Picture of the Day: Mango Tree in Barbuda

Codrington, Barbuda
07.2009 

Pie for Pi Day

Being an engineer, I am a math nerd so on Pi Day I usually make a pie to celebrate. Also, I like any excuse possible to make and eat pie. For non-math nerds, March 14 is Pi Day because the first few significant digits of the mathematical constant pi are 3.14. Pretty cute, huh?

This year I am pretty busy with work before I leave for Italy tomorrow night so I sadly don't have time to make a pie but I thought I would share my pie from last year. I made a mixed berry pie with a double crust and had a lot of fun decorating the top crust.

Using a knife I cut out the symbol for pi, π, in the center of my crust and placed it on my pie. I then used mini fondant number cutters to make a border with the value of pi out to 36 significant digits (=3.14159265358979323846264338327950288). "Why 36 and not 35 or 37?" you may ask. Well, 36 digits is what fit on the pie. After cutting out the numbers I attached them to the crust with a little egg yolk brushed on the back. I finished the edge by trimming it, folding it under and then pinching it with my fingers to make it look pretty. Tasty + nerdy = awesome! 

By the way, if anyone has any ideas for a fun baked good I can make to celebrate Mole Day on October 23, I am open to suggestions. Pi Day is easy, but Mole Day has me stumped...

Reason I ♥ A2 # 24: Ron's Roadside Barbecue

Having gone to undergrad in North Carolina I really love good pulled pork. After moving upon graduation it's something that I definitely crave partly because it is delicious and partly because it reminds me of my college years. Sadly, outside of the South I haven't had much luck in finding good pulled pork.

Yesterday that all changed when Frank and I decided to try Ron's Roadside Barbecue. It's in Ann Arbor Township outside of town in the middle of nowhere. A small place, mainly geared toward catering and take-out, Ron's did have a single table inside so we thought we would eat in.

Of course I chose to get a pulled pork sandwich. It was amazing with tender pork and delicious sauce on a brioche bun. I can honestly say it was the best I have had outside of the South. Frank decided to get the Memphis Throwdown, a combo with pulled pork, smoked brisket, ribs and chicken. It was absolutely huge and I think he only ate half of it. All of the meat was tender and juicy he thoroughly enjoyed it. For sides we got the amazingly creamy mac and cheese and delicious German potato salad.

In addition to the fabulous food, everyone who worked there was wonderfully friendly. The owner even popped out from the back to see if we were enjoying the food and stopped to chat with us for a while. Needless to say we will be back and I happy to have found some place local to satisfy my pulled pork cravings. 

If you are intereseted, check out the other reasons that I love where I live: I ♥ A2 Blog Posts

Reason I ♥ A2 # 37: San Street Pop Up

It's no secret that I love living in Ann Arbor so I thought that I would start sharing some of the things that make it such a special place for me.

One of the things that make Ann Arbor so great for me is the food. This past summer a food cart courtyard, Mark's Carts, opened up just around the block from my house and I was in heaven. This being Michigan, the food carts are closed for the winter for obvious reasons.

One of the food carts that I love, San Street, (amazing pork buns!) has periodically been doing a pop up restaurant at Zingerman's Events on Fourth and last night was my first chance to go. The pop up typically runs from 5 until 9:30 pm but we had heard they usually run out of food early so Frank and I headed over at 6:30.

I love the Zingerman's Events on Fourth space. It is really charming and intimate with lovely exposed brick and used to house Eve which was one of my favorite Ann Arbor restaurants prior to its closing. Run by Eve Arnoff (who was on Top Chef Season 6) the menu was full of amazing dishes including my favorite, curried mussels. As a random aside one time when I was having dinner there with my friends, Erin and Andy, I saw Emilio Estevez. Actually, I only kind of recognized him.

Me: That guy that just walked in with all those people looks like Emilio Estevez
Erin (turning to look): That is because it is Emilio Estevez
Me: Oh

Yeah, I am a dork. Anyway, enough with my side tangent. The pop up had a cool set up with the bar and serving staff being provided by Zingerman's and San Street providing the food. Everything looked great on the simple menu but Frank and I decided to each get a bowl of the pho bo and an order of chicken buns. The chicken buns were fabulous and definitely gave the San Street pork buns a run for their money. The soy garlic marinade was awesome and I loved that they were a little spicy. The pho was fabulous as well. The bowl was packed with noodles that were perfectly cooked and the broth was very flavorful. 

After eating Frank and I were tempted by the almond cookies on the menu, but decided to walk over to Zingerman's Next Door for some gelato. They make wonderful gelato locally at their creamery and the flavors change seasonally. February is chocolate gelato month at Zingerman's and we were not disappointed by the chocolate options. Frank immediately chose the turtle while I tried tastes of the chocolate basalmic strawberry and cherry chocolate chip before settling on rocky ride (dark chocolate with peanuts and marshmallows). It was a sweet way to end a nice night out.

High Rise Apple Pancakes

When I was growing up high rise apple pancakes were made in my family for breakfast for weekend special occasions. It was my favorite breakfast food and I loved watching the batter puff up in the oven. It seemed like magic.

As an adult this high rise apple pancake recipe is my go to dish for when I host brunches or have weekend guests at my home. Preparing it is simple and easy plus it is delicious and makes for a pretty presentation on the dining table. Serving it with eggs, bacon and a fruit salad creates a great spread for any morning meal.

Ingredients List
- 2 large apples: peeled, cored and cut into 1/4" slices
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 6 eggs
- 1-1/4 cup flour
- 1-1/4 cup milk
- 5 Tbsp. butter
- Powdered sugar (optional)
- Maple syrup (optional) 

Directions
- Preheat oven to 425° F (220° C)
- Toss apples with lemon juice and sugar in a bowl and set aside
- Melt butter in a 9" x 13" pan in the oven
- Combine eggs, flour milk and beat lightly
- Pour batter into pan once butter is sizzling and bake for 15 minutes
- Add apple mixture on top of the risen batter and bake for an additional 10 minutes
- Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with maple syrup 

Tips and Tricks
- Baking apples, like Jonathan, Honeycrisp, Granny Smith or Golden Delicious, all work well with this recipes
- I like to use two different varieties of apples when making the recipe instead of two of the same kind
- For my workflow management I mix up my batter and start peeling my apples while the butter is melting and then slice the apples and toss them with the sugar and lemon juice while the batter starts baking
- When you mix the batter it will be a little lumpy
- The longer you bake the batter before adding the apples, the higher it will rise

Snowflake Birthday Cake

Yesterday evening we celebrated seven birthdays with friends that occurred over the span of six weeks with a night out in Ann Arbor. We started with some drinks at Mike and Sylwia's place and I brought a cake that I made because in my opinion no one is ever too old to enjoy birthday cake. Also, I like any excuse that I can come up with to make a cake.

I had a request for yellow cake from one of the birthday boys, Don, so I made a yellow cake with buttercream icing. Despite our unseasonably warm winter with lack of snow this year I decided on a snowflake themed cake for the winter birthdays. It was simple and quick to decorate which was important since I didn't have a lot of time after work on Friday to make the cake before we were all meeting up.

I iced the cake with pale teal and then decorated the sides with snowflakes and large, white nonpareils. I wrote out the names of all seven birthday honorees around the outside edge in a deeper shade of teal with "Happy Birthday" in the middle. With some small snowflake filler on the top and a border of dark teal stars around the bottom the cake was complete. Yum! 

Music Note Candy Party Favors

Yesterday was Earnee's Motown themed baby shower that I was a co-host for. Everything came together really well and turned out cute. Chavella did a great job with the decorations, Tiffany planned fun party games, Yuko took care of picking up the cake and the catered soul food and I made punch and cornbread as well as party favors.

Since Earnee's favorite color is yellow we decided to use a yellow color scheme with some silver for added glamour.  To keep with the theme I thought it would be neat to mold yellow candy music notes for the favors.

Molding candy is pretty easy. Personally, I like to use squeeze bottles to keep things simple. You can put the candy melts right into the bottle and pop it into the microwave on low heat to melt. It's important to use a bottle that is meant for this purpose so the plastic won't melt. Once the candy was melted I squeezed it into cavity of the mold. After filling it up the back looks a little uneven but a few light taps of the mold on the counter makes the candy distribute evenly in the mold and smoothes everything out. To speed up the candy hardening I put it in the fridge on a level surface. Once the candy cools it is simple to gently pop the candy out of the mold.

To package the candy I slipped them into a clear favor bags. Using a yellow ribbon I tied one knot around the top of the bag, placed a silver pipe cleaner on top of the knot and then tied a second knot with the yellow ribbon. I trimmed the ends of the ribbon on a slant and created curls with the pipe cleaner by twisting it around a marker.

The favors were simple and inexpensive to make and reflected the glitzy Motown theme. I like how they turned out and was happy that they were a hit with all the ladies at the party.

NOLA Road Trip Day 4: Exploring Museums & the French Quarter

New Year's Day was our first full day in New Orleans and we definitely made the very most of it with a day packed with visiting museums, exploring the French Quarter and of course eating good food.

Being in New Orleans we had to start off our day by getting beignets at Cafe Beignet in the French Quarter for breakfast. The beignets were perfect light, puffy squares of fried dough covered in powdered sugar and were an absolute mess to eat. Frank also got the Creole hash, but while the sausage in it was delicious the potatoes weren't the best. Overall the cafe had a great cozy feel and even had a cat in residence sleeping the morning away tucked under one of the tables.

After leaving Cafe Beignet covered in powdered sugar we headed to the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. The museum was full of exhibits about ingredients that are essential in Southern cooking as well as the history behind some classic Southern dishes. It definitely had a Louisiana slant to it, but it was really informative (Did you know that by the mid-1800s Louisiana produced a quarter of the world's sugar supply?) and as a person who loves food I really enjoyed it. 

Next we headed to the National World War II Museum. I didn't understand the connection of having the museum in New Orleans until I learned that the "Higgins Boats" which were vital to D-Day operations were manufactured here. The museum was really interesting and I especially enjoyed learning about the elaborate methods the Allies used to try to convince the Germans that the invasion would take place at Calais instead of Normandy, such as deploying inflatable tanks and dropping paratroopers that were actually dummies. There were so many stories of hardship, sacrifice and valour and I can't imagine what it would have been like to be one of those troops. Seeing the exhibits and reflecting on all the death and destruction took an emotional toll on me. I have conflicted feelings, believing that you cannot stand by as atrocities occur but at the same time lamenting that war ever exists. I strongly believe it is important to know history and learn from it. As I've traveled over the years I've been to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to see the museums about the atomic bombings, visited the memorial at Pearl Harbor commemorating the attack, saw the concentration camp at Dachau and stopped at the Japanese internment camp at Manzanar all the while fighting back tears at each place. I wish that we lived in a world where that was no war and I hope we never see a conflict that engulfs the whole world like WWII ever again. 

After leaving the museum we somberly walked over to Mother's Restaurant for a late lunch. There was a substantial line extending out of the restaurant but it moved fast and I was surprised how quickly our food came up after we ordered. I had an absolutely delicious famous Ferdi po' boy with ham, roast beef, debris, and gravy. Frank had a seafood platter with fried catfish, shrimp, oysters and soft-shell crabs. He loved it all but the fried oysters were particularly fabulous.

At five o'clock we went on a twilight walking tour of the French Quarter. I am generally wary of tours but if they are done well they be really interesting and fun and this definitely fell into that category. With only six people on our tour and an excellent guide I would highly recommend it. As an avid reader I was excited that we stopped by buildings where Tennessee Williams (now a boutique) and William Faulkner (now a bookshop) previously lived. I learned so many interesting things on our tour. The half circle windows were actually once used for ventilating a hidden storage floor of the buildings between the ground floor and the floors above. The Pontalba buildings on Jackson Square popularized the use of cast iron in place of wrought iron in New Orleans since it allowed for more intricate designs. The posts sticking out from the sides of the hanging lanterns were used as ladder rests back when the lamps were gas and needed to be lit by hand each night. Pretty neat tidbits, aren't they?

The most fascinating thing that I learned was that the architectural style that is predominant in the French Quarter actually has its roots from the time that the Spanish ruled New Orleans. The bricks made from local clay are very soft so the buildings need to be covered with something to protect them from the elements. During the period of French rule the buildings were clad with cypress from the nearby swamps but this left the French Quarter susceptible the being wiped out by fire since the wooden buildings were so close to each other. Two great fires ravaged the area in 1788 and 1794 and the Spanish rebuilt using stucco to cover the brick and iron for railings and posts instead of wood to reduce damage that could be caused by fire in the future. 

After our tour we had a late reservation at Emeril's NOLA Restaurant. We started with an appetizer of crispy duck livers with slow cooked Southern greens, caramelized onions and Creole mustard aioli which was wonderful. For our salad course Frank had the fried green tomatoes with citrus poached shrimp, baby arugula and white remoulade sauce while I tried the Maine lobster and celery root tossed in a green onion-buttermilk dressing with roasted beets, spiced walnuts and arugula. I loved how crisp the celery root was and I think I need to develop a slaw recipe with it. For our main course Frank had the buttermilk fried breast of chicken with bourbon mashed sweet potatoes, country ham cream gravy and sautéed sugar snap peas while I had the hickory-roasted duck with whiskey-caramel glaze, buttermilk cornbread pudding, haricot verts-fire roasted corn salad, natural jus and candied pecans. Frank's chicken was tender and delicious and the sweet potatoes were nothing short of amazing. My duck was incredible and Frank could even smell the smokiness of it from across the table. We also couldn't resist getting a bowl of smoked cheddar grits to accompany our dinner. They were so good that if that was all that I had eaten that night I would have gone home happy. It was an incredible dinner and a great way for us to end a wonderful day.

If you are interested, check out the rest of our road trip to New Orleans here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7

2010 Season Michigan Wolverines Tailgate Cakes

Today is the whole reason Frank and I went on this roadtrip to New Orleans; today is the Sugar Bowl! In honor of the Wolverines I thought I would share some of last season's tailgate cakes since I already shared the OSU game cake and the rest of this season's cakes.

Starting from the left is the cake from the 2010 Iowa game which had a carnival theme. To make the carnival tent I used a 6" round pan and a small wondermold pan for baking the cake. I iced the cake with buttercream and used fondant to decorate the carnival tent. I molded the footballs from dark chocolate and topped the cake with a tiny flag with a block 'M' of fondant on a lollipop stick.

Grafitti was the theme for the 2010 Michigan State game so I iced my cake with white buttercream and then iced on rust colored rectangles to make the cake look like a brick wall. To make the grafitti block 'M' I painted the design with diluted food coloring gels on fondant and then cut it out after it dried. I really enjoyed this theme and even made a grafitti T-shirt to wear by painting a design on a white shirt.

The 2010 Illinois game tailgate had a Thanksgiving theme so I made a pumpkin cake and used marshmallow fondant to make a cornucopia with block 'M's pouring out. As an added touch I covered the sides of the cake with walnuts.

Go Blue! Beat the Hokies! 

Canned Goods for Christmas

This year for Christmas I gave canned goods that I made at the end of the summer and early fall. I made cinnamon applesauce, pickled tomatoes with rosemary, and spearmint orange jelly. The last two are from recipes from Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication Canning which I picked up at my grocery store last summer. I love canning and it seemed like a perfect gift to give this year.

To make the tags I cut 3/4" x 2-3/4" strips of cardstock. clipped the corners on one end to make a tag shape and used my 1/8" hole punch to create a hole for threading. I then wrote the contents of each jar on the tag.

For the cinnamon applesauce, I embellished the tag with some sticks of cinnamon and tied the tag to the jar with twine for a rustic look. To cut the small pieces of cinnamon I scored the stick with a serrated knife and then snapped off the piece.

To decorate the pickled tomatoes with rosemary I used red ribbon to attach the tag to the jar. I then hot glued some rosemary that I had dried from garden this summer to the back of the tag.

On the spearmint orange jelly, I used my hot glue gun to add an orange leaf to the back of the tag and a dried kumquat slice to the front. I then tied the tag to the jar with a lime green ribbon. To make the dried kumquat slices I cut some kumquats into 1/4" slices and then baked them on a cooling rack (not a cookie sheet - they will stick!) at 250 F (125 C) for about half an hour.  

Of course even though I have given away a lot of canned goods this year, I still have plenty left for myself. In fact I couldn't help but keep all of my vanilla pickled sweet cherries. Is that bad?