Wednesday Fun 105- Modern Cafe review

Pusher and I first went to The Modern Cafe picking it off a list for a charity event. We were both a bit familiar with it (she a bit more than I) but hadn't made it there. That was our mistake.

The food is tremendous! It's mostly dishes you know but with their own flavorful twist. Pot roast that melts in your mouth with a delicious creamy horseradish sauce, spicy pork with cous-cous, and meatloaf that only your French dream-mother would make. The menu seems to shift regularly so those that get bored with the relatively brief menu don't have to long to wait for a change.

The Modern also seems to draw an impressive mix of client. I've seen people doing family generational dinners, hip couple dinners (no that wasn't us... real hip people), teenagers hanging out, and older (retirement age) just getting a good meal. You have to do something right to get that mix.

I also need to mention the wine list. It's a list that shows someone there knows about wine. There isn't a bottle for over $40 (so $20 and under if you were getting them retail) and they stay away from household names. This means those who aren't adventurous might be a bit scared (though a large percentage of their list is available by the glass), but the advantage is the wines are world view that "wine nerds" would say are a great value. These are often the areas or grapes that haven't yet hit huge. The capper to the wine is that on Tuesdays they do half price bottles!

The last thing I need to discuss is the look. It's "Modern" as in modern art and has largely been restored in that vein (restored is relative as the booths are clearly of that time and haven't been restored). The building is from before plumbing so when you go to the basement to "rest" there are exposed pipes (all painted and clean). The place has character and I highly recommend you go... let me know when and maybe I can join you.

Wednesday Fun #104 - Name 3 cheeses!

Ok, gang, this one should be pretty easy.

Name 3 (or more!) cheeses!

Bonus points if they all start with the same letter, are organized in mildest to "feet-y"-est, are the same color, from the same region of the world, or otherwise relate.

Margarita Pie

Margarita Pie

This is one of those recipes that gets slightly altered each time I make it, so I've included some of the variations.

For Crust: 

• 2 cups  crushed pretzels 
  
• 1/4 cup  sugar 
  
• 2/3 cup melted butter 

Pulse pretzels and sugar in food processor (or blender) until fine crumbs. Add butter, process to blend. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and sides of pie plate. Freeze while preparing filling. 

Note: Personally, I like the salty crust, it's unusual though. Some people prefer to use a standard graham cracker crust, still good, just makes it sweeter. 

For Filling: 

• 1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
  
• 1 tbsp. grated lime peel
  
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  
• 1/4 cup tequila (if you use this amount you will taste it a bit.  You can cut back to 2 tbsp. or eliminate) 
  
• 1/4 cup Cointreau (or other orange liqueur, you can cut back to 2 tbsp. or use orange juice)
• 2 cups  heavy whipping cream (you can use cool whip if you want, but it will be sweeter)
  
• 4 drops green + 2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
  
• Garnish: lime slices
  

Procedure: 

Stir condensed milk, lime peel, juice, tequila, Cointreau, and food coloring in a small bowl. Beat cream with mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually fold in the lime mixture until well blended. 

Pour into crust, freeze 4-6 hours or overnight. To serve, let pie sit at room temp for 10 minutes, or refrigerate for 20 min.  Re-freeze any remaining pie. 

Variations: 

• Strawberry- omit lime peel, add 1 cup fresh sliced strawberries, use red food coloring 
  
• Virgin- omit tequila, add an extra 1 tbsp. lime juice, use 1/4 cup of orange juice in place of liqueur.
  

Ok, that is not as many different ways as I thought! Oh, I think I did use Triple Sec one time too, but I can't remember if that was in addition to the Cointreau or replaced it...

October Theme - Cheese!

Oh, hey, wow! Look at that - it's October! Sorry about the lateness of this theme update, but here it is anyway.

October's theme is cheese! Yay, cheese! Now, we've got a lot of recipes in here that include cheese, but I figured I'd highlight a few where it's the star player. If I've missed some, let me know & I'll fix it.

• The Sexy Blonde shared some Cooking Light Prosciutto-Wrapped Figs with Bleu Cheese. (Pusher suggests you could maybe sub in some peppered, semi-soft goat cheese or sheep's milk feta if you weren't a bleu cheese fan.)
• Diplowhat calls for goat cheese for her Tomato Snack.
• She also shared her Swiss Potato Casserole recipe that she's all homesick for.
  
• We talked about our favorite versions of grilled cheese here.
• Syl's Crockpot Mac and Cheese sounds great for fall!
• My Simple Jack-o-Lantern Pumpkin Open Face Sandwiches are even seasonal!
• You could make my Winter Vegetable Cobbler in the fall, and there's cheese in the picture!
• It wouldn't be Oven-Easy Omelet aka Egg Bake (actual recipe or mental) without cheese!
  
• Mmmmm! Pusher's Bloggy Potatoes!
• Ok, I left out all the cream cheese recipes, but here's Pusher's Ricotta Pancakes one, even though I think I'd never remember to include ricotta in a brainstormed list of cheeses. (Oh, hey! Wednesday Fun topic! Woo-hoo!)
  

Wednesday Fun #103 - PIE!

I just made my first pie in quite a while yesterday. The Dutch Apple one in the post below, if you're wondering. Yeah, it's a rule that when you buy 40 pounds of apples (or more, I suppose) at a local orchard, you have to make at least one apple pie. Didn't know that, did you?

Then I was reading over at Gezellig-Girl.com that she made a grape pie, something I hadn't imagined making ever, not being an especial fan of grapes. But hers looks good!

So, I'm wondering - what sorts of pie(s) do you make? Do you have a specialty? What's the oddest pie you've ever made? Any great pie stories? Do tell!

Dutch Apple Pie

Another family recipe & this one's a favorite of mine. I'll do the crust as well, but feel free to substitute your own favorite crust recipe. The one I learned from my mom isn't the flakiest or the most buttery. It is, however, about the fastest & easiest I've heard of. Enough so that I'm not ever tempted to get fancier. Also, it works well for savory dishes like quiche.

Dutch Apple Pie
(And yes, I'm half Dutch, so it totally counts!)

6 medium apples, peeled & sliced (I dunno - more or less as you'd like to fill your pie pan. You should end up somewhat level to the top.)
Combine with 1/2 c. sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, maybe a sprinkle of cloves & a sprinkle of nutmeg. Mix well. Arrange slices (or just dump & level) in unbaked pie crust*.

Combine 3/4 c. flour & 3/4 c. sugar. Cut in 1/4 c. butter. Include some spices like cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, if you'd like. (I like!) Sprinkle over the apple in the pie crust.

Bake at 375F for 50 minutes or until golden and tender.



*My Mom's Easy-Peasy, No-Fuss Crust
For a single bottom crust: Mix together 1 1/3 c. flour & 1 tsp. salt. Then add 1/3 c. oil & 3 Tbl. cold water & mix with fork until it sticks together. Press into a ball. Let it rest for a couple of minutes. Roll between wax paper.

For a deep dish pan or to have a top crust, too: Mix together 2 c. flour & 1 1/2 tsp. salt. Then add 1/2 c. oil & 1/4 c. cold water & mix with fork until it sticks together. Press into a ball. Let it rest for a couple of minutes. (Divide into two if top/bottom crust.) Roll between wax paper.

Wednesday Fun 102- Jax review

So if I'm reviewing TC restaurants I have to start with Jax. This is the place Pusher and I have gone for every anniversary since we found it... so I may not be a particularly unbiased judge. But since I plan on only reviewing restaurants I enjoy you won't get a lot of bashing in these posts... sorry any haters out there.

Jax is a steakhouse that lets me pretend I've escaped to a royal British lodge. Wood paneling surrounds the dining room and the servers are excellent. I've had things show up without realizing the server had been there. The steak is excellent and made to your actual request, not medium when you've ordered medium rare as seems to be the case with many restaurants.

The back garden is also a beautiful setting with a little shed with water wheel that spins in the trout stream. The prom dates in tuxes catching the trout for their meal is a fond memory. The seafood we've had has been quite tasty though we've never had the trout.

They also have a wonderful 30 foot long bar that you pass as you enter. If you sit out by the bar they have a small (and more like $15 and under price tag as opposed to the $15 and up for dining room entrees) menu with great Mac and Cheese and Steak bites. The wine list isn't huge but has a good range of stuff and some big famous wines if you want to drop the cash.

Jax is simply the best special occasion restaurant I've found in the TC.

Ranch Crackers

2 bags small oyster crackers
1 cup vegetable oil
1 double packet Hidden Valley Ranch
1 Tablespoon garlic powder
1 Tablespoon dill weed
1 Tablespoon parsley flakes

In a doubled brown paper bag, add crackers. Mix remaining ingrediants in a small bowl. Add mix to bag. Shake for 2 minutes. Wait 2 hours. Store in an ice cream bucket or similar.

Variations: Add oregano or other herbs that you think will go well with the mix.

WF #101 - Input?

So, regular readers will have noticed that last week I asked about what you liked/didn't about WF, ideas for it, etc. Our good friend ShoNuff has offered to do some restaurant reviews, so that feature will start appearing monthly, usually on the second Wednesday. Hooray! Thanks, ShoNuff!

He's also offered to do some wine reviews/food pairings if folks are interested. I think it sounds like a great idea - how 'bout y'all?

Anybody else have talents they want to share (beer reviews? food trivialist? cookbook review?)? Or have more to say on what you like or don't or would like to see as a Wednesday Fun feature? Speak up, I'd love to hear more input/ideas!

CSA Year 2 Week 14

Dear weather conditions this year,

Why have you been so nice to the kohlrabi when we haven't even gotten ANY carrots yet from our CSA? Ours at home are yummy and good-sized, but the girls keep picking them two at a time for snacks and we're starting to run out already! Also, they've figured out how to tell which ones of the rainbow mix are red/purple, so those are going fast. Can you pretty please give us some nice fat carrot producing days?

Thanks,
Bugs