I seem to be in the habit of coming home at 2 am and having to get up early in the morning.  Usually it involves having to go to class, but a week ago Sunday, I was actually excited to get up at 7:30 am (which might be a first this semester).

The reason?  I had signed up for a “Thanksgiving Desserts” cooking class at the Williams-Sonoma downtown.  The menu included spiced pumpkin layer cake with cream cheese frosting, cranberry cheesecake with a chocolate-cinnamon crust, molasses gingerbread cake with cinnamon whipped cream and bourbon pecan pie with buttermilk whipped cream.  I’m not a huge cheesecake (usually too heavy) or pecan pie (usually too sweet) fan, but the other two choices seemed liked winners.

It was a bit pricey ($50) for the session, but I figured we were paying for supplies.  It turned out that this was actually just a lecture by the pastry chef at the Harvard Club….I was slightly disappointed.  They also served us samples of each dessert, at 9:30 am on Sunday morning.  I did not expect to be sampling pecan pie that early.

Overall, the class was useful, but in the future, no thanks.  I would much prefer to spend a bit more money and actually cook instead of listen to someone that early on a Sunday.  I learned a few helpful hits for making pie crust and also the differences between the three main types of vanilla (Tahitian, Mexican and Madagascar).

The food was delicious, even if it were my breakfast.  I think I was most surprised the pecan pie was my favorite dish (followed by the molasses cake).  The pie called for bourbon (already a winner) but also used brown rice syrup, which is less sweet than the corn syrup traditionally used.  Thus, it produced a toned down pie.  The buttermilk whipped cream was also a winner because the tartness also helped mask the sweetness.

On the other end, I was most disappointed by the spiced pumpkin layer cake.  I was very excited for this recipe, but was not pleased to see it included (canned?!) pineapple and sweetened flaked coconut (not a huge fan).  It was ok, but not great.

In the end, none of the recipes will be making it to my family’s Thanksgiving table.  Then again, we usually make enough food to feed our entire family (~12 ppl) twice.  I know that seems crazy, but we celebrate again on Friday every year.  I’m looking forward to celebrating because, while this sounds corny, we have a lot to be thankful for this year.

Florida isn’t all old people (just mostly).  It is however, filled with copious amounts of Publix.  I’ve seriously never seen so many grocery stores in a 5 mile radius.  It was mind boggling.  Are there THAT many people in Florida and are they THAT desperate a giant grocery store to be situated in every strip mall (also something Florida seems to be a fan of)?

Grocery stores aside, I was pleasantly surprised by the food I ate while there this past weekend.  The first night I was there, my friend and I hit up the Jupiter Italian festival.  Since I am half Italian, I do have high standards on my food.  After walking through the fair (twice) we settled on a booth set up by Joseph’s Classic Market. The lasagna was decent, nothing to really shout from the rooftops about though, as was the eggplant bread.  The absolute home run of the meal was the Prosciutto Bread….drool.  It was bits of meat twisted throughout a sweeter bread which was served piping hot.  It reminded me (almost) of what my family refers to as “garbage bread,” which is basically Italian meats and cheese baked into bread.  I can see how this place would do well in Florida, it is similar to a NY style deli, but with more prepared foods and grocery items.

The second night, I was a bit more skeptical on where we were having dinner.  My friend brought me to a strip mall (see above comment) restaurant that he had been to previously.  I ordered red snapper with a squash and macadamia nut crust.  It was very fresh and surprisingly not overly heavy.  The mashed potatoes were a bit questionable though, so they went untouched.

After dinner we returned to the Italian Festival for zeppole!  They had sold out the night prior and I was determined to get some.  It’s not the easiest thing to find fresh and hot, so I had to take advantage of the festival.  I’m glad I did because we snagged the last two bags.  They were great (not the best I’ve ever had), but still good and I think I ended up wearing most of the powdered sugar.

Overall my trip to Florida was excellent.  Lots of sleep, lots of sun (maybe a bit more sunscreen would have been a good idea) and lots of food!  I’m glad my friend bought a condo, I will be going back soon (need to escape this Boston winter!).

…the Hi Rise Bread Co?  It might be tough with all of the election excitement, but it was the post just prior to this!…well it turns out a few days later the bread makes excellent French Toast.  Especially when consumed for dinner.

Also, in case anyone was wondering, the key to super awesome french toast is to add vanilla extract and flour to the egg mixture (in addition to the usual milk, cinnamon, and sugar).  The vanilla helps with the flavoring and the flour thickens the mix and makes it more adhesive.  Then of course tossing chocolate chips (Ghiradelli are a personal fav) and powdered sugar on top doesn’t hurt either.

As a side note, I owe everyone a write-up of my NY trip a couple of weeks ago, hopefully sometime over the weekend/early next week!

In a word: Zoning. Or lack thereof.  There are hidden pockets of stores and restaurants all over the place in Cambridge.  Of course it’s awesome when you find one of these fantastic places hidden away, but at the same time it’s frustrating if you don’t own a car. 

For example, a friend called me up this morning and wanted to go Hi Rise Bread Co. for lunch.  He had found the place through a friend.  This place was tucked away in Cambridge and only 3 miles from my apartment, but not too close to public transportation.  Since 6 miles was a bit of a lengthy walk, I hijacked my roommate’s car (which is completely justified because he went on a 2-week business trip and left me a sinkful of his dishes) and drove off.  

It was DELICIOUS.  I had a grilled sandwich with chicken, harissa, olive spread and tomatoes.  Heaven between carbs (which is basically heaven wraped in heaven).  The sandwich was a bit on the pricey side for a random Cambridge bakery ($10)…but in all honesty, I did not eat again for 8 hours.  I also bought myself a chocolate brioche roll.  It was tasty, but not as good in my opinion.  The roll was a bit on the drier side. 

I would never have found this place if my friend didn’t recommend it.  Who else has places to recommend in Boston/Cambridge/suburbs?

I never ever thought I would make granola bars.  There a tons of agreeable varieties on the shelves at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Shaws…hell, even Food Emporium (whom I loathed in NYC) had a decent selection.  They aren’t very expensive so picking up a few different types is never a problem.  So I think I shocked even myself when I decided to whip up a batch this week (ok, it was actually because I didn’t have buttermilk in the house to make a chocolate cake).

My apartment smelled delicious though; warm honey, cinnamon and toasted oats make for a nice combination of scents when it’s chilly outside!  And then, I pulled the ultimate rookie move.  I burned them. Sigh.  That will teach me for attempting to write a cover letter, gchat with a team member and tweet all while attempting to make these!  The ones on the edge of the pan are pretty unbearable, but the inner ones aren’t too bad.  In fact, the top half are actually quite tasty.  I will need to make a second attempt because I know their potential goodness.  I will also need to start buying rolled oats in bulk if that is the case, 7 cups is a lot of whole grain!

Granola Bars

• 7 c rolled oats (NOT quick-cooking oats)
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 1/2 tspn salt
• 3/4 c honey
• 3/4 c packed light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 tspn cinnamon
• 1 1/2 c coarsely chopped nuts (I used sunflower nuts, almonds and added dried cranberries)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375°F
2. Toss oil, oats and salt together and put on a baking sheet.  Toast in the oven, stirring frequently ~20-25 minutes
3. Cook honey and brown sugar in a sauce-pan over medium-heat to melt the sugar.  Add the extract and cinnamon then set aside
4. Remove the oats from the oven and lower the temperature to 300°F.  Toss the oats with the honey mixture and nuts
5. Line a 12×18 baking sheet with foil and coat with a vegetable spray.  Spread the mixture onto the pan and pack tightly and evenly
6. Bake until golden, 34-40 minutes
7. Cook on a wire rack for ~15 minutes then cut into 2×3 inch bars in the pan.  Let cool completely before removing from the pan
8. Because I think everything tastes better with chocolate, I melted some semi-sweet chips and drizzled over the bars prior to removing them from the pan (which also helped with the burn taste)

Source: The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook