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?