Wishful Thinking

I like the rest of Connecticut got very caught up on the idea that Spring was here this week with that tease of 50 degree weather and quite ideal outdoor running conditions that came along with it.  I even went so far as to break out my Spring cooking binder to see what was in store for the season and came across one of my favorite cakes that I just had to make (and it also helped that I had all the ingredients at home).  I had tulips on the brain, and had all these lovely thoughts of rhubarb, asparagus and everything else that reminds me so much of Spring.  Well not so fast as Mother Nature reminded us this morning, all of those things are just wishful thinking now with the dumping of snow we woke up to quite surprisingly.  After I got over the initial shock of having to clean my car off and break out the winter coats once again I thought to myself, "maybe Winter has a few more good weeks in it.  Maybe I'm not so ready to abandon my dutch oven and those nice braised meals just yet.  How can we almost be 2 months into 2012 already when it fills like I was making waffles and bacon on New Year's Day about 30 seconds ago?"  Every once and a while you need a little reminder that life shouldn't fly by in a New York minute. That you can't jump to the future when the present isn't finished.  That sometimes you need to slow down, look around  and appreciate things for what they are - the reality that a little snow isn't so bad after all especially when you live in New England in February where you get to experience 4 seasons a year.  Just when you try to get ahead of yourself something will always bring you back to where you are supposed to be and that's what Mother Nature did today and maybe we need to have more moments like that every once and awhile in our lives. 

But in the meantime,  you can make the lemon cornmeal cake that I baked this week and a slice will get you a little closer to Spring.  The beauty about this cake is that it's quite simple for that it doesn't require you to pull out a mixer, a majority of the ingredients you will have at home, and it can be made and baked in under an hour which is a beautiful thing when you don't want to spend all day in your kitchen.  I've never made the blueberry sauce that the recipe includes to go along with it because I usually like to serve the cake for breakfast or brunch and why complicate things further in the morning when they really don't have to be.  The cake's flavors stand alone nicely without it.   

One last note: The cake is usually made in a round cake pan but I wanted to try out a new mini bundt pan that I just gotten recently.  Either pan works well and you can also make them in a muffin pan if you are looking for smaller, individual sized cakes. 

In search of the red golden chicken ticket...

I'm a girl who thrives off of a good food adventure quite frequently in my life.  I'm not afraid to try new things, don't back down very often from a cooking challenge and send me on a search for some obscure product and I will be the one going to 18 different stores or basically the ends of the earth until I find it.  I'm not going to skip making a recipe just because it wants you to "ignite cognac or something else that will have you breaking out in panic-inducing sweats" and I do just as well eating grilled lobsters on the side of the road as I do at some fine "fancy shamcy" dining establishment with Michelin stars.  It's a mix of having a great passion for all things food and drink, a little bit of OCD and a deep streak of competitiveness running through my blood where once I hear about something new and exciting it's inevitable that I'm going to want to be in on the action. 

2 weeks ago in the NY Times Dining Section, Pete Wells wrote an article about a place in Philadelphia called Federal Donut and as soon as I read the piece I knew that we had to go there on our upcoming trip that was fast approaching.  I was enamored about pretty much everything about this place and thought what a genius idea it was to put together doughnuts and fried chicken.  Once I read that people were standing in line for these culinary delights at 7am and there was a ticket system that they cooked up in order to hand out the chicken it  became a non-negotiable that we were going at some point over the weekend so I could see for myself what the hype was all about.  So at 8am on Sunday morning Aaron, Andrew and I arose from our slumbers much earlier then we would have deemed necessary on a ordinary weekend day, threw on the closest matching clothes that would make us presentable in public and headed over to Federal Donut.  I have to say I was ever so slightly disappointed to come across the place with no line or massive crowd of people outside but it was quite cold and as someone pointed out "people in Philadelphia don't make huge efforts to get up early" so I'm wasn't going to complain that I didn't have to wait outside in the windy weather before I had pumped an adequate amount of coffee into my system. 

When you first walk in you will discover that the restaurant isn't very big.  I think there are all of 3 or 4 stools at the counter and then a small waiting area for the doughnuts.  It's very "no muss -no fuss" and what's neat is that you can see the doughnuts being made in front of you by a contraption called the "donut robot".  There are 2 routes you can go with the doughnuts: there are either the hot varieties that are made on the spot and the fancy ones that are made beforehand and are just waiting for you to consume.  Obviously we didn't come this far to have 1 doughnut so we opted for the sample pack instead to have the full maximum experience.  With a fresh cup of coffee we first dove into the hot doughnuts that come rolled in either: appollonia (cocoa powder and orange blossoms with a hint of black pepper), Indian cinnamon or vanilla lavender.  They were light, they were warm and afterwards you literally wanted to lick your fingers of anything left over because the spices were such a great flavor combination that at first you wouldn't expect to be so good but they were the right balance on the piping hot doughnut.  As we were waiting for the doughnuts to be ready we started chatting with some of the workers who informed us that even though there isn't a line around the block they still run out everyday especially of the fancy ones and someone starts making doughnuts between midnight and 4am to have them ready to go when they open at 7am.  From the website there was a little bit of confusion around when the chicken started to come out but we were assured it would be out before the original 5pm call time and from there we knew we would be making an encore appearance for fried chicken.  As for the fancy doughnuts they always have 6 different varieties ranging from pina colada to raspberry balsamic.  After pretty much sampling all of them, they definitely had a lot going on and some were better then others for example the caramel banana was my favorite.  But I have to say I think in my future treks there I would just go straight for the hot ones because there really isn't anything like a warm doughnut in your hands.  I've also learned from experience that the hot ones reheat quite well by giving them a quick 15 second blast in the microwave and it's like they are fresh from the counter all over again.

A 2 hour nap, several doughnuts later and right before we left Philadelphia we figured "why not go back one more time to try this fried chicken that has gotten such rave reviews" and thank God we did because I can truly say that my life is better that I have now ate this chicken.  I would even go as far to say it might just be the best thing that I have ate this year (it's tied right up there with the mushroom bread pudding at Melograno).  Since they now make more chicken to keep up with the demand the tickets didn't come out when we were there but the actual chicken was enough of a prize. The chicken is fried and then topped with different seasoning combinations and it comes in either half or whole portions.  Since this was only a snack we opted to split a half sized order  of  the buttermilk ranch variety amongst the 3 of us which yielded 4 pieces and came along with a small container of Japanese pickles and a warm honey glazed doughnut. The chicken was moist but had a nice crispy coating with just the right amount of seasoning for it to really shine through without taking over the overall taste of the meat and it wasn't greasy at all.  I don't know what they do to the pickles but I could have ate containers of them.  They were a bright green color, sliced thin and with a nice pickled flavor that almost gave them a sweetness edge to them.  The doughnut rounded everything out nicely and was a good play on what a savory doughnut might be...it was like a better piece of cornbread.  The entire experience lived up to all of my expectations and I can't wait to have an opportunity to head back to Philly again soon for another round of fried, fresh delicious-ness!

Here is the link to the NY Times article about Federal Donut so you can become obsessed with the concept as well.  The picture slide show that accompanies the article tells a very good story as well. 

"Thank you for reminding me why I love this city so much..."

This past weekend, my brother and I decided it was time to get out of Connecticut for a few days and go visit our cousin Aaron in Philadelphia or "Bro-Love" as I affectionately like to refer to it.  I have somewhat of a long-illustrious history with the city having spent 4 years at St. Joe's which lays on the outskirts of town and now have had the opportunity to enjoy it as a sophisticated (most of the time) adult on the many occasions that we have gone to see Aaron who is the person I literally share a brain with.  The thing that is so great about Philly is that it is truly a food city that has so many great restaurants and food establishments and the nice part about it is that it still has that urban appeal of a large city but also gives you a little bit of that close neighborhood vibe that you would never find in say New York.  It's also a beautiful thing when your host to the city, being in my case Aaron enjoys going out to eat as much as I do and loves a good life-changing culinary experience so I have been beyond spoiled with how we eat whenever I come down. 

Throughout the weekend, one of the big topics of conversation was about Craig Laban's (Philadelphia restaurant critic) new ranking of Philadelphia restaurants that ran in the Inquirer the previous weekend.  Instead of stars, restaurants received bells and the last time restaurants were ranked in such a big way it was 5 years ago so obviously this was a huge deal.  To make matters even more interesting, the story had somewhat of a scandal behind it being as Craig took old favorites and perennial powerhouses such as Le Bec Fin from 4 to 2 bells and basically rewrote the sought after restaurant list in the city.  Out of the 5 restaurants that received 4 bells, I've been to 2 of them: Zahav and Bibou which were both amazing and I have Zahav to thank for reinventing the way I consume hummus (hello, warm Israeli version).   So that now leaves 3 more to put on the foodie bucket list and considering one is a one table restaurant that allows you to have an intimate dinner party with a year waiting list I might have to steal the concept and make it my own.  But in honor of Craig Laban's "Guide to Philadelphia Dining" and in trying to come up with the best way to describe our weekend, here is the rundown of where we ate and what we did in Philly:

Friday Night:
-After a quick cocktail at home we headed out to Kanela, a Greek-Cypriot BYOB Bistro.  One of the amazing things about restaurants in Philly is that many of them are BYOB so it gives you the opportunity to pair up some great wines you have at home and it keeps the cost of the meal down because isn't that what always brings the bill up?  We split 3 appetizers of lamb sausage, fried calamari and filled flat bread before I enjoyed a flattened baby roast chicken that had great flavors.  Loved all of the spiced Greek Yogurt condiments and can not wait to start experimenting with at home versions of the sauces.
-Dessert at Capogiro Gelato.  Phenomenal gelato and they always have the most creative flavors.  This time it was my favorite of fior de latte (aka: latte foam) and candied chestnuts.  They don't advertise it but the hidden secret to perfection here is a shot of fresh whipped cream on top and it just takes it to another level.  I'm not afraid to admit that I once frequented Capogiro twice in one day which just shows how good it is and by no means am I one of those people that is obsessed with ice cream.
-Ended the night with the "alcoholic version of Hansel and Gretel" stopping at 3 bars on the way back to Aaron's house before we called it a night.  Key to success was a steady diet of red wine and that nice base of food that we laid earlier.

Saturday:
-We can refer to this as the European themed day of the trip.  Slept in, consumed coffee and then headed off to a nice little French luncheonette in Aaron's neighborhood.  Enjoyed bowls of tomato bisque and quiche as we got the day started.
-Saw the "Van Gogh Up Close" exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  I love Van Gogh paintings to begin with but it was really impactful to see so many of them in one place at a given time grouped together by themes.  I thought the museum did a good job in pushing the audio headsets on you before you entered into the exhibit and I was glad they did.  It was a great way to follow along, actually stop and look at a painting for a given amount of time and learn the background of the artist as he was producing a given work of art.  Exhibit runs through May and can't wait to have the opportunity to one day hang a print of the almond blossoms somewhere.
-Started happy hour off at Twenty Manning.  We actually had my "day after graduation/Mother's Day brunch" there and ever since I have always loved the collection of restaurants that the group owns being the sucker for nostalgia that I am.  Their place across the street, Audrey Claire is truly what I would want to model a restaurant off of if I ever owned one because it's simple, small, warm and served great food.  They have now opened another space called "COOK" which is a cooking studio where they offer classes by all of these Philadelphia famous chefs.  Once the right class comes along I can't wait to go back down and enjoy an evening there.
-Since we had late dinner reservations, we headed over to Monk's Cafe which is a Belgian beer bar or basically what we can constitute as my brother Andrew's adult version of Disney World.  Andrew was in heaven pouring over their beer bible/menu and set us up with some great varieties.  Don't ask me what I drank but it was good and gives you a new appreciation for beer.  Paired with baskets of Pomme Frites it was a great bridge to the rest of the evening's activities.
-After a quick power nap, we had dinner at Melegrano, an Italian Trattoria.  Another BYOB place where we drank bottles of Nebbiolo and a "Super Tuscan" and the food was so good I'm still thinking about everything we ate two days later and how I can replicate the appetizers at home.   We started off with mozzarella in carrozza (cheese fried between 2 slices of bread) that was accompanied with an artichoke mostarda (like a sweet mustardy relish) that tasted as if it had a fried dough crust from the St. Mary's festival.  There were also small meatballs in a light Gorgonzola fondue and a wild mushroom bread pudding that I'm not going to stop obsessing over until I get the recipe.  Like I don't think I can tell you how badly I now want to have an Italian Tapas party with all small plates like this so now that I've put it out there, it has to happen! I enjoyed a bowl of pumpkin ravioli as my main course, Andrew had a bowl of wild boar bolognese that after one bite informed me that "we need to eat more wild boar in our lives" and Aaron had a chicken cutlet dish that was layered with fresh mozzarella and prosciutto that would have only been made better if the cutlet was from Mattei's because then it would have been mind blowing.  

Sunday Morning:
-If Saturday could have been themed as "European" then Sunday followed through with an "All-American" vibe.  Stop 1 at 8am (which was way too early for any of us to be fully functioning) was to Federal Donut for what has become the new rage in Philly dining.   There is actually going to be a whole post on Federal tomorrow so I just need to let the anticipation build inside of you for a little longer before you can find out about the phenomenal experience that it was for me and what I would almost say is worth a 3 hour drive or a weekend in Philly for. 
-Went back to the house, fell back into bed for another 2 hours and decided eventually that it was time to get up.  Knew that no weekend in Philly is complete without consuming a cheese steak so we headed over to Jim's on South Street for the "Breakfast of Champions".  If you've been to Philly before and ordered cheese steaks you know that there's somewhat of an art to ordering but Andrew and Aaron's went the cheese whiz (people swear by it because it melts the best), pepper and onion route while I had mine with the classic standby of American cheese "with".
-A quick stop at the Bella Vista Beer Distributor so Andrew could bring home some treasures that they don't import into Connecticut.  The best way to describe this place is that it basically is like a costco of beer because all they sell is cases.  We let Andrew roam the aisles with all his joy and glory as I discovered a treasure of my own: Mexican imported orange fanta soda that will be saved for a special occasion.
-Stop 2 at Federal Donuts.  More to come but I can say is that it reaffirmed my faith and pleasure in this place even more.

Overall it was a fabulous, jam packed, stomach filled weekend that I will be working out for a week to recover from but worth every ounce that I might have gained from it.  We all really needed this weekend to relax, to break away from the routine that you tend to get stuck in during the winter months and as we leaving Aaron professed to us the words "Thank you for reminding my why I love this city so much" which summed up the weekend so perfectly.  I can't wait to have for my next jaunt down in a few months which I have a feeling will be sooner rather then later now that I'm probably going to have to run food tours to the Philadelphia for all of my Connecticut friends.  Stay tuned and stay hungry for the Federal Donut recap which is coming up soon...

How do you know?

It's a new month and I figured it was the right moment to check back in and give you an update to my job search situation.  Well I'm sure I don't have to tell anyone who've ever looked for a job before but for those that haven't let me give you a little insight...it's hell and it sucks.  On the surface, I can tell you that I'm fine and I'm attempting to enjoy my sabbatical since these moments don't exactly happen all that often and who doesn't like the opportunity to be home, relax, and have the time to cook great meals and go for runs in 50 degree weather.  But if you know anything about me, you know that I'm a girl who likes to have a plan, who isn't patient at all and can even be described as one of those "Type A control freaks" (yes I'm trying to be the most honest version of myself).  So needless to say the time off hasn't been all rainbows and butterflies and it's hard because honestly I couldn't  tell you what I actually wanted to do for a job or career.  I keep thinking, that if I actually knew what I wanted to do or be then it would have hit me by now.  That it would be all I could think about, it's all that I would want to do and would be so blatant that it would pretty much smack me in the face but no such luck.  You spend all of this time thinking to yourself and self-reflecting about what you want to do because you basically have the opportunity to do anything or everything but you just keep coming up blank.  It's hard not to know where you are going or what you are working for and frankly it's scary as anything to try to begin again. You go online and spend all this time searching for jobs on websites and you apply for things that you think will be great and then you a) never hear anything because half of America is looking for a job or b) you're lucky enough to go on interviews but they turn into major busts.  You learn that half of the job postings online are for something completely different from what they sound like and that maybe you made too much money in New York City (even though at the time and in the thick of it you felt pretty underpaid for all that you did) that a new job isn't going to be able to go near that.  Don't get me wrong, I'm more then frustrated and done on the whole process but I'm starting to get amused by everything because what more can you do but laugh at it all? 

So how do you know what you're supposed to do in life or when the right job comes along?  It's not like some set of directions or life plan is going to arrive at your doorstep one day (even though I sure of hell would love some kind of manual right about now).  Sometimes as independent as you think you might be, you want nothing more then for someone to tell you what you should be doing or to push you in the right direction that they can see but you just can't yet.  It feels like you will go through layers and layers of crap and seriously question all of decisions before you finally get to the right moment.  And I guess you will know when it's right like you do when you're buying a melon.  It's just going to be instinctual and from the gut and you're just going to know because all of a sudden it will all make sense and you couldn't think of it to be any other way.  I keep thinking about the fact that Kathryn Stockett, the bestselling author of "The Help"  got over 60 rejections before she was able to publish her book which ended up selling over 5 million copies and becoming an award winning movie.  I guess you just have to be glad that she didn't give up around rejection 15 or 34 or even 59 for that matter.  I guess you just have to keep going as much as it hurts, as crappy as it feels and as much as you just want to throw in the towel and be done with it all because eventually things will turn in the right direction and you'll be on your way to the next great thing just waiting to unfold in front of you.