Eat. Pray. Travel.

Lately my life has been kind of busy, but in a good way. I have been taking every opportunity to try and live life to its fullest. This means hanging out with friends, trying new things, and most importantly traveling to new places. For each new place I have traveled, I have been able to enjoy some amazing cuisine.

My first trip took me to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This was my first trip ever out of the country, and it was amazing. I went with my friend, Marissa. We stayed at a beautiful resort where every room had a view of the Pacific Ocean. We relaxed. We sat in the sun. We ate and drank!

And we ate and drank!

After Cabo, my tarvels brought me to New Orleans, Louisiana. This was a work trip, but I must say, the people I work with, they know how to live it up. We took full advantage of all that the Big Easy has to offer. We went to Commanders Palace one night (a well known New Orleans eating spot).

My meal started off with a trio of soups: turtle soup, shrimp gumbo and butternut squash bisque. This was followed by roasted Quail stuffed with corn bread and andouille sausage. Dessert was a pecan praliene sundae. The next night, we went to a restaurant in the French Quarter called Muriels. This was possibly the best meal I ever had. I wish I had photos of all this food because talking about it doesn't do it justice. Tuna carpaccio, double stuffed pork chops and bananas foster shortcake. AND I ATE ALL OF IT! If you're ever in New Orleans you need to eat here (http://www.muriels.com).

My last trip took me to Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was a short trip and it wasn't totally about the food, but I did have the best breakfast burrito ever. Eggs, bacon, potatoes, and green chilli. I have been craving it ever since I left.

But for as wonderful as all this food was, the best of these trips was the great experiences with some great people. Old friends that became better friends; New friends that became better friends; New sights and experiences that will never be the same as the first time they are experienced. And for all this, I am grateful.

*Special shout out to Mark K. for help with this title

What Could’ve Been a Birthday Treat Gone Awry

Today is my boss’ birthday so, in honor of him and his love for carrot cake, I decided to bake carrot cake cupcakes.

All week I searched for what I thought would be the perfect recipe, finally landing on Ina Garten’s carrot cake cupcakes. The recipe seemed simple enough, and most importantly, it contained all the classic ingredients: cinnamon, raisins, walnuts, carrots and of course, cream cheese frosting.

Sunday afternoon, the baking process began. Everything was going very well, until I took the cupcakes out of the oven. DISASTER! I don’t know what I did wrong exactly, but what I ended up taking out of the oven was not a pretty sight. The edges were baked to a crisp and the middle sank las if the cake were being sucked into a black hole. What a mess…

But if there is one thing that I have learned over the years it’s that, in baking, when one (oven) door closes, another opens. I had been smart enough, in my shopping, to buy extra carrots and raisins, so I regrouped and decided to ditch the cupcake idea and go with something a little safer…Martha Stewart’s Carrot Cake Cookies.

The result…well let’s just say they looked a lot prettier. Now it’s just a matter of time until I see if they are a hit with the birthday boy.

A Cake Ball by Any Other Name Would Taste as Sweet

This past weekend, I had a small get together at my house. Ok, so it was one of those silly jewelry parties, but the way I looked at it was just a good excuse to have some good food and good company. I made sure I had plenty of wine, and some good afternoon snacks cheese and crackers and veggies with roasted red pepper hummus.

The biggest decision, of course, was deciding what to have for dessert. Originally I was thinking of making cupcakes...chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate chip frosting to be exact. But then I remembered a go-to crowd favorite, Cake Balls! They are perfect party dessert finger foods, basically a piece of cake and frosting rolled into a ball coated in chocolate. What could be better? And for this particular day I decided to go with a yellow cake, in which I mixed honey Teddy Grahams, with white frosting covered in semi-sweet chocolate. Um, can we say delicious!?

The word 'cake balls', however, doesn't have the most elegant ring to it (as my boss pointed out). So he presented me with the challenge of renaming this scrumptious, bute-sized dessert. I posed the question to my guests this past weekend and here are a few names we came up with:

Cake Bon Bons
Cake Rocks
Torta di Palle (cake balls in Italian)
Cake Ballz (the z makes the name a little cooler, was someone's rationale)
Cake Conglomerates
TriCakes (since there are 3 components)

In the end, though, we all agreed that cake balls might just be the best. But really whatever you want to call them, a cake ball by any other name would taste just as sweet!

The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Fried Foods

The Food Network has been a huge part of my life since it's inception. Chefs like Bobby Flay, Paula Dean, Giada de Laurentis, etc., have become food icons to me. When all else fails, and there is nothing good on tv, I can always turn to the Food Network for a good cooking show.

One of their newest shows is "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" where these famous chefs/hosts tell us "not only what they like to eat, but where we can get it" (quote from the opening credits). Each show is topic based: chocolate, meat, cheese, salty, barbeque, and any other food category you can think of. With every show my parents and I discuss what we would pick if we were asked what our favorite _____ would be and where...

Well this weekend I found my answer to "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Fried Foods." I decided that I could use a little getaway, and in the spirit of the weekend (Presidents' Day), I decided to head down to Washington, D.C. A friend of my brother's lives in the city, so we decided to have dinner together. He took me to this placed called Founding Farmers (http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com/). It's a sustainable restaraunt, that was actually featured on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" for its devl-ish eggs. Well, I'm sure those are good, but for me, I would have to say if you ever get to go there, you must have B Baby's Beignets. These are, by far, the best beignets I have ever had!

For those of you that don't know, here is Wikipedia's definition of a beignet:
A beignet (pronounced /bɛnˈjeɪ/ in English, /bɛˈɲɛ/ in French; French for "fried dough") in the U.S. is a pastry made from deep-fried dough, much like a doughnut, and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, or frostings.

But enough of the techinicalities. Let's get to the good stuff...These beignets were out of this world. They were brought to the table simply displayed, brown paper bag, dusted with powered sugar, and served with 3 sauces (raspberry, chocolate and caramel). Well just by the look of them, my mouth was watering. But then we dug in. The beignets were served fresh from the frier, warm enough so the sugar began to melt just a little, forming a glaze. We tore them open, revealing a moist, airy center. We then dipped the half into a sauce of choice and then ENJOYED. Wow, they were sweet bites of heaven that dissolved in your mouth. And the sauce I would have to say was the best was the caramel. The heat from the beignet melts the caramel slightly, and when combined with the glaze from the powdered sugar...well there aren't words to describe.

So if you are ever in DC you must go to the Founding Farmers and get the beignets. I promise you, they will be one of the best things you ever eat.

Think Pink

Over the weekend my friend, Jon, and I were having a very serious discussion about pink frosting (well as serious of a discussion as two people can have about pink frosting). This is how we got onto the topic: First we started talking about whoopies pies and how we could make them even more spectacular. We came up with the idea of making a peanut butter, banana, and bacon whoopee pie, which we appropriately named “The Elvis Whoopie” or “The King.” And even though that sounds amazing, it was really the bacon that brought us to our next train of thought. We went on to talk about bacon in all its glory and how it makes everything it is in or on taste even more amazing. This brought us to bacon dipped donuts, naturally. This is where the pink talk comes into play.

A few years ago, I brought donuts into work. It was an impulse purchase that accompanied my coffee that morning. I picked an array of donut flavors, glazed, jelly, Boston Crème, chocolate frosted and strawberry frosted. So I deliver the donuts, feeling happy about bringing the joy of this breakfast treat into my associates, when all of a sudden my one boss asks, “Who brought the donuts in?” Of course I said it was me. He then said that he knew it was a girl, because no guy would ever choose a pink donut. I was astonished by this comment, and it has stuck with me ever since.

So as Jon and I were talking about donuts, I asked him what his take was on pink (strawberry) frosted donuts. His response was classic. He said, “I love them. Not only are they good because they are strawberry flavored, but when I eat them I feel like Homer Simpson.” (Jon’s whit is astounding). I then began to tell him about the “guys don’t pick pink frosted donuts” and he was appalled by this comment. His response, “It’s just a color. It means nothing. And why sacrifice not eating something so good just because it’s pink???” Of course I completely agreed with him.

So this conversation inspired me to create a pink treat: Strawberry Shortcake Cupcakes (filled with strawberry preserves).

The Prep:

 
Batter Up (ha!):

After they were baked, I piped in the strawberry jam:

The final product...they are the prettiest cupcakes I think I have made to date:

Thanks Jon for the inspiration!

New Year (Baking) Resolution

This year I resolve to bake more treats, try new recipes, and share them all with as many people as I can. So get ready, cause 2011 is going to bring with it lots of sweet delights!

New recipe #1: Baked Chocolate Glazed Donuts

‘Tis the Season to be Baking

Well this past month has been a busy one, that’s for sure. There were lots of gifts to be bought, decorations to be hung, and most importantly, goodies to be baked. So even though I have been slacking in the blogging world, it has all been for good reason.

Let’s start from the beginning. On December 6th, my work hosted its annual cookie bake off. Last year I came in 4th place (out of 12), and this year I was determined to move up in the rankings. So with this challenge presented, I decided to make two batches of test cookies. The first batch was the cookie below, double chocolate crackles. It was a recipe that I found in the December issue of The Food Network Magazine.

The second test batch was my own recipe: Double chocolate cake mix, 2 eggs, ½ cup of oil, pecans and toffee bits. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. The result is the image you see below. These were the cookies I chose as my bake off representatives. Although, in the end I think the crackles might have been the more successful of the two. Needless to say, I came in 3rd, and that was third out of three entries. It was a somewhat sad bake off all round, due to lack of entries and participants, but at least it gave me an excuse to try two new recipes.

Once the bake off was over I thought I might have some time to relax until Christmas. Well as it turns out a baker’s work is never done. A few days later my mom and I were hanging around when she told me she had a craving for a really good, classic chocolate cake. Well I can’t ignore a craving, let alone one that involves baking AND comes from the woman who gave me life! So that weekend my mission was clear…Make a fantastic, classic chocolate cake. Right away I found Ina Garten’s recipe called Beatty’s Chocolate Cake. It was 2 layers of moist chocolate cake smothered in chocolate butter cream frosting (both of which were enhanced by mixing in coffee in some way, shape or form). And the result, well you can see for yourself:

So after the cake was made, and what seemed like not a second later, did it come time to figure out what to bake for Christmas this year? See every year on Christmas Eve my family hosts a holiday open house, and every year my mom and I have to come up with the menu. We brainstorm and come up with about 5-6 different appetizers/finger foods to serve along with dessert. Well you can guess who takes care of the dessert portion. So this year I decided to make Bobby Flay’s gingerbread cupcakes with mango butter cream frosting, but instead of regular sized cupcakes they would be miniature. Well with exception to a few hiccups that occurred during the frosting making process, they were another baking success!

So as you can see I have been quite the busy baker. But at this time of year, it’s to be expected. It is, after all, the most wonderful time of the year!