Dine Originals Restaurant Week September 7-13, 2009 Surly Girl Saloon

Today kicks off the beginning of Dine Originals Columbus Restaurant Week. This is the second one this year. The first was in the spring and caught us up short without much time to participate. Bob was traveling and we were only able to take in one meal at The Top, on the last night. So this time around we have our game plan. Hopefully you will get to see something this week that will speak to you. And you'll crave it until you just say "What the heck?" and go get it for yourself!

I have been dying to try the "Parisian Macarons" at Pistacia Vera. At the last restaurant week their offerings were top rated. So we were all set to trek on down there (in the pouring rain, I might add) and my dear husband had the brilliant idea to make sure they were open before we left; what with it being a holiday and all. So he called and yeah, you guessed it. Closed. Dang. This game plan thing wasn't working so well.

We regrouped and decided that instead of just getting dessert today, we would begin our dinner adventures. We looked over the offerings, and while it was not easy to weed them out and narrow down the choice, we finally decided on Surly Girl Saloon. I’ve never been there, but I know L3 likes it a lot.


Surly Girl Saloon is located on North High. Very popular. Very fun. Your basic neighborhood bar in the short North.

As with most of the restaurants this week, they offer a 3 course menu, with choices on each course.



We were in a saloon. We needed drinks! They have 24 beers on tap. Bob began with Great Lakes Brewing Company’ s Elliott Ness. I chose to go with a Surly Cider.


For our choice of appetizer we decided on the "Slap Your Bottom" Red Bean Hummus served with toasted pita and assorted fresh veggies. This was really good! I have never thought of making hummus with red beans before, but you can bet I will now. The hummus was creamy with hints of cumin and cayenne pepper. It finished in the back of your throat with some heat so I spread it thinly. This was served with slices of really fresh cucumber, ripe tomatoes, celery sticks and carrot sticks. There was way more than plenty for the two of us. We enjoyed that quite a bit.


For my entree I chose the Cajun Meatloaf with poblano mashed potatoes and cornbread stuffing. This was pure comfort food. It was food for the soul. A thick slab of meatloaf served with cornbread stuffing that was good consistency and not gummy (which I think stuffing can easily be). Alongside were poblano mashed potatoes. All were given a healthy drizzle of brown gravy. The only drawback for me was spiciness of the mashed potatoes. I was surprised because I didn't expect this from poblanos. But then again we all know what a wimp I am when it comes to spicy. So certainly don't let my opinion hinder you from ordering this. I'd order it again in a heartbeat!


Bob's dinner was the Gorgonzola and Bacon Rotini baked with broccoli, tomatoes, bacon, gorgonzola cheese and a sprinkle of french fried onions. This was served with two long slices of toasted multigrain baguette. And it was truly delicious! The hot pasta and broccoli with the cold tomatoes on top were a contrast that really worked! Gorgonzola is an Italian blue cheese that is salty but not overpowering. Its presence here works to pull this dish all together. We both liked it quite a lot.


The dessert choice was Surly Girl's signature Chocolate Cayenne cupcake or the cupcake du jour. We said, "YES!" We'll take one of each. Bob and I are very good at sharing. The cupcake du jour was Pina Colada. When they came we split them down the middle so we each had a taste of both. While the chocolate was good (there was that spicy thing happening again) I clearly leaned toward the Pina Colada...but then of course we all know I've never been one to turn down any cupcake!!!

Surly Girl Saloon
1126 North High Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215
614-294-4900
Hours: 11am-2am Daily

I'm Back!!!

As most of you know I have been down for the count for a bit. But I am back now.

Since today begins the Dine Originals Columbus Restaurant Week, I'll be covering what I can of those. But before I do that, I want to just tell you about some of the most wonderful and generous people in my life.

It's my blog and I can do that! I promise I won't go on and on. But I think you might be interested in some of the "care" I got.

I basically had outpatient sinus surgery. Not a huge deal. I knew the recovery wasn't going to be easy. But I really wasn't prepared for what it turned out to be. So thank the lord for my family and friends! They are so incredibly awesome!!!

First Elaine (star sister) brought over her famous lobster bisque. Oh yeah. And she brought homemade dill pickle spears. A woman going straight for my heart. This lobster bisque is just unbelievable. It was so nice for Bob to have that to come home to from the hospital the night of surgery.

And then Pastor Bob came to the hospital to visit; and Cara & Sandy showed up bearing flowers and crazy slippers, writing musings of princess tails on the nurse's chalkboard and setting me up for all kinds of crap from them later! LOL

I came home to Clint & Virna bringing chili and salad and apple pie. Sooo good!!! This from Virna who would rather slit her wrists with a dull object than cook! Must have been a labor of love, indeed.

Then comes Janie with this delicious chicken rice soup and ciabatta bread. It was wicked good!

Next night Julie brought Italian chicken with noodles and salad and banana bars (recipe on this blog!). And if you've had these banana bars you know what I'm talking about.

You see a pattern here? Weight gain, in two words. But so much fun!

Then came "meow", sending a "package" with Tom to make an exchange of goods with Bob at work. Oh my! Susan's Hungarian goulash, cucumber salad, blueberry muffins and her addicting Jan Hagels (cookies that you just cannot stop eating...even if you wanted to!). Included in her package was a gorgeous bouquet of pink roses, pink mums, and baby's breath. Oh it was stunning! And it so lifted my spirits.

And last but by far not least, Kathy and Donald brought dinner over Saturday night. Wow. W.O.W. Ina Garten's 5 cheese penne pasta, salad, homemade pesto with artisan olive bread from the North Market, melon wrapped in prosciutto and Jeni's ice cream for dessert (salty caramel and bourbon pecan). I have pictures and recipes for this one that I will post soon. It was absolutely indescribably delicious!!!

So now that I am feeling ever so much better and have been well taken care of by those I love, I am off to begin adventures of Restaurant Week!

Stay tuned!

Heirloom Recipe???

It seems my future daughter-in-law just swoons when she has the spinach dip I make. Nothing special ... but she has to have the recipe, and in fact has asked the caterer to make it at their wedding! That being said, I thought I'd share with you.

Spinach Dip
1 10 oz pkg frozen, chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
1 cup mayo
1 cup sour cream
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 can water chestnuts, chopped
1 envelope Lipton or Mrs. Grass vegetable soup mix
Dillweed to taste, if desired
Mix together, refrigerate overnight. To serve: hollow out a sourdough or pumpernickle round of bread. Place dip in the middle of the bowl. Chunk and use bread removed from center to dip. Also good with fresh vegetables or with corn chips!

Grandma Bayly Sandwiches

Late summer tomatoes. From your very own garden. Planted by your own dear spouse. Handpicked by your very own hands. Is there anything better?

You want to do something very special with them. You want to showcase the freshness of these rare gems. What to do?

Well in our house there is absolutely no contest. We made Grandma Bayly sandwiches. Sheer bliss. A sandwich so pure and so good that it literally leaves you speechless.

My dad’s mother used to make these for him when he was little. I never met her. She died long before I was born. But I know what an amazing woman she was. I know stories upon stories about her. I know she taught my mother her love of cooking. And even though my mother died when I was a young girl, she taught me my love of cooking. Elaine knows of what I speak. Jenny knows of what I speak. A part of our heritage, these Grandma Bayly sandwiches.

So I didn’t even hesitate. I made salsa with the smaller tomatoes, but these beauties were reserved for the piece de résistance…Grandma Bayly sandwiches.

They are quite simple, really. And many of you may make them and call them something else. You’re allowed.


Take your bread; white is traditional, however some (i.e. Jenny) will blasphemy and use whole wheat. I let her get away with that little faux pas. Toast the bread and spread it with real mayonnaise. Place a thick slab of tomato on, and top it with another piece of mayonnaise toast. You may salt the tomato if you are so inclined. And that is it. A masterpiece!

Caution: The first bite will induce moans and swooning. You may want to sit down before engaging the sandwich.

Note: I am aware of the absence of photos of the finished product…Bob and I simply lacked the self control to wait long enough to take pictures. I make no apologies.

Because they truly are that good!

Just ask Elaine & Jenny.

Matcha Green Tea Cupcakes

The cupcake gods have smiled on me today. I was beginning to get worried. While last week’s cupcakes weren’t a total bust (like the week before) they still were not what I’d been hoping for. But this week’s cupcakes…oh my. Just what I was looking for.

These are more of an adult cupcake...I think.

First of all, let’s talk about matcha. From Wikipedia:

Matcha is made from shade-grown tea leaves also used to make gyokuro unlike other forms of powdered tea.
The preparation of matcha starts several weeks before harvest, when the tea bushes are covered to prevent direct sunlight. This slows down growth, turns the leaves a darker shade of green and causes the production of amino acids that make the resulting tea sweeter.

Only the finest tea buds are handpicked. After harvesting, if the leaves are rolled out before drying as usual, the result will be gyokuro (jewel dew) tea. However, if the leaves are laid out flat to dry, they will crumble somewhat and become known as tencha. Tencha can then be de-veined, de-stemmed, and stone ground to the fine, bright green, talc-like powder known as matcha. It can take up to one hour to grind 30 grams of matcha.
Note that only ground tencha qualifies as matcha, and other powdered teas are known as konacha ("powder tea").
The flavor of matcha is dominated by its amino acids. The highest grades of matcha have more intense sweetness and deeper flavor than the standard or coarser grades of tea harvested later in the year.

For me, what this tea is about is an earthiness. It has a quality that is difficult to explain, but I really like it. I am a big fan of green tea ice cream-just ask anyone at Eastern Palace! When it comes time for dessert, they ask everyone else at the table what they’re having and just bring my green tea ice cream! It’s pretty funny!

And I think it is something you really like or you don’t. For me it resonates. Then there is the color. Green desserts might be off-putting to some. For me, the color of food made with matcha is just downright cool. They look like something Elphaba would eat! "Wicked" fans know just what I’m talking about! (Read: Wicked Witch of the West…only the greatest role ever to come out of Hollywood!)

Now about this recipe…WOW. There is simply nothing to not like here, folks. The cake is light and moist and the prettiest green and just delicious. It has a hint of that wonderful earthiness I was talking about. I had to slap my own hands to make myself stop eating these before I could get them iced! And then when the icing was added on…HOLY SMOKE BATMAN!!!

I really hope you’ll give these a try. The matcha is pretty readily available because of its increased popularity, and it is becoming more mainstreamed in pastries here in the states. Take a walk on the wild side and bake something green! Actually, the kids might dig them afterall!!!

Matcha Green Tea Cupcakes
From: http://www.foodmayhem.com
~makes 12 regular sized cupcake + 24 miniature cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
4 teaspoons matcha powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream

Frosting:
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 teaspoons matcha powder
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F with convection). Place muffin liners in a mini muffin tin and a regular muffin tin.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together all purpose flour, cake flour, matcha powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

4. Alternating between dry mix and sour cream, stir into the wet mixture until just combined.

5. Fill mini muffin cups so that the tin looks about 2/3 full.

6. Bake mini muffins for 10 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove and let it cool for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

7. While mini cupcakes bake, fill regular sized tin a little more than 2/3 full. Bake for 15 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

8. To make frosting, sift together confectioner’s sugar and matcha powder. Set aside. Using a heavy duty mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla on medium speed for 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add sugar/matcha gradually. Once all of the sugar/matcha is mixed in, increase speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes more. Frost with piping bag.

Lemon Lush

Here is a dessert that is just about perfect for a hot summer day…not that we’ve had too many of those this year. But I’m going to share it with you now because my prediction is that we are going to be slammed with the heat in September. You know the sunshine and hot, hot weather we should have been getting the last six weeks? Yep. That’s what I’m talking about.

I have had this recipe for so many years that it is ridiculous. I’m not even going to tell you how many ‘cause I just see no good sense in embarrassing myself. I do remember though, when I first got it. My sister Elaine and I thought it was the bomb. We could not get enough of it! Oh, we tried making it with chocolate pudding (yum) and butterscotch pudding (yum) and pistachio (not so yum for some reason). Remember those experiments, Elaine? :-)

But for a summertime cookout we kept on coming back to the lemon version. It is just so refreshing! And so simple! Definitely a “keeper” in our book.

Sure hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

Lemon Lush
From my dear ex-mother-in-law, Doie Jorgensen

Crust:
½ cup butter
1 cup flour
½ cup chopped pecans, plus a little more for garnish

Press into 9x13 pan and bake at 350˚ 12-15 minutes. Cool

Beat:
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup Cool Whip

Beat til fluffy and spread on crust.

Mix:
2 small boxes lemon instant pudding
3 cups milk

Spread on top and add rest of Cool Whip. Sprinkle with chopped pecans.
Refrigerate.

Frosted Banana Bars

The frosted banana bars recipe is from a co worker of mine. She is worshiped when she brings these to work. I've made them for family and friends and they devour them. Enjoy!

Frosted Banana Bars

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 - 3 medium ripe bananas, mashed

Frosting
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 to 4 cups confectioners sugar

In Mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in bananas. Spread into a greased 15 inch x 10 inch x 1 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Cool.

Frosting

Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Gradually add confectioners sugar to achieve desired frosting consistency. Frost bars. Store in refrigerator. makes 3-4 dozen bars

Cupcake Friday! Double Vanilla Cupcakes

It’s a late Cupcake Friday here at Dishing-It-Up! Columbus. Sorry guys. I was just too darn tired last night to even bake. That’s tired! At least for me it is. I love to bake.

So I had planned to make these cupcakes since I saw them last week on Simply Recipes blog. They just sounded divine. I’m a big fan of vanilla and these cupcakes really caught my eye.

These are really good cupcakes. The flavor is not as intense as I thought it was going to be. And I jacked up the vanilla quotient on the icing big time! I would certainly make them again. But darn! I was looking forward to a vanilla slap in the face.

Double Vanilla Cupcakes Recipe
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/double_vanilla_cupcakes/

Ingredients
Cupcake
· 1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
· 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
· 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
· 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
· 1 cup sugar
· 1 egg plus 2 egg whites
· 1/2 cup whole milk
· 1/4 cup sour cream
· 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
· 1/2 vanilla bean (or one whole bean if you can spare it)
Frosting
· 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
· 1 1/4 cups of powdered sugar
· 1/2 vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. While the oven preheats cut open and scrape out the seeds of a vanilla bean. Place the seeds, empty bean, and the milk into a small saucepan. Heat to just under a simmer for a few minutes being careful not to scald the milk. Remove from heat and allow the milk to steep and cool. (Be sure to remove the bean after it cools. Wash it and then place it out to dry so it can be used again.)

2. Beat the butter for about 3 minutes on medium speed, then add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat for 30 seconds. Add the egg whites, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds each.

3. In one bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In another whisk together the vanilla steeped milk, vanilla extract, and sour cream.

4. Add the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the butter sugar egg mixture in alternating additions (dry-wet-dry method), starting and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined being sure to not overbeat.

5. Divide the batter into cupcake papers in a muffin tin and bake at 350F for 18-20 minutes or until slightly golden brown. Be sure to rotate the cupcakes after the first 15 minutes to ensure even baking. Be sure to keep a close eye as these can get overbaked quickly. Allow to cool on a wire rack. Frost when cooled.

Frosting:

Beat the butter and slowly add in the powdered sugar. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean (or vanilla extract if using) and beat in.

Makes about one dozen cupcakes.

Sweet and Sour Cherry Slab Pie

Most of you know that Jean got started in this whole blog thing by reading blogs written by others. One of her favorites is Smitten Kitchen (www.smittenkitchen.com), who recently wrote a blog on sour cherry slab pie. Slab pies, BTW, are just pies baked in sheet pans or rimmed cookie sheets, so they are a little thinner than usual, with a higher crust-to-filling ratio (aahhh, always the engineer). They are great if you need to serve a bunch of people.

Anyway, ever since she read that blog entry, Jean has been craving one of those pies. So, as the family pie baker, it was a dead certainty that I was going to be baking one, the only question was when. So off I went to http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/sour-cherry-slab-pie/ to see what this was all about.

Deb at the Smitten Kitchen writes a fantastic blog, beautifully laid out, with gorgeous, detailed photos. Her pictures are so amazing they are sometimes called foodporn -- I love it!

Smitten Kitchen’s recipe is a lot like the one I use for regular cherry pie, but I have to admit, I like the little refinements I make. So you can use the link above for Deb’s recipe, and I am going to give you my recipe as well, because that’s what I made. (The basic recipe for Bob’s Cherry Pie is also in Treasures from Heaven, the St. Luke Cookbook.)

I decided to make this pie in a quarter sheet pan, roughly 9” x 13” x about 1” deep. It was a hot, humid day, so I struggled a little with the crust. But by keeping the dough in the fridge and working quickly while I was rolling it out, I was able to get the crust organized.

I like to combine some dark, sweet cherries with the sour cherries for the filling, I think it adds depth to the flavor and it certainly adds beautiful color. I use a little less sugar in the filling than some other recipes do, to keep the balance of sweetness/tartness. The pie baked up beautifully, in a little less time than it would for a regular pie, and the filling was firm, so that when I cut the cooled pie in squares they were perfect for eating out of hand! Here is my recipe:

Sweet and Sour Cherry Slab Pie

One Crust (You’ll need 2 for the pie)

2 cups all purpose flour
3-1/2 Tbsp sugar
¾ tsp salt
9 Tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut in ½” cubes (9 Tbsp = 1-1/8 stick butter)
3 Tbsp chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut in ½” cubes
4-1/2 Tbsp ice water

Mix flour, sugar, and salt in food processor. Add butter and shortening. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle ice water over mixture. Process just until moist clumps form, add more water if needed. Gather dough into ball, flatten into a rough rectangle, wrap in plastic. Chill dough for at least 30 min, better overnight.

Sweet and Sour Cherry Filling

6 cups sour cherries, pitted and drained
2 cups dark sweet cherries, pitted and drained
1 cup sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
¾ tsp lemon zest
¾ tsp almond extract

Glaze

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375 F. In a large bowl gently combine cherries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, lemon zest and almond extract, then set aside for 10 min.

Roll out one dough rectangle on a floured work surface, to about a 12” by 16” rectangle, transfer to a quarter sheet pan, I lined mine with parchment. Spoon the cherry filling into the bottom crust with a slotted spoon. You can add the juice from the mixture accordingly, depending on how juicy you want the filling to be. Set aside, and roll out the second rectangle of dough. Drape it over the filling, and trim the edges of the crusts, then pinch them together. Use a fork to perforate the top crust – it lets the steam out as the pie bakes.

Bake until the crust is golden and you can see the luscious dark juices bubble out when they thicken to just-right consistency, about 50 to 55 min. Let the pie cool on a rack for about an hour.

In a small bowl, stir the confectioner’s sugar, milk and lemon juice to make the glaze. I used a plastic squeeze bottle to drizzle the glaze over the cooled pie.

I cut the pie into 16 squares, and I dibbsed a corner piece for myself. After all, I put in all the work of making it! This is seriously good cherry pie, and since it has all that fruit in it, I have even had some for breakfast!

TasteCasting 08/12/2009 Mezzo Italian Kitchen & Wine

Bob and I have become members of the Columbus team for TasteCasting. How exciting!

No? You’ve never heard of TasteCasting? You’re kidding! Well let me help you out here!

From http://www.tastecasting.com/: “TasteCasting combines socially networked people and the social media platforms and applications they use to help establishments build awareness, announce grand openings, introduce new menu items, distribute special offers and encourage people to visit the establishment.”

What happens is that a restaurant arranges to have a tasting and a specified number of tastecasters attend and then use Twitter, Facebook, u-tube, blogging, etc to let everyone they reach know about the experience. Social networking at its best!

Tonight was our first event. We joined other team members at Mezzo Italian Kitchen at Creekside in Gahanna. We were so excited because even though we live in Gahanna, we have yet to go to Mezzo. We keep talking about it but just have never gotten around to it. So we were totally jazzed about this!

We were led to an area where there were three booths reserved for the TasteCasting team. We met our fellow team members and talked with Dan Harris, who is the brains behind the TasteCasting “revolation”. This is all his idea, and it has spread like wildfire! There are now TasteCasting teams in 18 cities! Amazing how this is growing.

First let me talk about Mezzo. They have two outdoor patios. The smaller area is kind of a bar/small bites setting. There are bistro tables and you can order drinks and maybe pizza or appetizers. The other patio is larger, seating up to 72. There is a lovely fireplace and seating where you can relax with drinks and a bite to eat, or you can sit and have a full meal. It is absolutely lovely at this time of year.

So back inside we all grabbed our seats. Jon Cohen (General Manager) greeted us and offered us a glass of wine. He offered “Trivento Torrontes”, an Argentine white that is light with a lot of citrus flavor. The red he offered was Cosentino’s “The Cab”. It was a smokey, medium bodied delicious wine. I am not a huge fan of red wines, but surprisingly I liked this one quite a bit. Both paired beautifully with our food.

And the food! O.M.G. Can I just tell you that the entire tasting menu rocked? It did! Not a bad dish among them. I really was a happy girl!



We began with the Pizzetta Flatbread. The flatbread is made on lavash; a thin, crackerlike bread. It had a roasted garlic and mascarpone spread, with slices of rosemary chicken, cherry tomatoes, and caramelized onions topped with mozzarella cheese. It was delicious! The caramelized onions were done just right and the roasted garlic mascarpone spread was out of this world!


Next up was the Arancini…"I’m a not a kiddin’ ya, my knees were weak!!!" I am a complete and total fool for arancini. Oh lord, if they are made correctly these can simply make a grown woman whimper. And whimper I did. I am so not going to tell you how many I ate because there is no reason any of you need to know my business…okay? Just let it go at the fact that I out-ate anyone at our table when it came to the arancini. Arancini are balls of risotto that have a cube of mozzarella tucked inside and are generally rolled in panko and then fried and served with pomodoro sauce. (Pomodoro sauce is like marinara but is thicker and smoother.) There was absolutely nothing to not like about this dish!!!


We then moved into the entrées. First out was the lasagna. What a beautiful plate! A generous serving of homemade noodles with Bolognese sauce, seasoned ricotta cheese and marinara sauce. The plate was finished with a swirl of balsamic glaze. Boy did this add interest! It turned a very good slice of lasagna into something quite spectacular! I just about licked the plate. And Jon poured the red cab with this dish and what a match made in heaven! This was just too good! Well, okay. Maybe not too good that I didn’t manage to finish every single last bite and drop of sauce. He also brought us a basket of rolls and flatbread that were just delicious. The flatbread was so good…and then add the butter which had bits of caramelized onions in it and you were on a whole different level. Wow!


But wait! There’s more! (Okay, I know. Bad impression. But I just couldn’t help myself!) The second dish was the most popular entrée the restaurant serves. Pan seared sea scallops with sweet corn and bacon risotto with sautéed vegetables and champagne vinaigrette. Sweet baby Jesus. I cannot even do justice to this dish. To say that the scallops were perfection and the risotto was to-die-for and the vegetables were really, really good (see, I’m not much of a vegetable gal) would be one of the biggest understatements I think I’ve made all year. This dish, simply put…ROCKED! Had we not all been riding the edge of a food coma at this point I think we would have made a spectacle of ourselves. Every single one of us at the table was in awe.


Then, and you are not even going to believe I am saying this, they brought us dessert. Oh yeah. Sheer decadence. Out came a piece of cheesecake with fresh strawberries on top, a piece of tiramisu with chocolate shavings and mascarpone stars, a citrus panacotta with candied orange peel, and a rum chocolate mousse martini. Absolutely crazy. But darned if the four of us didn’t divide each and every one and eat each and every bite. Yes, they were that good.

Our first time at Mezzo will most definitely not be our last. In fact, I think one of those tables right by that fireplace on the patio on a cool end-of-summer evening have our name written all over it!

"JULIE & JULIA"

Thursday night I was a lucky girl! My dear friend Dianne (our pastry chef!) asked me to be her “date” for an advance showing of “Julie and Julia”, which opened Friday. We had dinner at Bon Vie with her co-workers from Williams Sonoma, and then off to the movies. An all French evening!

Did we like the movie? Oui! WE LOVED THE MOVIE!!! It was awesome! I’ve read some reviews that were critical of the movie. Rubbish!!! At least in the theater I was in, there were moments when the entire theater was laughing out loud. It was wonderful to sit in a theater full of laughing people! It really did my heart good. And at the end there was spontaneous applause. That just doesn’t happen very often anymore. It was a grand evening!

Then on Friday when the movie officially opened, I went to see it with another friend. This audience was different and the experience a little different. But the movie was still terrific!

Undoubtedly you have heard that Meryl Streep is absolutely amazing as Julia Child. And that is right on. She totally nails it. As I sat watching the movie, I completely lost sight of the fact that it was Ms. Streep on the screen and not Julia Child! She is that convincing.

And opposed to what you might hear to the contrary, I thought Amy Adams did a good job portraying Julie Powell. But what do I know? I don’t know Julie Powell. But then again, I did read her book. And I’ve read an article with Ms. Powell, in which she says that when writing the screenplay Nora Ephron did have to “sweeten” her up a bit to make it GP. Ms. Powell does come off a bit more harshly in her book, with a fondness for tossing the “f-bomb” about quite liberally.

But you know what really sticks in my craw? All these reviews that I am reading that are carrying on about how the movie would have been so much better if there was way less Julie and a lot more Julia. Let me just say this…

“The reason that this particular movie was made was because of the book that Julie wrote. If the powers-that-be would make a movie about Julia Child, I would be the first one in line to go see it. I adore Julia Child. I read “My Life in Paris” and she is a hero to me! But this movie wasn’t about just Julia. It was about what Julie Powell learned from Julia. Like I said, without Julie’s book this movie wouldn’t have come to be.”

So to the critics I say this, “Stop your complaining and enjoy the movie! Enjoy it for what it is…a movie about Julie & Julia!!!"

I sure did! And I probably will a few more times….and when it comes out on DVD, a few more times!!!

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

In the world of “hit or miss” not everything can be a “hit”. Not that this cupcake was a “miss”; at least not a total miss. But I had such high hopes for this cupcake. I had found the recipe on the internet some time ago. I copied it and into my “TO TRY” folder it went.

Sidebar: It seems to me that everyone I know that likes to cook or is a “foodie” has one of these folders. They are crammed with recipes cut out of the newspaper; recipes furtively torn out of a magazine at the doctor’s office when you hope no one is looking ‘cause you really didn’t want to take the recipe but you just simply have to have it; recipes you’ve seen on the net and ran off a copy of so you would be able to locate them again; recipes you’ve jotted on a stray envelope and then have to try to decipher your own handwriting; and on and on it goes.

Yeah, that’s the folder I’m talking about. This recipe popped into my mind the other night when Bob and I were scarfing down mint Oreos™. (They are evil and should not be available to the public without a Surgeon General’s warning!) So I dug the recipe out and here we are.

When you look at the recipe I know the first thing you are going to say. And you’re right, you’re right, I know you’re right. As soon as I saw it began with a cake mix *gasp*, I should have put it in file 13. But I swear there are some good recipes that begin with cake mixes. And whoever it was that wrote the directions clearly stated that “It will turn out great!” You’re right, you’re right, I know you’re right. And you can’t believe everything you read, either.

So here is today’s offering. Take it for what it’s worth. They weren’t awful. They just weren’t great.

And, I can’t believe these words are coming from my mouth, but I think I liked them better un-iced. I know! That’s absolute insanity coming from these lips! The truth is, one of the reasons I wanted to make these was the name of the icing – “Hell on High Heels” icing. How could I not like that? But the icing was the worst part. Maybe it was me. Maybe I hosed it up when I was making it. After adding the cream and vanilla it just wouldn’t come together. By the time I was finished with it, it kind of tasted like a glob of sweet, Oreo™ flavored butter. And the Oreo™ flavor wasn’t even that intense; in the icing or the cupcake.

Like my dear husband said, “If I wanted an Oreo™, I’d eat an Oreo™". (He’s definitely not a fan of “tastes like” foods.) I tersely replied that these were not Oreo™ cupcakes. They were Cookies and Cream cupcakes. But who am I kidding? He had me on this one.

Sometimes it’s not easy when he so very right.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
“Culinary Infatuation Blog – adapted from “Bake and Destroy”
Makes 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes:

1 box French Vanilla Cake Mix
30 Oreo™ style cookies
1 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
½ cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
Take 12 cookies and split them in half, trying to get icing on both sides. Put the halved cookies in the cupcake liners icing side up.
Crush the remaining cookies.
In a large bowl, beat the cake mix, yogurt, oil, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add 1 ½ cups crushed cookies and mix until well combined.
Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 15-18 minutes.
Remove and let cool on wire rack.

“Hell-on-High-Heels” Icing:

1 1/3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup whipping cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
*Additional cookies

In a small bowl, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Increase speed to high, beating until light and fluffy.
Add cream and vanilla, beating until smooth.
Add remaining cookie crumbs and beat until well combined.
Refrigerate for 10 minutes to let firm up a bit before piping on the cupcakes.

*Optional: May top with half of a chocolate sandwich cookie after piping icing on cupcake.