Sweet Revenge

Hey, all my New York friends out there, there's a place in the village called Sweet Revenge that pairs cupcakes with beer. Please go there and have a drink and/or sweet for me.

http://www.sweetrevengenyc.com/

Today's Treat: Leftovers!

All week I've been making turkey sandwiches, this time I threw in the stuffing and cranberries as well.

Another Great Groupon!

Hey Tucson folks, today at Groupon get 50% at Sur Real. Sur Real is a great Latin American resturant perched up in the foothills. (Sur Real took over the old Soleil location, the city views are amazing!) Sur Real has some of the best crab cakes I've ever had, and an enormous drink menu. This Groupon is also a chance to eat at a fancy-smancy resturant at an affordable price.

If you want to take advantage of the Groupon, use my personal link and I just might bake you something!

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu4813363

FancyFastFood.com

The subtitle says it all: A food humor blog. I can't imagine making any of these dishes at home, but I appreciate the creativity. Here's the Long John Ceviche:

http://www.fancyfastfood.com

30 Sec Meals?

I know Rachel Ray is all about making things easier for us simpletons, but this is a little ridiculous...

http://dlisted.com/node/39600

Happy Sandwich Day!

Today is the birthday of John Montagu, The Earl of Sandwich. As most might know, it was he who "invented" what we know as the sandwich. The Earl was in the middle of an important card game and requested that his meal be served to him between two slices of bread. This enabled him to eat it one-handed. (Although most foodies would agree, the really good sandwiches require both hands.)


I celebrated today by enjoying one of my favorite sandwiches from one of my favorite local coffee shops. The Turkey-Pesto from Chocolate Iguana. Turkey, swiss, and red peppers on a warm baguette smeared with a healthy portion of yummy pesto sauce. The nice folks at Chocolate Iguana also throw in a handful of red pepper tortilla chips, helpful for any pesto that might drip out.

Happy Halloween!

I started my morning right with some Boo Berry cereal. I think I want to paint my bedroom the same shade of lavender as the leftover milk in my bowl.

Been So Long...

All apologies for being away so long. I continued to have lots of food adventures but no time to write about them. My trusty camera phone has always been by my side, my backlog of random dishes and drinks is large. Today I'm taking a little time to give a shout out to my favorite "pop" (midwestern accent springing forth).

RC Cola. Or, Royal Crown Cola. For as long as I can remember this has been my cola of choice. I used to roll my eyes

when people said they could taste a difference between Coke and Pepsi. Maybe it's all in my mind, but when I have all three in front of me, I choose RC every time.

Right now my NPR station is in the middle of a pledge drive. While I sit here and crunch numbers my volunteer manager makes the occasional trip by my desk and makes sure I'm not running out of sugary fuel. I know soda is a little evil, but right now it tastes soooo good.

Today's Treat: Petit Fours

I got these tiny treats at AJ's at La Encantada in Tucson. I think the one on the left is a chicken.

Bangers and Mash

British food Saturday! There's something very comforting about this little tradition I've created for myself. There won't be any new episodes of Doctor Who until next year but BBC America is airing the new season of Being Human so I still get my Brit show fix.

Anyway, on to the food. I made Bangers & Mash this evening and it turned out quite lovely. Bangers & Mash is probably my favorite gastro-pub dish, and the simple name says it all: Bangers (sausages) over a bed of mashed potatoes and gravy.


I didn't do anything fancy, I even used a mix packet to make my gravy. I baked the pork sausages in the oven (15 min at 450) while I mashed up the potatoes with milk and butter. Everything got thrown together in a baking dish and then placed in the oven for an additional 10 min. (This last part isn't even necessary, I just wanted the sausage juices to run over the potatoes.)

Very simple, very delicious. Throw in some carrots and peas and you've got a meal!

F'Real

My friend Eboni and I were at Circle K last night when we spotted this concoction. For only $2.49 you can have an actual milkshake to pair with that day-old hot dog and nacho cheese. There was a large variety of flavors but the milkshake machine was kind of questionable. I'll forgo this sweetness for a time when I'm feeling more adventurous.

M&Ms

Brown Orange Yellow Tan Green.

When I was a kid M&Ms matched the interior of my house (built circa '75). And I liked it that way.

I grew up during the time period when Red was removed because of the Amaranth scare. (Amaranth was found to be a carcinogen, although according to Wikipedia it was never actually used in red M&Ms.) I remember a line in Peggy Sue Got Married when Kathleen Turner goes back in time and tells someone to "save the red ones" and my mom explained to me that M&Ms used to have Red and Purple. I guess when Red was reintroduced in the mid 80s it was briefly exciting. That is, until I realized I didn't like red. Once Tan was replaced by Blue it was all over. Who did M&M think they were? Skittles?

Having said all that, I do remember a trip to the FAO Schwartz candy department that ended with me purchasing about 2 lbs. worth of Black and Periwinkle M&Ms, and the subsequent chocolate binge that followed. So, like they say, color really doesn't matter.

Blender Is My Friend

Well it's not Saturday but nevertheless I found myself consumed by British television all night. I got a sweets craving around 9pm and had it in my head I was going to make some kind of British pudding. Unfortunately my kitchen cupboard let me down once again and I was lacking some crucial ingredients.

This was probably for the best because I also wanted to use up some peanut butter I'd had sitting around for awhile and I couldn't find a single bread pudding recipe that had peanut butter in it. Am I crazy? I think it'd be delicious addition.

Anyway, while I was looking up recipes I noticed a link for a chocolate peanut butter milkshake. I was sold. My blender had been tucked away in my cupboard all year and it was time for a reunion. The milkshake turned out beautifully, and really hit the spot.

1 cup vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk
2 T cocoa
2 T peanut butter

(This makes enough for about two milkshakes. I also added some extra peanut butter.)

Groupon.com

Just a quick note about my new favorite website... Groupon.com offers daily coupons for restaurants and attractions in your area. I don't mean to sound like an advertisement, but they usually offer pretty good deals. (Nothing gimmicky like, "free appetizer when you buy two meals." More like, 60% entire cost of meal.)

I've been pinching my pennies lately so when I saw today's deal I flipped out: $30 worth of groceries for $15 at 17th St. Market. Holy cow! 50% off at my corner market? Yes, please.

I highly recommend this site, and you can use me as a reference:

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu4813363

Jammie Dodgers

I'm being a little lazy with my British food Saturday. Today I'm snacking on Jammie Dodgers, my latest purchase from 17th St. Market. Hey, if Matt Smith can stall the Daleks with these little biscuits, they're good enough for me.

Duckaroni

Last week I traveled to San Diego and for my very first meal I dined at Urban Solace. Urban Solace is a beautiful little place in the North Hill neighborhood, near Balboa Park. Although kinda swanky looking inside, the atmosphere is relaxed. There was live music on the patio and a number of people sitting and chatting at the bar.

I first heard about Urban Solace through another food blog and the menu item that jumped out at me was their Duckaroni. I guess it's well known among foodies in the San Diego area. Duckaroni is exactly what it sounds like: Duck Confit in Mac&Cheese. It was delicious. The thing I enjoyed most was all the unusual tastes that jumped out. They used blue cheese with garlic and onions and the duck itself had a lot of flavor as well. It's not something I would recommend for the unadventurous, Urban Solace has a separate mac&cheese for them.

The Duckaroni was just a side dish for me, although you can order the meal version too. For my main course I got the Monte Diego. It's Urban Solace's take on the Monte Cristo. (Which as some people may know, is one of my favorite dishes.) Fontina cheese was used in the place of swiss, and they added grilled pears. The dipping sauce was the traditional strawberry jam. I loved it, and the Monte Diego even made good cold leftovers the next morning. (I only ate half so I could save room for dessert.)

And for dessert... the S'more. I saw this item on their online menu and it was love at first site. Here's the description: "Hazelnut-Almond Butter S'more, Homemade Malted Milk Marshmallow."

This was one of the most memorable desserts of my life, and believe me, I am well acquainted with dessert menus. It was simple, but every bite was savory goodness. The marshmallow was warm and fluffy and the chocolate inside was rich and dark. I seriously considered ordering a second one. As wonderful as the other desserts on the menu sound, I truly believe you are missing out if you do not order this item.

*It's worth mentioning that Urban Solace also has a great wine list and decent beers on tap. I didn't order any alcohol but Kevin got the Airdale Dark & Stormy Stout. Airdale is a local brewing company- I took a couple of sips and it definitely met with my approval.

Sweet San Diego

This past week I visited San Diego for the first time in about ten years. This was also the first trip I've taken with the food blog in mind. I actually researched fun places beforehand and made a food itinerary of sorts. The thing about itineraries though, I always break away from them. I still visited a few of my places but for the most part my friend and I snacked at whatever looked interesting.

As much as I love eating out and taking pictures of my food, sitting down and recording my experiences is still something I'm not accustom to doing every day. Over the next week I'm going to try my best to write about all the wonderful food adventures I had in San Diego. For now, I'll just offer up a sampling of some of the sweeter spots I hit.

Pappalecco, in Hillcrest, was supposed to be a quick stop for me. I needed to get change to feed the parking meter while we waited for seats at the Hash House. However when I walked in, the aroma of coffee hit me and I saw their display case filled with lots of teeny tiny cookies. I bought a sampling of cookies and put them in my purse for later. (They got a little crumbly but I enjoyed them after dinner while I sat on the beach and watched surfers.)

Another notable cookie joint was the Girard Gourmet in La Jolla. They serve lots of different foods, kinda like a fancy deli, but it was the desserts in the window that caught my eye. I can't really explain it, but they had a sort of vintage look. Traditional desserts with simple yet elegant designs. I bought a cat cookie who seemed to be saying, "Don't munch on me."

And of course I bought a Shamu ice cream treat at Sea World. It's what one does.

Here are some other store fronts I walked by. I'm intrigued by the donut shop offering egg rolls. An oddity, or genius?

Wienermobile, Part II

How was meeting the Wienermobile in person you ask? Like meeting a childhood icon and realizing you built them up to epic proportions and in no way could they possibly live up to your standards.

What exactly was I expecting? I don't know, I guess hot dogs. Even if they weren't free. Maybe a bumper sticker?

I pulled up to the grocery store parking lot where the Wienermobile website said it would be. There were a few kids around, most of them crying. It was hot out, and nobody was singing the "O I wish I was..." song even though the lyrics were prominently displayed. I didn't really know what to do- stand around and look at the mobile? I got excited for a second when I saw a sign saying "Get your photo taken behind the wheel!" But no, the "hotdoggers" informed me that was just for kids.

So I left. Dejected. I should've been satisfied with my wiener chase yesterday and left well enough alone. I drove to Wienerschnitzel and got my hot dog.

Wienermobile Spotting

On the way home from the grocery store I drove by the Wienermobile! I didn't get my camera out in time, so I pulled a u-turn and chased after it. It took me about 10 blocks to catch up. (Dang all you leisurely Sunday drivers!)

The license plate says RLSHME

It's back!

One of my favorite voyeur sites is back- Thisiswhyyourefat.com- "Where dreams become heart attacks." As I've written before, this isn't just a gross-out site. There are actually a lot of unique food items. I spent the better part of an hour looking through the archives at some of my favorites. I came upon the Jell-O Mold Cheeseburger.

I'm not sure how tasty it is, but it's kinda beautiful.

Big Bird Cookie Fail

I bought some Sesame Street cookie cutters on Etsy last year and I decided to finally break 'em out and make Big Bird cookies. I used my mom's special ginger/sugar cookie recipe:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 T Vinegar
2 & 1/4 cup flour
2 t ground ginger
3/4 t baking soda
pinch of salt

If dough is too dry, add 1-2 T of milk. 8-10 min at 400 degrees.

Anyway, I rolled out the dough, and floured the crap out of the cookie cutter. It didn't make much difference. The dough got stuck in every itsy bitsy crack and basically decapitated Big Bird every time I removed the cutter. I got about 3 decent ones before I just gave up and made stars instead. Well, it's kinda close to 4th of July...

Mustardgate

I was researching my upcoming trip to San Diego and saw this posted on Stone Brewery's website:

A Public Apology: June 24th, 2010 from stonebrew on Vimeo.

They bring up a good question though, where DID the beer go?

Little Debbie Cakes

There will always be a little place in my heart for Little Debbie. I ate them a lot growing up, I remember my favorites being Swiss Rolls and Zebra Cakes. The cakes were always packaged in pairs, and in my little kid brain it kinda felt like I was getting two desserts. (Ha! Victory!) Anyway, I ate these cakes so often that my mom saved the POP's and sent away for an actual Little Debbie doll. Wow.

I'm not sure if the quality's gone down or my tastes are maturing but I don't really eat Little Debbie anymore. However, I saw this Petites Red Velvet package and being obsessed with everything Red Velvet I decided to try them.

Well, "petite" is definitely the correct word. I finished mine in about 2 1/2 bites. It didn't taste too bad, very sugary though. The cream cheese frosting was quite good. I'm not sure I'd buy them again, but they might make a cute little accompaniment with afternoon tea?

BBC 1 & BBC 2

No, not the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Bisbee Breakfast Club and the old Bisbee Brewing Company! I recently visited these fine establishments, on the same day no less. The Bisbee Breakfast Club is located on Erie St, a road lined with old storefronts and auto repair shops. The inside was converted from an old pharmacy and soda fountain into a spacious loft-style restaurant. Lots of great light, and lots of wonderful smells emanating from the surrounding tables.
I had the Popeye, an omelet stuffed with spinach, bacon and cream cheese. I substituted my toast for one of their biscuits, oh my goodness. Heavenly. Look at the size of it! They had a variety of jams on the table, including an apple butter. It melted beautifully over my warm biscuit.


Now the Old Bisbee Brewing Company is located in the center of what you could call the downtown area. It’s very small and unassuming, the brew house is actually in a separate building then the tasting room. It opens at noon every day and there were already people lined up outside the door when we arrived. (Always a good sign.)

My friends and I sat at the counter ordered the sampler which included:


Scottish Red Ale
Pale Ale
IPA
Belgian Whitbier
Stout
Copper City Ale
Classic Pilsner Lager

I think my favorite was the Red Ale but I was pleasantly surprised by the Pilsner, it had a much richer taste then I’m used to with lagers. My friends all loved the stout, and it certainly was delicious, it had a very strong coffee aroma. If I was a more thorough blogger I would’ve asked what was in it, instead I just enjoyed.


I noticed that Old Bisbee Brewing Company also made their own root beer and I decided to try it after the sampler. Ok. I promise I am not exaggerating when I say it was the BEST root beer I have ever had. It was sweet and refreshing and very full of flavor. It’s one of those root beers I wouldn’t want to spoil by making a root beer float out of it. That’s saying a lot!

http://www.bisbeebreakfastclub.com/

http://www.oldbisbeebrewingcompany.com/

Salad Wha?

Sometimes I eat salads! It's true. I actually love spinach, I like it in my salads and I use it in my sandwiches as a substitute for lettuce. My favorite salad dressing right now compliments spinach beautifully- it's Red Wine Pomegranate Vinaigrette with Dark Chocolate.

Chocolate on a salad? What?

It's actually delicious. The pomegranate and the vinegar cut the sweetness, and you're left with a rich cocoa flavor. This particular salad dressing comes from Ravenous Chocolate, a Colorado company that specializes in unusual chocolate products. I picked this up at the Boulder farmer's market last fall and I've been carefully rationing it ever since. Ravenous Chocolate also features flavors like Strawberry Champagne Vinaigrette and Citrus Balsamic Vinaigrette with Dark Chocolate. I highly recommend!

http://www.ravenouschocolate.com/

Samurai

My friend Mark took me to Samurai today. It's a cute little Japanese place tucked away in a Tucson mini-mall. I had the chicken yakisoba with a tiny scoop of mash potatoes. I loved the sauce and the noodles were plentiful. (Not too many of those skinny onions; I know it's a weird quirk but I believe those things can make or break an asian dish.)

The menu was enormous and fairly economical. Lots of noodle dishes, Bento, and sushi. They even had Mochi, my favorite little ice cream balls.

Can't wait to eat the leftovers!

Today's Treat: A Very Tart Margarita

Made from freshly squeezed lemons and limes. (Maybe a little sugar?) It was extremely tart but quite refreshing.

Who's that at the door? A horse.

Within 60 min of showing up in Bisbee, Arizona my friends and I are in a bar. Within 20 min of being in said bar, a horse shows up. Pass the beer.

This is Hot Licks Saloon in Old Bisbee and the horse didn't stay long. I ordered Dave's Electric Beer because I thought it was local. Turns out it comes from Tempe, but the owner is from Bisbee? The details are kind of foggy but the beer was delicious.


Adjacent to the saloon is EAT Barbecue, a bbq stand that offered ribs, chicken legs, and pulled pork sandwiches. We got a goat cheese plate as an appetizer, sooo delicious. I ordered the pork sandwich with a side of corn and was very happy with it. Until I sampled one of the ribs. I soon wished I has ordered that instead! The sauce had this amazing black pepper kick to it and the meat was very tender. Oh well, next time.

I continued to eat well the rest of the trip. I got to the hotel room and the first thing I see are homemade cookies sitting by my bed. (This was at the Copper Queen Hotel, they also have fresh baked cookies in the lobby.) And today I started the morning with a hot chocolate from Bisbee Coffee Company. That whip cream on top is freshly whipped, not from a can, folks. Yummy.

I also visited a brewery and a breakfast place while in Bisbee, I'll tell you about them tomorrow!

Croutons & Soup in a Box

Tonight I had a simple dinner. I was watching the Barefoot Contessa and she had a whole show on leftovers. She cut up leftover bread slices and made these huge beautiful croutons. She then sprinkled them with olive oil and pepper and stuck them in the oven. I thought, I can do that! I usually don't eat the heels of bread so that's what I used. And instead of pepper I seasoned the bread with garlic powder since the soup also contained garlic. My croutons were soooo good, especially warm. I could've eaten them just on their own.

The soup was very pleasant, I'm always satisfied with Trader Joe's box soups. I usually get the carrot or the red pepper tomato variety, tonight was the first time I tried the black bean. It could've used more of a kick but that's just my taste.

More Pictures of Food and Beer

My friends and I were eating at the Grill a few months back and naturally we started

talking about food. People started whipping out their phones and displaying pictures of different meals they'd had recently. I think this is terrific! For so long I thought I was odd for taking photos of my food. Far from it!

Now that the average person has a camera at their fingertips food photography has become more popular than ever. Even Liz Lemon has a food photo hanging from her wall. (Kinda wish I had thought of that.)

That same night at the Grill I had a tiny tiny beer. It was $1 and not too bad. I put a tater tot in the picture as reference.

The Grill has great tator tots, they're kind of known for them. I usually get them as a side with my smoked salmon and cream cheese omelette. My other favorite meal there is the corn-fed biscuits and gravy, only $4!

Cupcakeries

Like little mushrooms on a forest bed, cupcakeries are popping up everywhere and I really couldn't be happier. Cupcakeries are so beautiful in their simplicity. Cupcakes, lots of cupcakes, in a variety of flavors. Cupcakeries are usually well lit, very clean, and smell nice. And pleasant little rows of cupcakes are aesthetically pleasing, if not mouth watering.

The first cupcake bakery that I was aware of was Magnolia Bakery in New York City. Magnolia doesn't work exclusively with cupcakes but that's what they're most known for. The lines go around the block on the weekends, just for 30 seconds in front of their beautiful cupcake counter. The last time I had Magnolia was on my 30th birthday and fortunately I went there at night- no wait. (They sell single candles at the register- brilliant idea.)

The second cupcake bakery I went to was in Boulder, CO, called Tee & Cakes. Again, this wasn't really a true cupcakery since they offer other baked items as well. They get an A+ on design though, doing things like placing coke bottle jellies on coke flavored cupcakes, etc. There's also a design shop inside the bakery where you can buy t-shirts and other art.

Now in Tucson, there are three cupcakeries that I know about. Red Velvet, Mini's,

and Cupcakes. I tried Cupcakes, at Swan and Grant, last week. Their website impressed me, beautiful photos, a huge variety of flavors, and a menu that listed exactly what days of the week certain flavors are available. When I walked in the bakery I was greeted by friendly staff and a dazzling array of cupcakes. Their cupcakes are fancy smancy. The frosting is higher than the cupcake itself and it's sparkly. Kinda like eating fairy dust. And the flavor I tried, Rich and Famous- or chocolate cake with chocolate icing, had an edible pearl on top. The only problem- it was too much, even for me, and that's saying a lot. The chocolate was super rich and I ended up scraping off half the icing. What a waste.

Mini's Cupcakes, at La Encantada, was also a bit of a disappointment. They had a wide variety of flavors and I got their Red Velvet cupcake as well as their Champagne & Strawberry cupcake. I wasn't impressed with either. The cake itself was dry and the red velvet didn't have the traditional hint of chocolate.

Red Velvet Cupcakery, Park & University, on the other hand, was just right. Along with their signature flavor, Red Velvet, my other favorites are B-Day (almond cake with sprinkles) and Peanut Butter Cup. Their frosting is rich and smooth, not too sugary. Their cakes are always moist. And I'm a sucker for free food, if you arrive late enough and order a few cupcakes, they usually throw in an extra one.

Well I am off to watch the season premiere of Cupcake Wars on Food Network. EAT DRINK BE MERRY.