The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. The recipe was a secret until Dobos retired in 1906 and gave the recipe to the Budapest Confectioners' and Gingerbread Makers' Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely.

This was a great cake! I really like the sponge layers for this cake. My issue came with how to make them even so that you would have a beautiful flat, even cake like the professionals do versus the higher in the middle and sloping sides. Yes, I've taken cake decorating classes and know about carving a straight line across the top of a cake - but that's with thick layered cakes. You can't do that with a bunch of thin layers. A pro cake baker (Audax Artiflax) latered shared her technique so that she had lots of thin, even layers as you see here:



So now I am compelled to make the recipe again and try her technique to see if I can get a more professional looking cake.


The part of the challenge I didn't like was the caramel wedges at the top of the cake. They seemed so unnecessary and were thick and hard for eating. Jim said it seemed like they really belonged to a different dessert entirely.

So my verdict? Awesome cake, just forget about the top caramel layer unless you are trying to really impress someone with it as a decorating element.


Sponge cake layers
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups (162g) confectioner's (icing) sugar, divided
1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (112g) sifted cake flour (SUBSTITUTE 95g plain flour + 17g cornflour (cornstarch) sifted together)
pinch of salt

Chocolate Buttercream
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (200g) caster (ultrafine or superfine white) sugar
4oz (110g) bakers chocolate or your favourite dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons (250g) unsalted butter, at room temperature.

Caramel topping
1 cup (200g) caster (superfine or ultrafine white) sugar
12 tablespoons (180 ml) water
8 teaspoons (40 ml) lemon juice
1 tablespoon neutral oil (e.g. grapeseed, rice bran, sunflower)

Directions for the sponge layers:

1.Position the racks in the top and centre thirds of the oven and heat to 400F.
2.Cut six pieces of parchment paper to fit the baking sheets. Using the bottom of a 9" (23cm) springform tin as a template and a dark pencil or a pen, trace a circle on each of the papers, and turn them over (the circle should be visible from the other side, so that the graphite or ink doesn't touch the cake batter.)
3.Beat the egg yolks, 2/3 cup (81g) of the confectioner's (icing) sugar, and the vanilla in a medium bowl with a mixer on high speed until the mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms a thick ribbon when the beaters are lifted a few inches above the batter, about 3 minutes.

Directions for the chocolate buttercream:

NB. This can be prepared in advance and kept chilled until required.

1.Prepare a double-boiler: quarter-fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.
2.Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and thickened, about five minutes. You can use a balloon whisk or electric hand mixer for this.
3.Fit bowl over the boiling water in the saucepan (water should not touch bowl) and lower the heat to a brisk simmer. Cook the egg mixture, whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes until you see it starting to thicken a bit. Whisk in the finely chopped chocolate and cook, stirring, for a further 2-3 minutes.
4.Scrape the chocolate mixture into a medium bowl and leave to cool to room temperature. It should be quite thick and sticky in consistency.
5.When cool, beat in the soft butter, a small piece (about 2 tablespoons/30g) at a time. An electric hand mixer is great here, but it is possible to beat the butter in with a spatula if it is soft enough. You should end up with a thick, velvety chocolate buttercream. Chill while you make the caramel topping.

Directions for the caramel topping:

1.Choose the best-looking cake layer for the caramel top. To make the caramel topping: Line a jellyroll pan with parchment paper and butter the paper. Place the reserved cake layer on the paper. Score the cake into 12 equal wedges. Lightly oil a thin, sharp knife and an offset metal spatula.
2.Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved into a smooth syrup, turn the heat up to high and boil without stirring, swirling the pan by the handle occasionally and washing down any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan with a wet brush until the syrup has turned into an amber-coloured caramel.
3.The top layer is perhaps the hardest part of the whole cake so make sure you have a oiled, hot offset spatula ready. I also find it helps if the cake layer hasn't just been taken out of the refrigerator. I made mine ahead of time and the cake layer was cold and the toffee set very, very quickly—too quickly for me to spread it. Immediately pour all of the hot caramel over the cake layer. You will have some leftover most probably but more is better than less and you can always make nice toffee pattern using the extra to decorate. Using the offset spatula, quickly spread the caramel evenly to the edge of the cake layer. Let cool until beginning to set, about 30 seconds. Using the tip of the hot oiled knife (keep re-oiling this with a pastry brush between cutting), cut through the scored marks to divide the caramel layer into 12 equal wedges. Cool another minute or so, then use the edge of the knife to completely cut and separate the wedges using one firm slice movement (rather than rocking back and forth which may produce toffee strands). Cool completely.

Assembling the Dobos

1.Divide the buttercream into six equal parts.
2.Place a dab of chocolate buttercream on the middle of a 7 1/2” cardboard round and top with one cake layer. Spread the layer with one part of the chocolate icing. Repeat with 4 more cake layers. Spread the remaining icing on the sides of the cake.
3.Optional: press the finely chopped hazelnuts onto the sides of the cake.
4.Propping a hazelnut under each wedge so that it sits at an angle, arrange the wedges on top of the cake in a spoke pattern. If you have any leftover buttercream, you can pipe rosettes under each hazelnut or a large rosette in the centre of the cake. Refrigerate the cake under a cake dome until the icing is set, about 2 hours. Let slices come to room temperature for the best possible flavour.

I have a party today and decided to bring a salad instead of baking. I chose a broccoli salad because it is super easy and I just needed to get some broccoli and raisins at the store.

7 stalks of broccoli, chopped
1.5 c golden raisins
1 red onion, chopped
1.5 c mayonnaise
2 t sugar
2 T red wine vinegar
bacon bits

Mix everything but bacon bits together and refrigerate overnight. Add bacon bits before serving.

original post - 4/22/09
updated post/new review at end - 8/11/09

Grange = Price > (Value +Taste)

Do you remember your algebra? The Grange equals price greater than its value and taste. For all the hype I've read and heard lately, I was sorely disappointed in what I got for a bill of $102 (without tip). It's been six months since The Citizen Hotel and The Grange opened. In that time they have been able to work through any early learning curves with service and timing. I certainly have no complaint on service. The staff were all very pleasant and enthusiastic as well as attentive. My disappointment lay with the food. As I've read in reviews and articles, the server explained that the menu changes daily because the chef focuses on locally grown, seasonal produce and meats. On this day there was nothing strikingly different on the menu. A new item was the chilled strawberry/rhubarb soup. I'm not a fan of chilled soups in general, but decided I wanted to give this one a try. It was light and refreshing with a swirl of creme fraiche and a bit of chopped mint. I enjoyed it, but wondered on having a smoothie as a soup course. I ordered the duck breast. It arrived on a bed of faro and wilted spinach. Everything was cooked well, but there was no seasoning or flavor popping out. I found it all pretty bland and the duck meat a bit tough. After I finished the dish I requested the menu again so that I could review the description. It mentioned the breast, the faro, the spinach, and then a strawberry/rhubarb gastrique. There had been only two bites that I had any of that. And I enjoyed those bites because the sweetness complimented the duck meat (and why duck is often paired with cherries, oranges, or other fruit). Someone had been extremely frugal on putting that on my plate. You can't even see any in the photo. My roommate had ordered the salmon which arrived, as you see above, over a bed of steamed vegetables and an aioli. She was confused because she had seen the word 'salad' on her item. Again we referred to the menu where the description said salmon with a spring vegetable salad. To her that conjured an image of some leafy spring greens, not steamed vegetables. As for the salmon and aioli, she found them to be pretty simple and regular for a price of $32. Considering the large piece of salmon, it could have used more than the trickle of aioli you see above. We both felt that when you eat out at an upscale place such as this that you want to have food that you would not prepare for yourself at home because of complexity or originality. As we reviewed the rest of the entrees listed we decided that all of them were pretty simple. The meats were basically grilled and then plated with some rather plain sides. So am I paying the high price purely because the stuff is organic and grown locally? Because it certainly isn't for any strikingly special treatment of the dishes. (Afterthought: Recently the Paragary's group has been doing three courses for $20 at their restaurants. Interestingly they all ran the same low cost items - salmon and chicken as the two entree options. So if salmon is a cheap meal to make, why does Grange charge $32 - even if it is a larger piece and line caught wild salmon. Still don't see what we got as justifying $32.) The desserts did show more creativity and I had to pick between three items that caught my eye. I figured I would stick to my Napoleon comparison and order their version with honey pineapple sauce. It was artfully presented with the puff layers all askew. It was not bad, but the puff squares were too thick and dense and difficult to cut through. There could have been more cream as well. The pineapple was fresh and sweetened with a bit of honey. Good, but not great for $9. As you can tell, we were disappointed with the value of our meal. We did have two cocktails on the bill as well, which brought the total to $102. For that amount of money I would appreciate more flavor and complexity than what I got.

8/11/09 update It's always good to give a place a second chance. Last night I had a much better meal at The Grange. Our meal started off with a salmon tartare made with fresh, raw salmon, avocado, a soy-ginger sauce, and cilantro. I had expectations of thin slices of raw salmon drizzled with the sauce. Instead we got the above mixture of chopped salmon and avocado set in shape with a mold. The whole thing was very flavorful and fresh, although there was one citrusy flavor note that I just couldn't place that was a little too strong for me. We still ate it all up though. The Grange has been written about a lot and one article went on about how they are serving goat. Goat, it turns out, is one of the trendy ingredients of the moment. No matter that cultures such as African, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern have been eating goat for centuries. I saw that it was one of the featured entrees this night and selected the goat shank and loin with goat cheese fondue and spicy pepperonata. As you see, the dish was split in two. On the left was not a shank, but rather a couple of ribs that had just been roasted. This side of the plate was very disappointing. First of all, it was a struggle to get any meat off of the bones. Certainly it could not be done in a proper, delicate manner with knife and fork. It was demanding finger picking action. I decided to pass. After all, besides the struggle, it just wasn't all that tasty and worth the effort. The pepperonata underneath was nice enough, but I ended up eating it with the other side of the plate. The loin on the right was a hit flavorwise. I don't know how one would properly describe goat-taste, but I suppose if you like lamb (which I love) then you know you'll be OK with goat. The goat cheese fondue was naturally a perfect compliment and nice and creamy. My complaint with this side was that the meat was tough. Isn't loin supposed to be one of the most tender cuts or an animal? My date ordered the ribeye with mushroom ragout. He received a nice sized steak which he enjoyed. Careful to scrape off the offending mushrooms, he offered me a few pieces and I must say, it was the best tasting beef I've had in a long time. So full of flavor. I did note that it was really leaning to the rare side of medium rare and there was quite a bit of fat that my date was trimming off. But again, the flavor was fantastic.

We had watched with amusement as the couple beside us had ordered three desserts. The amusement came from the lovely panna cotta. Play the video and see why. I've never seen a better jiggle in my life. My date couldn't resist ordering it himself and we were definitely pleased with how light and delicious it was. I wanted something new and different and so I selected the chevre tart. It arrived at a nice warm temperature so that the goat cheese was so smooth and creamy. It was a generous size too. Both of us agreed that dessert was our favorite course. The Grange certainly did much better this time around. Our total dinner bill this time came to $118 but at least I felt more comfortable about getting what I had paid for.

So I have recently picked some of my first homegrown tomatoes. The funny thing is, I'm not really a tomato person. I don't eat raw tomatoes and will always say, "hold the tomato" on any sandwich, salad, or burger. But I will eat them when they are used in salsa... and I make a lot of salsa in the summer time. I love the freshness of all the ingredients and that it is a healthy snack.


I planted three tomato plants. One is a Green Zebra and I actually can't remember what the other two are. Shame on me. Anyway, two of them are producing a few fruit. Not a lot, which suits me fine. If I had an abundance of tomatoes I wouldn't know what to do with them. The small crop suits my salsa making plans just fine. The third plant I haven't figured out what's wrong. It flowers, but it doesn't produce fruit.

I've sold Pampered Chef products for 12 years now and in my heyday I got the ruby ring and trips to Cancun, Rome, and more. I think a lot of my success was because people were educated at my shows. I wasn't just selling products, I was teaching about food. I often shared about tomatoes and how people store them incorrectly.

I'll recommend a great book to any true foodies out there. It's called The Food Lover's Tiptionary by Sharon Tyler Herbst and it has a treasure trove of food information from A-Z. I particularly love all the entries on produce and meat because it will tell you how long things will store for before they spoil, how to pick what's ripe, etc.

Here are some of the important things you should know about tomatoes:

Do not store them in the refrigerator. Cold temperatures turn the fruit pulpy and destroy the flavor.

Tomatoes should be set with the stem side down, on their shoulders. That's because fruit ripens on the vine from the bottom up. Think of your half ripened tomato. It starts turning red from the bottom up to the stem. So that means the bottom of the tomato is the most ripe and the faster it will mush and spoil. Store the tomato stem side down on its shoulders, the firmest and last section of the tomato to ripen.

Never cook tomatoes or a tomato based sauce in an aluminum pan - the tomatoes will lose their bright color and you will get a bitter undertaste.

Tomato slices will hold their shape better if you slice it vertically vs horizontally.

I've been interested in the science of cooking ever since I started watching Good Eats on the Food Network and reading Cooks Illustrated magazine. I've also had a long standing fascination in finding the perfect chocolate cookie for MY tastes (understanding that everyone has their own preferences).

Alton Brown has an excellent chocolate chip cookie episode of Good Eats where he makes Puffy, Thin, and Chewy versions of the cookie by altering the flour, eggs, and shortening in the cookies. He explains why the gluten amount in the flour or the type of shortening will effect the texture of the cookie. This is also discussed in the great reference cookbooks CookWise and BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher.

I was intrigued about a month ago when my friend Becky mentioned a certain chocolate chip cookie recipe from the New York Times on her Facebook posting. It had a link to a rather interesting article.

The basic idea in the article is that time allows the dough to 'age' for better flavor and texture. The dough is allowed to dry as the moisture from the eggs is slowly absorbed by the dry ingredients. When first mixed the dough is very light and soft. Below you see the dough after 36 hours, kind of dry and crumbly, but it can still be pressed into balls.


In the article the testers took a batch of cookie dough and took samplings from it at 12, 24, and 36 hours. They say the dough can be chilled for up to 72 hours. Here is the result they shared:

At 12 hours, the dough had become drier and the baked cookies had a pleasant, if not slightly pale, complexion. The 24-hour mark is where things started getting interesting. The cookies browned more evenly and looked like handsomer, more tanned older brothers of the younger batch. The biggest difference, though, was flavor. The second batch was richer, with more bass notes of caramel and hints of toffee.

Going the full distance seemed to have the greatest impact. At 36 hours, the dough was significantly drier than the 12-hour batch; it crumbled a bit when poked but held together well when shaped. These cookies baked up the most evenly and were a deeper shade of brown than their predecessors. Surprisingly, they had an even richer, more sophisticated taste, with stronger toffee hints and a definite brown sugar presence. At an informal tasting, made up of a panel of self-described chipper fanatics, these mature cookies won, hands down.

I made my dough on Monday night and baked the first samplings at 36 hours and figured I'd wait the 72 hours to finish them off. I will definitely agree wholeheartedly with the insights expressed above for the 36 hour cookies. There was an immediate, noticeable flavor difference with these cookies - the strong hints of toffee and caramel.

Another observation in the article is that size matters. In this case, the bigger the cookie, the better the variation in texture. They suggest large cookies so that you have a nice crunchy edge that give way to a soft, slightly chewy center. Spot on again!

My cookies used regular chocolate chips rather than the chocolate disc/coins mentioned in the article. I couldn't go to that extra expense, although I do agree that the better the chocolate, the better the cookie. Who could argue with that?


The last detail was the sprinkling of salt on the tops of the cookies. I must admit that I forgot this detail on the first batch. On the second batch I ground fresh sea salt across the top. It does add an extra zing to the cookie.

Overall assessment? Great recipe and observations. There really is a significant flavor difference with the aging of the dough. So then it boils down to things like... Do you have the willpower to let your dough sit for two days before you bake it? How well do the cookies keep? I think this recipe does have a keeper status in my recipe file. But I also think that it will depend on the mood and patience and the reason I'm baking cookies that day to determine whether I'll be making this version or my other favorite, the Monster Cookie recipe.

Anyway, the recipe for these fabulous cookies, if you can wait the 36 hours, is located here.

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milano Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

We were given the option to do one or both cookies. Considering that I don't care for marshmallows, the summer temps reaching in the 100's and a tight wallet due to Arnold's furloughs, I opted for one - the Milanos.

They were very easy to do. I left out the citrus extracts mentioned in the recipe and just used a bit of almond extract in the chocolate middles. I also wanted more chocolate, so that's why I dipped the ends. Then I took some leftover almond meal to dust them.

I can see doing this recipe during the holidays. It was easy, cheap, and tasty. A definite keeper.


Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Prep Time: 20 min
Inactive Prep Time: 0 min
Cook Time: 1 hr 0 min
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Everyone has a favorite type of BBQ. What is yours? Texas? Memphis? Carolina? I don't care for Texas because it is just too smokey for me. Otherwise, I like other BBQs as long as I like their sauce. But another important factor besides the sauce or rub is how well the meat is cooked. Is it dry or moist? How tender is it?

For the last few years my BBQ joints of choice had been Sandra Dee's and Memphis BBQ. Alas, Memphis died along with this economy. So I was left with Sandra Dee's. Now I have a new option - My BBQ Place on J St.

I first heard of it from Epicurean's Paul. He took his dinner group there a couple of months ago and I had to miss it. Today I had a craving for some ribs and decided to search the place out. It is easy to miss. It is a small place in a building between other businesses. Even though we were looking for it, we still managed to drive right past it. We found a parking spot and then walked back on the block until we spotted it.

I ordered a half slab of babybacks which came with fries and a choice side. I chose the mac n cheese. Jim ordered a combo plate with a half slab and beef brisket. He got two sides and chose the baked beans and cornbread. We were asked if we wanted our meats wet or dry and whether we wanted mild or spicy sauce. I always choose dry because I hate getting ribs so sopping wet with sauce that I have to scrape it off. I'd rather add than subtract. Jim chose wet with mild sauce. Below you see his ribs and I was glad to see they had a nice light coating of sauce - just the right amount.



The food arrived and we saw that we had plenty. We probably could have just ordered the combo and shared it between the two of us.

The ribs were excellent. They were super moist and fell off the bone. After some time savoring them and thinking about it I would have to say that I prefer the ribs here over Sandra Dee's. SD's ribs tend to be on the dry side. These ribs were succulent. We both enjoyed the sauce as well - sweet and tangy. The hot was the same as the mild just ratcheted up a notch or two.


We both liked the beef brisket as well, especially how it was served. You see it above in the left cup, cut into cubes. This treatment made it easy to eat with a nice, light toss of sauce. The mac n cheese was nothing special so on that I prefer SD's. I didn't try the cornbread, but the baked beans were good, but seemed like they could have been canned versus homemade.

So the overall judgment? I like the ribs, brisket, and sauce here better, but I prefer the mac n cheese and red beans and rice at SD's. And, we must remember, Sandra Dee's is still THE winner for fried chicken.

I went on my second grubcrawl with a theme - Bikes & Bites. Cline organized this crawl so that we would bike from location to location. The five restaurants were spread far enough apart to need a bike, but not too far as to wear you out.

I caught up a little with Cline and asked what had been going on. I had thought his venture might have been dying since he hadn't really been posting any crawls and I had pretty much given up checking his site. He explained that they take a break during winter because of the weather and then he also wanted to avoid the other big events like Jazz Festival and the Cinco de Mayo block parties. He said he was getting more private party and corporate business to keep him busy. He told me he had two more crawls already in the works - one with the Monarchs in August and another with the River City Rollergirls in September. Good to hear.

Our first stop was my favorite but I didn't get pictures. We started at the 4th Street Grille at 4th and L. They had a delicious spread of BBQ beef sliders, Thai chicken skewers, and potstickers. Even though I knew I had to save room for the other venues, I still chowed down on 3-4 sliders and the same in skewers. This was because I knew I wouldn't be interested in the next stop's food.

The sliders were nice with fresh buns and a nicely flavored shredded beef that was not wet enough to give you a soggy bun. They also filled them to the right amount so that they were not messy to eat. I would order them if I was a paying customer. Same with the skewers. The chicken was cooked in a marinade and then they left a pitcher of peanut sauce to dip your skewer in. The sauce was interesting because it definitely had a Thai influence but also had a slight gravy taste to it. Not bad, I just found it interesting.


We biked on to the Fox & Goose at 10th and R where they set out some pretty basic (and greasy) pub fair. They did bangers (sausages) in blankets and fried zucchini. Knowing that we had three more places to go, I just passed on this stop.

The next three stops were all new for me. First was Hanger 17 at 17th and S. I had never gone here because I knew it to be known for the bar and sports watching. I, of course, only care about food and so I'll always prefer going to a restaurant versus a bar with food. Still, I learned some new things just from the crawl. First, one of my fellow crawlers told me that Hanger 17 has a great brunch. They offer a number of varieties of Eggs Benedict. She also said that they have bottomless champagne and mimosas for $5 with brunch.


For our crawl stop they did put out a lot of food. Here you see some polenta cakes with BBQ pork and creme fraiche and then some chicken nachos. I didn't care for the first because I don't like polenta. Plus, it didn't help that both these dishes were served cold. The chicken nachos were pretty good and had a nice bite to them - but I would have liked them and eaten more of them if they had been hot.



The pizzas were good, especially the Margherita. It was really garlicy and had the cheese, tomatoes, and basil true to the name. I did not try the pepperoni because I knew our next stop was Hot Italian.


Hot Italian is on 16th and Q. I had been meaning to go and try it out, but never had the time. It's an interesting place because it has the restaurant, a gelato bar, and then a store with Italian clothes, mopeds, and motorcycles. Our group was set up in the store area and had to wait a while before they brought out the pizzas. You can see they were pounced on pretty quickly.

I was really disappointed in the pizzas here. Some people seem to really love this place, but with so many pizza places around, you really need to stand out. I tried their version of the Margherita and didn't like it. They used sauce instead of sliced tomatoes and I didn't find the sauce tasty at all. One of my fellow crawlers told me that they think that we were provided lower quality pizzas for the event than what he's had when he's been there for dinner. He said the crust seemed even thinner than usual and there was less cheese.

We discussed the value of putting your best food forward when you are going to be a part of the grubcrawl. After all, you will have some new customers basing everything on what they sample. Based on the pizzas I sampled here, I was not impressed. So now I have no reason or interest to ever go back. If they did indeed scrimp on the event pizzas, shame on them. And if this was their standard quality of pizza? Then sorry, I'm going to Masullo's instead.

I was so put off by the pizzas here that I biked early to the last venue. As I road I thought to myself how many other pizza places were in the vicinity. I rode right past California Pizza Kitchen and another and then mentally listed: Masullo's, Paesano's, Chicago Fire, Pieces, Giovanni's, Zelda's, not to mention the chains like Round Table. Then throw in restaurants that just have pizza as one of the items on their menus like Hanger 17 and Cafe Bernardo do. In the downtown area I'll be sticking to Masullo's and Chicago Fire.


The final destination was the new secondary location of Tokyo Fro's on 15th between I and J. Even though Tokyo Fro's has been around on Fair Oaks Blvd. for years, I never ventured there either. So I was curious to try another downtown sushi location. They put out five rolls on numerous platters so that there was plenty for all. The rolls were good and I'm willing to go back to try them again, but didn't find anything that rocked my world. But then again, could I really expect a super great roll on the crawl? That's probably gonna have to wait for the day that I sit down and pay. The staff were very friendly, though, as we waited for the rest of the group to show up. And, like their original location, this one turns clubby as the hour turns late.

I'm not into the clubby pick-up scene anymore and I was entering into a food coma anyway. It was 10:00 by this point and so I climbed on my bike, put on my headlamp and headed for home.

I'm glad the grubcrawls are back. They are worth the $25!

These days it is not often that I try new recipes. It's the same ol story. I'm single, lazy, and poor. But I really want to try more recipes from my Mideast cookbook and so I tried this one because I had all the ingredients.

It turns out that this is one of those recipes that gets better the next day. On the day I cooked it I thought, "it's good, but could use more spice". Then I parceled it into single servings and froze them for work lunches. Today I had one and it was SOOOO much better. I also think that this recipe could easily be done in a crockpot and done as a stew by just throwing in the rice or, in my case, quinoa.

PALAVER CHICKEN

* 1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
* 2 garlic cloves, crushed
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 1 onion, finely chopped
* 4 tomatoes, chopped (I used a can of diced tomatoes)
* 2 tablespoons peanut butter
* 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
* 1 teaspoon dried thyme
* 8 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
* 1 chili pepper, seeded and chopped (I used a medium jalapeno)
* salt
* pepper

Cut chicken into thin slices, place in a bowl and stir in garlic and a little salt and pepper.

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and fry the chicken over medium heat, turning once or twice to brown evenly. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion and tomatoes over high heat for 5 minutes, till soft.

Reduce the heat, add the peanut butter and half of the stock and blend together well.

Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring all the time to prevent the peanut butter burning, then add the remaining stock, thyme, spinach, chili and seasonings.

Stir in the chicken slices and cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes till chicken is cooked through.

Pour the chicken mixture into a warmed serving dish and serve with boiled yams, quinoa, or rice.


Peanut Butter

If you like tri-tip, you need to try Buckhorn Grill.

The Grills are an offshoot of the original Buckhorn restaurant in Winters. The Buckhorn has long been known for serving Certified Angus Beef that has been aged for 21 to 42 days. They also serve great game such as antelope, buffalo, and duck.

The Grills are a semi-fast food offshoot of the restaurant. After they had success selling tri-tip sandwiches at the Napa farmers' market, they opened their first Grill and now they have a total of six throughout northern California. The one in Sacramento is located at 18th and L Streets. You order up at a counter and then your food is served up in about five minutes. They are most famous for the tri-tip, but they also serve salmon and chicken.

I agree that the Buckhorn's tri-tip is of the very best quality and never see a need to order the salmon or chicken. The meat has been aged 21 days, marinated, rubbed with seasoning, and then cooked over a wood fire and smoked. The meat is always tender and delicious.

Another favorite item at the Grill is their Roadhouse Onions. If you like onion strings then I would say the Grill has the best I've had. Their onions are sliced super thin, battered and the deep fried to perfection. What makes them stand out is that they are super light, crisp and totally greaseless. Other restaurants the strings will be clumped and a bit mushy from grease. Not here.

I'm a small eater and so usually I just order the small plate of tri-tip and Roadhouse Onions. But the other day I went for the full plate which includes a roll, mashed potatoes and roasted veggies. I switched the veggies for my onions, but was really disappointed in the mashed potatoes. They were like potato porridge after having had too much milk added to them. I was remembering the movie Close Encounters when Richard Dreyfuss starts sculpting a giant Devil's Tower out of mashed potatoes. They were nice and stiff. If you had used my Grill potatoes it would have been the mudslide down the side of the mountain.

But generally the food is good and the service is as well.