Rumba Cafe! Adam’s Morgan area in Washington D.C. - the food is good, the mojitos are great, but the service was mediocre. Huevos rancheros, an omelet with fruit and potatoes… and I forget what I had but it was like fried plantains on the bottom with two poached eggs and tomato sauce. Add a side of perfectly crunchy potatoes, sour cream, slice of avocado and diced tomatoes.
Looking at the website now, I also feel like we must’ve went somewhere else… the site portrays an establishment of a completely different nature! Well, we were there for brunch on a Saturday morning (apparently it’s a DC thing: brunch)… but that happy hour sure makes a difference. A $9 mojito versus a $5 happy hour mojito?! Yeesh. Next time, Patrick, I think we need to meet at happy hour rather!
Eggs Benedict from Chow on Church. Eggs Benedict (or eggs bennie as some fans affectionately call it) is just one of those things I love to have at breakfast/brunch/lunch. It’s not that difficult to make, but it sure does take effort. Yum. I love San Francisco - the food is awesome.
Brian had found this so-called tapioca heaven long before I visited during my birthday trip. First day in San Francisco, he took me up to the Richmond area to experience this long awaited bubble journey.
Inspired by a sale at Target on organic heavy whipping cream, I decided to make some cream puffs this weekend. Um, yes, it was totally successful unlike my last cream puff blog.
Yum, yum, yum. Touch of Frangelico. The rest? Oky doke. Here’s a quick rundown of how the recipe went…
Flour, butter, water, sugar, salt, eggs - choux pastry.
Sift the flour (about 1 cup), sugar (about a teaspoon?), salt (just a pinch) into a mixing bowl. Heat the stick of butter with about a cup of water in a heavy saucepan until it boils. Remove from heat, add the dry ingredients and mix. Put it back onto the heat and mix until it started forming a ball. At this stage, remove from heat and place into a big mixing bowl (or your Kitchenaid mixer bowl). Beat it up to release the steam then add four eggs one at a time as you whip it into a thick pancake-like mixture. Spoonfuls into the oven at 400 degrees for about 10-15 minutes then lower to 350 degrees for about 20-30 minutes depending on how soft you like them. Brush on an eggwash before the oven for that shiny glossy look.
Heaving whipping cream, sugar, vanilla - whipped cream.
Whip it all together until soft peaks. I like more than just a little vanilla and not as much sugar in this. Put in fridge until ready.
Eggs, sugar, Frangelico, milk, flour and/or cornstarch - custard.
Egg and one egg yolk mixed into the sugar. Heat the milk with a touch of flour (and/or cornstarch) until it’s warmed over - feel free to add other flavors (cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, etc.) that work in here. When the milk is just nearing that boil, grab your whisk and slowly pour it into the egg mixture while you whisk a fine frenzy. This is so it doesn’t turn into scrambled eggs. Put it back into the heavy saucepan onto the heat and mad whisk until you can’t taste a starchy texture anymore. Add the Frangelico towards the end - whisk a bit more. Put it in the fridge until it’s cool.
When you’re ready, add the custard into the whipped cream. Whisk it until it blends together as one. Mix to taste. Cut the cream puff in half when it’s cooled and lather it up with the mixture. Or be fancy and pipe it in. Be even more fancy and dust with powdered sugar. There you go!
A couple months ago, I visited my friend Adrian and his girlfriend Naomi, out in Oakland. It was a beautiful day so we decided to walk up to 40th Street in Oakland for lunch - Homeroom. A fresh, airy joint specializing in mac and cheese… mmm.
Track on Repeat Craze #7: Diana Vickers - Jumping Into Rivers / Songs From a Tainted Cherry Tree album.
All right. I must say that I was sort of disappointed to hear that Cheryl Cole was kicked off The X Factor (USA version) after just a short stint. I totally stopped channel surfing over to the show. And… yeah, I’ll admit that after I heard her accent, I totally YouTubed some lessons to try and mimic it - I’ll tell you straight out, I ain’t got it. Was her Geordie accent really the reason Cheryl Cole got canned? That would just be utterly lame.
Well, anyway… from the days that Cheryl judged on the original X Factor, Diana Vickers emerged as a semi-finalist. I. Love. Her. Voice. She has this unique… whisper, almost, that’s so soothing and comforting yet works in up-beat poppy mixes just perfectly.
Since she hasn’t really conquered the US market, I couldn’t find the MP3s for the widget. However, check out my (current) favorite track from her debut album - thanks to the DianaVickersSings YouTube channel.
And here is another favorite that will be on her upcoming album (sometime this year… hopefully sooner rather than later):
Head over to Diana Vickers’ SoundCloud for more great tracks. Forewarning - she posts all sorts of social media bits. Translation: there’s more than just song tracks on her SoundCloud. But it’s cool. Why not, yeah?
Spinning in the 6-disc player (and somewhat in the Amazon MP3 widget):
1. Diana Vickers - Songs From a Tainted Cherry Tree
2. Meiko - composite CD of Meiko and I’m in Love EP
3. Sandi Thom - The Pink and the Lily
4. Missy Higgins - The Sound of White
5. The Band Perry - The Band Perry
6. Uh Huh Her - Nocturnes
Check out my new guest blog over at the Pioneer Theatre Company’s website. Hilarious play from artistic director, Charles Morey.
Before I left for my San Francisco trip over Memorial Day weekend, Trish mentioned the Buena Vista Cafe - best Irish coffees, hands down. She even mentioned a story about her trip to the Jameson distillery (in Ireland!) and how the bartender there asked her to compare a true Irish-served Irish coffee with that of Buena Vista’s. Trish said Buena Vista was better. So, I dragged Theresa with me onto the F train. We walked up to the cafe after a leisurely stroll through Fisherman’s Wharf for clam chowder (of course).
The verdict? It was good, but I don’t have much to compare from past experiences. At $9 a cup with all that hype, I would have been extremely disappointed if it wasn’t at least good though.
However, I think a trip to Jameson’s is needed. Theresa - let’s go!
San Francisco / Mission District - Chad Robertson was recently featured in Bon Appetit magazine. I think the quick profile on him makes me love him going to Tartine even more. I also love the photo by Martin Schoeller. The bread pudding - just one reason to love him his baked goods. Uh, Tartine’s baked goods.
A couple of weeks ago, I traded Matt food for knowledge. After a cram session at Salt Lake Roasting Company, we walked over to Everest Tibetan Restaurant for a late dinner. It was good. Don’t get me wrong. But the cheap frugal person that I am, I balked at the $10.99 price for seven pan-fried momos. Momos = just like Chinese bao or a variation of the Japanese nikuman.
And plus, c’mon! Chinese food should not be that expensive (and hey, you can get delicious nikuman at a Japanese 7-Eleven for ~100 yen).
So, just the tiniest bit enraged (and very, very full from the still delicious dinner), I decided to make my own bao-tzi/bao-zi over the weekend.
