Pie, Pie, Me oh my!

Ok friends, here it is!  The first recipe posting by Yours Truly!!!  Can you believe it?  Well, I can because I made this post. 

Memorial Day 2010 was a high energy Family extravaganza, with a fun contest thrown in.  This year we had our First Annual Pie Baking Contest!  Many entered and many 'buds were pleased.  To see my 2nd Place winning recipe in the Fruit Category, keep on reading!

Ingredients:

1 Shortbread pie crust
1 1/2 pints strawberries, sliced, washed & dried
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup sugar

Toss strawberries w/ 2 tbsp of sugar, set aside.

In a saucepan, bring the vinegar and 1/4 cup sugar to a slow boil. Reduce the heat and cook for another few minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside, it will thicken as it cools. No need to refridgerate, otherwise it'll be too hard. It can just hang out on the counter.  (If you like this sauce to be Xtra sweet, like me, add more sugar!)

Mix the mascarpone and powdered sugar together until combined. Add in the cream, slowly.  Just a little at a time. The final outcome of this mixture should be a pourable/spreadable consistancy.

Spread the mascarpone mixture evenly within the pie crust. Next, gently top with the strawberries.  If there are too many, you do not have to cram them all on.  Use your discretion.. Refrigerated pie for as long as possible, before serving.  At least 1 hour.  Do not put it in your freezer.

Drizzle the balsamic syrup over the top of the pie and serve!!!

The best of 2 worlds; A Thai and Sushi time!

http://www.montien-boston.com/

Where: Montien 63 Stuart Street
Who: Me & Roomie
What: Thai & Sushi! The best of both worlds!!!
Why: Because every time we go to the AMC in Boston Common, this is where we eat!
How Much: Never more than $40 - $50 a visit

Living in the city and having a Roomie who is heavily into movies means I am going to do a lot of sitting in dark theaters.  My favorite activities involve taking advantage of the city life, eating, chatting, walking around.  So I had to find a place near the AMC theater at Park Street where we could get in a compromise for nights like this.  A movie for him, food for me.  To Google, I went.

What I found was a long list of little delis and bars, most of which I've been to.  But then, once I manuevered around the Google map, I found Montien, right in the theater district. The power of Google. I LOVE YOU GOOGLE! Romantic.

What appealed to us was the fact that Montien offers Thai food….AND SUSHI. Two of our most favorite things over the past few years. What I like about Thai is that the dishes are often sweet and spicy. What I like about Sushi is that it's awesome. The combination kicks some serious sak-ieister. ( <--Did that go over well?) Now that we're frequent diners, we always get the same waitress, which is a fun bonus. She always remembers us and tends to take good care of us.

Because we go all the time and have had many dishes, I think I'll do this post in list format. Just list 'em all out there and tell you how we felt/feel about the dishes. Get your chopsticks and ready and enjoy!

Pad Thai (with Chicken and/or Veggies): If Roomie had his way, it'd be just chicken w/ his Pad Thai Noodles. If I had my awesome way, it'd be just veggies. So we get the best of both worlds…both. Both is a funny word. Say it a few times. It's weird…where was I? Ah yes. This dish is really good. Lots of noodles and goodness dumped piping hot on a huge serving dish to share. Very delicious and enough to have leftovers for you lunch the next day.

Crispy Chicken: This item is a little deceiving…Think of the name. Crispy Chicken…but the chicken is NOT crispy. The noodles are. They're pan fried. Unless we got the wrong dish, this one is not good. To me. Roomie highly enjoyed his crispy noodles. Thankfully he added shrimp and I added veggies to this peanuty flavored dish. Me, I ate the chicken, lots of the broccoli, peppers…basically everything but the noodles and shrimp. Roomie enjoyed it all. But we had much debate over if we got the right meal, if we ordered it wrong and if we'd had it before…it was a very chatty meal, let's just put it that way! I have to say that the chicken tasted delicious. It was not breaded and covered in the peanuty sauce, similar to a Pad Thai sauce.

Chic-Chic Hot Basil: Ooooooo! Holy eastern philosophy! This dish is my fav, fav, favorite! The chicken is lightly breaded, the veggies are tempura style and the sauce is…sweet and Xtra spicy! Definitely a lot of chili action happening. A huge winner in my book. Roomie is just so-so on this one. And again, the portions are so huge, there are always leftovers.

H07 Negi Hama Maki (Yellow Tail w/ Scallion Roll): No matter what the entrée is, we always order a round or two of sushi. And let me tell you, the sushi is going to stop the chatter for a few minutes. The pieces are the size of a sand dollar and it takes about 2.5 minutes to get through one piece. Now this isn't a bad thing. The sushi is quite good…just a lot to handle. In regards to Yellow Tail, I am not a fan of it anywhere. Please don't take that into consideration when ordering it here. Roomie is a huge fan of it. In fact, I believe it's his most favorite sushi. And I can say that he really enjoyed it at Montien.

H12 Sake Maki (Salmon Roll): Another roll that is not my fav, but one Roomie loves. It's spicy, that's for sure. Lots of cucumber packed into every roll to give a good crunch, which is nice to offset the other textures.

H14 Tekka Maki (Tuna Roll): Finally!!! My most favorite sushi roll of all time. Of all time. And the spicier, the better. (Whoever invented spicy mayo, can I just applaud you right now? Seriously. Take a bow my friend.) And although it takes me forever to get through one piece, I really like it. We get this one every time. I do wish they'd have something crunch in the roll, like some tempura pieces. But the lack of this would not stop me from ordering it at all.

Now that I think of it…this revue may end up being a rolling revue. I can say for certain that we'll be going back in the near future and that there will be other menu items to revue. So definitely keep your 'buds on the look out for that.

It has to be said that we've never had dessert at this spot, as we always end up with snacks at our movie. Roomie w/ his industrial size popcorn, and I with my skittles. And yes…we share.

Montien gets 8 wasabi nuggets from this gal! I now have to go make out with Google.

South End Buttery...in the South End, surprisingly

I'm not usually one who usually speaks her mind...(hahahaha!)  But these are the best damn cupcakes I have ever eaten.

The South End Buttery is a cutie little place on Shawmut Ave in the S. End of Boston that I found on a whim.  Over a year ago I wanted to buy a treat to bring to a welcome-home outing for our friend and hero, Greg, who was just coming home from Iraq.  It had to be something easy to transport and pleasing to many people.  So I did a Google search for cupcakes in the Boston area.  And yes, Johnny Cupcakes did come up in the search, and no I did not get fooled.

After much stalking and deep thought, I settled on the Buttery because I liked what they had to offer.  There is always 4 standard flavors avaiable: Vanilla, Red Velvet, Carrot Cake and Chocolate.  I got all 4 of these, but I also ordered 2 specialty flavors.  The Strawberry Shortcake and the Lemon-Raspberry. 

Can I just tell you something?  That was the best decision I have ever made in my life...or at least tied with the decision to move into the city, so I am now a mere 10 minute T ride away from the Buttery!!!

Of course the 4 standards were a hit.  You cannot go wrong with those classics.  The carrot cake and the red velvet both had the cream cheese frostings...but it tasted like cream cheese flavored whipped cream, which in my book is a great plot twist.  It was very unexpected but entirely welcome, as frosting is not one of my most favorites things (but neither is schnitzel with noodles).  And if I am not mistaken...we were wearing most of the frosting by the end of the night, rather than eating.  Hey, what welcome home party is not complete without a food fight in a public, crowded bar?

Moving on to the Speciality flavors.  The likes of these have to be ordered in advance and are not available at walk-in.  Again, it was the best decision I ever made to order these cupcakes.  The shortcake and the lemon-rasp are tied for first place as my favorites.  The cake was fluffy and elves were the size of a softball.  For the shortcake, the frosting was that light whipped cream, which was slightly vanilla flavored.  The same goes for lemon-rasp, but the whipped cream was slightly lemon flavored.  Amazing.  Really.  Top notch.

Recently, Boyfriend (who has now been upgraded to Roomie) and I took a nice city stroll over to the Buttery to get some treats.  He got the carrot cake and I, the red velvet.  The frosting and cake were as good as we remembered.  We even got stopped on the street by strangers to ask where we got our snackies.  When we mentioned the Buttery, they just nodded and said, "Oh yeah.", as if there couldn't be another place in the world making such yumness.

I highly suggest making a special trip for these or ordering them for your next event.  See their website for more Specialty cupcakes. 

Have your cupcakes and eat 'em, too, people!  Enjoy!  Me and my 'buds always do.

Ivy's - Restaurant Week 8/15/10

http://www.ivyrestaurantgroup.com/

The Haps: Ivy Restaurant - 49 Temple Place in Downtown Crossing
Peeps: Yours truly, L, SJ & SJ's coworker Melissa from E. Walpole
Cheddah: $33.10/per person (the usual Restaurant Week Prix Fixe rate)
Chow: Caprese Salad, Grilled Italian Street Corn, Seafood Caponata, Gnocchi x 3, Spicy Chocolate Strawberry & Lemoncello Gelato Sundae


Hello forks! How long has it has been? (That was rhetorical...please don't ask me to figure out how long. I'm good with a fork, not a calculator.)



Do you ever see something happen that is out of your control and wish you could go back in time and stop it from happening? Or at least, have the power to stop yourself from seeing it unfold? I sort of wished I had that ability Sunday night at dinner. I should have seen the inclinations that things would go badly when our cutie little waitress told us it was her first night...


...mama mea culpa!



Me and my girls were hitting up Ivy's for Restaurant week.  To see the full Prix Fixe menu, hit up the link I provided up top. I ordered the Caprese salad by default, as Melissa from Walpole and SJ ordered the Street Corn. The Caprese was...Capboring. The mozz and basil were fine, but the tomatoes were oddly breaded in a manor that tasted unfinished. And they put enough balsamic on the plate to satisfy an ant who's had a lap band installed. C'mon Ivy!!! Gimme the balsamic. Think more along the lines of 19 Kids and Counting, ok? Thanks.


But I've gotta tell ya...the Street corn was corn-tastic. Whew! I cannot wait to try to replicate and fail! The appetizer came out in 2 small ears per serving. It was oily, cheesy and paprika-y. It definitely won the table's vote for best app.



You know that song from Sesame St...One of These Things is Not Like the Other? Well, that was me when it came to Entree time. I was the only gal to order the Seafood Caponata. This meal consisted of a buttery, citrusy herb sauce, papardelle pasta and an entire aquarium of seafood. Mussels, shrimp, lobster and scallops. I do not like lobster and shrimp, but my theory for restaurant week is to pick the pick that is most outside my comfort zone. Mussels were not something I'd really tried before...I have to say, if you drown them in enough sauce, they're great! My prior stance on lobster and shrimp were not changed. And the scallops were perfect. The dish was outta this ocean! Oh...and it came out of the kitchen hot...



...The Gnocchi, not so much. There was much promise for the Gnocchi in a red sauce w/ basil and riccotta...but man. Those balls were cold. It pained to me watch my friends suffer through their cold dinners while I feasted like royalty. Oh wait...yup, there it is. We finally got our bread! (Which was worth the wait, btw! Great dipping oil.) It turned out that the Gnocchi gals mentioned the cold entrees to our waitress, who looked ready to pose for a DUI mug shot. It was a sight I cannot erase from my memory.


But this was not quite as awkward as the hot mess I witnessed when she spilled 4 shots of Limoncello all over herself at the bar. It was more embarrassing than Keanu Reeves' acting. I felt the embarrassment in my neck and shoulders. It was really hard to watch. Turns out, though, those 4 shots of Limoncello were for our table, "for the aggravation". Very thoughtful...and tasty! The desserts came out shortly after and we all began scooping the Limoncello gelato into our shots. Booze-floats! A nice grown-up alternative to the ice cream floats of childhood...or 4 days ago. Whatever. After leaving the restaurant I realized what I'd specifically ordered was the Lemoncello Gelato Sundae...there was no sign of Sundae in the dish. Just the gelato and a frozen grape.



Overall, my tastebuds give the meal many burps (a huge compliment in some cultures). I give the service #1 status on the all-time awkward dining moments of...all-time. So go to Ivy, for sure. Just take the service with a grain of fresh cracked sea salt.



(O, and for those keeping track, noticing I didn't detail details about the Chocolate Covered Strawberry...take that for what it's worth.)