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Jbeatty's Journal

jbeatty
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08/23/2009 19:07 #49617

Food Stuffs
Category: food
I'm pretty sure this is a rip off of fruit loops
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So I ended up making the stuffed french toast last Sunday. I stuffed it with this

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Blueberries with lime sugar and Brie.
Also I did another batch with Nutella and Red bananas. (thanks everyone for the suggestions), ((e:jenks) how does the hollowed out bread thing work?)
It turned out pretty decent. When it comes to breakfast food though I really like Eggs Benedict. I love syrup on my bacon, but pancakes really suck. But the masses were satisfied, I think the Lambrusco helped.

So two weeks ago Elizabeth and I went to Cleveland just for the hell of it. Neither of us had ever been there and mostly we wanted to just take a quick trip out of Buffalo.

Cleveland reminds me of Buffalo
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We went to two restaurants there. Plus a winery on the way. These are some of my favorite things we ate there. It's from the restaurant Greenhouse Tavern.

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Top: House Made Fromage Blanc
Bottom: French Breakfast Radishes

We also went to this really awesome restaurant the night before ( sorry no pics) called Crop They have such a cool Sunday night deal. 3 course prix fixe for $25. You get your choice of entree, but everything else everyone gets. We ended up talking to the owner for a while. He a was a cool guy, from NY. Anyway, if you find yourself in Cleveland these are really fun places to check out. Great food, service and atmosphere.

Today we slept in and are making Vichyssoise and a Tomato Tart for dinner. I can't wait Im starving.
leetee - 08/24/09 12:40
Funny, after i read your first post about stuffed french toast, i saw a food network show on breakfast food and they did some. They just did a sandwich with bananas, dipped it and fried it...

Yours looks like it would be very good.

Speaking of food... i assume you saw the No Reservations Rust Belt episode???
janelle - 08/24/09 12:17
Yes, stuffed french toast is awesome. (e:jbeatty), you should teach (e:drew) how to make it for me!
drew - 08/24/09 10:14
Three things I disapprove of:

1. You went to Cleveland, not Pittsburgh.

2. You said, "Pancakes suck."

3. Syrup on Bacon.

But stuffed French toast is AWESOME.
jbeatty - 08/23/09 21:29
(e:jenks) I never order eggs benedict either. Making it really isn't that tough and tastes a lot better at home. Homemade corned beef hash is awesome! and simple too. I haven't made it in about a year but it really doesn't take much and the texture is superior compared to the canned dog food.

(e:paul) the green stuff is mint chiffonade and lime zest.
paul - 08/23/09 20:38
What is the green stuff in the blueberry stuffing?
jenks - 08/23/09 20:22
I love eggs benedict- but I rarely order it b/c I am so often disappointed. I hate bad hollandaise.

But last week I had something new- FRESH corned beef hash. i.e. not from a can. sliced in the kichen right there. It was a whole different animal- and delicious.

The stuffed french toast was great. she cut of the ends and scooped a 'tunnel' through the whole thing, which was then stuffed with filling. then sliced the whole loaf and battered/cooked it.

08/16/2009 07:27 #49547

Question about french toast
So I have never made stuffed french toast. I've actually never even had it before. So I'm wondering am I supposed to cut a pocket into the bread and actually stuff it? Or is it acceptable to make a sandwich? I have seen mostly sandwich looking concoctions online which seems to be easier to spread stuff out evenly. But I'm not sure what most people here have seen or had.
james - 08/16/09 11:48
The way I make it is sort of like a casserole. You spread the cream cheese mixture onto the bread, put a layer of it into the pan, pour some of the batter on, and layer it up.
zobar - 08/16/09 09:05
Holy crap that's elaborate. I'd never heard of stuffed French toast, but I would expect something a bit more like a Monte Cristo.

- Z
jenks - 08/16/09 08:21
ooh, if you go back in my journal (april I think) I think I posted some pix of my friend making stuffed french toast... Wow it was great. She made a filling out of (I think) cream cheese, raspberry jam, and some vanilla-
And stuffed it into a big french baguette. She hollowed out the middle and then stuffed the whole loaf with a spoon. THEN sliced it and cooked the slices.
WOW it was good. And didn't seem all that difficult.

05/25/2009 16:57 #48752

Wieners


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tinypliny - 05/25/09 19:25
Did you make them?

05/23/2009 13:48 #48729

Going to Market
Today was such a beautiful day to ride my bike to get some groceries. I didn't really need much It was mostly an excuse to try to fight off this cold. First stop was price rite. I do like the proximity of this store, But the size of much of what they sell is frigging enormous. I really don't have much of a need for 10lbs of anything. I went there to get some flat parsley(which they didn't have) and Goya olive oil, which I love. This stuff is so delicious and unbelievably cheap. Much better than Wegmans brand crappola.

Next stop was this place:

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I didn't even know this existed till last week. Its located on Connecticut st. near Niagara. Most Asian markets have a certain stink to them. I was almost knocked over by the unmistakable smell of rotten produce marinating in urine. I still looked around out of curiosity. The produce mostly looked bad. I would never buy the stuff that looked decent for the simple fact that its on the floor and next to the shit that is half rotten. They meat section was something to behold. There was a box of clams, not in the cooler, dying in the warm air, also on the floor. They had five gallon buckets of chicken feet, liver of unknown origin, and some unidentifiable meat substance swimming about in a mysterious golden liquid. They did have a large selection of fish sauce, but I think I will avoid buying anything there...ever.

Last stop was the farmers market. I love farmers markets, but the one on Bidwell needs more vendors selling produce. Actually I think it just needs more vendors in general. There is some good stuff there though. I got a huge bundle of chives that looked really fresh, and some of this stuff:

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I read an article about this company, White Cow Dairy, in the latest issue of Edible Buffalo. $5.75 is more than I usually spend on yogurt/pudding but I am really curious about how this stuff tastes. I really do love buying local products. Especially ones that are good. So hopefully this stuff pans out to be awesome. They also had a couple of other things there, a mustard horseradish sauce, and a mocha creme full fat yogurt. They were both $4.00 each. So I'll come back for those next week possibly.

BTW: Does anyone know where I can get some ramps in Buffalo? They are in season but nobody seems to have them.
james - 05/25/09 21:00
A friend of mine who is from Vietnam swears by that place.

While my policy on East Asian restaurants is the filthier the tastier it is, it does not apply to grocery stores.
tinypliny - 05/25/09 19:29
Oh and they are the nearest grocers who carry Chinese Squash. I think that alone (and the ginger) makes my trips to Phu Thai completely worthwhile. :)
tinypliny - 05/25/09 19:27
You must have caught them on the wrong day. They are not this bad actually. Their ginger is always fresh, tender and quite amazing. I think their fresh arrivals day is Tuesday. By the weekend, everything sort of goes downhill.
theecarey - 05/23/09 17:39
I've been to several Asian markets- many times over, but only once to Phu Thai back in '05. It was unbelievably disgusting. From your post, I sense nothing has changed.

Good that you wrapped up your excursion with a trip to a fresh Farmers Market.
janelle - 05/23/09 15:57
I've seen Phu Thai. Now I can cross that off my list of places to visit. Lol.

05/06/2009 21:03 #48607

Three months off
Well my blog has finally hit the inactive status, so I figured it was time I graced these parts and post my latest dinner project. I finished my finals on Friday and finally have some time to goof off. It had been so long since I had cooked that on Monday I made a terrible stir fry with tofu, red pepper, and baby bok choy. I will spare you the pictures. But tonight I think I redeemed myself. I made "Crispy" Duck with Chardonnay Braised Asian Pears, Roasted Artichokes and Hoisin Butter.

It has been ages since I cooked something worth writing about. It was nice to be able to enjoy a day off finally. So I know the picture is full of brown but my plating skills and photography skills are equally in need of improvement.

So anyway for the "recipe". I marinated the duck in soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and Chinese five spice. I pan seared it and finished it in the oven. Its a major pain in the ass to make duck crispy. I took the advice of a few chefs and scored the skin before I seared it. It was crispier this time, but it still isn't exactly how I want it. For the pears I just diced and sauteed them. Then deglazed the pan with a generous amount of chardonnay. The artichoke idea I stole from the web. I just simply cut the top and sprinkled a little bit of lemon juice, olive oil and shoved a garlic clove in the center and roasted it for an hour and a half. I made the hoisin butter by taking some of the rendered duck fat and sauteed some shallots and deglazed them with white wine and chicken stock and reduced it till it could "coat the back of a spoon". I strained it and whisked in butter under low heat. Here are the results.

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jason - 05/07/09 15:15
I've been wondering where you were. Good form on the cooking!
janelle - 05/07/09 07:26
Delicious. I love duck.