Lunchtime Links for July 1st, 2021

• The Kitchn: Ina Garten's pound cake. 
• Love and Lemons: Vinegar coleslaw. 
• Table for Two: Refreshing summer punch.
• Just One Cookbook: Japanese potato salad.
• Crazy for Crust: Brown butter chocolate chip cookies.

Lunchtime Links for May 26th, 2020

• Averie Cooks: Soft and fluffy sandwich bread.
• Just One Cookbook: Honey soy sauce chicken. 
• Picky Palate: Triple chip giant chocolate chip cookies.
• The Kitchn: Ina Garten's roasted potatoes. 
• Crazy for Crust: No churn ice cream.

Lunchtime Links for March 31st, 2020

• Buzzfeed: Ina Garten's rules for freezer meals and food storage.
• The Kitchn: Creamy garlic shrimp.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Water cake. 
• The Pioneer Woman: 5 ways to use pesto.
• Creme de la Crumb: Roasted honey garlic glazed carrots.

Lunchtime Links for November 6th, 2018

• The Kitchn: Ina Garten's chocolate cake.
• How Sweet Eats: Pumpkin brownies.
• My Baking Addiction: Pretzel rolls. 
• Cookies and Cups: Brown sugar cinnamon swirl bread.
• Dessert for Two: Chicken dinners for two.

Lunchtime Links for October 25th, 2018

• Kirbie's Cravings: Chocolate yogurt loaf cake.
• Damn Delicious: Pumpkin cake doughnuts. 
• Picky Palate: Cheesy chicken broccoli rice casserole. 
• How Sweet Eats: Sweet and spicy Brussels sprouts.
• The Kitchn: Ina Garten's triple chocolate loaf cake.

Shake Shack - Pickled Jalapeno Burger

Shake Shack burgers are delicious as is, but then add on some fried goodies and it gets about 293847374 times better, haha.  The Dupont Circle and F street locations in DC are currently offering a Pickled Jalapeno burger in honor of the 10 year anniversary of Every Day with Rachael Ray!

The tribute Pickled Jalapeño Burger ($6.19) is a cheeseburger topped with crispy marinated shallots, Gordy’s Thai basil pickled jalapeños and sriracha sauce.

I can personally attest to both the crispy marinated shallots and Gordy's Thai basil pickled jalapenos being AWESOME, as I've had them separately in burgers/hot dogs at Shake Shack in the past.  Be sure to head over to the Dupont or F Street Shake Shacks soon, because this burger is only available until this Sunday (10/18)! 

Lunchtime Links for December 17th, 2012

• Aida Mollenkamp: Hazelnut-chocolate linzer cookies. 
• How Sweet It Is: Thai chicken quesadillas.
• Kirbie's Cravings: Healthier red velvet cookies.  
• Table for Two: Molasses ginger cookies. 
• Cookies & Cups: Gingerbread cupcakes with white chocolate pudding frosting. 

Les Madeleines Kouing Aman

A big Thank you! to E for the lovely surprise of Kouing Amans from Les Madeleines Cafe in Utah!  These are buttery, flaky, with a super crunchy caramelized top.  I've seen these before on the Food Network's Best Thing I Ever Ate, so I was super excited to try them! It's not something you should eat every day, but it's an amazing treat for anyone that is a fan of croissants and pastries.
 

The packaging for these is also super cute - who doesn't enjoy some baked good love?

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

A while back I saw Claire Robinson making these flourless peanut btuter cookies on her Food Network show, and printed out the recipe to make them eventually.  I'm not sure why I waited so long to make them, but now, here we are, haha.

This recipe is very easy to make and requires only five ingredients - six in this case with the addition of the Scharffen Berger chocolate baking chunks.  I have all of the required ingredients on hand, and I'm sure most other bakers would too, so this is a great last-minute easy cookie recipe!

  

And here we have the finished cookies!  They were really rich and delicious, a powerful punch of peanut butter and chocolate.  Mine came out pretty crumbly but that may have been due to the baking time or how I formed them?  As you can tell I didn't really particularly take the time to roll each one into a nice ball before baking haha.  As an added bonus- these are gluten-free!  Give this recipe a try if you love peanut butter and want an easy, rich cookie!

Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownie Mix

I won this box of Barefoot Contessa outrageous brownie mix some time ago, and never really got around to using it until recently.  I opened up the box and found not just a dry brownie mix, but chocolate chips as well.  That, along with the detailed instructions, made these a little more time-consuming than regular box brownie mix.  Not that it was hard to follow or anything, but in case anyone's looking for a quick and easy brownie mix (especially for kids' baking), this may not be for you. 

I didn't photograph the brownies when they were done because, well, a sheet of brownies in a pan isn't all that interesting looking, haha.  I liked the addition of both the melted and solid chocolate chips in the brownies, they added an intense chocolate flavor and some texture as well.  I cut up and froze the rest of them and they have held up nicely since then.  Overall, I'm a fan of Ina Garten but wouldn't be running to spend $12 on a brownie mix again anytime soon.  However, I do think it'd be a cute part of a gift for someone (nicer looking than a box of Pillsbury... just saying, haha). 

San Francisco Visit - Dinner at Incanto Restaurant

One of the main places on my San Francisco to-do list was Incanto restaurant - I am a huge fan of Chef Chris Cosentino, and pork, yummmmmmm.  He is on a good number of Food Network programs and I've always thought of him as funny and a generally cool guy to hang out with, haha. 

 

We started off with a nice bread plate.  I really liked the herb-rubbed pieces that you can see in the top of the photo.

We decided to split a few plates, starting with this dish that included asparagus and a soft-boiled egg.  I liked how the soft-boiled egg yolk added extra richness to the greens on the plate.

For our second dish we went with one of the day's specials, which included grilled bread topped with bacon, bacon marmalade, onions, and a fried egg.  This was definitely really rich but super delicious.  It was like breakfast on delicious, delicious steroids.  Each of the components enhanced the others, and it was really fantastic!

For our third dish, we went with a half portion of the handkerchief pasta and rustic pork ragu.  This was a seemingly simple but really delicious plate of pasta, with the slippery noodles catching little bits of pork and sauce- soooooo good!

So obviously the food was fantastic- but the best part was meeting chef Chris Cosentino!  To be honest, I had noticed on Twitter earlier that week that he was in Vegas for an event, and assumed that he would not be in Incanto the night that we were at dinner.  Luckily for me, I literally ran into him expediting dishes on my walk back from the restroom, haha.  He was really nice and chatted with us for a while about the restaurant scene in DC, since he used to live and work there before.  It was a great way to end a delicious dinner - anyone that is a fan of pork (and offal) should come here for sure!

Incanto

1550 Church Street

San Francisco, CA 94131

415.641.4500

San Francisco Visit - Ferry Building Marketplace Eats

At the beginning of May, I went out to San Francisco for an extended weekend- thankfully this time around I actually made it there!  I was originally supposed to go out there last fall, but a plane mechanical error resulted in a cancelled trip.  It was probably for the best though, considering that the fall weekend turned out to be rainy and gross the whole time, and I had great weather on this trip! 

There will be a few food posts from my trip (obvi), but I wanted to break it down into a few posts: this one will focus mainly on the Ferry Building Marketplace, where I spent a good portion of one of my days since it was close to where my friend K works.   

First stop: Boccalone, which is a haven for pork lovers like myself.  K and I were going to Incanto for dinner while I was visiting as well, so I thought of this as a nice little preview. 

 

I went for the famous Salumi Cone with the day's selection of three meats all neatly placed into a paper cone.  Yum! 

Then, I walked around the rest of the market to check out the other shops.  The market wasn't as big as I remembered it (to be fair I was probably around 10 or so when I was last here, haha), so I wound up taking a few laps around, checking out each shop and taking in what they each had to offer.

While we have a Cowgirl Creamery in DC, it was still fun to see them in California, a little closer to home for them :o)  They had a great sandwich and snack menu, including a milk bar!

I also looked around the Scharffen Berger shop- I wanted to take everything with me!!  But I stuck with just getting one salted caramel chocolate- v. rich and smooth.

I kept coming back to the Miette shop because the cakes and everything looked lovely, and they had really cute decorations that I loved- think pastel cake stands, charming packaging, v. girly overall.

K and I split a strawberry cupcake, which looked v. pretty but didn't really "wow" me per se.  I enjoyed the fluffy frosting that had a great taste to it, but the cake tasted like a dry, heavy poundcake, which I didn't really like.  Maybe I should've tried one of their many other cute desserts instead.  

The Ferry Building Marketplace has a lot to look at and tons of options if you are hungry- they also have a farmers market just outside of the building, which I caught the tail end of when I was there.  It's a great place for good eats and food gifts!

Ferry Building Marketplace
One Ferry Building
San Francisco, California 94111
415.983.8030 

Lunchtime Links for April 20th, 2011

• Serious Eats: Japanese chocolate/biscuit snacks.
• The Kitchn: Store-bought bread's color coding.
• Duhlicious: Red velvet crepes.
• Real Housewives of Miami: Recap from TVGasm.
• Cooking Channel: Giada's olive oil muffins.

Lunchtime Links for March 8th, 2011

• Serious Eats: All of the secret menu items at In-N-Out. 
• Jersey Shore: Recap from TVGasm.
• The Kitchn: Hot chocolate recipes. 
• Food Network Humor: Paula Deen riding things.
• Midtown Lunch: Momofuku Milk Bar's pretzel cake truffle.

Lunchtime Links for November 29th, 2010

• Serious Eats: CupcakeStop truck in NYC. 
• Mango & Tomato: Potato patties.
• The Pioneer Woman: Bobby Flay's pumpkin bread pudding. 
• The Budget Babe: November finds at Urban Outfitters. 
• metrocurean: Bayou Bakery opens in Arlington.

ATL Visit - Food Part 1, Savory!

A few weekends ago, I headed down to the A (that'd be Atlanta for you non-rap-listening folk) to visit A and her fiance D!  It was my first time visiting Atlanta so we had a lot planned out- and by that I clearly mean FOOD.  Here's a brief photo recap of some of the stuff we ate, starting with the savory foods!

Thursday night we hit up the Varsity directly after A and D picked me up from the airport, woo.  I've seen this place on tv a bunch of times before, it's clearly a city institution!  Being that it was around 10pm on a Thursday night, it wasn't crowded at all, which was good because I was worried it was going to be the total clusterf*ck that they always show on tv about it, haha.   

I got a burger and side of fries - I wanted to go with a somewhat basic order for my first time there.
 

A & D split two chili cheese dogs and onion rings.  I tried one of the onion rings, which had a nice full coating of batter and pretty good, considering I don't really like onion rings, haha.

On Friday for lunch A took me to Antico Pizza Napoletana,  one of her favorite local spots.  Right before I visited, Antico had won an international pizza award, which was pretty cool.  As you can see, they definitely don't skimp on fresh ingredients here!  The pizza was delicious- nice chewy dough (but not tough), piles of fresh ingredients, and a fun, low-key atmosphere- we literally ate in the kitchen, haha.  I'm so glad I got to try this pizza, it was fantastic!

   

For dinner Friday night we hit up Flip Burger Boutique, which totally brought out the Top Chef fan-dork in me.  Richard Blais, one of my favorite Top Chef competitors, owns Flip Burger Boutique, so clearly I was jazzzzzzzzed about going, haha.  The place itself is v. sleek and modern, with a lot of "flipped" design influences in the dining room. 

There were so many fantastic-sounding menu items, but I went with the Burger of the Day, which was the Pork Steam Bun: Char siu glazed pork belly, tamarind mayo, cabbage, bean sprout, pickled carrots and ginger on an Asian steam bun. 

This was SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO x 1023984729387473243823434 GOOD.  All of the components worked really well together, and the pork belly burger was super duper delicious.  I am drooling right now writing about it, no joke.  Since it was my first time there, I also got the Krispy Kreme shake, which I was told includes TWO Krispy Kreme doughnuts blended into the shake.  So so bad, so so good, haha!   I've heard rumors that Chef Blais is looking at DC as a possible market for another Flip, and if that's true- between Flip and Shake Shack, you know I'd be ALL OVER THAT. 

On Saturday night, A and I tried out JCT Kitchen, based on its general good reviews plus a spot on the Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" for their Angry Mussels appetizer.

 

We started with a watermelon + vodka-based cocktail, super summery and refreshing. 

And here we have the Angry Mussels - Mussels with peppered bacon, serrano chile, and onion, with some crusty grilled bread on the side.  They weren't "burn your tongue off" spicy but had a nice noticable kick to it.  We ate these pretty quickly, mainly because the sauce was so so so good, we mopped up pretty much all of it. 

We also split an order of the Pork Belly Sliders appetizer - pork belly, house pickles, and vanilla bean apple butter.  The pork belly melted in your mouth and the pickles were a great accompanyment to cut through the richness. 

For our entree, we split an order of the JCT fried chicken - let's just say the "limited...come early!" note on the menu was enough for us to order it, since we were practically the first ones in the dining room, haha.  It's a little blurry, but as you can see the yummy fried chicken, garlicky green beans on one plate...

...and this SERIOUS mac n' cheese in another bowl.  All three items were delicious and we had absolutely no complaints.  The chicken was juicy, crisp on the outside, and really tasty.  The beans had a nice snap to them still with a powerful garlicky flavor.  And the mac n' cheese was smooth, creamy, and perfectly cooked pasta to boot.  All in all a fantastic dinner!

Finally, for Sunday brunch before I left Atlanta, we went to Highland Bakery.  A really likes the Peanut Butter French Toast, but neither of us were that  hungry to even try to tackle that monster of a meal, haha.  Instead, I opted for a sweet potato biscuit to start, which had a nice sweet (honey?) top and fluffy inside. 

A got the Hummus sandwich- hummus spread on grilled sourdough, served with sharp cheddar cheese, tomatoes, spring mix, sprouts, red onion and balsamic vinaigrette, with a side of breakfast potatoes.  This sandwich had a nice balance of ingredients, and the bread held up well to the hummus (which normally can make sandwich bread wet and soggy). 

I got the Cilantro Corn pancakes- served over black beans and topped with 2 fried eggs, sour cream,

salsa, shredded cheese, and cilantro.  Ok so maybe this wasn't exactly "light eating" compared to the Peanut Butter French Toast, but I liked the idea of a savory pancake so I wanted to give it a try.  This was great, but I would've asked for it without the black beans- it was too much for me to eat to begin with, but the black beans also made the pancakes much more soggy which wasn't great after awhile.

So, as you can see, I definitely wasn't joking about our eating agenda during my visit.  It was great seeing A and D, a new-to-me city, and all these fantastic restaurants!  Thanks again A and D for having me stay with you!!  

 

Lunchtime Links for October 1st, 2010

• Serious Eats: A look at breakfast in Japan.
• Glee: Recap from NYMag.
• All Things Cupcake: Cream-filled pumpkin cupcakes.
• Food Network Humor: Tacky Sandra Lee tablescapes. 
• Top Chef: Recap from TVGasm.

Lunchtime Links for August 26th, 2010

• The Kitchn: Ice cream with Ina Garten.
• Real Housewives of NJ: Recap from NYMag. 
• Serious Eats: Cupcake-baking tips. 
• Jersey Shore: Recap from TVGasm.
• Cakewrecks: Polite cakes- sorta, haha.

Lunchtime Links for July 30th, 2010

• Budget Babe: Under $50 denim dresses.
• Serious Eats: Barefoot Contessa's mint brownie mix review. 
• Midtown Lunch: Cake balls at Momofuku Ma Peche.
• Bakerella: Aloha cupcakes.
• Top Chef: Recap from TVGasm.

Garces Trading Co., Philadelphia

During my recent weekend trip to Philly, I cajoled several of my friends to go to Jose Garces' Garces Trading Co.  It was close to the hotel and I had heard good things about this casual spot.  As you may or may not know, Jose Garces is the most recently named Iron Chef on the Food Network, and owns a few places in Philly.   

Entrance/Cheese section

Dining Room/pastry area in the back

As you can see, this place is much more than a restaurant - there's a cheese section off to one side, a full pastry retail area in the back, and a wine cellar on the opposite side of the restaurant.  Housemade coffee, olive oils, and other items are also available for sale.  There's a lot to look at inside the space while perusing the menu to eat. 

Bread, yum.

We started with a basket- or box, rather- of bread and olive oil, both house-made.  V. yummy- the olive oil was strong and spicy, which I really liked with the light-tasting bread.  A little sprinkle of salt to finish, yum. 

Cheese plate

My friends split one of the cheese plates, which everyone seemed to enjoy.  The condiments that came with the cheese were interesting, especially the one garlic dulce de leche... yup, you read that right!  Sounds scary, yes, but really interesting!  I liked it, I think it's definitely a tasty companion to cheese.

Everyone else got pizzas and sandwiches to share- I decided to go with the 3-course brunch menu, haha.  The items looked interesting, and I thought it'd be a good chance to try out what the restaurant has to offer.  There are a good number of menu choices in both the appetizer and entree section so it was hard to choose just one from each section.  Drink, appetizer, entree, and dessert for $25 - not too shabby! 

Salmon tartare

I started with a rosemary lemonade to drink, which was really herb-y and delicious.  Super refreshing!  For my appetizer I went with the salmon tartare - which I unfortunately forgot to take menu notes on, and is not on the online menu.  So...it's a salmon tartare.......haha.  It was really delicious, especially with the spice from the microgreens mixed in.  

Lyonnaise Duck Salad: duck confit, poached egg, bacon lardons, mustard vinaigrette

I could've gone with a more traditional brunch option for my entree selection, but I couldn't pass up DUCK + BACON haha.  Super elegant presentation, perfectly poached egg, and LOTS of duck in the salad.  Really decadent, probably too decadent to eat every day, but hey, go for it if you want, haha! 

 

Raspberry lemon....cake?

Ok clearly taking notes wasn't exactly a priority since I was there with friends, talking the whole time, haha.  I chose this raspberry + lemon cake dessert, which I cannot remember the name of.  It was good, but nothing really special, to be honest.  I liked the decorations on the top though, v. pretty.

Overall, a great brunch with great friends!  I would love to have a place like this near my apartment - you can pop in and pick up items for dinner/picnics, or come in to sit and eat in a relaxed, casual atmosphere.  Loves it!

Garces Trading Company

1111 Locust Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107

215.574.1088