How To Cook Everything iPhone App

Thank you to Megan at Not Martha for the heads up on this iPhone app: Culinate has released Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything for the iPhone and it is specially priced at $1.99 - A STEAL. I cook out of the HTCE book regularly, at least when I use a cookbook, and love Bittman's Minimalist videos on The New York Times website.

The app includes full text from HTCE plus a search feature, recipe timer, favorites lists, and shopping lists. I've just downloaded it and I'm looking forward to that last feature because I'm a particularly disorganized about grocery shopping.

Breakfast Quinoa

While it is still cool enough to want to eat this, I thought I'd share. I found the article in Martha Stewart Living, from which I usually don't cook, so I was pleased.

2 cups milk
1 cup quinoa, rinsed
3 tbs light brown sugar
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup fresh blueberries (I used organic frozen)

1. Bring milk to a boil. Add quinoa, and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until 3/4 of the milk is absorbed, about 15 min (mine took 20).
2. Stir in sugar and cinnamon. Cook covered until almost all the milk has been absorbed, about 8 min (mine took 15).
3. Stir in blueberries. (test the quinoa to make sure it's really done first. I skipped this step and ended up with slightly over cooked blueberries)
4. Serve with additional milk, sugar and cinnamon, if desired (I did not).

This was in the same issue of the Magazine. Super creepy!
A friend promises me that when she squeezed the bird, milk comes out its beak.

Medieval Times

Have I mentioned that we're just down the road from the Lyndhurst location of Medieval Times? I've not been there since I was a kid (when it first opened) but Linnea wanted to go for her 30th birthday, so we did. Our knight, the blue knight, lost.

National Banana Split Day

It is National Banana Split Day so be sure to visit Ice Cream Charlie's or Dairy Queen on Park Ave in Rutherford.

Risotto House

When I first moved to Rutherford friends who knew I was a "foodie" congratulated me on my choice from a culinary perspective. They were thrilled to come out and eat their way through town. One exception, Risotto House on Park Ave. Everyone told me to stay away. Now I hear they've a new(ish) chef, co-owner Luis Tito. Tito used to work for the Bastianich family at Felidia and Becco. That sounds like street cred to me. I say its time to try Risotto House.

Risotto House
88 Park Avenue
Rutherford, NJ 07070
(201) 438-5344
http://www.rutherfordmenus.com/restaurantmenus/risottohouse.php

Cupcakes Galore

I bought 3 cupcakes to try tonight after dinner at Daruma (review to come)...

Earl Grey Blueberry:

1. As with many of their cupcakes, the overall feel of this one is a little heavy and the cake is slightly greasy.
2. Smell is wonderful - strong bergamot mixed with blueberry pie. A good combo.
3. My sweetie thinks the icing is a little grainy bUt I like it. Not too sweet but rich and tasty. How can vegan buttercream frosting taste rich and buttery?
4. The cake is dense but not too firm. A scent of Early Grey tea but not a strong taste of it.
5. Filling classic blueberry pie. Fresh taste and fresh blueberry on top.
6. Of the Sweet Ave cupcakes I've tried, I'd put this in the top 5. (#1 of the 3 tried tonight)

Thai Coconut Curry:

1. Cake is a little drier than their usual; more like a muffin. My sweetie likes this density particularly.
2. Smells like coconut curry
3. Light on the frosting, which is nice. Toasted coconut is a good addition in my opinion but my sweetie would prefer un-toasted.
4. As with the bergamot, more of a smell of curry than a taste.
5. A little too sweet. I'm a big fan of chili in chocolate and I think this needs a similar balancing factor.
6. Less successful than many of their cupcakes but I appreciate the effort. #2 of 3.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough:

1. Not much smell. A little vanilla smell, a little mass-market cookie dough (there's actually cookie dough in the middle!).
2. Comparatively bland.
3. The cake is nice, classic.
4. Frosting is too sweet and grainy.
5. Good concept (the stuffing with dough).
6. #3 of 3. Not really successful.

Sweets to Come

I'm planning on walking over to Sweet Avenue today to buy some cupcakes, specifically the Thai Curry which I've been wanting to try. I'll let you know how they are.

Sweeeeet!

Today is Wednesday and we all know what that means: tomorrow is the day for my favorite flavors at Sweet Avenue Bake Shop! I've not tried them all, but check out this selection:

Black & White
Dark Side of the Moon
Jet Black
Sexy Sadie
Snowball
White Room
Blueberry Earl Grey
Chocolate Sundae
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Fluffernutter
Thai Coconut Curry
Old Skool

Awesome, right!?!?

In case you don't know about Sweet Avenue, here's a little blurb from their (great) web site:
"Everything we make at Sweet Avenue is totally vegan. That means that all of our cupcakes, cookies, and everything else are all dairy- and egg-free. They're also 100% cholesterol-free, completely cruelty-free, better for the environment, and 156% awesomer than non-vegan desserts. Seriously. You can take that to the bank."

If that sounds gross, just wait until you taste. I actually did not know the cupcakes were vegan until a vegetarian friend told me and I'd been eating and enjoying them for months. And, NO, I don't have some sort of strange taste disorder. I'm a very good cook and sweet stuff connoisseur. Try it, you'll like it.

Sweet Avenue Bake Shop
153 Park Ave.
Rutherford, NJ 07070
201.935.BAKE (2253)
Mon — Closed
Tue-Sat — 11am-7pm
Sun — 11am-5pm

First-ever (201) Restaurant Week

Alas, there are no participating restaurants in Rutherford for some unknown reason, since there are so many good ones here. But, use this as an excuse to patronize your local eateries.

(201) Restaurant Week runs October 4-8 & 11-15

Experience some of Bergen's top restaurants and finest cuisine at an incredible value! Dine out at participating restaurants and take advantage of a prix fixe, three-course lunch for $16.95 and dinner for $29.95. No tickets or passes required. Reservations are recommended, but not required.

A donation will be made to Table to Table, a community-based food rescue program that collects prepared and perishable excess food and delivers it to organizations that feed the hungry in Bergen, Passaic, Essex and Hudson counties.

For more information, please call (201) 646-6954.

Yum-tastic

Today's post is going to be short because we bought a Wii and because my sweetie is on the way back to the house with RockBand 2. Also on the way to the house is a pizza from Josie's in Lyndhurst. There is a LOT of good pizza around Rutherford but Josie's is one of my favorites. The two best things, IMHO, are the pizza with pear-tomatoes & portabello mushrooms and the Chicken Scarpiello Sandwich. Check it out yourself and let me know what you think!

Josie's Pizzeria
228 Stuyvesant Ave.
Lyndhurst, NJ 07071
http://www.josiespizzeria.com

Dining Under the Stars

Every Thursday evening in July Park Avenue has been closed to traffic for Dining Under the Stars. The downtown restaurants set up tables for outdoor eating while musicians stroll the street serenading the diners.

Tonight was to be my first Dining Under the Stars experience - I had a reservation for 5 at Paisano's (one of my favorite downtown restaurants). Alas, the event has been closed due to inclement weather. I've not minded all the summer rain this season, but I do now.

Next Thursdsay is the last night for Dining Under the Stars (sponsored by the Rutherford Downtown Alliance and The Leader Newspapers). Come on down.

The Garden State

Bounty of our farmers market in Williams Square.
The two kinds of tomatoes and the blueberries are from Matarazzo's Farm
http://www.matarazzofarm.com/