Cake & Ice Creams » food

Get Your Jam On

Kelli — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 05:17:01 +0000

Our raspberry bush is insane this year. I’m not sure what we did differently last year (maybe all this rain was a good thing? Ack! I can’t believe that just came out of my mouth.) but we’ve got berries coming out of our ears! What to do with cups and cups of berries? Jam!

I’ve never tried canning before but it’s kind of fun. Kind of fun after the stressful parts. What if I cook it too long? What if the lids don’t seal? What ? How? Why? Bah! Stressful!

Then you hear a “pop” of the lid being sealed and all is well. And after that you get to eat it. Then it’s fun.

I tried this recipe because I like vanilla. Needless to say, I didn’t use mixed berries. It’s all raspberries, all the time in the Charboneau backyard. The jam turned out really yummy! One batch down, another on the way and who knows how many more after that. Don’t be surprised if you get jam for Christmas!

Kangaroos

Kelli — Sat, 07 May 2011 03:49:34 +0000

First we spotted them.

Then Kevin ate them.

What we learned:

Kangaroo is like a very lean steak, without being tough. It’s quite nice if you don’t think about the fact you’re eating a kangaroo. We also had a crocodile appetizer that tasted like….chicken. It was more chewy than chicken, but not in a gross, overcooked way. It wasn’t bad.

Garden Party

Kelli — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 04:42:14 +0000

One of the things we were super excited about in our new house were the ready-made garden beds outside and the abundance of herbs scattered about the yard. We planted tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, squash and tried a cantaloupe. Admittedly, we cheated this year with starters but we are still very proud of our blooming little guys!

We had our first taste of garden love when we made this light, yummy summer dinner. We used our own mint and basil…but the zucchini isn’t ready yet and we don’t have peas. With or without your own garden goods, there will be a party in your mouth!

Peppers!

Tomatoes!

Baconopolis

Kelli — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:28:16 +0000

I claim to not be a bacon lover, but I think my taste buds, they are a changin’. It’s not that I don’t like it. I don’t like that it over powers whatever else you’re eating it with. Stand alone, I like it fine.

I accidentily came upon this Tom Douglas event, Baconopolis, and immediately thought of Case. So, she, Mark, Kevin and I indulged our inner pork this past Friday. We ate ten different bacon dishes. Ten. Some people might think you can never have too much bacon. I hate to tell you, we were all baconed out by dish number 8. It did take that long. But we did suck it up and eat all ten.

Salty-Crispy-Fun!

The Bacon Menu:

B.L.A.T.
Bacon Cured Whole Pig
Bacon Cornbread Muffin
Pork n’ Beans – Mark’s favorite
Bacon Explosion – mine and Case’s favorite
Elvis’ Favorite: Hot Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon – Kevin’s favorite
Classic Carbonara
Bacon Fried Rice
Bacon Biscuit Sandwich with Gravy – a close second for me
Bacon Filled Doughnut with Maple Glaze and Bacon Salt – the overall winner of night

For the love of bacon!

Figgy Me Silly

Kelli — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:00:01 +0000

My work participated in the annual Figgy Pudding caroling competition, a benefit for the Pike Market Senior Center and the Downtown Foodbank. Despite our best vocal efforts, I think we frightened more downtown shoppers than got them to donate. The mayor donated to us though!

We sang all of the classics, over and over and over, including “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” which is what peaked our figgy interest…just what the heck is figgy pudding? Neither Kevin or I have had it so could not understand why they insist on getting some figgy pudding and not going until they get some. I mean, according to the song, you pretty much can’t have a Merry Christmas if you don’t have figgy pudding.

So we made some.

And were not impressed. It smelled good while baking…but it really doesn’t deserve two whole song verses.

We also made a Fig and Blue Cheese Stuffed Pork Tenderloin and Fig-Pecan Macaroons which were both pretty tasty. And we went to Cupcake Royale and tried their Figgy Pudding cupcake, which was much, much, much much, better than what we made.

In conclusion, we don’t want your figgy pudding. So don’t bring it right here.

We do though, [in tune, please] Wish You a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Full Tilt

Kelli — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:37:50 +0000

If you find yourself in the White Center neighborhood, or more likely, Columbia City, check out Full Tilt Ice Cream. It’s very similar to Pretty Kitty in that they have unique flavors like Ube, Blue Moon (their version of Fruit Loops) and Horchata, catering to the ice cream hipsters of Seattle. They have also incorporated the oh so popular bacon flavor. Yes. In ice cream. Their signature, Memphis King (peanut butter, banana, and chocolate covered bacon) was sadly not in the rotation but we did get a taste of Blue Cheese Bacon…which tasted like Blue Cheese and Bacon. I’m not sure how one could eat an entire scoop…but that’s just me.

Anyway, the waffle cones (yay waffle cones!) are made there so the store smells yummy. And even though we ordered single scoops, to fill our cones it was a lot more than that. And it was so cheap! I think it was like $6 bucks for two giant (single) waffle cone scoops. In case you were wondering, I had Coconut and Kevin had Rocky Road Overload, both very tasty!

The best part about Full Tilt is in addition to having great ice creams, they have loads of pinball and other old school arcade games. They also serve beer, beer floats and pizza and have concerts and birthday parties where you can create your own ice cream flavor. Awesomeness! Bring your quarters and make a night of it!

Here Kitty, kitty

Kelli — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:27:56 +0000

Ambrose and I went to Pretty Kitty, the new organic ice creams shop in the U-District. It was a really small, colorful shop and lucky for us there wasn’t a line around the block like every time I try to go to Molly Moon’s in Wallingford.

They had some unique flavors inluding Horchata (a mexican chocolate), Ube (a southeast asian sweet potato), Mango Spice and Fruit Loops! It TOTALLY tasted like Fruit Loops too! I had the Birthday Cake and it had real lemon cake chunks in it – so tasty! Ambrose had the Mint Chocolate Chip which you can’t really go wrong with. So, along with their wacky flavors, they have normal ones too which makes me happy because I’m only brave enough to taste, not eat a whole cone of something non normal ice creamy. The other rockin’ part was that the cones were all waffle cones! So, even if you want a small size, you get a mini waffle cone instead of those crappy sugar cones that taste like cardboard. AND! Yes, it gets better. Despite being “organic” ice creams, the prices were not organic prices at all! They were very reasonable in fact. $3 for our scoop + waffle cone.

I also loved that the people working there were super friendly and gave us as many tastes as we asked. And they didn’t seem annoyed with all my stupid “What’s that? How about that?” questions either. As we were leaving I asked, “Why Pretty Kitty?” Lucky us, one of those people behind the counter was Gabriel, the owner. You could tell he was really excited about his new venture. The story goes he used to be a promoter or event planner and liked the “cool kat” jazzy theme and used to go by cool kitty or something like that. Somehow, Pretty Kitty evolved and stuck. I like it, if for no other reason it’s fun to say you’re going to get ice creams from the Kitty store!

You had me at Bacon Jam…

Kelli — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:43:52 +0000

Although “You had me at poutine…” is what their shirts read.

This weekend we frequented Skillet Street Food, a mobile Airstream that serves gourmet street food. Kevin and I had both recently read about Skillet’s tasty burgers and figured we’d better go see how good this street meat really is. Since they’re mobile they have an online calendar that tells you when and where they’ll be - we tracked them to Northgate.

Their menu was written in sharpie on the side of the Airstream. We already new we wanted the burger but for the non-beef eaters they also had a pork sandwich, salad, poutine and gnocchi. The only beverage on tap was a very tasty and and quite refreshing cantaloupe mint lemonade. For dessert they served fresh off the mini-blow torch, smores. All of their menu was listed at tax included prices. Our burgers came with a ridiculously enourmous amount of fries – all only $9!

The burger – the reason we went – melted in my mouth. Every. Single. Bite. was tasty. I ate the whole thing with no soggy bun left to waste. The combination of perfectly cooked beef, cambozola, arugula and bacon jam was one that didn’t excite me at first. Unlike most of the world, bacon doesn’t do much for me. To me, it steals all the flavor and all I can taste is bacon. Bacon jam though….oh [insert drool here] it was good. It didn’t steal any flavor, just melded perfectly with the rest of the sandwich. It was probably one of the best, if not THE best burger I’ve ever had. No ketchup needed.

Our trip to Skillet was a definite win, giving Red Mill some steep competition for our taste buds. When feeding that burger craving the decision will be between BBQ or Bacon Jam? And of course we’ll have to factor in that you can’t get a MC Hammer (mandarine chocolate shake) out of an Airstream…no milk shake though gives reason to get ice creams for dessert!

Thanks, Mom!

Kelli — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:41:07 +0000

For my birthday, Mom got me a KitchenAid. It’s pretty and easy to clean and it mixes things. I think I love it, despite the stress that was picking out a color. Holy crap, I think that was the hardest thing I’ve had to do in a really long time. Should I go simple, like black or white? Or go with red like everyone else? Or get crazy with the orange? I talked to two friends, in different cities, on the same day; they both said that someday I’ll want my kitchen “matchy, matchy, so keep it simple.” No joke, they both said “matchy, matchy.” Hours of contemplating later, I picked Boysenberry because it was different but still matchable. I guess if my biggest stress is what KitchenAid color I want, I should be counting my blessings.

Thanks, Mom. I love it! And, thanks too for being the bestest Mom in the whole wide world. I baked you some cupcakes for Mother’s Day…you just have to come and get them!

This bud’s for me!

Kelli — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:06:54 +0000

Kevin surprised me this weekend with an early birthday present – a night in La Conner and a tour of the tulips in Skagit Valley. It was the perfect mini get-away. We escaped out of Seattle on Friday and headed to Gina’s Place, a cute little cottage right in the heart of La Conner (all two blocks of it!). We had a lovely dinner at Kerstin’s and by the time we were done, the town was pretty much abandoned so we went back and soaked under the stars in our private outdoor hot tub. Pure relaxation. So much so, add a little champagne and we were both fast asleep by 11pm! We needed to be well rested to see the tulips though so it was ok.

Saturday morning we slept in and had the Best.Breakfast.Ever. We went to Calico Cupboard Cafe. I have to mention it because my foodie friends would love this place. I had the banana coconut pancakes. It was so good that I turned to Kevin, said “I think I need to unbutton my pants” and then took another bite. We bought a bunch of baked goods to go too and snacked on giant macaroons the rest of the day.

I love the tulips. I’ve been several times and it’s always beautiful and memorable for different reasons. This time, I will never forget the tulips because they weren’t in bloom yet! There were fields and fields of colorful tulip buds but they hadn’t flowered. I was mostly bummed because Kevin has never seen them before. We did go to Tulip Town though. They had a few rows in bloom, all very beautiful and we were able to get the obligatory tulip pictures taken.

On our way home, we stopped at the Mount Vernon street fair and we of course hit the outlet mall at Tulalip. It was a long, busy, perfect day, that had us pooped and asleep by 11pm two weekend nights in a row.

Kinda lame? Yeah, we are. But it was the perfect storm of fun, exploration and relaxation!