Old Ruby Saves the Day - Old Ruby Chocolate Cupcakes with Carolan's Irish Butter Cream Frosting

Booze, it makes you smile a little longer, dance a little closer, and it helps your food taste quite a bit better, unless of course you do it wrong, which in that case is your fault.
Please fix that.

I was craving something sweet the other week before St.Patty`s day and when I saw the following bottle in the liquor store I knew what had to be done …

Old Ruby Chocolate Cupcakes with Carolan's Irish Butter Cream Frosting

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Cake

• 1 cup stout (I went with Ale. Old Ruby came through)
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream

 Preheat your oven to 350°F. The Smitten recipe says to line 24 “cupcake cups” with liners, but in my case my pan only made about a dozen.

Bring the booze and butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Whisk the eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and using a rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes.

 Carolans Irish Butter Cream Frosting

• 3 to 4 cups confections sugar
• 1/2 cup or unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 to 4 tablespoons Carolans Irish Cream

Start with the butter at room temperature. Use a fork, or whatever you like, to mix the butter around until it is smooth and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.  When the icing starts to get a little thick start slowing adding the Irish cream to loosen it up. Don’t worry if you end up adding more than the recipe calls for. Booze is good. Mix until you are happy with the results.
 

Then bring a few over to your friends' house for dinner ....

.... and hope for a few extra vowels next time around.

but I'm here 'til the end, and after that, our souls will be friends too.

Two of the most delightful ladies to ever come out of Newfoundland had me over for dinner the other night, it sure was grand ... 

... and delicious.

After a few cups of tea, and some really nice words it was time to get going. But even though it may have been a little late for a walk, I couldn’t bring myself to get on a streetcar. The weather was just too inviting. As a Canadian, you take notice when the temperature flirts above the zero mark, especially in mid February. If she smiles at you, you smile back and enjoy it while it lasts. I’m glad I did. Look what I found in Trinity Bellwoods....

 

Isn't that sweet?

baking is science for hungry people - cake pops

Isn’t it nice when you stop by a friend’s house on a Sunday afternoon and they pop open a bottle of wine and start doing this?

The lady that runs Jumbo Empanadas and I are old friends back from my county days. She has always been a go-to for ridiculously delicious food, which is a quality I deeply admire in a friend.

By the time I found my way to her house, google maps I wag my finger at you for failing on walking directions, she had already followed The Kitchn’s directions and baked a cake then mashed it up with some cream cheese frosting. My job was to help roll the cake into chocolate balls. It was messy. It was delicious.

More wine while the cake firms up in the freezer … then, time to dip them in melted chocolate. Did I mention how great it is to have a friend that does this sort of thing for fun?

God, they were delicious.

add this to that .... lentil soup

Add this ....

With a little of this ... Ou! You pesky lemon, always jumping in all my photos!

Turn up the heat and add a few other flavours ...

 
.. and you get something that looks a little like this ..


I know it’s not terribly imaginative to suggest a recipe for lentil soup in the middle of winter, but that’s what I am about to offer.  It’s the perfect food for this time of year insomuch that it’s delicious, warming, and kind to your wallet. I didn’t have any in my fridge when I made this, but I usually like to add a handful of baby spinach or rocket to my bowl just before I ladle in the soup. Give it a few minutes and stir it around, the greens will have become a little greener and will have wilted nicely. Leftover cold soup is usually on the thick side which I like as a dip for veggies.

Red Lentil Soup with Lemon

 Thanks for the idea Sassy Radish

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, more for drizzling  
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• A healthy pinch of smoked paprika, or whatever delicious stuff you use to add some heat to your dinner
• 5 cups of chicken stock
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• Juice of 1/2 lemon, more to taste
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 4-5 spoons of plain yogurt

Put the kettle on and start boiling some water for your stock, unless you’re fancy, and in that case use your fancy stock that’s already mixed up and delicious a little later. I’m not fancy.
Next, in a large pot heat the oil until it’s warm and then add the onions and garlic and sauté until golden, about 4 minutes. Mix in the tomato paste, cumin, salt, black pepper, the heat, and lentils and sauté for another 4 or 5 minutes. I like to give this part a little time to toast the lentils a little. Be sure to mix it around and every now and then.

Hopefully your water has boiled by now and you’ve made your stock. Add it along with the carrots. Bring to a simmer, then partially cover the pot and turn down the heat to low. Simmer until lentils are soft, this usually takes somewhere around 30 minutes. Taste and season with salt if necessary.

Using an immersion or regular blender or a food processor, purée half the soup then add it back to pot. Your soup should be somewhat chunky.

Reheat soup if necessary because cold soup is gross - then stir in lemon juice and parsley. Serve soup with a spoonful of plain yogurt, maybe drizzled some good olive oil and dusted lightly with a little extra of your chosen spicy secret ingredient.
Makes enough for your mouth and about 4 others.

You should always whistle while you work.
Here's something to get you through chopping those onions.



Jenny and Johnny "Big Wave" from PEDESTRIAN.TV on Vimeo.

Pretty Litttle Box BOX

Isn't my lunchbox pretty?

You'll have to go to Hawaii if you want to same same with me,

or you could just make me jealous and buy this one.

To Eat a Home

Remember how much fun making a gingerbread house was when you were young? The delicate balance of challenging building laws by affixing more candy than structurally possible to the house all the while quickly stuffing your face with icing and sweets the second your mom looked away. I remember one spectacular year my mom attempted a grand gingerbread home complete with detailed wood panelling. About half way into the construction she had already uttered all the swear words I knew, and then some I was happy to discover, only to realize that her measurements were off and that half the panelling was only visible from the inside, while the other less than perfect half would be visible, but backwards.

Why then, did I think I could handle such an endeavour this year?

At first it all went well.

To hell with fancy details. 

Make dough. 

Chill. 

 

Cut dough. 

Bake. 

Assemble.

fuck.

Mom: I told you so.

The Cake

I love my family.

You love your family

We all love our families,

but sometimes,

sometimes that mostly fall around the holidays when you have to spend a few too many days under the same roof as your whole family you come to truly understand and embrace one of the fundamentals of the holidays … cocktails.

But what to do when you need the sustenance that cocktails cannot provide? Sure there is eggnog, but who wants to sit next to that old guy that has been drinking eggnog all day? When cocktails no longer pack enough of a punch to warm you up after a long walk outside and the ensuing slightly louder than is polite raised voices that greet you when you walk in the door, I offer you this as a form of comfort.

Whiskey & Chocolate & Cake.

It takes a bit of work ... but consider that at the end of the day you

get to indulge in whiskey & chocolate & cake.

All together.

All at once.

All delicious.

The Cake.

Recipe care of Orangette

2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan

5 oz. unsweetened chocolate

¼ cup instant espresso powder

(We didn't have any, I just used coffee instead. It was delicious)

2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup bourbon, rye, or other whiskey, plus more for sprinkling

½ tsp. kosher salt

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking soda

Confectioners’ sugar, for a snowy finish

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-cup-capacity Bundt pan (or two 8- or 9-inch loaf pans). In a heatproof bowl set over – but not touching – a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate until just smooth, stirring occasionally. Let cool.

Put espresso and cocoa powders in a 2-cup (or larger) glass measuring cup. Add enough boiling water to come up to the 1 cup measuring line. Stir until the powders dissolve. Add the whiskey and salt. Let cool.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the sugar, and beat until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract, baking soda and melted chocolate, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

With the mixer on low speed, beat in a third of the whiskey mixture. When liquid is absorbed, beat in 1 cup flour. Repeat additions, ending with the whiskey mixture. It may seem like there is too much liquid, but don’t worry; it’s okay. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 1 hour and 10 minutes for a Bundt pan.

(Loaf pans will take less time; start checking them after 55 minutes.)

Transfer the cake, still in its pan, to a rack. Unmold after 15 minutes and sprinkle warm cake with more whiskey. (I did this by pouring a little bit into a teaspoon, and then shaking the teaspoon over the cake. I’m guessing that I used 3 teaspoons’ worth in all.) Cool completely before serving, garnished with confectioners’ sugar, if you like.

Yield: 10 to 12 servings.

Second Time Around

It started with a little bacon, booze...

... and boobs!

 

Followed by a tower ....

... and then a few delicious things ...

... and then it was time to go.

candy is dandy

I am not known for having docile notions towards winter.We've had our differences.

In general the whole “let’s smile through six months of dark and cold and look to our crappy Tim Hortons coffee cups for nostalgic thoughts of winter” doesn’t sit well with me, especially considering there are places like Hawaii and Fiji in this world where people never need trouble themselves with proper winter boots. All this cold is enough to make me turn my nose up at Mother Nature and only address her with expletives, but no, I am Canadian, and that is not the polite thing to do. So we trudge on. We hide our curves and cute sweater dresses under big bulky jackets, or flirt with messy hair thanks to our favourite toques. Well, if Mother Nature isn’t going to help us out, we need something to cheer us up. Enter the Drake Hotel`s breakfast cocktail. 

Lemonade + Maple Syrup + Jack Daniels
Throw in your pretty Korean for good measure, and Mother Nature won`t know what hit her.
Also, apologies about the quality of these photos. Drinking breakfast cocktails might be to blame, 
but I  doubt it.  

would you care if I stayed? - Hawaii

And finally it came.
It always does.
My last day.
I was a little sad, so we had a feast.
Poi, kahlua pork, lau lau, lomi lomi salmon, haupia … they had all things delicious at 

Ono Hawaiian Food.

 

and a little shopping at Bailey's.

One last wander ... 

 

... and a few too many cocktails later ...

 (3 weeks in Hawaii.

You'd think she would have a tan by now.)

... and I was pouting at the airport waiting for my airplane ...