Visiting Pittsburgh, PA

On By Rob GIn Going PlacesLeave a comment

This week, I had the opportunity to visit Pittsburgh. I drove about 4 1/2 hours to get to my destination. I had done a little research and had decided on a few things that I wanted to do and see while I was over there. I knew that I wanted to try a sandwich at Primanti Bros. I also wanted to visit Market Square and wanted to see the Fred Rogers Statue. I was able to accomplish all of those goals. The drive was nice and scenic. I had to make one stop along the way and it was pretty cold and there was a definite wind chill factor. When I arrived at my hotel, it was cold. Mid 20s with a wind chill in the upper teens to low 20s. There were a few flakes flying around, but nothing really sticking.

I made my way over to Market Square and started my afternoon with a sandwich at Primanti Bros. They are known for having French fries and Cole slaw in their sandwiches. The corned beef sandwich was recommended, so that is what I went with. I took a picture, but there was a green light that distorted the view, unfortunately. The sandwich itself was very good. I tried the fries on their own, and they were really good. But biting into the sandwich, the combination of flavors was great. The thing that stood out the most for me was the bread. I was expecting either toasted bread, or a bread that might have a tougher bite through to it. But the bread was nice and soft, with good flavor. It held together well, even though it was an overloaded sandwich. It didn’t get soggy from the Cole slaw and fall apart. It was definitely a good first experience with Primanti Bros. and I hope to have the opportunity to try them again (and again).

Market Square had a Christmas Village, so there were wooden houses everywhere. Right now, Market Square is an open public space, but it was apparently home to the first newspaper, first courthouse and first jail (all in the 1700s). So I was standing in the place of history, which is always pretty cool.

This is a picture that I took that cuts through the Market Square. It was overcast and mid-afternoon, so the picture is unfortunately a bit dark.

This was a few hundred yards away from the Market Square. There was an ice rink in the middle of these buildings and a nice looking tree (which you can barely see in the picture through the Market Square).

There is a lot of history in the city, so it was nice walking through and seeing some of them. Since the weather was so cold, I didn’t walk as far as I had originally intended. I was hoping to get in about 15 miles or so, but only ended up getting in 11 miles of walking around.

I was making my way across to cross the 6th Street Bridge, and PNC Park was right there for a nice photo opportunity.

Heinz Field

Pittsburgh used to have a sports stadium called Three Rivers Stadium. This picture isn’t the greatest, but I tried to get the point where the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers meet.

I made my way over to the Fred Rogers statue (Tribute to Children). The first shot is taken from behind, so you can see him looking out over the water. There is audio playing, so you can hear Mr. Rogers while you are sitting there. A really nice, touching moment to hear his voice.

The first two pictures are of the Fort Pitt Block House, which was built in 1764 and is the last remaining structure of Fort Pitt. The third picture is of the museum, which is a recreated bastion of Fort Pitt.

I took a bunch more pictures while walking around, but then made my way back to the Downtown area and walked by a Gloria Jean’s Coffee.

I had not been to Gloria Jean’s Coffee in a very long time, and it was good to go back. I ordered their Winter Wonderland Holiday Chiller. This is a frozen coffee drink that has flavors of sugar cookie, Madagascar vanilla, Hawaiian salted caramel and cinnamon. This had a good consistency and really nice flavor.

I made my way from Downtown to the South Side, and I was able to scope out a couple of places to go for dinner and for coffee in the morning.

I decided on The Pub Chip Shop for dinner. I was contemplating getting the Scotch Egg, but decided on getting a Scotch Pie instead. A Scotch Egg is a hard-boiled wrapped in sausage, breaded and fried. The Scotch Pie is lamb wrapped in a pastry shell with gravy on the side. This was very good. Not too heavy, the right amount of food for me. I would come back to this restaurant again if I had the opportunity.

I finished off my evening with a Peppermint Fudge Brownie Milk Shake from The Milk Shake Factory. This was a very heavy milk shake. Nice and thick with a good ice cream flavor, but there were also the bits of brownie and peppermint in there. I enjoyed the milk shake and would probably be getting at least one a week if I lived or worked close by.

I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express. They had an automatic pancake maker, which I had to try. The pancakes were good. You can’t see them being made. You push a button, wait about a minute, and then see them coming out and onto the plate.

Before I was going to head out, I decided to go to Delanie’s Coffee for a drink. I ordered the Turtle Blended Latte. It was a frozen coffee drink with peanut butter, caramel and chocolate. Triple yum!

Since it was a long drive home (more traffic than on the way in), I decided to make a stop for a late lunch/early dinner.

I stopped at the South Midway Travel Plaza and went to Steak ‘n Shake. I didn’t get a shake, but did get some food. I ordered The Original Double Cheese ‘n Fries. The burger had nice flavor and the skinny fries were also good. It was a nice finale to a couple of days of some good eating.

I thought I’d end this with a picture of the Clock in Market Square. You can see some of the buildings from the Christmas Market. This was my first visit to Pittsburgh. I was able to see some modern and some historical places. I was able to eat some good food. It was a great experience and I hope to have the opportunity to go back, do some more exploring, and eat some more great food!

Homemade Chicken Curry

On By Rob GIn Close to Home, RecipeLeave a comment

Yesterday, I managed to make good use of the leftover chicken from the Roast Chicken I had made on Sunday.

I made chicken curry. There were a couple of extra steps that I added, and I think that they worked for me. I didn’t do strict measurements for everything, so some of the measurements listed are going to be rough estimates.

INGREDIENTS, Part I (roast cashews):

1 cup raw unsalted cashews for roasting

INGREDIENTS, Part II (cashew curry paste):

1 cup raw unsalted cashews

1 piece of fresh ginger, roughly 2 inches long, roughly cut

1 piece of fresh turmeric, roughly 3 inches long, roughly cut

3 cloves of garlic, roughly cut

1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon curry powder

INGREDIENTS, Part III (curry):

4 medium size carrots, cut into chunks

5 red potatoes, cut into small chunks

2 pieces of fresh turmeric, finely chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 pieces of fresh ginger, finely chopped

1 large onion, diced

1/2 stick of butter

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3 cups of chicken broth

12 ounce can of evaporated milk, minus 1/4 cup (for cashew curry paste)

3-4 cups of boiling water

1 Tablespoon plus one teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon ginger powder

1/2 roast chicken (cooked)

The first thing I did was roast the cashews. I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. I put one cup of cashews on a tray lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray (I don’t think it really needs the cooking spray). Depending on your oven, this should take 10-15 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on it, since you don’t want these to burn. Remove from the oven and set aside. Once these are cooled, place in a storage bag and run a rolling pin over them. This is what I used for a topping.

The next step was the paste. I put in the cashews, ginger, turmeric, garlic, curry powder, and evaporated milk into a blender and then blended until it got to a nice, thick consistency. If you want a spicier curry, feel free to add something that will give more heat to this mixture (more curry powder, more ginger powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, etc.). Regarding the evaporated milk, I bought a 12 ounce can and used 1/4 cup in this mixture and saved the rest for later.

The next step is to prep the veggies. I cut the carrots, potatoes, ginger, turmeric and garlic and set aside in a bowl.

Start cooking the onions, butter and oil on medium-high heat.

Stir often. Once the onions are translucent, you are ready for the next step.

Add in the curry paste mixture and start stirring until it is all incorporated.

Add in the veggie mixture, 1 Tablespoon curry powder, ginger powder, and the broth. Continue to stir until it is well incorporated, and then add in the rest of the can of condensed milk.

Bring this to a slow boil and then add in the water. If you prefer a thicker sauce, you can start with 1-2 cups and keep adding later until the desired consistency. Bring this to a boil again and then let it boil for 30 minutes, stirring often.

Stir in one teaspoon of curry and then add the chicken. Bring the temperature down to medium heat and cook for another 30-60 minutes, until the curry is the desired consistency. I waited about 10 minutes after I added the chicken and then started cooking the rice.

Once the rice and the curry are ready, you can plate your food. I prefer my sauce to be a little thinner on the first day, since it tends to thicken with time. I also like to have my curry over my rice, but if you prefer them side by side, then do that. I topped it with the rough chopped roasted cashews. You can have peanuts, hard boiled eggs, bacon, chutney, pickled veggies, hot sauce, etc. Whatever makes it unique to your tastebuds, I say go for it. I really enjoyed making this and eating this yesterday, and looking forward to eating the leftovers. A very positive Monday for me!

If you’ve eaten or made curry before, what types of veggies have you put in there? What kinds of toppings have you added? I’d be happy to hear from you.

Roast Chicken

On By Rob GIn Close to Home, RecipeLeave a comment

There are times that I have a couple of meals planned out, so I start to buy the ingredients and think about how I can use them for a couple of meals. I did this yesterday and made a pretty good roast chicken.

INGREDIENTS

1 whole chicken – 5-6 pounds

1/2 onion, cut into rings

2 carrots, coarsely chopped

3 red potatoes, coarsely chopped

1 Tablespoon Poultry Seasoning

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon Pink Himalayan sea salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 cup orange juice

I preheated the oven to 300 degrees. I wanted this to cook at a lower temperature for a longer period of time.

I started off by chopping the vegetables. I then placed them in a roasting pan that was lined with aluminum foil. I positioned the vegetables so that the chicken could rest on top of the onions, while the potatoes and carrots would be in the surrounding area.

The seasonings and orange juice are all rough estimates. After removing the bag of giblets, I made sure to rinse and pat the chicken dry before placing on top of the onions. I then poured over the orange juice, making sure it got on the back and front of the bird. I put the seasonings into a small bowl and mixed them up. I then put rubbed them into the back, the front, the inside cavity and a little under the skin.

I baked the chicken for about three and a half hours. The meat was fall off the bones tender, juicy, and full of flavor. The skin was nice and crispy, with a robust flavor from all the seasonings. The potatoes and carrots were soft and pleasant tasting. The onions were really sweet and rounded out the meal very well.

I made two different broths from this chicken. The first broth was made using the giblets from the bag. I boiled those on medium-high heat in about 3 cups of water, with some diced fresh ginger, diced fresh garlic and diced fresh turmeric added. Once this got to a boil, I let it boil for 20 minutes and then turned the temperature down to medium-low heat. I let this continue for another 30 minutes and then it was ready to save.

The second broth was made after the meal was over. I removed the meat from the bones and set aside for a separate dish. I used a pasta pot, since it has a strainer. I put the bones in the strainer and then added water until it was covering all the bones. I boiled this on medium-high heat. Once this got to a boil, I let it boil for 30 minutes and then turned the temperature down to medium-low heat. I let this continue for another hour and then it was ready to save. Since this had flavor from the chicken bones (with some skin and seasoning still in tact), I did not feel the need to add anything else to the broth. I saved some of the broth in the refrigerator, and put the rest in storage bags in the freezer. These will provide me with some quick broth for a future meal.

The flavor of the chicken was much better than I was expecting, and I was very happy with how tender the meat was. It was an easy way to keep me staying positive!

Visiting ZooAmerica in Hershey, PA

On By Rob GIn Going PlacesLeave a comment

During my visit to Hershey Park, I also visited ZooAmerica. You can go to ZooAmerica separately from Hershey Park, but there is also an entrance to ZooAmerica while you are inside Hershey Park, so you can break up your day and visit the Zoo in the middle of your Park visit.

This American Elk Statue is inside Hershey Park, close to the entrance for ZooAmerica.

Right before I entered into the main part of the Zoo, this sign provided an overview of what was to come. Once you are inside, you have the ability to walk around wherever you prefer, but they also have signs for a “Suggested Route”, which are the signs I decided to follow. I was able to see a lot of animals, but not able to capture all of them on camera. Some of the pictures are a bit fuzzy since the animals were far away, some were in a dark enclosure, some were moving around, etc.

Roseate Spoonbill

American Alligators.

Burrowing Owl

Desert Tortoises

Roadrunner – I was fortunate to get this while it was still. Once it started moving, it would go running all over the place.

Ocelot – This was in a dark enclosure and took me quite a few takes to be able to get a picture (no flash).

Snowy Owl – I wish I could have gotten a better close up.

Bald Eagles – I love seeing Bald Eagles and was fortunate that they were hanging out pretty close to where I was standing.

Canada Lynx – This was tough to capture since it was just sitting up on a hill and far away. This was as zoomed in as I could get.

There were a lot more animals that I saw, including mountain lion, wolf, black bear, elk, ringtail, coati, to name a few.

This last picture was a surprise to me. These two were hanging out at the top of a tree about 10 feet off the ground. These are porcupines! I had no idea they were tree dwellers.

I enjoyed my time in the Zoo. I made my way around in just about an hour, so it was a nice middle of the day break from the park. I would visit again and would hope to get some better pictures and have some more close up experiences with some of the bigger animals.

Visiting Hershey Park

On By Rob GIn Going PlacesLeave a comment

This past Saturday, I visited Hershey Park. I have been there before, but never during the Holiday Season. It was a cold day (lower 30s), which meant that some of the rides were not operating. I did still manage to go on a couple of rides that I hadn’t been on before, which was fun. Since the parks didn’t open until 12PM, I had lunch before heading in, which was not a great idea when going on spinning rides. But I was able to manage.

This is the who and why behind Hershey, so I thought it would be nice to show this, even if the print is really hard to read.

The decorations actually started before getting into the park. On the walkway over to the park from the parking lot, they had the Candy Canes along the lane, which was a nice touch.

My pictures will not do the park justice, but they had some fun decorations all over the place. There were a lot of little kids, and they were loving it. There are characters walking around. When the Kit Kat came around, the kids got really excited. There was one little girl who was very shy, and the Kit Kat went to hold her hand. She then gave it a big hug. That was a very sweet moment to see.

When I was taking the picture by Reese’s Cupfusion, a kid was excitedly talking about Mint the Merciless. I must confess that I was not familiar with these characters, but it was really cute to hear the excitement. It made the experience better for me.

The last time I visited the park, the park opened at 10AM and the weather was in the 60s, so all of the rides were open. I was able to go on quite a few rides: Hershey Triple Tower, Sidewinder, Scrambler, sooper dooper Looper, and more. Those are definitely more for the teenager and above crowd. On this visit, I started by going on the Wild Mouse. This ride reminded me of Goofy’s Sky School/Mulholland Madness in Disneyland. When I was younger, the twists and turns were a lot of fun. Now that I’m older, and after having a big lunch, not as much fun. It is a fun ride, but just a very different experience than if I had started my day with rides and had lunch later. The other ride that I went on was The Claw. This ride spins around and swings like a pendulum, so there are moments when you feel like you are floating upside down. The cold air hitting my face was really relaxing. The spinning wasn’t too bad, so I ended up really enjoying this ride. I could have gone on a couple more rides, but I decided to go to ZooAmerica and take more pictures.

Probably the most fun I had was seeing the Twelve Days of Christmas. I saw the Five Rings, and the Seven Swans, but it didn’t click until I saw the Maids a Milking. It was at that point that I want to start at the Twelfth Day and work my way down to One. Some of these pictures couldn’t capture everything so I apologize. I was there during the day, but I think it must look spectacular when it’s dark out and these are lit up.

ba dum bum bum

I really did have a fun time seeing those and did have that song going in my head most of the time, or at least when I got to each of the “Days”.

I think my favorite was the French Hens. The Beret made me chuckle.

I had a really nice time in the park and was very happy to have been able to experience it during the Holidays. If I was going to be staying up in Hershey, I would want to see everything once it is dark outside. There are plenty of food options inside the park. There is a milk shake place that looks really good and filling. There is a place where you can make your own Whoopee Pies. There is also a place called BBLz, but it isn’t open during Winter. They have unique flavor combinations, so I hope they will be open the next time I’m in town for a visit.

This park has plenty to offer for children of all ages. The park itself is not too big, so you will be able to walk through and visit without feeling like you’ve missed out on any areas. And visiting during the Holiday Season seems like it is something that should be on a to-do list if you enjoy Hershey Park. I had a lot of fun here!

Visiting Hershey, Pennsylvania

On By Rob GIn Going PlacesLeave a comment

This past Saturday, I made a trip up to Hershey, Pennsylvania. It takes me a couple of hours to drive there, so my goal was to get in before 10AM, do a couple of things in town, eat some lunch, and then go to both ZooAmerica and Hershey Park (it didn’t open until 12PM). I was successful in getting there before 10AM. It was not quite 30 degrees, so there was a nice amount of cold when walking around, especially when the wind was hitting me just right. I parked in the parking garage for The Hershey Story and Museum (free parking).

The street lights have Kisses on top, which I think is really cute.

They alternate between wrapped and unwrapped. I think it makes it fun to see.

It must be a tough decision when you have to decide if you would prefer Chocolate Avenue or Cocoa Avenue. 🙂

You can get to the Hershey Company building in about a five minute walk from the Hershey Story building. I took a picture of myself standing in front of it, but forgot to take one of just the building. They do have some energy efficient cars with their brands on it, which I enjoyed seeing.

This is the outside of the The Hershey Story.

I went to The Pantry Cafe and got myself a Peppermint Mocha frozen coffee drink. They had some nice looking treats, but my pictures didn’t turn out. The coffee drink was very good. Nice consistency, not icy at all, the peppermint was not overbearing and went well with the mocha flavor. Definitely a good place for Frappuccino type drinks. There are quite a few things you can do other than just eating at The Pantry Cafe. There is a Museum Experience, a Chocolate Lab, a Tastings Bar, Hershey Gardens and more. You have to pay for these experiences, but they get some good reviews, so I have a feeling they are worth it.

There are other things to do in the town. It’s not just Hershey Park and the hotels, but it’s also a town with residents and shops. I was focused with what I planned on doing, but you can plan a day and do things outside of the park and have fun.

I made my way over to Hershey’s Chocolate World. Since I was going to be in Hershey Park, I paid for Theme Park parking. If you just want to visit Hershey’s Chocolate World, you can park for free for up to 3 hours. Once you step inside, there are plenty of options. There are paid attractions such as 4D Chocolate Movie, Create Your Own Candy Bar, Hershey’s Unwrapped: A Chocolate Tasting Journey, and Hershey Trolley Works. But there is a food court and a huge candy store and a large store that sells Hershey Company related items (shirts, cups, ornaments, etc.).

Right now, they have their Holiday theme going, including this Holiday Chocolate House, which is a nice size.

There are a couple of places where you can buy baked goods. I didn’t purchase any, but did get some pictures just so you can see what types of goodies are available.

I thought these looked very cute. I was tempted, but was able to resist.

Since I was there before the park opened, I decided to order the Hershey’s Cocoa Pulled Pork. It comes with two sides, so I got macaroni and cheese and Cole slaw. They were both good choices. I also got the side sauces. One is Hershey’s chocolate barbecue sauce, which was VERY good. There was also a Heath Honey Mustard, which was also good. I ate more than I should have, especially since I was going to be heading into the park, but it was worth it.

After my day inside the park was done, I came back into Hershey’s Chocolate World to buy more candy than I should have. Some of the items are really good deals, and they also have some items that you can’t get in most stores. I decided to treat myself with dessert. There is a S’Mores station which looked really good, but I was focused on getting their new specialty milk shake. It’s a Kit Kat Duo shake. They’ve recently introduced the Kit Kat Mint and Dark Chocolate Duo, and they have put it into milk shake form. I haven’t had the Kit Kat bars before, and since the milk shake came with two bars, this was my first time trying them. The milk shake and the bars were delicious!

I’ll write more about Hershey Park and ZooAmerica in a separate post, but I wanted to share these things since there are other things that you can do if you don’t want to go inside a theme park and don’t feel like going on any rides. It could be a fun day just hanging out at Hershey’s Story or at Hershey’s Chocolate World.

Cashew Curry Cookies

On By Rob GIn Close to Home, RecipeLeave a comment

I’ve made these cookies a couple of times. The batch I made yesterday included a lot more butter (1 stick more) than usual, but I think that it worked well and I wanted to share.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 1/2 sticks (20 Tablespoons) softened butter

1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup corn starch

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 cup roughly chopped cashews (unsalted, raw is preferred)

Preheat the oven to 300. Mix the powdered sugar, butter, sugar and salt until the mixture is creamed and fluffy. Sift in the flour, corn starch and curry powder. Knead together in the bowl until a ball of dough forms. FYI, this is going to be a very sticky dough. If the dough is dry, add a couple of drops of water until all of the dry mixture is incorporated. Add in the chopped cashews and mix together (I put whole, raw, unsalted cashews in a lightly sealed bag and use a rolling pin to get it to be a rough chop). Place by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet (I line mine with parchment paper).

When they are all on the cookie sheet, you can form them or make them into shapes if you would like. Bake for approximately 45-50 minutes, rotating once halfway through.

There should be a nice brown coating along the bottom edges of the cookies.

This cookie is very rich and flavorful. You have the rich buttery flavor, the subtle curry flavor, and the smooth flavor of the cashews, with a little bit of a crunch. The cookies will break apart easily, but they almost melt in your mouth. Even though this has 2 teaspoons of curry powder, it’s not an overbearing flavor. This is a sweet cookie with hints of savory. Since it breaks apart, the cashews help hold it together, and they also add a nice combination of flavor with the curry.

I’ve made the South American version of Alfajores before, and the corn starch and flour combination give those cookies their texture. That is the reason I wanted to have some corn starch in these cookies. If you would prefer to do without, just make sure to adjust the recipe and add an additional 1/4 cup flour instead of the corn starch.

I had two bonuses with this batch. The first was the parchment paper after the cookies were removed. There were little brown butter crumbs which had an extra layer of flavor. The other bonus was the aroma. I enjoy the smell of curry, and it was all over the house. And when you are getting ready to bite into these cookies, the slight smell of curry goes into the nose and invites an extra layer of sensory enjoyment. It’s easy to stay positive when eating these!

Mission BBQ and More

On By Rob GIn Going PlacesLeave a comment

Yesterday, I had some errands to run. My iPhone has been giving me problems, so I had set up an appointment at the Apple store in The Mall in Columbia (Maryland). It took a bit more time than expected, so I was able to get in a lot of walking around the mall. I was even able to try one of the seasonal drinks at the Nordstrom Bar. I tried the Peppermint Ice Storm with an extra shot of espresso. The consistency was really good. The flavor was great. They used a vanilla base and added in the peppermint flavor (sprinkles?). It was a nice, smooth peppermint flavor that really brought memories of a peppermint stick. I was happy that I tried it and look forward to hopefully going back and trying their other holiday flavors.

As far as the iPhone goes, they were able to put in a new battery, so my 6 has some legs left. Much better alternative than having to spend a lot of money on a new phone (even if the cameras and the extras are much nicer). And one day later, I’m happy with the difference. My battery has only drained 30% in 21 hours. It was only lasting about 6 hours before the switch, so a definite improvement. Now I just hope it will continue to perform well for at least another year or two.

After my time at the mall, I had planned on heading over to Mission BBQ. I just ended up eating an hour later than I had expected.

The cool thing is that they have big vehicles outside of their stores. The owners opened the first Mission BBQ on September 11, 2011 and proudly serve Those Who Serve. The inside of the restaurants are decorated with community donated memorabilia from military and public response forces. This past Veterans Day, they provided free sandwiches and cake for all veterans and active duty military personnel.

My usual go-to sandwich is the Chopped Brisket, but yesterday I wanted to change things up. I went for a Pulled Chicken sandwich with Kickin’ Collard Greens (a limited time only side), and accompanied that with a Grape Nehi (they also have some cool sodas available). There is a very short wait time to get the food. They make it to order and you can see them creating in the kitchen while you wait.

When you sit at the tables, you have six barbecue sauce options. There are regional options, so you can try different flavors, which is exactly what I did. I added some sauce for each of my first six bites. I thought my favorite was going to be the Memphis Belle, but the Smoky Mountain sauce went really well with the chicken sandwich. KC Classic was my second favorite with the chicken, and then the Memphis Belle. But all of the sauces were good, so there were no losers there.

I was happy to eat some good food and make my taste buds happy. But I really appreciate the mission statement (pun intended) of the restaurant and it was definitely easy to stay positive with the great experience I had!

French Twist Cafe – Frenchgiving Crepe

On By Rob GIn Going PlacesLeave a comment

About a week or so ago, I noticed there was a new special at French Twist Cafe. I’m not sure how long it had been posted, but once I saw the name and description, I knew I would want to try it. I enjoy some of the seasonal foods, and around this time, there are holiday sandwiches and holiday bowls that are based upon Thanksgiving. The French Twist cafe has their spin, the Frenchgiving Crepe. Their description says it all. A Thanksgiving dinner served in a crepe: Pulled turkey, cranberries, cornbread stuffing, gravy and seasoning. That has all the ingredients for a meal that I just wouldn’t be able to resist.

Yesterday, I decided to make my way over there. I ordered the specialty crepe and also had their specialty drink, a Pumpkin Frappe. I could have eaten there, but chose to go instead. Their frappes are always really good, and yesterday’s was no different. It was made perfectly, had the right consistency and a really good flavor. It might have been my favorite pumpkin frappe of the season so far.

I like the fact that this restaurant is in a house. When you walk in, the crepe station is about 10-15 feet from the front door. There are a couple of tables on the first floor (and outside), or you can go upstairs for additional seating. When I get a crepe, I like to just stand behind the glass and watch as they make the crepes. I was able to get a picture before they started closing up the crepe. They started by pouring the batter and using the spreader to make it one giant crepe. Once it was flipped over, they started assembling the filling. They started with the turkey, then added the stuffing. Next was sprinkling on the seasoning. The cranberries were added and it was finished off with drizzling the gravy.

They folded it up and put it into a container for me, and I was on my way. It’s hard to tell the dimensions, but this is a very large crepe, especially when you factor in the fillings.

I thought it would be good to take a picture when I was still eating it, so you could hopefully see the fillings in there. I tried the turkey on its own and the stuffing on its own, and they were both really good. The bites that had everything together – crepe, turkey, stuffing, gravy and cranberry – were outstanding. The flavor and texture of the crepe added a really nice component, which made my tastebuds and mouth very happy. This was a new twist (pun intended) on a seasonal sandwich, and I was glad I had the opportunity to try it. It definitely helped me stay positive!

Starry Night Bakery – Westminster, MD

On By Rob GIn Going PlacesLeave a comment

Starry Night Bakery is located in Westminster, Maryland, which is about a 20 minute drive from my house. I’ve visited a few times, and they do a really good job with coffee drinks and sweets. They participated in Cupcake Wars for a reason – they know how to bake.

I started off with ordering a coffee drink. I ordered a dark chocolate mocha frappe with peppermint. The drink had nice flavor to it. The dark chocolate and espresso worked well together, and there was just an underlying hint of peppermint flavor. The consistency was also nice. There were a couple of sips in the beginning that were thick (but not icy), but after that, it was all good.

I took a few pictures of some of the offerings. They had some nicely designed specialty cakes, they had vegan friendly treats, and they had treats other than just cupcakes. So there are options if you have different cravings. I ended up ordering three cupcakes. One Total Eclipse, one Oreo Stuffed, and one Pumpkin Maple.

I started with the Pumpkin Maple cupcake. The consistency of the cupcake was very good and moist. The maple frosting had a nice flavor and was not overly sweet. The flavor of the frosting and flavor of the cupcake paired very nicely. This was a very good cupcake.

The next one I tried was the Oreo Stuffed cupcake. There was an Oreo cookie baked into the cupcake. The cupcake itself had good flavor and was moist. The Oreo was soft, but still had a little firmness, so it wasn’t soggy. It was the perfect consistency for a cupcake. The frosting worked well with his cupcake, and the added touch of Oreo pieces brought everything together.

The final cupcake I tried was a larger one, the Total Eclipse. The cupcake was really good. Nice and moist, good consistency. There was some chocolate filling in there, and then a really good fudgy frosting. Although all three cupcakes were really good, this was by far my favorite. I look forward to trying more flavors in the future.