Things I Ate This Weekend

Bonjour, mes amours. I'm practicing French for my upcoming trip to Togo. That's right, I'm going to Africa this summer. Not officially yet, but I'm working on it. I only need roughly 2,000 dollhairs for a plane ticket, a Togolese visa, and proof of the Yellow Fever vaccine. I don't know why I'm including this news in this post, but it seems like a good time to share it.

Anyways, I ate some awesome stuff this weekend. From Thursday to Sunday, I babysat my cousins, Nick and Natalie, while my aunt and uncle were in Chicago. My dad came up to spend Friday night and Saturday with us, so I managed to eat some really good food at no cost to me. And then, Sunday was Hunter's birthday, so I had another delicious meal, though I had to pay for it.

So I know Becca and Alli are aware of it, but there is a food trailer in Austin called Hey Cupcake, which sells, you guessed it, crepes...I mean cupcakes. I ate the red velvet cupcake:

It was DELICIOUS.

Natalie ate one called the Double Dose:

That would be chocolate cake with chocolate icing. She seemed to enjoy it. My dad has some photos with his fancy camera, which I'll put up here if he ever posts them to Flickr.

Finally, I took a crappy camera-phone-quality picture of what I ate for Hunter's birthday dinner. We went to a place called 24 Diner. It has one of my most favorite meals in the world:
Don't let the picture fool you. It is frickin tasty and comes with this maple bourbon butter that is like crack.

That's all for now. Gute Nacht (I'm also taking a class in German this semester...I'm trying real hard to be a polyglot). Love you all.

Adventures from the Texas State Fair!

Living in the DFW area has some excellent advantages... Cowboys' games, Mavericks' games, and, of course, the Texas State Fair! Now, most state fairs are known for fried goodness, but everything is bigger, better, and apparently more creative in Texas. That being said, though we try really hard, it doesn't always work out too well. This year, the fried competition had pretty interesting entries, including fried frito pie, fried margaritas, and fried beer. Jocelyn (my new roommate), Shannon, Shannon's dad and I all went last Friday with a common goal: try all 3! Unfortunately, we did not accomplish that. It was supposed to be chilly and rain, but it didn't, so we were walking around in about 100 degrees in jeans, riding spinning rides, AND had an awful experience with one of goodies.

When we got there, we immediately started the search for the deep fried frito pie. There were sooooo many food stands it was actually really difficult to find. Shannon actually stopped at one to ask where it was and woman said, "We have Frito pie!" and only pointed when Shan asked if it was fried. It took us about 15 minutes, but we found it!

Looks delicious, right?

Oh, and it was. It came with hot salsa and sour cream, none of which I used, but it SHOULD have come with cheese. Cheese would have made it infinitely better. 

Blurry picture of the inside

I don't know how they did it, but I'm glad they did.

When we finished these nuggets of deliciousness, we went on a few rides. Awful idea. We needed a break and some A/C, so we went inside the food court. What a pleasant surprise! Inside there we found the...

If you can't tell... I couldn't find the picture we took.

Yes, that's fried beer, and yes, it looks like ravioli. The person working the counter told Shannon's dad to bite off a corner, shoot the beer, and the rest was a pretzel.

False.

Shannon, Jocelyn, and I bit off the corner and struggled to eat it. Shannon even spit it out. Then, it hit us: this is hot beer. This was going to be boiling hot beer. I understand that is common sense to most people, but, for some reason, that didn't register with us. But, how many people can say they've had fried beer? So, we cheers-ed and took the shot of molten hot beer. Disgusting. I don't even think the beer they used would have tasted good cold. Mr. Jones laughed at our faces and collective "EEEYYYYYUUUUUCKKKKK!" but still manned up to take the last two. Granted, he did have 3 real beers prior to the fried disaster.

Oh well. We ended the day with a nice trip to Olive Garden, which luckily had no fried beer.

Blondies?

Hey family,
Today was my "free" day from having to be at school or at clinic, so I was at home all day grading papers for a class I'm TAing and doing homework. In particular, I was practice scoring the Rorschach Inkblot test for a projective assessment class I'm taking (basically, finding some sort of meaning behind what a person percieves in an ambiguous blob of ink). Personally, I find this test a little silly; however, I wonder if it means something that all day I kept seeing brownies, cupcakes, and cookies in all of the blots :) I find this next pic to be pretty funny myself, but that may just be the psychologist nerd in me coming out.



Okay, okay. This picture is actually kind of gross, but--it does look almost exactly like one of the blots from the test. And, I'd still eat it. :)



Anyway, all of this thinking about sweets, made me really want to make something sweet. So, I found a recipe for Blondies (what I thought were Blonde Brownies) on Smitten Kitchen's blog. I don't think I've actually eaten a Blonde Brownie since I was a little girl; however, I remember my mom making some really good ones. Plus, this was one recipe I already had all the ingredients to at my house! So, I followed it. The whole thing was super simple (seriously, the most time consuming part was melting the butter) and they came out tasting really good--but, they did not remind me at all of the blonde brownies my mom used to make. In fact, they tasted more like chocolate chip cookies. I thought something was fishy when the batter came out more like cookie dough instead of brownie batter. So, my question for you is: Do any of you happen to know what may have gone wrong? Or, happen to have the recipe my mom used to make hers?

I have already scavenged through her old recipe box in Katy, and found that a lot of the good recipes she used to make were unfortunately never written down and must have been from her memory. But I'm hoping she passed this along to someone. Or, even if its not hers, if someone would be willing to share their own recipe for Blonde Brownies. Anyway, here's the recipe for these "Blondies" and a couple pics to follow.

Blondies (Infinitely Adaptable)
Taken from Smitten Kitchen (Originally adapted from How to Cook Everything)
Ingredients:
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Pinch salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:
1. Butter an 8×8 pan (double the recipe to fit in 9 X 13 pan)
2. Mix melted butter with brown sugar – beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.
3. Add salt, stir in flour. Mix in any additions (below).
4. Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle. I always err on the side of caution with baking times — nobody ever complained about a gooey-middled cookie. Cool on rack before cutting them.

Further additions, use one or a combination of:
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts, toasting them first for even better flavor
• 1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon mint extract in addition to or in place of the vanilla
• 1/2 cup mashed bananas
• 1/4 cup bourbon, scotch or other whiskey; increase the flour by one tablespoon
• 2 tablespoons of espresso powder with the vanilla
• Stir 1/2 cup dried fruit, especially dried cherries, into the prepared batter
• Top with a vanilla butter cream or chocolate peanut butter cream frosting


Had to get my cute little Hendrix in there.


See, they really just look like cookies. What gives?

Pistachio Cake

So, I know this is ridiculous that I've posted so many times in the last few days, but Sarah requested this one and since fall/winter decided to come early to Portland, I've been cooped up inside today relaxing from the rain. Andrew's off brewing beer with some friends (which is probably a blogworthy post in itself) and I've been watching terrible Lifetime movies all day and could use something to do (boy do I sound lame...).

This recipe is something I found when trying to decide on a cake to make for Andrew's birthday in August. My dad and sisters got to taste it since they came up to visit right around that time. Andrew loves anything with pistachios in it and I decided to see how I could incorporate them into a birthday cake. This recipe is actually a mix of two that I found online (the cake from one and the frosting from another). I honestly cannot remember where I found each of them. Anyway, the recipe is very simple and uses box cake mix and jello instant pudding. It's so easy even Sarah could make it ;) Here's the recipe:

Pistachio Cake
Ingredients
-1 package white cake mix
-3/4 cup vegetable oil
-1 cup lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage(I just bought 1 small bottle of Sprite)
-3 eggs
-2 (3 ounce) packages instant pistachio pudding mix
-1 tub (8 ounces) of Cool Whip
-3/4 cup milk
-chopped pistachios (optional)

Directions
1. Beat cake mix, oil, soda, eggs, and first package of pudding until smooth. Pour batter into greased 9 X 13 inch pan.
2. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes, or until cake tests done.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the cool whip, the other package of pudding, and 3/4 cup of milk. Spread over cooled cake. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios if you'd like. Refrigerate.

I thought this came out tasting pretty darn good. I'm pretty sure everyone else enjoyed it too! Sarah, you'll have to let us know how it turns out!

Pok Pok wings and Pix dessert!

Hey,
This post is really just to brag about the delicious dinner Andrew and I ate with some old college friends of ours this evening. We first went to Pok Pok, this amazing Thai restaurant that has been rated one of Portland's best restaurants and whose chefs have been nominated for several James Beard awards. It's probably one of our favorite places to eat in Portland. It's a little spendy and you usually have to wait quite a while to be seated--but, it's totally worth it. They have even opened up a lounge across the street where you can drink cocktails while you're waiting (they call over to the lounge when your table is ready). Anyway, probably the best thing on the menu is their wings. Seems weird coming from a Thai restaurant, but seriously, they are to die for.


Although we've never attempted making them at home, apparently you can with this recipe provided by Food and Wine Magazine. Here it is in case anyone wanted to give it a try. If you do, you'll have to let me know how it goes!

Chicken Wings Pok Pok Style
(serves 6)~From Food and Wine Magazine

■sea salt and fresh ground pepper
■1 cup fish sauce
■1 cup maple syrup
■1/2 cup orange juice
■8 garlic cloves, minced (divided)
■3 pounds chicken wings, cut at the joints
■3 tablespoons butter
■zest and juice of 1 orange
■1/4 cup Sambal Oelek chili paste (or less if you want less heat)
■oil for frying
■1 cup chopped cilantro (for garnish)

Season the wings with a pinch of sea salt and a crank of fresh ground pepper. In a large bowl whisk together the fish sauce, maple syrup, orange juice, and half of the garlic cloves. Add the wings and toss to coat. Transfer the wings and marinade to a plastic bag and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight (I’d go overnight or as long as you can).

Drain the wings over a medium bowl to reserve the marinade. Heat the butter over medium heat until melted and add the remaining garlic; cook until the garlic is golden brown, being careful not to allow it to burn. Turn the heat to medium-high and add the reserved marinade, orange zest and juice, and chili paste. Continue to cook the dressing until it reduces to a syrupy consistency, about 10 minutes, and then remove it from the heat. Place the warm sauce in a large bowl.

Heat the oil to 350F. Working in batches, fry the wings until crispy, about 5 minutes per batch. Drain on a cooling rack set over paper towels, allowing the oil to drip off. When all of the wings have been fried, toss them in the dressing (you may need to work in batches). Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.

*After the frying step you may also hold the wings in a warm oven - this helps if you are doing large batches. Just be aware of drying out the wings or losing crispness if held for a long period of time.

After eating our dinner, we walked over to Pix Patisserie, an adorable little French cafe that makes elegant pastries and homemade chocolates. Its like a scene straight out of the movie Amelie. Their desserts look like works of art--almost too good to eat. Well, not really, but they are pretty :) Here's what Andrew and I ate tonight:
Queen of Sheba Truffle Cake - moist chocolate almond cake with bittersweet chocolate center. Warm slightly for molten chocolate center.

The Royale – Chocolate mousse blankets a crisp hazelnut praline filling and dacquoise base.

Is your mouth watering yet?!



ETA:

This is the picture I took on my phone when we went to Pix in August. I tried to just post this in the comments, but it didn't work.

Beast vs. Iron Chef

Hi!
If any of you like watching Iron Chef, tune in on Saturday to watch local Portland Chef Pomeroy battle it out. The episode actually aired last week, but I was just able to watch it tonight. Chef Pomeroy is the owner of the restaurant Beast, which has been all the rave here in Portland. She's an amazing chef and luckily, I've had the pleasure of eating her food for probably the most delicious (most expensive) meal I've ever eaten in my life. Her menu is heavily meat oriented (if you can't tell by the name), is all local, and changes weekly based on what is fresh. The restaurant itself is pretty interesting--they have 2 dinner seatings a night, where guests sit along two long tables all together. Everyone gets the same 6 course meal with no changes or opt outs. But really, why would you want to mess with a good thing? Anyway, she really is fantastic. I only wish I could eat there this week; her menu is the exact copy of what she made on Iron Chef. Unfortunately its 175 bucks a person--so for just Andrew and I to eat, it would cost almost $400!! Oh well, a girl can dream....

Voodoo Doughnuts: The Magic is in the Hole!

Hi all!
So, this is really just a follow-up of Sarah's donut post. I've got to represent the NW here, since Voodoo is practically one of the most famous donut places in the U.S. (just ask the travel channel and foodnetwork). Although they aren't quite as fancy as the ones Sarah posted earlier, these donuts are cheap, creative, and delicious little bites of heaven, even if they are sometimes a little vulgar (think bachelorette/bachelor party treats;) Plus, who doesn't love a donut shop that can perform weddings!?

Here are the donuts:


Starting at the upper left, you have Sarah's fave, the maple bacon bar. That one doesn't really need much of a description, its just maple frosting with bacon on top!Then its the Butterfingering (vanilla frosting and butterfinger crumbles) and the Diablos Rex (chocolate cake donut, red sprinkles, vanilla pentagram, and chocolate chips in the middle). The next row starts with the McMinnville Cream (Bavarian cream-filled with maple frosting, two eyeballs and a mustache), the Maple Blazer Blunt (Inappropriate? Yes. Delicious? Of course! Covered in cinnamon with maple frosting and red sprinkles on one end), and the Captain my Captain (vanilla frosting and Captain Crunch cereal). The last row begins with a regular ole' powdered sugar jam filled donut, the Dubble Bubble (vanilla frosting, bubblegum dust, and a piece of gum in the middle), and the Peanut Donut (cake donut covered in chocolate frosting and peanuts). Yum Yum!

Here's a pic of my favorite donut, which they were unfortunately out of the night we went. Its the Voodoo Doll, filled with raspberry jelly and stabbed with a pretzle!


And here's the one Andrew really wanted that they were also out of. Its the Old Dirty Bastard with chocolate frosting, Oreo's, and peanut butter. Guess that just means we'll have to go again soon!


If you're interested in looking at any of their other creations, you can visit them at http://www.voodoodoughnut.com/. Its one very good reason to take a trip up here to the Pacific NW--besides seeing me of course!! Look how much the girls enjoyed them!

A Mean Green Treat!

I think it was pretty well known that my roommate Shannon and I were in an organization on campus called Eagle Angels. Eagle Angels worked on game days, so in our first two years of college, we were not allowed to tailgate. Last year, Shannon and I both quit due to some mean girls, and have since moved on to bigger and better things: my second semester with Success for Life Through Reading, starting work with Communities in Schools, graduating early for my degree plan, and have I told anyone besides Rebecca I'm on a UNT sports team? Along with all of that... WE GET TO TAILGATE! Rebecca suggested making green cupcakes to bring with us, but not only would I have no way to carry them, this is Texas... it was 105° and frosting wouldn't have worked out too well. Shannon and I liked her idea, though, so we decided on making something a little less complicated... green rice krispie treats! I feel like rice krispie treats are a well known recipe, so I'm not going to go super in depth with this, but I will post the recipe at the bottom.

Our ingredients (minus the butter)

Beware of roommates stealing marshmallows.
Suck on that, Shannon!

"Tiny pillows of goodness" - Shannon

After 2 minutes in the microwave, before stirring... freaking awesome!

After the 3rd minute in the microwave, and 50 (yes, 50!) drops of food coloring

I really think I got an arm workout stirring that.
Marshmallow is STICKY!!

Smushed into the pan.

Now, when I say smushed, I REALLY mean smushed. We first tried spreading it out with a buttered spatula, but it definitely wasn't working for us, so we put our heads together and came up with a MacGyver solution: spray another piece of wax paper with Pam, lay on top, and smush it until it's an even layer that reaches into the corners. I don't want to toot my own horn, but it was a pretty genius idea.

We made two batches, which is really one box of Rice Krispies. We let them cool overnight and cut them into about 20 squares each in the morning. Shan took the responsibility of individually wrapping each square in cling wrap, while I sat back and put them in gallon ziploc bags. 

They were a HUGE hit! Everyone loved that they were SO green, in fact most mentioned the Lowes commercial with the two kids that recently got married and bought their first house. In the commercial they paint a room and the girl calls her dad and cries, "It's like really green!" Click here if you haven't seen the commercial (it's about 14 seconds in). 

All in all, our first tailgating experience was pretty awesome! We had a group of about 20 people to hang out with, and we got tons of free stuff. The game was pretty epic too. North Texas is generally known for their football skills (or lack-thereof), but the score was always neck-and-neck. We lost our quarterback in an ambulance (he's okay now) and the game (only by ONE point), but we were playing Rice, who has a much better record than we do, so everyone was still stoked. Unfortnately, my night ended kind of early because of dehydration (you're apparently supposed to drink water when you're in high temperatures... who knew?) So, after a cold shower I did homework, watched Richie Rich, and was in bed by midnight; it was FANTASTIC.

Even Lily was ready to go to tailgating!

Excuse the blue! They were supposed to be green, but did you know nylon doesn't hold dye well?

Raspberry-Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt

Okay, so here's the scoop ;)


My first entry isn't to advertise a more awesome dessert (as we've seen many), but a prudent part of blog-balance. Not the kind that tells of carbs, fats, etc. but one that speaks of pure ease and excellence in its simplicity. Rebecca and I have done this one a few times and it always comes out right. It takes ten minutes at best with a cruddy blender, and only five minutes to blow some minds (especially if you use the fresh fruit and say, "Oh, yeah, it's ... ahh ... umm ... all organic.")

The most beautiful part of this is that the fruit is completely interchangeable: today we just did frozen peaches and she's actually still alive (worried for a second 'cause I thought her head might blow, turns out, just brain freeze).



Anyway I feel lucky to be part of Alli's wonderful creation, and furthermore blessed to be part of the family that can share such an incredible thing with each other. Just like all baking "greats": one part ingredients, one part preparation, and another part love. Don't bother searching cause I made that last part up.

8 servings, 1/2 cup each (1 quart) Active Time: 5 minutes Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
• 3 cups fresh or frozen (not thawed) raspberries
• 2 cups low-fat plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, preferably mini

Preparation
1. Place raspberries, yogurt, sugar and vanilla in a food processor and process until smooth.


2. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker (or see "No ice cream maker?" below). Freeze until manufacturer's instructions, or until desired consistency. Add chocolate chips during the last 5 minutes of freezing. **No ice cream maker? Pour the mixture into a 9 X 13 inch pan and place in freezer. Stir every few hours, until the mixture is firm along the edges and semi-firm in the center, 2 to 6 hrs (using frozen berries will shorten freezing time).


3. Transfer to an airtight container, stir in chocolate chips (if following "No ice cream maker?"), cover and freeze until ready to serve.

Greek Feast! Lemon Yogurt Chicken Kabobs and Grilled Feta

Hi everyone!
Last weekend, Andrew and I celebrated Labor Day by going wine tasting with some friends. Afterwards, we had worked up quite the appetite, so went back over to our friends' place and made an awesome (and easy!) Greek dinner. Seriously, this couldn't have been an easier meal, which was good since we may have been just the tiniest bit tipsy after a day full of wine.

The first thing we made was Lemon Yogurt Chicken Kabobs. We cut up a couple boneless chicken breasts into 1 1/2 -2 inch pieces. We took about 2 1/2 cups of plain Greek yogurt (which you can get in any grocery store) and mixed it with 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup EV olive oil, a couple tablespoons of oregano and italian seasoning (really to taste), 4 minced garlic cloves, salt, and pepper. **Side note: Greek yogurt is richer and creamier than regular yogurt, with the consistency of sour cream, and it doesn't break down when exposed to high heat. You could still use regular plain yogurt if need be.** We added the chicken to this mixture and let it marinate for about an hour. We then skewered the pieces of chicken, layed on a baking pan, and broiled the kabobs in the oven till they looked finished. We kept the left over marinade and heated it up on the stove top until it looked like it was going to boil. We used this tasty mixture as dipping sauce for our kabobs!

Meanwhile, we cooked up some Greek Tomato Rice Pilaf (I don't have the recipe for that, but you could probably look that up anywhere on the internet) and made some traditional greek salad (lettuce, cherry tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese, and cucumbers with a balsamice/olive oil vinaigrette).

Possibly the easiest thing we made, and probably my favorite, was the Grilled Feta. We just took wedges of pita bread and placed them on a foil lined cooking sheet (to help with cleanup). We then sliced an 8oz. block of feta into 1/2 in thick pieces and placed these on top of the pita. Then, we drizzled olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and minced garlic over the feta. We also sprinkled a tiny bit of coarsely chopped fresh rosemary and some pepper. Once that was all set, we stuck these suckers in the oven until the feta just barely started to melt. This Grilled Feta was so so tasty and was a great side dish to our Greek feast. They could also be used as an appetizer to almost anything. Hope you enjoy!

Gourdough's Big Fat Doughnuts

You all know, I assume, that I do not bake/cook/spend any time in the kitchen. Thus, my posts will be about wildly unhealthy stuff I eat around town.

So for Laura's birthday, instead of making her a cake, Hunter and I took her to a food trailer in South Austin called Gourdough's (Gourmet Doughnuts, get it? So clever). It is basically Austin's answer to Portland's Voodoo Donuts; the difference is that each donut is made fresh, and they're huge. We were a little bit overzealous and ordered eight massive donuts between the three of us. The people working there thought we were insane, but it was one of the best decisions we've ever made. Here's the rundown:

Sara's Joy:
This one is coconut flavored filling with fudge icing and fresh coconut on top. I'm not usually a big coconut fan, though I'm coming around, but this was awesome.

Cherry Bombs:
These little bites of heaven are glazed cherry-topped donut holes with cinnamon, sugar, and cake mix topping. It's essentially crazy good cherry pie.

Baby Rattler:
This dude is a normal donut with fudge icing, topped with fudge Oreo crumbles and a three foot long gummy rattlesnake.

Blackout:
One of my choices!! It's a brownie batter donut covered in fudge icing with chocolate chips and brownie bites on top. Ridiculous.

The Puddin' and Granny's Pie:

I'll admit I ate neither of these b/c they both have bananas (my archenemy). The puddin' one is the first photo. It's cream filled with cream cheese icing, bananas, and vanilla wafers. Granny's pie has caramel, pecans, bananas, and graham crackers. Hunter and Laura both say that Granny's pie is tops.

Mama's Cake:
This was another of my choices and my second favorite of the group. It's yellow cake batter filling with chocolate fudge icing. Mmmm.

Mother Clucker:
One of the best things ever to have been eaten by humankind. This is essentially why I went here in the first place. It's a donut with fried chicken and honey butter, not too dissimilar from chicken and waffles. It's well worth visiting Austin for, if any of you want to come see me.

These photos from my phone don't nearly do the donuts justice, but it'll have to do. We gorged ourselves and still have 80 percent leftover for tomorrow, thank god.