April | 2009 | strawberries in paris

Incredible Bicycle

April 30, 2009 at 6:21 am | Posted in Dinner, Travels | 6 Comments

Last Friday night Ned and I went BIG and ate at Bicycle. It was definitely the best meal we have had in a long time! I figured it would be good to have a nice night on the town while I could still walk and so I asked Ned to come up with an idea. He came back to me Friday morning with Bicycle or Black Olive, and so I chose Bicycle! We were both very thankful to have a nice date night to oooh and ahhh over amazing dishes.

Other than Salt, I would have to say that this restaurant is my new favorite in the city! The service was impeccable and the food was to die for, check it all out below…

Continue Reading Incredible Bicycle…

Elizabeth’s Crab Soup

April 28, 2009 at 10:05 pm | Posted in Dinner | 3 Comments

The weekend after my knee disaster (boo torn ACL) all I wanted to do was rest comfortably at home. I tried to come up with an exciting dinner that we could make at home and still be awesome. Well summer is nearly here in Baltimore so I decided crab cakes! Well those crab cakes fell apart and therefore were not blogworthy (thats another day and another battle…), but I decided to make this crab “bisque” with the remaining meat!

This recipe is originally adapted from Emeril and I simplified it a bit. For some reason Emeril calls this a bisque and I am totally cool with using that name, but Ned absolutely abhors that terminology due to the fact that there are no pureed crustaceans in this concoction and it is actually not that creamy! But alas, this soup is definitely high in vegetables, crab flavor and deliciousness! Check out the recipe below.

Continue Reading Elizabeth’s Crab Soup…

April Daring Baker’s Challenge: Raspberry Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes

April 27, 2009 at 7:41 am | Posted in Daring Bakers, Dessert | 25 Comments

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. These cheesecakes were OFF THE HOOK. Ned actually proclaimed that these might be the best dessert he has EVER HAD!! And when I told my sweet coworker Alice (who also had one!) that- she said “Now if he doesn’t marry you, he is out of his mind!” 😀 I love Alice, and I love Ned AND I love cheesecake!

Well I didn’t follow the recipe hardly at all- but being economical Elizabeth I used a bunch of ingredients that I already had in the fridge!

Continue Reading April Daring Baker’s Challenge: Raspberry Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes…

Fava Bean Agnolotti with a Curry Emulsion

April 24, 2009 at 6:39 am | Posted in Cookbooks, Dinner | 4 Comments

Ned felt inspired two weekend’s ago to do an amazing Sunday dinner. It’s been awhile since we did that and I was soooo happy that we did- cause these babies were insanely delicious. I am so glad Wegman’s had fresh fava beans and Thomas Keller sure knows how to make a mean pasta dough! I am so happy I made something with curry- definitely an underutilized spice in this house.

Check out some awesome pictures of our fantastic dinner below!

Continue Reading Fava Bean Agnolotti with a Curry Emulsion…

Easter Tres Leches Cake

April 22, 2009 at 9:37 am | Posted in Dessert | 7 Comments

Grandma suggested I try a Mexican staple as our Easter dinner dessert! She had a recipe clipping from the paper, but somehow lost it, so I went looking and found Alton Brown’s recipe.

This might be one of the first desserts I have made and not really enjoyed! Something about the texture of wet cake (kind of like my aversion to bread pudding…) is just not appetizing! But the amazing thing (not amazing at all actually) was that the rest of the Easter crew LOVED IT. The tres in the tres leches include evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk and half and half! A lactose intolerant’s worst nightmare!
Continue Reading Easter Tres Leches Cake…

Inventive Harvest Table

April 20, 2009 at 6:43 pm | Posted in Brunch, Travels | 5 Comments

About a week and a half ago, last Saturday morning, Ned and I woke up pretty early to a nice rainy day- and I convinced him to venture down to Tide Point for some definite creative breakfast food! Harvest Table is definitely a hidden little gem right next to the water in South Baltimore.

We had a lovely morning feast, I only wish we could have ventured out for another new brunch place this past Saturday… It seems that I get a little too rambunctious on playgrounds and I may have torn my ACL or meniscus last Thursday. I’ll know in a couple of days! So Ned and grandma and Laurita have been wonderfully taking care of gimp Elizabeth. Cooking and exciting new restaurants might slow down for a week or two. We’ll see what happens, but for now- check out our feast!

Continue Reading Inventive Harvest Table…

April Charm City Cookbooking

April 15, 2009 at 9:15 pm | Posted in Dessert | 4 Comments

This month Julie hosted and chose – Essentials of Classical Italian Cuisine by Marcella Hazan. That cookbook is quite the amasse of fantastic Italian recipes. We made some amazing dishes- here you can see the egg and spinach fettucine pasta ready to be cooked! And much to my surprise- Julie uses the same fantastic lights that I just bought! I think I am going to have to tote mine around whenever we have cookbook club from now on so we can really show off our stuff!

We had a spinach crepe dish for the appetizer, a squid and potato concoction for another appetizer, a ham and mushroom creamy “straw & hay” pasta dish, baked artichoke hearts with braised lamb shoulder for our main, and then lemon ice cream and pisciotta (olive oil cake) to finish!

Continue Reading April Charm City Cookbooking…

The original inspiration: Heaven from Helen

April 13, 2009 at 5:05 pm | Posted in Dessert | 4 Comments

You see this cake?? If it wasn’t for this cake- my whole hobby, my whole passion would have never come to fruition! A long long time ago, (okay 14 months!) I found myself on Tartelette. I was searching for an amazing dessert to make for a “Valentine’s Day is bunk” party for my ladies! I feasted my eyes upon this insanity: the Honey Panna Cotta Raspberry Terrine.

So I made the cake and I was hooked. Helen McSweeney is a baking goddess and I feel blessed to be able to be involved with her blog and be able to use her recipes! So I wanted to remake this cake for my blog anniversary but I’m a couple weeks late…

Continue Reading The original inspiration: Heaven from Helen…

Cafe Golden West

April 10, 2009 at 4:36 pm | Posted in Brunch, Travels | 4 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, Ned and I were craving some sunday brunch and we decided on our old haunt! Cafe Golden West, which is smack dab in the heart of Hampden (aka Hon` land in Bawlmer 😀 ). When we were both going to Hopkins we used to frequent this joint very often, but now that I’m in Towson, the inspiration to go there doesn’t occur to us very often.

This place is definitely a hipster joint- greasy spoon, with “new” mexican food (breakfast is their specialty) and they do it well! The ambience is so cool, they have the neatest and most creative things adorning this space, very true to the hipster Hampden decor. Check out our blurry brunch selections below!

Continue Reading Cafe Golden West…

Ina’s Delectable Brownie Pudding

April 8, 2009 at 12:00 am | Posted in Cookbooks, Dessert | 3 Comments

Wow- this stuff was quite the chocolate insanity that I had hoped for my girlie party last Saturday night! Ina writes in her Back to Basics cookbook that your friends will go crazy for this dessert- she was right!

And check out my new lighting! Peabody raved about her new light setup for food photography and since I just moved and the lighting in the new kitchen is a little blah, I resolved to spend my tax refund on these! I think they are quite affordable and a cheaper alternative to spending moola to get a seriously awesome camera (x-mas???)!

Continue Reading Ina’s Delectable Brownie Pudding…