Catching up is fun to do

While wanting to write about everything I see and taste, sometimes there isn't enough to write a whole article about.  So, I like to come up with these little bits where I have a few things in one.  First off, a few weeks ago my wife and family and I got a chance to try out a newer restaurant in Kirkwood called Crushed Red Pepper.  The place took up the spot where the San Sai restaurant used to be.  The restaurant lets you go inside and order your own personal pizza, and then you customize it and they make it and deliver it to your table.  Well, they did make some good pizzas.  I think it will work well as a nice restaurant but there was only one problem: the woman, taking my order, behind the computer, entered things in that never made it to my plate.  For example, my pizza originally on the menu had Gorgonzola cheese on it: which I do not like. So, I asked her if I could replace that cheese with another.  It was all approved by her and when she read it back to us, everything sounded correct.  But it was not delivered correctly.  There is no communication between the person taking the orders and the people filling them out.  My wife could have told the cashier that she didn't want anything to eat and then told the two guys making the salads that she ordered something and they would have made it.  So, food was good but the service was just okay.  I'd give this food and the restaurant a 3 out of 5.

Next, last Thursday we had gone to a Crazy Bowls and Wraps restaurant on Tesson Ferry, near the hospital. I had ordered a big bowl of items and chicken, my wife ordered a bowl and my kids both wanted some plain noodles.  I noticed that on the menu, on the wall, it mentioned that you could get noodles as one of your starch options.  So, we thought, that we could get chicken and noodles and everyone would be happy. That was not the case.  The man at the cash register/computer told us that the option of just noodles and chicken was not possible.  The manager came over and said "oh yeah, we can do that."  Then he stepped away and the cashier told us again, "we don't do that."  How lovely.  So, we get our food after a bit and we all try it.  I have to say, that I have never, ever tasted anything so plain and bland.  My food, as well as my wife's and my kids, was so bland, it was as if they just took fresh or steamed vegetables and threw them in a bowl with some plain rice.  I mean, it was bad.  It was actually so bad, that we all thought of and talked of leaving and going a block away to St. Louis Bread Co., and eating our fill.  My kids didn't like it, I was having an open mind and I didn't like, it was just so bland.  I'd have to give the food and service a 1 out of 5.

Now, something that was really good, was my bacon and egg which I had at a store in the Ozarks.

What I had purchased, from this candy store, was a milk chocolate covered bacon strip with a white chocolate 'egg'.  The white chocolate egg was hard as it was about a half of an inch thick of solid white chocolate.  The chocolate covered bacon is always a quick favorite.  With every bite, you taste the smoke, the salt, the pork fat and then you taste the sugar and chocolate.  It is a match made in heaven like rosemary and bread or peanut butter and bananas.  It was awesome and was like a 4 out of 5 stars.

Why was this in the clearance section???

As I admitted to earlier, I have a penchant for looking through and buying things on the clearance shelf at Dierburgs.  Last week I saw something for $2 and while it was still $2 I thought about it and bought it anyway.  It was a bottle of chocolate cupcake Shake n' Pour.

I know, it may seem a bit lazy, but it has a really simple concept: measure the water, pour it in and shake and bake.  It was really easy.  So, I did just that.  I pre-heated my oven, took out my silicone muffin wraps and then started to get everything ready.  You shake the bottle for as little as one minute and that is all that is needed.

Now, what came out of the oven, in the time mentioned on the back, was perfect moist and chocolate cupcakes.  Now, they were very moist, like super moist chocolate cake and they tasted good, not like other bad instant chocolate cupcake mixes.  You know, like those other dollar store brands where the chocolate taste has this metal flavor, reminiscent of a mouthful of pennies?  Not here though.

The cake is rich and while my sons and I inhale these cupcakes I wonder "why this was in the clearance section?"  There was no bad chemicals, no high fructose corn syrup and nothing bad.  So, it seems it was just pulled off of the shelf because the company was no longer promoting it.

It tastes just like real kittens

I went to another fun trip to Global Foods and picked up something very strange.  While looking in the Russian and Eastern European aisle, I found this:

I found out that this is a German import and it is supposed to be "chocolate cat tongues".  Yeah, you read that right, these candies were supposed to represent a cat's tongue that was chocolate covered.

Okay, this is weird, a candy that is supposed to look like or be related to cats is a bit strange.  I just hope that no cats were harmed in the making of this product.  The tongues are actually slender pieces of marzipan and then covered in dark chocolate.  It does taste good and you just have to make it past the idea that you are eating something made from cats, and then you are okay.  They are very tasty.  

Thanks Heather...

One of the fans of my facebook page: Heather  posted that she wanted chocolate cake, with pretzels and caramel.  Interesting combination, but it did give me an idea.

What if I made a chocolate cake, with crumbled pretzel pieces and then make a caramel cream cheese frosting?  Would that work?  Let's try it.

 I know it looks bad, and it is even worse for me to admit it, but I'm not that good at baking cakes.  What I did was make a regular and moist chocolate cake from a recipe here:  http://kayevs.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/rich-chocolate-cake-with-cream-cheese-icing/  which that woman got from other places as well.  Then after I poured it into two cake pans, I sprinkled pretzels on top.  I took them out, let them cooled and made the cream cheese frosting and added caramel flavoring instead of the vanilla flavoring.  When that was done, I used the frosting between the two, and still sprinkled crushed pretzel pieces on top and did it again.  It delivered what it was supposed to: salty caramel and chocolate.

Thank Heather.

My name is Max.....

Because my mind has been warped with cultural references, when someone mentions the name "Max" I don't think of Mad Max, which is what I just thought of now, but instead think of the character named Max, from The Great Race.  

The Character of Max, was played by Peter Falk and while we never learn his last name or his full name, his calling card is one-liners and an ingenious mind. He is a mechanic for the overly flamboyant Professor Fate.

Under last year, the above personality is what I thought of when it came to that name.  The past year, I have caught up on my Doctor Who and learned of Max Capricorn, who is a billionaire who owns a space company.  He has a personlity that is very full of himself mentioning many times that you have to believe what he says "because my name is Max". 


While in Las Vegas, my family stopped in for a snack in the Forum and found ourselves in Max Brenner, which is a chocolate restaurant with many cartoons of "Max" with statements like, "the best chocolate from a bald man" or something like that.  What being bald has to do with chocolate is anyone's guess.  I immedietly thought about it and wondered to myself, I may not be a huge name or know of everyone in the dessert world, but why does Max Brenner NOT ring a bell?  Oh yeah, he doesn't exist.  The person, is actually two people who combined their names to create a character for their chocolate ideas, which I have to say, coming from a lifelong chocoholic, are only 50% good.

The table of people I was with contained not only me and my vast eating experience of chocolate but also my wife, who until just last year, hated the flavor of chocolate.  She is newly enjoying and experiencing it so I figured we were both good testers.  We ordered the Sharing (tasting for two) and also the Dessert pizza.  Let's start with the tastings, first:  There were some hard cookies, a tasty eggroll that had peanuts and chocolate sauce inside, chocolate 'bark' which was okay, little chocolate covered puffed rice pieces, an apple pie and white chocolate layer cake and some chocolate sauce.  Everything on that plate was good and as a whole, I would give it all a 3 out of 5.  For a character that seems like a super advanced chocolate chef, there was nothing really fancy or unique on the plate.

WE also had the fondue pot as well as a small cooker with some banana, strawberry chunks and some marshmallows.  The chocolate fondue was served over a small cup of water, which was then over a candle tea light heater.  It was the equivelent of serving a double boiler to the table, so the chocolate didn't burn or caramelize.  Unfortunately for Max, that was the only thing that was smartly done.  It was a small bit of brilliance that you don't find in any other places that serve chocolate fondue, but not enough to gain extra stars, maybe style points though.  The small fire had flames shoot up and occasionally shot sparks out at us, which was not very safe.  For what little was offered in food, it was a 2 out of 5 stars.  For the double boiler technique and serving, I give a million style points.

 
We also ordered this dessert pizza.  Back at Old Country Buffet, there used to be a dessert pizza on the menu and we used to make it for fun.  It started with snickerdoodle/sugar cookie dough in a small half inch half line pan, and then when the cookie crust was cooked, it had some strawberry sauce on top of that, dollops of white icing and some chocolate chips and blueberries.  It was awesomely delicious and evil at the same time.  The pizza here at Max Brenner's was just one half of a pizza with a flavorless dough crust, with a small layer of chocolate sauce, banana slices, mini marshmallows and some peanut butter flavored sauce on top.  It was all very simple and the dough, as I stated, was completely flavorless and slightly undercooked.  Uh, I would give a 2 out of 5 stars on this one.

I think our dining experience would have better if we had better service.  We told the host that we had a group of 6 and she asked me us to check out the store and someone would come and get us.  Well, 15 minutes later, no one came so we went back to the hostess and she asked "didn't someone get you yet?"  Um, no.  They finally sat us upstairs as a young man came by, took the orders of just two out of the six of us and disappeared for 10 minutes.  He came back with the two drinks and then when we wanted to order the other drinks he asked "you guys didn't order yet?"  Um, no!  This kid was either on drugs or his first day in a section of tables that he couldn't control.  I think it took him 25-30 minutes just to get drinks to everyone. I can imagine if we were getting something super fancy but how long does it take to get that Diet Coke or that ice tea?  What was he doing most of the time?  We saw him standing around and chatting with the female fellow employees instead of working.  I say, fire that guy, change the food so it is inventive instead of just okay and you have yourself a place that people will want to go and not just decide to stop in now and then.

Food porn part 3

Bacon, bacon, bacon.  Homer Simpson would agree with me that there is no way that there is a magical animal that gives us ham, pork chops and bacon all at once!  I am a fan of bacon and here we have a picture of candied bacon.  It looks like they covered bacon with brown sugar before cooking it.

 

http://www.baconbabble.com/index.php/2009/09/25/candied-bacon/

A lot of people love chocolate.  Some people love the taste and the flavor and others take their obsession to new heights and LOVE chocolate. I know at some spas, like Mist Spa, they even have a chocolate massage.  From their website: "Feed your skin with your choice of four delicious flavors of chocolate oils: Chocolate Raspberry, Chocolate Cherry, Chocolate Mint, or Chocolate Cake. Your first treatment is a Chocolate facial, using Eminence Chocolate Mousse hydrating masque and moisturizers. Next, our therapist will give you a one hour massage using the chocolate oil of your choice. Following your massage, you will move to our exclusive Oceana spa capsule where you will enjoy a Chocolate Oil Salt Glow Exfoliation. Then, chocolate oil is mixed with Moor Mud for a detoxifying and hydrating 30 minute session in the Oceana. To complete the experience, Chocolate Oil is lightly massaged over your body so you can enjoy the flavors for hours."

 
Whether you want to wear it:

http://oygirl.wordpress.com/2008/04/18/chocolate-shoes/

or eat it:

http://www.newsandreviews.in/index.php/KnowNow/?title=eat-chocolate-improve-your-maths&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Chocolate is a wonderful thing to have.  Dark chocolate has been shown to be good for you, containing certain antioxidants that help rid your body of free radicals and toxins.

Butter is one of the most natural fats that is actually good for you as well and the best for cooking.  Don't let people fool you.  It adds a flavoring that nothing else can replace and in the long run is better for your body than other oils.  It is a natural dairy fat and things from nature are the best.  By the way, who doesn't like butter?  Here we have a statue of butter, a life-size Marilyn Monroe statue of pure butter.

http://echostains.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/melt-in-the-mouth-sculpture/

 

 

So, these are examples of my idea of food porn.  What do you like?

Super cookie

Everyone loves a cookie, right?  Even more people love a chocolate chip cookie.  Well, the other day I got lazy and instead of making a dozen cookies of my own chocolate chip cookie recipe, I decided to do something new and different.  That is my cookie.  That cookie is 9 inches in diameter and as yummy and tasty as a good chocolate chip cookie. 

Does anyone want one?

We have the technology....we can make it better.

In the food industry and as a Mr. Mom type of guy, when any of us come up with a recipe or something we like, if it is not what we want, we change it.  It is normal and encouraged as not everything is made to our liking so it makes sense that we can change foods to our specific tastes.  Although, some changes are harder to do.

I made a cake, that has almost 2/3rds less of a cake of similar texture, taste and consistency.  It was based upon a normal thick and rich cake, but this one is different: no sugar.  So how does that work?  I turned a cake that would normally have over 4,000 calories into one that has just 2,000 calories.  What more, is that a single serving of my cake, has less than 200 calories. The cheesecake  Factory has a chocolate cake that tastes like mine and it is more than 750 calories.  So, ladies, or those watching anything about them, which would you rather have:  A chocolate cake that tastes great and has 200 calories a slice or one that has 700 calories a slice?

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present my flourless and sugar free chocolate cake. 

No sugar, means that I made it better than it used to be.  So, make something better.

sugar free and low GL chocolate brownies

I love chocolate, I can't help it, as I normally down at least 24 ounces of chocolate milk, a day. I have been blessed with a wonderful metabolism that allows me to consume about a pound of chocolate a day with no visual weight gain or bad feelings. I have made this recipe as it was original with sugar and then when I made it and removed the sugar and did it my way, no one could tell the difference.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F

you will need:
1/2 cup of butter (one stick)
1/2 cup of Truvia
1/2 cup of powdered milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
a pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder


1. melt the butter and mix it with the truvia and powdered milk.
2. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix it all together.
3. Then add the cocoa powder, flour, salt and baking powder

pour into an oiled or sprayed 8 or 9 inch square pan dish and cook for 25-30 minutes. You will know it is done when you stick in a toothpick or a chopstick and it comes out clean.

I used whole wheat flour on this one, which does add a slightly nutty taste, but feel free to experiment on your own and change that to perhaps 1/4 cup whole wheat and 14 cup ground barley flour. The whole wheat flour has about 1/4th of the GL's that white AP flour has and the barley flour has less than half of the GL's of white AP flour. The Truvia has no calories or GL's and the powdered milk has a low GL as well.

my little hostess...

Okay, I love sugary, rich snack cakes and love Hostess cupcakes.  However, since I do try to make everything a bit healthier than it normally is : ie, take out the HFCS, I found a copycat recipe and decided to play around. So, I made the cupcake parts:

Then I made the creamy white filling:

Then I made the chocolate frosting for the top:

The way this worked, was that you took the filling and piped it into the insides of the cupcakes, from the bottom.  This gave the insides, like a hostess cupcake.  Then placing the frosting on top made something that looked okay but tasted okay as well.

My problem was that the filling did not fill up the cupcakes, it only went as far as the piping bag fit in, so it didn't make a spot of filling at all.  I ended up cutting the cupcakes in half and placing a pat of filling on a side and then closing them back up.  Doing this recipe does need work to make them taste as good and work as the originals, so more work is needed in the future.