Lots of Mozz

Narragansett Fresh Mozzarella and Divina roasted red tomatoes on ciabatta bread 

Once Upon a Time...

Proving that sometimes judging a beer by its label can be a brilliant idea, I discovered how amazing Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project when aimlessly browsing the beer departments shelves. Their labels are all gorgeous and bizarre. I've made it my mission to try every new beer they put out, and I've yet to taste anything that hasn't been stellar. This time I went with X Ale, 22nd February  1945.

This is one of two historical brews produced. They were produced by the same London brewery 107 years apart under the same name. Apparently the 1838 version contains a lot more alcohol. But in general Mild ale tends to be a dark beer with less alcohol per volume. This one is a 2.8%, which makes it a really nice beer to pair with dinner. It has a really toasty flavor. I drank mine cold, which I later read is a terrible english ale sin, so I might have missed some of the more complex flavors. But this is just a really nice, really subtle beer.

Dave's Coffee Syrup

One of the greatest things about my job is getting to try new things I would never even think to try. Coming from Iowa, I had never even heard of coffee milk before. But the people of Rhode Island can't seem to get enough. And what could be better than combining two of my greatest loves; coffee and sugar!

Ernest, my coffee buyer, built this display today. No sooner could he put bottles on than they would disappear

 Dave's Coffee is a local Rhode Island coffee roaster who producing small batch coffee. Its also a roaster full of genuinely nice and super passionate people who just make you feel good about supporting their company. One of my favorite things about both this product and Dave's in general is how much thought and care goes in to each product. We received a sample bottle of the original coffee syrup and sent notes back. Dave (the man himself) replied to our notes and talked about the coffee concentration and the desired viscosity and how he envisioned the product to be used and was just so thorough and thoughtful.

Dave's have really mastered the art of adorable packaging. 

Dave's cold brews Brazilian coffee for 18 hours then combines it with pure cane sugar. The mixture is heated until the sugar caramelizes and the starts to reduce. This produces a mild clean coffee flavor with a bit of caramel in their too. You can definitely tell there is nothing artificial in there.  

While it makes a delicious drink, over ice cream might be my favorite way to enjoy Coffee Syrup

The Rhode Islanders in my department told me coffee milk (combining coffee syrup and milk like you were making chocolate milk) was created for children. Now why someone thought that children weren't getting nearly enough coffee in their diet is beyond me, but far be it for me to question such a delicious cultural heritage. It retails for $8.99 for a 16 oz bottle. Considering Dave's suggest 3 tablespoons per glass of milk its a damn good price as well.

Seeing this post on Cypress Groves facebook reminded me of the Humboldt Fog cheese "cake" that Michael made for the 4th of July last year.

 Gorgeous, right? Isn't it nice when pretty things can also contain cheesey goodness?

A Dreamy Treat

I've heard variations on these bars called about a million things, but in my mind they will always be called Dream Bars. This is my Grandma Frances's recipe and it might be the most perfect desert ever created.

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, Butterscotch oh my!

My Grandma's Recipe Card

Grandma's Dream Bars

For the crust:

20 Graham crackers

1/4 lb butter

3/4 cup sugar

Melt butter. Pulse crackers in a food processor. Mix sugar, butter, and graham crackers and layer in the bottom of 9x13 cake pan. Bake @ 350 for 7-8 min.

2nd layer:

1 can Eagle Brand condensed milk

1 cup flake coconut

Mix together in a bowl and spread over the graham cracker crustt

Top layer:

1 package milk chocolate chips

1 package butterscotch chips

3/4 cup peanut butter

In a double boiler melt chocolate and butterscotch chips. Add in peanut butter. Once smooth pour on top of the coconut layer. Let cool.

Granted, I am totally sentimental about these. But they are ridiculously delicious. I mean, they have butterscotch which is the worlds most underutilized flavor (don't worry, I'm making it my personal mission to bring it back). It's probably pretty telling about me that I keep all of the ingredients to these bars in my pantry at all times. 

Pancakes with Berry Compote

This is by far the best (and most successful) pancake recipe I've ever tried. This recipe is based on the Blueberry Pancake recipe from The 30-Day Vegan Challenge. Except mine is slightly not vegan because I didn't have any Earth Balance so I used unsalted butter instead. And I opted for a blueberry topping instead of mixing it in.

These are much prettier in person

Pancakes
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup soymilk
2 tablespoons butter
1.5 tablespoons agave syrup (the original recipe calls for 3, but I ran out and they really didn't need any more)


Mix dry ingredients together. Mix in the wet ingredients. It will be a bit lumpy.


Berry Compote
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water


Mix berries, sugar and water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Let the mixture cook down until its thick and syrupy.


These are super yummy together and I can't stop thinking about a million different combos. The berries on vanilla frozen yogurt, the pancakes with warm cinnamon apples...

Experimentation Gone Awry

Farfalle with Bellwether Farms Basket Ricotta, Robiola Due Latte, and Cave Aged Emmentaler

 I can't decide what exactly about this that isn't really working for me, but something doesn't taste right. In theory this should have work, I love each of these cheeses on their own. Maybe heating the robiola brought out too much sheepy-ness (totally a word) or I put too much rosemary in. Oh well, sometimes cheese drawer clean out works and sometimes it doesn't.

Saison de Lente, The Bruery

On the bright side the saison is delicious. Bright but not too bitter. Would have been perfect with mac and cheese to cut the richness. I should have known it would be amazing when Anthony stuck it in my cart without explanation.