Toad in the Hole

I went a little overboard with British food Saturday today. My friend Kevin and I streamed the Eurovision song contest, a tradition of sorts, and as the wonderfully terrible music played I prepared my latest dish. Toad in the Hole. I'm not sure how I would classify Toad in the Hole, perhaps a casserole? Basically, you cook sausages and then pour a batter over them. You bake the dish for about 20 min and the result is sausages encased in a flaky dough.

It actually turned out pretty good! The sausages ended up sitting on top of the dough more than being encased, and if I did it again I would use a smaller casserole dish, but otherwise a success! It helped that I used actual pork sausages from Ireland, they weren't very expensive yet you could taste the quality. And it was lucky that the dough rised- I guess a flat Toad in the Hole is called Frog in the Bog! Ha!

The British menu continued with Spotted Dick. I didn't put much effort into it, it was Spotted Dick in a Can. I placed the can in boiling water for 30 min (as the directions said) and when I opened it, a warm raisined cake slipped out. (Sound appetizing?) It was tasty.

Pot Noodle & Pepperoni

Here's my dream man, David Mitchell, discussing British food.

Now Who Will Tell Me Why I'm Fat?

My favorite website in the world is Thisiswhyourefat.com. It's a food blog full of dazzling pictures of the worst foods imaginable. It started out as a sort of gross-out site but in recent months the foods/recipes have gotten much more creative, even beautiful, if albeit horrible for you.

This site is like porn to me and I visit it almost on a daily basis. Yesterday I noticed the site was down and thought maybe it was temporary. Unfortunately it's still down today and when I wrote to the webmaster (don't laugh) he said the blog was either deleted or the url moved. This is Why You're Fat just came out with a book, I hope the site wasn't taken down to boast sales because that is just shitty.

Anyway, here's a compilation of my favorite photos from the site: Sushi peeps, Turtle bacon cheeseburgers, and deep fried stout beer cupcakes.

Chaffin's Diner

Another entry in "eateries Corey and I are trying to hit before he moves," Chaffin's Diner on Broadway is one of my favorite breakfast places. It's one of the few diners I've visited that still has a Monte Cristo on their menu.

A Monte Cristo is a french toast sandwich that layers turkey, ham, and swiss between multiple pieces of bread. Some places prepare the sandwich first, then batter and fry it all together. Chaffin's prepares the french toast first, the method I prefer. The Monte Cristo is sprinkled with powdered sugar and usually served with some sort of jam. Chaffin's accompanies it with a strawberry dipping sauce. Yum yum yum.

Corey ordered the Greek Omelette, which was basically a gyro with eggs. It even came with Tzatziki sauce, which he poured generously over the entire thing. (Oh, and it was Towel Day today, so of course we had ours by our side.)

I can't forget to mention Chaffin's decor. It's very mid-century and it's held up quite well. Record sleeves line the walls in the front room and the back room has lots of modern art. It's effortlessly eclectic. Now if they would only stock their pie case...

White Castle

I completely understand why some people don't get the allure White Castle. Steamed burgers?Soggy onions? Cheese product? If I hadn't grown up on White Castle, I probably wouldn't like them either. When I was a kid, White Castle was a "treat." Something we only got when we visited the grandparents because we didn't have White Castle in Northern Indiana. And because I came from such a big extended family, ordering was always an adventure. We'd have ridiculous orders, like 40 burgers, 20 cheese, 30 onion rings. And inevitably they'd get the order wrong.

In recent years White Castle has expanded their menu and I started ordering the chicken ring sandwich, and it's REALLY good. The chicken breading is kinda peppery and delicious. And the meat isn't the worst quality. My grandma ordered the fish nibblers and those were really good too.

Check out White Castle's website, lots of pretty pictures:

http://www.whitecastle.com/food/menu

Oh, and FYI: Don't get the microwavable White Castles, they don't taste anything like the real thing.

Schimpff's

I've been eating candy from Schimpff's Confectionary for as long as I remember. It's located in downtown Jeffersonville, Indiana, minutes away from my grandma's house. It's not only a candy shop, there's a soda fountain and ice cream shop as well. Schimpff's also converted their back room into a mini-museum, featuring old fashioned candy and candy-making techniques.

Schimpff's opened up in 1858 and has been family owned and operated ever since. The current location has been making candy since 1891 and has survived three major floods. Schimpff''s is located near the banks of the Ohio River, and the flood lines are marked by the red bricks outside the storefront.

One of Schimpff's signature candies are their Cinnamon Red Hots. The recipe has remained practically unchanged since Schimpff's opened its doors. These hard candies have a distinct homemade flavor, some pieces are spicier than others. We were lucky enough to arrive in time for a candy making demonstration led by no other than Mr. & Mrs. Schimpff. We watched as Mr. Schimpff poured red hot liquid onto the cooling table and worked in the cinnamon syrup.

The scent of cinnamon was almost overwhelming as Mr. Schimpff worked with the candy. There were air ducts above him that pumped some of the air outside- very clever advertising!

Once the material had cooled a little, it was inserted into a press that would give the candies their shape.

It didn't take very long for the candies to harden. Mrs. Schimpff collected them in a bucket and gave free samples to all of us. The Red Hots were still warm and melted quickly onto my tongue. Soooooo delicious!

Some of my other favorite Schimpff's candy include: Modjeskas (caramel covered

marshmallows), Bourbon creams (we are on the border of Kentucky Bourbon country after all), and Chocolate Turtles (a sentimental favorite, my grandma would get them for me for

Christmas.) I usually get the Licorice Scotties too. I'm not really a licorice fan but they're so fun I like to give them as gifts.

I also can't forget Derby Mints or the Spotted Brown Cows. The cows are delicious chocolates with creamy peanut butter in the center.

www.schimpffs.com

Today's Treat: Wedding Cake

Congrats Grandma!

YouTube

I found this while I was searching for Egg In the Basket how-to's. I love the Twin Peaks theme in the background. (Notice how the song crescendos when he goes to flip the egg- it's all about the details people.)

Sweet Tea Vodka

My friend Eboni brought this to last night's bbq and I thought it deserved an entry of it's own. It's Sweet Tea flavored vodka. And believe it or not, if done right it can actually be quite tasty. (Hint: it always helps when someone at the party is an actual bartender.) This is what we did:

1. start with several spoonfuls of sugar at the bottom of the glass

2. pour in the vodka

3. squeeze in a fresh lime

4. add ice, add sparkling water

I don't have measurements, I was just an observer to the whole process. All I know is that it was very refreshing and tasted dangerously unlike alcohol.

BBQ Season Has Begun

I went to my first BBQ of the year, hopefully the first of many this season. The weather wasn't too hot, and lots of good friends provided lots of terrific food. Pictured on the grill: bratwurst, sausage, corn on the cob, and I threw on some chile lime chicken burgers from Trader Joe's. Mandy also made carne asada, VERY delicious!

I made cocktail wieners with a special sweet/spicy sauce. The sauce is supposed to be for a meatball recipe but I felt like cocktail wienies were more fitting for a bbq. The recipe is really easy:

8oz can of Jellied Cranberry Sauce

3/4 cup Chilli Sauce

1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar

1 & 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice

The sauce is supposed to stew in a crockpot for several hours but I just let it simmer on the stovetop and added the wieners once all the ingredients had blended together.

Here are some of my other favorites from the bbq: James' peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies (he also made potato salad and carrot salad)

big juicy cherries (my favorite fruit)

And of course there were many wonderful drinks, Ian made Mojitos:

Tonight's Treat

Ice cold Sangria.

Meat Pie

British food Saturday again- I heated up a frozen meat pie I got from 17th St Market. Not really the best pie I've had, although the pastry part was buttery and delicious. I smothered it in HP sauce (or as the Brits say, brown sauce). Brown sauce is a little like a vinegary A-1. The quality is very important, a bad brown sauce can make one gag. I also busted out my tea towels and had a proper tea- English Breakfast.

Doh-nuts

Twin Peaks produces some of the best imagery on television in my opinion. I love when Lucy sets out lots of donuts for the boys of the sheriff's department. Row after row, so lovely. I did the same with my Starbucks mini donuts. Still waiting for Agent Cooper.

Nice try

My friend Kevin called me down to his office today, saying he had chocolate for me. This is what I found. An amputee. Another friend later offered me an ENTIRE taquito. Much more satisfying.

Daddy Bruce's

The first I heard of Daddy Bruce's was when my friend drove me by it and said, "That place is never open, but it's supposed to be REALLY good." The sign said BBQ and I was sold. I was only in Boulder a couple of days, and I ate A LOT of great food while there, but Daddy Bruce's continued to loom over me.

Finally, my last day, literally my last hour, my friend Bridget and I cruised down Arapahoe Ave and saw the open sign. We had just gorged on asian food but stopped nonetheless. I thought, "hey, I'll just get it to go and eat later." It's not that simple at Daddy Bruce's.

It sounds a little cliche to say that dining is just as much about the experience as the food, but it really applies here. When you walk into the trailer, Bruce Randolph Jr. (aka Daddy Bruce II) greats you from behind the counter, takes your order, and tells you to make yourself at home. He's in no hurry, and you shouldn't be either.

I've always enjoyed watching skilled hands make a meal. The older the person, the more fascinating to me. Their moves are so memorized, so confident; no hesitation or stumbling around for ingredients. And during all of this, he's telling us his life story. He talked about his barbershop in Denver, and told me the same hands that were making my food cut the hair of MLK. He wasn't boastful, he just had a lot of pride. There was an article about him taped to the wall, the article was from an overseas newspaper and he was quite proud of this.

Daddy Bruce placed my food in front of me, and despite my full stomach, I dug in. The meat was tender and smoky, the sauce was sweet and vinegary. He provided a stack of white bread to soak up the leftovers and it came in good use. While I ate he tried to teach Bridget how to play the piano, only giving up once another customer came in. We said our farewells and I took one last picture of him. He insisted on making it a profile shot, perhaps an homage to the greek gods of brisket.

Mountain Sun Pub & Brewery

Last fall I visited my friend Bridget in Boulder and one of our first stops was Mountain Sun. Colorado is known for it's microbreweries and although I hadn't heard of this one before, I was very eager. Mountain Sun is located off of Boulder's main pedestrian thoroughfare, Pearl St. The inside is cozy, very pub-ish. There's an open kitchen towards the back, and as you walk to the bathrooms you can spot the brewery itself, where everyone's hard at work making sweet delicious BEER.

The beer itself is of a very high quality. I noticed on their menu they include the OG (original gravity) and the TG (terminal gravity) of each beer. I'm not going to pretend I know what this means, it has to do with sugars and fermenting and such. What's important is THEY know what it means and feel it's important enough to inform the beer nerds.

Usually when I go to a new brewery I order the sampler. It's lots of fun to try different varieties and I've noticed with microbrews especially, not every beer "works." Most of the time these samplers consist of 6 to 8 tiny glasses of that brewery's most popular beers. Mountain Sun does not skimp. When the beers arrived, all Bridget and I could think was how close we came to ordering two samplers. We had quite a hill to climb. But we're strong girls and we love our beer.

My favorite beer was their Ginger, quickly followed by the Belgian Dip Chocolate Stout. Even their IPA was tolerable, and I'm usually not a hop-y gal. According to their website there's a Scotch Ale I'm eager to try but it's a winter seasonal beer. Oh well, next time!

My friend and I didn't order any food but the menu looked good. The emphasis was on fresh, organic ingredients while every dish could still be classified as "pub food." What I found interesting was that every employee worked every job. Someone who was your server one day could end up cooking your food the next. Not sure how well this actually worked, but I guess that's what happens when hippies take over a brewery ;)

http://mountainsunpub.com

17th St Market

Just down the street from me, tucked away in a nondescript warehouse, is 17th St Market. It's pretty much the best place in southern AZ to find international foods. There's also a wide selection of local products, from fruits and veggies to bakery items.

When you first walk in the fishy smell is a little overwhelming and for good reason- 17th St has the largest selection of fresh fish in Arizona. I haven't actually bought any yet, but Victor the fish guy says he'll be there when I'm ready!

17th St is a little eclectic, there are international gifts dispersed throughout the market as well as a music store attached. I've heard rumors of cooking classes taking place there but I have yet to stumble upon one.

I love 17th St for a lot of reasons but my favorite thing is always coming home with a new discovery. This week's find? Dusseldorf style beer mustard.

Egg In The Basket

I am an Anglophile. I will defend British food until my dying breath. (Which just might be from a massive coronary.) Recently Saturdays have become my official Brit food day as I curl up on the couch and watch the new seasons of Doctor Who and the Graham Norton show. Last weekend BBC America aired V for Vendetta and V prepared a traditional English breakfast called Egg In the Basket. (Or as some say, Eggy In the Basket.) I thought this looked delicious and decided to try it this morning. It was surprisingly simple.

All you need is 2 slices of bread (or just 1 if you don't want a bottom), an egg, butter and a drinking glass. I also prepared beans as the side.

Take the butter and melt it in the pan. Use the glass to create a hole in the bread. Place the bread in a frying pan, making sure to soak it in the butter. Break the egg into the glass and carefully pour it into the opening in the bread.

The only tricky part is flipping over the egg/bread combo to toast the other side, but if you've let the egg cook enough it should be properly fused with the bread. The finished product is pictured below. I spread jam on the leftover bread circle. I had a teapot going too, which meant I was using 3 out of 4 burners on my stove. That might be a record!