about
about me.
i'm kelly.
26 year old stressbaker.
about-to-graduate grad school.
new england transplant.
eating through philly & the burbs.
baking my way into the hearts of friends.
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Sunday, November 7, 2010 @ 5:09 PM
My Day in Pancakes
Ever have a day when you know everything will go wrong? Today was one of those days.
Before I moved to PA, I was pretty involved in my church. Since coming here, I've been trying to find a new church to call home, but with little success. This morning I decided to try a near-by church. I'll spare you the details and just say that it wasn't at all what I was expecting. To add to my disappointment, I nearly passed out three quarters of the way through service and had to leave.
I walked home knowing that I had to eat something as soon as I got into my apartment. Luckily, I had some pumpkin pancake mix from Trader Joe's in my cupboard. I've made them from scratch before, but they take twice as long as a mix.
Fluffy with a touch of cinnamon and just enough pumpkin flavor. After slathering on the syrup and I was feeling better in no time!
After nearly inhaling my pancakes, I took a bit of a breather before heading out again. I have a Lithuanian friend who introduced me to one of his Lithuanian friends who invited me to a Lithuanian festival this afternoon (still with me?). Now, I've never eaten Lithuanian food before, but I love Eastern European food, so I was excited to try something new. Plus I heard rumors that Lithuanians know how to make a mean potato pancake. Who am I to turn down potato pancakes?
Now if you'll remember, I started this post by talking about how it just wasn't my day. I got in the car to drive to Philly to get my food on, and within 10 minutes, my oil light went on. I know I just need to get it changed (and have an appointment to do so), but I decided to turn around immediately and not risk anything (just in case).
womp womp.
I wasn't about to let that ruin my day. When life gives you car troubles instead of Lithuanian potato pancakes, make your own! So, I did just that :)
2 shredded russet potatoes and half a small onion shredded. Combine with an egg and salt and pepper and prepare to fry.
Snap, crackle, pop!
Crisp, crackly brown exterior and a creamy interior with just a hint of onion flavor. Mmmm...
I bought some apples at the farmer's market this week and decided to whip up a quick improvised apple sauce with some cider I had in the fridge. The cider reduction added a more intense apple flavor and sweetened the sauce without adding sugar!
I like my potato pancakes with apple sauce...
...and sour cream.
My latkes may have lacked the Lithuanian love, but they weren't lacking in effect. I may have been unhappy about having to miss the fair today, but feeding my stomach fried crispy patties of potato is a sure-fire way to make any day better.
Labels: apples, pancakes, potatoes, pumpkin
0 Comments:
@ 8:45 AM
Apple Crisp Stuffed French Toast at Cafe Estelle
Cafe Estelle doesn't look like much from the outside, so I was skeptical walking in for brunch. My friend Susie was in Philly for the weekend and she suggested Cafe Estelle from a pretty extensive list of Philly's Best Brunches. The restaurant is below a residential complex, so I was fully expecting bad hotel restaurant food. Boy was I wrong!
The food is impeccable. Once we shed our coats at the table, I began my normal routine of eyeing up everyone else's food as it arrived. The dishes were artfully arranged on the plate, with plenty of colors and textures to keep the diner's eyes interested.
I had a tough time deciding what to get. I've recently got on board the eggs benedict bandwagon, but I thought it too common a dish when I was faced with Estelle's choices like sweet potato and bacon pancakes or apple crisp stuffed french toast. I had scoped out the menu before hand and was between those two choices. Luckily, Susie went for the former, promising me a bite so I could order the latter.
These pancakes were a contender for my meal because I imagined them having a sweet potato base (think pumpkin pancakes) with bits of bacon in the batter. They actually had both chunks of batter and bacon pieces inside with a traditional pancake batter. Not what I was expecting, but still tasty!
My french toast was perfect. Thick, eggy bread with a warm cinnamony apple rich center. Drizzled with maple syrup and delicately dusted with confectionary sugar. The flavor was delicious, but it was on the rich side for breakfast, so I ate one and brought the other piece home. It was just as delicious the next day. Mmm...
Warm cinnamony apples with sweet crumb topping nestled snugly inside eggy brioche.
I need a minute.
Cafe Estelle
444 N. 4th St. btwn Callowhill and Spring Garden
444 N. 4th St. btwn Callowhill and Spring Garden
Labels: apples, bacon, breakfast, french toast, sweet potato
1 Comments:
Oh! Don't forget about the free takeout coffee refill. (Even the decaf tasted great.) Now THAT's good service. :)
By 
Susie, at
November 8, 2010 at 5:59 AM
Friday, November 5, 2010 @ 9:34 PM
Ivy League Eating: Princeton
It's no secret that I'll travel for food. However, when I think of dining destinations, Princeton, NJ is not the first place that comes to mind. I went to go visit my friend Corey and was recently surprised at how much it had to offer my starving stomach.
Corey works at Princeton and gave me a tour of the campus. It was peak fall foliage time and even the ivy was burnished with the yellows and reds of the season.
(What? You think I'd make a post about the Ivy Leagues and not show you ivy?)
After looking at all of the gorgeous buildings, we headed into town to investigate our options. It was an awkward time to eat, as brunch was ending and dinner hadn't yet started. Though several places had tempting menus, we ultimately decided on Italian at Teresa Cafe in Palmer Square.
We each got an appetizer and a main course. Whereas Corey went with salad and pasta, I wanted something I couldn't get in every Italian restaurant around. After scrutinizing the menu, I paired the Antipasto Misto with a fig and pancetta pizza (they've since changed the menu so I don't remember what it was called). Both courses featured crusty bread with sweet fig, salty smoked meat, cheese and something to add a tiny tang.
(My tower of delicious Italian treats - crusty bread, fig spread (paired so well with my pizza to come), salty prusciutto di Parma, capicola, salumi, sharp provolone, a tangy local cheese and caramelly-sweet candied walnuts for crunch.
Quite the mouthful!)
My pizza - fresh mozzerella with a tang of aged balsamic vinagrette, sweet mission figs, crisp pancetta on a soft, doughy crust.
Next we decided to satiate my sweet tooth. Is that proper English? Probably not. Do I care? Not really.
Anyway, I wanted cupcakes. My friend Katie had texted me a picture of The House of Cupcakes over the summer and I nearly exploded with excitement when I saw it. A WHOLE HOUSE OF CUPCAKES. My greedy little eyes couldn't believe the pixels in front of me. It was even better seeing it in person!
(Note the elation on my face)
Before I get your hopes up (as mine were when I got there), I should tell you that it's not actually a house of cupcakes. Rather, it's a wall full. Still, it was a beautiful display of cupcakes.
There were a lot of traditional flavors like red velvet, carrot and chocolate. Actually, there were several varieties of chocolate cupcakes, all featuring a complimentary flavor like peanut butter or raspberry. Normally I won't order a chocolate cupcake unless it's staring me in the face from behind a sheen of glossy ganache and no other cupcake looks as good. In this case, I spotted a creme brulee cupcake which intrigued me. I had to try it because I love the namesake dessert so much, I wanted to see how it would translate to cupcake form.
(Helloooooooo cupcake!)
(Helloooooooo cupcake!)
Well folks, it CAN be done. Creme brulee makes for a delicious cupcake flavor. The texture was off, though. While the rich buttercream was a slighty denser version of its namesake's silky custard, there was nothing to mirror the signature crunch that makes a brulee, well... brulee. Adding pieces of caramelized sugar would have made this cupcake perfect, but it was pretty good without it.
I could have stopped eating at this point and the trip would have been worth the hour it took to drive to Princeton. However, I had one more round of dessert to face. Yes, folks, you read right. Double dessert. Corey was kind enough to buy me lunch for driving all the way up to see him, but I couldn't accept lunch without giving him something in return. Corey loves apple pie. In fact he loves it so much that he once paid $30 for one that was, in his words, "okay." I wanted to bake him something that would be worth every penny he spent on lunch. For this, I relied on an award-winning recipe from Food Network, and put my own crumb-topping twist on it.
I like my pies spicy. I don't skimp on cinnamon. Nor do I go easy on the ice cream. Whenever I bite into a piece of warm apple pie, I feel like it has a magical way of warming my insides and making me feel like I'm safe at home, no matter where I am.
Prep Time:
30 min
Cook Time:
1 hr 8 min
Level:
Intermediate
Caramel Apple Pie - 2003 1st Place Apple
Recipe courtesy Marles Riessland- Serves:
- 8 servings
Ingredients
Pie Crust: (I still haven't conquered this baking fear, so I used good ol' Pillsbury to help me out)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter flavored shortening, chilled
- 1/3 cup ice water
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1 egg, beaten
Filling:
- 6 cups apples (Jonathan or Granny Smith)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purposeflour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons butter
Streusel Topping:
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 toffee bars or 3 ounces chocolate covered peanut or pecan brittle, crushed (I left this ingredient out and put a little cinnamon in the crumb topping because I'm such a sucker for homey fallish spices)
Directions
Pie Crust:
Chill all ingredients, including the flour and vinegar. Combine the flour, salt and sugar. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles cornmeal. In another bowl, mix water and vinegar with the beaten egg. Add the liquid mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the flour mixture, tossing with a fork to form a soft dough.
Filling:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Peel and slice apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and add apples. Toss to mix. Add vanilla and cream. Melt butter in heavy skillet. Add apple mixture and cook approximately 8 minutes, to soften apples. Turn into pie shell.
Streusel Topping:
Combine the flour and sugar. Mix in butter with fork until coarse crumbs. stir in the crushed toffee bars. Sprinkle over pie. Add top crust. Seal, flute edge and vent top. Brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake 45 minutes longer.
Chill all ingredients, including the flour and vinegar. Combine the flour, salt and sugar. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles cornmeal. In another bowl, mix water and vinegar with the beaten egg. Add the liquid mixture, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the flour mixture, tossing with a fork to form a soft dough.
Filling:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Peel and slice apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl and add apples. Toss to mix. Add vanilla and cream. Melt butter in heavy skillet. Add apple mixture and cook approximately 8 minutes, to soften apples. Turn into pie shell.
Streusel Topping:
Combine the flour and sugar. Mix in butter with fork until coarse crumbs. stir in the crushed toffee bars. Sprinkle over pie. Add top crust. Seal, flute edge and vent top. Brush with beaten egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake 45 minutes longer.
Labels: apple pie, apples, cheese, eating with friends, figs, italian, ivy leagues, new jersey, pie, pizza, prosciutto, salami
0 Comments:
Monday, October 11, 2010 @ 7:41 PM
WARNING: Fall Flavors Ahead!
I'm unimpressed with Pennsylvania fall this year. Blame it on the summer heat wave (I won't refute you because I wasn't here to experience it), but it just isn't wowing me. Granted, I'm from New England and I'm seasonally spoiled. We get the best of all seasons and I love watching one fade into the next. I was home this weekend, ogling the leaves like a tourist, taking in all the attention my mother would give me and trying to cram in as much pestering of my sister as possible. I spent a lot of time with my family and I spent a ton of time eating.
Let's go day-by-day, shall we?
This weekend happened to be a long weekend as well as my school's fall break. However, the biggest contributing factor to choosing this particular weekend to come home was the Southington Apple Harvest Festival. I wish I could tell you more about the countless craft vendors or the rides and games, but I can't. I'm extremely narrow-minded in my approach to this festival. I go for the apple fritters alone. I'm not sure how to say this, but they're kind of a big deal. People wait in lines up to a half hour for bags of these sugar-dusted fried balls of fall.
the never-ending line, which wound around the block
I'm not sure who orders 5 Dozen, but I would like to be that person's friend.
My mom and I "split" a dozen. I use the word "split" loosely, because I'm pretty sure she had about 3 and then gave me the rest. Bless her heart, she's good to me!
Piping hot and soft with warm bits of apple throughout and dusted with cinnamon and sugar:
A perfect bite of fall.
We were particularly hungry this year and had the brilliant idea of eating before we got fritters so that by the time we moved through the line, we would have digested our food. Tempted by everything from New England clam chowder in a bread bowl to chili to fried dough (a personal favorite), we decided on Polish food. My mom went for sauerkraut pierogies and my sister and I split potato & cheese pierogies and a kielbasa and kraut sandwich. The pierogies could have used a dash of pepper in the filling and a touch of butter on top, but they were still pretty delicious (and far superior to commercial frozen ones). I had no complains about my sandwich. The bread was soft, the meat had just enough spice and the touch of dijon mustard added a welcome kick to balance out the flavors. Eating fair food on a perfect October day with my family? I couldn't ask for a better day!
Let's move on to Sunday...
By the time I went to sleep on Saturday night, I was pretty convinced that I would never eat again. Having gorged on apple fritters and pierogies, I wasn't sure I could fit anything else in my stomach, but I had a breakfast date first thing Sunday morning, so I had to make room somehow. Thankfully, it only took a quick glance at the menu to find room for my next fall foodventure... pumpkin pecan pancakes at Colony Diner in Meriden.
fluffy buttermilk pumpkin pancakes infused with cinnamon and the crunch of pecans
sprinkled with sugar
Then slathered in maple syrup... oh yes. (and just look at those pecans!)
Easily my favorite breakfast. I wait all year for it.
Easily my favorite breakfast. I wait all year for it.
I'm getting full just typing this and smiling at my delicious food memories, but friends, I have one last stop on this taste train. I'd like to tell you about Ted's. It's a tiny place--if you're not careful, you can drive by and almost miss it.
They've been making magic for over fifty years and their delicious steamed cheeseburgers were recently featured on Man vs. Food for good reason! Hamburger meat gets packed into metal trays and placed in a steaming oven. Cheese meets the same fate, though it has its own oven. Each sandwich is made to order and the meat is placed atop a soft, freshly baked kaiser roll. Next, the steamed cheese nearly doubles over itself as it oozes out of the steam tray and slides down over the meat, leaving no bit of hamburger uncovered. Topped with anything you'd like (I went the lettuce, tomato, raw onion, ketchup route), they're quite the mouthful. I was bringing my sister lunch (though a few minutes late... sorry!), so I took mine to go and didn't get to take a picture of my burger while the cheese was still warm, melty and making its slow descent down the bun. Forgive me. I'll get better pictures next time.
They've been making magic for over fifty years and their delicious steamed cheeseburgers were recently featured on Man vs. Food for good reason! Hamburger meat gets packed into metal trays and placed in a steaming oven. Cheese meets the same fate, though it has its own oven. Each sandwich is made to order and the meat is placed atop a soft, freshly baked kaiser roll. Next, the steamed cheese nearly doubles over itself as it oozes out of the steam tray and slides down over the meat, leaving no bit of hamburger uncovered. Topped with anything you'd like (I went the lettuce, tomato, raw onion, ketchup route), they're quite the mouthful. I was bringing my sister lunch (though a few minutes late... sorry!), so I took mine to go and didn't get to take a picture of my burger while the cheese was still warm, melty and making its slow descent down the bun. Forgive me. I'll get better pictures next time.
Labels: apples, cheeseburgers, CT food, fall flavors, kielbasa, pancakes, pierogies, polish food, pumpkin
2 Comments:
great post, Kelly! i love reading about your food adventures every chance i get. : )
By 
, at
October 11, 2010 at 8:08 PM
Fall in Philly is the best-- I grew up there so believe me, I know. It's warm for a while and then it starts to cool down. Enjoy the warmth while it's still here because it'll be cold soon enough!
Those apple fritter look delicious. I love going apple picking and eating fresh hot apple donuts.
By the Tsaritsa, at
October 12, 2010 at 8:34 PM
Sunday, September 26, 2010 @ 11:41 AM
what to do with 18 lbs of apples (pt. 1)
So I've been wanting to go to Linvilla Orchards for months now. I missed strawberries in the spring and raspberries this summer, but I was not going to let anything stop me from apple picking this fall. I went last Sunday to scope the place out, but when I got there, I realized that apple picking is just no fun alone. So, I got myself some pumpkin ice cream (drool), a cider donut and poked around.
(just take a look at those little crystals of sugar and the tiny flecks of cinnamon. oh golly)
It was a productive trip. After taking in all the sites, eating my fill of fall-flavored food and getting a ton of eggplant (more on that later), I headed home, hoping to convince my friends to go apple picking with me later in the week.
My powers of persuasian worked. I got a bunch of my very wonderful friends together and we trekked down to Media Friday afternoon. Despite rush hour traffic, tick scares and getting pegged with rotten apples (thanks, Ben), we had a blast. I now have 18 lbs of apples at my disposal. I have a feeling this will be a delicious fall...
Here's a little taste of the first fruits of my labor (har har).
I wanted a recipe that used real ingredients rather than just melting store-bought caramels. I was in a hurry, so I had the heat on higher than I should have (hence the brown flecks of caramelized bits), but they were a hit!
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter ( no substitutes)
- 2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 8 -10 wooden sticks
- 8 -10 medium tart apples
Directions
- Insert 1 wooden stick into each apple.
- In a heavy saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and milk; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Cook and stir until a candy thermometer reads 248 degrees (firm ball stage) about 30-40 minutes and for a softer caramel cook just to a few less degrees.
- Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
- Dip each apple into hot caramel mixture; turn to coat.
- Holding by the stick, sprinkle with nuts or whatever you desire while the caramel is still warm (work quickly the caramel sets up fast).
- Set on generously buttered wax paper to cool (make certain to generously butter the paper).
- Note: if making a double recipe make two recipes in two separate pots.
Labels: apple picking, apples, caramel, donuts