30 Sep
DMBLGIT September 2009: The Winners!
Posted by Michelle as DMBLGIT September 2009 | 27 Comments
A great big THANK YOU to all of you who participated in this month’s Does My Blog Look Good In This? food photography contest. I was in awe of some truly incredible photographs that passed through my inbox and made me want to lick my computer screen. We had a total of 58 entries come in from all around the world. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the online gallery yet, be sure to head on over and take a gander – magnificent photos await you!
Another huge thank you to the judges that helped me with the daunting task of scoring these photos:
♦ Shari of Whisk: A Food Blog
♦ Megan of Tres Jolie Studios
♦ Pille of Nami-Nami
♦ Vera of Baking Obsession
As a review, the photos were judged in three categories: Edibility, Originality, and Aesthetics. There are three overall winners, which had the highest scores across all categories. Let’s get to the winners!
Overall First Place (the picture that scored the highest total combined score across all three categories) goes to:
Caramelized Tomato Tart by Liz of Zested from Brooklyn, New York with a 5D Mark II
Overall Second Place goes to:
Chocolate Dobos Torte by Irina of Pastry Pal from New York, NY with a Sony 350
Overall Third Place goes to:
Creme Brulee by verO of Delimoon from Switzerland with a Canon 350D
Part 2 – Edibility, Originality, and Aesthetics Category: Each picture was scored in three categories: edibility, originality and aesthetics. The photo receiving the highest total score in each of those categories, excluding the three overall winners, is the specific category winner.
Winner Edibility Category: It’s a TIE!
Vegan Chocolate Mousse Cake by Y of Lemonpi from Sydney, Australia with a Nikon D40
Flourless Chocolate Hazelnut Cake by Karen of Citrus and Candy from Sydney, Australia with a Canon EOS 1000D
Winner Originality Category:
Sea Salt by Nancy of Spicie Foodie from Central Europe with a Pentax K10D
Winner Aesthetics Category:
Garlic by Sefa of Food is Love from Bremen, Germany with a Canon EOS 400D, EF 50mm f/1.8
I was able to select a Host’s Award for a photo that did not receive an overall or category award, but that stood out to me. This photo seemed to jump off my screen at me and it was one that remained vivid in my mind even as tons of others rolled in. For one last fling with summer, I bring you the bright and totally delicious-looking host award…
Winner: Host Award
Blueberry Gelato by Soma of eCurry from Texas with a Konica Minolta Dimage A200
Congratulations to all of the winners, and thank you once again to everyone who participated! Stay tuned for next month’s edition, which is being hosted by Astrid from Paulchen’s Foodblog.
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27 Sep
Italian Sausage, Red Pepper and Mushroom Risotto
Posted by Michelle as Beans and Grains | 27 Comments
This risotto dish is one of the very first meals that I taught myself how to cook and it quickly became a favorite with my family. Yesterday was my mom’s birthday and I offered to make her dinner and told her to pick the menu and I’d make whatever she wanted. It took her all of about 30 seconds to decide that this risotto is what she wanted for dinner, and she chose Dark Chocolate Chip Scones for dessert. In addition to all of the creamy goodness that is risotto, this recipe includes Italian sausage, red pepper and mushrooms that add a tremendous hearty flavor. This should definitely be served as a main dish and goes great with Italian bread and a salad. Definitely plan on something light for dessert!
25 Sep
Peach Crumb Bars
Posted by Michelle as Brownies and Bar Cookies | 42 Comments
My recent obsession with peaches started not long after crossing the Georgia state line en route to Florida on our vacation. My Chief Culinary Consultant mentioned how we should stop to get a slice of peach pie since we were, in fact, in Georgia (the Peach State). I think my face lit up like a Christmas tree and then that was it – I had peach pie on the brain. We never stopped for pie since we were in the middle of a 16-hour road trip, but my craving was fulfilled a couple of days later when we couldn’t stop talking about peach pie and finally went and bought peaches and made a pie. It absolutely hit the spot and was probably the best peach pie I’ve ever eaten. And so my peach spree began.
21 Sep
The Famed Neiman Marcus Cookie
Posted by Michelle as Cookies | 46 Comments
Raise your hand if you’ve received the email forward about the woman who ate a a cookie at the Neiman Marcus cafe and asked for the recipe, the waitress said it was “two fifty”, the woman thought it was $2.50 and then saw her credit card was charged $250, so she mass distributed the recipe so that no one ever pays $250 for the recipe again. (Phew, that’s a mouthful!) I suspect that many of you are very familiar with this email and may have even made these cookies before. I have received the email countless times, but for some reason never felt compelled to try the recipe. While on vacation my Chief Culinary Consultant’s mom received the notorious email and asked if I wanted her to send it to me. I told her to and figured I would finally give it a try. I am so glad I did because this is an absolutely phenomenal cookie!
18 Sep
Reminder: DMBLGIT Deadline ~ Sunday, 9/20/2009
Posted by Michelle as DMBLGIT September 2009 | 3 Comments
A reminder to all of you who wish to take part in the Does My Blog Look Good In This? food photography event for September:
The deadline to submit your photo is Sunday, September 20th at 11:59pm EST.
For details on how to submit your photo, please see the original post HERE.
We already have over 30 wonderful submissions which you can view by visiting the online gallery. I look forward to adding yours!!
16 Sep
Chewy, Fudgy Triple-Chocolate Brownies
Posted by Michelle as Brownies and Bar Cookies | 43 Comments
Any brownie that is described as chewy and fudgy is an automatic winner in my book, and these are no exception. Made not only with cocoa powder, but also unsweetened and bittersweet chocolate, the brownies are rich in flavor and perfectly paired with a glass of cold milk or a scoop of velvety smooth vanilla ice cream. Brownies that have that coveted fudge-like texture are often thin as cakier brownies tend to rise up a bit more, but these are an outstanding combination of both – they retain that chewy and fudgy texture while baking up into thick and substantial brownies that have a definite heft when you pick them up. A chocolate and brownie lover’s dream!
15 Sep
Good Eats in South Florida
Posted by Michelle as Travel | 13 Comments
My Chief Culinary Consultant and I took a little drive and had a wonderfully relaxing and fun vacation. I’m back and trying to get settled back in to “real life” (begrudgingly!); I hope you all enjoyed the posts that I had lined up for last week while I was away. In case you missed them, be sure to check out the Coffeecake Muffins, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Pittsburgh Steelers Cookies, and Polenta Pizza. You may also want to read about how you can enter this month’s Does My Blog Look Good In This? food photography competition.
In the meantime, I wanted to share the great eats that I enjoyed while vacationing in southern Florida. If you ever find yourself in Palm Beach County, be sure to check out these fabulous spots!
Flakowitz of Boynton Restaurant, Delicatessen & Caterers
Location: Boynton Beach, FL
Website: http://www.flakowitzofboynton.com/
Review: We didn’t eat-in here, but rather purchased food from the deli, prepared food section and bakery to eat at home. Everything was fresh and fabulous – we made sandwiches with traditional Jewish rye bread, corned beef, pastrami, Swiss cheese, kosher pickles and coleslaw with potato salad on the side and a strawberry shortcake cake for dessert. It’s no surprise that Flakowitz was recently featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I could have easily devoured the entire dessert case; I’m looking forward to going back and sampling more of the food and sweets!
Boston’s on the Beach
Location: Delray Beach, FL
Website: http://www.bostonsonthebeach.com/default.asp
Review: My Chief Culinary Consultant had been here before so I was naturally excited to try somewhere that I already knew had great reviews. Boston’s sits in a fabulous location across the street from the sand and surf in Delray Beach. If you sit outside on the covered patio you’ll catch a great breeze, wafts of the salty ocean air, and have a view of the water while you eat. Inside of Boston’s you will find walls covered with Boston-area sports memorabilia, which, even if you’re not a Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins or Celtics fan, is pretty cool to check out. The menu consists primarily of New England-inspired and seafood dishes, including the ever-famous lobster roll. We started lunch with an order of Conch Fritters, which were awesome. I had the “Big Papi” Cheese Steak Sandwich which was piled high with shaved beef, mushrooms, onions and cheese; my Chief Culinary Consultant had the Muffuletta sandwich – both got big thumbs up. Would love to go back and try a lobster roll!
City Cellar Wine Bar & Grill
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Website: http://www.bigtimerestaurants.com/
Review: This was the last meal we had on vacation and it was the perfect way to cap off a great week. City Cellar is located in City Place of West Palm Beach, which is an open area full of shops, restaurants and live music. With a great atmosphere, fantastic food, and out-of-this-world desserts, this will definitely be on my list of places to eat at again. I enjoyed the Gnocchi al Forno, which was the second-best gnocchi I have had in a restaurant (the first nod going to the gnocchi at Dish Osteria in Pittsburgh); the dish included chicken, spinach and asiago cheese in a vodka cream sauce. My Chief Culinary Consultant had the Crab Stuffed Jumbo Shrimp and raved about them as well. We ended dinner with Creme Brulee (excellent!) and quite possibly the best Banana Cream Pie ever: a pecan-graham crust piled high with layers of bananas and sweet cream, topped with dark and white chocolate shavings.
I also picked up a regional cookbook, Worth Tasting, as a souvenir, which is something I plan on doing each time I visit somewhere new – a great way to recreate a bit of vacation after you get back home! This book was created by the Junior League of the Palm Beaches and includes a ton of fabulous recipes, ranging from drinks and appetizers to entrees and desserts as well as a number of sample menus. You’ll definitely be seeing some of these recipes featured here on Brown Eyed Baker in the near future.
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11 Sep
Polenta Pizza
Posted by Michelle as Appetizers, Pizza, Flatbreads and Crackers | 43 Comments
You may remember that a couple of weeks back my polenta pizza was featured on In Jennie’s Kitchen as a guest post. As I wrote in that post, the first time I made this dish I made it as a thin-crust pizza (the polenta serving as the crust) for dinner and it was absolutely fabulous. So good, in fact, that a few days later I decided to scrap the original appetizer I had planned to serve alongside the Fontina-Stuffed, Bacon-Wrapped Dates and turn the polenta pizza into an appetizer. The only real change I made to the original recipe to turn it into an appetizer was to double the quantities and bake it in the same size dish (11×15) so that the “crust” was thicker and more substantial, which made it easier to pick up and eat. I think I could have served nothing else other than an unlimited supply of the dates and this polenta pizza, and no one may have noticed that a meal hadn’t been served. This was another huge hit, which may actually be an understatement.
10 Sep
Pittsburgh Steelers Cookies
Posted by Michelle as Cookies | 31 Comments
It’s football season, folks! Today starts the NFL’s Kickoff Weekend, which begins with a night game featuring none other than the Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Tennessee Titans. Since I already threw Pittsburgh Penguins decorated sugar cookies at you during the Stanley Cup playoffs, I figured I couldn’t play favorites and needed create Steelers cookies for the start of the season. After the Super Bowl last year I bought a Pfaltzgraff Pittsburgh Steelers cookie mold (I bought it on eBay but can’t find it on there any longer) and used it to create these cookies.
09 Sep
Pineapple Upside-Down Cake: LiveSTRONG With a Taste of Yellow 2009
Posted by Michelle as Upside-Down Cakes | 21 Comments
This is my second year participating in the LiveSTRONG food blogging event that is hosted annually by Winos and Foodies. LiveSTRONG day this year is on October 2, 2009, which marks the 10th anniversary of Lance Armstrong being diagnosed with cancer. LiveSTRONG With a Taste of Yellow is a coinciding food blogging event that supports the Lance Armstrong Foundation by raising awareness of cancer issues and is a way for wine and food bloggers worldwide to share their stories – the happy, the sad, the struggles and the triumphs. Participants make a dish or drink containing a yellow food to commemorate the day, and share how their life has been touched by cancer. Last year I participated by making a fabulous Cheddar Corn Chowder and sharing the story of my dad’s battle with leukemia. I won’t rehash the long story here, so if you are interested in reading, you can skip on over and read it. This year was 10 years since he lost his battle, and I offer up this Pineapple Upside-Down Cake to celebrate the wonderful man he was.
