delicious one

disaster

Wed, 24 May 2006 05:47:56 GMT

I don't know what it is about pizza dough that makes it so hard make. I attempted to make pizza dough again last night. I know, I said again. This is the first time I've written about making dough. The story is that I have been experimenting on and off with various dough recipes. I haven't found a recipe that makes me want to do cartwheels because it's so great. I use to make a dough that utilized my bread machine and it was fairly good, but just not great. I have been on a quest to find that one recipe that blows everything out of the water especially since most places around here serve subpar pizza.

The other day, I caught an old episode of "Good Eats" on the Food Network. It was the pizza episode and I figured why not give it another go as I've never tried Alton Brown's recipe. I checked the recipe out online and saw it had tons of raves. It was simple enough. I threw the ingredients in my KitchenAid and let it spin forever. It sat overnight and grew in size over the next 24 hours. I pulled it out for dinner tonight and started molding it into a ball. I could tell the texture was off. I'm not sure what happened, but it was very tough. However, overall it was still pretty smooth. Mr. Cupcake and I shaped the dough, topped it, and threw it into our 500 degree oven. We use to have these unglazed quarry tiles that were seasoned well and made good pizza. Unfortunately, we threw the tiles out when we moved. I really wished we hadn't. We now have a commercial pizza stone and I guess it's okay. I'm hoping it'll get better as it starts to season more. I searched high and low for decent sized quarry tiles out here to no avail.

Moving on. I topped my pizza with my favorite ingredients: basil, prosciutto, and fresh mozzarella. Mr. Cupcake calls these ingredients my peanut butter and jelly. I just love the flavor combination so I make paninis at least once a week for lunch. I want a panini press so I can make a panini bar at home like they have at Mr. Cupcake's work. Then Five and I would eat paninis all day, everday. Anyway, I don't normally like cheese on pizza because I think it's gross. However, I used the mozzarella to protect the basil and prosciutto so they wouldn't burn. My other favorite pizza combination is tomato and onion. That's what I normally order when we get take out.

So, how did it turn out? It sucked - a lot. There was way too much dough. The outside was crispy, but the inside puffed up quite a bit and was extremely dense. It was just too overwhelming. This is coming from a person who lives for bread.

Mr. Cupcake topped his pizza with hot Italian sausage and shredded mozzarella cheese. Mr. Cupcake loves pizza. He was excited to have pizza for dinner. He ate it, but I could tell he definitely didn't love it. At least he loved the sausage. He dropped his car off yesterday and while he was waiting, he went to Dittmer's and bought a bunch of sausages. Dittmer's is a local butcher and I think Mr. Cupcake is in love. I'm sure we'll be making more visits there in the near future especially since it's been good grilling weather.

So, yet another pizza failure. I'm not sure what the problem is, but I guess it could be any number of things. I will just have to try again. I'm not sure I'll try this recipe again though. If I ever have a pizza success, my blog will be the first to know.

hello big burrito

Wed, 24 May 2006 05:46:59 GMT

Mr. Cupcake is having a wild and crazy night of poker with a bunch of computer nerds. I, however, will be spending some quality time with my blog. Unfortunately, I have been falling behind on some of my recent food excursions, so tonight I'm going to play a little catch up.

Last weekend Mr. Cupcake and I found ourselves without any food at our place. As our hunger started to consume us, I thought of the perfect cure; a big, fat burrito. I've heard raves about La Costena in Mountain View, but for some reason I just wasn't feeling it that day. Instead, we went next door and hit up Taqueria La Bamba.

Let me tell you, this place does little in the way of ambiance. There's counters on each side of the restaurant lined with chairs and most of them were taken when we walked in. We ordered up at the main counter. I didn't play close attention the entire menu since I had already set my sights on a burrito. There were three options available that I can remember: super burrito, regular burrito, and veggie burrito. There might have been one more but I can't remember.

I ordered the regular burrito with chicken and no beans (I hate beans with a passion). It came with rice, cilantro, and pico de gallo. I love cilantro. It makes everything taste so fresh and delicious. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save my very dry burrito. The dryness was bothering me so Mr. Cupcake went up and got some extra salsa. I also noticed a table with various condiments including limes, onions, and cilantro. I picked up a lime. The salsa was thin and spicy. It added a nice burn to my burrito. The lime also helped moisten it up. As I delve further into my burrito, I couldn't help but to notice how moist the chicken was. The pico de gallo was also sparse, but in those few bites where there was just enough, the burrito was quite good.

What's that? You like looking at my half gnawed on burrito? Well, you're in luck because here's Mr. Cupcake's half eaten burrito:

Mr. Cupcake ordered the super burrito with beef (I think). It came with beans, cilantro, rice, pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole. I think Mr. Cupcake liked his burrito. He thought it was big and didn't finish it. Maybe he'll comment with his full analysis. That's right Mr. Cupcake, I'm calling you out!

Our total bill for two burritos and a diet soda was just under $13. I won't be rushing back to Taqueria La Bamba, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go there. I just have to be in the right mood for a big burrito. I think my favorite local taqueria is Taqueria Los Charros in Mountain View. I don't know why, but I just really like the place. Maybe it's the crispy chips with the two salsas. Maybe it's because it's so cheap. Whatever the reason, I just like it. However, I should visit a few more places before I declare the ultimate taqueria.

banna banna

Wed, 24 May 2006 05:45:47 GMT

Mr. Cupcake has been working a lot lately. So last night, I spent the evening perusing different cookie recipes on various blogs. I didn't really have any intentions of actually making cookies, but that was until I came across bakingsheet's blog. The recipe that caught my eye was the banana oatmeal cookies. Now, Mr. Cupcake loves bananas. It's probably right up there with rice pudding and PB&J's on his list of favorites. I had a few very ripe bananas that I'm sure would have ended up in the trash, so I decided to save them.

One of the core ingredients is oats. I really love oats in cookies. It tends to give cookies a nice chewy texture. A prime example of this is Torie's Cherry Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Martha Stewart. Mr. Cupcake's sister-in-law made these for our wedding as part of our favors and they were big hit. I have since made these minus the toffee and cherries and found it makes a nice, crispy yet chewy chocolate chip cookie. It's lovely.

Anyway, the banana oatmeal cookie recipe was easy enough. The good thing about it is that there are only 2 tablespoons of butter. That's unheard of in most of the cookie recipes I've made.

The cookies turned out pretty well though they didn't look as nice as Bakingsheet's. As much as I like oatmeal in cookies I think the recipe called for a bit too much. Not all the oats broke down so some of them were still raw. Next time I'll scale it back 1 cup from 1.5 cups. I will also probably lower to temperature to 325 and bake for longer. The cookies looked good when they came out, but this morning they were very sticky and seemed undercooked. If I had baked them longer, they would have burned. Otherwise, I like the balance of the banana to chocolate chips. I also have to give another shout out to the trader joe chocolate chips. They melt so nicely in cookies; I'm just in awe. Anyway, I have a few more overripe bananas, so I may experiment more in the coming days.

Mr. Cupcake didn't come home until after 12:30 last night. He was surprised I made cookies and even more surprised that they were made with bananas. He also informed me that he loves oats, so the cookies turned out to be full of Mr. Cupcake's favorite flavors. This morning, he told me he really liked the cookies again because I'm not usually coherent when Mr. Cupcake comes home late. This is unusual because normally when he likes something, he'll say "it's okay". He said they were a little fluffy, but he liked the crispy outside. Looks like these cookies (with a few tweaks) are a keeper.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies from BakingSheet Blog
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, very soft
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mashed banana (1 small/medium)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat in egg and banana, followed by the vanilla extract. Gradually, on low speed or by hand, add in the flour mixture. Stir in the oats (either whole rolled oats or "quick cooking") and chocolate chips.
Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 11-14 minutes at 350F, until set and lightly browned.
Let cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.

*Why "banna banna" as the title you ask? The first time Mr. Cupcake met my niece she had a finger puppet monkey named Cassie. She was young at the time so she called bananas, "bannas". She informed us that Cassie ate bannas. So eat your bannas.

that's it?

Wed, 24 May 2006 05:44:22 GMT

I had some business I had to take care of up in San Francisco yesterday, so I decided to test out the public transit system. Now, I'm from the Midwest where public transportation is laughable (with the exception of Chicago) at best. My day was filled with some successes and some huge failures. I missed my train into the city because I couldn't find parking, so I had to catch the next train. Once I arrived, it went pretty smoothly and I made it to my destination. I was pleased with my navigation efforts, so when I was finished I decided to reward myself. I headed downtown to 99 Yerba Buena Lane and walked into the brand spanking new Beard Papa's shop.

It's a tiny place. Much smaller than I was expecting but cute and cheery. I order the vanilla bean cream puff because that's all that was available. The other flavors are suppose to be available soon. I also picked an extra cream puff for Mr. Cupcake. There were only two tables inside, and they were both full. So I took my order outside and sat down on a nearby chair.

Oh dreamy Beard Papa's cream puff! How I've been lusting after you for months now! And now the day has come where I finally have you! I took a bite. The outside was crispy and the inside was oozing with a speckled custard. The speckles were real vanilla beans. I really wanted to love this cream puff with all my heart, but it just didn't blow me away. I've heard of some accounts where the puff is actually warm when the person received it. However, mine was not. The custard wasn't as rich as I thought it was going to be either. Perhaps I came too early and this is just part of growing pains. It hasn't even been open a week. Based on this experience, I won't be lusting after these cream puffs anymore. However, it doesn't mean I won't be back. There's an eclair flavor I'd like to try. As we all know, chocolate makes everything taste better.

After I finished my cream puff, I proceeded to get on the wrong bus. 20 minutes later I found myself on the wrong side of San Francisco. I then got off the bus and called Mr. Cupcake who then lead me to the wrong bus stop and I had to walk back to where I started. I eventually got on the right bus and 2 hours later, I made it home. What a day.

madame coconut?

Thu, 11 May 2006 19:08:58 GMT

I seem to be obsessed with coconut flavors lately. I still have fond memories of the coconut fritters I ate at Burma Superstar a few weeks ago. I visited Mr. Cupcake at work this week for lunch and had to have a coconut drink. They have actual coconuts with the hole drilled in them topped off with a straw. It's pretty sweet. So, when I made coconut macaroons last week, I couldn't bear to throw away the leftover cream of coconut. Mr. Cupcake cleaned out the fridge earlier this week and got mad at me because I never throw anything away. I figured it was time to do something with it before Mr. Cupcake goes on another fridge cleaning rampage.

I had some leftover cream from the strawberry shortcake. I didn't want it to go to waste either. My immediate thought was ice cream. I started searching the internet for recipes and I went with the one that I had all the ingredients for.

The recipe only called for four ingredients. I had the exact amount of cream and was slightly short on the cream of coconut but that didn't stop me from proceeding. It also called for milk and coconut shreds. I threw the ingredients into my ice cream maker and gave it an 18 minute spin. When it was done, it was way too soft and fluffy, so into the freezer it went not to be seen again for another day.

Yesterday, I decided to go for a walk. I'm not sure if that was a good or bad thing because it was incredibly hot. This humid 85 degree weather is killer. Apparently, it's very unusual for this time of year. Anyway, I felt like death was closing in when I came home, so I chugged some water and remembered my ice cream.

It looked so much different compared to the day before. It actually resembled ice cream. I took a bite and was instantly revived. I forgot how easy ice cream is to make and how good it can be. It wasn't overly sweet so using a little bit less cream of coconut was a good thing. It amazes me how few ingredients can produce such a tasty treat. Maybe next time I'll add pineapple and it'll be like the ice cream shop I love. Or maybe strawberries. The possibilities are endless!

Mr. Cupcake and I are going to volunteer at Kaboom this weekend. I'm thinking about going early so I can snag a few Beard Papa Cream Puffs and gorge myself before I start pouring beer. The grand opening is tomorrow, Friday, May 12. I posted the incorrect date in my earlier post. I must have turned retarded that day. Anyway, it's tomorrow, so if you go, eat 10 for me!

strawberries revisited

Tue, 09 May 2006 23:01:45 GMT

CI and SK came over the other night for an impromptu BBQ. Mr. Cupcake grilled up some rare steaks (I'm pretty sure I heard a few moos when they made it to the table), chicken, and vegetables for dinner. He also pulled together some bruchetta. I look forward to when tomatoes are actually in season. I'll eat them like apples. Anyway, for my part, I straightened up the apartment and made dessert. It wasn't hard for me to decide what to make. Ever since I saw the strawberries at the A La Carte Festival on Saturday, I've been completely fixated on the red berry. We bought a crate of strawberries at Costco, and I made Strawberry Shortcake.

I remember my mom would make strawberry shortcake on occasion. She usually made the biscuits out of Bisquick. Nothing too fancy, but I didn't notice because the strawberries were the star of the show. No Bisquick on this fine evening however. I consulted my trusty Baking Illustrated cookbook and made shortcakes.

The recipe wasn't hard. It's sort of like making pie or tart dough in that the chunks of butter aren't suppose to melt until it's time to bake. This was a challenge because Mr. Cupcake had the burners going and it was warm in our itty bitty kitchen. Fortunately, they turned out pretty well.

The selection of strawberries at Costco was a bit of a disappointment. The strawberries looked amazing, but didn't smell. I always use smell as the key indicator of whether or not a piece of fruit is ripe. I really wanted strawberry shortcake though and so I picked a crate that sort of smelled. As expected, the strawberries tasted like water. No problem! Just add more sugar. I dream of the day where I eat a strawberry that actually tastes like a strawberry.

I made some homemade whipped cream in my trusty KitchenAid and out came a strawberry shortcake.

Kudos to SK for the lovely presentation. And the verdict you ask? SK and CI said it was good. Mr. Cupcake said I could make it again and he wouldn't be upset. I liked the slight crispiness to the outside of the biscuit, but I think it would have been better if it was sweeter. That's an easy fix though. Overall, I was pleased with my new venture. I have been eating leftover strawberry shortcake for the last 2 days. It's not quite as good compared to the day it was freshly bake, but I have no problems gorging myself on day(s) old shortcake.

Strawberry Shortcake from Baking Illustrated

Fruit
8 cups strawberries (about 2.5 pounds), hulled
6 tablespoons sugar

Shortcakes
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface and biscuit cutter
5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon half and half or whole milk
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

2 cups whipped cream

1. For the fruit: Place 3 cups of the hulled strawberries in a large bowl and crush with a potato masher. Slice the remaining 5 cups berries and stir into the crushed berries along with the sugar. Set the fruit aside to macerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
2. For the shortcakes: Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a food processor, pulse the flour, 3 tablespoons of the sugar, the baking powder, and alt to combine. Scatter the butter pieces over and process until th emixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses. Transfer to a medium bowl.
3. Mix the beaten egg with the half and half in a measuring cup. Pour the egg mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Combine with a rubber spatulauntil large clumps form. Turn the mixture onto a floured work surface and lightly knead until it comes together.
4. Use your fingertips to pat the dough into a 9 by 6 inch rectangle about 3/4 inch thick, being careful not to overwork the dough. Flour a 2.25 inch biscuit cutter and cut out 6 dough rounds. Place the rounds 1 inch apart on a small baking sheet, brush the tops with the beaten egg white, and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. (Dough rounds can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 hours before baking.)
5. Bake until the shortcakes are golden brown, 12 to 14 minutes. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack and cool the cakes until warm, about 10 minutes.
6. To assemble: When the shortcakes have cooled slightly, split them in half. Place each cake bottom on an individual serving plate. Spoon a portion of the fruit and then a dollop of the whipped cream over each cake bottom. Cap with the cake top and serve immediately.

strawberry fields

Mon, 08 May 2006 06:19:01 GMT

Mr. Cupcake was craving dessert. He decided he was going to get ice cream until he realized he wanted to finish watching his movie. Therefore, ice cream didn't happen. Earlier today, we went to the Milk Pail Market because I needed an onion. While we were there, we snagged some blackberries and strawberries.

A ripe strawberry is amazing, but it's so hard to find. Most strawberries look plump and delicious, but taste like water. The best strawberries were from the wild strawberry patch that grew in my mom's garden growing up. I picked them by the handfuls until my fingers were stained from the red juices. Those days are long gone, yet I still crave the sweet, succulent berry.

Anyway, I offered to make Mr. Cupcake some chocolate covered strawberries since I had some leftover chocolate from the macaroons. He declined. Instead he went with yogurt and blackberries. I, however, decided to romance myself and went ahead and dipped the strawberries.

The strawberries were lackluster, but just like the macaroons, the chocolate made them into something delectable. Mr. Cupcake later changed his mind and ended up eating some of my chocolate dipped strawberries. He then dipped a pretzel into the leftover melted chocolate. I tried to take a picture when he showed me, but he then shoved it into his mouth to prevent me from doing so. Mr. Cupcake is mean.