We've tried about 5 recipes from Cover & Bake and they all have been really, really good. I don't buy a lot of cookbooks - I have a problem spending a lot of money on pretty cookbooks and then making maybe only 1 recipe from the book (which has happened) but this cookbook is a terrific find. Since it's from the Cook's Illustrated folks, there's always a nice 'intro' for each recipe describing how they arrived at the recipe, and I always enjoy reading about their kitchen experimentation.

Birthday Cake

2011-11-08T09:27:00.000-05:00

Even though today is my birthday, I've been enjoying birthday cake since Sunday. It's from Bethel Bakery, and regular readers of this blog know how much I love Bethel Bakery cake. Especially when the cake is all chocolate.

Mmmmm super smooth and creamy icing. This year SP got me peach flowers for the icing decoration. Makes me think of our wedding cake. I'm a very lucky girl. My husband spoils me. He made the trek to Bethel Bakery to get me this tasty cake. Good thing he likes BB cake, too.

Birthday Dinner At Willow

2011-11-06T17:21:00.001-05:00

It's about a week after Halloween, and that means it is time for me to celebrate another birthday. Last year was one of those 'big' ones - one of the birthdays that ends in a zero. I am officially at the point where I no longer wish to recognize just which birthday # I am celebrating - just bring on the celebratory dinners and treats and gifts!

This year I took my time selecting a place at which to have a birthday dinner date with SP. Past birthday dinner dates have been at Eleven, Casbah, Wild Rosemary. I wanted something different. I finally picked Willow, a restaurant at which we dined on New Years Eve 2007. We had not been back since, and that's a shame because Willow is a lovely place.

It's on Camp Horne Road. There are several rooms inside - I think there are 9 dining rooms - and on both our visits we have been seated in the room through the bar area and to the left. Our server introduced himself and asked if we had dined at Willow before, explained that they just rolled out a new menu, and pointed out several small plates and large plates for us to consider. I'm not sure if the choices he high-lighted are his personal favorites, or dishes many people order and enjoy, or if they were simply dishes to which the restaurant wished to steer diners that evening.

After giving us a few moments to peruse the wine/cocktail menu and food menu, our server returned with some bread:

and a plate of grated asiago and cracked pepper onto which he poured garlic olive oil. Oh no! He started pouring before I completely processed the 'garlic' part and I was sort of flustered because this lovely plate of grated cheese was in front of me but it had just been ruined with garlic olive oil! I was trying to find a polite way to ask for plain olive oil or just a plate of grated cheese - I'm not sure I was expressing myself clearly because I felt so bad with about my 'special request' after he'd poured the garlic oil. Anyway, it was no problem, he brought another plate of cheese and poured plain olive oil on, and I was happy because I could dunk my warm, tasty bread into cheesy olive oil.

See the zig zag in the cheese? It's a W for Willow! OK, I totally didn't pick up on that - we overheard a woman at a nearby table exclaim about the W for Willow.

For beverages, I ordered a glass of Grayson Zinfandel and SP stuck with iced tea. It was interesting that when SP checked into Willow at foursquare, it was listed as a wine bar. They do have a happy hour Monday through Saturday 5 pm - 7 pm (half off selected draft beers, $3.50 house wines, several $6 cocktails). On Thursdays Willow has 'Uncork'd' which is half off a selection of wine by the glass and by the bottle.

The menu is divided into 'small plates' (appetizers) and 'large plates' (entrees) and several small plates also make an appearance under 'large plates.' There were several small plates I wanted to try (the gnudi with veal meatballs, the risotto cakes) but I chose the Grown Up Mac & Cheese - orecchiette pasta, braised short rib, caramelized onions, spinach, brie cream sauce baked with herbed bread crumbs:

It doesn't photograph well. Of the 4 or 5 photos I took, this one was the best and it's not that great. Oh my gosh. So cheesy and creamy. Delicious braised short rib. Lots of onions. This was so darn good. I could have eaten it all, but I didn't because it was just enough cheese & pasta that I thought I would end up too full to enjoy my large plate. So I set about one third aside and got it wrapped to bring home.

SP chose Shellfish Trio - seared scallop and Korean bbq pork belly, miso caramel & marinated shitake, lump crab cake with red onion caper sauce, broiled shrimp, scallion coulis:

I tried a bite of his scallop and it was delicious - cooked just right.

I didn't ask for a taste of his shrimp. He said it was very tasty and flavorful but was maybe just a wee bit tough/cook a wee bit too long.

I tired a bit of his crab - just one lump, that nice big lump on the left in the photo! It was good, but I didn't get a full taste because I didn't dip it in the sauce. SP loves capers, so he loved the sauce and crabcake.

For his large plate, SP chose Roasted Duck - seared duck breast, crispy duck confit, duck crackling,
roasted brussel sprouts, stewed lentils, apple & duck jus.

He said the brussel sprouts were very good. The lentils were good, too, and had bits of duck mixed in with them. The duck breast under the radish slices was perfectly cooked (medium as he asked) with lovely crispy skin and was not the usual a l'orange duck. When I asked him how it was when I was typing this post, he said 'ooooohhhhhh so good when are we going back?'

I chose Braised Lamb Pappardelle - braised lamb shank, caramelized leeks, rosemary grilled wild mushrooms, fresh pappardelle pasta, red wine fig reduction, shaved fontina cheese.

It might have been a teeny mistake to order a pasta small plate and a pasta large plate, even for me, the pasta monster. But I couldn't resist either. I love braised lamb and this lamb was so tasty.

I love the super wide pappardelle noodle - I know what pappardelle is, but I had never before eaten pappardelle. I ended up using a knife to cut my noodles into bite size pieces. The mushrooms were so good - I think I made happy sounds every time I ate a mushroom (hope the sounds were just in my mind and not actually audible happy sounds!). There didn't seem to be a lot of sauce/juice, but my initial fear of a dry dish was proven wrong. This was so good. There are other large plates I want to try (veal osso bucco, BBQ pork chop) but this was so good I would have a hard time not ordering it the next time we go. Much as I wanted to keep eating, I had to stop before I burst. I got the rest wrapped up to take home.

I ordered a decaf coffee and SP ordered a decaf cappuccino while we thought about dessert:

He got a sugary swizzle stick!

Once we saw the dessert menu, we knew. There was no way we were passing up the funnel cake:

'Carnival funnel cake served with homemade pastry cream and macerated blackberries.' The funnel cake made me think of a nest! It was more a nest of fried dough bits than those huge piles of swirled dough you get at parks and festivals. Lots of powdered sugar. And a delicious pastry cream. To me, the pastry cream made the dish. I love pastry cream - it's what we make for our fruit tart every July 4. I could have licked the plate, but I didn't. I settled for scraping up as much as I could!

We both really enjoyed our food at Willow. I definitely ate way too much as after we left I felt super stuffed and had to roll down the window in the car for some cool, fresh air to help me feel better. Our server was friendly, knowledgeable, prompt, didn't rush us but didn't take too much time. He didn't get all freaked out over my olive oil issue. He made sure SP's iced tea and my coffee were kept filled. No complaints.

I can't remember the old menu at Willow, but I love the new menu and I am looking forward to going back soon.

CSA #30

2011-11-05T12:47:00.000-04:00

Week #30:
~ half gallon apple cider, Kistaco Farm
~ 6 ounces chevre cheese, River View Dairy
~ 1/3# Vates kale, Nu Way Farm, CF
~ 1lb hot peppers, Weeping Willow Farm, CF
~ 1/3# Romaine lettuce, Nu Way Farm, CF
~ 3# Granny Smith apples, Dawson’s Orchards
~ 2# Russet potatoes, Weeping Willow Farm, CF

The potatoes are delayed for a week and we didn't take any apple cider. The red pepper with black spots is freaking me out - is it supposed to be spotted or did something attack it?!

More Comfort Food: Meatloaf

2011-11-03T16:09:00.001-04:00

Meatloaf. I like meatloaf, but sometimes I have anti-meatloaf sentiments, probably because there have been dry, hard meatloaves in my past, maybe because for a long time growing up, every Monday was meatloaf day. Meatloaf is deceptive - it seems easy to make, but a truly yummy meatloaf involves a bit of effort.

We made our meatloaves Monday evening, after dinner & trick-or-treat. Yes, plural, meatloaves. Why? I like beef and pork. SP wanted turkey & pork. And there's my first meatloaf tip: never make an all beef meatloaf. So much better with a mix of meat.

The meatloaf seasoning is pretty much whatever you want. We never follow a recipe. Usually we add some combination of bread crumbs, egg, parsley, Dijon mustard, onion, and Worcestershire. Worcestershire is key. I love Worcestershire in meatloaf and am very generous with it. Onion is also key - it helps keep the meat moist (or so I've had many Food Network chefs tell me). Bread crumbs are optional. My parents have made meatloaf without bread crumbs. I like a small amount. This time we used up our panko and then added a bit of Progresso Italian Breadcrumbs. We also added some chopped mushrooms.

My guess is my meatloaf was about 1 lb total. SP's was probably closer to 1.5 lbs. After shaping the loaves, we put them on foil lined cookie sheets and covered them with plastic wrap then put them in the refrigerator. Tuesday evening, I baked them at 350 for about an hour.

While the meatloaves cooked, I sauteed the rest of the mushrooms with some onions, adding in some salt, pepper, and thyme:

And we 'cheated' and baked some Pillsbury frozen flaky biscuits:

And microwaved frozen, not fresh, green beans:

My meatloaf was delicious and moist. Sometimes I like to dip meatloaf in BBQ sauce, sometimes in A1 steak sauce, and sometimes I like to make cucumbers & tomatoes in vinegar and then let the vinegar soak into my meatloaf. SP likes ketchup on his meatloaf. I forgot to take photos of his meatloaf.

Next time I think I'd like to try adding some pureed vegetables into the meatloaves. I've never done that before, but after we made our meatloaves, I saw a post at Cooking For My Dad and she added sauteed & pureed veggies to her meatloaf. It sounds good, and I suspect helps keep it moist.

Afternoon Tea at Cafe at the Frick

2011-11-02T11:36:00.001-04:00

Recently SP & I went to see the Faberge exhibit at The Frick. I love Faberge and have been to Faberge exhibits at the Cleveland Museum twice. This was a very nice exhibit, although there are not any of the Imperial Easter Eggs on display. Photo frames, cigarette cases, brooches and other jewelry, bell pushes, silverware, and so much more... so many beautiful items. After enjoying the Faberge exhibit, we went to afternoon tea at The Cafe at the Frick.

On their site, it says that members only can make advance reservations. Non-members may only make same day reservations. I thought that was a bit odd, and a little inconvenient, but, whatever. So I called around 9:30 am the morning of our planned visit. A woman answered and transferred me to the cafe. And I got voice mail that instructed me to leave my name, number, desired reservation time/number of people, etc., and they would call me back to confirm if that was OK. Umm... what?! The Cafe opens at 11 am. Did that mean I would be receiving a call back after 11 am? But we were planning on leaving around 11:30 am to drive to Regent Square from Robinson and we wanted enough time to see the Faberge exhibit and the antique autos and walk around. I wasn't sure if we would still go if we couldn't also enjoy afternoon tea. What if there were no available reservations? What if my time had to be shifted?

Yes, I am a planner.

I did receive a call back around 10:15 am. My desired reservation time wasn't available, but we could have one a half hour later. So I said OK.

The cafe is smaller than I expected inside. The tables are closer together than I would like. You can hear everything your next door table neighbors say. It makes you very careful about what you say!!

SP chose Black Currant tea and I chose Earl Grey. I think they use Harney & Sons teas, which are quite good. We both really enjoyed our teas. The Cafe at the Frick afternoon tea arrives on a 3 tier server:

The top layer was the savory tea sandwiches. Scoops of salads on a mini toast rounds:

Chicken salad, egg salad, beet & ricotta, and mushroom & cream cheese:

They were all very tasty. I enjoyed the beet salad much more than I expected because it was not as beety as I expected! The chicken salad was my favorite. SP said the egg salad was one of the best egg salads he's ever enjoyed.

The second tier was scones served with homemade strawberry jam and cream (yes, cream, not a feta cheese spread as we overheard our table neighbors speculating when they couldn't identify it - ?!):

There were several flavors of scone: plain, lemon-poppy, and apple-cinnamon. They were very tasty. The jam was amazing, such good strawberry flavor. I think we ended up just eating the leftover jam plain because it was so good. I really liked the apple-cinnamon scone. It seemed so fall-like and warming. SP really liked the lemon-poppy scone.

The bottom tier was the sweet treats:

Chocolate thumbprint, madeleine, mini cranberry muffin, and a lemon-ricotta cheesecake round. There were blackberries and a small bowl of melted chocolate. I dipped my blackberries in the melted chocolate! The thumbprint was very rich. It was like a brownie base, not a cookie base, and a rich icing center. I want to say I liked the madeleine best, but I think I liked the mini cheesecake round best. It was a little too soft by the time I ate it, but I think it was the best afternoon tea treat.

Our check arrived with these teeny weeny sugar cookies:

The Cafe at the Frick has a very nice afternoon tea, I just wish there was a bit more space between tables and that the reservation policy was bit more non-member customer friendly. I wouldn't recommend trying to go without reservations as they were quite busy when we were there. Our server was very efficient and friendly enough. She did a good job keeping hot water in our teapots - no small feat since SP drinks quickly and he went through 3 pots of tea!

Mint Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2011-11-01T10:51:00.001-04:00

The last time we were in Walmart, SP 'parked' me right in front of a holiday baking display. He should know better. He was looking for canned pumpkin and as he circled the display, I gazed at all the goodies: semi-sweet chips, milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, walnuts, almonds, pecans, and these:

Andes Candies! Growing up, every time my mom hosted the neighborhood ladies card club group, Andes Candies would appear in the formal living room candy dish. Oh how I loved those candies. I always had to not-so-patiently wait for the Monday evening card party to end before I could have any. OK, so maybe I was the kind of kid who would sneak one or two and then 'rearrange' the candies to try to hide that they had been pillaged. But on Tuesday morning, there was no need for stealth.

I was pretty excited when I saw the Andes Candies baking bits. I love chocolate & mint. One of my first Christmas cookies was a mint chocolate chip cookie. The recipe was from my grandma. The cookies actually stayed in a round ball shape when they baked - they didn't spread out. I'm not sure if you can even buy mint chocolate baking chips these days, but back then, every holiday season, bags of mint chocolate baking chips would magically appear.

Look at those little green bits! Minty goodness. SP mixed together the dough before he left for work Monday morning. Before he left, he warned me that the dough for these is very crumbly. It uses dark brown sugar, not light brown sugar, and fortunately we had some leftover from the Triple Ginger Cookies. The dough is supposed to chill for an hour before you form 1 ounce balls that you then slightly flatten. The dough probably chilled nearly 2 hours. I used our cookie dough scoop and at first it was a bit tough for me to scoop. I ended up scooping a bit and then sort of packing in additional dough until the scoop was full. I used our dough tamper to slightly flatten them.

I baked them for about 11-12 minutes, more than the 8-10 minutes in the recipe. I don't think they are over cooked. In fact, these are pretty soft. They seem like a cross between a shortbread cookie and a chocolate chip cookie. With minty chocolate goodness. These are really good. Obviously, I have to sample the ones I break apart for the 'interior' photos. But I couldn't stop there. I ate quite a few.

I love these cookies so much that I think we need to make another Walmart trip soon just to stock up on these baking bits. Also, I kind of want to try these Peppermint Crunch Baking Bits.

The recipe is on the back of the bag, or you can find it here: Andes Creme de Menthe Cookies.

Happy, Comfort Food: Lasagna

2011-10-31T17:38:00.000-04:00

Anytime someone asks me what my favorite meal is, or what my last meal would be, I say lasagna. I think it is consistently my favorite food. Sometimes I flirt with thinking pizza is my favorite, sometimes I think my favorite is braised lamb shank or grilled lamb chops, and sometimes I am convinced there is nothing better than homemade macaroni & cheese with breaded chicken tenders. But most of the time, it's lasagna. It has a lot going for it: pasta, cheese, tomatoes. Yum!

Sunday morning while I read the paper and enjoyed my morning tea, SP made the marinara sauce. He makes very good marinara sauce. Every time he makes marinara and/or lasagna, it's a bit different. It just depends on our mood. This time, he chopped onion, carrots, celery, and green pepper to saute. Then he dumped in the cans of tomato goodness. Added some sliced baby bellas. Added some dried oregano and fresh basil (well, frozen basil, since we froze the fresh basil to use over the winter). No meat this time.

The house smelled so good! In late afternoon, he put the lasagna together, carefully layering noodles, sauce, and a ricotta-mozzarella cheese mixture. The top layer is a sprinkling of grated parmesan. By the 4th quarter of the Steelers game, we were shoveling in delicious bites of lasagna while cheering.

Of course this meal called for some wine, Coppola Claret. It tasted especially good yesterday. I took a couple photos of some leftover lasagna this morning (photo above & below) because I wasn't sure how my Steelers love/Patriots hate plus 3 glasses of wine plus drooling over my favorite food plus the evening kitchen light would impact the food photos I took Sunday evening.

I love that my favorite food gives us leftovers for another 3 meals this week plus a meal in the freezer. Four lasagna nights in one week. So happy!

CSA #29

2011-10-29T09:06:00.001-04:00

CSA #29 - only 3 weeks left!

~2.5# potato medley, Golden Harvest Farm, CF
~ 3# Braeburn apples, Dawson’s Orchards
~ Swiss chard, Nu Way Farm, CF
~ red savoy cabbage head, Weeping Willow Farm, CF
~ curly parsley, Crighton’s Farm

~ 1# red onions, Crighton’s Farm
~ winter squash, Weeping Willow Farm, CF or Matthew’s Farm
~ French breakfast radishes, Nu Way Farm, CF
~ butterhead or oakleaf lettuce, Clarion River Organics, OG

Roast Lemon Chicken

2011-10-27T10:41:00.060-04:00

Steelers games at 4 pm present a bit of a problem. We want to watch the game, but usually on Sundays we start cooking between 4 pm and 5 pm. Last Sunday, our solution was to put the game on, turn it up loud so we could hear it in the kitchen, and get together something that was 'hands off' after it started cooking: roast chicken. Specifically, the Roast Lemon Chicken that we frequently make in the cooler months.

We've made it before, so I won't talk much about it other than to say that this chicken cooks in 45 minutes since it roasts at 450 degrees and the lemon & chicken broth keep it moist while it roasts and then make a lovely gravy/broth with fresh parsley. You can see the juiciness in the top photo - it ran over the cutting board, into the groove, and overflowed a bit since we had a mess on the counter after dinner!

We also roasted a bunch of CSA veggies form the veggie bin: leeks, peppers, and eggplant:

We made brown rice (for SP) and white rice (for me), but I didn't bother with any rice photos since rice is not very photogenic! Thanks to the rice cooker Googer gave us, we no longer have to hover over pots of rice, watching for overflows and checking to see if all the water is absorbed. So nice & hands off!

So we got to watch the game and have a tasty meal with minimal kitchen time.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-10-25T11:37:00.001-04:00

Ever since I saw how wonderful the biscotti turned out in the new oven last weekend, I've been wanting to bake more cookies. For some reason, I am focused on cookies, not pie or loaf cake or bundt cake. It has to be cookies.

But I was craving the Harvest Loaf Cake I usually make every October. Pumpkin, spices, chocolate chips. I could have turned it into Harvest Mini Cupcakes, I suppose, for a more cookie like size. But I wanted cookies. Sometimes, I don't understand my brain. There was no reason to not make a loaf cake or mini cupcakes. It was just that for some inexplicable reason, I had to have cookies.

So I figured surely there is a Pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookie recipe out there that uses all of the Harvest Loaf Cake ingredients, only in cookie form. So I started Googling. It was easier than I expected. Usually I read recipe after recipe after recipe in the search results, searching for the best one for whatever I want to make. But this time, I looked at the first result and didn't look at other recipes. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies on foodnetwork.com, recipe from George Duran.

I made these Sunday afternoon while SP was doing yard work. Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin, vanilla. Mmmm it smelled so good from the first spice jar I opened. As usual, I was generous with the cinnamon.

I also used semisweet chocolate chips, not milk chocolate. These turned out so good. A spicy, pumpkiny chocolate chip cookie. They stayed nice and thick/rounded, they didn't spread out like pancakes like our last chocolate chip cookie experience. Moist. They're good when they're warm, but even better once they have cooled. There was a lot of sampling during the first quarter of the football game. And after the game. We both are gobbling these up quickly. They're that good. And they make the house smell so good.

In my experience, homemade and store-bought pumpkin cookies can get kind of moist, wet, and slightly squishy over time - and then they stick to each other. I was a little concerned about the longevity of these cookies and the potential for stickiness. So I made sure they were completely cooled. Sometimes I get a little anxious to put my cookies in containers and they might still be a wee bit warm, but not this time. I also put pieces of waxed paper between each layer and I didn't press down/squish them in. At Christmas, when we bake a lot and cookie containers can get a little scarce, I sometimes cram them into containers. But it's not Christmas, so there are lots of containers around. I went ahead and used 2 large containers for these. As of Monday evening, they did not have any of that wet/moist/sticky stuff starting, so I am hoping they stay more like chocolate chip cookies and not like my past pumpkin cookie experiences.

I think I like these better than the Harvest Loaf Cake. These might be my new 'make every October' pumpkin & chocolate treat.

Dormont Food Blogger Tour

2011-10-24T11:58:00.001-04:00

This past Saturday, SP & I joined a group of fellow bloggers on a Food Tour of Dormont led by Culinary Cory. It was a beautiful, cool, crisp, sunny autumn day. We gathered in the parking lot of the Dormont Public Library (located on West Liberty Avenue) and introduced ourselves to each other and met Sylvia, the woman behind 'Burgh Bits & Bites Food Tours. The Dormont tour is a new one developed by Cory. The existing tours include the following neighborhoods: The Strip, Bloomfield, Lawrenceville, and Brookline.

I grew up in Peters Township and have traveled up and down West Liberty Avenue many, many times. I also commuted on the T downtown for work for several years, so I passed through Dormont and the Potomac T Station many, many times. Most recently, just a month ago, we traveled up and down Potomac Avenue/West Liberty to go to an appliance store in our quest for a new oven. But aside from breakfast at Dor-Stop, we've never explored Dormont. We had only a 'drive through' knowledge.

Cory started off the tour at this mural painted on the side of a brick building. Dormont means 'Gold Mountain' and it was founded in 1909. Cory told us lots of interesting facts, but as soon as he mentioned amenities in Dormont, specifically the Dormont Pool, my mind slipped back many years in time to the night some friends and I climbed the bars at the Dormont Pool after it closed for the day and went swimming at midnight. Oops. If it's been over 20 years, it's no longer a punishable offense, right? Here's Cory, leading us down West Liberty and about to turn left onto Potomac:

Our first stop on the tour: Potomac Bakery.

I had never tried anything from Potomac Bakery before. Each person was able to choose a thumbprint cookie to try. I chose a chocolate Halloween thumbprint.

It was a tasty thumbprint cookie. I thought the chocolate filling was a tasty filling. As I savored my cookie, I enjoyed looking at the Halloween cakes in the display window:

I love the candy corn teeth! And look at all these little ghosts in the pumpkin patch:

I love looking at decorated cakes. We never attempt anything so creative and arty at home. I'd likely quickly lose my patience, so I always marvel at what others can create.

Next stop: Dormont Dogs:

It's actually around the corner on Glenmore Avenue. I had not heard of Dormont Dogs before. Their hot dog creations sounded very good, even tempting SP, who normally does not eat hot dogs.

The board lists all their hot dog creations. An online menu is here.

We got to sample a Texas Avenue Dog - chili sauce, cheddar cheese, sour cream, Fritos. There was a sample Bruschetta Dog for the vegetarians - a vegetarian hot dog with tomatoes marinated in olive oil & basil plus a creamy pesto and parmesan.

To my surprise, I loved my hot dog!! First, I'm not much of a hot dog person, unless it's blackened on the grill and smothered in mustard and cheese. Second, I'm not much of a chili person. But this was tasty. Plus, cheese, sour cream, and Fritos. Fritos are possibly my favorite crunchy snack and I try to not eat crunchy snacks so sometimes I really crave Fritos. I used to be able to ignore the no crunchy snack rule a few times a year because every time we visited my grandpa and had dinner, the afternoon 'appetizer' was Fritos because grandpa loved Fritos. But grandpa passed away a couple of years ago and now I have no excuse for Fritos appetizer. I tasted the Fritos on this dog. And loved it. Plus, tasty toasted bun (the buns are from Potomac Bakery).

I think the next stop was The Hollywood Theater, but I didn't take any photos. The theater was originally a bowling alley. It still has balcony seating and now shows an eclectic mix of movies like Human Centipede and The Rocky Horror Picture Show plus classics and foreign films. It's a neat place inside.

Next it was time for some pizza at Campiti's.

We all got to sample some cheese pizza - yum!

Next up was Fredo's Market. Of course when we were talking with the owner, I was convinced I'd remember everything, so I didn't take notes like some fellow bloggers. And of course now I fear there are gaps in my memory! I believe the owner and his wife are from former Yugoslavia and they ended up here in Pittsburgh where after many years of the husband working in the cleaning business, he & his wife decided to open this market as well, and she does much of the cooking, like making this tasty treat:

A Spinach and Feta Pita Swirl (zeljanica). She makes the dough from scratch, stretching it very thin, and she learned from her mom. It was very tasty, but then again, I love the combination of spinach & feta & dough!

They sell other goodies, like baklava, and foods/drinks imported from the ex-Yugoslavia countries and other European countries. There's a big party room in the back. And they also serve wings, gyros, soups, salads, and sandwiches.

We next made our way to a place SP & I have been wanting to try since it opened last February: Sugar Cafe.

A place that serves coffee, tea, and baked goodies - I was instantly happy and captivated by the tasty goodies in the display case:

Everyone got to select a cupcake to sample. I chose the Irish Car Bomb:

The cake part was nice and moist. The icing wasn't hard like I expected but instead very smooth, soft, and creamy. Someone asked what was in it and I remember hearing Guinness, whiskey, and Bailey's - yum! SP chose a Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cupcake:

He enjoyed it a lot, but I didn't try a bite because peanut butter = yuck!

I zoomed in on Food Collage's cupcake, Pumpkin with Cream Cheese icing:

Our last stop on the tour was Beyond Bedtime Books. I love books. It's so cozy and welcoming inside. The wood floors are the original floors, refinished. The building also has that wonderful tin ceiling that SP & I have seen in many other older restaurants/stores in the Dormont/Mt. Lebanon area.

Cory had a special surprise for us: tasting some Asian Pear Wine and some Asian pears. They look like pear colored apples! There were 2 kinds in the box: Junosan & Hosui.

The Asian Pear Wine was tasty, like a very sweet pear flavored Riesling or ice wine.

After some more socializing and thanking our tour leader, it was time to head off, me to home and SP to the Pens game, but not before a stop back at Sugar Cafe. I had seen their Cinnamon Sunset tea and I just had to have a cup of it. It's delightfully spicy - cinnamon, cloves, yum! We also just had to get some more treats! I decided to try the Pumpkin Spice Torte:

I enjoyed it later that evening while watching the Pens game on TV. It was good, but not great. I think I expected a bit more pumpkin/spice flavor. I liked my cupcake better.

SP wanted to try the Lemon Poppy Seed scone:

He ate it Sunday morning as part of his breakfast and really liked it.

It was a really nice Saturday afternoon. Cory gave us so much more information about Dormont and its history than I can write about on this blog. What makes these tours so great, even for native Pittsburghers, is what you learn. No matter how many times we've driven up and down Potomac, we had no idea of any of Dormont's history, or the history of these stores & restaurants, and we always enjoying learning the stories behind the doors. It also was a gorgeous fall day, a perfect day for a walking tour.

It's also always nice to meet fellow food bloggers - the faces behind the blogs. We got to say hello to people we've met before, like Food Collage and Forked, we got to meet Cory, and we got to meet new people like Senorita Cibulka, Pittsburgh Food Scene, I heart Pgh, Motor City Girl in the Steel City, and Cooking For My Dad.

A big thanks to Cory for creating the Dormont food tour and inviting food bloggers on the tour!

CSA #28

2011-10-21T13:04:00.000-04:00

Week #28:

~1# broccoli, Weeping Willow Farm, CF
~1# roma beans, Sunny Meadow Farm, CF

~ 3# cortland apples, Kistaco Farm

~ 1/2# Gouda Gold, Hidden Hills Dairy

~ 1/3# vates kale, Nu Way Farm, CF

~ 1 bunch leeks, Blue Goose Farm, CNG
~ 1.5# blue potatoes, Clarion River Organics, OG
~ 1/2# sweet green carmen peppers, Weeping Willow Farm, CF