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Despite the difficulties I’d been experiencing trying to find things to fit my lifestyle that were also gluten-free, I managed to stick to it for a week before giving in to some bread that I had been craving. I’d been feeling great, actually, so I was afraid I had just undone all the work of a week for several slices of carby heaven. Much to my delight, I continued feeling great despite the obviously glutenous mass of molecules I had consumed. Therefore, I have come to the self-assessed conclusion that my digestive and nutritive issues are purely IBS- and lactose-intolerance-related.

I can pretty much confirm the development of lactose intolerance from the fact that, having been able to stick to the no-milk thing, I’ve been feeling great. Then while in Reno on business a couple of days ago, I absentmindedly used some half-and-half in a cup of coffee only to be faced with tummy gurgles and bubbles not even half an hour later. So I am immensely thankful I can return to my general eating pattern aside from milk products. Sticking to soy I can definitely live with! I’ve actually grown to prefer it in my espresso drinks–a sugar-free caramel latte I had just earlier today was better with soy, in my opinion, than any I’d previously tasted thanks to the pleasant nuttiness to accompany the toasty sweetness.

Now, to savor my dinner of a tuna salad wrap–yum, gluten!! ;D

1 Comment Categories: Food Musings · No Photos

So I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently on the connections between IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome, something I was diagnosed with 15 years ago–quite a feat of a disease for a nine-year-old to even have to think about undertaking managing, let alone actually doing it) and lactose-intolerance, gluten-intolerance, and thyroid disease. A couple of my other friends with digestive disease have been recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease, and it got me wondering if maybe I suffer from it as well.

Considering the already-diagnosed IBS and confirmed thyroid problems, along with other symptoms, I’ve become rather convinced that I do have Celiac, and as of early Saturday morning, I decided to give living not only mostly-free of insoluble fiber for my IBS but also moderately lactose-free (I don’t seem to have trouble with it, but considering the fact that I actually like soy milk, substituting it where it’s easy didn’t seem like much of a sacrifice–hell, I’m actually thinking I like my mochas better with soy!) and completely gluten-free a shot, at least for a few weeks to see how I feel. As soon as I get my health insurance sorted out, I’m going to bring up getting tested for Celiac at my first visit to a doctor, and until then, I’ll just monitor digestive health on my own. Seeing as it’s something I’ve been doing for a decade-and-a-half now, it’s almost second nature to me, sadly.

I’m sure some of you are already thinking, “GLUTEN-FREE?!?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS BAKED-GOODS-FIEND GOING TO EAT AND BLOG ABOUT NOW?!?! HOW WILL SHE EVEN LIVE WITHOUT SUCH THINGS AS BROWNIES AND COOKIES AND CUPCAKES?!?!” Well, those were some of my first thoughts upon making this decision as well.

It’s proving to be quite a task after even only two days of efforts to make my diet completely devoid of wheat, rye, barley, and spelt. Well, not that spelt was that much of an issue, but you get the idea. For instance, on my way home from seeing a movie today, I decided I was in the mood for soup for dinner, and you’d think that would be a reasonably easy task, even gluten-free. Oh, no. No no no. Let me tell you, of the selection of soups available in my local market, only two–TWO–were Celiac-safe. TWO! Obviously, the ones with barley and noodles were out-of-the-question, but that still left plenty to chose from, right? Wrong. If they didn’t have barley or noodles, almost all featured wheat in some form or another, most often wheat flour used to thicken the soup. So I officially get to chose from two soups now when I decide I’ve got a sudden craving for soup. Joy.

Unfortunately, I’ve become even less of a cook since moving here to San Francisco. Actually, even since working at the bakery, where it was so easy to just walk to a case or basket and take what I felt like eating at the time. I’ve really become embroiled in the habit of deciding what I feel like eating spontaneously and not planning at all. So grocery shopping has become impossible to do long-term–when I get hungry and know I won’t be eating out, I just walk down to the market and get what I feel like eating. If I even attempt to do some mass grocery-shopping, I wind up walking aimlessly through the store unable to pick anything to buy since I don’t feel like eating any of it at the time and can’t possibly know if I’d be in the mood for something using it in the near future. And seeing as things that I would need to make so many of the dishes I ate on a regular basis pre-gluten-free come in larger quantities that would bear the burden of needing to be used repeatedly, this is going to be a frustrating process for me. And even when I did a lot of cooking at home, I have never been much of a leftovers person. Whatever I didn’t finish, I left for my suitemates/housemates/family to eat when I cooked something.

So I figured maybe it would be a good idea to use this blog as an outlet for my new lifestyle–both of frustrations and pleasures. Right now, I’d love if anyone reading this has some advice to offer me: gluten-free recipes geared towards single-servings, sources for gluten-free products that come in small quantities, etc. If only it wasn’t just myself I had to feed, since I have managed to find dozens and dozens of resources for gluten-free recipes and products, they’re just all geared towards the larger quantities that the vast majority of people find useful and not the single-servings that I’d find useful.

I keep tea, coffee, and sweetener in my pantry. Bottled water and soda in my fridge. About the only other things I ever keep around the house are a few canned goods–tuna, mushrooms, maybe beans–and some frozen veggies. Anything else I buy on-the-spot to be used and consumed immediately. Help?

0 Comments Categories: Food Musings · No Photos

Well. I wound up working a double shift yesterday, so I actually wasn’t home at all to post for my first Guilty Pleasure Sundays, but I definitely did get to indulge in something absolutely guilt-ridden and pleasurable, oh my…

Fudge-Topped Brownie
One of the girls I work with over-heated a customer’s brownie yesterday, and the fudge topping go a little melty, so we treated ourselves to a little gooey brownie delectableness in the back room after she prepared a properly-warmed piece for the customer. Oh my gosh, was that brownie amazing.

I’m generally not much of a brownie person, but I’m generally not much of a many-things-my-bakery-makes person, and each of those things I’ve had so far has turned me into a I-like-x-but-only-from-my-bakery person. (Okay, that phrase and the hyphens have just reached their tolerance limit. ;P)

Our brownies are fudgey, as all good brownies are. I like cake. I like fudge. Brownies should be somewhere in between, but since they don’t get frosted like cake does, they must lean towards the fudgey side to be edible. The brownies we make have thick, chewy toothsomeness like fudge, but they still crumble a little with the slightest bit of cakey texture. The melted fudge on top of this supposed brownie failure really took it over-the-top, though. All of the incredibly deep and rich chocolate flavor combined with something to chew and liquidy love was obscenely delicious.

I have SO added a warmed La Bonne Boulangerie brownie coupled with icy-cold vanilla Häagen-Dazs ice cream to my list of “Foods Melody Must Eat in Order to Make Her Life Complete.”

4 Comments Categories: Chocolate · Desserts · Food Musings · Guilty Pleasure Sundays · No Photos

I don’t want to wind up spending my summer working at the bakery the same way I spent the summer a couple of years ago working at Blockbuster: putting in 30 or so hours at a place where I’m, in all honesty, not-so-well-versed in the product. While I most definitely enjoy seeing movies, the combination of not having much time outside work to make full use of my rental privilege of 5 free movies each week and the lack of someone to spend movie-watching time with made for a decidedly film-free few months of employment at an entertainment giant.

In order to encourage me to sample more of our options at the bakery, I’m declaring a new project that doesn’t necessarily have to be limited to myself. This idea will serve a multi-fold purpose: I’ll become knowledgeable about the tasty treats at my bakery, I’ll have something new to write about at least once each week, and I’ll encourage other people to be equally inquisitive with boulangerie-centered foodstuffs!

Guilty Pleasure Sundays will see it’s first entry on June 11, wherein I will describe at least one baked good sold by La Bonne Boulangerie that I have eaten that day. If I can possibly manage to try everything (that I’d actually like to try–and I’m not allergic to) by the end of the summer, I’ll consider it both a success and an invitation to switch it up to treats from other local eateries. :)

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a couple of reviews of things I’ve already tasted…

Banana Nut Muffin
Our muffins are the standard, generously-sized hunk of quickbread baked by most American bakeries. Where they deviate from the formula is with their yogurt-enriched batter base. The result is an incredibly flavorful and moist muffin, with a slight tanginess to balance out any breadiness and the sweetness. I think it also has the effect of enhancing the flavors of the particular muffins–even though this muffin only has a swirl of fresh banana purée in it instead of all throughout, the taste of banana permeates the entire muffin with rich, real fruit flavor.

One peeve of mine when it comes to any baked good featuring some sort of “add-in” is a too-generous hand with the addition. Nothing can ruin a banana nut muffin faster than the presence of too many walnuts. The name of the food is banana nut–not nut banana. ;P Since nuts in general tend to be very flavorful and can easily overpower any dish, the line between “enough” and “too much” is very fine. Somehow our baker has perfected the art of balance with our muffins because the every-few-bites presence of a perfect walnut was enough to have a pleasant nutty flavor in the muffin and an intermittent hunk to delight my teeth with something to chew down on without being the least bit stronger than the banana flavor.

Overall, I’m not exaggerating nor am I patronizing when I say that this was hands-down the best banana nut muffin I’ve ever had. Between the surprisingly intense moistness and the wonderfully natural and fresh flavors, it’ll be extremely hard to top.

Low-Fat/Grilled Veggie Wrap
Yes, you read that name correctly; my bakery actually sells wraps. We also have (all homemade of course!) soups, salads, fruit bowls, focaccia and croissant sandwiches, yogurt parfaits, dips, fresh mozzarella, and other market-type goodies. La Bonne is actually both an authentic European-style bakery and a café. :)

Of all the sandwiches we offer–and there’s actually quite a few!–the veggie wrap was of course the first to catch my eye and hold it long enough for me to drop the $6.99 to take it home. After popping open the package to discover a hulk of a halved wrap inside, I actually think that while it sounds a little overpriced for a simple sandwich, the amount of food is truly rather impressive. At this point I’ve already had this sandwich twice, and being famished the first time after not eating a bite all day, I did actually eat the entire thing at once, but the second time I bought it, I found it was absolutely plenty for two meals for me.

What inspired me to have this wrap twice within a two-week timeframe despite having the option of trying many other different sandwiches is the mind-blowingly-delicious quality of the veggies. Seriously, whomever devised the recipe for the marinade our owners use deserves an award and already has my undying love. On top of being infused with fabulous flavors, the veggies were perfectly grilled–the zucchini and summer squash weren’t at all too mushy, the asparagus was pleasantly crisp, and the red peppers had incredibly sweet, charred flavor.

Even something as seemingly insignificant as the wrap itself clearly receives the same level of intense attention as the vegetables. Thanks to its immenseness, the sandwich is as I said, a substantial portion. It also holds up incredibly well: even cold, it doesn’t crack, tear, or break but rather maintains a level of chewiness that is really quite enjoyable and nicely conducive to wrap-consumption without wrap-disassemblage.

All in all, I’m willing to bet this sandwich will be gracing my table again sometime soon and many times after. It’s flavorful, satisfying, and definitely well worth the expense!

2 Comments Categories: Breads · Breakfast Foods · Food Musings · Main Meals · No Photos · Vegetables

For some reason, I’ve apparently had a need for sweet bread-type things this past week. Last Wednesday, I made some sweet Indian roti, I mixed them up again on Friday, and today I cooked Portuguese sweet muffins. At this point, though, I can say that I am quite thoroughly breaded out. Oi. However, I did reach this point of sweet bread saturation quite deliciously, as you’ll see.

Happy little sugar-laminated breads

The roti is really nice to quickly satiate a sweet bread craving attack. Flour, salt, water, and sugar is all you need along with a little bit of time to mix the first three into a dough, roll them, sprinkle with the sugar, fold up, and roll out again before pan-grilling. They come out chewy and light, with fabulous layers of gooey sugar. For variation on Friday, I added a tiny bit of sugar to the flour and salt for the dough along with some oil before the water. The oil makes for a more tender bread that is easier to flatten. However, for some reason the sugar-laminating doesn’t work quite as well. Some seems to get…absorbed by the bread and it starts to brown before all of the sugar gets a chance to become melty. I think I like them without the oil better, though maybe if I’m particularly wanting a tender bread, I’d go with the oil.

As for other tender breads, today’s Portuguese sweet muffins were a fantastically fun and delectable adventure! I’ve had a packet of yeast lying around since I bought one from my sister over a week ago, and I just couldn’t decide what to make with it. Today, it came to me in a sudden craving for the Portuguese sweet muffins my dad used to regularly buy from Trader Joe’s (a natural foods supermarket chain). After searching high and low–or really, just a few minutes at AllRecipes.com–I came upon this recipe that, aside from a lack of lemon, looked like it would at least come pretty close.

No Portuguese were harmed in the making of this muffin

It surpassed Trader Joe’s by galaxies. While I would appreciate the addition of some lemon in these muffins, it certainly isn’t necessary. I can’t imagine it being removed from the Trader Joe’s version because it needs the freshness of the flavor to make up for the lack of freshness in the muffin. Seriously, now that I’ve gotten very confident in my bread-making ability with these muffins, I will never, ever buy packaged breads again. I so rarely get cravings for bread that it’ll be worth the time to spend baking my own. I get cravings for cakes and pastries much too often to completely exclude packaged stuff, though, as much as I prefer homemade. ;x

Soft and moist inside, firm and dry outside–perfect!

Being moist by nature, these muffins wind up with a completely different texture when packaged. The muffin becomes uniformly moist with tougher tops and bottoms in a package, whereas the fresh ones I made had a more extreme, pleasant contrast between the doughy, soft interiors and firm, dry tops and bottoms. Toasting is absolutely necessary for the Trader Joe’s muffins because the chewiness of the exteriors is just unpalatable right out of the bag, but I wound up eating my muffin sans toasting today. I think it could very well be enjoyed toasted, and at the same time, it isn’t a detriment to devour it as-is.

There’s nothing like sweet breads topped with maple syrup

I didn’t quite consume it “as-is,” though. ;) After tasting a small piece to see how it was plain, I had the sudden idea to top it with a little maple syrup and a pat of butter instead of my usual toasted-and-buttered treatment for the Trader Joe’s sub-pars. This concoction thus satisfied not only my desire for a sweet bread but also pancakes. While Portuguese sweet muffins are certainly not like a pancake, I almost exclusively have maple syrup on only either French toast or pancakes, so the association between “syrup” and “pancakes” is very strong in my mind. I’d never consider dressing a Trader Joe’s sad-excuse-for-a-muffin in this manner, though. I think I’ll stick to having those toasted-and-buttered.

So the moral of the story for all my bread-making recently is that if bread is on my mind, it’s time to whip out some mixing bowls, flour the table (the only flat surface large enough for kneading here–unfortunately), and heat up the stove or oven. Store-bought goods just aren’t worth it.

2 Comments Categories: Breads · Breakfast Foods · Food Musings · Indian · Photos · Portuguese · Recipes · Side Dishes

Yesterday, I was really feeling like chicken, and I still have quite a few onions left from the 5 pound bag I got on sale insanely cheap a few weeks ago, so I made them for dinner last night.

Last night’s dinner–envious? ;)

I took a couple of the onions (they’re small), peeled and sliced them, and sautéed them in a little butter. When they were getting caramelized, I added a little sesame oil and tossed in chunks of chicken breast. I seared that well and then finished cooking it all. Once I was confident the chicken was done, the pan was removed from the heat, and I added teriyaki sauce to deglaze the pan. Oh, deglazing…getting all those little browned bits off the bottom of the pan. You don’t get that with non-stick pans, oh, no. You need good stainless steel pans for that. And let me tell you, those tiny caramelized flecks of yumminess make me confident my $400 investment in a set of Calphalon pans was well worth it. ;) :yum:

Mmm…perfection…

It was torturous giving it some time to rest and cool a bit, but it was so good I was bouncing while I ate it once I did. I’m incredibly proud of my ability to cook the chicken just right–all the way through, but still fantastically juicy and tender. And the onions…oh, the onions. I can–and have–been perfectly satisfied with a meal of caramelized onions. Balance, what? I don’t care. There’s nothing on the face of the earth like soft-but-al-dente onions that have been cooked until their natural sugars are in full force, browned and rich. It’s a guiltless treat, I say–they’re vegetables! And sweet like dessert! Woo!

Inspired by Robyn’s recent ramblings, complaints, research, and so on about her paper on Japanese snack foods and their “kawaii” quality, I’d been wanting to try the banana-flavored Koala’s March cookies my sister had about a week ago but couldn’t bear to save any for me to try they were so delicious.

Look at the happy Koala getting full of banana–for me! Mwa ha ha!

Suffering the higher cost here at the campus convenience store, I had a box in my possession after class yesterday. After opening the package, I was immersed in the scent of artificial banana flavoring. For someone highly allergic to and yet also highly fond of bananas, it’s about the closest I can usually get to eating them (cooked banana is okay, but since they have to be very thoroughly cooked, I tend to err on the side of caution and only eat even cooked ones when I’ve done the cooking and can be sure it’s well enough).

The cuteness of these cookies is too much!

The first bite of one assured me that I would be fully satisfied with banananess and yummy-cookie-ness. The Japanese have an incredible knack for making cookies that are just a million times better than American packaged cookie products. And their creme fillings are perfect–in consistency and flavor–every time. For a processed, packaged food, they seem to come the closest to what I call the “realness” quality of homemade foods. When I eat an Oreo, it feels and tastes like I’m eating something that was pumped out by some machine in a factory. When a happy little Koala jumps in my mouth, it tastes fresh and yummy and delicious and oh, how I wish I could make these myself!

…But the cuteness is not enough to save him from being DEVOURED!

Today is my sister’s birthday. :) She’s turning 21 already, which means I will no longer get requests for bottles of vodka or beer or anything else when I’m going shopping. We’re going out to dinner with the rest of my family tonight, and she’ll be able to order a drink for herself instead of just tasting mine. And after we get back, dessert will be had here, in the name of an amazing creation of mine that took four and a half hours of manual labor and the suffering of blisters, a deep cut on my finger, and impossibly sore arms this morning to produce. I’m sure it will be worth it, though, and you can bet photos will be forthcoming. ;)

4 Comments Categories: Appetizers/Snacks · Food Musings · Main Meals · Photos · Poultry · Vegetables

So I just attempted to make yakimochi like the one I had with Robyn in the City a couple of weeks ago, and I failed miserably. X/ It was highly disappointing because ever since I got a bag of adzuki beans at the local Oriental Grocery (Stony Brook has an abnormally massive Asian population, so it makes sense that we’d have a nearby supermarket brimming with awesome Asian foods, yum!), I’d had my heart set on having homemade yakimochi.

I cooked up the sweet red bean paste with the adzuki beans last night, and THAT came out fantastic. Of course, if it hadn’t, I’d have to seriously reconsider my goal of becoming a chef/baker of some sort, since it’s ridiculously simple. Soak beans, cook beans, drain, add sugar and oil, cook and mash until it becomes a paste. About the only thing you could do to mess it up would be to undercook the beans or something. :P

With that done, I’d planned on making the mochi to wrap the bean paste in and cooking it in a pan tonight. Well, apparently it must not be the sticky kind of mochi on the yakimochi I had because no matter what I did after I made the mochi, I couldn’t get it to cook into a wonderful doughy, slightly crusty shell. :( It just stayed gummy until it got burnt/caramelized on the outside. It didn’t taste HORRIBLE, but it wasn’t exactly what I’d consider edible either.

At least I only made a little bit of bean paste and mochi…

Anyway, I was hoping that maybe someone who reads this might be able to point me in the direction of a recipe that’s appropriate for making a yakimochi dough. I can’t seem to find one myself, and regular mochi clearly is not the way to go. XP

5 Comments Categories: Desserts · Food Musings · Japanese · No Photos

Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of going on a gastronomical quest with Robyn! I don’t think I could have possibly created myself someone more enjoyable to roam the area near NYU/Bleeker Street/Astor Place with in search of baked goods and exotic treats sugar-loaded enough to get me fidgity. :D

Mmm…unfamiliar Japanese dessert goodies…

We started off by going to the newly-opened location of Cafe Zaiya somewhere near Astor Place (forgive me for my utter lack of awareness as to the location of ANY of these places because I was completely not paying attention how to get there–I was just letting Robyn be my tummy-delighting guide ;]), where I was introduced to the fabulousness that are Japanese baked goods! I tried to let price be my guide during the whole trip, since I wanted to eat things from a variety of places, so I picked something that was only $1.50. This also meant I wouldn’t feel as bad if I wound up not liking it, heh.

I would never think to put black sesame in a dessert

Not liking it wound up being completely a non-issue. ;) “Red bean” and “black sesame” are definitely not ingredients I ever would have thought to put in a sweet food, since to me beans go in things like rice and beans or baked beans or burritos, and sesame is used on breads and chicken, but oh. my. GOD do the Japanese know how to turn them into a delectable dessert.

Oooh…delicious red bean innards…

The flavor of the toasted sesame really rounded out the sweetness of the bun, which being grilled rice flour dough had a mild flavor and really nice chewy-toasty texture without being too crusty/bread-like. It encapsulated the bean paste, which had a really rich flavor without being at all heavy and was perfectly sweet. Yakimochi has so been added to my list of top desserts, yum! :d

The bees! The cuteness tantalizes me!

After Cafe Zaiya, we roamed some more until we came upon Black Hound Bakery, which we’d previously decided needed at least a stop-in if not tasting. After looking over the prices (too prohibitive for my budget), we settled on just oohing and aahhing at the cute-yummy-fabulous-looking cakes, desserts, bars, truffles, and cookies.

Eensy-weensy, itty-bitty cookiettes!

Speaking of their cookies, they had a display of all these tiny cookies that were absolutely the most adorable cookies EVAR. I was compelled to photograph what I am dubbing palmiettes–palmiers that FIT in the palm of your hand instead of being made with it, hee!! XD Too much cute in baked goodies!

After not eating anything from Black Hound, we walked back in the direction we came from to go to JAS Mart and check out their selection of Japanese snacks. Upon deciding I didn’t need a whole big bag of Kasugai gummies despite them being the best gummies on the face of the planet, I bought a small box of Meiji Yogurt Scotch–a yogurt butterscotch candy. Being accustomed to the American type of butterscotch, I was completely not expecting them to be hard candies, so it was quite a shock when I bit down on a piece only to CRUNCH on it. Heh. I did enjoy the balance of yogurty tanginess and butterscotch sweetness very much, though.

Next was a stop in at the downtown Whole Foods so Robyn could show me their assortment of chocolate and honey. I wasn’t interested in spending a ton of money on a chocolate bar or honey, but I definitely do need to expand my honey-tasting-experience well beyond “teddy bear clover from the supermarket.” :P BUT! I did find that Egyptian Licorice Tea–which I can’t find near me out on Long Island–so I was like MINE! MINE! MINE! And I bought it. Hee. :D

Some more ambling through the streets of New York City led us to Amy’s Bread because I was determined to include a cupcake in my eating endeavors of the night, and Robyn assured me they had some there. :) After ogling all of the very tempting baked goodies, I decided that a solitary cupcake was simply not going to do it, so I added on one of the biscotti I spotted on a shelf behind the cashwrap. ;)

A real cupcake! And biscotto!

I am definitely of the “crispy cookies are what it’s all about” school, so I have long been a fan of biscotti. While I like crispy cookies, I don’t like crumbly cookies, and too often are crispy cookies made thicker and thus crumbly and oh-so-unappealing. However, biscotti are always perfectly crispy-but-also-held-together-y. Yay! And this Anise Almond Biscotto was FANTABULOUS. Ever since trying Yogi Tea’s Egyptian Licorice Tea and being ecstatic over it, I’ve decided that maybe I’m not so repulsed by licorice as I thought and have resolved to try anise-flavored things when given the opportunity. This biscotto was so good, I’ve decided I need to get some anise to add to my spice collection–if only to make anise biscotti! The almonds were perfect as well: flavorful, fresh, and not overly-toasted.

This cupcake (their “Black and White” variety) successfully introduced me to the world of non-mixed-based, canned-frosting-decorated cupcakes, however disappointingly. I have to say the cake was not especially impressive; while the flavor was by far much more intense and well-rounded than cakes baked from a mix, it was very dry and crumbly. I am so not down with the crumbly cakes, nope nope. The frosting, though. Oh, the frosting… At the time I tasted this cupcake, I was in absolute frosting heaven. First of all, there was plenty of it. Thanks in part to the fact that I picked out the one that looked like it had the most, heh. ;) It was also so perfectly balanced between the butter and sugar–it didn’t at all taste like too much of one or the other, but it was still very sweet. Mmmm!

I also had a small taste of Robyn’s Monkey Cake. It’s a banana-walnut-pineapple layer cake with traditional cream cheese frosting. Like a kicked-up banana bread that’s been frosted. It was good. :]

Once we left Amy’s, we passed a couple of Italian bakeries–one had cupcakes that were oh-so-sadly ICED and not FROSTED. It was declared the So Not Cool Bakery, and we indignantly continued on our Cool Food search. It led us to Pasticceria Bruno with–*gasp*!–Pumpkin-Raisin-Walnut Biscotti summoning me from behind the storefront window. I could not pass that up, and we happily went inside. It was a little anxiety-inducing when I discovered from looking over all of their other dessert goodness that they seemed to price things by the pound. Oh, no! Could I be impeded from my squashy-spicey-fruity-nutty-indulgence by the fact that I would have to buy a GAZILLION all at once?? The horror! BUT. Thankfully, I was able to purchase a single biscotto, and Christ. It was sublime. Officially my Favorite Cookie in the History of the World. I need to find a recipe for such a cookie so I can enjoy this ambrosial treat more often.

Still not full (we are sugar-and-flour-consuming MACHINES, apparently), it was decided that more bakeries were in order! We ventured off and came to the Polka Dot Cake Studio. I wanted to at least check it out, and when I saw amazing-looking cupcakes at the counter, we agreed to split one. ;) Boy, am I glad we did because their Red Velvet Cupcake more than made up for the disappointment that was Amy’s crumbly cake. It was a very moist and delicious cake that was at least enjoyable in the face of my own red velvet cake, which is oh-so-much better, yes. But Polka Dot’s is good. The frosting really blew me over, though. My God. It was a classic frosting for red velvet cake, cream cheese buttercream, and it was done phenomenally. It didn’t taste quite like a full-blown cream cheese frosting or buttercream–it was somewhere between the two. I enjoyed it because straight buttercream tends to be quite plain, but the slight cream cheese flavor made it just plain perfect. Definitely worth another visit, especially considering the price–while Amy’s was $2.50 for a cupcake, this was just $1.50, and way better. Try it. Now.

Continuing on our way through the streets of the Big Apple, we finally stopped at Magnolia. A person in search of baked goods in New York has utterly failed if only for the sake of visiting Places to See if they haven’t checked out Magnolia, so we absolutely had to go there. At this point, I was definitely on a sugar rush and fidgity, so I really didn’t need any more sweet things, but after sampling a piece of a cupcake with maple buttercream on top, I couldn’t leave without buying something. Conveniently, they had boxes! I could safely take it with me to go home! Woo-hoo! A box was fetched and padded with tissue paper, a yellow cupcake with yellow buttercream and sprinkles was selected, a mini chocolate pecan toffee white chip cookie was also added to the box, and I was set to go. :)

At this point, it was after nine and we’d been adventuring for nearly four whole hours, so it was time for us to go in the direction of our respective homes. Good-byes were said, and I was off to the train. During the train ride, I came down from my sugar high and was too tempted by the memories of the goodness of the sample, and so needless to say, the Magnolia treats did not survive the trip home. ;) That cake is so perfect–the texture is moist and fluffy-but-dense, with a crispy-buttery top that is absolutely delightful, and the flavor is vanilla-y and buttery without being too rich. The frosting is more impressive with maple, though. Their plain buttercream is basically just SWEET. It’s certainly not bad, but I definitely prefer some sort of taste in my frosting beyond sweetness.

The cookie wasn’t crispy, so that was one small point against it. It wasn’t chewy either, though, so that was better. “Fudgy” is the best way to describe the texture, almost brownie-like, and I do like fudge and brownies, so I was okay with it. :) The flavor, on the other hand, was definitely delectable. The combination of chocolate cookie with pieces of toffee, chopped pecans, and white chocolate chips was so amazingly good. Definitely something I am going to make in crispy-cookie form, oh yes.

To wrap up this excessively long entry, my fooding adventures were a blazing success! Robyn and I enthusiastically agreed we will have to do it again sometime during the winter, and next time we’ll include “real” food and not just desserts. ;) Today, I am so not in the mood for sugary stuff, heh…

I absentmindedly wound up leaving my camera at my dorm room when I came home this weekend–d’oh!–so I used my camera phone. That explains the not-so-good quality of my photos and the lack of documentary after Amy’s (darn lack of memory…). For more photos, check out Robyn’s web site (linked in the first paragraph) and her Flickr gallery.

3 Comments Categories: Cakes · Chocolate · Desserts · Food Musings · Photos · Restaurant Ramblings

My sister baked a banana cakeling tonight, and amidst the sounds of mixing cream cheese and powdered sugar together into a frosting for it, we were discussing the amount to put on the cake when she was done. The conversation brought to my attention the fact that–apparently–we have completely diverging tastes when it comes to frosting-to-cake ratios: while I greatly prefer very heavy-handed frosting application, she’s perfectly happy with a minimalist approach to the sugary fluff.

When I eat any kind of cake, from cupcakes to multiple-layer cakes, I’m wont to break off as much of the plain cake as I can and eat that first. I’m then left with frosting carefully held together with a thin layer of cake, which, in my opinion, is the best part of eating cake. In fact, I’ve been known to eat frosting by the spoonful–pure and simple. For me, cake is just a reasonable excuse to indulge in some smooth, tasty, sugary stuff.

My sister, on the other hand, is prone to licking off whatever frosting happens to be on a cake or cupcake and then eating the cake sans the fluff. Why she even bothers with the frosting at all is beyond me–she also likes a not-so-sweet frosting more than the sugary kind. Personally, I think she should stick to cakes that traditionally don’t get frosted and save all that sweet goodness for me to enjoy! ;)

So if you want to pass me a slice of cake that’ll have me swooning with ecstasy, make sure its generously filled and frosted with whatever creamy concoction suits it. Mmm… :yum:

6 Comments Categories: Food Musings · No Photos

I have just had the ultimate pleasure of tasting a Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with Marzipan bar for the first time in my life, and I’m basking in afterglow. To be honest, I purchased this bar earlier today plainly out of curiosity, having never had the opportunity before. After working for Lindt, I’ve become spoiled by quality chocolate, and my expectations were thus low. Especially since they make a dark chocolate-marzipan candy called Mozartkugeln that I absolutely love–or should I say loved?

Begging me to unwrap and devour it…

The Ritter Sport bar had been seductively calling my name ever since it came into my possession and took up residence in the bag I had with me at work today. I somehow managed to deny its siren song until the logical time of “after dinner,” and I’m thankful I did because it was a positively glorious way to close my day.

The chocolate and marzipan, it taunts.

After finally succumbing to temptation and unwrapping the bar, I broke off one of the rows of logo-imprinted perfect squares to reveal the contrast of decadently dark chocolate and milky white marzipan concealed within. It smelled deep and sweet, and every small, careful bite I took was absolutely divine.

Yes, I consumed the entire bar.

The fine snap of the bittersweet chocolate foiled against the pleasantly soft texture of the sugary almond marzipan was too persuasive, too irresistable. Allowing some bites to melt in my mouth and chewing some out of pure impatience to experience all of the flavor was a game I thoroughly enjoyed playing with this delectable treat.

Mozartkugeln truly pales in comparison to the Ritter Sport bar–literally and figuratively. While I absolutely adore nuts, especially almonds, and especially in the form of marzipan, the ratio of marzipan-to-chocolate in the Mozartkugeln is just far too great. In the Ritter Sport bar, neither one predominates, creating a confection of rich, subtly sweet chocolate sin complimented by just the right amount of nutty sweet paste.

Satiated, I am.

4 Comments Categories: Chocolate · Desserts · Food Musings · Photos