Early Easter present!! Or really late Halloween candy, depending on how you look at it. We just received 68 20-piece packs of Starburst, 36 14-piece packs of Orbit Mist, and 30 15-piece packs of Wrigley's Zing. For the mathematically challenged, that equates to 1,360 pieces of chewy, fruity deliciousness and 950 pieces of mouth-freshening gum. I can already feel my teeth rotting.
Dozen Bakery, home of our favorite cupcakes in Pittsburgh, hosted a summer cupcake preview party, where we were able to sample several new mini cupcakes. The place was so packed that we had to eat outside, which is why our cupcakes are lined up on a windowsill. I can't remember all the flavors, but I think they were (from left to right) key lime pie, pina colada, peanut butter, lemon meringue, carrot cake, espresso, lemon basil, and strawberry shortcake. The lemon basil and the pina colada were amazing!
Tower of cupcakes!!
We still have way too many Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies lying around. So for dinner on a Wednesday night, we decided to keep it simple and light.
The cod was seasoned lightly, dressed with a thin coat of Dijon mustard, and dipped in a pile of Panko breadcrumbs, prior to baking (for the fish) and broiling (for the breadcrumbs). The bok choy was quickly pan-fried in a sesame-canola oil mixture, along with garlic, ginger, sesame seeds, and red pepper flakes. Delicious and nutritious.
Since we love bacon, we had tried making German bacon cookies, which unfortunately left us disappointed. However, we didn't want to give up on bacon cookies. So when I found this recipe for bacon chocolate chip cookies, I just had to make them.
The bacon is cooked with brown sugar sprinkled liberally on top, which makes it very sweet. It's delicious enough to eat on its own as a dessert, but I think it would also make a good topping for ice cream.
The bacon isn't that prominent in the cookies because it's candied, which takes away the saltiness and crispiness of the bacon. Davneet thought the cookies would have been better if the bacon had been left alone, so we'll probably try making bacon chocolate chip cookies again, without candied bacon, and with the New York Times chocolate chip cookie recipe.
We went to the Strip today to buy some groceries and had lunch from the food cart outside Reyna Foods in the Strip. We tried three tacos: chicken, steak, and tongue. As opposed to the tacos we had at Yo Rita, these were much more authentic: topped with sour cream, cilantro, onion, and queso fresco, all wrapped in a corn tortilla.
We also got some dessert from Peace, Love, & Little Donuts, which are easily our favorite donuts in Pittsburgh thanks to their compact size and crispiness. We tried their plain, powdered, ginger, and Saigon sugar donuts.
I love slow-cooked meat. Until now, we’ve only made dishes in the oven: pulled pork and brisket. To expand our slow-cooked meat repertoire, we bought this Dutch oven.
For its inaugural meal we made beef goulash with a side of baker's potatoes.
The goulash was excellent thanks to the roasted red peppers and Russian beer, Baltika #9 Extra Lager. Despite not having any cream or butter, the potatoes were surprisingly delicious.
Cheese fries, macaroni and cheese hot dogs, hot wings with bleu cheese. Is there anything that cheese doesn't make better? Well, with the exception of my waistline. D's Six Pax & Dogz certainly doesn't think so, and neither do I.
Beautia and I visited this old-European-style pub for a nutritious Sunday brunch, mainly because of our craving for hot dogs and nostalgia towards the place -- we hadn't visited in over a year.
After devouring everything you see above (that last item is a Chicago-style all-beef hot dog complete with onions, tomatoes, celery salt, mustard, electric green relish, hot peppers, and a pickle), we left very satisfied, slightly nauseous, and carrying an assorted six-pack of Russian Lagers, Raspberry Ciders, and India's number one export other than I.T. professionals: Kingfisher.
All in all, a worthwhile Sunday.
