the Dawg days!

Happy Birthday, E-dawg!!


It's her special day! If you find yourself in close proximity to an E-dawg today, wish her well.

For my part in her celebration, I whipped her up a batch of cupcakes last night. (She's off work today, and not looking at the internets, so's I can tell you guys about these 'cakes).

When she visited San Francisco this summer she fell in love with some ice cream she had at Bi-Rite. The flavor was salted caramel. And, it sounds divine, doesn't it? I love a salty-sweet intersection (to use a Hurd-term). When I was deciding on a cake/cupcake flavor she said "SALTED CARAMEL? HEY, MAYBE SALTED CARAMEL?"

She doesn't typically enjoy chocolate cake, but I went out on a limb because I know she likes coffee-flavored desserts and went with a dark chocolate-espresso cupcake (the chocolate is subtle; it's the espresso that stands out) with salted caramel frosting. And, I kept a little of the salted caramel to the side to drizzle over the top, then gave a couple quick grinds of some Himilayan pink sea salt.

Of course I had to try one (or, uh, two), and they are really yum!

I adapted the cupcake recipe from this blog. My notes are in brackets:

Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes
6 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/3 cup espresso, cooled [ek: I used instant espresso powder, constituted it in boiling water, then cooled it]
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Place 9 baking cups on a baking sheet (or 12 muffin liners in a muffin pan).
In a large bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, sugars, baking soda and salt.
In a medium bowl, whisk together espresso, buttermilk, egg, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Pour the espresso mixture into the flour mixture and stir to combine. Evenly distribute batter into prepared cups.
Bake at 350F for 15-19 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.
After 5 minutes of cooling on or in the pan, remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 9 egg-shaped cakes or 12 regular cupcakes.

For the frosting, I adapted from a recipe I found here.

Salted Caramel

4 tablespoons water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup [ek: I used brown rice syrup here because it's organic and less highly processed. However, I didn't get the same consistency that this recipe mentions--i.e. couldn't get the caramel to harden enough to make candies even after all night in the freezer--and, I think it may be the syrup. But, that said, it's still amazingly delicious, and the drizzle looks lovely]
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt, kosher or sea [ek: I didn't think the salt was prominent enough, so I added more. Probably around another 1/4+ teaspoon]

1. Combine the water, sugar, and the corn syrup in a deep saucepan and cook over medium heat.
2. Stir together with a wooden spoon until the sugar is incorporated.
3. Cover the saucepan and let it cook over medium heat for 3 minutes.
4. After 3 minutes, remove the lid, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil.
5. Do not stir from this point on, but it is important to carefully shake the pan so that one area of the caramel doesn’t burn.
6. Continue to cook until the caramel turns an even amber color then remove from the heat and let stand for about 30 seconds.
7. *** This is the dangerous part *** Pour the heavy cream into the mixture. Wear oven mitts, stand away from the pan, and be careful. The mixture will bubble up significantly.
8. Stir the mixture, again being careful. Add the butter, lemon juice, and salt. Stir until combined.
9. Measure 1 cup into a Pyrex measuring cup. Stirring occasionally, allow to cool until thick like molasses and warm to the touch, about 20 minutes.

Note: There was a small bit of extra caramel that I poured onto a small plate that I covered in aluminum foil and greased with vegetable oil. I transferred the plate to the freezer for about 30 minutes. I chopped the caramel quickly into squares (its starts to get soft) and topped each cupcake with a square. [ek: see my note above, re: the syrup and hardening]



Salted Caramel Frosting

2 sticks butter
8 ounces or 1 package of Philly cream cheese
5 to 6 cups powdered sugar [ek: i only used 3 cups of powdered sugar, and it was plenty]
1 cup salted caramel

1. Bring butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours.
2. Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed until creamy.
3. Sift 3 cups of powdered sugar into the butter/cream cheese mixture and beat to combine.
4. Add 1 cup of the salted caramel and beat to combine.
5. Sift 2-3 cups of powder sugar, in 1 cup increments and beating between each, until you arrive at the thickness and sweetness you desire. I used 6 cups. The frosting wasn’t super thick, but it was starting to get pretty sweet. [ek: again, I just used three cups of powdered sugar]

Assembly
1. Frost cooled cupcakes with a generous amount of frosting.
2. Sprinkle each cupcake with sea or kosher salt. I ground some rock sea salt onto each. [ek: i used a Himilayan pink sea salt]
3. Top with a caramel candy, homemade or otherwise. [ek: and, here's where I used the extra salted caramel that did not set into candy for drizzlin']

Dang. These are good. And, look how cute!


I'm gonna go hang and devour cupcakes and drink some Beaujolais nouveau with E-dawg this evening. Good times! It is her special day and i.will.treat.her.like.a.queen.

In other news Kramer is treating me like a queen! She just offered to ride her bike over to Spice Island, and then drop off a batch of Java Fried Rice for me! Kramer is the wind beneath my wings! Oh, hells yeah!

Kramer delivery:


Java Fried Rice joy:


I've been doing some good eatin' in the past few days! Last night I again had my soup (I've been calling it "peasant soup" in my head; not really for any particular reason except I love the way it sounds, and I think that peasants would enjoy it. I'm a peasant, and I enjoy it!). I stopped on the way home for some creamy brie and a whole wheat baguette. I had those with a glass of the aforementioned Beaujolais nouveau, and some squares from a Barcelona bar to follow it up with. Perfect. This would have been a good meal to eat while listening to Edith Piaf. (I just netflixed La Vie En Rose, so I'm kinda obsessed with her right now).


My lovely peasant dinner:


And, for no good reason except that I Love Lolcats:

moar funny pictures

Have a fabulous holiday weekend, peeps! I am thankful for each and every one of yinz!

this is you

Okay, it's not you, it's me.



I love it. If there is a fire and I have to quickly snatch up my most favorite things, I will grab it.

In other news, this guy is so, so, so crompy! I thought for sure the action would begin on Saturday, and stopped at a drug store and bought: a heating pad, a bottle of ibuprofen, tampons (eff divas!), pantyliners and a package of ferrero-rocher. The check-out lady looked at my stuff, looked at me, and said: "Normally I ask 'How are you today?', but I can tell how you are." Right on, sister, right on.

Strangely, my uterus isn't requesting java fried rice. It's see-you noodles she wants. She will not be denied (or defied)!

In other news, I'm reading a book (on a suggestion, like many of my reading selections, from E-dawg) called Women Who Eat, edited by Leslie Miller. It's a bunch of essays by women about food. I'm about a third of the way through and really enjoying it. Check it out!

Speaking of E-dawg, her b-day is coming up! She's doing a birthday run-then-eat. It may come as no surprise to you that I'm skipping the running part. But, feel free to send her gifts and accolades. If you wanna send cash, I'll collect it, and uh, hold onto it for safe-keeping. Happy Birthday, E-dawg!!

run, e-dawg, run

Did you guys know that E-dawg is a runner? She started a few months ago with a goal to run a half-marathon in Chicago, and has trained and raced relentlessly since. Even in the heat. Even when I (maybe, a little bit, somewhat hysterically) cautioned her not to, complete with charts and graphs. But, she persisted, and today she heads to Chicago. Sunday is the race. I'm vying to be Most Enthusiastic Fan--Pittsburgh Contingent, from afar. Good luck, E-dawg! You are a champ! Go, E-dawg! Go, E-dawg! Go, go, go, E-dawg!


In other news, I visited the Bloomfield Farmers Market for the first time yesterday. I didn't need anything except some apples for the herd, but I ended up coming out with tons of stuff (corn, beans, apples, grapes, tomatoes, basil, some free mango Rita's Italian Ice, some pierogies). It's a really nice market, and had some (seemingly) really small farms. I bought all my stuff from the little guys to encourage them to keep coming back. And, I had big plans of making up another batch of the Slow-Roasted Heirloom Tomato Sauce (from yesterday's post) to freeze (for the glorious taste of summer tomatoes in the dead of winter), but it was too hot to turn on my oven to 400 degrees for four or so hours. So, that's on the agenda for this weekend. Instead I ate some pirogies from the market. I forgot to note where they came from because I was drunk with the smells of frying onions. So freakin' good. Not, of course, "diet food", but still. Dang.


Also, I do "need" to go to the farmers market tomorrow, but only for mushrooms! I'm not allowed to buy anything else. Except rose jelly. I heard that Najat's will have homemade rose jelly this week. Okay, and maybe tortillas from Reyna. But, that's it! Well, maybe something from Cafe Richard...
Argh! I can't be trusted!

But, I do need to make a dish for a party a friend is having tomorrow evening (a Northside Mix-n-Mingle), and I need to make a dish on Sunday to take to Bobcat/Jess for when we meet up on Monday for Scrabble (and possibly another forthcoming food review!). And, I need to make some food for our bike ride/picnic on Sunday afternoon. So, I need to buy stuff, right?

A girl at work told me about a recipe she made last night--artichoke pesto with pasta (a Rachel Ray recipe). Sounds fantastic. And, I'm super-hungry. I want that Right Now. I might have to try that out this weekend. Maybe thickened with some yogurt (and cream cheese?) for a dip...? She didn't remember the exact recipe, but thought it was artichoke hearts, evoo, lemon zest, parsley and walnuts. I'm sure I can figure it out. Hmmm...

Anyhow, I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Cross your fingers that it doesn't rain on Sunday afternoon!

long weekend

I love a long weekend! I also love that they usually let us go from work by 3:00 p.m. on the day before a long weekend. And, I loved that we got to leave at 3:00 p.m. yesterday because of the water main break. I mean, I'm sorry that a bunch of peeps had to deal with the fall-out from the water main break, but this guy? This guy was loving the early leave.

Last night I stopped by Aunt Marge's 'cause I was in the 'hood (l-ville). I was planning for it to just be a quick hello, but then Kramer came over, too, and we all ate Chinese food (broccoli and bean curd with garlic sauce which Mags assured me was 'a little greasy, but not really', but which ended up completely soaking a paper bag with grease. but tasted good. of course.), and watched three consecutive episodes of QAF (which Mags kept pronouncing as "quaff" and cracking me up). I'd watched a few snippets of "Queer As Folk" a few times over the years, but had never really gotten involved personally, as in making it a show I was obsessed with. But, after those three episodes, I am hungry for more! (I learned this morning that those two stayed up until all hours of the night watching another three episodes after I left!) I love watching the TV shows on the DVD player and indulging in a huge chunk of it at once. I updated my netflix queue this morning, and now the first two discs of the first season are speeding through the mailways in my general direction right now. I can't wait. That's perfect for a spare day off on Monday, right? Seriously. My big plans for my big day off are to watch "Ellen" in the morning, and many episodes of QAF at some point in the day. Good times. In fact, I hope it's rainy so I don't feel compelled to Get Out and Do Something and such.

But, I am going to do something this weekend! My niece Savanah is turning five years old on Sunday, and they're having a cowgirl-themed birthday party on Saturday. I can't wait! I hear that there will be prizes for the best-dressed cowgirls. Watch out, young'uns, I am busting out some fancy duds! Now, where's my spurs at, n'at?

The party, and most of my family, is located in southern West-bygod-Virginia. It's about a four-hour drive. I'm not necessarily looking forward to the drive up and back (although I do have some good tunes lined up), I cannot wait to see my favorite gal. The last time I saw her was July 4th, and prior to that she called me and said that she was glad we were meeting up because "I haven't seen you in so long I done forgot what your face looks like." Love it.

I don't need any food right now, but I still strongly want to go to both the farmer's market (N.Side today) and the Greek Food Festival after work. But, I have stuff that I need to do, but dang. I have a hard time passing up a good festival.

You know what is sad about this weekend, though? Pools are closing. Farewell, summer...

Anyhow, you peeps have a real nice Labor Day weekend, and I hope the weather holds, and you don't hit traffic, and you remembered to buy charcoal, and filled up the tank, and went potty before you got in the car.

tgif

For reals! Friday! Woot!

I wanted to ride my bike to work again today, but it's raining, and is supposed to rain on and off all day, so that nixed that idea. I pictured myself riding and my glasses being all wet, and taking them off, and running head-on into traffic, and well, it wasn't good. But, maybe it'll be dry later and I bike around the 'hood after work.

I had a date with myself last night. I didn't get lucky, but I did have a tasty dinner, watch three episodes of "The Extras" (thanks to Ellen & Lareese for the tip. hilarious!), and read about a hundred pages of Harry Potter. Good times!

Speaking of Lareese, dood. I stopped by her house the other night to taste this ice cream she'd made for an ice cream party. Whoa. It may be the best ice flavor EVER and OF ALL TIME. It was a curry-coconut-caramel-cashew. Wowza.

Anyhow, yes, last night was a good time. I made otsu for dinner. I've made it before, and I'll make it again. It's a Heidi recipe, and she says it's one of her favorites, too (in one of her, ahem, emails to me). I had cucumber and green onion from my CSA and some cilantro from the farmer's market and my favorite tofu (it's organic, from WV!). (they sell it at the co-op. it's super-firm, like nigari-firm).

The Hurd stopped by to pick up some mail I'd gotten for her, and had some too. I think she liked it. (I've listed this recipe before. Look for the 'otsu' tag in the archives.)

Yesterday during a chat with The Gooch she mentioned that she'd just gotten some popcicle trays, and that very morning I'd looked at the box of popcicle trays I'd gotten when I was at the beach, and had thought I should make some. Since she mentioned them the same day, I was pretty sure that it was a sign from the baby jesus that I should make some. So, I made a batch this morning, and will try one when I get home. I underestimated the amount of stuff I'd need, so I only made four (instead of six, which the tray holds), and was in a rush, so didn't mix up another batch, but I think they're gonna be good. I went with a pina colada pop, and just sorta through stuff into the mixer until it tasted good. I used some frozen pineapple I'd chunked up into large chunks and frozen (the chunks are, like, 2" x 2"). I think I used six chunks, about 1.5 T. of organic raw coconut butter, about 1/4 c. of shredded unsweetened coconut, about 3 T. agave nectar, 2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice, 3 T. greek nonfat yogurt (fage 0% total). Blended it all up, then just filled the tray, and loosely draped it in some plastic wrap, and popped them into the freezer. I can't wait to try one when I get home!


I canceled my plans for tonight so my new plan is to make some dinner, eat some pina colada pops and read more Harry Potter. And, maybe watch more of "The Extras".