Postcards from San Diego - Food & Drink Recommendations

"Postcards from San Diego - Food & Drink Recommendations"

Recently I traveled to San Diego for a little fun in the sun, beer tasting and wine bottling.

 And before I get to the posts highlighting my photography excursions, I thought I would share a snapshot of all the great food and drinks we got to check out while there.

Mission #1: Find Pliny the Elder. And the results....

Well, I finally got to try this famous Double IPA (Pliny the Elder) by Russian River Brewing Company...and I have to admit, I understand what all the hype is about. It was one of the best IPA's I've ever had. Hoppy, but super floral, and so smooth that it goes down way too easy. It's worth the trip out to the west coast and searching for the bar that has it on tap.

Mission # 2: Eat, drink and be merry. And so we did, at the following:

Alpine Beer Co. - A short drive outside of San Diego. Recommended Brews (besides all of them): Pure Hoppiness and the Mandarin Nectar.

Tiger Tiger - Great beer selection and phenomenal food like pork belly sandwiches slathered with pâté and fries covered in gravy (otherwise known as poutin).

Polite Provisions - Crazy good cocktails are served up at this trendy little spot. Just check out their phone number - 691.677.DRUG, and you'll have no doubts that as manufacturers of local tonics, elixirs and cures that you will find a remedy for whatever ails you.

Green Flash Brewing Co. - What can I say. It's really great beer, and they have a lot to sample. Opt for the samples sizes, so you can taste a variety, and definitely try the Palette Wrecker, but please save it for last. It is named this for a reason.

Alesmith Brewing Company - They have a really fantastic nut brown ale, among other things. Definitely worth a visit, since they're only available right now in California.

Hamilton's Tavern - Amazing beer selection. No frills bar scene.

Toronado - Amazing beer selection, and pork belly skewers are a must try appetizer.

Small Bar - Amazing beer selection. I'm beginning to see a pattern here. 

So as you can see from the sampling of local fare, I left San Diego, not hungry or parched by any means.

-Mo

Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes

Need a dose of summer sunshine...for your belly rather than your skin? Try my latest cupcake experiment...Lemon Blueberry Cupcakes.

The Lemon Blueberry cupcake is based on the Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake recipe (from the cupcakeproject.com) with the addition of lemon zest from 1 1/2 lemons, and 1 1/2 cup of blueberries. And to top it off, I decided to try what I think would be the ultimate vanilla frosting/icing...a modified version of my Strawberry-like ice cream icing (sans strawberries).

To make, follow the vanilla cupcake recipe link above, and fold the lemon zest and blueberries into the batter at the end before you scoop everything into your cupcake/muffin pans. In my oven, it took about 18 minutes to cook the cupcakes, and my batter produced 18 cupcakes (ironically).

Let cool.

My version of the Ultimate Vanilla Icing:

• 5 Tablespoons Flour
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 Vanilla Bean
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 cup Butter
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar

Directions

In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick, thicker than cake mix, more like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.

Remove/de-seed the black gooeyness from the vanilla bean and add to granulated sugar in a small bowl. With the back of a spoon, break up any clumps of vanilla bean and incorporate it into the sugar. (You basically now have vanilla sugar). Transfer to a mixing bowl.

For info on how to de-seed, the vanilla bean, checkout this helpful video: http://youtu.be/nD3zH-43duA. 

In the mixing bowl, add the butter to your vanilla-sugar combo. With an electric mixer cream the butter and vanilla-sugar combo together until light and fluffy. You don’t want any sugar graininess left.

Then, add the completely cooled milk/flour mixture and beat the living daylights out of it. Beat it until it all the ingredients are combined and it resembles whipped cream. If you love lemon, you could always add some more lemon zest, but it's just fine with out it.

Frost your cupcakes before you eat all the icing!

Country Klub

A couple of months ago, with our good friends Traci and Aaron, we decided to spice up our dinner get togethers, and hold a themed dinner around dishes from Spain. It was awesome!

Aaron and Traci made Romesco sauce, which my husband loves (this is an understatement, believe me). We made steak that had a yummy sauce made of orange juice, onions and blue cheese.

Little did we all know that this dinner would spark a culinary journey. After some wine, the four of us decided this needed to be a regular event, and our very own Country Klub was founded. This one however, does not come with membership fees or fancy pants; instead, the only requirement is that you come with a love for food and an a appetite of course!

We created a list of countries/places; put the list in excel and created a randomized sort. This way, it was completely at random as to which place would be next on the list. And so, the journey begins (already began actually).

Here's the list:

Spain

Corsica (Italy)

Polynesia

Japan

Greece

Bangladesh

South African

China

Chile

Mexico

Hawaii

Mongolia

Lebanon

Ethiopia

Australia

Sri Lanka

Switzerland

New Zealand

India

Russia

Serbia

United Kingdom

Germany

....and who knows what will be next on the list.

Next blog post....a recap of Spain, Corsica, and Polynesia.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

Don't you want to just sink your teeth in?

This absolutely delicious vanilla bean cupcake is brought to you by cupcakeproject.com and is noted as the ultimate vanilla cupcake.

I will agree about the cake part. It was out of this world! For the icing, I went with the recommended vanilla bean buttercream frosting. It's good, but I'm not sold. With a cupcake that tastes that unbelievable, I was expecting something else. I have a feeling, if I made my strawberry frosting from earlier this year, strawberry or vanilla flavored, it would have been heaven.

One last photo just for fun!

And with that, I hope 2011 was just as sweet for you, as it was for me.

Happy New Year!

The Dish: Thai Red Curry Mussels

I know I took a little hiatus from blogging, but there have been other priorities lately...family and myself. This time of year, I always find to be a good time to recharge my batteries. So, that's just what I've been doing with a little retail and cooking therapy.

And, if you're looking for something to spice up your everyday go-to-meals, then check out this recipe for Thai Red Curry Mussels on the Food Network.

My only deviations from the recipe were the following:

• Crushing a lemongrass stalk seemed a little agressive (maybe if you've had a bad day, this would be an option). Instead, I sliced the stalk lengthwise into 4 strips and then chopped the stalk. I placed the chopped lemongrass in cheesecloth, tied it up and threw it in with the liquid. (See the big white looking ball in the photo below.)
• I added about 2 garlic cloves crushed (literaly smashed with the back of a sturdy knife, and skins removed) to the liquid.
• I actually mixed and whisked all the liquid in a separate bowl before placing in the pot to heat. The coconut milk is really thick, so I recommend this part, especially if using an enameled pot to cook your mussels.

Ingredients prepped.

Mussels, debearded and washed.

I purchased from Whole Foods, and for the most part, they were ready to go, but a few still needed debearding, which is literally tearing out this fiberous little tuft from the side of the mussel. After this, I let the little guys sit in cold water for about 30 minutes to flush out any remaining sand. After 30 minutes, lift the mussels out of the water. Don't poor into a strainer, because all the sand will just end up back on the mussels. Also, be sure to ditch any mussels that are cracked or wide open, or don't close when tapping/pushing on them. And if they don't smell like the beach, the word is they're not fresh.

Check out Allrecipes.com for a step-by-step "how to" on cleaning and prepping mussels.

For a short demo on debearding, check out this video:

And the best part....enjoy. Oh, one more thing, I highly recommend eating this with a baguette to soak up the yummy juices!

Happy cooking and yummy eating.

The Dish: Scallops Provencal

So, tonight's dish was so good that we forgot to take a photo before we scarfed it all up.

So what could have been so finger lickin' good? Scallops Provencal, by none other than one of my favorites...Barefoot Contessa. And yes, this recipe has butter, so be prepared, or go for a run. Because you just can't make this right without butter.

Click below for the full recipe...get a nice baguette to soak up all the yummy goodness!

Scallops Provencal on the Food Network

Even Juno loves scallops ;-)

Apples, Apples, Apples

It feels like fall. It's cool enough to sit around the fire pit and drink wine comfortably and without being dinner for the mosquitoes.

So as fall begins...one excursion to the mountains already down. Last week we went hiking with the June bug and then off to pick Apples.

Here's a few highlights from the hiking and Apple picking:

Tree huggers

BJ Reece Apple Orchards

So the question is...what have I done with a half bushel of apples since last week?

Well, we've had lots of apples.

-We made french toast with stewed apples (cinnamon, sugar and butter all included of course!)

-Apple chips (which I've decided I don't have the patience for, or the time...but if you want to try, you can check out this blog cupcakeproject.com. I highly recommend adding the cinnamon and sugar, but be patient and don't forget to spray your pan before letting those puppies bake for several hours...it's not pretty, and don't worry about having cute little shapes. I cut mine in thin slices and let them just bake. They will taste the same and be just as pretty with the cinnamon and sugar on top)

- Apple pie/tart (which I just finished making and our whole house smells of butter and gooey apples...yummy! Recipe below.)

-But my favorite, or at least Juno's were the homemade apple treats I made for her in cute bite-sized apple shapes. (Mouth watering for your little pup, I promise. Recipe below...just incase you have some spare time on your hands. Note....I pretty much spent my whole weekend baking and cleaning up after myself; but it was a change of pace and enjoyed.)

Doggie Apple Treats (June Bug approved)

For original recipe click here to see cdkitchen.com, but I modified slightly

2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup unbleached flour (I used all purpose flour)
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 apple, chopped or grated
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used half the amount of oil)
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
3/8 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray cookie sheet with vegetable oil spray.

Lightly dust work surface with flour. Blend flours and cornmeal in large mixing bowl. Add apple, egg, oil, brown sugar and water; mix until well blended. On floured surface, roll dough out to 7/8-inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters of desired shape and size. Place treats on prepared sheet. Bake in preheated oven 35 to 40 minutes. Turn off oven. Leave door closed 1 hour to crisp treats. Remove treats from oven. Store baked treats in airtight container or plastic bag and place in refrigerator or freezer.

Apple Pie/Tart

Crust: you can either make dough yourself and use a tart pan, which is what I typically do, but today, I was cleaning out my freezer and found I still had a good and unused frozen pie crust so, that was my shortcut today.

For the apples:

5 apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced.

Layer the bottom of the uncooked pie crust with all the odd shaped misfit apple pieces. Then, start arranging all of your pretty slices in concentric circles. Fill in with other odd apple pieces as you go, to even out the layers. There's no science to it, and don't worry if it's not perfect, it will still taste the same.

Sprinkle the top of your layered apples with 3 tablespoons of sugar and arrange 4 tablespoons of unsalted cubed butter around the top.

Bake at 400* for 1 hour or until golden brown. Be sure to check your pie crust or cover the edges with foil, so the edges don't burn.

Let cool and enjoy....ice cream or no ice cream.

However, you decide to eat or prepare them....just remember that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.