Velvety Beet Cupcakes with Raspberry Icing

  Cupcakes:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Fry's
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 398mL can beets, rinsed, drained & patted dry
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup safflower oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
  Icing:
1/2 250g block light cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup frozen raspberries

***

Ahh, cupcakes. I always let out a little giggle when I hear that word. Ever since that fateful day of basic training in the army I had in the Summer of 1996... We were learning how to use to radio, how to sign-off, speak correctly, and how to use the phonetic alphabet (A - Alpha, B - Bravo, C - Charlie, D - Delta, etc...). Well one of the guys in our troop began the alphabet with "A - Alpha, B- Butterfly, C - Cupcake...." that was as far as he got until we all started laughing. "Butterfly"? "Cupcake"? Oh goodness, even our instructors had a chuckle after they berated him with numerous colourful, enlightening and confidence-boosting expletives (they would have made my potty-mouthed sous-chef "Nikki" blush), and before they punished us by sending ALL of us to run around the building 10 times. I tell you though, that guy in our group was a piece of work... not only did he lose a machine gun barrel, but he "forgot" that he had a machine gun (the Canadian C-6) in his locker. No shit, the Chef is not making this up. Oh boy. There was no helping this dude. No doubt in my mind some of the other guys were thinking of "fixing" the problem with one of these. That, thankfully, didn't happen, but I don't think anyone ever ate with that dude again after his clusterfuckups...

Back to cupcakes. I found this recipe in the January 2011 edition of Chatelaine. I was only reading it because it was on our kitchen table. Honestly.

But two recipes caught my eye: Velvety Beet Cupcakes with Raspberry Icing and Barley Sushi Salad with Nori. Both being on the same page, too.

So I ripped out the page, purchased the missing ingredients on the weekend (after my Eggs Benedict, in fact), and prepared to bake.

Beets in a cupcake does sound odd, doesn't it? Well, to be honest, you can't tell those little red devils are in your cupcake. I think they just add some moisture to the dessert.

In terms of preparation, everything went smoothly, EXCEPT for the icing. I didn't let the cheese melt enough before blending in the raspberry goodness and the icing sugar. So what happened was that instead of a fluid, uniform texture, my icing had lumps of cream cheese in it.

As always, the evidence:

The cupcake was quite delicious and moist. Although I think I would use less cream cheese next time - the icing is just too rich. And I'd blend it together better, too.

Final grade: 8.3/10. These might work well for Valentine's day - the pink icing and all. Unless you plan on your Valentine's Day to look like Jenn's... damn she looks good. Good like the way porkchops look good when you've had applesauce on the brain. All. Day. Long.

Eggs Benedict - Café Upper Crust

Eggs Benedict - 2 poached eggs on an English muffin, with back bacon & Hollandaise Sauce; hashbrowns & fresh fruit garnish - $11.25 CAD

Chai Latté - $3.75 CAD

***

Yes, I met up with a few of my AIMCo ex-corkers again. This time for breakfast. Yes Felix and Kim (the woman who ate my sandwich). We just chewed the fat about their work, my new work, my CASB results, winter tires, Christmas holidays and nothing about the New Orleans Saints. That was surprising.

It seems like the Upper Crust is in an older building. In need of a bit of an update. Like new windows and/or a new furnace, because it was darn cold in here (it was a balmy -26Celsius outside...) and my nipples were harder than diamonds. It's a fairly open dining room, and a little noisy considering that the average age of the patrons had to be about 50 years old.

I've been hankering some eggs benny for some time, so my decision was made moments after I opened the menu.

The food came within a reasonable time frame. It looked delicious. But it was cool - maybe it was due to the poor climate control or the fact that our waitress was, as Felix would say "on a Sunday pace on a Saturday". Disappointing. Regardless, it was still quite tasty - the Hollandaise sauce met the Chef's approval - just enough lemon juice to please the palate.... The fruit salad/garnish was definitely not made of "premium fruit", but those melons were still refreshing. Not a lot of hashbrowns, and they were cool but they were still seasoned well enough. Felix complained about his bacon - guess he's not a fan of Canadian back bacon...

Yeah, the waitress had some very nice legs (the Chef would give those an 8.2/10) it's just too bad she/they weren't coming over to check up on us often enough. Seriously, considering how busy it was (it wasn't), I don't know why it took so long to get our drinks or to get our(my) coffees refilled.

Here's the evidence:

Yes - if you look closely enough you may notice some food in my ketchup, but that's because some must have flown out of Kim's mouth onto my plate because she eats like this guy. I'm only kidding... well, half-kidding.

Overall I'd give my Upper Crust breakfast a 7.0 out of 10.

Guru Restaurant & Bar

1 Tahiti Treat $7.00  (no, not the soda pop)
2 Cobra Beer $12.00
1 Guru Sparkler $7.00
1 Butter Chicken Samosa $11.00
1 Fish Pakora $13.00
1 Lamb Vindaloo $18.00
1 Chana Masala $14.00
1 Coconut Rice $6.00
1 Saffron Rice $7.00
1 Paneer Naan $6.00
1 Rabri Gulab Jamun $8.00
1 Gajar Halwa $8.00
1 Kulfi $8.00

***

Chef's note: all prices in CAD. while I would normally give the entire menu description of my food choices, I just felt that providing a link to the restaurant site would be more efficient. Translation: I'm too f@cking lazy to type them all up.

I had first seen this restaurant late in the summer, back when I was driving to and from my work battling communism. It had only been about three weeks since my last visit to an Indian restaurant, but with nary a dinner date with my food friends for months and their recent move to St. Albert, I thought something on the west side of town would be appropriate. So I set the reservations for Friday evening and we were off!

The decor was quite nice - dark browns and nice lighting. Very clean. We also got a table near the naan ovens - and I with a direct view of the naan chef and said ovens.

The service was quite friendly, and for the most part quick and knowledgeable - just not very quick with the description of the Guru Sparkler, which my friend's wife had ordered.

First up - our drinks and appetizers! The beer was fine, nothing to write home about, but I was quite impressed with the Fish Pakora (not fishy at all) and even more so with the Butter Chicken Samosa. Honestly, I could have eaten those samosas all night. They were packed full of buttery chicken goodness, and cooked just right. While enjoying our apps, one of the chefs came out to check on us. Impressive.

The entrées came soon thereafter. The coconut rice was surprisingly good and sweet. Honest chunks of coconut and not just shavings were contained therein. The saffron rice, however, was a little disappointing. Maybe we were all just expecting too much? It was fine, but the flavour was quite faint. Probably a good thing so it could accompany and not over power the Lamb Vindaloo and Chana Masala (vegetarian dish). The lamb was seasoned and cooked just right, and the dish was quite spicy (you may notice that I had to have 2 Cobras....). The vegetables (chickpeas, onions & tomato) was also in a gravy, and was surprisingly hot as well. A friendly disagreement broke out between my friend and his wife over which dish was hotter. Using my quick wits and diplomacy, I was able to diffuse the situation by mentioning Nigella Lawson and her boobs... Not really - we just talked about how much of a crapbucket of a show "Village on a Diet" is. Again, the same chef came out to check on our food. Most impressive.

We had more than enough food, and I was certainly glad to not over eat. Our desserts comprised of: Gajar Halwa - shredded carrot mess (my dessert), Kulfi -frozen mango stuff (Chantelle's) and Sean had the Rabri Gulab Jamun - dumplings. At least that's what our bill says. I'm not so sure that's what he got... Regardless, saying I was disappointed with my dessert would be akin to saying that the Chargers' were disappointed with this guy. Yeah... I paid the price for getting something new, for going outside the box. Poor decision. The gajar halwa wasn't nearly sweet enough for a dessert, and the texture was very couscous-like - not my favourite. I shouldn't really say it was a poor dessert, rather I should say that my palate and my expectations were clearly too refined this evening.

The evidence:

Here's the Guru Sparkler.

The main courses:

Check out the Svenson elbow! You think those strips on the Lamb Vindaloo are bamboo shoots? So was I, but it's actually ginger.


Very good meal indeed. I'd give it a solid 8.1 out of 10. No question I would go back.

Pumpkin Soup

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup rinsed, sliced leeks with tops
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 cups chicken stock
3 cups peeled pumpkin chunks or 2 cups plain canned pumpkin purée (I used the canned pumpkin)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated or ground nutmeg
6 tablespoons low-fat yogurt or reduced-fat sour cream

***

Well, I just happened on this recipe yesterday. This was after I saw some canned pumpkin a few days ago and was wondering just what the heck can you make with canned pumpkin. "Pies and cheesecakes" was my mother's response...

So I decided to give this recipe a shot. It certainly looked exciting.

I haven't had it "the day after" yet, and I'll add a comment tomorrow if I've changed my judgment.

Overall, I must say that I'm a little disappointed with the soup. Oh sure, it was hot and the pumpkin adds some creamy texture to the soup, but the pumpkin taste is really a little too "docile" if I may say so. In fact, it's a little hard for me to pinpoint the major taste in the soup. I'm sure it's all healthy for you - but it's quite bland. I would think that maybe a little more ginger or some honey might sweeten it enough to make it a little more enjoyable. If there is a next time, I'll certainly keep that in mind.

The photographic evidence:

It doesn't look like much, does it? Well, it doesn't grade very well either: 5.5 out of 10. No, it's not bad, but certainly not on my list to make again anytime soon.

Chef's Update: I just ate some soup for lunch here at work, and it has improved somewhat. I'd update the score to 6.0 out of 10. It could use some more pepper or maybe some curry.

Mexican Chocolate Cake with Dried Cranberries

   Cake:
1 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Dutch-process unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant coffee
3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk, sour cream or plain yogurt (The Chef used sour cream)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup dried cranberries
  Glaze:
1/2 cup whipping cream
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

***

Well, does anything reduce the stress of a Thursday night like baking a cake? I'm sure something does... Regardless, I tried this recipe I had for over 3 years. Not once did I make it until now. We can thank the Edmonton Journal for this beauty - I still think they have their "Bistro" section on Wednesdays or Thursdays. It's not all bad. Oh no, it's no rag, it has some good stuff.

I'm a big fan of chocolate and cranberries. I don't know if they have chocolate-covered cranberries, but you'd think that Glossette/Hershey's would get that out soon and somehow - because it's a fantastic combination. And this cake is the perfect vessel for delivering "C&C" to your quivering palate.

It's a surprisingly easy cake to make too. Everything went swimmingly. No issues at all.

After having mixed the batter, I began pouring it into the bundt pan. It was as smooth as Barry fuckin' White. No kidding. Well, at least his voice, when he was alive. It tasted perfect - in the raw. I licked the spatula clean.

After it was cooked and cooled, and the chocolate glaze settled for a few minutes, I had a piece. This is a great cake. Not too sweet at all, chocolatey with a hint of coffee, and of course the cranberries. I think those little guys keep it pretty moist. Warm chocolate cake it pretty good, but I held my judgement in check until today, when I had a day-after piece. The glaze had hardened a bit (similar to the chocolate on chocolate-covered strawberries) but the rest of the cake was still moist and delicious.

And of course, the photographic evidence:

Before baking:

...and après baking and still-warm glazing:

Final judgment: Day-um! Downright delectable. Success! I'd give it a grade of 9.2 out of 10. Yesssss. It's that good.

Garlic Lime Chicken Breasts

1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 chicken breast halves (2 pounds total), rinsed and patted dry

***
I got this recipe from my Gourmet cookbook. It's a fantastic book, a Christmas gift from a couple of years ago. Lot's of good stuff (Cuban sandwich and some mouth-watering pancakes...). But this recipe just didn't cut it.

Well you marinate the chicken for at least two hours (which is what I did). But the lime and garlic flavours didn't end up penetrating the chicken all that well. That and the chicken cooked a little too unevenly - some overly cooked - dry, like that muffin at had at the Camrose Starbucks a couple of days ago. (Why do I keep going back there? I swear it was like eating a mouthful of the Sahara. Awful.) Anyway, some of the chicken was still a little pink.

Very little taste to the chicken, and I would highly recommend that you let it marinade for more than 2 hours, just for the hope the flavours develop a little more.

As always, here is the photographic evidence:

As for the grade: a 5.5 out of 10. Yeah, that's pretty bad for Chef Jeremiah. But I calls it like I tastes it - cuz Food Don't Lie...

Dubliner Cheddar Bacon Burger with Hungarian Potato Salad - Ceili's

Ceili's signature beef burger, maple peppered bacon, melted Dubliner cheddar, served on a Kaiser bun with lettuce, tomato, onion, mustard and barbeque bourbon aioli. Side - Hungarian Potato Salad - $15.75

Actually, that's a lie. That's from the Calgary menu, and I can't quite read the Edmonton location menu at this time. Suffice to say the burger is quite similar but the fixin's are a bit different.

***

So I went to Ceili's for lunch over the holidays for a bite to eat. Ja, ja, your regular Irish pub fare, albeit a bit pricey.

I just don't think any restaurant burger compares to a homemade burger - save those from DeLux. And that's a maybe. The net result wasn't bad - it was quick, cooked well and the cheese was very much melted. It wasn't on a Kaiser bun, but a brioche bun (very soft - with a bit of a sheen to it) that was well suited to the task of transferring it's tasty goodness to my mouth. The sauces and condiments were all quite good and appropriate.

The Hungarian Potato Salad on the other hand, was quite disappointing. All my little Sous Chefs will know that I like a good potato Salad (Russian or German), and now we have the Hungarian.

Needless to say, my expectations were high - (is that Hungarian Paprika on top???). And this potato salad failed. Not spectacularly mind you, but still failed. It was like the New Jersey Devils of the potato salad world - playing not to lose, not playing to win. Oh the potatoes were soft, and it was a creamy dish, but it just didn't have the chutzpah to make my über-palate take notice. No interesting flavours to enjoy or think about. Correction - no flavour at all... And nothing to remember it by other than the partially filled void in my stomach. I think my Warm German Potato Salad was much better. Which, as I've just noticed, I have not yet written about...

Here is the evidence:

Bah! Well the burger was good, I'd give it a 7.0 out of 10 - a pretty good score for a restaurant burger (although still over-priced). The potato salad a 5.0 out of 10. The"104th Avenue Boring Potato Salad" would have been a more apt name.