The Great Urban Race!

Last September, MH and I were visiting Philadelphia and stopped for lunch at the Reading Terminal Market. While we sat at a counter enjoying our lunch, we kept seeing teams of two run up to the cookie stand, get some cookies, and have someone take a picture of them feeding the cookies to each other. Our curiosity led us to discover that these teams were participating in the Great Urban Race!

According to the event creators, Red Frog Events, "[t]he Great Urban Race is a wacky urban adventure. Teams of two solve twelve clues, have a wild city adventure and complete fun challenges while discovering the city in a fresh way!"

MH and I decided to join in on the fun of the 2010 Los Angeles Great Urban Race and had a blast. The race started in downtown Los Angeles, Pershing Square, and had us racing around downtown Los Angeles and across to West Hollywood. Clues included physical challenges, puzzles, and brain teasers. Often times you had to figure out where you needed to go and then you were faced with another challenge when you got there. My favorite and coincidentally our last clue to solve before we headed back to the finish line was this one.

Make your way to the bakery at the following coordinates: +34° 5’ 33.96” -118° 20’ 18.42”

There are delicious cupcakes waiting for you at this location. Take a picture of all teammates feeding each other a cupcake in front of the bakery's sign outside.

Shout out to Kumquat and P for their clue solving assistance through BBM! You guys were a HUGE contributing factor to us successfully finishing the race.

Baking Experiments

Experiment #1: Sprinkles' Strawberry Cupcakes

Candace Nelson, owner of Sprinkles Cupcakes, shared her Strawberry Cupcake recipe with Martha Stewart and the contributors' comments gave it mixed reviews. While some people raved about them, others berated Martha Stewart and her staff for even posting the recipe. The majority commented on the density of the cupcakes and I would have to agree that they did come out quite dense. The consistency of the cake resembled that of a bread. Albeit, I did think it was a sweet and tasty bread. By no means was it "bad", it just wasn't a light and fluffy cake that I think most people prefer.

Instead of making multiple cupcakes, I elected to make one giant cupcake and topped it off with a strawberry frosting, some fresh strawberries, and sprinkles. Shout out to Aks for the awesome giant cupcake pan!

There is another Candace Nelson Strawberry Cupcake recipe posted by ABC's The View from the Bay that includes baking soda and reduces the amount of pureed strawberries so I'll give that one a try to see if the result is any different. The real deal from Sprinkles Cupcakes is a little dense though, so I'm not holding my breath.

Experiment #2: Key Lime Pie with a Trefoil Crust

After staring at our annual stack of girl scout cookies for a few days, we decided to make a pie crust with trefoils, the traditional shortbread cookies made in the shape of the Girl Scout trefoil logo. Normally, to make a graham cracker crust, you crumble the graham crackers, add sugar and butter, press the mixture into the pan, and bake it off for a few minutes to allow the graham crackers to brown and the crust to come together. However, if you are making your own trefoil crust, learn from my mistake and hold off on adding any butter and sugar to the crust mixture. The butter and sugar in the cookies is already more than sufficient.

After a failed first attempt, we got it right the second time and the pie turned out well. I am not sure I would recommend a trefoil crust over a traditional graham cracker crust though.

MH Excursions

Like everyone else, MH and I love going on vacation. While my ideal vacations predominately involve rest and relaxation at either a pool, beach, or spa, MH likes vacations where you need a vacation from your vacation. I actually like to think of MH vacations as excursions. MH excursions are trips researched, planned, and coordinated entirely by MH. My sole responsibilities are to wake up the morning of the trip, get myself into the car, and go with the flow. Some MH excursions are gems and some are stinkers, but I admit that it is always a gamble I am willing to take. Even if the excursion is a "stinker" we will always be able to say that we have been and just don't feel like we need to visit again.

CTCT: Cinnamon Toast Crunch Treats

Last week, the family size cinnamon toast crunch was on sale at the grocery store. I normally get the smaller size since I can't seem to eat a pound of cereal without my taste buds getting tired of the same taste before the cereal goes stale but it just doesn't make sense to me to pay more for less.

So, what can you do with all of this extra cereal? Make cinnamon toast crunch treats! Using Kellogg's Rice Krispies - Original Treat recipe, substitute cinnamon toast crunch for rice krispies and follow the recipe as directed.

They are quite tasty! However, the first bite of crunchy cinnamon sugary goodness can be a little intense and overwhelming. Consider yourself forewarned.

Mostly Pretzel Buns And Some Pretzels

Pretzels are fantastic. They are great for snacks and MH says they are great for breakfast too. The Joy of Cooking has a simple recipe that doesn't require anything out of the norm from your kitchen/pantry. I split the batch to make salted pretzels and cinnamon sugar pretzels.

Clearly, I am not the best pretzel maker. Most of them turned into pretzel buns instead of pretzels. I should have rolled out the dough into longer strips to give the dough more space to rise without impeding the classic pretzel shape. Good to know for next time I guess.

These pretzels definitely weren't the best I have ever had. Auntie Anne's and the Amish pretzels at the Philadelphia Reading Terminal Market are better without a doubt, but I think they give Wetzel's Pretzels a good run for their money. Nevertheless, pretzels are another thing I can check off of my list and say I made from scratch.

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemon Souffles!

When my parents came over this weekend (see my "Hey Crab, Who Are You Calling A Shrimp" post below), my Mom requested a lemon souffle for dessert and the least I could do was oblige.

MH found a great recipe from Sunset and here are some pictures of our finished product.

Meyer lemon souffles hot out of the oven.

Meyer lemon souffles topped with a lemon sauce

and fresh whipped cream.

We opted to top our souffles with whipped cream instead of powdered sugar and thought it complimented the souffle nicely. This recipe is a keeper and I would definitely recommend it.

Hey Crab, Who Are You Calling A Shrimp?

My love for food comes from my parents. When ever they ask if MH and I are available for dinner we try our best to clear our calendars, especially if dinner is going to be home cooked. This weekend the menu was...

Caesar Salad

Steamed Dungeoness Crab and Shrimp

with Garlic Butter or Ponzu Sauce

Thanks for another amazing meal Dad and Mom, you never disappoint! As always, everything was absolutely delicious!

Pasta Pasta Pasta

Whether you like it or not, you have to admit that MTV's Jersey Shore is truly something else. What does the Jersey Shore have to do with this post you may ask? Well, it was the inspiration for this post! Ever since MH and I saw the meals prepared by Vinny's family, we've had pasta on the brain.

We made an herb pasta, using the herbs from our garden, and I am pleased to share that we didn't have any of the consistency troubles that we had with our pea shoot pasta. The herb pasta dough was soft, malleable, and didn't stick or crumble in the pasta machine.

Since one batch yields a hearty amount of dough, we split the dough to make tortellinis and raviolis for two separate meals. Here they are!

Pea filled herb pasta tortellini.

Ricotta cheese filled ravioli.

We could definitely refine our pasta filling and shaping skills to make our tortellini and raviolis more aesthetically appealing, but rest assured knowing that our tummies didn't seem to mind at all.

Baked ricotta cheese filled ravioli.

Continued thanks to Kumquat and P for their pasta maker! We hope you enjoyed your sample.

Dessert For Dinner

A few weeks ago, MH and I went to Spago for DineLA and while we were there, the table to the right AND left of us ordered an amazing looking dessert. The plate had alternating layers of fluffy looking cake and whipped cream with strawberries. I wish I had a picture so you could see it for yourself. I can only describe it as heavenly, haha. Since our menus were pre-set that evening we couldn't change our dessert choice, but later found out from our waiter that the dessert we wanted was their famous Kaiserschmarren.

Tonight MH and I couldn't decide on what to have for dinner, but both agreed that the Kaiserschmarren sounded great. That settled it and I made dessert for dinner.

The Kaiserschmarrenn recipe is posted on Wolfgang Puck's website. Here is the start to my strawberry sauce and Kaiserschmarren batter.

I think the restaurant alternates their pancakes with layers of whipped cream and strawberries, but their recipe instructs you to assemble it by scooping the souffle out of the pan in chunks, "so it looks a little like the Austrian alps." I think mine looks more like the rolling hills of California. I've never been to the Austrian alps, oh well.

After eating this, MH and I weren't surprised that our Spago dining neighbors ordered this dessert since we were both just shy of licking our plates clean. One day we'll have to go back to compare this recipe to the real deal.