Cupcake Game Changer

Mojito Cupcakes - Jimmy's Kitchen, Brighton, MA

Mojito Cupcake/Best Cupcake on Earth

     I really do struggle from time to time deciding which burger is the best burger I've ever eaten, which taco is the best taco or which cupcake is the best cupcake I've ever eaten. Now... I'm a HUGE chocolate fan. Duh. I'd take a hunk of a chocolate over a cocktail any day. So I would think that I'd think the best cupcake would be a big fat chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate, topped with chocolate, and sprinkled with chocolate shavings or something. But this recipe... this recipe for mojito cupcakes that I found on Brown Eyed Baker... may have just changed the game. I had a mojito cupcake once or twice before from Kickass Cupcakes and they were good, but this one was a kajillion times better. Jimmy and I were going to purchase some for Karl just for the fun of it, but then we thought "why not just make them instead?" Such a great idea. The cupcake has rum in it, there is a rum glaze on top of the cupcake, and the frosting has rum in it. It's sweet (but not overly sweet), refreshing and minty. It's just to die for. They're the absolute best about an hour out of the oven when they're about room temp, the rum glaze has crisped up the top just a tad, and the frosting is room temp and perfectly creamy. I swear I ate a gallon of that frosting before putting it on the cupcakes. I attribute part of our success to Jimmy's kitchen aid. That thing whipped up butter like I've never seen before. Anyway... it may seem a little complicated, but these cupcakes are a real crowd pleaser, even if it's a one person crowd.

Mojito Cupcakes

For the Cupcakes:
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup mint leaves, bruised
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
Zest and juice of 1½ limes
2 tablespoons white rum
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

To Brush the Cupcakes:
2 tablespoons white rum
2 sprigs fresh mint

For the Frosting:
1½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
4¼ cups powdered sugar
1½ tablespoons lime juice
3 tablespoons white rum

1. Combine the buttermilk and the ½ cup mint leaves in a small saucepan over medium heat. Warm until just starting to steam (do not simmer), then remove from the heat and cover. Let steep for 15 to 30 minutes. Once finished, strain the milk into a bowl using a fine mesh sieve. The milk may appear curdled or clumpy, but it will come back together. Press on any milk solids and mint leaves to extract all the liquid possible. Give the milk a quick stir to smooth it out and set aside.

2. While the mint is steeping in the milk, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

4. In an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugar together until pale, light, and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

5. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and add the eggs one at at time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

6. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the lime zest, lime juice, vanilla extract and rum. Mix until combined. 

7. Reduce the mixer speed low. Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk in two batches. Mix only until just incorporated, using a rubber spatula to give it one last mix by hand.

8. Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until just slightly golden and a skewer shows only moist crumbs attached, rotating the pan at the halfway point.

9. While the cupcakes are baking, combine the rum and mint sprigs in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat until the rum is heated through (do not let it simmer). Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let steep until ready to use.

10. Allow cupcakes to cool for 5 to 10 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack. Brush the tops of the cupcakes with the mint-infused rum. Set the cupcakes aside to cool completely before frosting them.

11. To make the frosting, whip the butter on medium-high speed of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment for 5 minutes. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing and scraping the sides of the bowl until all is incorporated. Give it a mix on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add the lime juice and rum and mix on medium-high speed until incorporated and fluffy. If the frosting appears a bit too soft, add some additional sugar, one spoonful at a time until desired consistency is reached. Frost cupcakes once they've cooled and garnish with a sprig of fresh mint.

Zinnekens - Cambridge, MA

Fruit Delight

     You know those places where you walk by the front door and the sweet sultry aroma brings you to your knees? Zinnekens is one of those places. Thus the reason for me loading up when I found them on Groupon. I mean.... come on... their front window says "Coffee, Chocolate and Waffles." How could I go wrong? They offer gourmet Belgian waffles with a multitude of toppings. Meagan, Jimmy, Karl, Dave and I all went and Meagan and I split the Fruit Delight with Belgian chocolate, bananas and strawberries. The waffle itself was, hands down, the best part. It was totally unlike any other waffle I've ever had in that it was mildly chewy. It was just so simple and delicious. Plus the warm melted Belgian chocolate. Oh man. I also tried a bite of Jimmy's, which was the Gourmand with bananas whipped cream and caramel, and Dave's, which was the Zinneken's with whipped cream, Belgian chocolate and speculoos. Dave's was DEFINITELY my favorite. That speculoos filled every little square of the waffle and had warmed up ever so slightly. With a little chocolate drizzled on top, it was a sugary death trap. I debated going back in and getting my own. A return trip to Zinneken's is definitely in order.

Border Cafe - Cambridge, MA
http://www.bordercafe.com/

Corn and Bean Empanadas

     I know I've blogged about this place before, but I was reeeeeally watching weight for an upcoming race at the time, so I had a piddly 3 chips or something and a salad while there (don't get me wrong, the salad was incredible). This time, I went for the real deal. I wanted to devour 3 baskets of their piping hot chips myself... and I did. Ok not really, but I could've. After Zinneken's Jimmy, Meagan and I wanted something salty to follow our sugar overdose... naturally. We were just going to "get something small" at Border..... riiiiiight. Either way, we killed a few baskets of their phenomenal fresh tortilla chips with some queso dip before our "meals" arrived. I ordered the corn and black bean empanadas because I don't think I've ever actually had one. To me, they seem like the Mexican version of a pastie (a meat pie that us Michiganders are quite fond of). The little pockets of heaven were absolutely incredible!  I loved the crispy dough on the outside and I was really happy that the insides weren't stuffed full of cheese. That would've been too much I think. Instead it was just corn, beans and a little bit of melty cheese. The best part was the sauce in that little dish in the top of the picture. It was so good that I had to ask our waiter what was in it. It tasted like a pesto, had all the pesto flavors, but also had something different. Apparently it's some sort of roasted red pepper pesto with parmesan cheese, basil, garlic, etc. It was incredible on it's own and along with a forkfull of the empanada. So good. Great food, great service, great atmosphere.

Will You _____ My Fish Taco?

Homemade Larabars - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA 

    Sometimes I go through these phases were I realize how much money I'm spending on things out of convenience, and it bothers me. So I do something about it. Bars are easy calories and taste delicious, but they're so crazy expensive. After realizing at 1-2 bars a day, I'm spending 35-50 dollars a month on bars, I decided to start experimenting. I'm really into the idea of simple foods. Simple raw foods to be specific. I stumbled upon this blog called Rawified that has recipes for every single kind of Larabar. If you're unfamiliar, Larabars are made of very simple ingredients. Generally they contain dates, maybe another kind of dried fruit, and raw nuts. End of story. With easily absorbed sugars and healthy fats, I figured these would be great for before a workout. While J-money was here a few weeks ago, we decided to give the Blueberry Muffin Larabar a try. The most important lesson we learned from this process? Don't just throw all the ingredients together and expect your food processor to blend it evenly. Most recipes recommend just throwing it into a food processor and ... boom... done. Now I'm not sure if my processor is just not up to speed (ha... pun) or if I did something wrong, but throwing all the sticky fruits and nuts together was just too much for it to handle.
     Regardless of the non-uniform texture of all of our ingredients, our Blueberry muffin "bars" were delicious! They tasted just like the Larabars! The only difference was that I had to add a little water in order to get the ingredients to mix, thus resulting in the inability to form them into bars. They then became Blueberry Muffin balls. I forgot to take a picture and we destroyed them before I finally remembered.
     Per Jake's recommendation, I decided to give the Key Lime Pie Larabars a try and process each ingredient separately. This worked like a charm! I got a much more uniform consistency for the entire mix, not to mention they were phenomenal! Once again, tasted just like the Larabars themselves. A simple blend of raw nuts, sweet coconut and dates and the bite of the lime juice.
     It cost me around $4.87 to make the whole batch of 14 bars, at 140 calories a piece (70% of the calories of a normal Larabar). From a dollar per calorie perspective, that's 60 cents per 200 calorie homemade bar versus the $1.30 Larabar you buy in the store. Yes... I really did figure all that out. Don't ask how. You'll think I'm crazy. On second thought, it's probably all ready to late for that. Let's just say it involves heavy research and excel skills.

Blueberry Muffin Larabar

Key Lime Pie Larabars

1 cup pitted dates
1 cup almonds
2 tbs shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 tbs pumpkin pie spice (I just mixed cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice)

Key Lime Pie Larabar

1/2 cup cashews
1/2 cup almonds
1 cup pitted dates
1/2 cup shredded coconut
splash of lime juice 


Curry Coconut Lime Soup - My Kitchen, Cambridge, MA

Curry Coconut Lime Soup

     Another interesting soup experiment of mine turned into a great success. I had some leftover coconut milk from a curry dish I made and decided to somehow get it into a soup. I had about three recipes that sounded great, but couldn't decide which to use, so I just combined parts of each, took out others and came up with some crazy Thai-like soup. I say it's Thai-like because it has that typical coconut curry flavor to it. One recipe called for a Thai chili paste, so I attempted to create this with a bunch of random ingredients like garlic, ginger, ketchup and a variety of spices. This is a really light tasting soup, but it's totally satisfying... not to mention you'll feel kind of fancy eating it. Like you're some kind  of culturally experienced chef. Now, I added a little shredded chicken to this for some protein, but it's totally not necessary if you wanted to make this vegetarian. Not to mention, the chicken breast I put in this recipe was about the size of a deck of cards. I'd maybe get a hunk or two per serving. Almost pointless. Here's me attempting to recreate this masterpiece.

Curry Coconut Lime Soup

1 1/4 cup coconut milk
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup chopped fresh pea pods
1 chopped orange pepper
2 large carrots, sliced
1 chicken breast
2 oz. angle hair pasta
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup lime juice
1 cup fresh spinach
1 tbs minced fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 yellow hot pepper, chopped (or one chili pepper)
1 tbs ketchup
1/2 tsp white pepper
A few shakes of red pepper flakes
1 tbs curry
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1) In a small bowl, prepare your Thai-chili paste by combining the ginger, garlic, minced hot pepper, ketchup , white pepper, red pepper flakes, and cumin. Mix until thoroughly combined.

2) In a large soup pot on medium heat, bring the coconut milk, vegetables, chili paste and all of the other spices to a simmer. Let these simmer for a good 20 minutes. The whole mix will start to thicken. That's ok. 

3) Add in your shredded chicken, stock, lime juice and angel hair pasta that has been broken up into small pieces. Stir to mix evenly and let simmer another 20 minutes. Add in the spinach (optional) 10 minutes before serving. 

Border Cafe - Cambridge, MA
http://www.bordercafe.com/

     Well, let me just go right out and say I've found my new favorite Mexican place in Boston. Border Cafe

Mesquite Grilled Salmon Salad

in Harvard Square was the destination of choice for Meagan's short visit to Boston. As soon as I walked in to meet Meagan, Karl, Jimmy and Dave, I was overwhelmed with the congestion, but it was the good kind of congestion. The place was packed and the wait staff was scurrying around like crazy. Every wall was decorated and music that made me want to break out my not-so-great salsa skills poured out the speakers. They took the Mexican feel to a whole new level.
    The only downside? I'm in serious weight loss mode, so I had to stick to a salad and, at first, I was bummed about it. More on that later. The first thing to our table was a piping hot basket of chips and salsa. I don't just mean warm. I meant HOT. As in, you were bound to burn your fingers on the first chip you reached for. These chips were absolutely incredible. They are EXACTLY what I've been looking to find in Boston. Not kidding. They were thin, crispy, homemade and hot. In total, we had three baskets (maybe four) delivered to the table and each basket was hotter than the previous one. Worry not, I was good and only had a few from each basket. You know... had to try some from each basket... make sure they were safe.
      So this salad I ordered sounded good, but I was not expecting it to be as delicious as it was. It was their Mesquite Grilled Salmon salad. I figured it was a good pre-pieces option, full of greens, protein and healthy fats. This was by far the best salmon I have ever had. There was this delicious sweetness on the outside because it had  been slightly crisped up from the lime-soy glaze. What really took it to the next level was how the filet was marbled and the grilled taste. Normally I can't tell the difference when something has been grilled a certain way, but the wood fired flavor in this fish was so present. It arrived at the absolute perfect temperature and just melted in my mouth. The salmon sat on a corn and bean salsa with a bed of greens that had been tossed in a citrus vinagrette that I would pay large sums of money to get the recipe. It was incredible. It was lightly sweet with a little bite and went perfectly with the flavors in the salmon.
     Naturally, I had a few bites of Meldrim's swordfish tacos, which were stuffed with really unique vegetables and mangos. Their menu was so unique and full of really interesting flavor combinations. I've got to go back a) when I can destroy 4 baskets of those heavenly chips myself and b) to experience another one of their awesome creations. Everyone was super satisfied, cleaned their plates (Jimmy and I helped Meldrim), and once again, the waiter was impressed.

Saloon - Cambridge, MA
http://www.saloondavis.com/

     Ok so I'm going to make this quick, because I intend to return to Saloon to fully experience it at some point, and I'd love to write more about it. Long story short, Bluetrain finally closed our round of funding, and I met up with a bunch of coworkers at Saloon in Davis Square. The place is absolutely gorgeous! It's underground, and there is no real sign outside. It's like walking through a trap door into a beautiful parlour. The bar and all the furnishings were made of dark wood and brassy metals. The lights were dim, and the place gave off a real classy/swanky/seductive vibe. This place was topping the charts for unique design. I felt like I was stepping into an underground bar from the roaring twenties.
     Back to the food. I ran there, and didn't intend to eat while there, but I should've known there would be appetizers. My coworkers ordered some of the best fries I've had in Boston, Beer Battered Pickled Feta Cheese Stuffed Peppers, and a platter of thinly sliced meats, pâté, pickled veggies, stone ground mustard and a small loaf of bread. Oh and Devils on Horseback. They were these incredible feta cheese stuffed and bacon wrapped figs. The sugars from the figs and the fats from the bacon perfectly caramelized on the outside and it was just delectable. The presentation was five star, and so was the taste. Going back asap.