Hapless Cake Attempt #1

I feel compelled to bake a cake because I bought adorable little cake pans from Michael's. I also had an excess of blueberries in the house, so I thought I'd modify a "Berry Good Shortcake" recipe from the manufacturer and make a chunky blueberry syrup and call them Inaugural Cakes and bring them to work tomorrow.

It was a disaster from the beginning. My food processor couldn't accomodate all the ingredients, so I had to cut the butter by hand and my arm got tired long before the mixture resembled "coarse breadcrumbs." I over-Pam-ed the pans. I ran out of milk and used yogurt as a substitute. I still don't know which of the above caused the cakes to overflow - I would love it if my muffins rose that high out of the pan - and the butter? Pam? to ooze onto the floor of the oven, causing smoke to come billowing out of my oven and filling my apt.

Believe it or not, the cakes taste fine, or rather they taste as they should. It didn't dawn on me until I put the first bit in my mouth, that people make shortcake with biscuits. They're decent semi-sweet biscuits, but so not worth the calories. Or the mess. eek! Read More......

Steak and Cakes

It's funny how the simplest foods can be elevated to cult status. Take the Philly cheesesteak: about three years ago, I noticed several storefronts open that sold only cheesesteaks. Despite my love of a good fast food burger, I'm not really a Philly cheesesteak fan. Not sure why - I grew up eating an unspeakable amount of Steak-Umm and even named a stuffed animal (a cow of course) Steak-Umm - but even at Jim's in Philly, it was just a sandwich.

I hadn't had a cheesesteak in seven years, but I was hungry and needed a little grease to go with my martinis last Thurs. I'd foolishly had falafel for lunch, so I couldn't go to Mamoun's, aka the best falafel you will ever have outside of Israel, but I passed BB Sandwich Bar on my way to the West 4th St. subway. It's a nice sandwich - they only make it one way, with beef on a kaiser roll with onions and relish and white American cheese - just the thing when you've been drinking.

And then there's the whole gourmet cupcake craze that Sex and the City started. The same storefront that houses BB Sandwich Bar sells Tonni's Minis. After ODing on Magnolia's a few years ago, I thought I didn't like cupcakes: they are too dry and the frosting is too sweet. I'm didn't like the ones from Buttercup Bakery either. The ones at Tonni's are making me reconsider. They come in a variety of flavors - my first was white cake with a red velvet layer, bc they were out of carrot - and the cake is moist like cake should be. I like the frosting very much: it tastes like it has cream cheese in it and at the very least, it has more fat than Magnolia's, which makes the sugar less jarring. Fortunately, they come in two sizes, the smaller of which is just the right size for a dose of yumminess. Judging by the way my co-workers gobbled them up the next day, they thought so too. Read More......