Candice Cooks - photos, experiences, recipes, restaurant reviews, and just about anything to do wit

candice cooks has moved!

2011-01-01T20:23:00.000-08:00

Hi friends ...

Candice Cooks has moved to a new location and I'd love to have you join me.

Please change your bookmarks to http://shortcakescraps.com.

See you there!

spice & rice (cambridge)

2010-09-01T19:23:00.000-07:00

What do you do when it's 96 degrees outside and you didn't bring a lunch to work? You order in! Yes, that's right folks, me and a couple of coworkers were too chicken to face the heat and humidity by getting in our cars to seek out food this afternoon so instead we had some delivered from Spice & Rice in Cambridge (Inman Square).

It was funny because after I dropped my husband off at work this morning, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I could really go for some sushi today," but then I thought, "Gee, where can I drive to later on this afternoon to get some?" So then I kind of just let that thought pass through my head because I remembered it was going to be 1,000 degrees outside, and there aren't that many places near our office building that I could just stop in for a take-out order. And then later this morning one of my coworkers stopped me in the hallway and asked if I knew of local restaurants that delivered because she, too, didn't want to face the sun. Luckily, I convinced her to go with Spice & Rice so that I could [selfishly!] have some sushi. It was definitely worth the $2.00 delivery fee.

And yo yo, did I have some sushi! I ordered the sashimi special which came with 12 pieces of sashimi plus a little box of rice on the side. It was pretty good sushi for only $10.95! I also ordered some Negihama maki (yellowtail rolls, $4.95/6 pieces) thinking that the sashimi wouldn't be enough, but I was very wrong. It all washed down quite deliciously with some cold green tea, too.

One of my friends ordered the bulgoki special lunch box ($7.95) and man, that was a lot of food in one cute container! The marinated thinly sliced beef came with a California roll, shumai, yaki soba noodles, rice and a salad. She said it was good, but too much to finish in one sitting.

Our other friend had the vegetarian pad thai ($6.95) with tofu instead of chicken and said that it was "okay, not great". Again, a big enough portion for her to have leftovers for tomorrow's lunch too.

And what better way to end a lunch break than with some Kickass cupcakes, eh?! This was the August batch from my winnings. And of course, they had no problem disappearing by some obliging coworkers. :)

Spice & Rice
1172-1178 Cambridge Street
Inman Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.864.4500
www.spice-rice.com

green land cafe (salem)

2010-08-20T20:00:00.000-07:00

If you're ever up in Salem, Massachusetts on a beautiful sunny day, look for Green Land Cafe. They have a nice outdoor patio area in the back, under some tall trees that provide a nice amount of shade for a nice dining experience.

They offer cold and hot small plate options, as well as an array of salad and sandwich choices on their lunch menu. My friends and I all enjoyed salads, and shared the manchego cheese appetizer. It originally came with cracked red pepper and paprika sprinkled on top, so we had to send it back and ask them for some without the seasoning. We also asked for bread to go along with it, which came fresh out of the oven.

My friends had the arugula salad ($8) which was served with roasted pear, shaved fennel and a confit shallot vinaigrette; and the grilled avocado and crab salad ($10) which was served with a ginger-lime gastrique. Both said that their salads were quite delicious and refreshing. I enjoyed the Caesar salad ($8) which was served with red romaine, white anchovies and grana padano. It was pretty hearty for a Caesar salad which was a nice change, and the anchovy on top was really good (I wish there was more than one piece though).

One neat thing about the restaurant is that they really focus on supporting local farms by serving fresh produce, hand crafted New England cheeses, seafood from local fishermen, and artisan breads. The inside of the restaurant seemed nice and warm, and was much larger than it appeared from the outside. I would love to take my husband back there if we're ever up in Salem sometime.

Green Land Cafe
87 Washington Street
Salem, MA 01970
978.744.7766
http://www.thegreenlandcafe.com/

sam's at louis (boston)

2010-08-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of Saturdays ago, Tony and I were sitting outside on the patio at Sam's, a restaurant in the Louis building in South Boston. It was one of the first days where the humidity had finally dropped so it was nice and sunny outside without being muggy. We forced ourselves to leave the apartment to do something - anything - outside. I convinced him to drive over to South Boston so that we could walk along the waterfront area near the ICA. We found a metered parking spot and walked over to the ICA and towards the water. It was such a beautifully sunny, summer day.

I remembered reading about this restaurant recently opening up and sure enough, we spotted the Louis building from the ICA and decided to check out their menu. It's kind of a cross between an American restaurant and French bistro, so they have a lot of nice dishes to choose from. We were able to score seats outside on the patio area which was great because the view of the Boston harbor was pretty spectacular.

The inside of the restaurant is kind of like a diner scene, but with a modern twist. Some of the tables had half chairs and a large diner-like booth which was pretty cool. And of course, I love the huge windows looking out to the water. When you first walk in, you're lead by chalkboard walls full of scribbles and drawings.

We got there when they were serving food from their lunch menu. They also do brunch and dinner there. We were pretty hungry so we enjoyed some delicious, hearty bread with our wine while we waited for our food to arrive and had a nice time taking in the scenery.

Tony had their black pepper burger ($12) and commented how he really liked that it was a thin patty. They didn't ask how he wanted it cooked but it was prepared perfectly cooked through.

I enjoyed their pressed Parisian ham and comte cheese sandwich ($12) and opted for a side of sauteed mushrooms instead of french fries. It was delicious! So simple but so good at the same time. And the mushrooms were an excellent pairing.

I went to the restroom on our way out and came out to find that Tony had scribbled this on one of the walls. :- )

Fast forward a couple of weeks and here we are again, this time with my in-laws, my brother-in-law, and our nine-year-old niece before watching the Cirque du Soleil "Ovo" show. The same restaurant within a 2 week period? I think that's a pretty good compliment, wouldn't you say? This time, we were there during brunch. The nice thing is that they still offer some of their lunch menu items at this time, so my father-in-law and brother-in-law were able to enjoy burgers.

Tony and his mom both enjoyed the Nana Rogers’ pork hash with soft poached eggs ($12) dish. From what I could tell -- their empty plates -- it was a good choice and we all commented that it's not a dish that you normally would see on a menu. The poached eggs were so nice and runny -- mmm -- the picture of the perfect combination of egg yolks and potatoes is making my mouth water as I type.

I had their baguette with house cured salmon, capers, onion, and cream cheese ($10). It was a nice, light dish but I will have to say that it was a little overpriced compared to the portion size. I think $8 would be fair, in my humble opinion. It was extremely delicious though - the salmon was so fresh and there weren't too much onions or capers on the plate (I hate when places pile that stuff on - it's like I can't taste the salmon when they do that). It tasted really good with a cold glass of lemonade, too. And of course, since it was so light that left room for dessert. :)

We ordered a plate of cookies ($8) for the table to share. Again, probably a little pricy for what you get, but hey, I think you're paying for the scenic view and the waterfront location.

Our niece and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing the pound cake ($8) which was topped with a huge mound of Chantilly cream. It totally hit the spot without being overly sweet.

Overall I think Sam's is a great restaurant in the Fan Pier area. Again, can't say enough about how the view of the waterfront is fabulous there. They offer 2 hours of validation at the parking lot next to them, but it's also within walking distance from the South Station T stop. It's great for small groups, a nice date, and seems kid friendly. Our only complaint was that there isn't a kids' menu for our niece to order from, but they were accommodating when she asked for scrambled eggs and bacon. It's definitely a place I want to take my parents to when they come to visit Boston.

Sam's at Louis
60 Northern Avenue
Boston, MA
617.295.0191
http://samsatlouis.com

i made a blueberry cheesecake

2010-08-06T22:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know why but I had been craving cheesecake for a little while. It's not something we have often during the year, and I think I've only made 3 or 4 times in my life. There's something a little daunting about it to me for some reason. I'm not sure if it's because I'm afraid it will crack down the middle while it cooks. Or if it's because you usually have to use a spring form pan to make it, and I have this nightmarish scene in my head of going to pick up the pan and the bottom completely falling out. But blueberries were on sale at the store (buy one get one free) so I decided to try my hand at making one last weekend.

I think it turned out pretty well for someone like me with the jitters. I used Tyler Florence's ultimate cheesecake recipe but changed the crust from a traditional graham cracker to more of a shortbread base since I don't think I can eat graham crackers.

It turned out shorter than I had anticipated, which was just fine with me. I think I used my larger spring form pan and if I had used my smaller one it would've been taller in the end. In hindsight, I think it justified the need for cutting wider slices. :)

Here's my recipe for the crust:

- 2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 cup of sugar

Mix all of the ingredients together until it forms a dough consistency, and then press it along the bottom and slightly up the walls of the spring form pan. (I actually had some leftover so I just made a few little shortbread cookies with them.) Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until light brown.

I pretty much followed Tyler's recipe for the filling. For the blueberry topping, I added about 1/2 cup of water and increased the sugar to 1/2 cup and cooked it a lot longer so that a simple sugar would form with the blueberries which made it a little bit thicker.

I hate to sound like I'm bragging, but I have to say it was quite a delicious cheesecake! It was definitely not as difficult as I had anticipated it to be, although some water did seep into the foil that was wrapped around the pan (but I don't think that caused any damage).

The only disappointing part was forgetting that it would need to chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours, so we were kind of bummed that we had to wait until the next day to dig into it. But, as you can see, once we did it was quite rewarding! Tony took a couple of pieces in to work to thank a couple of his coworkers for their help on a project, and one guy who said he normally doesn't like cheesecake ate the whole piece without a complaint!

That, besides an empty plate, has to be the biggest compliment. :)

the blue room (cambridge), take 2

2010-08-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous summer night with a temperature in the mid-70's. My friends and I arrived at The Blue Room around 6:30 pm and were lucky to score a table in their outdoor patio area. With so many things to choose from, we decided to order a bunch of appetizers and share so that we could all try a variety of things. Pair this with wine and cocktails, and it's a perfect way to spend some time with good friends. Here are some of the plates that grazed our table that night:

The grilled shrimp and chorizo kabob ($6)

The wood-grilled octopus ($11) which is served with potatoes, mustard seed, and a preserved lemon vinaigrette is absolutely delicious. I even convinced my two squeamish friends to try a piece and they were surprisingly pleased by its charcoal flavor and not-so-weird texture. (Note to concerned friends: don't worry, I kicked the potatoes and celery slices aside and let my friends enjoy them while I devoured the octopus. Still suspicious about potatoes being a possible allergen.)

The wood-grilled skirt steak ($9) served with radicchio and a bernaise sauce was cooked perfectly medium rare.

The antipasto plate ($12) of roasted local vegetables was served with crispy flat bread. We opted for the plate that included artisanal cured meats. I had a hard time picking around some of the vegetables but I did enjoy some of the cured meat and it was quite tasty. This would be a great option for someone that is a vegetarian (obviously, without the cured meats - it's only $9 that way) because there was quite an assortment of vegetables.

We also had some of their rosemary and garlic marinated olives ($4) and my friends devoured a watermelon salad ($10) before I could snap a photo of the evidence. They said it was extremely delicious; the sight of feta, red onion, parsley, mint, oregano and a sherry vinaigrette had me wishing I wasn't allergic to watermelon!

I would highly recommend The Blue Room's outdoor patio if you're looking for a nice place on a summer day or night (the tables have nice large umbrellas for sunny days). Tony and I had dinner here back in September and it was just as nice inside the restaurant. Great choice for a small group of friends, a romantic night out, or a nice restaurant to take your parents to.

The Blue Room
One Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA
617.494.9034
www.theblueroom.net

the gallows (boston)

2010-07-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

There's a restaurant called The Gallows in the South End where Sage used to be. We stumbled in around 8:45 pm last Tuesday and waited for about 10-15 minutes at the bar for a table. The place was packed, which is great for a weeknight. It was nice to be able to look around and take in the scenery, especially since they totally redecorated the place. I really like the hanging light fixtures and the lights along the wood walls.

We enjoyed some wine while waiting to be seated. Tony had a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon from the Lyeth winery in Sonoma. (I tell you, he's lovin' California wines - cab sauvs in particular - more and more these days.) I had a great glass of Pinot Gris from the Montinore estate winery in Oregon.

We shared the smoked fish pate appetizer which was made with smoke blue fish (I think?*), cream cheese, and green onions. It was very tasty and had a nice smoky flavor to it.

[* Quick note: I have this habit of relying on a restaurant's online menu to help me remember what it is we ordered when it comes time to blogging about a dining experience. In this case - which rarely happens actually - the restaurant doesn't have their menu posted online so I unfortunately don't have very many details to share. My apologies in advance!]

Tony had a delicious beef brisket dish for dinner which was served with some eggplant and tomatoes on the side, and a dollop of cool yogurt on top. (I apologize for the dark photo but I hate using a flash in a restaurant and the lighting was pretty dim.)

I enjoyed a steak salad cooked very medium rare on top of a bed of greens that I can't remember the name of. They were described to me as tubular and crunchy, which was quite accurate. (I wish I could remember the name of them! Our waiter described them as essentially being a type of weed ... I guess at the time it didn't seem as unappetizing as recalling the description now ... LOL) It was a nice change from ordinary, flat lettuce and the dressing was delicious.

We shared a blueberry dessert that of course, I can't remember the name of (see above comment about lack of menu for reference). I don't want to call it a cobbler but it also wasn't a tart. It was served hot in a cute little cast iron pan and served with delicious whipped cream on top.

Overall we had a fun time even though it was quite loud at some times. Our waiter, Jim, was very friendly and made conversation with us throughout the night. The atmosphere is pretty laid back and casual, but it's also a nice place for a date or small group outing.

The Gallows
1395 Washington Street
Boston, MA 02118
617.425.0200
www.thegallowsboston.com

bin 26 enoteca (boston)

2010-07-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year, Tony let me pick a restaurant for dinner. I decided to check out Bin 26 Enoteca in Beacon Hill because we have walked past it a few times and it looked like a nice little romantic restaurant. Charles Street has always had that sort of charming effect on me with it's little boutique shops, old sidewalks, and perpetually burning gas lights. Plus it's so easy to access via public transportation, so we hopped on the red line after work. We were pretty early for our 7 pm reservation, so we took a nice stroll through the Boston Common and the Public Garden. We saw the nesting swans, a wedding party all decked out in white tuxedos and hot pink gowns, and some beautiful flowers.

The hostess seated us even though we were half an hour early (the place hadn't filled up yet anyway), and even though we said we would be happy to wait at the bar. They have a huge selection of wines available by the bottle -- a large leather bookful actually -- as well as some information about different wines and the regions they come from.

The wines by the glass section was a little confusing at first because they offer most them by four different measurements. They offer them in 100 ml, 250 ml, 500 ml and 750 ml increments. Well, 750 ml was easy to perceive as a full bottle, so 500 ml seemed like it would a little bit more than half a bottle. We each got 250 ml portions which were served in glass carafes. It ended up being like having slightly less than 2 glasses which was pretty reasonable.

I had the 2008 Chenin Blanc, Cave des Vignerons de Saumur 'Les Plantagenêts', Saumur, from France and it was quite good. Not overly sweet or acidic. Tony had the 2007 Projekt B, VdP de Vaucluse, from France and also really liked his pick. I think both wines went really well with our meals.

But before I talk about the food, I have to say that they win points for decor. I love this all of wine labels that cover every single bit of surface space. Now if I can just figure out how to take off our wine bottle labels gracefully and without tearing them, I think this would be a fantastic idea for decorating our future wine cellar (this is, of course, when I win the lottery ...).

Now this is a view of the ceiling inside the women's bathroom (I heard it's the same in the men's by the way). It's (what seems like) a gazillion wine bottles hung from some sort of contraption from the ceiling. It makes for eerily dark lighting, but I think it's pretty cool.

Okay, so on to food because that's the real reason why you're reading this, right?! (j/k!) We had the bruschetta appetizer which was served with sauteed mushrooms with garlic and fontina cheese. Oh. My. Gosh. I think I could eat ten plates of this ... it was amazingly delicious! The simplicity of how the mushrooms were sauteed with just salt and pepper paired so well with the stronger fontina flavor. (I'm drooling as I'm typing this and reminiscing about how delicious they were!)

Tony enjoyed the spaghetti with scallops and shellfish in saffron tomato sauce entree (it's too bad I couldn't try any of it - it smelled so yummy). The scallops were nice and plump, and he could tell the pasta was freshly made.

I seem to be a sucker for grilled squid, and since I don't see it on the menu very often, I went ahead and ordered the appetizer dish. It's normally served with white beans on top of the arugula but I asked them to omit them due to my food allergy. I also got a side order of their garlic mashed potatoes. I was a little disappointed that the squid was served cold, but it still had a nice grilled flavor to it. The mashed potatoes were wonderfully light and not overly garlicky.

We split a lemon tart dessert and while I was in the bathroom earlier, Tony told our waitress that it was my birthday so they brought it out with a candle. It was so good! It kind of bummed me out because this in another example of how restaurants don't disclose everything on the menu when they present something with additional ingredients (a pet peeve of mine!). We just took the strawberries and blackberry off as quickly as we could and I just crossed my fingers that I wouldn't be too itchy later on.

[Of course in hindsight, it was probably the potatoes that made me the itchiest after all. Read about my nightshade woes here.]

Overall I think it was a good dining experience. I would definitely go back there some time during the week after work to hang out at the bar and eat five orders of the mushroom bruschetta (you think I'm kidding!) and enjoy some wine. It's a great place for a romantic date and a small group outing. I'm not sure I would recommend it for families unless you went during the daytime (they do offer lunch). Huge wine selection, good sized food portions, beautiful decor, and super friendly wait staff.

Bin 26 Enoteca
26 Charles Street
Beacon Hill, MA 02114
617.723.5939
http://www.bin26.com

nightshades

2010-07-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not referring to Corey Hart's song about wearing sunglasses at night -- I'm talking about vegetables and fruits that are classified as "nightshade foods". My coworker mentioned this term to me a couple of months ago when the topic of my food allergies came up, and he gave me a list of things that fall under this category:

tomatoes
eggplant
bell peppers
cherries
tomatillos
potatoes

At that moment, I gasped when I read potatoes and thought, "Well, I know for sure that I'm allergic to the first five but I can't -- I just CAN'T! -- be allergic to potatoes too!"

So I kind of ignored the fact that they were on the same list and went on eating potatoes for the next couple of months.

Itch here, rash there ... but it had to be something else. It couldn't be the french fries I ate with my burger. It couldn't be the mashed potatoes. It must've been the carrot that touched my plate. Or the pickle that came on the same plate. Or maybe they used corn syrup in something.

I was in denial.

Then one day I ate some fries at lunch time and later that night broke out pretty badly. (I still think the hot and humid weather contributed a little bit to it.) And then at that moment I had to confess to my husband about my knowledge of nightshades and that sadly, potatoes fall under that category.

Sigh.

So for the past week and a half, I've been staying away from potatoes. I can't say that my skin has miraculously gone from being dry and flaky to perfect, but I don't think I've broken out very badly either. It is still hot and humid so I find myself getting pretty sweaty, and I have eaten a couple of questionable things too (cucumbers? maple syrup? pancakes?) so who knows. But I think I'll continue another week without them (it's been difficult, let me tell you!) and then maybe have them again one day and see what happens.

As a result - and this was the 2nd day of not eating them - I asked for brussel sprouts instead with my burger at the Indo last week. I have to say, they have the friendliest and most patient waitstaff there. Plus, they kind of know me by now so I think that helps. :) I asked for a bunless burger with the brussel sprouts instead of fries, cooked medium rare, with no tomatoes, but with swiss cheese, mushrooms, grilled onions and garlic aoili. It turned out perfectly!

Okay, oops, forgot to say no pickle but my order was already pretty complicated! The burger was cooked perfectly and all of the flavors went together so well. Without the fries it was a little bit more on the healthier side.

Anyway, it will be really sad if I can't eat potatoes any more but I'll have to try them again in a week to see if anything drastic happens.

amelia's trattoria (cambridge)

2010-07-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

I celebrated my birthday with three friends at Amelia's Trattoria last Thursday. It was real sweet of them to let me pick a place, but that was also a difficult choice to make since there are so many places I like to eat at. I picked Amelia's because we've been there before and it's consistently good Italian food, and the restaurant is nice and cozy (not too big).

We shared this bottle of Gini chianti and it was delicious. It went perfectly well with our pasta dishes.

I ordered a Caesar salad for us to share. It's a pretty good size on its own.

Laura and I both had the ravioli special of the day: a lemon ricotta ravioli served with pancetta, mushrooms, and spinach in a white wine sauce. I asked them to omit the tomatoes though. It was divine! And embarrassingly, I cleaned the whole plate!

Jess had the braised short rib bolognese which was made with fresh Fusilli and shaved Parmesan cheese. It was large enough that she had some leftover to take home.

Karoline had the house-made spaghetti in a plum tomato ragu and served with basil and shaved Parmesan cheese. She had enough to take home, too.

We shared a tiramisu dessert and it didn't last on the plate for very long. :) Even miss Jess who insisted she was too full for a bite couldn't resist.

I had a shot of espresso with dessert. So nice and rich, it helped wash down the dessert.

A glass of limoncello. That was quite yummy too.

Again, another wonderful meal at Amelia's, and this time in very good company. :) It's a great restaurant for small groups of people and especially for a romantic date. There's a small bar, too, and locals aren't shy about dining alone there. The waiter was very charming and accommodating with my food allergy concerns. Overall, a very pleasant experience.

Amelia's Trattoria
111 Harvard Street
Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA
617.868.7600
http://www.ameliastrattoria.com

sushi teq (boston)

2010-07-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

This is a restaurant review that I've been meaning to post for a while now. We went to Sushi Teq back in March on one of those nights where we tried to get into another restaurant but the wait was over an hour and a half. Tony had heard good things about it from his coworkers at his old job, so we decided to check it out. It's located in the Intercontinental Hotel in Boston and towards the back of the lobby. You can't miss it: it's the only place there with neon lighting and walls that change colors.

I couldn't get over how cute the soy sauce bottle was. (Me = geek!)

They have a nice little bar area near the sushi chefs. The whole concept behind the restaurant is that it's a "salsa bar featuring innovative and traditional sushi concepts paired with vintage agave driven tequila, margaritas, and specialty cocktails." I do have to say that the salsa and merengue music they were playing was quite loud, but it did give the place a fun and energetic ambiance.

A funny before and after of the edamame appetizer. Tony had some miso soup (below) with his sushi rolls. A pretty big portion.

It's kind of too bad that I waited this long to post this because I don't think these drinks are listed on their current cocktail menu. All I can say that Tony's drink had some sort of blackberry base and garnish. And probably tequila!

I remember having a lemon drop martini that night. It was so yummy!

And of course, I can't remember which roll he ordered but I do remember him saying it was absolutely delicious. I think this is one that is soy wrapped on the outside.

I went with my usual sushi picks: Negihama maki (yellowtail and scallion rolls), Maguro (tuna), and Ikura (salmon roe).

I think overall it's a cute place for sushi, especially if you're on a date and in that part of town. The prices were surprisingly not as expensive as I had anticipated, especially since it's located within that particular hotel. It has a fun atmosphere and the wait staff are super friendly. The funny thing is that they brought in a hamburger from the restaurant next door for one of the customers. I guess he didn't care for sushi!

Sushi Teq
510 Atlantic Avenue
Boston, MA
866.490.5502
http://sushi.intercontinentalboston2010.com

the friendly toast (cambridge)

2010-06-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

My friend Emily and I had lunch at the Friendly Toast in Kendall Square last week. It was my first time at the restaurant, and I was blown away by the kitschy decor inside. It has a fun, diner-esque atmosphere with an all-day breakfast menu. They also have a location up in Portsmouth, NH that is actually open 24 hours on weekends.

We both ordered tea and I love the little pots that they arrived in (I'm pretty sure I've seen these at Davis Squared, right?), not to mention the plastic mugs that they gave us. So cheeky and retro, yet so cool! I forgot what kind of tea Emily had but I had the minty green tea and it was really good.

The sugar holder on our table reminded me of the kind of stuff we'd find at our Auntie Tita's house when we were growing up near Vacaville. She had something exactly like this in her house - and it was probably an ash tray - but just as quirkily cool, know what I mean?

Emily had the Matt sandwich which was made with anadama bread ( ),cream cheese, avocado, black beans, salsa, and cheddar. It was a huge sandwich! They serve sandwiches with your choice of either pretzels, homefries, or chips. Em went the healthier route and boy, did they pile on the pretzels!

I had an egg sandwich on a grilled croissant and goat cheese. It was a little surprising when the waitress asked me how I wanted the eggs done because I'm so used to egg sandwiches being made with scrambled eggs. I went with her suggestion of sunny something (why can't I remember?! sheesh! I know it wasn't sunny side up because she said they flip it over a little bit, otherwise it would be super runny ... sunny medium? is that what that style is called??) and it was perfectly done so that the sandwich held up enough but the egg yolk was still nice and runny. I know, not everyone likes their eggs quite that raw but it's so delicious to me!

I must admit that I had heard mixed things about this location and mostly that their non-breakfast items weren't that great. I hear they do awesome pancakes and waffles, so I might be inclined to go for something like that next time. It seems like a good family place and also good for small groups of people. It's located near a lot of the bio-tech companies in the square, so it's not wonder it was pretty full at lunch time. The service was kind of slow, but then again, I think she was one of two wait staff on at the time.

I have to say, the area that we walked through (by the Cambridge Brewing Company, Flat Top Johnny's, the Blue Room, and the newest restaurant called Think Tank) was boasting with crowds of people at lunch time, and seems like such a fun area to work near. There was a lot of outdoor patio dining - I think I may have to convince my coworkers to do lunch there a couple of times this summer!

The Friendly Toast
1 Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA
617.621.1200
http://www.thefriendlytoast.net

F3 (cambridge)

2010-06-27T21:38:00.000-07:00

The new Flour bakery is here!!

Joanne Chang's newest Flour location -- F3 -- is located at 190 Mass Avenue in Central Square, right next to Central Bottle. We stopped by Saturday morning (the day after it opened) to check out the new digs and get our favorite pastries.

I really like what they did with the decor. It's a little bit more modern than the other two locations, and it has a nice flow to it.

Oh yum!! The wonderful pastries are all freshly baked. Of course, we went with the usual suspects: brioche au sucre and a maple scone. So good!

The "quote of the week" board. I love how they utilize the chalkboard theme for their menus in all three locations.

We got there at a good time because the line was pretty long soon afterward.

We did kind of think that the seating area would be a little larger than this, but it's still a good space. Love the large windows and natural sunlight.

It's going to be so nice having a Flour much closer to Somerville. I think they picked a great location because it's really close to the MIT campus and many of the bio-tech company buildings in the Kendall Square area. Can't wait to stop by there for lunch later this week!

Flour Bakery
190 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.225.2525
http://flourbakery.com

graham elliot (chicago)

2010-06-25T22:30:00.001-07:00

My friend, Allen, is a world traveller. Or, at least to me, it seems like he has been around the globe. He is always venturing out to new destinations and takes AMAZING photos. He's also one of the most genuinely kind people I know who is generous at the same time: he gave me a free JetBlue ticket that he won, which was how our recent trip to Chicago came to fruition. (Thanks, Allen!)

In addition to our shared love for travelling and photography, I think we share a lot of the same taste in dining. So when he recommended that we try the Graham Elliot restaurant in Chicago, I looked up the address on their website and added it to my list of things to do during our trip. (You have to check out the website by the way - the intro page is pretty neat!)

After a whole day of walking around Chicago, we ended up in the River North section because I was determined to check out one of the original Paper Source store. It's a long story but basically I have a photo of myself in front of several of their stores over the past years ... would love to see them all! Luckily, the restaurant was on a street on the way back to our hotel, so we stopped in for a drink before we went on a river boat tour that evening.

We sat at the bar and Tony enjoyed a basket of popcorn that was seasoned with truffle oil and herbs. It smelled so delicious and miraculously disappeared by the time we left the restaurant. He had the Metropolitan Dynamo Copper Lager and I had a glass of the Charles Bove sparkling Chenin Blanc sparkling wine. Man, after walking what I could swear was at least ten miles that day, that glass of wine was so refreshing!

Since we had a late lunch we weren't starving so we ordered two appetizers to share. The deconstructed Caesar salad was made with romaine hearts and white anchovy. It was served with a brioche "twinkie" that was filled with parmesan fluff. Did you read that? Parmesan fluff. Ahhhhh. It was probably the best Caesar salad I've ever had. I could eat ten servings of that in one sitting, how sad is that?

We also had the carpaccio of beef which was served with arugula sprout, torpedo onion, horseradish custard and sea salt. Wow. Another excellent dish. The presentation was equally impressive.

For being not-very-hungry people, we did a good job of cleaning up both plates (and the aforementioned basket of popcorn ... ahem ...). If we lived in Chicago, I know we would be back there quite often. The restaurant had a great atmosphere but the music was pretty loud at the bar (nice speaker system set up though). There were a lot of couples there, and it looked like some business people were meeting there for drinks. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone travelling to Chicago, and can't thank Allen enough for the suggestion!

Graham Elliot
217 W. Huron Street
Chicago, IL
312.624.9975
http://www.grahamelliot.com/

bergamot (somerville)

2010-06-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

There's a new restaurant called Bergamot in the location that Evoo used to be on Beacon Street, a short walk from our apartment in Somerville. My friend, Jess, got two free cocktail coupons after trying to go there when they first opened; the restaurant and bar were full at that time so they gave her these as an incentive to come back. She was sweet to share one with me so we met there on a Sunday evening. One thing that's great about this place is that it's equi-distant between the two of us and within a short walk.

I have to admit that I had only been to Evoo once in the 9+ years I've lived in our Somerville apartment, and we didn't even eat dinner during that one visit years ago. We just sat at the bar and had some wine while gawking at everyone's plates, and said that we needed to come back some time for dinner. Well, now that it has moved over to Kendall Square, we'll have to make a trip out there some time to see what we had missed.

Unfortunately, I had already eaten a late lunch by the time Jess and I got to the restaurant so I wasn't really hungry. We decided to sit at the bar even though there was only one occupied table in the restaurant when we arrived. It's a nice space with a semi-open kitchen. They offer a bar menu with a variety of appetizers to choose from, and they have a pretty good list of cocktails and wines by the glass.

I was in a white wine mood so I had a glass of the 2008 Beaujolais Blanc, Terre Dorees and it was very good. I've taken a liking to drinking white wines lately, and I enjoy trying varietals other than the norm. In particular, I find viogniers and chenin blancs hard to resist. This glass was right up there, and quite refreshing.

What cracked us up was how the bartender constantly tried each wine he poured that night. I don't think I've ever seen that happen before. It was interesting to watch after the first couple of times he did it, but after the seventh or eighth time, we were pretty shocked and I told him that he had a fun job.

The amuse-bouche of the night was sauteed calamari served with fresh peas (don't worry, I transferred my peas to her dish). It was quite delicious and flavorful. And just really pretty to look at presentation wise.

Jess ordered the calamari appetizer dish and I think this won on presentation too. The batter was really light and it was served with a sweet and spicy glaze. She said it was delicious (I didn't want to risk breaking out because I could see the chili flakes), and it was a fairly large portion for being just an appetizer.

Neither of us had room for dessert afterwards, but the bartender brought each of us this cute little mini crepe with a cherry on top anyway. I don't think I can eat cherries (it's red and a fruit), but I couldn't resist trying it - it was so cute and smelled so good! The texture of the crepe was perfect and the cherry was not too tart. The presentation, again, was quite pretty.

And as if that wasn't enough, the bartender gave us these little gumdrop-looking treats when we asked for the check. They were plum flavored and oh-so-good! I had a glass of the 2008 Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise, Cotes du Rhone and they went together quite nicely.

Overall, it was a nice dining experience and we had fun. The restaurant filled up by the time we left, nearly three hours later. (I know! I couldn't believe we were there that long either!) It's not a very big restaurant in size but there are a lot of tables and the noise level did not get very loud. It's a great place for a date, to take your parents to, and for small groups. I can definitely see more trips there this summer, especially since it is so close to where we live.

Bergamot
118 Beacon Street
Somerville, MA 02143
617.576.7700
http://bergamotrestaurant.com/

market (boston)

2010-06-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

We celebrated our second anniversary last Tuesday by having dinner at Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Market restaurant in downtown Boston. It's in the lobby of the new W hotel on Stuart Street so it was easy to take the red line to Park Street from Harvard Square.

It had been so long since we've been in that part (the theatre district) of town so we didn't even realize that a W hotel had opened up there. I have to say, the W is probably my favorite chain of hotels, especially after we stayed at one in Seattle. The lobby of this one is really cool and so modern. They have a lounge area with big leather couches surrounded by sheer drapes. It would be a really nice place to hang out in after work for drinks some time.

The first thing that we both noticed and commented on after being seated inside the restaurant was the decor, more specifically the use of wood on the walls and on the ceiling. The atmosphere and ambience in Market is relaxed yet chic and refined. The decor was simple yet interesting at the same time. They had these cool rock vases holding daisies on each table. The rocks are real, believe it or not, with a hole drilled into them so they can hold water and the flowers.

We decided to get a half bottle of wine and enjoyed the St. Supery 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa. It was a really nice cabernet and went well with all of the food we had that night. (Note to self: definitely need to visit their winery during our next California trip.)

They had delicious sourdough bread for us to enjoy before our food arrived, which was a good thing because we were both pretty hungry. We shared the sea scallop appetizer dish and could not get over how delicious each morsel was. Seriously! I think we both could've eaten ten more plates of it all night. It's served with caramelized cauliflower and a caper-raisin emulsion.

I explained to our waitress that I am allergic to cracked red pepper and bell peppers. She came back to our table to let us know that the sauce for the scallops contained cayenne pepper so the chef put it on the side for us. I have to give them two thumbs up for this because I've had several experiences where wait staff and/or kitchen staff don't know/realize/remember what spices come from bell peppers. Things like paprika and Old Bay seasoning. The biggest one is whenever I order a burger and tell them to hold the tomato because of that allergy, yet 9 times out of 10, the waiter will bring me ketchup for my fries.

I had the lobster entree for dinner, and wow! Talk about a fantastic plate! I usually don't order lobster at a restaurant because, let's face it, it's usually quite boring if it's served with just butter. This was served with butter fried garlic over sauteed spinach and some julienned ginger. It normally has dried chili on it but they were omitted due to my food allergies. I couldn't get over how beautiful the presentation of the dish was for at least a couple of minutes, and then I couldn't stop talking about how delicious it was.

But my husband probably didn't hear very much of my ooohing and ahhhing because he was quite mesmerized by the grilled lamb chops that he ordered. They were served with a smoked chili glaze with King Oyster mushrooms and broccoli rabe. And he got them medium rare. He's not the type of person that likes to eat with his hands but believe me, he was using them to get every last piece of meat off the bones by the end of our meal - they were that delicious!

I have to say that that was one of our best dining experiences ever. The portions were surprisingly larger than we had expected for such a nice restaurant in the city, and the flavors were just unbelievable. We regrettably didn't get dessert here, so that can be our excuse for going back for another night out. :) I would highly recommend Market for a romantic dinner and for celebrating special occasions. It would also be a great place to sit at the bar and enjoy one of their pizzas or appetizers.

Market
100 Stuart Street
Boston, MA 02116
617.310.6790
http://marketbyjgboston.com/

bar challenge

2010-06-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

My friends Karoline, Jessica, and I drove to Northampton, Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago to check out the annual tent sale at Webs (a HUGE yarn store). On our way home, we stopped at a bakery and Jess got something called a "buddy" bar. It looked like it was made with a graham cracker crust, chocolate chips, walnuts, M & M's, and coconut. Jess enjoyed it so much so I took a photo of it (above) and made it a challenge to one day try to recreate it.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to the baking contest at work where we had a "bars" theme. What a good time to try to recreate that bar! So here is my creation:

I called it the chocolate chip, M & M's, coconut, caramel gooey bar. And it was super loaded with sugar! I forgot to include the walnuts but Jess said it was still an amazingly good bar and pretty close to the one she had on our trip. It didn't win the baking contest but they did disappear!

I have a bad habit of not writing down recipes so here's an extraction from my brain of how they were put together:

Crust ingredients:

- 1 stick of butter at room temperature
- 1 cup of flour
- 1/4 cup of sugar

Crust directions:

1. Mix the butter and sugar together until it's nice and fluffy, then mix in the flour.

2. Pour into an 8"x8" baking dish lined with parchment paper (the paper will make it much easier to clean up later, trust me!).

3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until it's a nice light brown color.

Filling ingredients:

- 1 cup of light brown sugar
- 1/2 bag of M & M's
- 1 bag of sweetened coconut flakes
- 1 bag of chocolate chips
- 1 bag of little caramel balls (in the baking aisle; can't remember the name of the company that makes them -- or you can use little caramel candies but you'll have to unwrap each of them)
- 1 egg white
- 1 tsp of vanilla
- 1/2 stick of butter

Filling directions:

1. Beat the butter, egg white, vanilla, and brown sugar in a mixer until smooth.

2. Beat in the coconut flakes, then remove the bowl from the mixer.

3. Mix in by hand the chocolate chips and M & M's.

4. Spread the caramel balls on the crust, then top with the filling mixture.

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the coconut is browned on top. Remove from the oven and let it completely cool down before cutting into it so that it has time to firm up.

6. To cut it, simply lift it out of the dish using the parchment paper.

So back to the baking contest ... we had some great competition this time! Here is a little plate of the contenders:

From top left, clockwise: banana oatmeal bar; coconut, M &Ms, chocolate chip, caramel gooey bar; brownie with mint and raspberry; Neiman Marcus bar; and rhubarb crisp. The rhubarb crisp ended up taking the trophy whisk.

P.S. The crust recipe is a good one to use if you just want simple sugar cookies to snack on. They turn out like shortbread cookies and are super simple to make!

gaslight brasserie du coin (boston)

2010-06-03T21:13:00.000-07:00

My friends Antoinette, Renee, and I attended the patio party at Gaslight restaurant last night. I saw a blurb about it on the Boston Chefs website and we managed to get our names on the guest list for the party which was celebrating the opening of their patio space for the summer. It's funny because they kept emphasizing how it was limited to 50 people, but there were nearly 200 people there after the first hour and so there was a shortage of passed apps going around.

We enjoyed complimentary drinks from Svedka Vodka and Harpoon Brewery, and freshly shucked oysters from Island Creek Oysters. It was a nice way to spend a summer evening and I can see the patio area becoming a popular destination this summer.

Renee and I stayed at the restaurant for dinner and had quite a feast. She had their halibut special which was served with a corn succotash and said it was quite good. It was a pretty large piece of fish and she asked for some of it to be wrapped up to take home. Unfortunately, we didn't realize until right before we left (and after dessert) that the waiter never brought it back to our table. :(

I had the duck confit ($17.50) which was served with an orange gastrique, citrus chard salade, and roasted garlic potatoes. It was absolutely delicious! It has been a while since I've had duck and man, it was finger licking good. Of course, we couldn't let any of the freshly baked (still warm) French bread go to waste, so I sopped up everything on my plate. No shame, no shame at all. It paired really well with my glass of Gamay Beaujolais wine too ($10).

We shared the molten chocolate cake dessert ($6.95) which was served with creme Chantilly (think sweetened whipped cream). It tasted wonderful but I have to say that the presentation was kind of a flop. Literally. I mean, look at this picture. Right??

Overall, it was a nice dining experience at the restaurant and the patio party was a lot of fun. I will say though, it is quite loud inside the restaurant and it was difficult to hear our conversation even though it was just two of us and we leaned across the table toward each other. I think they could turn the music down a notch and it would be a little better. A great restaurant for a romantic date (if you can deal with the loudness), and certainly good for a group outing if you don't mind spending more on an entree. Would not recommend it for a family with small children though. Great wine selection, nice bar, and a party atmosphere.

Gaslight Brasserie du Coin
560 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02118
617.422.0224
http://gaslight560.com

lemon rosemary punch

2010-05-31T12:08:00.000-07:00

My friend and I enjoyed these lovely lemon rosemary punch drinks at City Girl Cafe on Saturday afternoon. It was so refreshing on a day where it was nearly 80 degrees outside. I'm not sure of the exact recipe though ... they were made with prosecco, sweet vermouth, rosemary, lemon, and simple sugar syrup. Delicious.

layered blueberry cake

2010-05-30T14:35:00.000-07:00

I saw a recipe/article in a recent issue of the Rachael Ray magazine where the woman baked a cake in a large jelly roll pan so that it was really thin and only took about 15 minutes to bake. I decided to give it a try and brought it to work for a picnic lunch at work on Friday. I was a bit skeptical about the recipe because it only called for 1/2 a cup of flour and that just seemed way too low to me. Instead, I went with a cake recipe from the How to Cook Everything cookbook by Mark Bittman (you all know how much I heart this cookbook!) and I think it turned out great. Super easy to put together and the flavors are so refreshing for warm and sunny summer days.

Ingredients for the cake:

2 cups of flour
2 -1/4 tsps baking powder
4 eggs
1-1/4 sticks of butter (room temperature)
1 cup of sugar
¼ tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cups of milk
½ tsp salt
1 pint of blueberries

Directions for the cake:

Beat the butter and sugar for a couple of minutes until it’s smooth, then add the eggs one at a time. Add the sugar, extracts, salt, and baking powder and mix well. Then alternate adding the flour and milk until it’s all blended together well. Add ½ of the blueberries, then pour it out into a buttered and floured jelly roll pan (I put a sheet of parchment paper on top of the pan which made it much easier to clean up later).

My batter didn’t reach all of the edges which was fine because I ended up trimming the edges anyway when I cut out the rectangles, and it made for good snacking. Hee hee. Oh and bake it in a 350 oven for 15-18 minutes (I started with 15 minutes but it wasn’t quite brown enough on top). Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes, and then cut it into rectangles. Transfer the rectangles to a cooling rack and let them completely cool before icing.

Icing ingredients:

1 – 8 oz. package of cream cheese (room temperature)
½ cup of prepared lemon curd (I like the Dickinson’s brand)
½ cup of sugar

Directions:

Blend all three ingredients until smooth. Then spread the love.

I stored the cake in my cake carrier with the lid on in the refrigerator overnight, and then let it thaw out to room temperature before we cut into it at lunch time (around 12:30 pm). The cake stayed nice and moist that way vs. the piece that I made for my husband that I put in the fridge without anything covering it. The cake got tougher overnight, but it was still yummy.

I can see using this technique of layering with different fillings in the future for other fun cake ideas. It really is pretty quick to put together from start to finish. Enjoy!

stone hearth pizza

2010-05-29T16:40:00.000-07:00

I recently became a Boston Citysearch dictator and joined the ranks of other foodies, bloggers, and contributors in the Boston metro area who also enjoy writing about dining experiences. I finally got over the anxiety of writing and posting my first list last week. I decided to write about my five favorite restaurants to get pizza made without red sauce (food allergy woe). As a result, I was able to join nine other dictators for a "pizzapalooza" at Stone Hearth Pizza in Cambridge.

I didn't really know what to expect at the event and I thought that it would be the type of thing where each person could order whatever they wanted from the menu. Instead, Michael the chef, gave us a bunch of things from their menu to sample in a family style setting. They brought out huge plates of their parmesan flatbread appetizer which were taller than our heads (and super yummy)! We also got to try their poppers which are stuffed meatballs, the marinated olives, gazpacho, whipped ricotta, a tomato and avocado soup, and pickled seasonal ramps.

They poured different beers for us to try throughout dinner too. I felt kind of bad since I'm not a beer drinker, but I did try the Original Sin Cider that they poured first because I used to love drinking cider before I realized I was allergic to apples. They poured Pretty Things Jack D'Or (interesting story behind how each label is created), Cisco's Bailey's Blonde Ale, and Allagash Curieux.

They also let us try their Caesar salad (wonderfully light dressing), arugula and Portobello salad, and a seasonal one served on top of asparagus spears and turnips.

I ended up making a special request with Michael for a non-tomato pizza and he was super gracious in accomodating my order. I got a junior size (8") pizza with fontina cheese, Yukon gold potatoes, and proscuitto. It was very good and I really liked the thin pizza crust.

It was great being able to meet so many other people who share my interest in food, and to learn about Stone Hearth's story. The restaurant supports family farming and serves the best possible organic food sourced from over 30 New England farms. It was really cute because they gave each of us a little basil plant to take home that night. I definitely want to take my husband back there some night!

Another dictator's blog post from the same night here (with even better photos of all the food and beer!).

Stone Hearth Pizza
1782 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA
617.492.1111
http://www.stonehearthpizza.com/

(they also have locations in Belmont, MA and Needham, MA)

green street grill

2010-05-05T22:26:00.001-07:00

We recently had dinner with a couple of friends at the Green Street Grill in Cambridge. It's a great place for drinks and apps at the bar because it has a nice atmosphere and a good menu selection. During this visit we sat upstairs in the dining area.

One friend and I had the special that night: gnocchi with mushrooms ($24) (I forgot what kind she said they were). The neat thing is that they seared the gnocchi in a pan so that it was slightly crispy on the outside, which added a little bit of a crunchy texture. The mushrooms were teeny and delicious. The sauce was made with white wine, lemon, and cream and went really well with my glass of Arinto (Pires, Casa Santos Lima, Portugal, $7). I sopped up the sauce with the complimentary bread - it was that good!

My husband had the skirt steak dish ($24) which was served on top of asparagus and then topped with a bread salsa. He enjoyed it especially (I think) because they did a nice job of keeping the meat medium rare.

One of our friends had a couple of items from the starter menu as a meal. She had the asparagus salad ($8, I think) and the charcuterie of the day which was a pork pate ($5, I think).

We ended up sharing the tres leches dessert ($7) which was extremely good. I don't think I've ever had tres leches before so I don't really have anything to compare it to, but the cake was extremely moist and so nicely sweetened. And how can you go wrong with toasted coconut on anything, right?! I might have to do one of these by myself next time. :)

We don't usually make it out to the Central Square area of Cambridge that often, but it's nice to know that this is a great place to stop at if we are nearby and in search of a good food and good drinks.

matcha mochi cupcakes

2010-04-29T18:17:00.000-07:00

A high school friend of mine, Azusa, has a wonderful food blog called Humble Bean. She takes some amazing food photos, y'all! Anyway, as I was browsing through some of her posts one day, I came across this one about Matcha Mochi cupcakes. I really didn't know what matcha was at the time (err, that green tea was called that), but I did know that I love mochi so I decided to give it a try. Since the recipe calls for Mochiko rice flour, this is what originally initiated a trip out to the new H Mart Asian grocery store in Burlington (read all about that ~~hellish trip for my husband~~ excursion here).

I ended up making a test batch of these before we had a baking contest at work and I had the hardest time figuring out what to use as a topping (or if I even needed one - these are delicious on their own). I decided to go with a lemon and plum glaze with some crystallized ginger on top. I scored this huge bag of ginger from Christina's for less than $4!

I noticed in Azusa's photos that she uses those little silicone (?) mini cupcake cups in the pan before she pours the batter in, which I think would've been very helpful. The little papers I used stuck to the mini cupcakes pretty tightly and so I decided to peel them off before presenting them. I filled them up almost all the way to the top and that produce a nice little domed cake.

The recipe says to let them bake for 30 to 40 minutes so don't be afraid of leaving them in the oven for that long! You want them to get a little toasted and browned on top because it leaves a nice crunchy exterior.

And the inside is so nice and soft and has the slightest hint of green tea flavoring. Yummmmm! My husband and I love them and quite possibly ate half the batch in one night (hence the inability to sleep later), they are that good! So give the recipe a try if you want to try baking with the rice flour. It's a super easy recipe and the cupcakes are irresistably delicious. :)

Thanks, Azusa!

*****

Matcha Mochi Cupcakes
(makes approximately 24 mini cupcakes)

Ingredients:

1 (1 lb.) box mochiko (rice flour)
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. matcha
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup oil (I used canola oil)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Whisk all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl combine the eggs, milk, and oil. Add dry ingredients and stir until well mixed.

4. Spoon batter in a muffin pan lined with baking cups (optional) and bake for 30 to 40 minutes until slightly browned on top.

5. Top with an optional lemon and plum sugar glaze by mixing some powdered sugar with a couple of drops of lemon juice and a teaspoon of plum jelly.

i heart wine wednesdays

2010-04-23T19:36:00.000-07:00

But I think you already knew that, right?

This past Wednesday my husband and I met our friend, Stephanie, and her coworker at Rialto for their weekly wine tasting. Brad let us try the Soave (La Cappuccina, Verona 2008) as the white wine, and the Valpolicella (Villa Erbice, Ca’Panvinio, Verona 2008) as the red wine. We all liked both of them a lot, but I was more in a mood for red so I had a couple of glasses of the Valpolicella with the appetizers that night. It was nice and light even though it was quite dark in color (you'd think it would be heavier) and I think it went perfectly with everything we ate.

Speaking of what we ate ... my oh my, they sure make dining at a bar deliciously fun.

Pictured above: local buratta (mozzarella) with braised tomatoes; fried olives with salami and parmesan; Pat and Barbara's perfect littlenecks served with andouille and toasted garlic bread; and Parma Prosciutto.

What a wonderful way to end a Wednesday work day. Ahhhhh. It certainly makes facing Thursday a little bit easier when your tummy is happy. :)

limoncello liqueur cupcakes

2010-04-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

Once in a while at work we have a baking contest. And boy, do I have a lot of coworkers who are talented bakers! I made these limoncello liqueuer cupcakes for a liqueur themed contest we had at work today, and the seemed to be liked by a lot of people, although it didn't win first prize in the contest. Here's the recipe for the limoncello cupcakes, just in case you feel like whipping up a batch!

I should preface this by saying that I ended up tripling the recipe for the cupcakes after realizing that it yields only 12 cupcakes. I filled each cup about 1/2 way and I ended up with 44 cupcakes total. Some came out rather peaked, and some came out rather level on top. I don't know why ... I'm just sayin'!

Ingredients for cupcakes (my measurements for triple are in the brackets):

3/4 cup all-purpose flour [ x 3 = 2 1/4 cups ]
1 teaspoon baking powder [ x 3 = 3 tsps ]
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda [ x 3 = 4.5 tsps ]
1/2 teaspoon salt [ x 3 = 1.5 tsps ]
zest of one lemon [ x 3 = zest of 3 lemons ]
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar [ x 3 = 1 1/2 cups plus 3 tbsps ]
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened to room temperature [ x 3 = 1.5 cups ]
2 eggs at room temperature [ x 3 = 6 eggs ]
3 tablespoons limoncello liqueur [ x 3 = 9 tbsps ]
juice of one lemon [ x 3 = the juice of 3 lemons ]
1 tablespoon milk [ x 3 = 3 tbsps ]

Directions for cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line the muffin pan with the paper muffin liners.
3. In small mixing bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in lemon zest and set aside.
4. In large mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition to fully incorporate. Add the limoncello liqueur, juice of the lemon and the milk. Beat for one minute.
5. Divide the batter up evenly into the 12 muffin liners. [Note: I filled them up 1/2 way]
6. Place the pan on a center rack in the oven and bake for 15 - 20 minutes, until the cakes have risen and are golden-brown on top. Test one for doneness by inserting a wooden pick into the center. The cupcakes are done when the wooden pick comes out clean.
7. Remove cupcakes from the oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Ingredients for the frosting (I made just one batch and it was more than enough to cover all 44 cupcakes):

8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened to room temperature
2 teaspoons limoncello liqueur
zest of one lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 - 3 cups powdered sugar (I ended up using a whole 1 pound box of powdered sugar)

Directions for the frosting:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add the limoncello liqueur, zest and lemon juice.
2. Add two cups powdered sugar and beat on low speed until mixed, then beat on high speed until smooth. Beat in additional powdered sugar as necessary until the desired spreading consistency is achieved.
3. After the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost the tops of each with a icing tube and star shaped tip.

Enjoy! :)

south end buttery

2010-04-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, my husband and I can be the most indecisive people. Seriously. One example: a wonderfully sunny Sunday afternoon and we're both hungry. Starving. Where should we go have some lunch? It'll be a late lunch. Where can we go where we can sit outside and enjoy a nice glass of white wine? Hmmmm. Put our thinking caps on. Thinking caps don't work all that well when you're ~~hungry~~ starving.

I remembered how a couple of my friends said that Rocca has a nice patio area in the summertime, plus I remembered how they have a parking lot, and that I wanted to take Tony there sometime after dining there during restaurant week. So I convinced him to drive to over there, but by the time we got there the sun had moved just enough so that there wasn't any shining in their patio area. Argh. Then we decided to try to find a parking spot on Tremont Street in the South End, and after about ten minutes, our parking angel found us one. But then we walked up and down the street in search of an outdoor table to no avail: it seemed like everyone else shared our idea of enjoying a cold libation outside under the beautiful sun too. Bummer.

So we got back in the car and drove back to Rocca, only to find out that by now (it was 4:30 pm) the kitchen was taking a break until 5:00 pm. (Did I mention that we were starving at this point?!) We decided to get drinks anyway and wait it out, so Tony had a nice tall glass of Peroni (he wasn't in a wine mood anymore ... hunger ...) and I had a glass of Prosecco. The bartender that helped us the last time I was there for restaurant week recognized me (insert husband's comment about being famous here). But it was like a club scene in there with super loud disco-tech music playing, so we opted to find another place for dinner.

And the point to my long story is that we finally ended up at the South End Buttery after finding a parking spot on Washington Street. We parked near the park and it was packed with people and dogs in the dog park, people playing basketball and tennis, and little kids running around everywhere. The cafe is located on the corner of Shawmut Avenue and Union Park Street, just a short walk down Bradford Street from the park.

We [obviously] didn't have a reservation so they seated us downstairs which, since by this point the sun was setting a little more, was dark but nice and cozy.

Tony ordered the meatloaf dish ($16) which was served with sour cream mashed potatoes, haricot verts, a piece of bacon on top, and a pearl onion gravy. It was delicious and surprisingly not tomato sauce based. The portion was quite large so we ended up taking some of it home.

I had the Chatham Silver Hake ($19) which was served with lobster mac and cheese, parsley-lemon bread crumbs, and braised leeks. It was also delicious but the lobster mac and cheese kind of overpowered the flavor of the Hake (fish). I think either components on their own would be great. There were some nice large chunks of lobster meat in the mac and cheese, and the Hake would've been great on something like a bed of arugula or mashed potatoes.

Alas, I wasn't that critical at the time because I ended up eating everything on the plate. (Remember, I was starving!) But with so much food, there was absolutely no room for dessert.

Oh and we both had a glass of wine with our food. Tony had the 2006 Silver Palm Cabernet Sauvignon ($10) which he said was quite nice, and I had the 2008 Pine Ridge Viognier Blend ($8) which was excellent (note to self: must find a bottle for home sometime).

In the end, it was a nice dining experience but it's not a place I would go out of my way to go back to anytime very soon. I had been wanting to try it out for about a year now, and if anything, I'd like to go back and experience their pastries and coffee one morning or even their brunch menu. I'm glad that we finally got to try it out though; I'm sure if we ever won the lottery and bought property in that section of the South End then we'd probably be there frequently.

South End Buttery
314 Shawmut Avenue
Boston, MA 02118
617.482.1015
http://www.southendbuttery.com

flatbread is coming to davis square

2010-04-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

On our way to getting coffee last Saturday morning, Tony and I drove past Sacco's Bowl Haven and noticed that The Flatbread Company had something that looked like a dome parked outside the door and that they were giving out pizza. Seriously, right? This was all B.C. (before coffee), so it could've been an illusion for sure.

Sure enough, Flatbread is coming to Somerville and they were holding an oven building party for their new location today. We were able to walk into the building to witness people working with mud and hay, and to see two of the earthen ovens being built. It was quite a sight!

On our way out, a man pulled two freshly baked pizzas out of their mobile oven and all I could hear him say was that it had mushrooms and herbs on it. I grabbed us two pieces and tried to hang onto the paper plate as the wind tried to knock it out of my hands.

We were walking back to our car and I just kept staring at the pizza and thinking how delicious it looked. Obviously the coffee hadn't really woken up my brain yet because I forgot for nearly two or three minutes that I am allergic to tomatoes! And it wasn't until Tony said, "I think there are tomatoes on this, you can't eat it" that it had sunk into my mind that duh! This was pizza! Of course it has tomatoes on it. Sigh.

I went ahead and took a small bite anyway, and we agreed: it was extremely delicious pizza. Wow, two new pizza places in Davis Square. We definitely can't wait to try out this one when they finally open up in June. Stay tuned folks.

city girl cafe

2010-04-11T14:58:00.000-07:00

There's this little place called City Girl Cafe in Inman Square that we've driven by a countless number of times in the past ten years we've lived here in Somerville, and I'm so embarrassed to say that we've never stopped to visit up until now. So finally, I got to go and check it out. And I'll admit, this was after one of my friends and coworkers came back from having lunch there and raved about their paninis.

My friend, Kathleen, and I decided to face the cold, windy, rainy weather and escape from the office for lunch on Friday. We found a parking spot right out in front of the cafe which was awesome (thank you, parking angel!). We got there around 1:15 pm and there was plenty of seating, so we sat by the window.

Kathleen ordered some of the olives appetizer for us to share, but I was bummed because we think there were cracked red pepper flakes in them. I did have one and it was quite delicious, but I was too afraid to eat anymore.

I ordered half of a PLT panini which was a pancetta, lettuce, and tomato panini with asiago cheese and a basil aioli (of course, mine didn't have the tomato) and it was served with a little bag of Cape Cod potato chips ($4.50). I also splurged and ordered a cannoli for dessert ($2) and a bottle of Pellegrino sparkling mineral water ($3). It was Friday for Pete's sake! I had a long week, so I felt I deserved a little treat. :)

I did think the sandwich was a little bit small in portion, but then again, it was just enough since I had the dessert and a full bottle of the sparkling water. It was absolutely delicious! I had it served on foccacia instead of the seven grain bread. Yummy!

Kathleen had the egg salad and asparagus sandwich with sun-dried tomato, romaine, and aioli on a baguette and she said it was delicious too.

We were both excited about sharing the cannoli that I forgot to take a photo of it before it was literally inhaled! LOL Needless to say, it was wonderfully yummy. :)

This place isn't that far from our office building, so I can definitely see it becoming a new regular stop for lunch. A couple of my friends have said that they do an excellent brunch, too.

City Girl Cafe
204 Hampshire Street
Inman Square
Cambridge, MA 02139
617.864.2809
http://citygirlcafe.com/index.html#

pizzeria posto (somerville)

2010-04-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

There's a new pizza place in Davis Square called Pizzeria Posto. It's in a building that Tony and I think is jinxed though, because it has been so many different things in the course of the ten years we've lived in Somerville. It used to be a Boloco, and then it was something called The Green Tomato 2 before now.

We went after work on Friday, their second night in business, and managed to get the last two seats at the bar around 6 pm. They did a nice job with the space: the kitchen is completely open, there's ample bar seating, lots of tables, a private function room, and a huge brick oven.

They have a pretty extensive wine menu and offer some of them as either a glass, half carafe, or as a bottle. We were a little thrown off by how pricy some of the selections were but decided to go for a half carafe of a red wine that was priced at $12 (it's $5 a glass). [Note: I don't remember the exact name of the wine and I was hoping I could look it up on their website as I wrote this, but alas, they haven't posted that info online yet. I'll try to update with specific info once it becomes available.] It was an excellent wine despite the lower price point, so I'm glad we didn't feel pressured to order something more expensive.

There was a man going around the entire time we were there, and by the looks of it, he was either a manager or perhaps one of the owners. He helped our bartender with our wine selection and poured it into the carafe for us, and said that their mushroom pizza would pair really well with it. Since it was one of the non-tomato pizza options on the menu, we decided to try his suggestion and split the shiitake mushroom pizza ($17).

And man, it was delicious! The crust was nice and thin, and the mushrooms were thick and juicy. Tony, someone who has been known to say, "I don't really like mushrooms" thought it was amazingly good too. We both agreed that the pizza itself was a bit on the smaller size for the price point, but it was excellent pizza.

Since we were both not full yet (LOL), we both ordered a dessert (gluttons, I know, huh?! Shoot, it was Friday and it had been a long week, so ... ). Tony ordered the cannoli ($5) and I ordered the gelato affogato ($5) after we Googled it on his Blackberry. We were happily surprised when they brought two cannolis on one plate, and with how they presented the affogato by pouring the shot of espresso on top of the gelato. Wow.

We also ordered a couple of aperitifs to enjoy with our desserts. Tony had a glass of port ($5) and I decided to try a glass of sherry ($3). Both were delicious (the port was a little too strong for me) but had I known that the espresso shot in my dessert would be so plentiful, I probably wouldn't have ordered the sherry. But of course, I didn't let it go to waste (ha ha).

Overall, it was a great dining experience, even though it was only their second night in business. It was interesting to hear some of the conversations between the wait staff, bartenders, and Eric (the guy I think is one of the managers or owners) because you could tell that there are things that they still need to iron out. I had the nerve to tell Eric that I had a complaint: no hooks underneath the bar to hang purses! Hee hee ... he kind of sort of laughed and said that it was something they just didn't get to yet, but that they should be installed by the next time I visited. I think we'll definitely go back for a nice date night and for just a drink at the bar during the summertime too. It's nice because it's also family-friendly, and it was packed by 6:30 pm (there were a lot of people standing around waiting for seats). To see more pictures, click here.

Pizzeria Posto
187 Elm Street
Davis Square
Somerville, MA 02144
617.625.0600
http://www.pizzeriaposto.com/

stir boston

2010-03-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

My friend Laura and I took the "Passion for Pasta" cooking class at Barbara Lynch's Stir in the South End last night. I have to say that it was truly one of the most amazing culinary experiences I've ever had! Not only did we get to learn the art of making pasta, we each received an autographed copy of Chef Lynch's cookbook, Stir, to take home. And the bonus? Chef Lynch was there that night to cook for us!

On the menu that night were four dishes: Lemon Corzetti with clams and oregano; Tomato Gnocchetini with mussels and saffron; Strozzapretti with rabbit and olives; and Orecchiette with cauliflower and anchovies.

These photos cannot even do justice for each dish - the aroma of all the freshly prepared ingredients, the delicate texture of each pasta, and the intricate little details of each plate were awesome. It was so much fun watching Chef demonstrate how to make pasta from scratch, listening to her tips and suggestions on cooking, and laughing with her and the executive sous chef, Molly Loveday.

The kitchen was warm and cozy, and the maximum number of students is ten so it's nice because you don't get lost in a big crowd. The wines that they paired with each dish were phenomenal and they were quite generous throughout the entire session. A group of women were there celebrating their friend's birthday, and there were two couples in attendance in addition to me and Laura. A gift certificate to Stir would be such a great idea for anyone you know that loves to cook, or for someone who simply appreciates a top notch dining experience. I certainly hope to be able to attend more sessions in the near future!

Stir
102 Waltham Street
Boston, MA 02118
617.423.STIR
www.stirboston.com

To see more photos, click here.

restaurant week boston 2010: sibling rivalry

2010-03-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

I had dinner at Sibling Rivalry with three of my friends last night (another Restaurant Week jaunt!) and it was awesome. I've been there a few times in the past and have never been disappointed, even if we've just stopped in for drinks at the bar. The restaurant itself boasts a warm feeling, and the food is quite delicious. I think the only thing I would hope they could improve on is their selection of wines by the glass, but the choices they give now are still nice.

Here's a run down of the dishes we ordered:

This was the warm parmesan garlic flan appetizer dish with wild mushroom, garlic confit in lemon brown butter (sorry, the lighting was rather dim so this photo doesn't do it any justice) which was to die for. I mean, I could see myself eating this every day, it was that good.

The steamed Prince Edward Island mussels in a spicy Thai ginger-coconut milk curry with cilantro and lime.

Local steamers served with a celery-lemon and herb broth with grilled bread and melted butter

Roasted baby rack of lamb with rosemary and roast pearl onions in a garlic confit-syrah sauce with Anna potatoes - these were cooked perfectly medium rare and as you can see below, were thoroughly devoured.

Seared jumbo Cape scallops with Anaheim chili relleno, black beans, tomatillo relish and salsa fresca

This was the carrot cake dessert ...

... and this was the profiterole dessert (nuts omitted due to my food allergies).

So in digging up the info for each of these dishes I've realized that the dessert options listed on the Restaurant Week website were not the ones we were able to pick from, just an FYI in case you head over there (believe me, I would've totally gone for the chocolate bombe option if I could've!). Everything we had was excellent and I think I can safely say that on behalf of my friends seeing that we all returned empty plates. I would highly recommend Sibling Rivalry for a romantic outing, an outing with a small group of friends, and definitely for Restaurant Week because they offer a lot of different things to choose from (i.e. some places only give you two or three things to pick from under each category). And if you're lucky, maybe Chef Bob will come out and say hello to your table, too! (P.S. He's so cute!)

Sibling Rivalry

525 Tremont Street

Boston, MA 02116

617.338.5338

www.siblingrivalryboston.com

restaurant week boston 2010: rocca

2010-03-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

So I am seriously behind in posting about a lot of things that I have on a list, therefore this is going to be rather brief! Colorful because of the photos, but brief! LOL

I went to Rocca in Boston with four friends last night for Restaurant Week and we had a great time. The food was good, the atmosphere was great, and a fun time was had by all. Here's a run down of the dishes at our table that night:

The grilled shrimp appetizer with celery root, fennel, blood orange & parsley salad in a blood orange vinaigrette

The arugula & endive Salad with gorgonzola& pomegranate vinaigrette

Wild mushroom panzotti handmade pasta with parsley pesto & olive oil poached tomatoes

The grilled hanger steak entree with mashed potatoes, grilled endive (the salsa verde was omitted because of my food allergies)

The potato gnocchi with lobster, savoy cabbage & truffle vinaigrette

Salmon al Cartocchio baked in parchment with radishes, fennel, celery, carrots & cauliflower served with arugula butter & Meyer lemon

Rigatoni baked in a pot with braised veal, tomatoes & Parmigiano

The cappucino sorbet dessert

The Torta Santa Monica dessert: rich chocolate cake, layered with ganache, caramel & fleur de sel, served with vanilla gelato & almonds

My friend told me that Rocca has great outdoor seating during warmer weather, so I would love to take my husband there this summer. Would definitely recommend this place for a romantic outing, going out with a group of friends, and trying during restaurant week. Another bonus: they have their own parking lot!

Rocca
500 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02118
617.451.5151
www.roccaboston.com

fan of lamb

2010-03-05T19:06:00.000-08:00

I convinced my husband, my boss (Elissa), and my boss's boyfriend (Pete) to attend the lamb event at Central Bottle on 2/23. I think it took all of four words to convince them to go: lamb, wine, beer, free. :)

It was a lot of fun! Chef Jorge Lopes of The Blue Room served some really tasty lamb appetizers. Tony and Elissa were too chicken to try the tongue dish, but Pete and I actually really enjoyed it. As long as I didn't think about what I was eating, I didn't mind it so much. I think everyone's favorite was the loin that was served with a delicious olive sauce.

It got pretty crowded halfway through the event but there was plenty of food to go around. They served three different red wines to try with the food, plus two different kinds of beer.

Elissa and Pete got some bruschetta, too. We both bought a bottle of wine to take home and the lady at the register gave each of us an apron to take home in a reusable shopping bag. The aprons said, "I love lamb" and the bag had funny sayings all over it like, "I love ewe", "fan of lamb", and "nice chops". We also got to take home a book of lamb recipes and some stickers. Pretty cool! I would definitely attend another event there in the future. The staff are super friendly and helpful when it comes to selecting wine, too. The store has such a great ambiance.

h mart in burlington, ma

2010-03-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Photo from the H Mart website

A couple of weekends ago, I was on the hunt for merlot colored cardstock for one of my customers' wedding invitations (which I've learned, is quite difficult to find ... so if any of you consider going into the cardstock making business, here's a suggestion for you!) so we drove up to Ink About It in Westford. And since we were way out there already, I convinced Tony to take me to the new H Mart Asian grocery store in Burlington afterwards.

First of all, let me just preface this by saying that you could call us crazy. Crazy as in "who the heck would dare go to an Asian grocery store on a weekend?!" We should've known at the moment when the police officer standing in the middle of a street was diverting traffic (us) to go around the way to get into the parking lot that we were in for some pretty intense crowdedness (is that a word?). We were quite lucky to find a parking spot, which is good because I think my husband was going to shoot me for suggesting the idea in the first place.

And then we walked in. And wow. So much to take in. A bakery on the right. A wall of rice bags. A gigantic produce section. A food court where they have Korean, Japanese, Thai food and more to choose from.

I really liked the cute little outfits the women were wearing in the bakery ... and of course, they're green!

A wall o' rice!

There was a wall of kimchee. A wall of those cool little side dishes that you get at a Korean restaurant. Tons of fresh seafood options. And lots of meat!

I know that these grocery stores are quite common in places like California, but they are few and far between aroudn here so I apologize for my over-the-top reaction. Oh and now I remember that I did have a purpose for going to H Mart (not just to annoy my husband - ha!): I needed to get the mochiko (rice flour) and matcha (green tea) in order to make Matcha Mochi cupcakes for the cupcake throwdown competition at work (another post!).

Mochiko. Check. Matcha. Check. Let's see, what else did we leave with? A container of those little soy black beans (Kongjaban) that Tony loves. Two packages of curry after trying a sample. Two packages of small rice cakes shaped like little balls. A package of thinly sliced bulgoki meat. Some really big mushrooms that I can't believe I didn't write down the name of. And more that I can't remember now.

That night, I ended up using a bag of the rice cakes to try and recreate the curry dish that Tony sampled at the store. It turned out a little too soupy for his tastes (I'll have to use less water next time). I put some cod, those forgotten mushrooms, and snap peas in it too.

And my dinner was essentially a rice cake soup that started off as boiling water that was used to cook them in, and I added an egg, a couple of anchovies (for flavor), and mushrooms. It was quite delicious actually ... I love the texture of the rice cakes.

I'm not sure that we'll go back to H Mart any time soon (errr, at least I think I'd have to go alone or without my husband for sure) but it was a pretty neat experience. I think the markets I've been to with my mom in California are a tad bit better because their "fast food" sections had things like dim sum and sushi for almost nothing. But then again, the Matcha Mochi cupcakes turned out so great so I may need to head back for more mochiko at some point (the Korean store near our apartment doesn't carry it ... such a shame!). ;)

central bottle

2010-02-22T18:13:00.000-08:00

"Have you been to Central Bottle yet?" That's what a friend of mine asked me via email yesterday. Yes, yes indeed I have been to Central Bottle! It's a neat wine store in between Central Square and MIT on Mass Avenue that features a huge selection of wine, plus some cheeses, meats, and other culinary goods. I've stopped in three times over the course of about a month, and each time I'm taken aback by their super friendly staff, the selection that they offer, and the various events they have going on.

The first time I stumbled in was back on 1/29/10 when I tried to go see the I...You...We...Robot! exhibit at Space 242 in Boston after work. After driving around for half an hour and not finding a parking space, I gave up and decided to stop by on the way home (because I had driven by several times wondering what it was like inside).

I think they were doing some sort of wine tasting that evening right before I got there, and I was able to try a cabernet that the woman was pouring as I walked around and gawked at all the pretty wine labels.

And then I perused at the lovely dishes full of little bruschettas that they offer for a couple of dollars, which were located right next to the displays of meats and cheeses that they sell. There were yummy things I recognized like Scamorza cheese and Bresaola, plus many other delicious things I would love to experience some time.

Don't let the size of their wine selection intimidate or scare you away: they have a section of wines that are less than $15, so it's not all just stuff to save for a special occasion. I bought a bottle of a Chilean wine, Terra Noble Carmenere Reserva 2007, and Tony and I both really enjoyed it (went back to get a second bottle later).

The second time I visited, I took my sister-in-law there and she found a bottle of wine that she has only scene back in Italy. I think on that visit, we both bought some of the ricotta salata cheese to try. I remember admiring their light fixtures, too, which my sister-in-law said looked like they were made out of Italian sodas.

The last time I was there was with a friend on Valentine's night, on our way to dinner. This was when I picked up that second bottle of the Carmenere mentioned above. Since my husband had a gig that night, I was planning on making a nice dinner for us on Monday night to celebrate and I thought the Carmenere would go well with lamb chops (which, it did by the way!). We arrived to a nearly packed store because they were doing a special oysters and champagne event to celebrate the holiday. We didn't stay for the festivities, but it was fun to see the red Vespa that's parked at the front of the store all decked out with hearts.

We're going to their lamb and wine tasting event tomorrow (2/23) night which we are super excited about because well, we both love lamb and wine! (There will be a post about that later this week, I'm sure ...)

So now I ask, "Have you been to Central Bottle yet?" :)

coconut milk shrimp

2010-02-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

I love when the jumbo easy-peel shrimp goes on sale at the grocery store because I love to make this coconut milk shrimp dish.

It's super easy to make! I honestly think the part that takes the longest is deveining the shrimp, but then again, I am the pickiest person when it comes to doing that (ask my husband) so it might not take you as long as it takes me.

Ingredients:

1 pound of jumbo easy-peel shrimp, shells removed, deveined*
1 can of coconut milk (not the low fat stuff!)
2 shallots, sliced
2 shoots of green onions/scallions
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
1/2 a stick of butter
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan about 2 inches deep, melt 1/2 the butter over medium heat and add the sliced shallots. Season with salt and pepper, stir occasionally, and let them soften (about 5 minutes).
2. Add the garlic cloves (I like to put them in whole so that you can remove them easier later if you don't want to eat them and have garlic breathe the next day), turn up the heat to high, and add the shrimp.
3. Let the shrimp get cooked on one side before stirring and flipping them over (about 2 minutes). Add the green onions and the remaining 1/2 of the butter.
4. Once the shrimp are nice and pink, add the coconut milk. Stir and let it get back up to a little bit of a boil. Then turn the heat down to really low and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.
5. Serve over rice and enjoy!

*I put that asterisk next to deveining because when I say I'm picky about deveining, I mean I devein the backside of the shrimp and the belly of the shrimp too. I know, it's a bit much but that stuff creeps me out.

samurai boston for sushi

2010-02-12T07:50:00.000-08:00

We had dinner at Samurai Boston last night before heading over to see the Monterey Jazz Festival All-Stars show at the Berklee Performance Center. We scored a parking spot right on Boylston Street near the restaurant (thank you, parking angel!) which was awesome because I was stupidly without a winter hat and gloves that night. This was the third time I have been to the restaurant (read about our previous outing here) and I was really looking forward to the yummy sushi to be had.

We decided that this was our Valentine's Day outing, so we splurged and got a little bottle of Sayuri Nigori sake ($17) to share. It is a cloudy, cold sake that is nice, sweet and refreshing. It's also dangerously easy to finish the whole bottle in a short amount of time!

Then we shared an appetizer called Hamachi Kama Yaki ($10) which is lightly salted, grilled yellowtail collar served with a deliciously sweet ponzu sauce. It was so yummy!

The portion was much bigger than I had anticipated which is always a nice surprise. It seemed so simply cooked and seasoned but tasted amazingly good. We both really like yellowtail as sushi, so having it cooked was a nice way of enjoying it too. I have to admit, I was sucking the last bits of fish off each of the bones, it was that good!

Tony had the rainbow roll ($13) and the negihama maki rolls ($5.50), which were very good.

I decided to get the chirashi ($19) bowl of rice with sashimi on top, one of my favorite things to get when we splurge on sushi. I love the sweetness of the sushi rice at the bottom of the bowl and the freshness of the fish on top. They also put a little mound of ikura (salmon roe) on top which doesn't always happen when I order the dish elsewhere, so I was super psyched.

It was delicious and as always, quite filling, but I have to say that I don't care for imitation crab meat. (What is imitation crab meat anyway, dare I ask?!) The best part was that I had Tony eat a piece of eel (unagi) and he liked it -- of course, he didn't know what it was until I told him afterwards!

We ended dinner quite full and content, although they were out of the green tea mochi dessert so were a little disappointed (probably better for our cholesterol levels though). I like this restaurant because they serve consistently good sushi, the atmosphere is fun, and the people that work there are so nice. It might not be a place to go to for sushi everyday, but for special occasions and special guests I think it's well worth it.

lime cornmeal glazed cookies

2010-02-11T07:18:00.000-08:00

I made these lime cornmeal glazed cookies (a recipe from Martha Stewart) for our valentine themed coffee hour at work yesterday. I made them years ago (back before I knew I was allergic to corn!) and so I thought I'd give them a shot again. I think people liked them (errr, at least I hope so!) so here's the recipe in case anyone out there would like to try them out.

Ingredients (for cookies; makes about 2 dozen):

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
4 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice (about 6 limes total)
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest (2 medium oranges)
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal, plus more for coating glass

Directions (for cookies):

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg; beat until just blended. Add citrus zests, lime juice, and almond extract.

2. With the mixer on low speed, add flour and cornmeal. Continue beating until well blended. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper. Using a 1 1/4-inch ice-cream scoop, form balls from chilled dough. Place balls on prepared sheets, spaced about 3 inches apart. Dip bottom of a medium drinking glass into cornmeal. Flatten balls with the bottom of glass until dough is about 1/4 inch thick.

4. Bake cookies until crisp and light-golden brown around the edges, 14 to 16 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to a wire rack, and let the cookies cool completely.

5. Place a wire rack on top of a piece of parchment paper. Pour the lime glaze over the cooled cookies, allowing the excess to drip off the edges. Let glaze set. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Ingredients (for the lime glaze; makes about 1 1/3 cup):

3 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
8 tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus 2 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest (about 6 limes total)

Directions (for the lime glaze):

Sift confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl. Add lime juice; stir until smooth. Stir in lime zest. Use glaze immediately.

brioche for breakfast

2010-01-17T21:08:00.000-08:00

One of the best things I always look forward to on weekends: sleeping in on Sunday. On this particular Sunday, I was waken around 11 am (hey, I went to bed around 1:30 am, so ...) when my husband decided to roll out of bed. I asked for thirty more minutes because I had just been dreaming about eating tomatoes and fresh mozzarella (pathetic, I know) and the bed was oh so warm and cozy. And it was Sunday.

About ten minutes pass when I hear the sound of the kettle whistling. The sounds of my wonderful husband making French pressed coffee. My foot sneaks out from beneath the comforters (yes, more than one ... I freeze at night). Brrr, it's warmer in the bed.

"Wake up, wake up ..." I hear as he comes back to check on me. It hasn't been thirty minutes yet. But the thought of fresh coffee. Oh, I'm so torn. Warm bed or coffee?

Suddenly I remembered that I bought a loaf of brioche from Sherman Market the day before. Sleepily, and with my head barely peeking out from beneath the covers, I tell him, "You can slice the brioche and put it in the toaster, then eat it with butter or jam." Funny how clearly I can give directions when it comes to food even though I'm half asleep.

I think, "He's going to wait for me to get up to make anything to eat, or he'll just eat cereal." Nice warm, comfy blankets.

Less then ten minutes later, a lovely smell wafts into the room. Mmmmm ... the smell of toasted brioche! I'm awake, I'm awake!

They sell the brioche as a full loaf for $9, or in thirds for $3. I bought one for us and one for my friend Laura because we have this common ~~obsession~~ affection for brioche. Sherman Market only receives it on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays so if you want one be sure to stop by during the weekend and early because they always sell out! I certainly plan on going back to get some pretty frequently.

Especially if they make Sundays that much more wonderful. And delicious. :)

top of the hub + atlantic fish

2010-01-02T19:58:00.000-08:00

Photo is from the Top of the Hub website

We started the new year with good food, fun, and company by having drinks and dinner with my brother-in-law and his wife. We took them to the Top of the Hub in the Prudential Center and luckily managed to find a seat in the lounge for some drinks. It's always fun to take people who have never been there before, even if it's cloudy outside like it was that night. The whole ordeal of trying to find a parking space nearby, walking through the Prudential Center, and then taking an elevator up to the 52nd floor of a building can be quite exhilirating. And then you see the spectacular view from the top.

They feature a pretty nice wine and cocktail menu that may be a little pricy, but we all agreed that the portions are bigger than what you usually expect. The martini and champagne glasses we were served that night were quite large which was quite nice. :)

Even though it was quite cloudy, I managed to snap this photo of Fenway Park all decked out for the Winter Classic that took place earlier that day.

Since we managed to [miraculously] find a parking spot on Newbury Street, we decided to find a nearby restaurant for dinner instead of driving to another neighborhood. We ended up going to Atlantic Fish, a restaurant that we had gone to with my sister-in-law and her mother back in February last year.

It's such a classy joint and after eating there again, I have to say that I'm glad we picked it. Our waiter, Fabian, was great and quite animated (even as he poured out one of the cocktails). He was good at taking a group shot with my camera, too.

We shared the clams casino appetizer. It was delicious! There were six pieces and I think we could've fought each other for seconds. I think next time we go back there I could polish off a whole plate of these with their delicious fresh-out-of-the-oven bread. Yum!

As you can see, our table was full of good food! I had the 2007 Viognier from Miner Wines and it was so good. Marina had the 2008 Sancerre “Les Belles Vignes” from Domaine Fournier and it, too, was good. Our waiter brought the glasses to the table and asked us to guess which was which. It was kind of difficult but you could definitely smell a difference between the two (one was sweeter than the other).

Marina had a grilled yellowfin tuna steak with spinach and lobster mashed potatoes on the side. Those mashed potatoes were amazing! Whomever thought to put lobster in mashed potatoes was a genius.

Tony had the seafood fra diavolo dish which was made with shrimp, scallops, swordfish and mussels in a spicy tomato sauce. The portion was quite a lot so he ended up taking home some leftovers.

I went for the lobster ravioli dish again even though I've tried it before because it is just way too delicious to pass up. They make it with chunks of lobster and shitake mushrooms in a really nice and rich basil cream sauce. I had to ask the waiter for extra bread so that I could sop up the sauce.

Needless to say, we had no room for dessert afterwards and left the restaurant with some very happy bellies. It was such a nice way to ring in the new year!

hing shing pastry

2010-01-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

We went to China Pearl for some dim sum on Wednesday (luckily they do dim sum all day until 9 pm!). I think it had been at least one year since either of us had dim sum because I think Tony went with his coworkers from Eaton Vance before he left last December, and I can't remember ever going since then (which is kind of sad).

I guess with my food allergies I was always hesitant about going out for dim sum because I don't know what ingredients they use to make the dumplings, etc. I played it somewhat safe this time (especially after just getting over whatever it was that bothered me during the Christmas holiday) and stuck with mostly shrimp dishes like har gow, and of course, shumai. I couldn't resist eating one of the lo mai gai (lotus leaf wrapped rice and meat) bundles, especially after Tony opened one up and the fragrant smell of the leaves and sticky rice enticed me.

Two days later (and even the day after), I felt fine so I think my fears have been calmed. (Woo hoo!)

They didn't have the egg custard tarts (dan tat) that we both love, so we stopped at the Hing Shing Pastry store on our way back to the car to pick some up. We normally stop at the Eldo Cake House but we parked in the opposite direction this time and thought about trying out a new place. I'm so glad we did!

Hing Shing is small and there are no tables and chairs to sit down at to enjoy your pastry purchases, but they have a large variety of things to choose from both sweet and savory. There were a couple of people ahead of us in line so we patiently waited while the one woman working the front tended to orders and a bunch of men in the kitchen were busy baking and talking.

This rack of pastries caught my eye and come to find out, they are sponge cake. They looked like popovers to me but sure enough, they are sweet and really light and fluffy in texture.

We laughed a little bit when we saw these "big walnut cookies". They were huge! And full of whole, large walnuts.

The woman had just put out a fresh batch of the dan tat so we were pretty psyched.

So we took our pastries, headed back to Somerville and to Bloc 11 for some coffee. I'd say that the dan tat and lattes were quite a perfect combination.

The dan tat were so yummy! I love the crunchiness and flakiness of the crust, and how the egg custard is not overly sweet. I found a recipe to make them at home on Jen's blog, so I might muster up the courage to try it out some day. But making a trip out to Chinatown for some makes it all that more special in the end, and this time I promise I won't wait a whole year to go back!

holiday cookie swap

2009-12-31T12:02:00.000-08:00

I know you all know how I have some pretty nice coworkers. I managed to get a small group of them to do a holiday cookie swap at the office, thanks to the help of one of my coworkers, Chris, who shared the idea. It was my very first cookie swap and it was so much fun to see what people came up with.

There were eight of us total and I think everyone came up with really neat treats. Funny how none of us did something easy like chocolate chip cookies.

Chris's fudge

Karoline's ginger cookies

Jeff's coconut macaroons

Tom's molasses cookies

Nathan's rum balls

Antoinette's snickerdoodle cookies

Anne's walnut ball cookies

Everything was delicious! And I love the creative packaging that people came up with. I ended up making those pretzel Rolo pecan treats which, I know wasn't technically a "cookie" per se.

I think the neatest thing that came out of the cookie swap was getting to know some of my coworkers a little better and that we share a passion for baking. One of them commented about how he doesn't like to bake/make things unless he has a purpose so it got me to thinking about doing some sort of monthly cookie swap. Like maybe every third Wednesday a month, if you wanted to participate, you'd bring in 2 dozen cookies/treats to the swap. Then depending on how many people showed up, we'd divi up the goodies for everyone to share and enjoy. After I presented the idea to this coworker, he added the idea where participants could not repeat any cookie/treat that was brought before therefore adding a challenge to be creative and try new [different] recipes. I'll have to see if I can make this happen. :)

pretzel rolo pecan treats

2009-12-15T18:12:00.000-08:00

Holy crappers, where did the year go?? To make up for my lack of posting I thought I'd share this recipe for a super easy peasy pretzel Rolo pecan treat that I learned from my husband's aunt Elaine last weekend. Super easy peasy! And super yummy according to my at-home-taste-tester and obliging coworkers. :)

Ingredients:

- a bag of Snyder's butter snap pretzels
- a bag of Rolo candies
- whole, shelled pecans

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Place a piece of foil or parchment paper onto a baking sheet.
- Lay whole pieces of pretzels onto the sheet in one layer.
- Unpeel some Rolos (seriously, this is the hardest part!)
- Refrain from eating a lot of the Rolos. One or two, yes. Handful, no.
- Put one Rolo on top of each pretzel.
- Put one whole pecan piece on top of the Rolo.
- Bake in the oven for 3 minutes (no, not the most efficient use of a 350 degree oven, I know ...)
- Remove from the oven and smoosh each pecan down so that the Rolo gets flattened.
- Let them cool down and then put them in the fridge to harden.
- Enjoy!!

harvard square's oktoberfest

2009-10-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

In the trend of late blog posts ... and now in the practice of putting things out of sequential order of when they actually happened it appears ...

We decided to check out the Oktoberfest in Harvard Square a couple of Saturdays ago. Again, another thing we had never done in the 10+ years of living here [sigh]. It was a little too crowded for our tastes so we didn't stick around for too long, but long enough for me to be intrigued by some food related items (of course!). I was mostly curious about watching these two women fry up a serious load of potstickers.

Wow, that's a lotta potstickers! And then we were walking along Church Street and I saw this caramel apple station, which I thought was clever. Messy but clever.

There was all sorts of music and live entertainment going on, beer gardens, people in crazy costumes, a huge variety of ethnic restaurants selling food, and lots and lots of people. Including this man on stilts.
We didn't get any beer but Tony got some delicious Indian food from one of the local restaurants (I was so jealous). Definitely worth checking out if you're a beer fanatic and aren't afraid of people dressed up in strange costumes rubbing up against you in the middle of a street.

verrill farm in concord, ma

2009-10-22T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when I get behind in blogging: we go somewhere or do something and it takes me over a week to write about it. In this particular case, I had convinced my husband to make a stop at Verrill Farm in Concord after we made a trip out to the DeCordova Museum since we had Columbus Day off. In the ten years I've lived in Massachusetts - and despite the number of times we've driven near it going back and forth to Clinton - we have never actually stopped in to check out the farm. They had rebuilt the entire place after a fire destroyed the farm last year, so since we were in the area we stopped by to see what it was like inside.

The store and bakery is cute and reminds me a little of Russo's in Watertown, although it's not nearly as big. There's a whole range of fresh produce - most of it homegrown - including tomatoes, winter squash, kale, herbs, cucumbers, kohlrabi, and more.

I managed to find a nice little pumpkin to carve into. (Note to self: try not to look so irritated whenever your husband takes photographs of you.)

I had already done the grocery shopping for the next few days (meaning, I didn't know we were going to the farm) so I didn't really "need" anything there, but I couldn't resist their homegrown brussel sprouts. And as I started to select some, a nice man came by with a load of freshly picked stock to replenish the stash.

They have a bakery and a deli (and they do catering too), so we were enticed by the aromas of fresh pastries. I saw these and thought that it would be a good combination for scones.

They had tons of squash and pumpkins and mums outside the store. Some were a little odd looking, like these large greenish ones.

So what do you do with so much fresh produce in the fall? Roast 'em! For dinner that night, I made us pork chops and topped them with some sauteed onions. And on the side we had roasted brussel sprouts, butternut squash, and potatoes.

Is it weird that one of my most favorite smells is the smell of sauteeing onions?? I love how the smell fills the kitchen every time I make them. They're so deliciously easy to do: take one large onion (usually go for the sweeter kinds, especially Vidalias when they are in season), cut it in half, then cut into thin strips. Melt 1/2 a stick of butter (I know, I didn't say it was non/low fat!) in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the onion, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Let it cook for about 3-4 minutes before stirring. Then stir every few minutes as needed. It should start to turn brown in color and smell good. You can turn the heat down to low and just stir once in a while until they are nicely limp and very caramelly brown in color. Serve and enjoy.

I find roasting vegetables, especially a huge tray of them like this, is the easiest and simplest way to enjoy them. Cut the vegetables into equal sized pieces, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt and black pepper, then stick it in a 425 degree oven for 40-50 minutes (depending on how large the pieces are). You may want to stir or flip them half way through the process but it's generally a no-brainer way of cooking them.

I have to say, we dined like kings that night. The pork chops were so nice and thick and I luckily didn't overcook them.

I started out by rubbing them with a little bit of olive oil and then seasoning them with sea salt, black pepper, dried basil, and dried oregano on both sides. Place them into a nonstick pan heated on medium heat. Let them cook for about 4 minutes on each side (just to brown them), then put a piece of foil on top of the entire pan and transfer it to a 450 degree oven. (Make sure that your pan doesn't have any plastic parts.) I kept them in the oven for about 12 mintues since they were on the thicker side (our internal thermometer that could go inside the oven broke unfortunately). Remove from the oven and keep the foil on as you let them rest for about 8-10 minutes. This is a good time to plate everything else up and get the vino pouring.

Serve to a hungry husband and smile as it disappears. :)

what has two thumbs ...

2009-10-22T08:19:00.000-07:00

... and is allergic to beets?

Me!!!

[Insert Debbie Downer face and soundclip here.]

wine wednesday at rialto restaurant

2009-10-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

One neat thing about Twitter is finding out about things going on at local restaurants such as Rialto Restaurant's Wine Wednesday event. My husband and I originally had plans to meet with a couple of friends for dinner at Cambridge 1, but since that fell through I suggested that we check out this event. And we're both so glad we went!

Wine Wednesday takes place every Wednesday from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Their wine director, Brad Nugent, hosts an informal wine tasting where he selects a white and red from Rialto's wine list to share a taste of. Last night, we tried the Riesling (Trimbach, Clos St. Hune 1997) and the Amarone della Valpolicella (Tommaso Bussola 2004). Both were excellent wines. Tony preferred the red over the white because the Riesling was quite dry and he prefers sweeter varietals. And I preferred the Riesling because it had a nice finish. In either case, we were shocked to learn (after inquiring about being able to order either by the glass on a future dining excursion) that they around roughly $150 and $175 per bottle (respectively). Yowzers! So in that sense, it was a real treat to be able to try both of them for free during the tasting!

After we finished our tastings, Tony had a glass of the Barbera and I had a glass of the Nebbiolo (Vietti, Perbacco, Langhe 2006). His was a lot more buttery than mine but both were delicious (I had never tried a Nebbiolo before), and they both went quite well with our appetizers.

Rialto has a great bar menu where one can order antipasti dishes at $4 per plate, or three plates for $10. We thoroughly enjoyed the local mozzarella which was served with yummy braised tomatoes (yes friends, don't worry, the husband ate those and kept them far away from me!); the roasted winter squash which was served with a deliciously tart pomegranate sauce; and the fried olives which were stuffed with salami and parmesan. (P.S. I think we could've eaten a hundred more of the stuffed olives! So yummy!)

I think next time I'll try the potato croquettes, the smoked salmon, and definitely the duck liver pate dishes. Mmmmm ... just thinking about all this is making me hungry!

So if you're ever in the Cambridge (Harvard Square) area on a Wednesday evening and enjoy wine, definitely check out Rialto Restaurant's Wine Wednesday and give Brad a visit! Be sure to tell them that Candice sent you. :)

spreading some blog love

2009-10-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Thank you, Jen of Tiny Urban Kitchen, for awarding Candice Cooks the "One Lovely Blog" Award. This is the first blog award I have ever received! Thank you for your kind words and the recognition!

This is what Jen wrote: "Candice from Candice Cooks is a Boston local, just like me! I love reading her impressions of the local Boston food scene, especially all her photos of the farmers markets that she visits. Her posts are funny, warm, and personal. I love the little stories that she interweaves into her food posts."

In the spirit of spreading the blog love, I've listed a couple of blogs I enjoy reading. Here are the rules for the "One Lovely Blog" award:

Link to the person from whom you’ve received the award.

Nominate blogs you really like, preferably ones you have recently discovered

Leave a message on the nominees’ blogs telling them of their award!

So are you ready for them? Here are some food-related blogs I look forward to reading on a regular basis:

Extracurricular Laboratory Notebook
One of the reasons I like to read Stephanie's blog is because she signed up for a CSA and I love to see what she creates from the fresh produce she receives each week. I like how she isn't afraid to try new recipes and experiment with ingredients.

Tiny Urban Kitchen
I stumbled upon Jen's blog after discovering one of her posts on Foodbuzz a little while ago. Then I secretly started stalking her on Twitter once I learned that she's in the Boston area too. She creates some of the coolest dishes (with such a creative twist) and her excellent photography skills make me drool on the keyboard. I also really appreciate her attention to detail when it comes to describing food, ingredients, and dishes.

In the Hands of a Chef
This is Chef Jody Adams' blog. She is a James Beard award-winning chef/owner who celebrates regional Italian cuisine interpreted with New England ingredients at her landmark restaurant in Harvard Square, Rialto. I am enjoying her blog these days because she and a few of her staff are on an awesome trip through Europe discovering different cuisines and regions. I've eaten at Rialto and it's such a wonderful restaurant so it makes reading about her travels that much more intriguing to me.

Anna the Red's Bento Factory
I came across this blog recently after someone posted a link to her "Where the Wild Things Are" food creation. I can't believe how detailed and precise her creations are - talk about having a lot of patience! I love how she breaks down the process of how she forms different things. It makes you look at food in a different way.

Enjoy perusing these blogs as much as I do! Thanks again for the award, Jen! :)

if I won the lottery ...

2009-10-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

At $25,000 a pop, I think not actually. LOL

orange + anise = goodness

2009-10-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

It's funny because until recently I was never a big fan of anise. I can't even really eat a pizzelle although my father-in-law makes them by hand from scratch, how sad is that? But a little while ago, my friend and coworker, Laura, made these amazingly delicious orange and anise biscotti and gave me some. I swear, it has convinced me that anise really isn't that bad. I mean, I still don't love it but when she makes these biscottis then I seem to forget that I disliked it to begin with.

So you can only imagine the big smile on my face when I walked into work yesterday morning to find a pretty little package on my desk. I could just tell by the ribbon that it was tied with that it was from Laura, so I knew it contained some sort of deliciously baked treat (did I mention that she used to be a pastry chef?!).

Yummmmm ... these are sooooo gooooood. I was out of yogurt so I was hungry enough to make myself a cup of coffee and dunked a biscotti in it. Delightful!

I saved an extra one for myself to devour tomorrow morning and brought two home for the husband.

I must say, I do have some really sweet coworkers. So nice to find {delicious} surprises like this! Thank you, Laura! :)

a little kick*ss competition

2009-10-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite cupcake shops is based here in Somerville, aren't we lucky?? Kickass Cupcakes in Davis Square is holding a month long contest for a new cupcake idea to list on their menu. The winner will get a year of cupcakes - holy icing, Batman! You can enter as many times as you'd like (read: you can confess the multitude of fantasy cupcake concoctions you possess) so let the creativity begin!

So my question is: What kind of a cupcake would you like to see a bakery make?

Here are the things that you need to supply with each of your entries (I'm using an example that someone already submitted):

Name: Winter Solstice
Cake: Dark Chocolate Cake
Frosting: Peppermint Buttercream
Garnish: Mini Candy Canes
Other: None

To enter the contest you can either drop it off or send it directly to them at the bakery, or via their Facebook discussion.

Good luck! Can't wait to see what kind of combinations you all come up with!!

Kickass Cupcakes
http://www.kickasscupcakes.com
378 Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA 02144
info@kickasscupcakes.com

P.S. If you ever get the chance to stop by there, try the Mojito cupcake (pictured as a mini-cupcake above)! It's a rum-soaked cupcake topped with a lime frosting. Yum-o!!

anne's nibbly cookies recipe

2009-09-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

I was craving bread from the Danish Pastry House yesterday (see what too many trips to the farmers market will do to ya?!), and luckily my parking angel was with me and I got a metered spot nearby. So after I bought a loaf of their Epine baguette (so yummy!) I walked by the Taza Chocolate booth to see their new chococycle. It's really cool! I decided to pick up a large bag (6 ounces) of their organic chocolate covered nibs to make something.

(I will refrain from saying what the husband said these look like.)

I didn't have any plan in mind so I was happy to find this recipe on the back of the package when I got home. They turned out great! Well, I should say that my husband didn't really love them like he loves regular chocolate chip cookies that I make but everyone at work who tried them loved them! They were super easy to make and they came out so soft. The only thing I didn't do in the recipe was add the nutmeg and that was simply because I didn't have any on hand.

I love using ice cream scoopers for cookie dough. These only took 10 minutes in the oven because they were small and bite-sized.

It was definitely a good idea to use the parchment paper on top of the pan because it made clean up a breeze!

So my friends, if you'd like the recipe you should go out and get a bag of these lovely little nibs!

Oh and by the way, speaking of yummy baked goods. Check out this cardamom cake that my coworker, Stephanie, made (yes, the same one with the amazing basil garden). Our departments hosted today's coffee hour this morning which is why I brought the cookies in to work. I really like the green plate that she brought it on, and the cake was as delicious as it was beautiful!

Happy baking everyone! :)

nebo in boston, ma

2009-09-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

This post/review is long overdue! Stephanie and I went to see the Killers at the TD Banknorth Garden the Friday of Labor Day weekend (read all about it here). Since the concert wasn't going to start until 7:30 pm (which is typically still inaccurate, it tends to be 30+ minutes later than that even), we met up beforehand and had dinner at Nebo in the North End in Boston. Neither of us had been there before so it made the experience of trying some place new even more fun.

It's in a kind of weird location (N. Washington Street) because it's right on the edge or out-skirts of what most people know as the North End. What's great is that it really is only about 252 steps away from the Garden (I'm still so used to calling it the Fleet Center) as they boast on their website. If you take the green line T to get there and exit at North Station, you'll see a large painted sign on the back of the restaurant's building, so you can't miss it.

We got there a little after 5:30 pm and it was quite empty (Friday before a holiday weekend ... maybe everyone had left by then?). I wanted to take pictures of the decor and set up inside but there were so many wait staff just standing around so I felt awkward whipping out the camera. It is much larger inside than it seems from the outside as it goes far back into the building. There's a nice bar where people started to congregrate as they trickled in.

We started with their arancini appetizer ($10) which were three porcini mushroom and mozzarella stuffed rice balls. They normally drizzle the chestnut honey over top of them but we asked for it on the side instead. I liked the presentation in the white dishes, and they were delicious! It's funny because as much as Stephanie and I both love to cook, we pondered over why neither of us had ever tried frying risotto balls like this. I think it is probably a lot more difficult than we think (they come out so smooth) so I'll just leave it to the pros and look forward to enjoying them as we dine out. :)

We also shared an order of their bruschetta aglio e olio ($2) which translates to homemade grilled bread with garlic and extra virgin olive oil (evoo). It was very tasty but a tad too crunchy for my tastes. Of course, that didn't stop me from eating my share.

And then we split a pizza con patate ($16) which was made with pancetta, golden potato, gorgonzola, rosemary, evoo, and mozarella. I like how it was a thin crust pizza and how the pancetta gave it a nice salty flavor. Part of why I wanted to try that particular pizza (they have over 20 different kinds to choose from, not to mention the ability to create your own!) was to see how it compared to the potato pizza at Cambridge 1. I have to say that I still favor the one at Cambridge 1, although the pancetta and gorgonzola on this one does make it quite different. It was a good pizza but I think next time I'd like to try the scampi pizza ($17) with shrimp, garlic, parsley, evoo, pecorino romano, and mozzarella.

It's a nice alternative to fighting the tourist crowd in the North End, and especially ideal if you're going to attend a concert or game later that night. I really can't think of other nice, classy restaurants in that particular area (like on Canal Street, etc.) that aren't basically beer or sports bars. They have a great wine menu, too, and the atmosphere is quite lively. The portions were good: we barely finished the pizza after sharing the two apps and did not have room for dessert. Also a good place for a group of people. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area!

pesto pasta

2009-09-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

What do you do when a coworker surprises you with a bunch of fresh basil from her garden? You make pesto!

Thanks to Stephanie and her husband, Peter, we had a delicious pesto pasta for dinner last night. And thanks to Michael D. for sharing a tip: blanching the garlic before mincing it up to help cut down on the pungency (is that a word?). It worked! Just less than a minute in boiling water before I threw it into the Magic Bullet. Makes kissy-kissy breath a little more bearable afterwards. :)

the blue room in cambridge, ma

2009-09-19T18:00:00.000-07:00

We went to see Uma Thurman's new movie, Motherhood, on Friday night at the Kendall Square Theatre. You can see the photos I managed to snap of her during the Q&A session afterwards here. After the movie, Tony and I had dinner at The Blue Room not too far from the theatre. I had read about it on Boston Chefs before but since we don't normally hang out in Kendall Square I wasn't eve sure where it was located. I really liked the outside of the building and how it is lit at night. It has a nice, warm and cozy feeling on the inside as its filled with lots of tables for two, and has a fully open view of the kitchen.

The place was packed even at 9:45 pm, which is a great sign. We managed to get a table without having reservations. They print their menu each day and at the botom was this phrase about eating raw food; it was the first thing that caught my eye and made us laugh.

The way that the menu is printed is quite clever actually. It's all on one page and it includes the wines by the glasses. They assigned a letter to each of the wines (starting at the top with the sparkling and white wines, then down to the heavier reds) and then they indicate a suggested wine pairing next to each food dish by using the coordinating letter.

We decided to try something different (in hindsight, all of these wines were pretty much new to us which was quite cool) from the wine by the glass menu and we both wanted to try one called Grignolino del Monferrato Casalese, Migliavacca, 2008 (Piedmont) ($8) but I couldn't figure out how to pronounce it and pointed to it instead. Unfortunately, it was a bit loud in the restaurant and we think that he thought I said we wanted the "Gritsch". So when our waiter came to the table with a bottle of white wine and said, "I want you to try this," I totally thought he was giving us a free sample of something. (I'm still laughing at myself for being so naive!) But then after we finished tasting it and said that we liked it, he filled our glasses and then left. We just kind of looked at each other with bewilderment and said, "What just happened here?" Alas, the wine that we ended up with -- Gruner Veltliner, Gritsch, Kalmuck, 2008 (Wachau) ($8) -- was indeed delicious so we decided we'd get red to go with our meals and not complain.

There aren't that many entree options for me on their menu except for the skirt steak dish as long as the chef would be cook with omitting the spinach risotto (yes, spinach is in question for me too). So we did something a little different than usual and ordered a couple of the appetizer plates. Tony had a bowl of their wild boar and barley vegetable soup which is made with Broken Arrow Ranch Italian style sausage, cannelini beans, butternut squash and kale ($8). He also had their pork tamales which are served with fried sweet plantains, chipotle sauce, and pinto beans ($9). (I'm sorry the photo of the soup didn't come through because it looked really nice!)

I had the grilled squid appetizer ($9) and asked the waiter to have the chef leave out the roasted red pepper puttanesca (wanted to avoid a trip the ER ya know ... lol) and that we'd get an order of the roasted fingerling potatoes from the side dish menu. I think the communication was a little mixed up because they ended up substituting the red peppers with the fingerlings instead of making them a whole separate plate. It really was fine in the end because it was extremely delicious and served with semolina fried artichokes. I couldn't get over the flavor of the squid and I think it's now one of my favorite appetizer dishes. The fingerlings went perfectly with them. Mmmmm. I'm craving them as I type this up! I seriously could eat this all day.

During dinner, we both asked for the Grignolino again and this time our waiter brought back to the [small] table four empty glasses and two bottles of red wine. The first one he poured was the Grignolino for us to try, but then he poured us a taste of the Vinhos Ribatejano, Lagoalva, "Espirito", 2005 (Ribatejano) ($7) wine from Portugal. The Grignolino was quite light red in hue and fruity in flavor. Tony stuck with that but I had a glass of the Portuguese wine because I liked how it was a little heavier and bolder.

I thought it was a nice little touch that the waiter made thinking that we might like the Portuguese wine, and if anything, we got to try a different wine even if we didn't end up ordering it. I also liked how they pour your glass of wine for you directly at the table by bringing the bottle over. I don't know why I like that so much but I felt like it was a like one step up in customer service on their part, plus we were able to sample it before he poured the full glass (which was quite generous, just as an fyi).

I definitely want to go back there sometime simply to nosh on grilled squid! I'd recommend The Blue Room to anyone looking for a nice place to take a date and it's also one of the places I'd like to take my parents to some time when they're back here in Boston. A nice dinner and date pairing for sure.

I say lemon, you say squares!

2009-09-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

That was the subject line in an email I sent out to some of my coworkers yesterday afternoon. I received this email on Monday afternoon from my husband with his coworker, Trevor's, name in the subject line:

It's a long story but basically, Trevor knows that I a) can bake and b) love a good challenge. We've dueled it out in Bubble Spinner as seen here, here, and here. So perhaps it was time for another challenge? I was totally up for it.

I found this recipe from the Martha Stewart website for creamy lemon squares and decided to give it a try on Tuesday night. It was much easier than I thought it would be and required so few ingredients, so I made two. Tony took one into to work that was cut into 16 pieces, and I took one to work that was cut into 36 small, bite-sized pieces.

I think I can venture to say that it was a huge hit! I was told that Trevor LOVED them (yes, you read that, in all caps!) and that he ate four of them (that detail is a little disturbing, I'll admit). And they disappeared in my office too.

It really helped to line the pan with parchment paper because it made taking them out really easy.

They turned out taller than typical lemon bars, and people said that they had a creamy consistency much like key lime pie. [Side note: no, I can't eat these. At least, we don't know if I'm really allergic to lemons because I haven't tested them yet but I didn't really want to take a chance. I tasted a tiny piece that fell off the knife and it was quite yummy.] The recipe called for sweetened condensed milk and if you ask me, anything with sweetened condensed milk tastes yummy!

I think the biggest compliment I received about them was from one of my coworkers who said he didn't normally like lemon squares. I convinced him to try one (using my, "They're only small squares, it's just one bite ..." plea) and I think he said I've converted him to liking them. That's awesome!

So here's the recipe for those of you that wish to whip up a batch (again, an easy-peasy recipe!). And just as an FYI, it took 4 lemons for me to get 3/4 cup of lemon juice.

Creamy Lemon Squares

Ingredients (makes 16):

- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
- 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for dusting
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 4 large egg yolks [oh crap! see comment below!!]
- 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
- 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper.

2. Make crust: Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy. Add flour, and mix on low just until combined. Press dough into the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of prepared pan; prick all over with a fork. Bake until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Make filling: In a large bowl, whisk together yolks, condensed milk, and lemon juice until smooth. Pour over hot crust in pan; return to oven, and bake until filling is set, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

4. Refrigerate until filling is firm, about 2 hours or up to 3 days. Using paper overhang, lift cake onto a work surface; cut into 16 squares, and dust with confectioners sugar.

Okay, so um, I just realized that I made a mistake. I do this a lot where I read through a recipe way too quickly (i.e. not enough attention to details!). It calls for 4 egg yolks and I just realized that I used 4 whole eggs. That might explain why one of my coworkers said that "the other lemon bars you see at the grocery store are so yellow ... makes me wonder what else they put in them." Alas, it's probably because mine were so light from too much egg! Oh well. I hope they weren't too eggy!

Oh and one more note: I put the confectioners sugar on in the morning but then by the time I brought them out of the bag in the middle of the day it all had been absorbed into the lemon. So even though the directions don't call for it, I'd suggest storing them in the refrigerator until you need them because the surface gets a little slick at room temperature. (Although now I'm wondering if it was because my filling was too custard/pudding-like with the extra egg whites? Hmmmm ...)

farmers market, 09.15.09

2009-09-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Back to back posts about the farmers market?! Oh my! I figured that the number of days of beautiful sunny weather where it's not hot and humid are probably dwindling down now that we're getting close to the end of summer, so I took the 12:00 pm shuttle from our off-site location to the Harvard campus to check out farmers market finds and stretch my legs. It was such a gorgeous day outside where the breeze was just gently blowing, people seemed like they were in good spirits (lots of people smiled at me), and the farmers market was buzzing even before the official start time (12:30 pm ... or as I learned today, when the lady in charge rings the bell).

The first thing that caught my eye today was this beautiful display of Concord grapes. They were the darkest shade of purple and looked so nice and plump. I was tempted to buy some but the bag I brought was quite flimsy and I think I would've had grape juice rather than whole grapes by the time I made it back to the office.

Seeing these little pumpkins reminded me of how quickly it seems like the year has gone by. Wow, before you know it, it'll be fall and time for apple picking and pumpkin carving around here.

I thought these bottles of honey were really cute. Too bad I'm allergic to it. :(

I kept eyeing these gorgeous dahlias at one stand, so I bought four stems on my way back to the shuttle. They are huge and just the brightest of colors. I put them on my desk when I got back to the office and I think just about everyone stopped in their tracks to comment on them. Simply stunning.

One of the other reasons why I wanted to check out today's market was because the chef of Garden at the Cellar (a restaurant I've been wanting to try for a while now), Will Gilson, was going to be there doing a cooking demo and giving out samples. Alas, as you can see, the sign made it but he didn't by the time I had to leave the market.

Of course, we had to make the traditional stop at the Danish Pastry House stand. They had this beautiful Epine baguette. I ended up getting us a huge loaf of potato bread that we ate with a salad for dinner tonight. It was delicious and so hearty.

Saw these kind of odd looking gourds at one stand.

Bought the husband some beautiful little tomatoes which he said were quite delicious and full of flavor.

I bought a nice salad mix bunch of greens, some bok choy, and green onions from this woman's stand. She has really big bundles of fresh basil and other herbs available too.

And lastly, a shot of one of the flowers while I waited for the shuttle to depart back to the office.

I must say, quite a nice way to enjoy a lunch break on a nice summer day. :)

farmers market, 08.25.09

2009-08-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

My coworker and I decided to take the 12:00 pm shuttle from our off-site location to the Harvard campus to check out farmers market finds. I had also heard that one of the chefs from Hungry Mother was going to be creating a free food sample during the first hour, so that made for even more of an excuse to get out of the office, stretch our legs, and enjoy the beautiful summer day.

The first stop was at the Danish Pastry House stand. I love to buy fresh bread and pastries from them whenever I visit the farmers market.

The double chocolate cookie is Tony's favorite from them. I bought us a nice long loaf of French bread for dinner to go with this big head of lettuce that we made a salad out of.

We were tempted to buy some of these beautiful azaleas. So many pretty colors that would make a gorgeous bouquet.

I ended up getting a ball of fresh mozzarella from Fiero di Nonna (so sweet and good!), a couple of small yellow tomatoes, blueberries, and a cucumber. And then we stopped off at the "live cooking demo" table where there were two chefs from Hungry Mother putting together a dish they called "Caveach".

It was made with bluefish, watermelon pickle, fresh market veggies and herbs. I couldn't eat any of it (stupid watermelon!) but my coworker and Tony said that it was quite delicious!

It's funny how free food (or anything labeled "free" for that matter) will attract a crowd. I took about ten other shots but they all came out blurry because some woman was in my way and she actually bumped my arm a couple of times as she was [apparently] excitedly waiting for the samples to be done.

Sure did look yummy, huh?!?!

Unfortunately, we had to go back to work and couldn't stay out longer to enjoy the beautiful weather. It was finally nice and sunny out without being too humid.

Don't forget - the farmers market at Harvard goes on until mid-October. Each Tuesday from 12:30 to 6:00 pm. Check it out if you can!

restaurant week boston: rialto

2009-08-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

My friend Laura and I decided to try out Rialto's restaurant week menu last Friday (sorry for posting so late). Rialto is Chef Jody Adams' restaurant in the Charles Hotel in Cambridge.

~~Of course, because I'm posting this after Restaurant Week has ended, I don't have access to the menu to get the exact details of our dishes. I'll have to rely on our bellies to remember!~~ Thanks to an email from Rebecca at Rialto! She emailed me the Restaurant Week menu to use as a reference. :)

We shared a bottle of the Elk Cove Vineyards Pinot Blanc white wine which was absolutely delicious and refreshing. It went really well with the salad I had, which was made with simple local lettuces, radishes, flowers, and a ~~champagne~~ chardonnay vinaigrette. (Note to self: if trip out to Oregon this fall actually happens, try to visit this winery.)

The dressing was really nice and light, and the flowers and radishes were very good. Laura ~~had a dish that I want to say was a corn polenta (again, sorry I don't have the exact details to go by)~~had the corn risotto dish which was made with mushrooms, Parmigiano Reggiano, and chervil which she said was quite delicious.

We both had the whole roasted trout dish as an entree and both opted to have the chef remove the head and tail for us. It's funny because I have never actually ordered a whole fish at a restaurant before, so we giggled when the waitress asked us about that option. I wouldn't know how to handle those parts on a plate so I thought it would be safer to ask for someone professional do it for me.

(Sorry about the blurry photos!) The fish was served on top of ~~a nice mix of potatoes and bacon~~ a warm potato salad, bacon, and horseradish and was topped with a lemony creamy sauce. It was cooked absolutely perfectly: so tender and light with a great texture. It makes me wish I was brave enough to try something like this at home. But that's one of the pleasures of dining out, right? Eating things that you would probably be better off not attempting in your own kitchen.

We also both ordered the ~~chocolate cake~~ chocolate torta dessert, except I asked them to leave the berries off of my plate. It is served with raspberries, honey, and prosecco as photographed here. It was divine. And such a wonderful way to end such a pleasant dining experience.

I would highly recommend Rialto for anyone looking for a beautiful dinner outing with someone special. It's larger than I thought it would be and each part of the restaurant is tastefully decorated (we loved the orange chairs in our room against the darker walls). Our waitress, Nicole, was very attentive and very accomodating when it came to my allergies. I'm so glad we went there!

restaurant week boston: sorellina

2009-08-19T07:44:00.000-07:00

A couple of my friends and I decided to try Sorellina this past Monday night during Restaurant Week.

{I interrupt this post to give you a little bit of background info ... }
After talking with other foodie friends and reading similar posts, I've come to realize that I wasn't the only one that felt a little disappointed about Restaurant Week experiences in years past. I think the overall concept of being able to try out a restaurant's fare at a lower-than-their-normal-menu-price is great. It's also great because - with Sorellina as a prime example - I probably wouldn't choose some of these places as my first pick for a night out because they can be rather expensive (entrees range from $29 to $44 dollars, let's not even mention the bottles of wine!). I'm happy to say that I think restaurants took past feedback to heart and have really made an effort to change the perception of Restaurant Week by increasing food portions and offering exciting menu items. I know I only have this one experience at Sorellina to base my theory on, but I think we all agreed on such around the table Monday night (and again, referring to this similar post). As you read on, I think you'll see what I mean.
{Now back to the post ... }

There were five people in our party - Amy, Stephanie, Kathy, Lauren, and me - and all but one arrived earlier than our 6:00 pm reservation, so we congregated at the bar for a glass of Prosecco. Which, by the way, was extremely refreshing considering the 85+ degree weather outside. The bar area has a nice set up and seats about 20 people. Tony and I had been there about 3 (maybe 4?) years ago for a drink while waiting to meet up with friends one night and we saw ex-Patriots player Ted Johnson there hanging out with some other local celebrities including Mish Michaels. Even then we could tell it was quite a posh place!

The dining area is really nice. Very large, spread out and each place setting is so elegant. Of course, a couple of us in our party swear to one day (i.e. when we hit the jackpot) have a wall of wine like theirs. We were seated at a large circular table and had plenty of elbow room in between each person, but a couple of us noticed that the section of the dining room where tables of two were seated seemed a little tight (i.e. very Parisian where you're rubbing elbows with the person next to you), so probably a little more ideal for groups of four or more unless you don't mind the close contact. (Click on images to enlarge.)

Our waiter, Blake, was super friendly, welcoming, and attentive the whole time. I ordered the insalata which was made Al Greco with romaine, cucumber, calamata olives, sheep and goat's milk feta. It's normally served with vine ripe tomatoes but I mentioned to Blake that I am allergic to them, so they were able to omit them for me. It was delicious. I thought that since I asked for no tomatoes they added more cucumber slices to make up for the quantity, but it turned out that the other salad orders had just the same amount of cucumbers which made the portion altogether quite hearty. The dressing on the salad was quite refreshing (paired well with the Prosecco I must say) and the combination of the sheep and goat's milk feta cheese was quite nice.

Amy sat next to me so I was able to snap a photo of her bruschetta which was made with soft whipped ricotta, grilled zucchini, and tomato agro dolce. {By the way, you know you're out with other foodies when 3 out of 5 people at your table whip out a camera to take pictures of food!} She said it was pleasantly sweeter than expected. I couldn't get over all the pretty colors on top of the bread.

The funniest thing was that 4 out of 5 of us ordered the bisteca for our entree, and all of us like our steaks cookes medium rare. One thing that I particularly appreciated was that Blake came back to the table to tell me that the chef said that there were tomatoes in the sauce that is served with the steak, and also in the marinade that they use for the mushrooms. So I opted to have mine served with out the sauce and without mushrooms which was no big deal to me. It turned out that the chef found some un-marinated mushrooms in the kitchen and added them on top for me. It was simply delicious. I mean, I know I use that word a lot but it really was delicious. And perfectly cooked medium rare. And a rather large portion. In fact, all four of us had a small piece leftover so some was packed into doggy bags for later. Now that is a big change from past Restaurant Week experiences for sure!

The bisteca dish is a grilled sirloin served with olive oil braised onions and cremini mushrooms, gorgonzola, and chianti butter. I brought home my leftover piece and Tony tried to cut it up into the smallest pieces possible just so he could savor each morsel. It was really that good folks!

Kathy was the only non-steak eater that night and she ordered the fettucine dish which was made with Vermont butter, softened summer squashes, and Pecorino Toscano. It looked and smelled so yummy! And of course, us nerdy-foodies ooh'ed and ahh'ed at the bowl it came in.

We also had two orders of their famous truffle french fries to go around the table. I love how they are super skinny and crispy. They went perfectly with the steak and the bottle of Burgess Syrah that we split. I forgot to mention the delicious bread that was brought to our table before the appetizers were served. It was nice and warm but what really made it great was the little dish of butter and olive oil that came with it. Yes, you read it correctly - butter and olive oil, not separated. The combo gave it such a nice sweet and rich taste.

For dessert, I had the vanilla gelato which was served in a cute little thin glass. It was served with espresso and whipped cream and was quite heavenly. Again, talk about attention to details, Blake had them omit the little almond cookie that they normally serve with the dessert after I told him that I was allergic to nuts. I really appreciate the fact that he was so attentive, I can't tell you how awesome that is.

Another dessert at our table was the panna cotta which was served in a cute little dish and topped off with lots of fresh mixed berries. I tasted a little bit of Kathy's and it was nice and creamy, but another person at the table commented that it was a little too thin consistency wise.

Overall I must say that it was a fabulous experience at Sorellina and I'm so glad I got over my fear of a less-than-spectacular experience based on the past. I felt a little guilty that Tony wasn't there with me because I think he would've definitely appreciated the large portions and dinner options. All five of us thoroughly enjoyed the dining experience: the food, atmosphere, service, and options. Definitely highly recommended to anyone looking for a place to try during Restaurant Week!

$20 groupon to yoki

2009-08-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, you all have seen me rave about the sushi at Yoki here, here, and here so you know we're huge fans. Check out today's Groupon deal:

Definitely something worth taking advantage of if you love good sushi!

flour bakery

2009-08-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, it's been a while since we've been to Flour (the one in Fort Point Channel), so when I mentioned the idea of going on Sunday to the husband on Friday we were both giddy with anticipation. So much so that we both had a hard time falling asleep on Saturday night just thinking of all the wonderful things we'd get to see (and taste!) the next morning. Sigh.

And after finding a parking spot (thank you, parking angel!) we walked into the typically chaotically busy (chaos = customers which included lots of little kids and babies, never the staff!) and filled bakery with hungry bellies. Boy oh boy, we certainly were not disappointed by what we saw (click to see larger images ... lots of yummy details!):

Surprisingly, there was a fresh batch of Joanne's sticky buns on the pastry counter. I say "surprisingly" because we got there shortly before 12 noon and these usually completely disappear right out of the oven, and I think we've only seen them once before in the ten other times we've been there.

Mmmm ... homemade Oreo cookies. Coconut macaroons (to die for!!). Chocolate cupcakes.

Ahh ... Brioche au sucre ... my typical Flour breakfast item. So good each time.

They've started a new thing on Sundays ... donut specials. Today's flavor was chocolate cream. They looked so yummy!! Also featured in this shot are the maple oatmeal scones that Tony loves.

More yummy goodness in this photo. Look at the cream just peeking out of the donuts! Check out the thickness of those brownies!

As you can see, the place was packed (typical for the weekends).

Hey, how'd that Oreo cookie sneak into our basket like that??!! ;-)

I'm ready to dig in! Look at that full latte cup. Yum-o!

The only disappointing part about our visit was that we couldn't take home our usual box of blueberry muffin tops, macaroons, and peanut butter cups because we were going to be driving around the rest of they day. If it weren't so dang hot and if we had put a cooler in the trunk, we wouldn't have worried about it. So that just means that we'll have to head back soon to enjoy more of their delicious pastries. No argument there! :)

{P.S. Joanne Chang is working on a Flour cookbook! You can read all about it here. I can't wait for this to come out!!}

figs in charlestown, ma

2009-08-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of my coworkers and I decided to get out of the office last Friday for lunch, so I showed them where Figs was located. It's in Charlestown which is surprisingly close to our building even though we're in Somerville, so it only took us about 4 minutes to get there.

Two of us split the Caesar salad ($6.50) which is made with a yummy eggless dressing, while the other two split an order of the Rhode Island Calamari ($9.95). They serve their calamari with hote cherry peppers and a lemony garlic aioli. The salad is nice and refreshing, and comes as a large portion which makes it great for sharing. I couldn't get over how much calamari came on the plate, too. I was so tempted to try it (it smelled and looked so good!) but I knew it had the spicy red sauce on it and we were going away for the weekend, so I didn't want to disrupt it with a trip to the ER. One of our coworkers tried a small piece of the calamari even though she said she doesn't usually like it and said that it actually tasted really good.

They give you a basket of warm, foccacia bread plus some olive oil with olives to dip it in. Very yummy!

Two of us split a fig and prosciutto pizza ($9.25) and the other two split a portobello pizza ($9.00). The prosciutto pizza was made with a crisp rosemary crust with fig and balsamic jam, prosciutto and gorgonzola cheese. It was delicious according to my two coworkers, with just enough of a touch of the gorgonzola cheese to not be overpowering.

The portobello pizza is normally made with a red sauce but I asked them to make it with just olive oil and it was superb (I actually think it would be better if it were offered as a white pizza). It was made with portobello mushrooms, a wild mushroom puree, roasted red onions, and fontina cheese. So yummy!

Altogether our tab for four people came out to $11 a person including the tip, which is really not that bad for a lunch outing. When we worked in the financial district in Boston, we knew people who would spend that much every single day by going out to buy a sandwich and a drink.

Afterwards, since none of them had really ever been to that part of Charlestown before, I took the scenic way back. We ended up driving up a hill that took us directly to the base of the Bunker Hill Monument, so I managed to take this photo real quickly.

We'll definitely do this again soon since it's so much closer to the office than one would think. Especially since the food was so good! My friend, Stephanie, says that it's very similar to Emma's near Kendall Square, so I'm looking forward to trying that place soon. :)

samurai boston

2009-08-07T08:33:00.000-07:00

We had dinner at Samurai Boston last night, and this was the second time I had been to the restaurant. It's a Japanese and Korean restaurant on Boylston Street that has a lot of great dishes and excellent sushi. It's a lot bigger than I thought with a private little room in the back of the restaurant, and it has nice decor. The sushi bar area is nice and bright, while the wooden bench seats have cute little butt pads to sit on.

The section we sat in wasn't full when we first walked in a little after 7:30 pm, but by the time I went to and from the bathroom it was completely full. It was great to see that the place was constantly busy - definitely a sign that other people liked the food too. It has a great atmosphere but can get pretty loud, but I guess that all depends on the people sitting nearby too. (Yes, we were quite happy when the table of young kids talking obnoxiously loud finally left - LOL - we're getting old!)

We shared an order of the shrimp shumai (steamed, $5.95) and the fried soft-shell crab ($8.95). Both were delicious, although we were laughing at how you only got 3 pieces of the shumai. The crab dish made up for it in portion though because they gave us so many pieces on the little plate. It was so yummy and had such a rich flavor. It was served on top of a light wasabi sauce and had a little pico de gallo on the side which, for an Asian restaurant did seem a little strange.

Actually, I really liked the fried crab, I have to admit it. It was so nice and flavorful, especially the crunchy batter on the outside. Mmmmm. What was even more surprising was that Tony liked it and had a nice portion of it even though he usually won't eat soft-shell crab because (as he states it) a) you're killing a little crab and b) the shell is still on there. Needless to say, we handed back empty plates.

And then we both had sushi. Tony had the White Dragon (I think?) roll ($12.95) which had spicy yellowtail on the inside of the roll with some avocado, and white tuna wrapped on the outside. I had my usual Negihama maki (yellowtail with green scallions, $4.95) and maguro maki (tuna, $4.50). Both were delicious and devoured alongside the fried crab. All were washed down with a nice hot cup of green tea.

This is definitely a great spot to get some really delicious sushi and other Japanese and Korean fare. There were two Korean girls sitting next to us and they got the kimchi soup that my mom and sister love to eat. I loved how the smell from their dishes wafted towards us and I could kind of taste the spiciness. Yum. Definitely somewhere I'd like to take my mom to the next time she's in Boston. :)

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Drink Times Ten

2009-07-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

My husband, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, and I checked out Drink earlier this month and had such a great time (see earlier post about where we ate afterwards here). I wanted to share the experience of Drink with some of my friends. Nine friends actually.

As a member of the Foodbuzz blogging community, I had the opportunity to propose an idea for the July edition of Foodbuzz’s 24, 24, 24 project. And luckily, my proposal got picked. Thus Drink Times Ten came to fruition on a Saturday night.

We were greeted by the manager, John, with a complimentary food and cocktail pairing which consisted of a drink called the ‘Bamboo’ and a garnish of three house-pickled almonds. It’s made with Amontillado sherry, dry vermouth, and some orange bitters. We learned that they do a lot of their own pickling at Drink including lychee in tequila and cherries in liqueur.

It was quite a strong drink upon first sip and I think about half the group liked it more than the other half. The funny thing is that all of our glasses were somehow empty, so as one of my friends, JW, said, “After the fifth sip, it grew on me.”

Our bartenders that night were Sam and Cali - two very sweet, patient, and accommodating people. Although some people might get the impression that it is a pretentious place because of it’s dim mood-lighting and sveltely dressed staff, most of my friends thought it was rather laid back and low key. As one of them commented, “You know, I don’t usually feel comfortable ordering liquor drinks at a bar because I don’t know what to order. But here, it’s nice because you can actually have a conversation with the bartender and they don’t talk down to you.” I was tickled when the bartenders got excited describing the ingredients of a cocktail, and things like the origin or history of a liqueur.

So the premise of the evening’s event was that each person in our group would order an item from their bar menu, and then the bartender would suggest a drink to go along with the dish based on each person’s tastes. With eleven items currently being offered on the food menu, there are countless possibilities of drink and food pairings. In total, we had seven of the different dishes and had approximately nineteen different drinks (a couple were non-alcoholic) in the course of roughly three hours. Now that is my idea of a fun night with friends!

Speaking of friends, listed below are the participants of my 24, 24, 24 project, all ever-so-willing to give up a couple of hours in the name of liqueur research. Next to their names are the dish they ordered and the drinks that were made for them. Click on each name to see a full description of what they had that night (with pictures!) along with some of their feedback. Be sure to click on each photo to see the details.

I asked them to answer a few food-related questions before the event to give readers an idea of each person's food tastes. See if you share some of the same likes or dislikes - it may help you decide what to order when you visit Drink! Be warned: looking at these photos will probably make you hungry.

Tony: pork terrine with a Vieux Carre cocktail; Sazerac cocktail

JW: grilled cheese with a Maximillian Affair cocktail; Tennessee cocktail

Laura: prosciutto di Parma with a 20th Century cocktail; Left Bank cocktail

Stephanie: pork terrine with a Blood and Sand cocktail; Agony and Ecstasy cocktail

Friend #5: prosciutto di Parma with a Whiskey Smash cocktail; Lawhill cocktail; Rye Flip cocktail

Renee: buttermilk biscuits with a Bone cocktail; Aviator cocktail

Allen: chorizo appetizer with a Champs Elysee cocktail; gougeres with a Cucumber non-alcoholic; Mock non-alcoholic

Patty: grilled cheese with a Blueberry Mojito

Jess: prosciutto di Parma with an Aviation cocktail; nameless cocktail

Candice (that’s me): steak tartare with a Greenpoint cocktail; gougeres with rose wine

Overall, most of the group thought that the pairings went well with each other. There were gaps in between the time when one would order a drink before the appetizer would arrive, but that gave time to savor the cocktail in the meantime. We sat on one side of the bar but it wasn’t too long before it filled up completely (it was a Saturday night after all).

Thank you to Foodbuzz for approving my 24, 24, 24 project proposal and giving me and nine friends the opportunity to experience the creativity and passion for tasty libations offered by Drink. Thanks to Sarah at the Barbara Lynch Group for approving our reservation at Drink on a Saturday night. Thanks to John, Sam, Cali, and Aaron for an educating, exciting, and fun experience. And a special thank you to my nine friends for joining me in my food adventures, taking diligent notes throughout the evening (I made them work for their food and drinks!), and for providing such great company.

And now, I’ll return to daydreaming about eating gougeres all day long. P.S. They are so worth the wait!

One of our bartenders, Cali, pouring a drink.

A close up of the chorizo dish.

One of our bartenders, Sam, with a completed cocktail.

Two kids in the window passing by. They were just jealous of all the good stuff we were enjoying.