C is for Cookie, and Cookie is for Me

My first recipe from Bouchon Bakery was the Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies.  Before I delve into the recap, I need to just rave a little about this cookbook.

First, if you haven't ever flipped through it, first of all, it's big.  Very big.  It has gorgeous pictures and amazing intros by all three contributors.  I read each of them and was immediately struck by how brilliant each of these chefs is.  Totally made me want to go to culinary or pastry school.  If only being a chef of any sort kept regular working hours!  Anyway, it's a beautiful book, both in pictures and words.  I still haven't finished reading all of the recipes and I just can't wait to give them a shot.

So back to the recipes!  I chose these cookies because chocolate chip is always my favorite kind of cookie and I figured I might as well ease into this cookbook.  While none of the recipes I've read through seem hard, they are definitely long and all involve weighing ingredients on a scale, rather than measuring volume with cups and spoons.  They're also detailed recipes - lots of steps.  Not hard, but it takes a little longer to make these than, say, the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse chocolate chip bag. 

I enjoy baking, but where I feel fine taking liberties with recipes for main courses and side dishes, I most definitely do NOT feel comfortable changing anything when it comes to baking. With that in mind, I really appreciated the exactness that comes with weighing your measurements, but weight measurements definitely require more prep work.  I now understand and appreciate mise en place cooking in a way I didn't previously. 

Each recipe has both weighted measurements and approximate volume measurements.  A note to anyone who may go on to purchase this book or who may be attempting to start weighing ingredients: I saw that this called for 60g of eggs.  For some reason, I thought that equated to 3 eggs (I have no idea why).  So, I cracked three eggs, scrambled them, strained them, and weighed out 60g.  I'm guessing that probably weighed about the same as just been one egg.  That means I was left with a bowl of scrambled eggs and I just wasn't really in the mood for a random plate of scrambled eggs to go along with my brisket and cookies.  Anyway, I'm assuming what might help for estimations in the future would be weighing the whole egg first and then subtracting a gram or two to account for the weight of the shell.  Then compare with what the recipe calls for and continue adding eggs to the scale until you reach a few grams higher than your desired weight.

Anyway, here's the spread of ingredients:

And here's the finished product:

In total, I think I probably spent 45 minutes to an hour prepping the dough.  I wasn't really timing myself, so this is a guess.  Were they better than my old recipe?  I would say yes - they definitely taste more "professional" and have a little something extra that my other chocolate chip recipes don't have (I think that thing is molasses, but I'm not sure.  Could just be the whole combination of ingredients).  The recipe also is supposed to only make 6 GIANT cookies.  I halved each one to make 12, and the cookies were still WAY bigger than what I would normally make with my regular cookie recipe.  This is a pic of a measured ball of dough:

It's hard to tell in the "final product" picture how big the cookies actually are.  To put things in perspective, here's a pic of one on a regular salad plate:

Yeah, it pretty much takes up the entire plate.  That makes them sort of fun and, I would imagine, a nice gift for someone in need of a baked good.  I wrapped up two and gave them to a co-worker for her and her husband to try.  Consensus: her husband ate both before she could try one, so I guess they were good!

Spice Up Your Life

Well, I'm off and running with my 2013 resolutions.  Two weekends ago, I had a super productive weekend and knocked out my January cooking and got things shaped up in the den.  For this post, I'll focus on my Homesick Texan recipe.

With L's input, we decided to do the Coffee-Chipotle Oven Brisket and corresponding barbecue sauce.  We happened to have everything on hand to make it, so it just worked out.

Since I am not a proponent of copyright infringement, and because you can find this recipe elsewhere on the internet, I won't detail the recipe here, but I will say that I did have to make a few substitutions.  These are the ingredients I actually ended up using for the rub:

Since we didn't have any ground chipotle, I substituted cayenne pepper and paprika.  I have no idea what Lisa Fain's original recipe tastes like, but L and I both thought what I ended up with was pretty darn good.  I realize that since I changed the recipe slightly, it means I could just write it all out and post it here, but that still seems a little wrong.  And, I'm lazy right now.  A note if you ever opt to make this: the recipe calls for wrapping your brisket in two layers of foil before putting it in the oven.  I did more than that and I'm glad I did.  My roll of foil isn't super wide - it's just the standard width, and it wasn't wide enough in either direction for to have any one layer completely seal it shut, so I ended up with about four layers. 

Also, if you make this, you shouldn't have any apprehension about cooking food in foil.  L is one of those people who is a little hesitant about cooking with foil.  Since this cooks for six hours and then we rested it for another hour or so, I'm sure he'd say we'll probably die of foil toxins being absorbed by the foil if he knew how much foil I'd used.  So if I never post again, now you know why. 

Lisa (the actual homesick Texan and author of the cookbook) recommends putting the meat under the broiler for 5 minutes after you rest it and unwrap it.  I did that and wasn't amazed by the results.  However, the end result of the actual meat was that it was super tender and fell apart when I touched it with my fork.  The flavor was also really good - just enough spice to keep it interesting.  And apparently it smelled good, too.  Heisman was not allowed to have any, but he begged and begged for whatever it was we were eating.  Spicy brisket is not for 5 month-old puppies.

So, the sauce.  The sauce was really easy and we had everything on hand, just not quite enough of the Worcestershire sauce.  So rather than skimp, I just added some Kitchen Bouquet to make up for the missing amount.  Pretty good, but the end flavor definitely has a strong undertone of ketchup-y tang but with a nice kick of spice.  Not bad, just a warning for what the end result is. 

Sorry about all the shadows.  I took one without them, but I just realized it's a little blurry, so it's not actually any better.

Honestly, I think this may become our new go-to recipe until we figure out if we can ever get a smoker that meets our HOA's guidelines.  Definitely easy and tasty.  Great for a cold, rainy weekend meal. 

That's Why I Can Smile and Say, Ain't It Funny?

L and I had a big night out in the city last weekend.  One of my favorite comedians is Jim Gaffigan and he was here last weekend filming his newest comedy special.  We bought tickets as soon as they went on sale and decided to go somewhere awesome for dinner.  The show was at the Warner Theater, so we decided we should go somewhere close by that we hadn't ever been to before.  We ended up deciding to hit up J&G Steakhouse.

I have to say, this was another one of those meals that ranks up there with some of the best we've ever shared together.  Not only was the food amazing, but the dining room is so beautiful (totally up my alley in terms of aesthetic, which won't surprise you if you follow my Pinterest boards) and the service is spectacular.  If you ever go, ask to be seated in Omar's section.  You won't be sorry. 

That's the dining room.  As you can see, L rented the entire place out.  Clearly we've had a bit of a financial windfall lately.  Just kidding, we were eating at an absurdly early hour so that we could be on time for the show and we were just the first people seated for dinner.


Another shot of the dining room:

The cocktails were A. MAZE. ING.  My first was a New York Sour.  Kind of like a Manhattan, but with an even yummier twist.  I could drink like ten of these in a row and be extremely intoxicated but still want more. 

And my next cocktail was one of my favorite classics, a sidecar:

So tasty.  And probably one of the better ones I've ever had.  But truth be told, between the two beverages I consumed at J&G, I'd take the New York Sour any day over the sidecar.  I can't wait to go back sometime for drinks and dessert so I can have another one!

Our meal was amazingly tasty (I started with parsnip soup, L started with a wedge salad, and we split a rib eye, Brussels sprouts, and potatoes au gratin) but no pictures exist of it.  We devoured it too quickly. 

After we finished our meal, we walked over to The Warner Theater for the show.  The theater was beautiful inside in a way that most buildings built today just can't replicate.  Lots of architectural details, mouldings, etc.  Here's a shot of the stage:

I didn't take any while Jim (or his opening act, the very funny Todd Glass) was performing, so you'll just have to imagine a pale, blond man on stage in all black.  If Jim is coming to your city on this tour, I say go see him.  He won't disappoint.  I've heard the Hot Pocket bit so many times and it's still hilarious to hear him run through it live. 

All in all, an all-star night for me and L. 

Oh, and a mileage check:

Miles walked today: 3
Total miles walked this year: 48 (yes, I'm falling behind.  Oops.)

Everything I Own

I had big plans to make a king cake this year for Mardi Gras.  I grew up eating them every year as a kid and always loved them!  I'd sometimes find them at HEB when I lived in Austin, so I'd buy one when I could, but they were never, ever as good as the ones my uncle and my dad's best friend would send us from Louisiana.  You can't find king cake in stores here, so I got it in my head that I'd make one from scratch. 

I went out and bought the gold, purple, and green sprinkles.  I made sure I had all the ingredients on hand.  And I set to work in the kitchen over the weekend.

Three times I tried, and three times I failed.  A baker, I am not.  So I have no amazing pictures to post, unless you want to see horrible dough in our trash can.  You don't want to see that.

I officially hate yeast.  I'm pretty sure that, at least for the foreseeable future, the only bread I'll be making at home will come from a box. 

And no, this title has nothing to do with Mardi Gras, cake, eating, or bread, except that it's my favorite song by the band Bread.


The end.

Here Comes a Regular

We rang in the new year with some repeat visitors. The Gamblor, Frohn Dancis, and their girlfriends flew in on Friday and stayed til the following Tuesday.  I'll be honest - I was a little nervous about how this would all go because I'd only met both girlfriends once.  Frohn Dancis and The Redhead visited last spring, so I'd spent a weekend with her and knew we'd get along just fine.  But I'd only met The Gamblor's girlfriend at our friend Thanksgiving fiesta in Austin back in November, so it wasn't like I'd actually gotten to really know her.  In the end, everything worked out fine but I was glad I'd spent time planning for the weekend instead of just leaving things open. 

Our whirlwind weekend of activities included

drinks at Rock 'n' Roll Hotel,


 

dinner at H Street Country Club where they feature an indoor miniature golf course, although we didn't play... here's a glimpse at the rules:

I particularly love the first rule - don't drive the ball.  You know there's a rule because at least one person tried it.  Inside.  In a restaurant.  I can only imagine the chaos that ensued.  This was our first time dining at H Street and I have to say, it was really, really good!  Service was horrible (not the server so much as the pace) and we were sitting right by the door on a very cold night and they don't have two sets of doors or a curtain or anything to keep the cold air out, so that was also a downer, but the food was so fresh and bright.  If it were more convenient for us to get to, I think we'd go back a llot.  Anyway, after dinner, we headed down the street for more drinks and a little booty shaking at Little Miss Whiskey's Golden Dollar on Friday.

Saturday included lunch, shopping, and a viewing of the TAMU bowl game in Georgetown.  We capped off our Georgetown afternoon excursion with frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity.

I'd been wanting to hit up Serendipity ever since it opened last summer but had yet to find time or a reason to get L over to Georgetown (he hates the traffic).  No one else in the group had ever been to any of the Serendipity locations in NYC or Vegas, so it was a fun trip for all.  Each couple split a frozen hot chocolate and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.  That night, we ate a fabulous NYE dinner at La Tasca and partied and danced the night away at Whitlow's with several other friends of ours.

We were all a bit tired on Sunday, so we spent the day at our house watching movies and football and making lots and lots of food.  Like, completely way too much food.  Our spread:

What you see above, clockwise from the top: bread, buns, fish (under the foil, for The Gamblor's vegetarian lady, who I shall henceforth refer to as Platinum), ribs (yes, the smoker was busted out on Sunday), salad, homemade macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and brisket.  What you don't see is the queso and what I refer to as Angie's Salsa that I made for apps and the dessert (chocolate chunk bread pudding).  Here's a visual of the salsa:

How pretty is that???  I love that it's so fresh and colorful.  And delicious.  I could eat it with a spoon.  Yum.

Despite the fact that everyone had been to DC before, The Gamblor and Frohn hadn't done the whole monument/memorial thing.  Platinum and The Redhead had, but it had been many years and no one (including me and L) had seen the MLK memorial.  We spent about 3 hours working our usual circuit and managed to see them all.  Thank goodness the sun was out because it was quite chilly and VERY windy, and The Gamblor didn't think to bring a coat or any cold weather gear with him, although we happily loaded him up with a scarf, gloves, and earmuffs.  But he still froze the whole time.  We had mid-afternoon snacks at Old Ebbitt and then strolled passed the White House on our way to happy hour at Elephant and Castle, where we warmed up and watched more bowl games.  Then it was off to dinner at our favorite, Founding Farmers.  The Gamblor and Frohn were particularly excited to eat here again; The Gamblor didn't feel so hot when we took him there on his last visit and Frohn had buyer's remorse when he and The Redhead ate lunch there on their last visit (he enjoyed his fish and chips that day but wished he'd ordered chicken and waffles when he saw an order served to another diner).  We all had a fantastic meal.  It's just so hard not to there, especially when you get an awesome server like we had.  If anyone reading this is planning on eating there soon, ask to sit in Bernard's section.  I wanted to shrink that guy and put him in my pocket so I could take him everywhere with me.

Platinum and I headed home after dinner (I had to get up early and go to work the next morning; Platinum felt she'd had enough for one day) and the rest of the group went out for more football watching and imbibing. 

All in all, a great trip!  We love when friends visit.  The one down side: such a long visit with so much non-stop action so soon after our trip to Texas ended up taking it out of me.  I took my first sick day in about a year and a half last Thursday.  Bleh.  Luckily, a day of sleeping and hydration did the trick and I've been on the mend ever since.

You know you're looking at a winner (winner winner winner)... cuz I'm a winner, yeah I'm a winner

Check out this fun clutch I won:

It just came in the mail today and I can't wait to use it!  Want one?  You can buy one here.

Another fun discovery this evening is mussels can be really tasty when you make them at home.

I used this recipe and I used half and half instead of heavy cream.  Pretty good!  I might crank up the garlic a big next time and use a little less crushed red pepper, but overall, a nice, tasty meal and inspiring for my first time trying mussels at home.

AND saving the best news for last: some dear friends of ours got engaged!  It's been a long time in the making and we are so excited to celebrate with them when we are all back in town after Christmas.  They are a great couple.  Woo hoo!!  Now I'm off to go deal with laundry and pack for our trip home to Texas.  Christmas is almost here!!!

Party in the U.S.A.

As previously mentioned, my birthday fell during our holiday jaunt in Texas.  It would've been challenging to bring L's gift with us on the trip in order for me to open it on my actual birthday, so instead he surprised me with my present a few days before we left so I could take my gift with me, if I so desired.  I gotta say, L killed it on my gift this year.  L has a history of giving awesome gifts many years and interesting gifts on some other years.  He's done pretty well for the last few years but he didn't ask em for any ideas or suggestions this year so I had no idea what to expect.  Meet my new friend Stevie:

I was seriously so impressed and shocked.   I did happen to want a new purse, but I hadn't said anything to him about it.  L just happened to take it upon himself to inventory my handbags in my closet and decide I needed a black one.  And then he went and picked this one out himself!  And wrapped it (which was extra cute because it took him several tries with several different rolls of paper; apparently most of the rolls didn't have enough paper on them to cover the whole box).  I was so surprised by the whole thing!  Definitely one of his awesome gifts.  Stevie and I have been inseparable ever since! 

Celebrating with the fam was also fun.  We rolled over to my parents' house on Tuesday and Mom had Sprinkles cupcakes for everyone.  Sprinkles = my fam's preferred purveyor of cupcakes in Dallas.

Dad was in charge of picking up the cupcakes on Tuesday afternoon. Obviously he came back with an extra cupcake for Boomer.  It's just not a party if Boomer isn't included.  If you're wondering why two cupcakes have candles in them, it's because my sister's birthday is a month before mine and Mom and Dad didn't get to celebrate with her, so we frequently do a joint thing for our birthdays when we're all together.  And if you're wondering why the cupcakes have weird numbers of candles, Mom's explanation to me was, "You're 31 so you get one candle.  Your sister is 34 so she gets four candles.  Pretend the extra 30 are there for both of you."  So nice of her to not jam 30 extra candles in our cupcakes! 

Boom loved his cupcake.  Here's a closer shot of our cupcakes together:

The bone on top was pretty cute.  If it grosses you out that our cupcakes were almost touching, I promise it's really okay.  His was just like a regular cupcake, but it was sugar-free and chocolate-free.  Here's Boomer eating his treat:

When you have something that exciting and good, you can't stop and pose for pictures.  You must take it and run underneath the nearest table so that you can gobble it down in a place where no one can reach you and steal your treat.  Totally worth the $2.50 if your pup needs a treat! 

But on the topic of Sprinkles, a word of advice: it's best not to ever place semi-loose cupcakes (especially from Sprinkles) in your purse.  I had a JL meeting and someone brought cupcakes for our whole committee, of which only three people indulged during the meeting.  Consequently, there were 21 cupcakes left at the end of the meeting, so our committee chair told  us all to take one home for ourselves and one for any husbands/boyfriends/roommates.  I grabbed two and wrapped each in a napkin and placed them in my purse.  It was rainy that night and my car was parked too far away for me to carry them down M and keep them- and myself- dry.  I got home to find my top-heavy cupcakes overturned and icing. was. everywhere.  Good thing L gave me my new bag later that night! 

But seriously, don't put cupcakes in your purse. 

Thanks a lot (you don't even know)

We went to three Thanksgiving events this year.  Two were hosted by friends (one here, one in Austin), one was with my entire family.  Both friend functions were standard "friend Thanksgiving" gatherings where everyone brings some kind of dish.  Any time I participate in a potluck event in the fall, I like to make the one dish that we brought to both Thanksgiving events.  I took it to a Junior League event in October that I can only refer to as The F-ing Catalina Wine Mixer (I should have taken pics; that was a funny/incredibly ridiculous story, but I didn't, so you don't get to hear about it).  It's always a hit.  It's a tradition from my family's Thanksgiving (one of my uncles who missed the last 3 Thanksgivings saw them this year and said, "I've been waiting for these for four four years")  that I love to sharing with new people.  It's so good, so easy, so inexpensive, and it's always a hit.  What is it? 

Bleu cheese biscuits.  And seriously, they are delicious.  I've given this recipe out so many times and until recently, none of my friends had made it.  Except one time in college I made them for a friend Thanksgiving thing that I'd totally forgotten about until I was reminded about it, so some friends may have tried them then, so they haven't lived completely deprived lives, which I found comforting to know.

You are in luck, though.  I'm sharing the recipe with you.  Without further adieu, I give you Bleu Cheese Biscuits.

Bleu Cheese Biscuits
What you need:
1 tube of regular-sized biscuits (usually 8 to a tube)
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 Tbsp bleu cheese crumbles

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Pop the tube of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters (tip: I use kitchen shears for this; it's just easier to me than using a knife.  Although a pizza cutter might also work well).  Arrange the biscuit pieces in a round pie pan.  Pour melted butter over biscuits.  Sprinkle bleu cheese crumbles over the biscuits (I usually just eyeball this part instead of using exact measurements).  Bake for 15 minutes.

Alternate methods: you can get really crazy and mix the bleu cheese and butter together if you want.  Sometimes I do this; other times I don't.  It doesn't make a big difference.  Also, full disclosure: the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter.  I accidentally used half a stick once and found they tasted just as good and were less greasy (and less fattening), so I always use 1/4 cup now.  However, if you want to indulge, by all means use a 1/2 cup.  That's how my aunt still makes them every year at Thanksgiving and they never disappoint.

Celebrate, we will, 'cause life is short but sweet, for certain

Our second anniversary is October 24.  Second anniversary traditional theme is cotton.  But here's the thing: that theme sucks.  So we aren't doing an official gift exchange (yet - the original plan was to do this later on but now I actually think it's just completely unnecessary).  And since the 24th is a Monday, our celebrating took place Friday night.

I like to be surprised on occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries (because hello, I'm a girl and it's frequently more about the thought and effort than the payout).  L's figured this out over the years (okay he knew it within the first six months - I shall wholeheartedly give credit where credit is due) and is very good about planning things and surprising me with them.  Per his instructions, I headed out to Reston Friday after work to meet L at his office and go wherever L had planned.  L gave me one clue about where we'd be going, and that was that we'd be heading somewhere west.  That gave me three ideas of where we'd go: Charlottesville, a resort in West Virginia (yes, there are resorts in West Virginia; weird, I know), or Frederick, MD so we could finally eat at Volt.  L planned a whole evening of surprises, and once we were about an hour into our road trip, he spilled the beans that we were heading to Frederick!  I was super excited.  We are avid Top Chef fans and we've been talking about going to Volt since I moved up here and we've never pulled the trigger.  I was pumped!

FYI- traffic on a Friday night heading out of northern Virginia sucks.  Took forever.  Snacks were involved, but only before I knew where we were going.  There was no chance I was going to lose my appetite and screw up our dinner plans!

So we finally got to Frederick and found our way to the bed and breakfast where we were staying (surprise #2).  We ended up staying in the bridal suite, which I found hilariously appropriate since it was our anniversary.  That really just meant that our room was larger (bedroom and bathroom, plus a sitting room and allegedly a kitchen that was behind a door I never opened).  I have no pictures so use your imagination.  Same typical b&b decor with lots of antiques.  Think Kleenex box covers, crochet bed canopy, and claw-footed tub.  I loved the tub until I took a shower in it Saturday morning and then I hated it.  I seriously never want to shower in a claw-footed tub ever again.  Felt like the shower curtain liners were attacking me (I loathe when shower curtain liners touch me - sick) and the pressure from the shower head was, like, totally pushing me across the tub.  And because of the 360-degree shower curtain liners that were like a cone around the tub, I couldn't escape the water.  At all.  Not on my list of favorite showering experiences. 

But back to Friday.  We changed clothes and walked around the corner to Volt. 

Close-up shot:

We were a half hour early for our reservation so we sat in the bar and ordered drinks. 

Apple cider fizz for me

Manhattany for L (a Manhattan with blackberry liqueur instead of cherry - amazing)

Apparently the Bryan and Michael (we're totes on a first-name basis, now) recently dropped a cookbook that is best summed up as gorgeous. 

We flipped through it while we sipped our libations and quickly discovered that if we owned a copy, it would be a coffee table book.  The gadgets and tools required are not for the novice home cook.

Oh and in case you are not aware, Bryan Voltaggio is the mastermind behind Volt.  And he's also the one who was runner-up in Top Chef.  This astounds me.

Then we were seated.  Surprise #3: we weren't sitting in the main dining room.  We were sitting at a chef's table where we could watch the action in the kitchen.  Our table looked like this:

At the table where we ate, we had the option to pick one of two six-course tasting menus.  We both selected the Kitchen Menu, which was a protein-based menu (versus the Market Vegetable Menu, which was, shockingly, based on vegetables):

I also opted for the wine pairings, because why not?  I'd never done a full meal with wine pairings by course.  If you're at Volt, you might as well go all the way.  L is not a red wine drinker and some of the courses were red, so he opted to stick with the cocktails. 

Then came the food.  Yes, I took pictures (much to L's embarrassment.  Sorry for the iffy quality of everything; my camera battery died as we walked up to the restaurant, so these were all taken on the sly with my phone) of each course.  It's a freaking chef's table at Volt.  We will not be eating like too often in our lives.  Once I pointed that out, L relaxed a bit.  Plus, I wasn't exactly making a scene about it.

First was a trio of appetizers, courtesy of Chef Voltaggio. 

From left to right: beef tartare, duck foie gras bulb, and salsify "oyster".  I think.  I may not have gotten all the words right and I certainly don't have all the details for you.  Everything was delicious.  That goes without saying from here on out.

First course:

Sashimi of fluke

At this point, I actually looked up and saw Bryan Voltaggio plating food and directing his staff.  Luckily for us, we were about 15 feet away and not sitting right next to where he was (I geeked out a bit).  Then he came out and presented a course for the group at Table 21 (there is one "table" that is more of a bar setting where all seats directly overlook the plating area, much like a bar at a sushi restaurant, and all diners in these seats have a 21-course meal.  Think like El Bulle, if you've seen that episode of No Reservations).  Here he is in action:

That giant cantaloupe/egg-looking thing is a celery root.  I don't know what cool way it was prepared, but it was so cool watching him open it.

  

Second course:

Goat cheese ravioli with brown butter air

Third course:

Black bass with nori porridge (porridge is a horrible word; it sounds gross.  I assure you this nori porridge was delectable.)

Fourth course:

Muscovy duck with quince, turnips, leeks, and coffee "dirt"

Then it was time for more pics of Chef Voltaggio in action plating food.  Our food.

Fifth course:

Lamb with Brussels sprouts, farro, Christmas lima beans, and spinach

And now, we break from our current program to be presented with a special course, courtesy of Chef Voltaggio, in honor of our anniversary:

Orange pistachio semi-fredo

And then it was back on track for our sixth course:

Textures of Chocolate (white chocolate ganache, chocolate caramel, raw organic cocoa, and chocolate sorbet)

I also opted for a cup of Voltaggio blend coffee, which was a. maze. ing.  Bonus: totally French press.  So good.

And then, one final plate, courtesy of the chef:

Concord grape fruit gelee, a cookie with chocolate, a truffle, and pineapple fruit gelee

There were fancier, more detailed names for each item, but honestly at that point I'd had six glasses of wine and a cocktail so I'm not a trust-worthy source for the details. 

Then it was time to head home.  We were both insanely full but oh, so happy.  Words cannot express how insanely good that meal was.  I've never had anything like it in my life.  The fact that you can raise the food to your mouth and smell one thing, and then take a bit and taste something totally different, and then, as you chew, the flavors change (sometimes once, sometimes multiple times, depending on the dish), is just so amazing to me.  

Neither of us was hungry for the breakfast the next morning, but since we'd told the proprietor we'd be dining, we felt obligated to go downstairs and eat.  After the worst shower ever, we packed up our stuff and headed down.  Breakfast = just okay.  There were claims of the French toast being "world famous", but I don't see it.  Also L and I were totally not fans of the incessant name dropping regarding Bryan Voltaggio and Michael Voltaggio.  It was out of control. 

Go to Volt.  Eat your heart out.  Totally worth the trip.

Sugar, oh honey, honey

Topic of discussion around my office this week: best and worst candy to get trick or treating.  Lots of runners up for best!  Our manager whipped out a massive bag of SweeTarts and among them was one that 90% of us agreed was totally on the Worst list.

 
What do you think?  Love them or hate them?  What did you love getting as a kid and what did you hate??

American Pie

It's been another nice weekend here.  After a week of nothing but exhausting, seemingly endless, torrential rain (seriously - 5 full days of non-stop rain; Texas, I wish I could have bottled it all up and sent it to you), we finally got a break and saw some sunshine on Saturday.

After finishing our morning workouts, Mrs. FBI and I decided to head to Georgetown for a little shopping before heading down to the Newseum, which was allowing free admission all weekend in remembrance of 9/11. 

Neither of us had ever been to the Newseum so we were looking forward to it.  We only made it through 3 1/2 exhibits- none of which was the special 9/11 one- before it closed for the day.  We both really enjoyed the exhibits that we did see, though.  I'd actually planned to go back on Sunday with L, but he was uneasy about the idea of being in DC on 9/11 and after accidentally watching MSNBC's re-broadcast of the real-time footage from 9/11/2001, I decided to scrap those plans and just pay to check it out some other time in the future. 

L spent Saturday at our house watching football and smoking a brisket with The Marine.  I got home a little after 6:00 and got to work creating our dessert for the evening, a hatch chili apple cobbler.  I picked this as a nod to fall, a nod to our amazing country on this weekend of remembrance, and because I recently procured some hatch chilies and was dying to use them.  It was perfect timing that I happened to find the recipe for this dessert. 

Side note: I was shocked to find hatch chilies at my local Harris Teeter a couple of weeks ago.  I really figured that would just be something I'd enjoy on visits to Texas (and New Mexico, since that's where they're grown, but I almost never go there, so really I figured I'd only be eating these in Texas, courtesy of Central Market). 

My lovely hatches, after a few days of ripening:

I found a recipe via Homesick Texan for my aforementioned cobbler.  The end result:

I used 2 green chilies (one really big, the other pretty small) in order to control the spiciness.  The Marine doesn't adore spicy food (he's from Illinois; it can't be helped) and L is sometimes sensitive to spices, so it just seemed logical to start small and know to add more or not for future recipes.  What we ended up with is a yummy pie-type cobbler (it seems more like a pie to me than a cobbler since the crust is on the bottom) that has a subtle, slow, spicy burn at the end of each bite that hits you right at the back of your tongue.  Totally a perfect pairing with the sweetness of the fruit and crust!  Hooray for sweet and savory.  It's especially tasty when paired with salted caramel ice cream, which we happened to find at Safeway (note to Nolly and Neredith: this ice cream is not nearly as good as the salted caramel ice cream Nolly and I had for dessert at August, but did we really expect it to be?  It's totally different, but still good).  If you're looking for it, it's the house label.  So in Texas, I guess it might be Randall's or Tom Thumb brands but I can't remember if they change they labels there to match the store names.  ANYWAY, it was really good!  It takes a little time to roast the chilies and peel and dice everything, but once you do that, it's super quick to put together.  If you have access to hatches, I highly recommend giving this a shot.  It's perfect for a fall dessert.