Leftover...Cookies?

You read correctly. Halloween was slow here in the new neighborhood. Danno and I had purchased a mega box of Reese's mini peanut butter cups, then we were given more miniatures "just in case."

I needed to figure out a way to save us from ourselves. We were eating the equivalent of 4 (or more) whole candy bars everyday. Those miniatures are really too easy to eat but our trash can full of wrappers can tell no lies.

We were invited to a dinner party tonight and my buddy asked me to make dessert. I have seen similar cookies with candy Kisses. Surely I could adapt it to work for peanut butter cups...these are two dozen peanut butter cup cookies. Basically I used a half recipe of Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough sans the chips (and I substituted the AP flour with whole wheat flour...hey, it makes me feel better about dessert). They were baked at 350*F in a mini muffin pan for 9-10 minutes. I removed them from the oven and pressed in a mini cup until it was enveloped by the cookie but not overwhelmed by it. They went back into the oven for 3-4 minutes.

I got excited and tried to take one out immediately. C'mon, you would have too. But they need to cool completely before they can be removed whole--think chewy chocolate chip cookie.

The furnace installation guys really liked them (they cooled enough just as they were leaving) as did the dinner party hosts and their friends. I'm hoping I won't have to wait until next Halloween in order to make these leftover cookies again.

Gourmet Doughnuts??

Can there be such a thing as a gourmet doughnut? Probably not...to be considered gourmet requires food to be of high quality ingredients, prepared accurately, and presented artfully. Doughnuts will always come in a flimsy paper box or bag. If it didn't, I don't think it would actually be a doughnut anymore.

Voodoo Doughnuts does a great job being artful and delicious...but it's still a doughnut from a paper bag after all. But don't let that fool you. Vooddoo is not like any other doughnut shop. They do weddings as well. I am a lover of the fried pastry but I guess I'm not that much of a fanatic. I would choose our lovely museum courtyard wedding over having it in a large pink building full of fried dough any day.

There is actually a doughnut called the "Voodoo Doughnut" which is in the shape of a person...or doll...with a mini stick pretzel in it. At the time of the visit, I was too full for my own doughnut. Leave it to Danno to get an friggin' apple fritter. Don't get me wrong it was delicious, apple-y sweet, and fluffy.

I remember when I was in high school...I would sometimes stop at the donut shop on Charter Way to get a doughnut on the way to school. I think it was a Yum Yum Donut. I would get one of three: chocolate bar, maple bar, or glazed twist. But with doughnuts like: Grape Ape (raised doughnut with vanilla frosting and grape powder), Dirty Snowball (chocolate cake doughnut covered with pink marshmallow glaze and surprise filling), and The Memphis Mafia (chocolate chips, banana, peanut butter and glaze)...I kinda wanted to try something not-so-traditional here.

The fried goodness of Voodoo cannot easily be described. The variety and creativity of the menu is enough to get you to stop by and look into that rotating case. You'll be mesmerized and ingest a full day's worth of calories in one sitting. But it's really worth it. The traditional doughnuts are outstanding and all their specialty doughnuts will knock your socks off, no matter what kind of sweet you desire.

There's something for everyone--even our vegan friends!


Voodoo Doughnuts
22 SW 3rd Ave.
Portland, OR 97204
Tel: 503-241-4704
Open 24 Hours!

&

Voodoo Doughnuts Too
1501 NE Davis
Portland, OR 97232
Tel: 503-235-2666
Open only 21 hours: 6:01am - 2:59am

We All Scream for Ice Cream!

I had heard and seen that Starbucks would be doling out the free cup to those who voted but now I think they may have changed their minds since it's not up on the website, but if you need a joe, might as well just ask.

However, Ben & Jerry's, our cool and smooth dudes, are serving up the freeze cream to our nation's active voters.

So head out to the polls, everyone! (You should vote with or without the temptation of ice cream delight afterward anyway.) You get to where that stylish "I Voted" sticker, too (in most states).

Then top it off with some dessert at your local B&J's between 5-8pm tonight to celebrate our new president. If you're standing in one line, why not stand in another. You have the folding chair in your trunk anyway.

Penn State Creamery...Mmmmmooooo

It would be blasphemy not to talk about the Penn State Creamery since I was in State College, Penn. (which is where Penn State University's main campus is) and I had superb ice cream.

This is where Ben & Jerry came to learn how to make ice cream, like so many before them and since.

This was my first time. Check out that new facility. It's just down the block from the stadium so it gets jam packed by tens of thousands of avid football fans and alumni some weekends.

For $2.50, you get one scoop. My friend, Rose, warned me that the scoops were as big as a baby's head. I didn't believe her. How can you fit that on top of a cone?

Well, they did...and then some. Take a look at that scoop. It's definitely larger than my two fists combined. You can only get one scoop per cone or cup. They don't let you "mix" flavors which I thought was ridiculous since you can do that e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.

But really, you can't eat that much ice cream in one sitting. I really had trouble getting through my cone. But I did it. Peanut Butter Swirl. Rich pieces of peanut butter mingling with the velvety goodness of vanilla ice cream. And it hardly melted. When I finally got down to my cone, there was no pool of melted ice cream waiting at the tip of the cone. There was barely a trickle. I don't want to know how much fat is in that ice cream.

For three days, I tried to figure out how to carry some half gallons with me on the plane. They will pack it on dry ice for you, y'know. But it would have been heavy and we were traveling for a whole day. They even ship them but it turns out to be $20 (give or take, depending on number of) half gallon that way. It was tough to say "no" to even that. I think that ice cream has crack or a heroin derivative in it. I had it every day that whole week I was there. Chocolate, dark chocolate mint, strawberry, vanilla, coffee mocha fudge...

What is it they say...oh yeah: 4 days from cow to cone. What a glorious four days it is!

Only in Pittsburgh...

Oh, wait, I was in State College...but I got a Pittsburgh. It's a sandwich made (famous) by Primanti Bros. in, you guessed it, Pittsburgh, Penn.

I don't know what the original tastes like but the one I got at the Corner Room Restaurant at the corner (they are so literal in Penn.) of College Ave. and Allen St. was a little bland. Apparently the signature of a Pittsburgh is the enormous amounts of coleslaw, tomatoes, and fries piled in the actual sandwich. This excited me but I think I may have to head half a state east toward Ohio in order to get my P-burgh on.

If you look at the pic, it's a manageable size and you can barely see any fries or 'slaw. I know, it sounds like a heart attack ready to happen, especially when the server asked if I wanted fries on the side. At the time, I thought a side of fries would have been a little, well, overkill, but had I known, maybe it wouldn't have been such a bad idea. I could have added them to the sandwich. As it turned out, it was tastier when I added mustard.

The reuben that Brian got was much better though. He was kind enough to share a taste...I must admit, I almost didn't give his sandwich back but thought that that would set a bad tone for our friend's wedding weekend--our reason for traveling to Penn State-land.

The meal ended with a "grilled sticky" knock-off. Rose, my food-loving friend, (at the time) bride-to-be, and who grew up in State College, says the original at Ye Olde College Diner (or just "The Diner") is best.

Here at CRR, the sticky (aka sticky bun or cinnamon roll without any frosting by Ye Olde College Diner) is butterflied, then grilled in butter and topped with locally made vanilla ice cream. This version is crispier than the original which is not butterflied, therefore it's chewier and meltier on the inside. Not a low-calorie dining experience, I know. But it was definite a Pennsylvania meal. I suppose all that was missing was a full day of work at the dairy farm to work off all those calories. Anyway you grill it, I love the sticky!

Duckie Love

A few weeks back, my nephew celebrated his 2nd birthday. He loves ducks. So his mom, Gillian, made these awesome cupcakes.

See, don't they look delicious? There were two cupcake flavors (chocolate chip--which I had--and coconut, I think. Can you believe I only had one?). They were topped with chocolate ganache (not frosting) and hand-piped buttercream ducks. Happy Birthday, Sam-o.

You have to check out these beauties. Like I've said in the past, I'm not good with baking. I'm not terrible either. I can bake a cake most days. But this, I've never seen a flock of ducks look so sweet...except maybe the roast ducks hanging in the Chinese markets. But then again, those would be savory ducks.

Mmmm, I'm getting hungry.

Does This Look Familiar?

This is actually breakfast and don't get me wrong, I like it but that's steamed kale with ground pumpkin seeds and, uh, brown rice. Remind you of last night's dinner? They weren't kidding when they said brown rice is a staple in macrobiotics.

Today was the first official day of the conference. We helped Michael Marcus of Bizen, a sushi and Japanese restaurant in Great Barrington, Mass. In class, he made deliciously inventive rolls like "Silence of the Yams", or as I like to call it, SotY (which was a favorite of my teammate, Alyssa), and the "BLT" (my favorite) because I love bacon...wait, there wasn't any bacon in there. Oh well, I still loved it.

The BLT was made with tempeh sauteed in sesame oil, blanched kale, slices of tomato and avocado, and a smidgeon of special sauce (housemade teriyaki sauce that didn't use any refined sugar). It was more of a vegan roll than a macrobiotic roll but I'm not exclusive to either ways of life (this is more of an exploration of food, eating, and ways of life for me--and I like meat, a lot) so I happily tasted the sample.

The SotY on the other hand was surprisingly sweet. Although, when you hear what's in it, it's not really a surprise: yams sauteed in sesame oil, shredded coconut, a cranberry/maple syrup reduction and I think slices of teriyaki lotus root. I'll be getting the recipes later so I will share if there's an interest. 

I do have to say that I'm getting really good at rolling sushi. It's really hard to spread the rice and I always see the chefs ball up the rice, put it on the nori (seaweed) and boom, it's evenly spread. With me, I'm always going back for a little bit more rice to patch up all the holes. If you've ever tried to roll before, you know what I'm talking about.

The other class was led by Melanie Waxman. She's a macrobiotic counselor and cook, and mother of seven (yikes). I only prepped for this class. She gave an interesting talk about how to cook macrobiotic and the simplcity of it...which is ironic since people consider it very strict and difficult. Anyway, I didn't take any notes but a lot of what she said rang familiar because of how I grew up with food. Macrobiotics principles are very Asian in their roots. It's about yin and yang or food energies. My mother always described foods as "cooling" or "heat producing". I always thought that was kookie especially when a hot soup could be cooling but apparently there are whole food communities devoted to it.

I am a strong supporter of fresh food and daily cooking. It's the way I grew up and I think it's the best for us. I don't think anyone would disagree with "fresher is better." It's just whether we have the time for it. That's where priorities come in. Yeah, opening up a bag of potato chips and snacking on that is way faster than washing up and cutting an apple...but by how much? And at what cost?

Anyway, more healthy food for thought as I leave you with dessert from tonight's dinner: Lemon Tart with Raspberry Swirl (and an Oat Almond Cookie). It was tart. I think E. would like it. I didn't like the cookie all that much, it was a little dense but I'll need to get the recipe for the "curd" part.

Macrobio--what?

So, I've mentioned that I'm in Massachusetts and at a macrobiotic conference, but what am I doing here?

Well, I'm on a culinary adventure. The Power of Natural Healing conference really doesn't begin until tomorrow (Tuesday). Steph and I are volunteering. So far I haven't really done anything but go to some long short meetings. I'm part of the Cooking Class Assistants team which means I'm a prep cook for the week. Steph is an AV geek for the week so at least she'll hear some of the lectures. She trained all afternoon today.

Macrobiotics is not just a diet but a philosophy about how the food we eat affects our health and quality of life. Some very guidelines for eating are:
whole grains: 50-60%
vegetables: 25-30%
beans and legumes: 5-10%
soup: 5%
as well as fish/seafood, seeds and nuts, seed and nut butters, some seasonings and sweeteners, fruits and beverages.

I'm not sure I will adopt all the philosophical guidelines (that was just one of many) but it's food (pun intended) for thought. It can get very "restrictive." But then again, health is really all we've got. You know what the computer geeks always say--GIGO.

Anyway, this is the meal we enjoyed tonight. In the bowl was our white bean soup w/escarole. On the plate was layered polenta w/summer vegetables, steamed kale, lemony baby carrots, and brown rice. Not pictured was a mocha walnut cheezecake with "coffee" glaze.

The soup was a kombu-based stock with cannellini bean, onion, celery, parsnip, escarole, salt, carrot and cilantro pureed. It was delicious.

My favorite was actually the steamed kale. How bland can I get? Well, it wasn't. That's the thing with vegetables. They are pretty good at being star material all on their own. I believe there was only a little bit of sea salt on it, garnished with slightly toasted pumpkin seeds. 

The cheezecake was pretty good for something that didn't have any actual cheese (they used fresh tofu) in it but last nights custard (without eggs...) was phenomenal. It was made with blend of almond milk and soy milk then thickened and "creamed" with agar and kuzu. It was topped with maple syrup glazed walnuts as well as a delicious sauce of blueberries, raspberries, and cherries simmered for a long time in apple juice.

My friend, Laura can't have wheat or refined sugar and I've been trying to figure out what desserts I could make. This one might be one of them. Yum. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Susu's Bakery Boutique

Susu's Bakery Boutique has the distinction of being 50 feet away from the door of Blue Ginger, Ming Tsai's restaurant in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Come back later (uh, Loreen) for more firsthand Blue Ginger experience...

On a little excursion with my new macrobiotic friends (who shall remain nameless), we stopped into the bakery. Sigh. I can't believe I've already fallen off the wagon. I resisted for a moment or two distracting myself with the shiny inedible baubles in the boutique, but the call of sugar, white flour and butter was too much. 

Unfortunately these cute mini-cupcakes did not hit the spot. I don't know if it's because I've been on this sugarless meal plan for the last few days or what (y'know, it's like when you go on a low-sodium diet then have a regular meal at a restaurant) but I didn't enjoy them as much as I thought I would and then I got a headache afterward.

It's funny. I love cupcakes too. They are bites of cake with 3x's as much icing as you would get from slice of that size. We got a sampling of all of the cupcakes. It was a pretty basic selection--yellow or chocolate cake, buttercream or chocolate frosting, and then one with grated coconut. 

Although the service there was excellent, I wouldn't recommend seeking this place out. However, if you need a sugar fix and you're already on Washington Street in Wellesley, it might hit the spot.