Travel log: Boston's North End

So last week we drove up to Boston because my oldest nephew had graduated from high school, and the family was gathering to celebrate. For the record, I don't even need a reason to visit Boston.  Or my nephews, of course. It's a great city!

The drive from Virginia to Boston is not the funnest thing in the world, but we make it manageable. Usually we get up at the butt-crack of dawn and head out, driving about 3 hours before we stop for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  I love me some Cracker Barrel.  Who doesn't love a place where you can get a good meal, play checkers, and buy Abbot and Costello and Three Stooges DVDs for the drive in one stop?  We usually spend about an hour there.  Love it!

We also stop for lunch somewhere along the way. This time we stopped at a place called Rein's Deli in Vernon, CT.  Y'all.  If you like deli food (and who doesn't love it??), you MUST stop here.  The sandwiches are big:

That is just the regular. You can get a "fresser" which means it's double-stuffed.  The meat was really, really good.  Pictured here is the corned beef "Rachel." It's like a Reuben, but instead of sauerkraut, it has cole slaw. Also pictured are their fries and pickles. I personally preferred the double-sour pickles, although the rest of my family liked the regular pickles (pictured), which are not as salty.

Even though our main reason to go to Boston was family-related, we managed to carve some time out to do a little sight-seeing.  Initially, the plan was to take a duck tour, but turns out you have to buy tickets really early.  We got downtown around 11:30 and they were all sold out for the day. WTF? So, if you want to do a duck tour in Boston, be sure to buy your tickets ahead of time.  Our Plan B was to spend time in the New England Aquarium, but again we were foiled by our lack of pre-planning. It was a beautiful day, so A LOT of people were out and about, which meant they were also out and about at the aquarium, so we settled with a harbor walk, then headed toward the North End.

One of the cool harbor tour boats available around the Boston Harbor.

See? It was a gorgeous day! We consoled our youngest with an ice cream cone from Emack & Bolio's right at the harbor.  The ice cream was really good - at least good enough to make a nine-year old happy enough to hoof it to the North End for an afternoon of history, pastries and pizza.

First up was Paul Revere's House:

But then we needed sustenance, so off to Modern Pastry we went.  The hardest part of the day, I think, was trying to decide which pastries to buy.  In the end, this is what we got:

Chocolate Mousse Cake, a cream puff, sfogliatelle (sfogliatella?) and two cannoli.  I am happy to report that everything was delicious and I'm sorry I didn't save you anything. Well, not super sorry, because it was delicious.  But you can't go wrong if you head to Modern Pastry.  Apparently, there is a bit of a rivalry in the North End between Modern Pastry and Mike's Pastry, but unfortunately, I had already stretched the limits of my family's patience for anything pastry-related, so I'll have to save that one for the next trip.  But, as you wander around the North End, you will come upon random bakeries, and groceries.  I fell in love with this little Italian grocery with beautiful breads:

Next up, though, was some more history.  The Old North Church. You know, "One if by land, two if by see."  In all the times we'd been to Boston, I had never been in here, so I was excited.  We were fortunate that this was not that crowded:

Right next to the church is a chocolatier (Captain Jackson's Historic Chocolate Shop) and a colonial printmaker. I'm always in when it comes to chocolate.  At the chocolate shop, we learned how colonists prepared it (usually as a drink), plus we got to taste some (spoiler alert: it was delicious).

Next door is the Printing Offices of Edes & Gill. The boys got to print their own copy of the Declaration of Independence. It was really interesting and the gentleman who worked the press was extremely engaging.

One last North End site: the narrowest house in Boston. It's  only nine feet wide and you have to enter it through a narrow alley. I believe it is privately-owned, so we didn't get to see inside, unfortunately.

Completely exhausted, the boys were ready for some pizza.  As we were walking, trying to figure out where to eat, we asked a man carrying a pizza box where he got his.  He said "Ernesto's. It's the best pizza."  Then we took a look at his shirt, which carried a logo for Boston Pizza Tours. (side note: who even knew you could get a tour of pizzas in Boston? The only thing better? A beer tour. Guess what? They have those, too!)

I guess he would know, then.  Ha! Ernesto's it is!  The pizza WAS delicious:

We got the tomato and basil, cheese, and a Hawaiian. By the way, the two pieces on each plate is "one slice" according to Ernesto.  Who am I to argue?

If you are in Boston, I encourage to take a couple of hours to walk around the North End, especially on a nice day.  Even if it's not, you can hole up in a pastry shop taste-testing.  It's got history, food and architecture all in one compact spot.  What's not to like?  :-)

I scream, You scream...

It's hot here in Virginia.  Really hot.  And humid.  This is the part of the weather I detest the most. Honestly.  It's too hot to really make anything that requires turning on the stove or oven, so my cooking options are limited.  It's also the first week of summer break, and I've already given up a little.  Sandwiches for lunch.  Leftover ice cream cake for breakfast. I'm not kidding. I'm cutting myself some slack this week. Just one week, because I have PTA Secretary duties to get working on. Or at least, that's what I'm telling myself.  Then I will get back into the swing of things.

One thing I have started with the boys is calisthenics (burpees, mountain climbers) and stretching.  I'm a fairly flexible person for my age, and it's killing me that my boys can't even touch their toes.  So I'm on a mission to improve their flexibility.  I've actually made my youngest cry already, which makes me sound like a monster.  But then I let him have ice cream cake for breakfast, so I'm not sure what that make me (still a monster to some, best mom ever to my boys).  But I do have more plans.  Bike rides, cool science experiments, reading for 30 minutes a day (they tried to talk me down to 15 minutes, but I held firm -- I'm really such a hard ass). This time, I resolve to follow through on all of them.  :-)

First, though, I wanted to share my recipe for strawberry ice cream.  Earlier this month, I went berry picking with some friends (without the kids!) and came home with 4 pounds of strawberries.  That is an insane amount of berries that would need to be consumed in about two days (they turn fast on you!), so I was working them into everything I could think of: smoothies, salads, syrup for waffles, peanut butter and strawberry sandwiches, and, of course, just snacking. I still ended up freezing some, but I was able to use a lot up making this version of strawberry ice cream.  The best part is that you didn't have to cook anything (no eggs), yet it stayed creamy because of the small amount of vodka that I added.

So, if you find yourself with a ton of strawberries, do yourself a favor and make this.  Or go out and get yourself some strawberries on purpose and make this.  I don't care, but you should give this thing a try! It's easy, has great strawberry flavor, and your family will love you even more than they already do!

They especially love me when I let them clean out the ice cream maker.  :-)

Gadget alert: You will need an ice cream maker for this

Marna's Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, cleaned and hulled (green tops cut off)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup regular coconut milk (not "lite")
1/2 cup 2 % milk (you could use whole if you wanted, but not any lower milk fat percentage, otherwise the ice cream will get "icy" rather than creamy)
pinch salt
2-inch piece of vanilla bean
1 Tbsp Cake-flavored vodka
1 cup coarsely chopped strawberries

Note: you can substitute a Tbsp of pure vanilla extract, if you don't have the vanilla bean and cake-flavored vodka, but that vodka is delicious and I highly recommend you buy some.  :-)

Combine the 1 1/2 cups of hulled strawberries and sugar in a food processor and blend together. It's okay if there are some strawberry chunks, but it should mostly be smooth.  Set strawberry mixture aside.

In a medium (at least 4 cup capacity) bowl, combine the heavy cream, coconut milk (be sure especially to get the hardened "cream" on the top of the coconut milk can, if there is any), milk, salt, and vodka. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out of the insides of the bean.  Add the vanilla bean seeds to the milk mixture.

Combine the milk mixture with the strawberry puree, then chill the mixture at least an hour in the refrigerator (as long as overnight).  Once thoroughly chilled, add the milk/strawberry mixture to your ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

While the mixture churns, spread the 1 cup of coarsely chopped strawberries in a single layer on a sheet pan, then freeze for 10 minutes.

 After the ice cream has churned about 15 minutes, add the frozen strawberry chunks (break up any large chunks before adding to the mixture in the ice cream maker. Continue churning in the ice cream maker for another five minutes or so (until the ice cream is at "soft serve" consistency). Turn off ice cream maker, then transfer ice cream from freezer bowl to an airtight container.  Freeze until desired firmness (for us it was about another hour).

Enjoy!  It was particularly good with chocolate sauce and sliced almonds.  :-)

Asian Week

So my older son, the more adventurous eater, requested "Asian Week" at our house, partly based on the pictures he saw of the May 2014 Cooking Light magazine I was reading (they did look good -- see below).  They did a feature with "quick" recipes, including a few Asian-inspired, so I thought I would give it a try.  I only had it in me to do three nights, though, because there are lots of ingredients and trying to do all the prep for 5 nights seemed a little daunting, given that my kids have soccer practice 4 out of those 5 weekday nights.  So quiche and pancakes provided our non-Asian filler for the week.

The recipes were really pretty simple, and the only ingredient that I couldn't find was powdered peanut butter. The magazine article made it sound so simple, that it could be found "with the peanut butter." Uhhh, no - and I looked in both the regular and natural foods sections of our Wegmans, which tends to have a lot of specialty items.  I should have known better, since I had never even heard of it, but it was also something I had never had to look for, but, being the peanut butter fan that I am, I was pretty surprised to learn about an entirely new peanut butter product of which I had never heard.  :-)

I was seduced, however, by the misleading optimistic "hands on" and "total cooking" time estimates.  When they list, for example, "1/2 red onion, chopped" they do not count the chopping time into the preparation time, at least as far as I can tell.  And for Asian food, that can add a lot more time (lots of peeling and chopping of ginger, lemon grass, herbs, vegetables, measuring out of sauce ingredients), say, 15 or 20 more minutes.  So that 30 minute recipe that sounds so simple turns into a 45 minute race to get a meal on the table before the kids have to leave for soccer practice.

Another tip for Asian cooking: be sure to have all your ingredients prepped and measured (including the spices and liquids) before you start (although you should heat your pan as you're prepping so that it's ready to go), because once you start cooking, it does go pretty fast.

The first night I made Sweet and Sour Chicken, which had the elusive powdered peanut butter ingredient.  I just left it out and added a little extra flour.  I should have left the coating off altogether, because I thought all it did was get everything else all gummy and glue-y.  The rest of the family liked it, though, so I will probably make this again...just without coating the chicken.




The next recipe was the Vietnamese Caramel Pork. I really liked this, and so did everyone else.  Good flavor, although I have to admit I didn't use the brown sugar.  I had some leftover homemade caramel sauce that I used instead.  Still yummy!



And finally, the Thai Shrimp Curry was my favorite, even if I realized too late that I didn't have the right curry paste, so I punted, using Penzey's Sweet Curry blended with some Thai chili paste that I did have have.  Still was really good.  The color was just a little off <<shrugging it off>>.  No one said I had to be perfect, right?



(All photos from the Cooking Light recipe website)

Austin Eats and Drinks

I recently traveled to Austin, TX with a bunch of friends to meet back up with one of our friends who had moved to Texas last year.  We traveled from Connecticut, Washington, and Virginia, so it was kind of a big deal to get us all together at the same place and time. It was great to get together and eat, drink, shop and talk.  I've been to Austin before and love the laid-back, artsy vibe of the place.  I had not, however, been to the South Congress (SoCo) neighborhood, which is where we stayed this time.  We were only there for 2 and a half days, but I could have spent the whole time just exploring this neighborhood, I loved it so much!

First, a shout out to the folks at  Verde Camp, where we stayed.  Great accommodations (despite the large bird population that kept me up at night -- owls -- and early mornings -- I think they were mourning doves) and friendly proprietors, who live across the street from our bungalows.  Because we were seven people, we kind of took over the place, with three of us staying in the Cloud House (which slept 3), and the other four splitting up between the other two bungalows, which slept 2 each. I highly recommend staying there if you are traveling to Austin.

Part of the camp (the Cloud House, where I stayed, is on the right). Loving the sign and cactus!

Cloud House

Fire Pit (we didn't light any fires, though), and the third house our group stayed in the background/right.

This is the inside of the Cloud House. Isn't it cute? You can see a bit of the loft and on the left you can see the (closed) door to the bathroom and the (open) doorway that leads into the bedroom.

As I admitted in my last post, I didn't take a whole lot of food pictures, so you'll have to take my word for it, but the food was great! The first night we went to Guero's Taco Bar, which was within walking distance of Verde Camp.  Of course, I got a taco palate, especially when the server told me that I could order one of each of the tacos I was considering: the Al Pastor and the Chicken Al Carbon.  Both were delicious!  Wish I could have explored the menu even more, but I will definitely make it back there next time I'm in town.


 (photo from Jo's website)

We were also within walking distance of a great coffee shop (really a take out counter, because there is no interior space to sit inside, although there is covered seating outside) with fabulous baked goods. Jo's Coffee Good Food had great coffee, but also offered other drinks, such as the refreshing concoction called a Laura Palmer (it's not listed on their regular menu).  It's an iced tea drink that is pink, and refreshing and delicious!  I also tried one of their breakfast tacos and enjoyed every bite, despite the grackle that tried to make off with it.  Scared the crap out of my friend, though.  :-)

We didn't do a whole lot of barbeque, either, but did make it to a place in downtown Austin called Lamberts Downtown Barbeque. I got the Brown Sugar and Coffee Rubbed Natural Brisket with sides of collard greens and their jicama and carrot slaw (I also tasted their ranch style baked beans, which they brought by mistake but let me keep), which I really enjoyed -- great flavor, nice smoke ring, even the fat had great flavor!

This is our group of ladies after a delicious lunch!

 
(photo from Doc's website))

While  Doc's Bar & Grill had your "typical" bar food, they also had great salads.  My friends enjoyed the Blackened Fish Salad, while I really liked the Sunset Valley Salad (grilled chicken, sliced oranges, Granny Smith apples, avocado, onions, and cilantro on house green with a sesame dressing). Their drinks were really good, too.  We all fell in love with the "Austin Sipper" (I don't remember what was in it) and I had a lovely pecan-infused smoked whiskey on the rocks that really hit the spot at the end of the day.
 

 (photo from Hey Cupcake!'s website)

I am a big fan of food truck cuisine: so fun, so mobile.  :-)  So, when we saw the  Hey Cupcake! cupcake trailer right on the corner near where we were staying, I had to indulge!  We got the half-dozen mini cupcakes to share, plus the John Lemon -- because I'm a sucker for lemon.  They were very good (and I'm kind of a snob when it comes to baked goods, especially cupcakes, which can be done so poorly or get over-hyped for just being average).  Anyway, the John Lemon was really good, as were the chocolate cupcakes, the strawberry, the red velvet and the carrot cake.  The only one I was only lukewarm about was the Vanilla Dream -- way too sweet for my taste.

Of course, we made time for shopping and two great shops were within walking distance.

  Parts and Labour


(photo from Parts & Labour's blog)

I loved this store! Lots of funky clothes, t-shirts, jewelry and gift items all made by Texas-based artists and crafters.  I bought some fun coasters and a cute kitchen towel with a print of (of course) a food truck.  Wish I had more time to browse through the jewelry, but my friends had moved on to other stores, so I had to catch up.

 


(image from Allen Boots' website)

Of course, it wouldn't be a trip to Texas if we didn't go boot shopping, and  Allens Boots had an amazing selection of high-quality boots.  I worked up a sweat trying on so many pairs!  Alas, it was not meant to be for me, but one of our group did find a beautiful pair. The staff there is great (and with boots literally stacked to the ceiling, you will need their help at some point). This place is not to be missed!

We did manage to do a couple of things that didn't involve eating, shopping or drinking.  Austin boasts a number of parks and outdoor areas to enjoy that big blue sky.  Barton Springs Pool, located within Zilker Park, is a pool fed by natural springs right in the city, just a 10 minute drive from Verde Camp.  Very reasonable (I think I paid a $4 entry fee for the day) and it is a great way to relax.  The day we went, they were doing some improvements to the grounds, so where you could normally lay out on the grass, it was roped off, so it got kind of crowded, because everyone was relegated to the concrete walkway and the rock outcroppings, but it was still really nice!

So lovely and cool on a warm day!

Austin is also known for the bats that roost under the Congress Avenue Bridge, so we had to try and see it.  Here is a picture of what it CAN look like: 

(Image from blogger Army Galpal, who clearly had a better sighting than we did.  Check out her blog post on it and for more on Austin)

Unfortunately, the night we went, it turned out to be kind of a bust, because they didn't fly out till it was pretty dark (making them hard to see), and even then, it was only, like, five or six at a time.  Apparently, there were a number of pregnant females that stayed under the bridge, or so we were told by someone who we assumed knew about such things.  Anyway, sat in a park that is located underneath the bridge right next to the river, and had fun just sitting and talking while we waited for the bats, so it wasn't really a waste of time. The point of the trip was to hang out with friends, which is exactly what we did.

So if you are ever lucky enough to find yourself in Austin, you should definitely check out the South Congress neighborhood.  I loved it!

Banana Coconut Cake Supreme

Wow! I know that I hadn't blogged in a while, but my last post was March 30.  Sorry guys!! April was really a blur, and May hasn't shaped up to be any less hectic, but I resolve to do better by you!  It might mean that I do something a little different -- sometimes not doing actual recipes but maybe blogging about great food I've eaten.  Like in Austin, TX, where I just was for a girls' weekend.  Of course, being the idiot that I am, I took very few pictures, and really only one of food, but I will put something together on that and make the best of it.

Anyway, I started this one about banana cake so long ago, but I don't even remember what my inspiration was.  Possibly overripe bananas, but I really shouldn't assume that, because I am ok just putting those in the freezer to save for smoothies and such.  My best guess is that it might have been buttermilk that I needed to use up.  Anywhoooo....

This recipe is a lesson in reading comments BEFORE making something you find on-line (I am horribly guilty of reading comments AFTER, which does no one any good at all).  So, assuming I needed to use up ripe bananas and/or buttermilk, I found this recipe, which looked delish and fit the bill (Or is it "filled the bill"? One of these days I am going to look up the actual, correct expression) on Food Network.  The comments, however, were not really keen on using the coconut custard as a filling and a frosting (which is how the original recipe made it), so I figured I would go one better: coconut custard filling with cream cheese frosting.  Sounded good to me!

The only thing I really altered was the coconut custard, because I didn't need the full recipe.  The cake turned out really well in general, but if I was making it for myself, I would have added walnuts to the cake batter (black walnuts if I had 'em -- black walnuts and banana are AWESOME!!) and shredded coconut to the custard to up the coconut flavor, but when I make something to share with kids, I always err on the side of caution and just leave nuts out.

Also, don't be intimidated by the idea of a layer cake.  It can take some practice getting the layers to line up right, and the bottom layer should have the top of the cake on the bottom (leaving the flatter part of the cake layer facing up), while the top layer should have the bottom of that layer facing the bottom of the top layer.  I know, it sounds confusing, but just think of it this way: always have the flat bottom parts of each layer facing each other. Granted, it gets tricky when you have more than two layers, but we won't get into that right now.

My best advice is to never, ever skip lining the cake pans. I know it's kind of a pain in the ass, but better to spend a couple extra minutes on the front end than trying to doctor together broken cake layers. Now I always line the cake pans with parchment, because the few times I thought I could get away with it and skip that step, the cakes always stuck.  If only I could learn from my other mistakes so well…  ;-)

This cake is pretty easy to make, even if there are a few components to it.  The cake layers and the custard can be made a day ahead of time, which makes it a little easier to tackle.

 As you can see, everyone liked the results:

Banana Coconut Cake Supreme

(adapted from a recipe on Food Network)

Banana Coconut Cake: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/banana-coconut-cake-recipe.html

Make the cake from the linked recipe

Coconut Custard: 1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
scant 1/4 cup cornstarch (1/4 cup minus 1 tablespoon)

Whisk together the sugar and cornstarch until there are no lumps, then add the eggs and milk. Whisk until combined.  In a small saucepan (one or two quarts) heat the coconut milk until small bubbles appear around the edges of the milk in the pan (use medium/low heat).  Slowly (about 1/8 of a cup at a time) add the egg/sugar/cornstarch mixture, whisking well after each addition (fancy cooking term: this is called "tempering" the eggs so that they get heated slowly and get fully incorporated with the other ingredients and don't turn into scrambled eggs).

Keep whisking and cooking the custard over low heat until it has thickened. I tried to get a picture of it, but it's hard to do one-handed:











Once the custard has thickened, pour into a bowl, top with plastic wrap (this keeps the custard from forming a "skin"), and allow to cool completely.  You can make this ahead and chill in the fridge up to 3 days.

Cream Cheese Frosting: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/cream-cheese-frosting-recipe.html

Again, I just made this straight up, no alterations.

Now, the trick is in the assembly.  I took one layer and put it on the platter, then spread all of the coconut custard on, then put the second layer on top of that. Then I chilled it for 20 minutes.

As you can see, much plastic wrap gave its life to make this thing. :-) 

Then I did a "crumb coat" of frosting (where you put a thin layer of frosting all around to keep crumbs from mixing in with the rest of the frosting). Like this:

If you do a crumb coat, put it in the fridge to set up for a few minutes (10 should be enough), then continue to frost the rest of the cake.

1/4 cup toasted coconut (for decoration) (To toast coconut, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, then put coconut a small baking sheet in a shallow layer. Stir occasionally, about every 5-7 minutes, until the coconut is a light tan)

















I then took some of the coconut and decorated the edge of the cake:

:-)

Happy Baking!!