Cupcakes and Doughnuts, Oh My!

I think I'm going to make these this weekend.
http://cupcakeblog.com/index.php/2007/09/doughnuts-and-coffee-cupcakes/

Worcester Need a Cupcakery

I need to open one of these.
http://www.boston.com/ae/food/articles/2007/09/26/opening_her_own_business_is_icing_on_the_cupcake/

Trader Joe's Cheddar Puffs

This is a message of warning: Do not buy the Trader Joe's White Cheddar Puffs unless you are interested in eating flavorless, soft, air.

The Purple Cactus

On Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, you can get a huge, heavy, delicious burrito, chock full of fresh ingredients, for about $6 or $7, at The Purple Cactus. This place is so good, my brother asks us to bring home a Squash and Corn burrito and we live an hour away from the place.

I ordered a Grilled Chicken burrito with sour cream (lowfat, homemade) and guacamole. It probably weighed over a pound. I ate half for dinner, and had the rest for lunch today. The simmered black beans were great - not too mushy, a little bit of sauce. They were mixed with some brown rice, which was pretty mild in flavor but good. Not too dry, not too mushy. The guac was awesome. I know my descriptions are kind of generic - sorry. How about this: It was 1000 times better than the disappointing spinach and chicken burrito I had recently from Tortillla Sam's.

My mother loved the New Garden wrap on a wheat tortilla with grilled chicken. She also ate just half as it was HUGE.

Octoberfest Season

It's time for Octoberfest beers. I've tried 2 so far, neither winners.

Magic Hat Jinx: This is a beer packaged to entice the ladies. Pretty packaging, cute pink chick winking on the front. The beer is just okay. It leaves sort of a tangy aftertaste which I don't really like. The beer won't rot in my fridge but I probably won't buy a second sixer.

Spaten Oktoberfest: This beer was described as tasting like an octoberfest mixed with Heineken, and that's exactly what it tasted like, heavier on the Heinie than the fest. I did not enjoy it.

Made my day

At Friendly's, I ordered a 2-scoop cone, one scoop black raspberry, one scoop chocolate, on a sugar cone. The kid making the cone put one big scoop of black ras first, then the chocolate, and then topped it off with a cap of black ras. I felt like a little kid. The ice cream just made me smile! What great ice-cream-jockey. Or whatever they're called.

Start with Salsa, end with Joy-ful Peppermint

After a filling Mexican meal at Sierra's in Sudbury, I finished the night with a walk to Dairy Joy in Hudson from my friend's condo. I'll start with the Mexican.

Sierra's is on 117 in Sudbury, in what seems like the middle of nowhere. It's a small low building that looks sort of non-descript on the outside, but upon entering, it seems like you are in another world. The restaurant has a small bar, and several tables and booths in the main dining room. Chandeliers are made of large antlers, cast, I'm sure, not real bones, but you never know. On the walls are skulls with antlers, colorful ceramic plates, and small sconces. It's a very southwestern feel, but not cluttered like many restaurants. The tables are tile-top, and the booths are pew-like with cushions. Basically, I say that to let you know you need have good posture if you want to spend hours there.

We had chips and salsa to start, and I ordered totally delicious Raspberry Margarita (tequila, chambord, triple sec). The salsa was good - it tasted fresh but was mild. I prefer a spicier salsa, but this was still good.

I had the spinach and chicken burrito. It came with refried beans and rice, lettuce and stewed tomatoes. It was tasty. My two complaints are: It wasn't junk-foody enough, and wasn't spicy enough. The chicken was really moist and tender; it seemed like it had been poached in a seasoned broth. There were several fresh vegetables in the burrito as well: corn, red and green peppers, and onions. My friend had the chicken soft tacos and enjoyed them also. One think we noticed was that the guacamole doesn't come with everything so if you want it, be sure to order it as a side.

After dinner, we drove back to Hudson, a short drive, and walked to the Dairy Joy on Rt. 62. We both got the Peppermint Stick ice cream, mine in a cone, hers in a cup. The Peppermint Stick ice cream is like christmas. The sticks are red and green, with a pink colored ice cream. Totally creamy and delicious, it hit the spot.

Side note: Dairy Joy has awesome onion rings.

Summer, Citrus, and Straight Up Country

Summer's coming to a close, and with it, the season of summer beers. As much as I'm looking forward to Octoberfests, I really do enjoy a nice cold summer beer. Last night, at a local favorite, O'Connor's Restaurant, I had a pint of Wachusett Summer Breeze (is it summer breeze, or is that just a song?). I was given the choice of lemon or orange; I went with lemon, and it was the right choice, though it would have been fine on its own. The lemon added the right amount of crispness. Here's a tip, though, that I learned a long time ago. Drink it fast enough so you don't end up with half a beer that tastes like lemon pledge.

I also had a Wachusett Country, always a favorite of mine.

My dining companion had a BBC IPA. I didn't hear any complaints from him and he ordered a second. Unfortunately, the keg went dry and foam splattered all over the bartender (face included). Was it funny? No, and yes. I didn't laugh, though. He ended up with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

O'Connor's had a number of other decent-looking brews on tap. They rotate their taps pretty frequently. I probably should have gone for something new or unusual but I was feeling like guaranteed satisfaction.

Cream Cheese and Scones

I recently discovered the olive and pimento cream cheese at Bagel Time on Park Ave in Worcester. I went in last week to get the usual (spinach garlic toasted with chive and bacon or veggie) and they thought I said olive. The got it right, but it intrigued me, so I tried it this week. It was delicious. Quite a bit of olives with pimentos, sliced, and a strong flavor.

This morning, I went for the always high-calorie cinnamon chip scone. I'd never had one there before and it was really good. Not really dry, lots of cinnamon flavor. Really, it hit the spot.

I also like their iced coffee.

On a side note, olives and pimentos are great on a green salad or in a pasta salad with a lemon and olive oil dressing.

Yummy Pineapple Shortbread Cake

The Pineapple Shortbread Cake that you can purchase from the refrigerated section of the wonderfully-named Price Chopper grocery store is worth the money. It's a dense, moist yellow cake (one layer) with a real whipped cream topping, lightly sweetened. Crushed pineapple covers the top of the cake. This is quite delicious.

Food Philosophy

I really like this food philosophy. Here's an excerpt:

The more needs you have, the less you're bound to enjoy. Picky eaters convince themselves that they have needs--that they need to avoid anything salty or they'll get bloated, anything peppery or they'll choke, anything spicy or they'll schvitz. Dieters "need" to have three servings of fruit a day, ten glasses of water before they exercise, and forty bites of something green at least 80 times a week.

Needs can be exhausting.

50-50 - Tortilla Sam's

Tortilla Sam's has been around since I was in college, so at least 10 years. It was never as good as it was in it's original location, next to Mahoney's pub on Park Ave. They had a green chili that would take your eyebrows off, it was so hot. And delicious. Then, for some reason, they decided to dumb down the heat for the masses, and now the only way you can get a really hot meal there is if you douse it in napalm hot sauce. That's not really the way to do it. You really need to choose the right hot sauce for the meal and add it while cooking. But whatever. That's not the point of this post.

I ordered one of my all-time-favorites and was extremely disappointed. The spinach and chicken burrito is usually a nice tortilla filled with an equal blend of chicken and rice, with spinach chopped up really small and mixed in with the whole mix. There was some sort of mexican spice, I don't know what kind, but it was fragrant and added a really nice finish to the filing. This time, the filling was mostly rice, a small amount of tiny chunks of chicken, not really much seasoning, and the worst part, about 4 wilted spinach leaves. Whole leaves, with some of the stem too. Impossible to take a bite all the way through, because the spinach is such a stringy food. It mainly made me gag. I ended up eating all the spinach in about 3 bites, because instead of taking small bites of the spinach, I just pulled it all the way out. (burrito: $2.99)

The other item I ordered was actually really satisfying. The crispy potato wedges hit the spot. Basically, peeled, sliced potato wedges, deep fried and sprinkled with spices like paprika and salt. They were piping hot, crispy on the outside, and perfectly cooked on the inside. For $$2.99, you get about 2 potatoes worth of wedges. I ate about a third and saved the rest. They're going to be breakfast home fries - what a treat!

It's going to be a while before I venture back to Tortilla Sam's, unless I hear something good about the burritos.

Life on the run: Nutrition Bars

This is not going to be an in-depth review of all the protein and nutrition bars out there. Instead, it's going to be a brief listing of the flavors of Clif and Luna bars I've had recently. Just so you know.

Yesterday, Brooks Pharmacy only had one flavor of Luna bar and the only other bars they had were in the Zone. I was in a rush, running from Pilates to knitting (oh the exciting life I lead), so I just grabbed it. Lemon Zest. A crunchy rice-y bar with lemon frosting on one side. It was so-so. Kind of tasted like Lemon Pledge, but not in a bad way. Didn't make me feel sick to my stomach with sweetness, like the Cranberry Almond Clif bar did.

Today, I stocked up on 5 flavors of Luna bar (on sale for $1.00 each). I had a Cookies and Cream with white frosting and am glad I only bought one. Didn't really taste like chocolate at all, just sort of flavorless. Didn't make me feel sick though, and I wasn't hungry for about 2 hours.

I don't like Power Bars - nasty consistency, and the Harvest ones just don't taste good. Clif bars are too sweet and also too big - I feel like I should eat the whole thing but then I get sick of it and it's wasted. Also, they have a consistency like extra-dense dates. Really, not what I need when I'm hungry.

So far, the Luna bars have the best consistency.

Road Trip: North Carolina

I recently spent a few days with some friends in Cary, North Carolina. This is near the Raleigh/Durham area. It was my first trip and our host made sure to take us to all the hot spots for both tourists and locals.

First stop, the City Limits in Cary. This place has it all: mechanical bull, line dancing, dollar Bud Light bottles, and a black light so every speck of lint shows up on your black shirt. If you've been reading this blog for a while, or if you know me, you know that this place isn't my usual speed. But, I was on vacation and I have to say, it was a sight to see. Pulling into the parking lot, we came upon a pickup truck waving Confederate flags and another that had "balls" hanging from the trailer hitch. The ultimate in classy.

This is where I had my first Jager Bomb (as described in an earlier post). My friend (caught the eye of some supposed cowboys, one of whom turned out to be a lawyer in disguise. Anyway, they bought us shots. It took me abut 10 sips to finish it, since I was stuffed from dinner and had already had a beer. As you know, I liked it. The rest of the night I stuck to the Bud Light, mainly because it was cheap, it was really hot in NC that night, and I didn't want to be too hungover the next day. If you're in NC, and want to hear music that ranges from hip hop to country line dancing and the Electric Slide, with a little Bon Jovi thrown in for good measure, check out the City Limits. I saw a Less-Than-D-List celebrity there. No, I didn't go up and talk to him. We also spent lots of time watching a group of 3 guys perform choreographed dances to just about every hip-hop song they played.

The next night, we went to the Red Room in Raleigh for tapas. We had the following:

• Calamaris Fritos (delicious, cooked perfectly, great batter)
• Pan con Chorizo y Manchego (Chorizo flatbread with artichokes, peppers,tomatoes, Manchego and spanish paprika) My favorite. Basically a chorizo pizza. Chorizo is like, really rich, dense, and sort of sweet sausage, but with a hint of heat. Manchego is a mild flavored Spanish cheese.
• Quesadilla con Polo y Aguacate (Chicken and avocado quesadilla with pico de gallo and sour cream) Good, but nothing special.
• Patatas Bravas con Aioli (Fried potatoes in a spicy tomato sauce with garlic mayonnaise) OMG like the best home fries you've ever tasted!
• I had a glass of white sangria. So tasty and great for the summer. Sadly, I forgot to eat the maraschino cherry before the waitress (who sucked, by the way) took it away. Anyway, I'm thinking of making some over the weekend.

On Sunday, we drove to Wrightsville Beach, where I had a delicious and very filling bowl of seafood gumbo (tomato based spicy soup) at The Oceanic restaurant. We sat on the pier and looked at the ocean as we ate. SO relaxing.

Our last day was Monday and our host took us to Chapel Hill. We had a nice lunch at the Top of the Hill Restaurant, a brewpub. They have outdoor seating and you can people watch from this second floor patio. I had the Hugh Morton Mango Lager to drink. It was decent, with a hint of mango flavor - not too overpowering. I bought a sixer of cans of Rams Head IPS to bring home. On that note it turns out that a "Fragile" sticker put on the suitcase to protect the brew actually invites damage, as shown in the photo below.
























For lunch, I had the Smoked Paprika Chicken sandwich with beer battered fries. Tasty.

The IPA was good too. Pretty strong (6.0%) and reasonably hoppy. I gave a few away and I have one left in the fridge.

Overall, a good eating vacation. I could write another whole post about all the delicious food that our host made us but I'll leave you with just one short description. Easy appetizer: Fresh mozzarella (the soft kind that comes in balls), sliced tomato, and balsamic vinegar for drizzling. You could reduce the vinegar to thicken it, but the vinegar we used seemed thick enough to start with. I guess it depends on what you buy.

Delux, you did us wrong, but you saved it in the end

I went back, again, to Delux (in the South End, Boston, Chandler St). This time, the food was more of a miss than I hit. I got the BBQ pulled pork sandwich with a side of potato salad. My friend ordered the chicken special - boneless chicken breast with rosemary and other spices over saffron rice and beans. We shared and both had the same opinion. The potato salad was quite delicious, but the pulled pork was pretty dry. I've had much better. The chicken was delicious, but the rice was undercooked and quite crunchy. It was a shame. We ended up telling the waitress and she was very apologetic. She brought us the dessert special, on the house, which was really nice and totally appropriate. It was really good: marble cheesecake with buttescotch and chocolate and pecans on top, and a dollop of whipped cream. The perfect size slice to share.

We decided that we love the atmosphere and the beer is great (Tremont Ale on tap), and prices are right, but maybe we'll stick to the grilled cheese on future visits. I think I'd like to try the quesadillas sometime too.

Jager Bomb

I recently discovered the Jager Bomb, though I girled it up and had it as a mixed drink instead of the traditional shot form. Basically, it's Jagermeister and Red Bull. It's very tasty, sort of tastes like Dr. Pepper, and is good to have if you don't feel like drinking bottles and bottles of light beer, are too full to drink heavy beer, and are out waaaaay past your bedtime but have at least two hours to go before your head hits the pillow.

Cheers!

Almmmmmond Croissant

Running late today, and after the sad, sorry free coffee I had at work yesterday (watered down make your own iced coffee), I just had to get a delicious iced coffee from The Bean Counter (Highland Street, Worcester, MA). I also quickly decided to buy an almond croissant. They looked huge and delicious sitting in the counter-top case. The almond filling was just spilling out of the end, and there were tasty-looking bits of almonds and powdered sugar sprinkled on top. How could I resist?

The iced coffee was great, as usual. Medium-body. I started drinking it immediately, after I added milk (no sugar). I saved the sweet reward until I got to work. It was worth the wait. The amount of filling was very generous, compared to some other almond croissants I've had - not dry, quite buttery, and very decadent.

Now that I've had such a good almond croissant, I'm on a quest to try them at every bakery I swing by. I'll start this weekend and do a roundup after I've tried enough to make it worth writing about.

UPDATE The Bean Counter also does a delicious chocolate croissant.

Red Pepper Jelly

If you've never had red pepper jelly, I recommend you go right out and get some. It's basically, crushed red peppers in a sweet jelly. I know, it sounds like it would taste really gross, but it doesn't. The amount of red pepper is not over-abundant, and it's not like you'd spread it on a piece of toast and eat it for breakfast. I usually have it with a good sharp cheddar cheese and crackers. I do love cheddar cheese when it's been able to come to room temperature. The flavor is much stronger.

i buy my red pepper jelly at Cape Cod Crafters in Olde Shrewsbury Village, but you can pick it up at any good grocery store. I was in the Vermont Country Store last weekend and sampled some Red Raspberry Pepper Jelly - not as spicy as the plain Red Pepper Jelly.

On second thought, the pepper jelly might be good on rye pr pumpernickel toast alongside* 2 fried eggs.




*Ever watch Sports Night, by far one of the best TV shows ever? Ever night, the anchor would announce that he was "Dan Rydell alongside Casey McCall" or vice versa. I always loved that.

Dunkin Donuts

I recently had my first Dunkin Donuts Smoothie - wildberry flavor. It was pretty tasty and hit the spot as an afternoon pick-me-up. There was a lot of berry flavor, though it was vaguely reminiscent of Island Oasis. Basically, a virgin frozen multi-berry daiquiri. I ended up with a large, because they made a mistake. I wanted a medium, and as it turns out, I'd have been better off with a small. It was good, but after a while, too sickly sweet and I had a stomach ache at the end.

Delux Cafe, Again

I went back to Delux in the South End of Boston recently, and it was just as good as the last time. I had the rotating flavor of grilled cheese: fontina with sliced bear pear and tomato on sourdough. Delish.

On the side was the best cole slaw I've ever had! This slaw wasn't just green and red cabbage with carrot sticks. There was green cabbage, carrots sliced the wide way, kind of waffle cut, actually. Also, thinly sliced cauliflower! Awesome!

My dining companion had the lobster ravioli with a cream sauce on it. It came with a side salad that wasn't really much to talk about: basically, field greens and dressing. Boring, and kind of stemmy. The ravioli received praise, but the cheese that was shredded on top was not appreciated.

The menu rotates every 6 weeks; I'll try it again next month! The prices are good, the food's tasty, and it's got a cool atmosphere.