Snowy day coffee cake breakfast

Maxwell's 148

Three days ago was the lovely Shannon's birthday. And since that holidays are here and people just HAVE to have their latte steamed to 120 degrees, I've been a bit knackered. So instead of cooking her something so-so, we go all tarted up and went out.

Shannon decided on Maxwell's 148. It's in this completely non-desrcript building. And the description of the cuisine, chinese and italian, seemed intriguing if not a little weird. But oh my lord was it good. They start off wit giving you foccacia and hummus and wonton strips with this peanuty sauce stuff. I wasn't a huge fan of the hummus. It had this weird smoking flavor that reminded me of cheap cigars. But the peanut sauce was delicious, just the right amount of kick. For an appetizer we had lobster rangoons. I remember commenting that I'd never had a rangoon that tasted so much like what was supposed to be in it. There was a good amount of lobster and some cheese in there too. Very yummy. For dinner I had the Kobe pub burger. I am a sucker for some red meat. It had bacon, cheese, onion straws, and some house dressing. It was so juicy and rich. And the fries that came with it belonged wrapped in paper at a state fair, that is to say they were amazing! Shannon had the penne carbonara. I only had one bite, but again it was rich and creamy. She loved it. For dessert I had the chocolate terrine. I have a pretty high tolerance for chocolate, but even I struggled to finish this. It was delicious but after the richness of the rest of the food I probably should have opted for something lighter. Shannon had the meyer lemon cheesecake. It was the light and airy kind of cheesecake, not that super dense stuff. The little kick of lemon really lightened it up. It came with a bing cherry sauce that I didn't try but Shannon really liked. Plus the put a candle in a strawberry for her birthday.

A lot of people on yelp had complained that the place was too expensive. It certainly wasn't cheap. But for the quality of the food it was well worth it. I still have sticker shock every time I see how much cocktails cost in the state of Massachusetts. But since neither of us are big drinkers it didn't end too badly. Including tip it was less than a hundred for a meal that left us feeling very roman.

Plus it was a bit slow since it was a tuesday night. So after dinner the chef/owner Mitchell Maxwell came around to everyone's table to wish them happy holidays. I may have fangirled a little bit. He has really great hair.

Reason #856 Why I could never be a vegan

Store bought pancake mix made with vanilla soy has a very "soy-y" taste. It's not like they are inedible, but not the comforting late night dinner I wanted. And no amount of butter and syrup can fix it.

Such a tease...

Homemade bacon maple donuts!

A couple of things

First and most importantly (and most blurry apparently) my mommy got me a Cuisinart 11 cup Food Processor for my birthday. Yay and huzzah! So far we've used it to slice onions and puree soup. I can't wait to use the dough hook function. Plus Julia Childs thought it was perfect for pie crusts.

Also, how have I lived in Mass for over a year and I've never been into Home Goods. It's like a crazy World Market/TJ Maxx hybrid.

They have Sioux City Sarsaparilla!!! I've never had it outside of Iowa. I hope that have it year round. They have all the different pops; Orange Creme, Birch Beer, the weird Berry kind. I was pretty jazzed.

And wtf monin? They had some really random monin syrups, like this and pomegranate. I broke open the seal and it actually smells like chocolate chips. We're gonna have a little in some steamed milk later tonight. I'll let you know how that goes.

Okey Dokey

So I haven't posted in more than a month. And the sad part is, that's mostly due to the fact I didn't have anytime to actually bake/cook for most of October. But I'm back with full force. Let's begin with something simple.

Nigella Lawson's Breakfast Bars (aka the easiest recipe known to man)

14 oz can of condensed milk

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup mixed seeds (I used sunflower, flax, and pumpkin)

1 cup unsalted peanuts

Preheat oven to 250F.

On the store warm condensed milk.

Mix all of the other ingredients in a bowl, then pour the condensed milk over it.

Spread on a 9x13 inch baking sheet.

Bake for an hour.

So I'm a bit scatter brained and was still a bit high from my ridiculous purchases at Whole Foods (which we'll be discussing later, don't you worry. Three words: Blood Orange Vinegar) so I completely forgot to add the peanuts even though they were right in front of me. So my bars were a little bit sweeter and stickier than Nigella's, but they were still super delicious. Maybe a bit much for breakfast, but with the added substance they'd be perfect. And they're perfect for playing with different seeds and dried fruits.