photo op: FLASHBACK FRIDAY

Oh boy! Looks like Friday again, thank goodness. Since school has started up again, the weeks feel like they drag by and weekends are not nearly long enough. Middle schoolers can deffo wear you out. For this #FlashbackFriday, I am reflecting on some of the tasty things I have eaten in the last few months via instagram. Check out some of my favorite snaps!

Don’t forget to follow on facebook, instagram, twitter, and yelp to keep up with all the food adventures.

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10.3.14

MangiaMore: APPLESAUCE cake

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And it happened again. Sometimes I can't help it. I find myself scrolling endlessly through pretty baking blogs and the Martha Stewart website drooling after the delicious baked goods and beautiful layer cakes. A variety of flavors and shapes, sizes and textures, levels of difficulty and technique. There are fluffy cakes with egg whites folded in, or dense bread like cakes studded with nuts. That's nothing. There's buttercreams in a rainbow of colors; cooked frostings, boiling on the stovetop; and glazes, sweet and dripping.

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And then it happens. I haaaave to make something. This time I desperately needed to make a layer cake. Despite searching the World Wide Web, I found the cake recipe in our tattered Betty Crocker’s New Cookbook (1996). The Applesauce Cake was easy enough to be fun and it wasn't laden with butter like some of my favorite bookmarked cakes (I will come to those more buttery, more difficult cakes later...Cupcake Wars). But as usual, we had to adjust, just a tad, subbing pumpkin pie spice for our own measured mix of spices.

This cake is practically a one-bowl wonder. It gets texture from applesauce and its fall feeling from the warm mix of spices. In our book, Betty recommends either a cream cheese frosting or a maple buttercream. Embracing the cooler weather and the crisper air we opted for the delicious maple frosting.

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Applesauce Cake

adapted from Betty Crocker's New Cookbook

2 ½ C all purpose flour

1 ½ C unsweetened applesauce

1 ¼ C sugar

½ C water

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour bottom and sides of pan.

Beat all ingredients in a large bowl with mixture on low scraping constantly. Then beat on high for three minutes and scrape occasionally.

Bake in rectangle pan for 45-50 minutes or two 8 inch round pans for 40-45 minutes.

Cool and frost with Maple Buttercream or your favorite frosting!

Maple Buttercream

3 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup of butter

½ cup maple syrup

Mix powdered sugar and butter in a medium bowl.

Stir in maple syrup.

Beat until smooth and to preferred consistency. Add more syrup or powdered sugar if necessary to achieve spreadable texture.

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AJR 10.5.14

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The cake was spicy sweet dense and redolent of fall evenings and cozy moments. Each note of subtle heat brought comfort and struck a strong chord with the sweet earthiness of the maple in the buttercream. It was moist and spongy, and kinda great. Can’t wait for my next slice.

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10.5.14

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MangiaMore: Rice Krispie Treats

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Rice Krispie Treats are delicious childhood memories that pop and crackle, stick to your teeth and bring a dose of marshmallowy comfort.Chewy, gooey, goodness.

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So when I found myself a little glum, I decided to go back in time and whip up some extra tasty Rice Krispie Treats. Once again, I turned to Cookies and Cups and used this perfect proportions recipe. Addictive and so so yummy.

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10.1.14

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DIFFERENT and similar: Bäco Mercat

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Shadows from the candle danced on the menu at Bäco Mercat, while they scratched their heads. The music was almost jarring, and the place was almost too hip, and they were most definitely too hungry.

Choosing dishes for their meal was like choosing blindly. Different categories, different flavors, different influences, all led to a different experience, but in some ways more of the same.

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Squash blossoms were set ablaze by their little candle, warming the table and overhearing all of their conversation. Each organic package was bursting with eggplant, fresh, crunchy and creamy, fried and delicious.

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But the “original” bäco held their attention. Soft and buttery flatbread folded over to conceal stringy beef carnitas and tender pork, alive with salbitxada sauce and textures. Beautiful greens, sparkles of vegetation, and two meats to tide them over until the next bite.  

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Like slippery blistered green okra, warm with tomato and fenugreek. Herbs and heat.

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Or crusty, flaky pastry, crisp around decadent duck, crowned with a glossy pretty fried egg. A heavy mix of luxury and familiarity, with the spice of honey mustard and pebbles of pistachio interwoven.

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Or the silky and sumptuous slow roasted pork shoulder, drowned in tangy sweet pale kumquat tang. Hearty and homey, meaty and fatty, a balance completed by the fruits and the greens.

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But the decadence of the pistachio cheesecake, deep, salty and green, clashed with the warm and cold syrupy sweetness of the rustic baked semolina, even though they were both studded with the meaty gems of pistachios.

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Their dinner felt like an odd mix of heat and invention, tradition twisted to make something new yet familiar.

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8.27.14

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