On Hiatus While I Sail the Eastern Mediterranean

Okay, okay. I've been on 'hiatus' for quite a while. But for real, travel posts (and miscellany overdue updates) to follow.

Maiko II

Spider Bun - Crispy Soft Shell Crab, Smoked Tomato Remoulade, Avocado, Lettuce


Maiko Sliders - Avocado, White Miso Slaw, White Cheddar, Yam Fries (these used to be Kobe sliders. obviously they were better before the switch)

Flag Cake

Feeling Patriotic

Lockhart, The Barbecue Capital of Texas

BBQ Plate at Chisholm Trail

I didn't think I'd ever been to Lockhart, but driving through, I get a mysterious sense of déjà-vu. Curious. Anyway, as I'm positive it's my first time eating barbecue in Lockhart, my first taste comes at Chisholm Trail. My mouth started watering even before we arrived at the restaurant. This air in this town just smells of smokehouse barbecue.

I ordered the 3-meat combo platter. You get your choice of three sides, sausage, sliced beef, and your choice of either pork or beef ribs. For the sides, I chose mac-and-cheese, potato salad, and fried squash. The potato salad was blah, mac-and-cheese was okay, but the fried squash was a nice departure from your usual BBQ sides. I also slurped down many a glass of their yummy sweet tea.

Now to the most important part: the meat. The sliced beef was very tender, but also seemed to be very fatty. I know that fat=moisture, but I have had moist sliced beef with considerably less amounts of fat. For the ribs, I chose pork since beef ribs are the norm in Texas. Pork ribs are a bit more meaty than the beef, and these had a nice smoke ring. Overall, good. The sausage, I hated. As soon as I sliced into it, it just completely fell apart, crumbled onto the plate. I may not know much about barbecue, but I know sausage doesn't do that. It's almost as if the casings were stuffed with cooked, crumbled sausage that had nothing to bind it together.

Dessert was peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream. The cobbler was so hot, the ice cream was soup by the time it reached our table. Probably had to do with the fact that they used soft-serve ice cream. The cobbler was okay. I preferred the crisp, flaky crust to the actual peaches, which were on the tart side. We've not had a good peach season in Central Texas because of the drought. But they probably used canned peaches anyway.

Lockhart Barbecue, Take 1: Mediocre. Fried squash and sweet tea were more of a standout than the meat. Salt Lick (my favorite in Austin thus far) 1, Lockhart 0.

Four Seasons Austin - TRIO Happy Hour

Crab Fondue, Herb Bruschetta

A not so impressive dish. Flat, overwhelmingly dairy. Yes, it is fondue, but you would think that the crab would be a prominent flavor. Nowhere to be found.

L to R: Baked Gulf Oysters, Shrimp, Bacon, Shoestring Potato; Pork Belly

I rather enjoyed the crunch of the potato on the oyster. My previous oyster experiences were very minimalist, highlighting the fresh oyster itself. But this baked oyster was quite good.

The Pork Belly (apologies for not remembering the exact accompaniments) had a nice, almost Asian-inspired smoky barbecue flavor. But how could you not enjoy pork?

Smoked Shrimp Croquettes, Green Mango, Fennel

My favorite. By far. I went so far as to inquire about the smoking process. I did manage to stump the manager on duty on the type of wood they use to smoke the shrimp, but it was nice of him to try. From the moment you crunch through the outer layer of the croquette, you embark on a pleasurable sensory experience. The smokiness floods your palate, but not overwhelmingly so. The shrimp melds beautifully with the smoke, and melts right in your mouth. The accompanying mix of sweet and sour fruit and veg provided a nice sharp upper tone to the bass-like croquettes.

Lamb Sliders, Local Lamb, Tzatziki, Cumin

Because all of our food arrived at the same time, I think these were lost in waiting. I thought they were good, not memorable. The tzatziki kind of melted into the bun. I like to think that the tzatziki was cold when it first arrived, bringing a refreshing layer to the lamb burger. The sliders would have been better consumed straight away. But by the time pictures are taken, plates divvied up, going through each individual dish, not all survived the wait.

Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch, Peanut Butter Mousse, Milk Chocolate Cremeux, Grape Fluid Gel, Milk Shooter

A whimsical take on PB & J, with a glass of milk to boot! I love these sort of desserts that include a bit of molecular gastronomy. I think it is a wonderful way to interpret an old standby. To reinvent it with new and unexpected textures, but retain the same, familiar flavor profile.

Blackberry Lemon Napoleon-sable breton, blackberry mousse, lemon vanilla cream, lemon frozen yogurt

Yummy and tart was this classic blackberry/lemon combination. A refreshing end to a good meal.

Apparently Penguins Look Like Owls

Penguin Graduation Cake: Chocolate/Vanilla Marble Cake, Caramel Buttercream, Candy Graduation Cap

Baker-for-hire: Kindergarten Graduation. School colors are blue and gold. Loves penguins.

I tried to incorporate the school colors into the penguin's skin/fur and graduation cap. That Happy Feet penguin had a blue-ish tinge, right? I took some pictures to document (this was before the feet, mind you) and scratched my head. Did my penguin end up looking like an owl? I sent the picture to my mom and first thing she said was why did my supposed penguin look like an owl. My co-workers seemed to think it looked like a penguin, but most had never seen a blue penguin. One suggested that as soon as I had the penguin-y feet on, it would look less an owl.

So on went the feet and a longer beak, et volia! We have a penguin.

Most importantly, the client loved it!

Pink is the New Orange

I have recently become obsessed with Cara Cara Navel Oranges. Though admittedly, I do have numerous obsessions when it comes to food. And though it may be strange for a single gal to hoard as many of these sweet fruits as I do, one must be prepared for emergencies.

Sadly, I no longer see them at the grocery. But I enjoyed their sweet, pink-hued flesh as long as I could.

How to Make a Mountain Cake, Part IV: My Co-workers Are Lucky and Other Final Thoughts

Ta-da!

Cake was devoured. I won the contest. Huzzah.

Despite all the fondant issues, I would still like to try working with it. But next time, I'll practice more before attempting such a project.

How to Make a Mountain Cake, Part III: Decorate!

L to R: Mountain Sheep/Goat ~ Employee; Atop Mountain

The little goat was made earlier in the week. Dyed some fondant (I think gum paste or marzipan would be more traditional) and had fun with it - just like Play-doh!

But... Nightmare! The day before Party-Day, I rolled out the fondant to cover the cake. Well, first I had to dye the fondant brown. Since dying the small amount I used for the goat left my fingers black for days, I decided to dye it in the mixer. But the fondant had stiffened up a little more on me, so I added corn syrup to compensate/add moisture. While it started to color, I'd need a lot more to get a dark brown. The fondant was still kind of stiff in the mixer and I had fears of making the fondant to wet/gummy with the corn syrup and overheating my mixer. I finally got it all dyed and was ready to roll.

It rolled out smoothly, but I couldn't seem to pick it up in one piece. It would always tear or stick to the board in the middle. Even with my liberal sprinkling of cornstarch, it seemed that the now moist fondant absorbed the cornstarch too quickly on the underside. So, by the time I was ready to lift, it would stick to the board.

I then tried to piece it onto the cake. It went on, but looked too piece-y. Then I was afraid it may not hold up through out the day. I gave in, tore off the fondant, and prayed I had enough buttercream to cover the cake. I did... just.

How to Make a Mountain Cake, Part II: Fill, Crumb Coat, and Sculpt

Chocolate Butter Cake, Cookies and Cream Filling, Vanilla Buttercream

How to Make a Mountain Cake, Part I: Fondant (from scratch!)

In my first attempt at working with fondant, I decide to make it from scratch! Why bother? The Mountain Cake, of course! Every year at work, we have a major Deadline-Completion Party this time of year. On the agenda? A cake contest dealing with this year's theme (something about climbing a mountain... yeah, I know)! Well, duh, of course I had to enter. So along with two birthdays to bake for, there are baking projects abound these two weeks. Not to mention all the last-minute things that popped up with work, trying to shop for/buy a major appliance, and trying to work overtime at work on top of all that (who knew I'd turn into a work-a-holic)! I have everything planned out, to the minute, every tiny detail. But then my procrastinating ways take over, and now I'm behind schedule.

Anyway, back to the fondant. Part of the reason I decided to make fondant was cost. I figured I needed 5 -10 pounds of fondant, and at $30 for a 5-lb bucket, I decided to make my own. Final cost? $5 for 10-lbs. The only kicker, is having to actually make the fondant.

The recipe was easy enough. Or should I say "seemed" easy enough. Having never worked with fondant before (brilliant move), I had issues gauging the texture. I knew it had to be pliable enough to roll out smoothly, but my first batch came out stiffer than I'd thought. For the second batch, I added less 10x sugar in the mixer stage. This seemed to come out better, but as I was kneading the rest of the 10x into the mix, I feared it becoming too stiff again. The recipe called for kneading in the full amount of 10x, but as I made the remaining batches, I kneaded in enough to keep the texture at what I thought it should be. I bundled up the batches of fondant, and hoped and prayed it would turn out by the time I needed to work with it.

And so ends Part I of my little escapade.

These Might Just Be Cupcake Perfection

Vanilla/Vanilla, Meyer Lemon Curd, Raspberry

South Congress Café, A Butter Obsession

Savory Butter at Dinner

Blackened Beef with Horseradish Hash

Lollipop Porkchop, Blueberry and Habañero Gastrique

Smoked Duck, Port-Cherry-Chipotle Glaze

Sweet-ish butter at Brunch

Carrot Cake French Toast

Quiche Eggs Benedict, Smoked Gouda Potato Pancake

Migas

Crawfish Omelette

I don't think I've eaten so much butter in two days. My sister was in town, so we decided to have dinner with Sister #3 at South Congress Café. Out comes our amazing waiter (Tom) with equally superb butter and bread. We couldn't get enough of that damn butter. It was a simple garlicky-onion-herb mix, but so packed with flavor, it was a real stand-out. I can't even count how many times we asked for more butter. And with the amount we were consuming, there shouldn't have been enough room for the main course! How obsessed were we?

To top it off, my parents wanted to go to brunch the next day, so where did we go? SoCo Café. Plus, I was craving their decadent Carrot Cake French Toast. But what else did we have? More butter. This time, it had a sweet-ish tinge. Maple syrup, maybe? And it was served with mini-corn muffins.

How many times did I use the word "butter" in this post? Mmmm, butter.

PS - South Congress Café serves many yummy things, other than butter, that is.

Austin Restaurant Week - Jeffrey's

Amuse - fried soup

Southern Style Oysters - sesame and thyme breaded on bacon royal topped with house-dried tomato vinaigrette

Crispy Bone Marrow -sauteed bone marrow, house-made pickles, fine herb salad, house mustard, country bread

Burgundy Pastures Short Ribs -caramelized potato galette, persillade, grilled date salad

Halibut Cheeks -sweet pea glacage, celery remoulade, pea-mushroom relish

Inverted Coke Float and Pineapple Fries (pineapple fries)

Inverted Coke Float and Pineapple Fries (coke-flavored sorbet-ish thing, vanilla liquid/drink; buttered rum, strawberry wasabi?, coconut dipping sauces for the fries)

Meyer Lemon Crepe Dumplings - burnt caramel bay leaf ice cream, black berry brandy sauce

Izzoz

Queso

Shrimp Tempura Taco

Garlic Fries

Pineapple, the Filipino Way

Look, Ma! I can cut pineapple like they do in the Philippines!

Uchi, 1Q 2009