Put the Brakes On!

Cuz my vegetarianism has come to a screeching halt. I baked some yummy bun bread last night to go with the yummy burgers that Rick made today.
Here's the bread/work in progress:Here's what the completed masterpiece looks like:

YUMMY!!!

Ft. Wayne Farmer's Market

Yay! I've gone to the local farmer's market for the past three weeks and it's been really nice. Here's a snapshot of Rick and I at the market.
And a delicious little lemon cupcake made by Celebrations Bakery.

Prancer and Vixen (title will make some, not much more sense after you read the post)

I went to three coffee houses in the past two days! Wow! What an effort! We'll talk about them in the order of appearance.

Firefly
Last night, after an unsuccessful attempt to run, I wanted to treat myself to a coffeehouse/blogging experience. So fond of those, so many hours spent in a coffee shop typing and letting a stream of consciousness escape from my fingertips. Anyway, back to the coffeehouse. It was a long and narrow-hallway-like layout. The menu was vibrant and typical boho style complete with brick walls. The drinks were your typical 4 bux a pop. I ordered the firefly smoothie, so I wouldn't be up all night from the caffeine in my usual drink. I don't recollect any music playing in the background, which could have contributed to why I thought the place was a little off. Cute place, don't know if I'd be calling it my next Cafe Royale anytime soon.

Higher Grounds
After a free trial yoga session at Nameste Yoga, I spotted Higher Grounds across the way and decided to pop in for a drink. I liked it. It had all kinds nooks and crannies. It also seemed to have higher hygienic standards than that of Firefly. Not wanting to ruin my calmness from the yoga session, I ordered a chai latte with some chocolate flavoring. It was a good drink. As I was sitting and staring out the window, vigorously scribbling my thoughts onto some old receipts, I remembered that I had another appointment, so I dashed out of there quickly. This Higher Grounds location is a good candidate for my new coffee home.

Dash-In
It was such a beautiful day outside that I REALLY wanted to sit outdoors for a while and read. I decided to head downtown and grab a snack on the way. So, I dashed in to Dash-In. Nice place, didn't like the waitress. It also had a very open floor plan and the requisite brick walls. Although, I was not highly impressed with the ambiance (which didn't matter because my order was to go), the food was delicious! They had turned off their grill so I could only order off half of the menu. I purchased a turkey pita and it was bliss in my mouth!

Just Ducky

I went to Wegman's while I was out and about in VA. I heard that their cupcakes were quite yummy, so naturally I had to buy a four pack of cupcakes. They were pretty lackluster. The vanilla was slightly better than the chocolate, but nothing I'd be rushing to purchase or recreate.

Waaaay Late

Rick took me to Joeseph Decuis for Valentine's day. It was one of the most memorable Valentine's Day's I have ever had, far exceeding any expectations. They had a limited selection available for Valentine's Day. This is what we ordered:

Amuse Bouche:
A lobster bisque with a lemon grass foam

Appetizers:
Ahi Tuna served on a Kimchee pancake with a wasabi cream sauce
Indian chicken samosas delicious with the chutney and an annoyed Rick (I was taking too many photos)

Entree:
Filet mignon osso bucco served atop a bed of creamy polenta with mushrooms and truffle oil. The meat fell off the bone. Wow, it was so delicious and although the meat was supposed to be the highlight, I could have eaten a bowl of the polenta.

Macadamia nut encrusted seabass

Ginger mousse on meringue disc
Chocolate cake

Ambiance was nice, felt like I was dining in a cellar. Overall it was a fantastic meal coupled with a fantastic date.

Wilton Wonders

Rick and I took a cake decorating course sometime in August. This was one of my first cakes:
These two are our pre-Halloween creations:

Coco Cupcakes and Crazy Mochas

Coco's Cupcake Cafe
CoCo's is a cute little cupcake shop somewhere in Pittsburgh, PA. When we arrived at the shop, it was really late into the evening and there were only four cupcakes left for us to sample. We ordered one of each that was remaining, the vegan, vanilla and chocolate. Surprisingly, the vegan cupcake won in taste over the two "normal" cupcakes.

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Crazy Mochas
The next morning we stopped by a local coffee chain called Crazy Mocha. Some of their artwork was just disturbing. The mocha, however, was delicious!
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Bugerittoville

What an odd combination. This little hole-in-the-wall type of place right off of I-84 was so difficult to find! When we finally found it, it was completely worth it! Yummy!! The Bugeritto was a burger stuffed into a tortilla shell and served up with a side of instant mouth happiness. The concept was simple and the results were mind-blowing. If you are ever traveling through CT and have the chance to try their cuisine, I'd highly recommend it. My mouth is still salivating just thinking about my tasty Bugeritto.
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Baking Madness

I've been bitten by the baking bug again. So many recipes that I want to try! I wonder if they can all be translated into cupcake form. Hmm... Among the recipes I want to try are:

Pastel des Tres Leches (3 milk cake)

White chocolate and lemon wedding cake

And finally an assortment of the recipes that I found on this kick butt webpage: http://cupcakeblog.com/

The Creperie

The Creperie is a great little French cafe that's tucked away in Colorado Springs. They offered sweet and savory crepes. MMMM....


The dining area of this cafe was no larger than my current living room and the kitchen was tiny! Somehow they managed to squeeze some delectable crepes out of that tight space. I loved the decor, the walls were splashed with pop art posters and overhead shelving provided storage for what would have been a bar.

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It's been a while

Holy Cow! I will be updating this blog more consistently in the near future.

Thai Food: Red Curry

Firdosh came over a while ago and taught YanYun and I how to make Red Thai Curry. I was too busy taking pictures to actually learn anything worth anything. Anyway, here are the pictures and the result was DELICIOUS!!! Yummy.

The Vermillion

I'll start off with my most exquisite dining experience in Chicago this past weekend. It was Christmas day and Josh and I were desperate to find something to fill our tummies. After approaching the oh-so-helpful concierge he recommended The Vermillion. It's a restaurant with Indian-Latin fusion cuisine. Sounded interesting and 8 blocks and a couple of wrong turns later, we arrived at the entrance of a very hip looking door with twisted brushed steel door handles. We gasped at the atrocious prices, but decided to dine there(it was Christmas after all). I'll let the pictures speak for themselves for the atmosphere portion. It was very modern and I didn't feel that there was a sense of invitation rather a sense of elitism within the place or perhaps were just under-dressed in our t-shirts.



Once we were seated, our waiter approached asking us if we wanted ::mumble mumble:: water or ::mumble mumble:: water. And of course the both of us were rather confused and like uhh....water? How about the still water then. So, the waiter brought us...not tap water, but bottled water from Norway! I had the Cornish hen and Josh ordered the NY strip, both were delicious and very flavorful. I honestly wish I had a camera so that I could capture the presentation of our meal. For dessert, I ordered something similar to a chocolate molten cake with a scoop of strawberry sorbet. I was slightly disappointed with the flavor and the cake was a tad dry, but once again, the presentation was gorgeous.

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