Waaaay back in high school, I made friends with a girl named Kristin whose mother, Mrs. C, also happened to be my chemistry teacher. Mrs. C became a sort of surrogate mother when I was on campus during school. Had a bad day? She was always waiting with a hug. Shit hit the fan with a history teacher my junior year? Totally there to help me figure out what to do next. Forgot lunch or lunch money? She generally let me riffle through her lunch for food. I also much lived in her classroom.

Her daughter, Kristin is a spitting image of her mother. A nicer, more caring, more empathetic 20something I have yet to meet. She is currently doing her masters in counseling (I think) at Saint Mary’s (I know). She wants to be high school counselor, and I can’t think of anyone who is better suited for that job. If she cares, she cares deeply. If you decide to do something that makes you happy she’ll be there cheering and encouraging you all the way through, which is what I think a lot of high school students need.

Now every Christmas I go over to Mrs. C’s house and make Pioneer Woman’s cinnamon rolls, albeit with a few modifications, with Kristin. The dough we make per the recipe, but the filling we use about half the sugar and butter and for the frosting we make about half to 2/3 of what the recipe calls for. Everything still works out and tastes delicious, but the rolls just aren’t swimming in the frosting.

I blogged about the rolls last year – but this year I got some pretty pictures and I  wanted to update the amount of things we used to be more accurate. This year was as tasty as last year. There is always some downtime with making the dough: the milk, vegetable oil and sugar all have to be mixed together, then scalded, and then cooled which takes about 45 minutes to an hour. After that cooling period, you throw in the yeast and let that sit for a minute or so. Then the dry ingredients get mixed in, and then you let it sit in a warm place until it’s doubled in size which is about an hour. So there’s about 2 hours of inactive time which is just fine with me because it gives plently of time for Kristin and me to catch up! This year we chatted and watched White Christmas  which I’d never seen before.

After we rolled out the dough we put about 1/2 a cup of butter on the rolled out portion and then go more-or-less hog wild with the cinnamon and only sprinkle about half cup to 2/3 cup of sugar over the dough. Then you roll everything up into a nice neat package, which isn’t as hard as you think it would be, and start slicing.

As a perk to making the rolls at Kristin’s house I get  to look out their kitchen and see this view:Isn’t that an awesome view?

The overall flavor reminds me of Cinnabon cinnamon rolls but better. I think it’s the frosting that makes them. The maple frosting seems less cloyingly sweet then Cinnabon’s frosting. The maple also adds a nice flavor that I don’t normally seek out – I’m not a huge maple fan but it works with the rolls.

Mr. C was home by the time we started baking so he, of course, had to taste one right after they’d been frosted. They won his approval just like last year – so at least Kristin and I know we’re consistent! The recipe makes about 36 rolls, I put them in disposable pie pans with six rolls in each. This year we decided to test how they taste after freezing (bake, ice, and then freeze – reheat in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes) and they tasted just as good as fresh out of the oven.

The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls
The filling and frosting have been cut in half to reflect what Kristin and I actually do
Ever so slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl

Dough

1 quart Whole Milk
1 cup Vegetable Oil
1 cup Sugar
2 packages Active Dry Yeast, 4.5 teaspoons
8 cups (Plus 1 Cup Extra, Separated) All-purpose Flour
1 heaping teaspoon Baking Powder
1 scant teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Tablespoon Salt

Filling

1 cup butter – more if needed
1 cup sugar – more if needed
Generous sprinkling Of Cinnamon

Maple Frosting

1 pound Powdered Sugar
1.5 teaspoons Maple Flavoring
.25 cups Milk
3 tablespoons Melted Butter
1/8 cups Brewed Coffee
pinch teaspoons Salt

Extra melted butter for the pans

Dough

In a large pot mix together the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar. Heat over medium heat until it’s just about to boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 45 minutes to an hour or until the mixture is about body temperature (you should be able to leave your finger in mixture and have it feel warm but not hot).

Pour in the yeast and allow to proof for a few minutes. While the yeast is proofing measure out 8 cups of flour. Mix flour and yeast-milk mixture. Cover and allow to sit in a warm place to double in size – about an hour.

Mix in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the last cup of flour. Remove half the dough (if you’re feeling overly neurotic you can weigh the dough or you can just eyeball it) and roll it out til the dough measures about 30″ by 10″.

Filling

Pour 1/2 cup of the melted butter over rolled out dough. Sprinkle cinnamon generously over the butter. Then sprinkle 1/2 cup of the sugar over the cinnamon – use more if you need to.  Starting from the 30″ edge roll towards yourself until the entire thing is rolled. Pinch the seam to secure the roll. Cut in to 1.5″ slices.

Pour a little bit of the extra butter into pie pans. And arrange the slices in the pan being careful to not overcrowd them – they expand! Set aside for 20 minutes.

Repeat for the second half the dough.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake for 13-17 minutes or until golden brown.

Frosting

Mix together the powdered sugar, milk, butter, coffee and salt. Then add the maple flavoring. You can tinker with adding more of any of the ingredients to get the flavor you’d like – the frosting, in the end, should be think but still pourable.

After the rolls come out of the oven, pour the icing over the rolls.

Enjoy!

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Having this blog gets me to make things I wouldn’t ever think to buy in a store. Case in point: marshmallows. They aren’t very flavorful when they’re from the store, but homemade has this light airy texture and FLAVOR. And they taste way better in hot coco than regular marshmallows. I also think that homemade marshmallows melt more quickly into your hot coco but I could be completely wrong.

As an aside: what the difference between hot coco, hot chocolate, and hot cocoa? Anyone know? I’ve always been kind of confused.

Anyway, don’t be scared of homemade marshmallows. I really believe they’re easier than brownies. Yes, I typed that correctly. Easier than brownies. For the marshmallows there are only two things you might not have lying around your kitchen: corn syrup and a candy thermometer. Woah, woah, woah! Don’t leave. Yes, I said thermometer, but it really does take all the guess work out of it and makes the whole thing super simple.

The recipe itself, from Ezra Pound Cake, is mostly hands off and the most time consuming thing is the waiting for the marshmallows to dry. Once the sugar is dissolved you don’t stir the pot at all so all you have to do is watch the temperature to make sure you turn off the heat at the right point. After the sugar is cooked to 240°F, you add it to the gelatin that has been blooming (I used Knox Original Gelatin) and just whip the holy bajesus out of it.

Marshmallows always reminds me that I really really need to get a handheld mixer. You want to get your egg whites whipped as close to the time you need to add them to fluff as possible. I always have to whip them first then set them aside and then refluff them right before adding by had since I don’t have a hand mixer. Boo. After adding the egg whites you add whatever flavor extract you want to the fluff.

When removing the fluff for drying its VERY important to spray your spatula with Pam (or whatever spay oil makes you happy). The fluff won’t stick to it and you can spread it around. I end up respraying the spatula a few times, but it really does make all the difference. For the mini marshmallows like these ones, I used a jelly roll pan in order to be able to spread the fluff thin enough.

For the red swirls right after spreading out the fluff quickly drop some red food dye on to the top of the marshmallows and then using a wooden skewer swirl the red food dye around the marshmallows. I’ve found that I have to do this fairly quickly or the marshmallows start to set up.

The entire cooking process takes about 40 minutes with the bulk of it waiting for the sugar to reach 240ºF.  With it being this easy, why buy marshmallows ever again? Homemade are simple and way tastier!

Homemade Mini Marshmallows

From Ezra Pound Cake
1 cup powdered sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup hot water (around 115°F, about 15 seconds in the microwave)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites (or meringue powder reconstituted according to the manufacturer’s directions)
2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (or any other extract flavor. I used peppermint)

Spray a jelly roll pan (for mini) or 9×13 (for regular/thick) with oil (such as Pam) and dust with powdered sugar.

In the bowl where you’ll actually whip the marshmallows, place the cold water and gelatin and allow to bloom while you cook the sugar.

In a heavy or medium sauce pan combine the hot water, corn syrup, salt, and sugar. Over low heat stir the mixture until the sugar completely dissolved. Clip in the thermometer. Over medium heat cook the sugar mixture to 240°F.

Pour the cooked sugar mixture into the mixer bowl that has the gelatin and mix, using the whisk attachment, on high until the mixture has tripled in volume and looks glossy. It will fill most of the bowl. In another bowl (and either a clean whisk or using a handheld mixer) beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Add the egg whites and extract to the marshmallow fluff and mix until they’re just combined.

Spray your spatula with oil and scrape the fluff into your prepared pan. You may have to respray your spatula a few times. Sift some powdered sugar over the top and allow to sit for at least 3 hours. I usually let it sit overnight.

If swirling in some food coloring, drop small amounts of food dye all over the top and quickly swirl using a red food dye. Then dust with  powdered sugar and allow to firm up.

Once dried out, take a small knife and run it around the edges and then dump it out onto a clean work surface and cut into whatever size/shape you’d like. Toss each cut marshmallow in some powdered sugar to make sure they don’t stick.

Enjoy!

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Then, earlier this year my friend Lulu was in Scottland and sent me a postcard from this set, which in turn came from this book Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston’s Tea Rooms, with a recipe for Scottish Shortbread cookies. I’m all for recipes on postcards so I decided to put it somewhere safe so I could make it the next time I had the time to bake some cookies.

Friends, that safe place? Its a lie. A trap. Don’t put anything in a safe place. I lost that dang postcard and had to try every search I could think of to find that post card (which led me to the book, so hurrah!). Luckily I found the recipe again and was able to make it.

The recipe itself is fairly simple but incorporates semolina flour which I have never seen before in a shortbread recipe. Granted, I don’t look too closely at shortbread recipes because as I mentioned before I’ve never been a fan. But, these cookies have won me over. I’m assuming its the semolina in the mixture that gives it a light, crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth flavor that I just haven’t found in other recipes.

It doesn’t take too long to make up a batch of these cookies, since its just flour, semolina, sugar and butter. The most important thing about this recipe, I feel, is that your butter has to be at room temperature. I’m totally guilty of forgetting to take out butter early enough so it’s room temperature by the time I need it, but since it’s the only thing holding the flours and sugar together you want to make sure its easy to combine everything.

The longest part is mixing everything together to form the dough – at first it’ll look like its just going to be a crumbly mess, but keep going! You’ll be rewarded with an awesome dough.  The recipe says to make it into a disk and cut into 8 wedges…well you COULD do that. But then you’d only have 8 pieces. And I’ll eat all 8 pieces without thinking about it. So, I used my little disher to make lots of little cookies. Which are just adorable because they’re little and everything is much more cute when they’re smaller.

I also liked that the disher makes them slightly rounded on top rather than just flat. You could smoosh them down after they come out of the disher but then it takes an extra 30 seconds per cookie dough ball and that adds up quickly. I just want them to get into the oven and then into my mouth. Yum. This way they’re also perfect for an afternoon tea…or a midnight tea if they last that long. They’re really just perfect at anytime. Much like bagel bites. Only better.

Scottish Shortbread

Taking Tea with Mackintosh: The Story of Miss Cranston’s Tea Rooms

This recipe serves as a perfect base for any flavored shortbread. I love to mix the zest of a lemon or orange into the mixing bowl before I start combining everything.

200 grams/8 ounces/2 cups flour
50 grams/2 ounces/.5 cup semolina flour
75 grams/4 ounces/ 2/3 cups sugar
150 grams/8 ounces/2 sticks butter

Preheat oven to 325. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment mix everything together until it forms a dough. Once dough is formed use a small disher (#70) or a tablespoon to make uniform balls. Place on parchment and bake for 25-30 minutes. Cookies will not brown much – just the edges!

Allow to cool on cooling rack.

You may also like:

1. Gluten Free Pecan Shortbread
2. Holiday Recipe Exchange: Russian Tea Cookies
3. Lemon Custard Creams
4. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Things that help Rene-cicles? Soups. Lots and lots of soups. Luckily last week, even though it wasn’t that cold out, I really wanted a minestrone-style soup minus the noodles…which just becomes a bean soup. Delicious bean soup.  With the sudden drop in temperatures around here, it was fortuitous that I made up some bean soup last week.

I have awesome memories of my mom making chicken noodle soup for me when I sick and her version of split pea soup was my first encounter with the stuff, and still remains my favorite. My dad also made soups but he liked bean soups, Navy Bean Soup and Ham Hock and Beans. Except after Thanksgiving. Then he makes this amazing turkey noodle soup with broth that’s made from the barbequed turkey carcass so it has this wonderful smokey flavor to it. This year I hope to photograph it and share it with everyone :).

This 3 bean soup definitely warms you up from the insides out and not just because its soup; I added some crushed red peppers to it for an additional kick. A definite perk of this soup is that its fast and easy. I used canned black, red kidney, and cannellini beans rinsing them all thoroughly to remove as much of the salt as possible.

I cooked the onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms in a garlic infused olive oil that my roommate has from Costco. Seriously it makes any dish taste amazing.

Since,in my mind, I was going for a minestrone-style soup itself was simply seasoned with some salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, lots and lots of garlic, lemon zest and juice, and the aforementioned red crushed peppers for heat. After finishing the last bowl of soup, I wished I had put some earthy sort of spice in the mix too; it seemed like the soup was missing something. I’ll definitely throw in a bay leaf or two the next time I make it. Maybe some cumin? Cinnamon might be an inspired choice too. What spice/spices would you add to the soup for a more earthy flavor?

The lemon was kind of a last second addition. I absolutely love citrus and the lemons added a nice note of brightness to the soup. It also made the soup not feel as heavy as it could have been. That being said, its definitely a snuggle-under-the-blanket kind of soup. Perfect for those chilly nights ahead!

This soup also has the perk of being infinitely  customizable. Don’t like spice? Cut back or completely leave out the crushed red peppers. Want it to be vegetarian? Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. Not a huge fan of garlic? Cut back on the cloves used! Although, every time someone on campus tells me I look like Bella Swan from Twilight I eat a clove a garlic.

3 Bean Soup

1 tablespoon garlic infused olive oil
1 medium onion diced
1 lb mushrooms sliced
4 medium carrots cut into rounds
4 medium celery cut into rounds
1 can each: black beans, red kidney beans, canellini beans – drained and rinsed.
1 can petite diced tomatoes with their juices
1 box chicken stock
3-4 garlic cloves chopped
2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon crushed red peppers
1 lemon, zested and juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, warm garlic infused olive oil. Once warmed add in the onions and allow to cook while chopping the carrots and celery. Once the onions are translucent add in the carrots and celery. While those are cooking rinse and slice the mushrooms. Add in the mushrooms and continue to cook for about 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are cooked. Once everything is almost completely cooked turn off the burner and remove from heat.

2. In a large pot pour in chicken stock and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Add in the cooked vegetables. Add in the drained and rinsed beans. Add in seasonings, red peppers, lemon juice and zest. Stir to mix. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook until the vegetables are fork tender. Adjust seasonings to fit your taste once done.

You may also like:

1. My Mother Sabotaged My Soup
2. Lentil Soup
3. Basic, Basic Potato Leek Soup

I’m weird. And slightly neurotic.

But this isn’t a post about any sort of accounting nonsense; I think I’d lose everyone on that post. Eyes would glaze over, brains would go numb, people will wonder how accounting students stay awake in their classes (lots and lots of coffee).

This is a post about a friend’s baby shower from the beginning of the month with a fun medical twist! (For me, not for Erin pictured in purple).

Photo curtsey of Suzy Hall Jurgensen.

I helped my friend Alaina make a whole mess of food for the party of about 25 people. We had things like croissant sandwiches, pasta and fruit salads, spanakopita (probably the best thing EVER – and from Costco) and lots and lots of baked goods.

Grab a cup of coffee/tea/water cause this is gonna be a long post.

I, oh so awesomely, decided to start with the hardest thing first: brioche. That ended up not being the hardest thing – go figure. Tuesdays with Dorie did a brioche recipe about a month ago so I actually used the tagging system in Google Reader and tagged it for the shower. Planning ahead? Will wonders ever cease?

I saw that Bridget from The Way the Cookie Crumbles made them in a mini muffin pan and thought that would be perfect for a baby shower. Unfortunately Alaina didn’t have a mini muffin pan so I improvised; I just rolled the dough into smallish balls and cooked them like that. It worked out great – not as great as if I had the mini muffin pan but well enough :). Then some I left plain – and they were like heaven in a roll. Then, I decided to get fancy: I dipped about half of them into melted butter and then dipped them into a cinnamon sugar mixture. I actually forgot to eat one of the fancy dancey ones :(.

The dough takes some prep since it’s yest dough, but really it was hands off. Now that these turned out well, I have a lot more confidence to try making croissants. If you have a favorite recipe, or any tips! Let me know in the comments! Or just send me an email :).

The second thing I made were homemade Ding Dongs. Why? Because I’m crazy. The original recipe from Adrianna from A Cozy Kitchen looked easy enough and pretty freaking fantastic, so I had to give it a try even though I’m more of a Ho-Ho kinda kid than a Ding Dong kinda kid. Adrianna made a full cake and then used a round biscuit cutter to cut out the final Ding Dong shape, but I decided that I would first make cupcakes then peel off the wrapper so I could make the most of the batter. Now I realize why she cut them from a cake round – you need the the sides to be perfectly flush so the glaze will run down the sides nicely.They still worked out nicely, I’m going to make them again and either make sure the cupcakes don’t rise above the wrapper or cut off the edges of the cupcakes.

These went very very quickly, and from what I heard the filling was awesome too! Yay! I didn’t get one, I was too busy pigging out on pasta salad and croissant sandwiches. Whoops.

I also made these yellow cupcakes from Deb over at Smitten Kitchen, which I’ve blogged about before here. I made a whipped cream frosting that was tinted green and had peppermint extract in it  and then I whipped the chocolate ganache (from the Ding Dongs) but it didn’t quite work out like I had planned. I had had to make the ganache without a scale so I don’t think it had quite the right ratio. The underlying cake, however, is ALWAYS a huge hit when I make it. The recipe is essentially a from scratch version of Duncan-Hines’ yellow cake mix and it is part of my normal baking list for events.

Here is some of the other food, that I didn’t help make so I don’t really remember what was in them but here’s a quick rundown: fruit salad, spanakopita (from Costco), lemonade – Erin is obsessed with lemons, and iced tea, and finally a really good pasta salad with pesto from Costco. We also had some croissant sandwiches which I didn’t get a picture of because I totally spaced, because I found out the next day I’m terribly allergic to a family of antibiotics which made my entire face swell up.

Friends, I HAD NO EYES. Or bridge in my nose for that matter. I looked like something out of Star Trek or Battle Star Galatica. Yes, I’m an epic epic nerd. So all of the pictures for the day were taken with very stingy eyes. Here I thought I’d somehow burnt my eyes from the oven from opening and closing the oven so often the day before. Silly, silly kid. Luckily it wasn’t life threatening but it did put me out of mind with benadryl and zytrec for about 36 hours. So. Much. Fun. I do have a picture of it, which when I showed my dad all he had to say was “you look terrible in that picture!” My response you ask? “Yeah! I was having an allergic reaction!” We had a good laugh about it.

**The recipes are available by clicking on the links in the post. I feel like this post is long enough without three rather long recipes in it as well. It also gives you a chance to check out three awesome bloggers! (And an older post from me!)**

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There are four trainers that teach all the classes and they all make an effort to learn everyone’s name and any limitations they have  due to injuries. For example, I have messed up lower back and both my wrists are obnoxious, I left for about a year and when I came back they still remembered who I was by name and my injuries. Seriously awesome.

They have spin, sculpt, boot camp, Pilates and Zumba classes and you’ve never laughed your way through so many exercises. Most days the hour goes by very quickly and everyone who works out there are very friendly and inviting. Not only do they have workout classes, but they also offer lifestyle/food workshops.

Probably one of my favorite aspects of  Healthy Habits is that since the classes are so small you can ask the trainers things like “what are you having for dinner?”. A few months ago I was able to get a few recipes and I’ve just started to get around to making them.

The first one I made was the apple pie oatmeal since I just want it to fall already. Cooler weather! Yeah! The recipe called for chopped pieces of walnuts which I knew we had, but they have somehow wandered away so I sadly didn’t get any walnuts. But even without the walnuts, the oatmeal was very satisfying and definitely had an apple pie like flavor that put me in the mood for fall.

I had never thought of putting cinnamon on oatmeal before; my family does oatmeal, raisins and brown sugar with milk. The cinnamon added a nice spice and the apple bits added a great crunch to the oatmeal.

Apple Pie Oatmeal

From Healthy Habits Studio

1/2 c. cooked oatmeal (made with water or skim, almond or light soy milk, if desired)
4 apple slices cut into bite sized pieces
sprinkle of cinnamon
1 tsp. chopped walnuts

Cook oatmeal, add in apples and walnuts and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Enjoy!

You may also like:

1. Oatmeal Cinnamon Raisin Bread
2. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
3. Apple Cinnamon Rolls
4. Apple Turnovers
5. Apple Butter

Last Tuesday I was given the opportunity to check out a Dishcrawl in San Jose at the Fairmont Hotel which had just finished their remodel. The hotel itself was just beautiful and surprisingly not very echo-y for how large the space was. There were two pianists that used iPads for  their sheet music which I thought was pretty nifty. The entry space had a beautiful chandelier hanging over a central lounge area – I have a love affair with chandeliers so I’m pretty much enamored with any space that has one. All the employees were very nice and did everything they could to make sure we were well taken care of.

The check in for Dishcrawl was a simple folding table set up right before the lounge, and everyone was given a menu and divided into three groups – blue, green and pink. We were able to wander the lounge and get drinks at the bar (holy batman, that bar has pretty much every kind of booze), watch sushi being made and mingle with the other guests.

Tracy is on the left – say hi to her when you go!

While mingling I ran into Tracy who runs/founded Dishcrawl. She is one of the nicest people ever, hands down. I had emailed her, no lie, at least a dozen times the day before trying to get my coupon code to work she even made me my own code at one point to see if that worked. But no, it didn’t, so she talked to the web development team and then emailed me when to try it again. Seriously awesome customer service! She also happens to shoot Canon, which is what I use, and she helped me with my camera settings so I could get pictures in the dim lighting inside. Lesson learned – when shooting at f/1.4 and the pictures are still dark up the ISO! Awesome food AND impromptu camera lesson – amazing.

Sharon was fabulous!

After splitting off into our own groups – I was blue – we were greeted by our “tour guide” blue team’s guide was Sharon who was the perfect guide. She mingled with everyone and wandered from table to table asking what we liked best. And when it was time to go to the next restaurant it never felt rushed. One of the most fun thing (besides the food) about this event was meeting completely new people. Laurie and I met three ladies who had been friends since high school in Gilroy. After one moving to Arizona and life pulling everyone in different directions they all still make time to meet up and go out. How awesome is that? Totally rad.

Clockwise from noon: heirloom tomato shooter, house hickory smoked salmon, crab cake

Our first stop was the Fountain Restaurant which is The Fountain’s California cuisine restaurant. We were treated to three different things: house hickory smoked salmon blinis with caviar and creme fraiche, even though I’m not a huge smoked salmon fan I thought it was delicious; heirloom tomato shooter, the best gazpacho I’ve ever had; dungeness crab cake with basil aioli, oh my lord I was in heaven when I was eating this. The crab cake was crunchy on the outside and perfectly creamy on the inside and the basil aioli added a perfect fresh brightness to the cake to make feel light.

Gluten free! Figs, tomato shooter, and smoked salmon!

Laurie, who went with me, doesn’t eat gluten. But! The Fountain was amazing about it. I asked Cheri Shaw what things had gluten in them and which didn’t, Laurie and I had hoped that the buckwheat pancake that the salmon sat on didn’t contain regular flour but it did. So Cheri very graciously offered to make Laurie a gluten free plate that had just the salmon and caviar, gazpacho and some figs. For the warm afternoon the plate looked so refreshing and delicious.

Cheri Shaw, thank you for making a gluten free plate at a moments notice!

The Fountain is open from 6:30am to 2pm on weekdays and 7:00am to 2pm on weekends for breakfast and lunch. They also have a Sunday brunch that’s served from 10am to 1:30pm. From what I understand, it is a full service brunch at a fixed price of $44 per person. If I remember correctly, it was an all you can eat style brunch with the usual things and unusual brunch items like sushi. They also do have special occasion brunches for things like New Years and Mother’s Day. I definitely want to go back and try their brunch! They are also (as I mentioned before) very accommodating to different diets, if you have any restrictions just let them know and they’ll do their best to meet them!

Counter-clockwise: tuna and salmon nigiri, spider roll and unagi-hamachi roll (behind the tuna)

After the Fountain our second stop was The Lobby Lounge were we got to taste three different kinds of sushi: fresh tuna and salmon nigiri, delightful and super fresh; spider and unagi-hamachi roll, which were delightfully crispy from being fried by not overly heavy. I also got the lychee martini which was sweet and fruity at first but had a tootsie roll after taste. I’ll definitely order it again, but in case I didn’t feel like a tootsie roll the next time I’m in The Lobby Lounge has over 500 cocktail and martinis to choose from. They also offer up local wine and beer if cocktails and martinis aren’t your thing. The Lobby Lounge has light dishes all the way until midnight and with the relaxing atmosphere I could see myself losing track of time while dining and drinking with friends.

I want to marry those prawns.

The third stop was the Pagoda restaurant which treated us to dungeness crab egg drop soup, it was delightful but didn’t steal the show; honey walnut prawns, THESE stole the show. I wanted all of them; wok fried mango and mint chicken, the mint flavor up front was refreshing but it also had a delightful spice from the ginger mixed in; steamed jasmine rice, normal rice I loved it because jasmine rice is my favorite rice. Laurie and I were talking about how wonderful the shrimp were, the chef also commented that the dishes we were served were made with cornstarch, not flour, and brought some gluten free soy sauce out from the kitchen for Laurie.

So. Much. Dessert.

After all of that, we supposedly still had room for dessert which was up in the suites: The Presidential, The Fairmont, and the International. Sweets in the Suites, I love puns. OMG THE DESSERTS. There were SO MANY. One room had French pastries like elcares, fruit tarts, mango-fennel panna cotta (which Laurie liked, I tried it but I’m not a fan of that kind of texture but the favors were good!). Another room had a chocolate fountain with rice krispies, marshmellows and strawberries to stick in it, there were also truffles, and macaroons. In a third room there were mango, raspberry, lemon and peach sorbets. I loved the lemon and raspberry sorbets. I love peaches but I’ve never been a fan of peach sorbet and I only really like mangos dried because I’m incredibly weird, but I did try them and both of them had wonderful flavors and textures.

I think Dishcrawls are fabulous. The plates were small, but there was so much food I left completely stuffed. The servings were perfect for a nice taste of each restaurant. Tickets are $26 and the events start at 7pm and go til about 10pm. Its definitely a great way to find new restaurants; I’m looking forward to Dishcrawl coming back to Sacramento.

I would also recommend The Fairmont in San Jose to anyone who is looking for a hotel in that area, everything was wonderful I didn’t want to leave the hotel at the end of the night. At 10pm when they started cleaning up the desserts they didn’t make a fuss over people lingering, Laurie and I left around 10:15-10:20 and didn’t feel like we were being forced out. The wait staff, the chefs, the managers were all extremely pleasant and wanted to make sure that everyone was enjoying themselves. I wouldn’t hesitate to book a room there.

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Not, as my mother liked to call them “Whirled Peas”. That just sounds less than appetizing. Especially with cookies.

My friend Quinby gave me the recipe for these cookies after talking about how good there where. And since I trust her opinion on such things I took her word that these chocolatey goodness cookies really were quite good. So when she emailed me the recipe I starred it AND marked it as important (for ease of searching within gmail) for a when I actually decided to get around making them.

I’ve known Quinby since…2006? 2007? I think. Either way, I freaked her out when I first met her. I think I was operating on very little sleep which sends me in either of two directions 1) groggy, hateful person who doesn’t talk to anyone or 2) super hyper cheerleader-on-crack. I was in pathway 2 when I met her which fair enough for freaking her out. I got introduced said a very cheerful “Hello!!!!!” hugged her than bounced off.

Weirdo kid.

I’m glad she saw past that though, because Quinby is  one of my dearest friends that I have. Although I don’t get to see her nearly as much as I’d like since she spends most of her time in England. She’s a stud and got her undergrad at Cambridge University. She’s even applied to do her PhD work at Cambridge because she’s awesome.  So when she told me when she was leaving I knew I had to make some cookies for her before she left.

Besides, her kitchen has AWESOME light and I’ve wanted do shoot food there for AGES. So win win, she gets cookies and I get to take pictures!

She’s ditching me for the wilds of England come September 1^st, so I decided to make her World Peace cookies since she knew about Dorie Greenspan before me. I know, I know, I’m OVERLY late to the Dorie Greenspan party, but better late than never. Right? Yes? Hopefully.

The cookies were very chocolatey, Quinby mentioned they tasted differently than when she made them. Probably because I only had normal chocolate chips and when I measured out 5 ounces I decided that there wasn’t nearly enough chocolate chips in the cookies so I dumped in a bunch more. I probably ended up adding way too much in the end; but still delicious nonetheless.

They reminded me of the chocolate chocolate chip muffins from Costco, but in cookie form so if you like those muffins you’ll definitely like these cookies. Or if you have anyone who is a chocolate fiend in general try making these for them!

Who knows, maybe they will cause world peace if everyone eats them at the same time?

World Peace Cookies

Adapted from Dorie Greenspans’ Baking: from my home to yours

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda

11 tbs. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. fleur de sel or 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Recipe:

Sift flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.

Beat butter on medium until soft and creamy (Dorie specifies a stand mixer and the paddle attachment).  Add both sugars, the salt, and the vanilla, and beat for two minutes.

Turn off mixer and pour the dry ingredients into the bowl.  Place a towel over the mixer and pulse the mixer at a low speed about five times, a second or two each time.  Have a look at the dough and see how much flour is on the surface of it; if there’s still quite a bit, pulse a couple of more times, while if there is not, remove the towel.  Mix at low speed for another thirty seconds or so, just until the flour disappears (work the dough as little as possible once the flour has been added; it’s okay if the dough is a bit crumbly).  Toss in the chocolate and mix only to incorporate.

Gather the dough on a work surface and divide it in half.  Work each half into logs that are 1 1/2 in. in diameter.  Wrap the logs and refrigerate for at least three hours (you’re fine with it in the fridge for up to three days or in the freezer for up to two months.  General rule of adding a minute of baking time if using frozen dough applies).

Baking:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325F.  Line a couple of baking sheets.

Slice rounds that are 1/2 in. thick from the logs and arrange the rounds on baking sheets, leaving about an inch between them (if the rounds crack a bit when you’re cutting them, just smoosh them back together).

Bake cookies one sheet at a time for twelve minutes–they won’t look done or be firm but they’re perfect nonetheless.  Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let the cookies cool until at least just warm.

You may also like:

1. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
2. New Chocolate Chip Cookies
3. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
4. Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
5. Holiday Recipe Exchange: Russian Tea Cookies

You may also like:

1. Silent Sunday: Calaveras State Park
2. Run Silent Run Deep

Last week I got contacted by the Foodie Blog Roll to do a sponsored post for Dannon/Activia’s new product lines of French and Greek yogurt, they gave me a strawberry sample of each to try kind in order for me to write a review.

The French style yogurt was very silky and delicious. There are bits of fruit on the bottom of the cup, which when I was little totally creeped me out but I have since gotten over that. The strawberry flavor isn’t too pronounced, but its still there and the fruit bits at the bottom have a good texture. If you like regular yogurt you should definitely check this stuff out.

The Greek style yogurt is much thicker as are all Greek yogurts. I think Dannon did a good job on this yogurt; a lot of people have mentioned to me that they don’t like the strong taste of Greek yogurt. The yogurt doesn’t have that strong tart/sour taste at least in the strawberry flavor. The Greek yogurt clocks in with 12 grams of protein. Less than other brands of Greek yogurt, but its still a respectable amount of protein compared to regular yogurt. I think that if you’re nervous about trying or don’t like other brands of Greek yogurt because of the strong taste I’d definitely try Activia’s take on it.

Currently, Dannon/Activia is offering a coupon for free yogurt (except in CA, NJ, LA where they’re offereing a $1 off) through their Facebook site. Head on over, hit the like button and then print your coupon!

Visit the Activia Selects Facebook page to get your FREE coupon now!

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