Smitten Ice Cream

Smitten Ice Cream - January 24, 2014

You'd think that as much as I love desserts and sweets, I would be more up to date on the latest foodie scene. But it took two friends telling me (coincidentally on the same day) about Smitten ice cream before I was even aware it existed. If you click on the link above in the post title, it'll take you to the Smitten's website and you'll see Smitten's started off when Smitten founder Robyn Sue Fisher decided ice cream was better made using liquid nitrogen for fast, small-batch freezing and achieving a creamy texture. She could make it to order and provide instant gratification with freshly churned ice cream.

There's a Smitten's attached to Whole Foods that just opened up and it was serendipitously located within walking distance from Paul Martin's of the "you have to be out by 6:30" fame so we decided to forego the $9 desserts at Paul Martin's and go check out Smitten Ice Cream instead.

This location had a select number of flavors with the flavor of the month being the Meyer Lemon Gingersnap. I was tempted to try out the chocolate but the salted caramel caught my eye and wouldn't let go so that's what I got. You can order a small, regular or pint. None of us had any intention of ordering as much as a pint since we planned to eat it there but the small looked tiny to me and my friend Karen, like it could barely hold half a scoop of ice cream so we opted for the regular. I mean, c'mon, it's ice cream - why skimp? My cousin Ellen was more prudent and got the small.

The "Brrr" machine - with the help of liquid nitro, churns out ice cream very quickly

The finished product

We ordered separately and didn't know what each was getting but it turns out all three of us ended up getting the salted caramel so, in hindsight, we might've been able to split a pint after all. You can also pair your ice cream with add ins or sauces but I went for the plain version to get the full, unadorned flavor of the salted caramel.

The texture was creamy as advertised and I enjoyed the salted caramel flavor. I definitely want to try the chocolate and vanilla flavors next. Overall, this was good ice cream. I don't know that it was worth $6 for the regular as I'm not enough of an ice cream gourmand to be able to distinguish between a liquid-nitro frozen ice cream versus a pint of premium Ben & Jerry's (sorry, Robyn Sue Fisher) but it was a good novelty experience to try out.

I will say Ellen got the last laugh on me and Karen because the small turned out to be 2 scoops of ice cream and for something that rich and creamy, 2 scoops is plenty. The regular size Karen and I each got was 3 scoops of ice cream and that was a trifle too much, especially since we'd already eaten dinner. Of course, both Karen and I finished our 3 scoops anyway because we paid all that money for ice cream and we didn't want it to go to waste (just to our waists). And this is why we've been friends since college - we think alike.

Dark Chocolate Brownies

Dark Chocolate Brownies - made February 1, 2014 from The Pioneer Woman

Although I have a plethora of tried and tested brownie recipes, there are so many great-looking ones out there that I almost always try out a new recipe when I need to make brownies rather than using the ones I already know are good. It's not like I'm searching for the ultimate brownie recipe or anything because I have a stableful of great ones already. I just like any excuse to try a new recipe and any excuse to make brownies. Like I need one, ha.

The Pioneer Woman is always a fun show for me to watch. I'm hardly ever home when it's on but I did stumble upon when it regularly airs and started DVR'ing the show. Then I watch the recorded shows in the morning while I work out. Yes, I do recognize the irony of that. I didn't actually get this recipe from watching her show but I did see it on pinterest (where else?) so I trailed the pin back to her blog and went from there. The directions say you can bake it in an 8 x 8 pan or a 9 x 13. I had no intention of making thin brownies so I went with the smaller pan. I like the thickness that resulted and probably would only have made this in a larger pan if I was making brownie ice cream sandwiches and needed thinner brownies. I didn't bake mine as long as the directions suggested and you can see it came out pretty fudgy. With the high chocolate content, that's okay because I'd rather have the chocolate set into a fudgy texture than to overbake the brownies and have them be dry. As the recipe title says, these are pretty dark chocolate brownies. The dark cocoa (I used Dutch processed unsweetened cocoa that I bought from Penzey's) added more chocolate depth and the unsweetened chocolate provided the base. Even the relatively high amount of sugar didn't mute the dark chocolate flavor.

1 cup butter
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium-large saucepan, melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate over low heat, whisking occasionally until smooth and melted. Sprinkle in cocoa powder and whisk to combine. Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in sugar and vanilla until just combined.
4. One at a time, stir in the eggs.
5. Gently stir in the flour until halfway incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and stir just until combined.
6. Pour batter into a greased 8 x 8 or 9 x 13 baking pan. Spread to even out the top and place in the oven.
7. Bake for 40 minutes, then check the brownies with a toothpick. If it is overly gooey/messy, return to the oven for 5 to 10 more minutes. (I only baked mine for less than 30 minutes.)
8. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.

Restaurant Review: Paul Martin's American Grill

Paul Martin's American Grill - dinner on January 24, 2014

I had never heard of Paul Martin's American Grill before but one of my coworkers mentioned it and when I looked up their website and saw how they sourced responsibly for their menu (sustainable fisheries, free-range meats, artisan cheeses), I wanted to try it. I like to support small businesses and I'm also trying to support the ones who source locally and responsibly whenever I can. It may not seem like much but if I'm going to eat out and spend money anyway, I want to support what I believe in as much as possible.

In a nutshell, I would call Paul Martin's a steakhouse but they offer more than just steaks. You can get seafood, chicken, salads, burgers and ribs as well as steaks. Like a traditional steakhouse, the lighting inside is pretty dim. I think every steakhouse I've ever been in has had low lighting. It's pretty spacious, er, at least what you can see of it in the dim light. Their Mountain View location offers valet service but honestly, save yourself a few bucks and just park in the nearby garage. That's where the valets park your car anyway and there was plenty of parking when I went on a Friday night.

I tried to book a reservation on Open Table but they didn't have any spots available so my friend Karen and my cousin Ellen and I took a chance and just arrived early. The hostess said she could seat us but that we'd have to be done by 6:30. We had gotten there around 5:15 so while it was a little off-putting to be put on a timer, it wasn't a big deal to plan on getting out in less than 75 minutes.

They brought out a bread basket which the waiter, when asked, said they truck down since they don't have a bakery onsite. The inside part was good but the crust was a little chewy, leading me to believe the bread was probably delivered freshly made that morning but as the day wears on and the crust softens, it's not as fresh as it could be.

Marinated Skirt Steak with sweet potatoes and arugula - $24

I ordered the marinated skirt steak with sweet potatoes and arugula. I have to say, it was fabulous. The skirt steak, cooked medium, wasn't super tender but it wasn't tough either, just the right amount of chewy for a steak. The marinade was delicious and the fresh arugula, unadorned with dressing (thank you) made me feel virtuous since I actually ate it. But the best part of the dish? The sweet potatoes. I think they were actually Japanese sweet potatoes because they were white-fleshed yet still tasted like sweet potatoes but with a slightly more firm texture. Delicious.

Fish Tacos - $17

Karen got the fish tacos with the homemade flour tortillas. Unfortunately I don't think she enjoyed her order as much as I enjoyed mine. The "homemade" description had led her to believe the tortillas would be thinner but they were thick. Ellen also wasn't overly impressed with her salmon, finding it a little dry. I think they found their entrees okay but nothing to write about. Whereas I could probably wax on a little longer about my skirt steak and sweet potatoes. But I won't.

Cedar Plank Salmon - $25

Paul Martin's is a little on the pricier side but I expected that given their focus on sourcing sustainably and using fresh, seasonal ingredients. For once, we didn't get dessert. They had 4 offerings for $9 each but nothing appealed to us and, aware of our time limit, we decided not to bother since it was approaching 6:30 and our table was going to turn into a pumpkin for us and into a coach for the next patrons. Instead, we decided to head to Smitten's for ice cream (stay tuned).

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Brown Sugar Pound Cake - made January 31, 2014 from Cricket's Cafe

This is another recipe I've had so long on my pin board that I either had to make it or delete it. As always, click on the recipe title to take you to the original recipe page and blog I got the recipe from. It'll probably be better for you to see the original picture that sucked me in and got me to make this cake because it looked so moist and appetizing.

Mine didn't turn out quite the same way so I'm scratching my head wondering if I baked it too much or not enough because my cake doesn't look like that when sliced. When not sliced, as you can see from the pictures, it looks really homemade. As in, it didn't come out of the Bundt pan very cleanly and I was lucky it didn't break completely apart. Taste-wise, it was good although when I first tasted it, I thought it was too sweet. Not surprising with that much sugar in it but I was surprised that it didn't have more of a caramel or butterscotch flavor from all that brown sugar. Instead, it was just sweet. I liked it better when it had completely cooled because, although I could still taste the sweetness, the texture was soft and had a good mouthfeel.

1 1-lb box light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
5 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
1 cup walnuts, optional

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour bundt pan or loaf pans.
3. Cream butter and shortening. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Combine flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to the creamed mixture.
5. Add vanilla and maple flavoring; mix well. Add nuts, if using. 
6. Pour into prepared pans and bake 1 1/2 - 2 hours for bundt pan, less time for loaf pans. Cake is done when toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough January 29, 2014 from Sally's Baking Addiction

It's February, the month of schmaltzy hearts, the Hallmark holiday known as Valentine's Day, and pink and red everywhere. It's also the month of not needing an excuse to make anything red velvet because tis the season for edible red food. I saw these cookies from Sally's Baking Addiction and like a moth to a flame, I was irresistibly drawn to making them. Chocolate chip cookies and red velvet? Let me reach for the butter.

Cookies before baking

And speaking of schmaltzy hearts, that's what I tried to make out of these cookies. The picture above is how I shaped them with the help of a heart-shaped cookie cutter as I partitioned out the cookie dough. I froze them that way in the hopes that when baked, they wouldn't spread and would retain their shape. As you can see from the picture below, those hopes were dashed 5 minutes into the oven. Instead of heart-shaped cookies, I ended up with oddly shaped cookies that no one would mistake for hearts. Oh well, the best-laid plans...

Cookies after baking

Total upside though is regardless of how they looked, these cookies were delicious. They were like regular chocolate chip cookies but better because they were red velvet that actually had chocolate flavor to them. I added the white chocolate chips on my own since I like the color contrast in the cookie but you can also stick to just semisweet (or milk) chocolate chips. Oh and I discovered Sally's Baking Addiction, a blog which I've gotten several good recipes from, is publishing a cookbook to be released on March 1. Although I've forsworn buying new books, especially new baking books for awhile, don't think I didn't put this on my wish list for those days when I weaken my resolve and am jonesing for a new book.

1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon (198 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (32 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (150 grams) light or dark brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 teaspoons red food coloring
1 cup (180 grams) semisweet chocolate chips plus extra for after baking

1. Whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as needed. Switch the mixer to medium speed and beat in the brown sugar and granulated sugar until combined. 
3. Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla extract, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Once mixed, add the food coloring and beat until combined. Turn the mixer off and pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low and slowly beat until a very soft dough is formed. Beat in more food coloring if you'd like the dough to be more red. On low speed, beat in the chocolate chips. The dough will be sticky.
4. Cover the dough and chill for at least 1 hour (I recommend making them into 1.5 tablespoon-sized dough balls first then chilling).
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Space dough balls evenly on baking sheet and bake for 10-11 minutes. If desired, press a few chocolate chips on top of each warm cookie.
6. Cool cookies for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Restaurant Review: Bierhaus

Bierhaus - dinner on January 23, 2014

Although I often meet friends for dinner at one of the restaurants on Castro St in Mountain View (perfect central meeting point for those of us scattered up and down the peninsula), we'd never gone to Bierhaus before. It's fairly new, having opened within the past year. I found them through yelp, as usual, and a rave review for their sweet potato fries sucked me right in.

Truffled Shroom Burger with sweet potato fries

Bierhaus is a casual establishment with both indoor and outdoor seating which is viable in winter when you don't live in the polar vortex, experience record high temps for January and have no rainfall during the rainy season. You place your order at the counter, get a number, find a table and the staff delivers your order to your table, finding you by number. Just like Athena Grill, it's a good casual place to go with friends and not have to worry about splitting the check since you pay separately when you order. (For the record, I don't have a problem splitting the check with my friends but this just takes the calculation out of adding up the bill, tacking on the tip, dividing it by however many of us were there and strategizing what to tell the waiter to charge when some people pay with cash and others by credit card.)

Commando burger with sweet potato fries

Burger prices range from $8.50 - $14 or so, depending on whether you want a 5-ounce burger or an 8-ounce one. Cheese is extra as are bacon and avocado, depending on the burger. I went with a 5-ounce Commando burger because, as the name implies, it comes "commando" (which sounds so much nicer than "I'd like my burger plain") with just the burger and bun. I did add the cheese and didn't bother adding the greenery that came with it. Having been taught by The Counter that anything over 5 ounces would be way too much, I was happy with the 5-ounce patty. It was a good burger and the brioche bun was perfect. I also liked that Bierhaus sources locally and the grass-fed beef comes from nearby Marin Sun Farms. Their greens are also local. Locally-sourced food has been another criteria of mine when seeking out new, small business restaurants to try.

Chicken Cobb Salad

I took pictures of the other entrees my friends got but I often forget to ask them how their orders were so I never have that to include in my blog write ups. Could've been great or just okay but I have no idea since we were too busy talking about other stuff for me to quiz them on the food. I'm just glad they're used to my quirks enough by now that they'll let me photograph their food before they eat it. Yes, I know that's probably annoying but I come with baked goods for them so they humor me :).

Giant pretzel, heavy on the salt

Overall, I liked Bierhaus and it's a good place to go for a casual dinner, even if you're like me and don't drink beer. The burgers were good and I'll applaud any place that has sweet potato fries. I think I still prefer The Counter for burgers but this place is a good option as well.

Another Texas Sheet Cake

Texas Sheet Cake - made January 29, 2014 from A Hint of Honey

(Note: apologies in advance for the somewhat blurry pictures. I was testing out a new camera and still going up a learning curve on how to use it properly.)

I might be a tiny bit obsessed, fanatic, super in love with into Texas Sheet Cake since I just made another one so soon after I had already made one for National Chocolate Cake Day. I had planned on making one anyway since I needed it for care packages and for one of my nieces. Typically I do most of my baking on the weekends when I have more time but I was gone last weekend with no time to bake and I needed it for Thursday when I was going up to Berkeley for a recruiting fair for my company and doing a treat bag handoff to my niece. Texas Sheet Cake is perfect when you need a good amount of cake to give away and you don't have much time. Not to mention, I just like eating it.

I had planned to make it Wednesday night when I got home from work but I woke up irritatingly early on Wednesday morning, more than an hour before my alarm clock was due to wake me up. Usually I try to convince myself to go back to sleep and half the time I can fool myself back into a light doze. But this was the other half of the time when, once I'm awake, my brain decided to do backflips, cartwheels and twirls so the more I tried to go back to sleep, the more awake I became. I typically wake up early anyway since I like to workout before work but this was really early, more than an hour ahead of my schedule for preferred consciousness. So I decided if I was going to be awake, I might as well be baking.

Normally when I do bake before work, I mostly make cookie doughs and don't actually bake anything but just get the cookie dough made, formed and into the freezer ready for baking when I have time. But the best kind of cake to make in under an hour is Texas Sheet Cake so I went hunting on pinterest for another version to try out. The typical Texas sheet cake has the same ingredients, mixed the same way, differentiated mainly by the proportion of ingredients to each other. Some have sour cream, some have buttermilk and some have both. I didn't have any sour cream on hand, just milk and dried buttermilk powder so I culled out an appropriate recipe and got started. True to form, I was able to get this cake mixed, baked, and frosted in less than an hour, including cleanup of my kitchen. Even did my workout and got to work by 8 am as usual. The only difference being the cake was already made and ready to be packaged up by the time I got home. Bonus that my kitchen was already clean and I had no dishes to wash that night.

I would like to say double bonus that this was another great cake. But I can't. It was good but it wasn't as good as the other versions of Texas Fudge Cake I've made. The texture wasn't dry but it wasn't as moist so I don't know if I baked it a trifle too long or if that was just how it's supposed to turn out. The frosting wasn't as smooth either as the other versions. It's odd because when I compare this version to the last version I made, the recipes are very similar but just vary slightly in proportions yet I definitely prefer the last version.

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Frosting
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease a 9×13 baking pan or sheet pan.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and chili powder (optional) and stir together with a whisk. 
3. In a small saucepan, combine water, butter, and cocoa and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Pour into flour mixture. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. 
4. Add buttermilk, vanilla, and eggs. Beat well. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes (it will bake even faster if you are using a sheet pan) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack.
5. To make the frosting, combine the butter, milk, and cocoa in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Spread over warm cake. Cool completely.