Brian's Big Birthday with Cheese

It was my good friend Brian's birthday. He just turned 30, a few years ago. Plus or minus a decade. or six. I kid! I kid! He's looking pretty good for his tender age.

He was gracious enough to ask a few of us out to celebrate his special day at Cleveland's own

Melt in Lakewood. And we only had to wait about an hour. Not too shabby compared to my last wait of over 2 hours.! Our waiter was dressed as Max from Where the Wild Things Are, because we were celebrating on Halloween! He was a big hit with a table full of artsy-types.

Check out the delicious vittles. I had the Kindergarden (just straight up sharp cheddar on white), with yummy soy glazed snap peas. And the birthday boy had Mama's Meatloaf Sandwich (meatloaf, muenster, garlic mashed potatoes). AND we partook in the Pumpkin Pie martini. Not usually my handbag as it was a bit sweet, but it was good enough to order a second round.

If you haven't been to Melt, and you live in Cleveland, then you are missing out! This month they are featuring the most amazing New Bomb Turkey. Oh boy I can't wait to tucker up into one of those.

ewwww

howdy all! it's been forever, i know. it's been a busy summer with work and outside projects and all. if you haven't heard, my brother and sister-in-law just had a son. so that makes me an aunt. he's a cute little nugget. i think we'll keep him.

so, what does this have to do with food?

i just HAD to take a picture of part of my sister-in-law's dinner after her labor.

check it.

how's this for appetizing? ew.

All this...and I'm still single?

My Cleveland foodies bf's got together to cook up some vittles. Half the fun is making the lists and rewriting the lists, and talking about the food, and talking some more about the food. This time Joey, Dev and I did most of the brainstorming via text.

Cause we are geeks.

Geeks who can cook!

So, what was on the menu? Lamb Kabobs with Veggies, Roasted Brussel's Sprouts with BACON, big green salad, mom's green potato salad (YUM), grilled pineapple, throw-it-all-in-cookies (this was last minute, i just felt wrong not baking something), BLT sliders (that's right that's TWO, TWO things with BACON), home made scrumptious hummus and sun tea with blackberries. And more drinky drinks than I care to talk about on a blog my coworkers maybe reading. So, enough talk...let's get to the pics!

And as you can see, it's very hard to be a beagle in my house. It was so exhausting to stare down all the pieces of bacon from people.

Walnut and Almond Rum Cake

Oh my oh my. This humble looking little cake is sooo good.

I almost didn't post the recipe, to keep this one for myself! But, I can't claim to have invented it, as a friend gave it to me. And, it's perfect the way it is, so I haven't even doctored it, except for the order of ingredients, and the temperature. Thank you! (you know who you are.)

This cake, I feel, will be in heavy rotation in my baking bag o' tricks. It's easy, and so delicious.

I made it in honor of Mart's visit this week, but I'm not sure it's gonna make it to Monday. No worries Martinez, I have plenty of ingredients to whip up another one.

Walnut and Almond Rum Cake

130g unsalted butter, very soft

260g granulated white sugar

5 large eggs

120 g ground almonds

120 finely chopped walnuts

6 tablespoons dark rum

80 g all-purpose flour

extra rum to soak the cake (to taste)

Preheat oven to 390 degrees. Grease and lightly flour a 9" springform pan.

1. Whip butter in mixer adding sugar, beat till fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Then, mix in the almonds, walnuts, 6 tbls of rum. After all is mixed thoroughly, gently fold in the flour.

2. Pour batter into pan. Bake for 30 minutes, check cake with wooden skewer, if skewer comes out dry, your cake is ready. If not, put back in for another 5 minutes.

3. Allow cake to cool for 45 minutes before taking out of tin.

4. If you like, poke cake with toothpick a few times and sprinkle on some more dark rum!

It's SO good. I promise.

Other ideas:

Before serving, and after the rum on top of the cake has dried, sprinkle on some confectioner's sugar.

For decoration, add nuts on top...but wait about 20 minutes into the baking time, otherwise the nuts sink into the cake. You have to work quickly, as to not let the cake stop baking in the middle of it's allotted time.

Bubble Tea and Weird Dried Things: Toronto's Chinatown

If you go to Spadina Avenue in downtown Toronto, you can visit one of the best Chinatown's in North America. I was visiting just after Chinese New Year, which was a bummer to miss. But it didn't stop me from guzzling 4 bubble teas in a 36 hour period. I was warned by the chicks at the Kiehl's Shop on Queen Street to stay away from the "white people's" shops and get the real deal. Unfortunately I didn't know what that meant exactly. But I enjoyed the tapioca filled drinks nonetheless.

There is always so many interesting things to look at and observe in a Chinatown. I've only got a small sampling of what I saw here. Check out the crazy foodstuffs in bins displayed right out on the street, many unidentifiable to the typical western person. However, even a few Asian folks were bewildered by the sluglike vegetable below (marked with the do not touch sign)...we all took guesses as to what it was, but never got to the bottom of it. And of course, I didn't see anyone touch with their bare hands, but many 'poked' at it with the spoon. I wish I would have bought one to take to work for Mystery Food Friday.

Toronto's St Lawrence Market

A few weekends ago 

I scooted on up to the neighbors up north..

Ontario, Canada for a little foodie fun in Toronto. 

First stop, St.Lawrence Market!

I was really impressed with the presentation and sheer amount of all the fresh fruits and veggies...

A stop at the Carousel Bakery for the famous Peameal Bacon Sandwich is a must. Peameal is like Canadian Bacon. Emeril featured the Bakery it on his show and the traffic around it was nuts! They have a signed letter from him proudly displayed. You just ordered up at the counter...and dressed it up yourself. I tried 2 different kinds of mustard. One was so wonderfully hot it brought tears to me eyes. I regret not buying it at the neighboring stand, it was made by some Polish dudes, so you know it was good.

And then...the bakery...oh boy. I ate, I'm embarrassed to say...2 chocolate almond crossiants as big as my head. They were the best thing I have ever wrapped my lips around. Good GAWD. I had a picture of those, but I ate that too...so here are other treats spotted in the basement bakeries.

Stay tuned for other notes from my  trip! I can't wait to return.

Red Berry and Tapioca Parfait

I've been experimenting with tapioca lately, since it's pure starch, its not the best thing for the supermodel body goals I have, but a when a heart wants comfort...starch and sugar are pretty durn comfortables.

Ingredients:

1/2 c tapioca pearls (i recommend getting them at an asian market, it's about a 1/3 of the price, and you'll have many sizes and colors to choose from)

2 1/2 c 2% milk (i think this is rich enough, but you can use heavier)

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 c white granulated sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp vanilla (use the real deal, it's worth it, next time I may use actual vanilla seeds)

fresh or frozen raspberries
sour cherry syrup

coarse granulated sugar (if you dont use if often, a couple of packets of Sugar In the Raw will work too)

Directions:

Soak tapioca in 2 cups of water overnight in a 2 quart saucepan, overnight, in the fridge. Drain water. Add milk, salt, sugar and eggs. Mix well.

Cook on medium heat until thickened, about 20 minutes, you must stir constantly to avoid scorching the milk! Pearls will get translucent. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Let cool.

Layer fruit and pudding. I put the cherry syrup at the bottom of this very shallow dish, I recommend putting it on top if you are going to use something like a champagne flute, you don't want all that sweet syrup left for the end. Sprinkle a little coarse sugar on top for sparkle...if you have some fresh mint..a little green sprig would make a nice touch and constrast in color.