This past weekend was foodtastic! I did a lot of eating of good food and sharing of good food with friends.

I started out reuniting with some old friends who were visiting the Great Lake state for a conference. The pair are both native Chicagoans so I know they may have been a little skeptical about what Michigan- particularly Detroit- could offer food wise. We all know Michigan has quite a reputation and it's not necessarily about quality gourmet local foods... or is it?! I met up with Gilad and Sarah (my friends) in Detroit for some food and fun. I originally wanted to take them to Cass Cafe because their homemade lentil burger is amazing and they have local brews on tap for a good Midwestern price. However, the two had been eating there a lot since they got into town so option 2 was Slow's Bar B Que. Now, Slow's is a bit of a Detroit institution (like GM) but I'd never been there because I don't eat pork. In my mind it's kinda silly to go to a BBQ joint if you're not willing to throw down on some ribs or at least a pulled pork sandwich. I am glad I got off my highfalutin' arse and made the trek though.... It was AMAZING and the company only made it even better. Check us out!

Sara's ready to get sauced.














Mmmm...catfish tempura nuggets.
















Gilad's sandwich and sweet potato mash














Sarah's sandwich is looking delicious even it is full of pork... I was tempted but I stayed strong!














My faux BBQ... seitan cubes tossed in sauce and topped with slaw and pickles.








Wait...there's more! Well, not with Gilad and Sarah but rather back to basics in my kitchen. My friends Kelly (of the famous "Kelly and Erica Show,") and Sara asked for baked goods via parcel post. Well, Kelly asked out right while Sara kind of hinted via her Facebook status. Either way I heard the requests loud and clear. I was also happy to oblige because I can't... or should I say I shan't, keep eating a batch of cookies and/or a new cake each week while trying to get these blog posts out to the masses. These posts don't write themselves and the sweet treats won't eat themselves either! So I looked through my bookmarks and picked a recipe from a favorite blogger/baker of mine... Smitten Kitchen. I tried my best to make her hazelnut thumbprint cookies. Why? Because chocolate and hazelnut are one of my favorite flavor combinations... Nutella anyone?!







The ingredients take center stage.
















Set up and ready for the oven.














A few for me.....
















And some for Kelly and Sara.









Overall I did like these cookies a lot. I hope my friends enjoy them as well... I will say next time I'd process the hazelnuts by themselves and then add them to the flour. Smitten Kitchen's instructions called for the cook to process them together while making sure not to create a paste. I think my hyper vigilance against a paste-like state led me to not processing the hazelnuts enough... so the dough had more texture than perhaps it should have. But like Alanis Morriset once said, "you live, you learn...." So next time I'll do it a bit different. My mom has already let me know she'd be open to cookies via mail..... stay tuned and see what comes out of the oven next!

So.... as I mentioned in the video I was making this coffee cake for my grandpa (officially called PaPa). He recently had eye surgery so I wanted to go have some quality time and hangout. He's a man of habit so usually he eats the same thing for breakfast everyday. However, he also knows how much I like to experiment with food so he'll try just about anything I make. While this coffee cake wasn't too much of an adventure I did get him to try some other more diverse offerings. For dinner I made (per my mother's request) fish with mango and avocado salsa, a shrimp salad w/ avocado and a cilantro dressing, and rice. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of those things b/c I wasn't thinking ahead. Also I would like to admit I cheated on the rice because it is one of the things I can never seem to cook correctly. So I used minute rice... sad but true. I'm keepin' it real yo!

But that's all a bit of a tangent. Let's get back to the star of this post.... Brian's Super Secret Coffee Cake. Here's a photo diary of the process:



This marks the beginning of the process... all (or at least most) of the ingredients out and ready too mingle.






Here's what a bowl of butter and sugar looks like close up pre-creaming.









And the dry stuff... flour and baking powder.







In order to not over cream your butter and sugar some people give an estimated beating time of about 4-5min.... until the mix is "light and fluffy." I didn't take a picture of that but I did get one of after I'd added the eggs in.








First layer all set... now just add another and bring on the heat!

I'd say that's a mission accomplished!


* I cannot believe I got him to pose for this "candid" shot. What a grandpa does in the name of love. Thanks Papa!

Hello there! Per an in person request I am finally getting around to posting the "after" pictures of those Ray Ray (that's Rachael Ray for those not in the know) brownie ice cream sandwiches. Have I mentioned that I am an amateur baker/cook? That I have no traditional culinary training? That while I like making delicious (note I did not say yum-o) food that sometimes, often times, I make mistakes? I have? Good! Then we can get on with it!

So these ice cream sandwiches gave me a bit of trouble. Who knew a Ray Ray recipe could be such a challenge? Not I peoples. Not I. One of the reasons (see part one of this post) that I love Ray Ray is the simplicity of her recipes. And while I may have a bachelor's from one of the premier public universities and am on my way to a master's at the same institution I do not have an architectural degree... At this time me thinks that is what one would actually need in order properly assemble these ice cream sandwiches. Either that or a sub-zero freezer and I don't have one of those. Going into this experiment I thought... "Hey I make an awesome savory sandwich. Adding ice cream instead of layers of fixin goodness should be an easy substitution." Those were the blissful thoughts of me in my more innocent days- roughly 3 weeks ago. In short... I tried making these brownie ice cream sandwiches 3 times (THREE TIMES!!!). And I have yet to get the perfect combination. So I'm giving you a reprise of the process and the best post production picture I've got!

Ok... from where I left off in the video you bake the brownies for 10-15 min. until they are still a little soft to the touch. You don't want them to be totally firm b/c you don't want dry brownies AND there will still be some residual heat that will result in residual baking once you pull them out of the heat. After letting the slab cool for 10 min. at room temperature you want to invert the baking sheet and pull off the foil/parchment paper you so dutifully lined it with. As the brownies cool to room temperature you should intermittently press them flat with the baking sheet to get them nice and..... well, flat. (Neo Griot tip #1: While it doesn't call for it the second time I made these brownies I also set the brownie sheet in the fridge to cool and get a bit more solid/firm prior to filling.) Once the brownies are completely cool the path forks....

Neo Griot attempts #1 & 2: Per one of the suggestions on the Ray Ray website I cut the slab in two and tried to fill one half to make on giant sandwich. Then I topped it with the other half and put it in the freezer. I let the super sandwich set for about 1 hr then i took it out and cut it into individual servings. (Neo Griot tip #2: Even if you are tempted to speed up this process because you're so excited for ice cream sandwichy goodness do not soften the ice cream in the microwave. This seemed like a good idea b/c I do this at times with a pint of Ben & Jerry's if it's too hard. But it was not... I just ended up with ice cream soup and soggy brownie halves! Not portable. Not sandwichy. Messy... but still edible.)

Neo Griot attempt #3: Once the brownie slab is cool individually cut out matching sandwich halves to be filled with ice cream. Wrapped in wax paper and then frozen for flavours to meld prior to serving.

Here's the deal.... you need the ice cream to be somewhat soft in order to smoosh it onto the sandwich halves. However, ice cream outside of the freezer can get soft pretty quickly (even without putting it in the microwave). So each time I tried to make these sandwiches I ended up at some point either with ice cream too hard too smoosh OR too soft and liquid-esque to stay in place. Thus I was not able to get a nice smooth layer of ice cream inside the sandwich. Some attempts to level the entire sandwich resulted in a cracked crust (not cute) or leaky sides. One scientific expert suggested I get some dry ice to super freeze things into place. But I am not that adventurous yet. In fact the suggestion just led me to think about that scene in "A Christmas Story" where the kid gets his tongue stuck to the pole on the playground. In my over active imagination this scenario would then end up with me in my itty bitty kitchen, with my hands stuck to a block of dry ice, and unable to call 911 nor Bill Nye the Science Guy for help! So I didn't try it....

Instead after the third attempt I took my imperfect brownie ice cream sandwiches to a Memorial Day BBQ. However, I was too afraid to eat one in public let alone share them.... So, I sat in my friend's house and had a private tasting of one. I did leave a couple for my friends to try once I'd slunk away. My friend Mosaic Geek... being a good friend let me use her camera to take a picture for you all. She also reported that she, "ate the hell out of the one [I] left.... VERY tasty btw..." (that is a direct quote). I enjoyed my sandwich as well but I was a little sad b/c I didn't get the ice cream to brownie ratio quite right... This was a direct result of the melting ice cream dilemma previously mentioned. I had heavy boots (was sad) about this imperfection for a while. After mentioning my epic fail to another friend of mine he explained how he'd been watch "Private Chefs of Beverly Hills" and one two occasions the profession chefs on that show tried to make ice cream sandwiches and had similar issues... So if professionals weren't able to pull it off I was able to forgive myself for it as well. Then I went to therapy and talked it out for a couple of sessions.... and now I'm sharing the picture with the public as my final attempt to "work through" this issue and have some closure. Okay, so maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but I bet you've attempted to do something before and had the results not be as awesome as you'd hoped. Afterward your awesome friends told you you're knitting wasn't uneven, or you're picture was hung level, or the manicure you gave yourself totally looked professional.... I have friends who tell me my cooking isn't bad. I am thankful for their mercy. Oh... and here's the picture (finally)!

Ok. So I originally wanted to name this post "How to toss my salad" as an homage to the Chris Rock bit. But, I thought it might be going too far... but I guess giving you the entire thought process makes it a little more G rated. Let's enjoy a quick snort about it eh?

So, it's summer, summer, summer time (summer time) much like the Fresh Prince used to rap about back in the day. And while I realize it's not technically summer the shvitzing I do while riding in my car sans AC tells me I can feel the heat of the night...errr day. One of my go-to meals is a big salad a la Elaine on "Seinfeld." However, as any experience salad consumer knows making a quality salad isn't always as easy as making salsa with a food processor. In general I have some handy tips/methods/OCD like steps for making salad:

1. Keep your greens clean and dry.... For bourgeois on a budget peeps like me this does no include a salad spinner. So instead I just soak my greens of choice for a few minutes in cold water to let the grit fall to the bottom of the bowl. Then I pick up my lettuce(s) of choice and shake them out... then roll them up in a paper towel to soak up any extra moisture.
2. Build with the heavy stuff on the bottom... this is a tip from Alton Brown I added to my process. I keep all the heavy stuff (i.e. anything other than the greens) on the bottom of the bowl prior to tossing.
3. DIY dressing(s)... because really it is that simple. And since it's just moi living it up Sex in the City style (NOT) having a whole bottle of salad dressing can be a bore b/c it locks me into a certain type of salad in order to use the whole thing up.

So those are the basics. And while I know I just talked about variety in my salad munching I usually eat 3 basic salads. But, my favorite (pictured above) is my not quite fattoush salad salad. I love me some fattoush and a lot of middle eastern/Donner Kabob type places don't usually have it on the menu. You're more likely to see tabouli as an option. So I've learned to make it work at home.

Not Quite Fattoush

• romaine leaves
• tomatoes (I usually go for grape tomatoes)
• pita chips
• parsley, flat leaf or Italian
• green onion/red onion
  
• cucumber

Now while those ingredients are pretty classic the not quite comes in with the dressing. Fattoush is normally served with a dressing that has sumac in it. A nice little spice that gives the dressing it's zing and little purplish flakes. But I don't ever seem to have any sumac in my cupboard... since I've never bought it. So instead I've made up my own version with some staple Griot kitchen ingredients.

Not Quite Fattoush Dressing

• olive oil
• lemon juice (or lime in a pinch)
• salt
• pepper
• garlic, minced
• Honey Cup mustard

You may be asking Neo Griot... "MUSTARD?!" And to that I say a resounding hells yeah! The mustard acts as an emulsifier to bind the ingredients together (thanks Alton Brown for your science-y food show). Another tip I got from B-rock is the 1/3 ratio for your dressings... However, I've not made my own dressing enough that I just eyeball it and taste it till it's right.

I love, love, love this salad because it's pretty simple and the dressing has a clean flavor (not super heavy like ranch or even some french dressing). Sometimes I like to get jiggy with it an add in some extras:

• tuna (protein)
• feta/goat cheese (who doesn't like cheese?)
• garbanzo beans (protein)

So what say you fellow foodies... do you have a go-to salad recipe you like to enjoy? Pack up for a picnic or lunch? Share your thoughts and tips!