Memories… All Alone in the Moonlight….
This Daring Baker challenge brought back memories of working at the Four Seasons Hotel in Houston. Waking up at 3:00, (yes, that is AM) being alone in the huge kitchen at 4:00 and baking off the Danish and muffins for the day. Good times… good times. Well, not so much. I can honestly say I don’t miss that! Plus I had to listen to the creepy overnight cook ask for the 100th time… Time to make the donuts? No you idiot. I don’t make donuts. Stop asking me that! Sheesh!
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Feelin the Love
We’re back from our little trek to Punta Cana where Stephan and I shot a fabulous wedding this past weekend. We managed to get there in one piece, although the Dominican Republic website kinda scares you when it has a full page of crime warnings. After reading a little on the website, I was terrified to get in a taxi as I thought we were gonna get mugged and left for dead. I was concerned that a man on a scooter was going to run me down and steal my handbag. In reality Punta Cana was not scary at all. It was quite beautiful, actually. You probably don’t want to wander around outside of the resort at night, but you don’t want to really do that in Miami either!
The resort, Edenh Real Arena was lovely. There are many amenities… scuba, snorkeling, wind surfing, kayaking… etc. Since the resort is all-inclusive, the food is also included. We were soooo excited to eat at the four “gourmet” restaurants. That is, until we had our first meal… I was very disappointed, but I now I understand how “all-inclusive” works. I suppose I’m pickier than your average person, but it was disappointing. However, the amazing white sand and unbelievable breeze totally made up for the mediocre food. Anyway, it was a fabulous working vacation. We found a little time to sit under a tiki hut with a fruity drink… a little unwinding and reconnecting after a busy wedding season. Good times for all.
Now to get on to the post, it’s one of my favorites… Linzer cookies. They are traditionally made with ground hazelnuts, but I chose to use almonds. The recipe is adapted from Nick Malgieri’s Cookies Unlimited.
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Miami Spice Sneak Preview
Every summer, some of the best restaurants in Miami offer a Miami Spice menu. The menu consists of three course meals at one set price; Lunch is $23 and Dinner is $36. Of course, due to the reduced prices, the portions are smaller than usual, but definitely enough to leave with a full belly. It’s the perfect opportunity to try out some of the swankest Miami eats without breaking your wallet.
A handful of the participating restaurants are offering a Sneak Preview from June 16-23, so check ‘em out here. Otherwise, you can try them out during the ENTIRE month of both August AND September. Local blogger, MenuPages has a fantastic “unofficial” guide for the restaurants and their menus. If you live here, or find yourself in Miami during August or September, Spice it UP!
Stephan and I will be travelling to Punta Cana this weekend for a fabulous wedding and some much needed R&R. Everyone have a nice weekend!
Disclaimer: Its a Stinker
What’s not to love about a grilled piece of meat smothered in chimichurri? Well, the after effects, that’s what! This recipe is phenomenally good, but whooooo… you suffer from a severe case of “stinker” afterwards. It is important, nay IMPERATIVE your significant other eat as much chimichurri as you do. Otherwise… separate bedrooms tonight. One good thing… no worries about pesky vampires for at least a full day after ingestion.
OK, now that I’ve fully disclosed the side effects, I can say this is really really good. Its so fresh and tangy… just yummy. I served it with oven roasted sweet potatoes and a tomato salad. My uber-fancy sweet potato fry holder… an egg cup. I knew I would find another use for those things!
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My Favorite Jam
We saw the great Pearl Jam last night at the Cruzan Ampitheater up in West Palm Beach. I’ve been a Pearl Jam fan since they came out with Jeremy and Better Man back when I was in college. Sheesh, that was a long time ago, 1994? Anyway, it is a must see if they come to your city. Eddie Vetter sounds as good today as he did 15 years ago.
Funny story… As usual, Stephan wanted to bring (sneak) his professional camera to the concert. So I pulled out my old enormous “movie theater” handbag, and shoved the camera body and 6 inch lens inside. Well… we got busted and were told by a seemingly knowledgable gentleman that we can bring lenses that are only “this big” (fingers held about 3 inches apart.) Huh… weird. What’s the difference between a lens that is 3 inches and 6 inches? So we did what any very persistant person (aka my husband) would do. I left the camera body in my bag and walked through by myself. Stephan put the lens in his pocket and tried to find the dumbest looking employee at the gate. Luckily, he found one that was real good and dumb. When she asked him to take the lens out of his pocket he did so and told her it was binoculars. She let him through… no problem. So next time you want to take a huge professional camera to a concert… tell the staff it’s binoculars. :D
Check out more images on Stephan’s blog.
Kaesestangen
When Stephan and I go to Germany to visit his parents, we tend to spend quite a bit of time walking in the cities. Just generally enjoying the diverse scenery which is the opposite of Florida. One thing I noticed my first time visiting, were the bakeries on every corner. By bakeries, I mean GOOD bakeries. They are perfect to stop in for a little snack while shopping or sightseeing.
Kaesestangen is a delicious German specialty that is thin bread with shredded cheese on top. It looks similar to pizza, but it is made like a pretzel, as it is boiled before baking. You can also find it with small cubes of Schinken (ham) on top, which is my guilty pleasure… although I don’t eat much ham. I tried to find a recipe for this online, but I had no luck, so I just made my usual pretzel recipe and topped with cheese before baking.
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Life is a Bowl of Cherry Ice Cream
I’m a big fan of ice cream, especially when its so hot outside. Stephan is an even bigger fan of ice cream than me… he has the ultimate sweet tooth. Kinda makes sense that he married an ex-pastry chef, right?
One of my favorite flavors is cherry ice cream, which is quite convenient as its officially cherry season. I tried to find a recipe in one of my many cookbooks for cherry ice cream, but had absolutely no luck. So I decided to throw some stuff together and it worked out pretty well. Then I decided to do a bittersweet chocolate ribbon through the ice cream that didn’t go quite so well. It ended up being more of a chocolate smear than a ribbon. It was very tasty, but not what I was hoping for in terms of aesthetics. Oh well, can’t win them all… did I say it tasted good?
Smoke ‘Em Out!
Now that is one of my favorite Bush-isms. OK, I like his references to the Internets too. And his definition of Sovreign… I could just keep going on and on. Sorry Bush fans… or should I say fan? HA! Anyway… sorry if I offend anyone, but it really was a good title for my cedar smoked salmon. I smoked ‘em out all right, but this was in my grill.
I’ve been wanting to make cedar plank salmon ever since I had it at a restaurant a few years ago. I saw cedar grilling planks for sale at my local Publix, and first cringed at the price… $9 for two planks. Sheesh, its just wood. A bit pricey, but when I saw that you could use them a few times, I threw my frugal caution to the wind and bought them. Boy was I glad I did! This made such a fantastic dinner, and I did basically NO work for it, as I used my basic orange juice glaze. That is a total win-win situation for me.
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