Joanne's Birthday Cupcakes!

My friend Joanne has a serious caffeine addiction. I've never met anyone who consumes that many lattes and cups of coffee in a day. Perhaps that's the secret behind her sunny disposition?

J's birthday was today, and I wanted to bake her a little somethin'. I had all these incredible dreams of creating a milk chocolate-nutella cake, or dark chocolate and chili, or caramel and sea salt, or vanilla and lavender, or...I digress, as per usual.

Anyhow, as much as I convince her to try new sweets, J's pretty unwavering in her likes and dislikes. So I went with a pretty ingenious recipe - if I do say so myself - and made Cafe Latte Cupcakes!

Cafe Latte Cupcakes

*Those green things are little stir sticks from Starbucks down the block.

The recipe is as follows - I feel lame even calling it a recipe.

1 pkg Duncan Hines French Vanilla cake mix
1 pkg Duncan Hines French Vanilla frosting
1 shot of espresso

Prepare cake mix as directed, mix together frosting and espresso, and Voila: an intensely rich frosting with a bit of coffee bite, atop some seriously moist cake.

Happy Birthday J!

Carrot Soup

I may have mentioned before that one of my favorite things to make is soup. Not the watery, sodium packed variety from that well loved red and white can - No, my soup is homemade.
I love to make soup because you really can add anything you like; you're the artist here, it's your show.

There are an incredible number of soups that you can make at home. All you really need is some substance and some liquid. I'm a chicken stock girl myself, but water will do. You can use green, leafy vegetables, root veg, even fruit!

The following is my favorite soup-making method as I roast the veg before making the soup. To be honest, you could do without this step, but it doesn't yield the same sweet, smokey character. This version is with carrot and apple, but I've also made it with a variety of squash, sweet potato and parsnip.

Roasted Carrot and Apple Soup

Ingredients:
6 large carrots, peeled and chunked
2 apples, peeled and chuncked -Cortland is my fave
3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
1 med. white or yellow onion
2 tbsp Olive oil
S&P
3 c. chicken stock
3 c. water

Method:

Preheat oven to 450 F. On a baking sheet, toss the carrots, apples, onion and garlic in the olive oil and S&P. Roast for 15 mins.

Transfer the roasted veg to a large pot and add chicken stock and water. Bring to a boil, reduce to med. heat and simmer for 20 mins.

Puree the mixture in small batches, and add some S&P to taste.

The result; a smooth, rich soup, like a hug on a cold day! :)

Roasted Veg

Roasted Carrot and Apple Soup
garnished w/ Hot Chili Flakes and Rosemary

Early Morning market

Here's something a little odd...or rather, I felt a little odd. That's right folks - This is what the market looks like early on Saturday morning...and I mean early. This is what happens before the crowds of people appear to get their weekly provisions, and catch up with old friends.

Cranberry Loaf French Toast

I was about to make breakfast at my aunt's house this weekend when I discovered a loaf of cranberry bread. I don't particularly love any kind of loaf, but I love to do this little breakfast trick - Who would want regular French Toast when they could have Cranberry French Toast? With a little bit of peppered bacon for spice to complement the sweetness of this dish and a strong cup of coffee, this makes the perfect breakfast.

I've also tried this recipe with chocolate-chip banana bread garnished with slices of fresh banana. Pound cake works great too with fresh field berries or cherries.

Cranberry Loaf French Toast

2 Eggs
3 tbsp. milk or cream
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla

2 slices of cranberry loaf
Dried cranberries and orange zest to garnish
Maple syrup

Method:

Boil the kettle and rehydrate the died cranberries to make them plump. Whisk together first 4 ingredients. Dip the loaf in the egg mixture and let sit until well absorbed. Fry on med heat until egg is cooked. Drizzle w/ maple syrup, cranberries and orange zest.

For peppered bacon, simply grind big chunks of black pepper over the bacon as it cooks.

The Newfoundland Chocolate Company

"Life is like a box of chocolates.
You never know what you're gonna get"

-Mrs. Gump

When I went home to St. John's, NL for Christmas, I was thrilled to find that a new business had been created in my absence; The Newfoundland Chocolate Company. Owners Christina Dove and Brent Smith started creating these little bits of chocolaty goodness in 2008 using imported Belgian, Swiss and French 'coverture' chocolate.

"I could give up chocolate, but I'm not a quitter"
- Anonymous

This Terra Nova Series, a box containing both milk and dark chocolates combined with real NL berries; blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, all combined with hazelnuts and almonds. I'm not normally a melt-in-your-mouth chocolate kind of girl, but these chocolates make you sit-up and take notice. With their unusual addition of black currants, cranberries and partridgeberries, these are seriously one of those treats that I have to force myself to walk away from.

"A day without chocolate is a day without sunshine"

Check out their stuff, or better yet, buy their stuff. You won't be disappointed!

http:www.newfoundlandchocolatecompany.com/

Happy Birthday to me and to 'With Bite'!

It's unbelievable that I've been writing 'With Bite' for a full year - But today, we celebrated our birthday - #1 for my blog, and me, well, let's just say twenty something. It's hard to believe that a whole year has passed since I started 'With Bite', and the response has been overwhelming. I'd like to say a big thank you to all who share their food and beverage experiences with me, and in turn, letting me share mine. Looking forward to Bday #2 next year!

For my special night, I went to a favorite spot of mine, The Brooklyn Warehouse. I've been to Brooklyn several times and enjoyed incredible food in a great atmosphere. When it came to choosing where to celebrate my day, it was an easy decision.

As per usual, being January, I rung in my Bday on a freezing cold night. When I walked into the restaurant however, the warm atmosphere and intoxicating aromas from the kitchen quickly helped my friends and I defrost. Note: I'm still working on my photography skills!

I started out the evening with the Warm Mushroom Salad, an incredible pairing of thick, tender mushrooms, rich feta and crispy pancetta. These were served tossed with mixed greens.



For my main, I went with the Fulton St. "Chowder", an array of fresh, luscious seafood; hook and line caught haddock, tender scallops and jumbo shrimp in a light broth of cream, Viognier and sweet fennel. The seafood rested on a bed of tender red potatoes.


It was a great birthday; I celebrated with good food, good wine and great friends - three of my favorite things. I'd like to thank the crew at Brooklyn for living up to my greatest expectations, as they usually do. You don't often find a place that satisfies again and again. Fortunately, at Brooklyn, you can expect to leave happy and sated.

New Year's Eve at Bianca's

Well, we did it! We got seats at St. John's top restaurant on NY's eve. It appears that perseverance really does work. Though there were no tables for two, my sis and I got two set-ups at the bar where we perched for a fantastic New Year's Eve celebration.

As it was relatively late - 9:30 to be exact, and a full night of celebration was to be had, we decided to go a light route by sharing two small appetizers and a main course. We also shared a bottle of Oyster Bay Sauvingon Blanc.

Duck Fois Gras, Roquefort & Walnut Bread w/ a
Pomegranate Emulsion

Ooooo- this was so good! The rich fois gras was luxurious and so well balanced with the sweet and tart pomegranate molasses. That pairing was further luxed-up with pungent Roquefort cheese with a creamy consistency and sharp flavor. These were all served atop a lovely walnut bread having a french toast-like consistency; soft and moist with a touch of resistance to the tooth.

Sweet Chestnut Ravioli w/ a Forest Mushroom Ecume

This was a rather small appy, and a little pricey for the size, but tasty, with an amazing flavour pairing. The chestnut filling was smooth and sweet, having a fois gras consistency - not intended, but pleasant nonetheless. The rich filling contrasted well with the earthly mushroom sauce.

Cod a la Provencal, Capers, Zucchini, Olive Oil Vinaigrette and
Parsnip, Lemon & Honey Risotto

This dish was the third of our amazing culinary delights. Having grown up with our father making it all the time, my sis and I have quite the weakness for cod. We chose the Provencal cod w/ one of my food weaknesses; risotto. I would never have imagined the satisfying combination of parsnip, lemon and honey, but the two complimented each other nicely. The cod itself was meaty, though no knife was needed. The topping of zucchini, capers and olives were a lovely accompaniment, adding a touch of salt that cut through the sweet risotto. It also added a fresh, crispy component to the dish.

It was altogether a wonderful evening. We started off at home with champagne, and our bottle of Oyster Bay was the perfect choice to pair with all three dishes. In addition, we finished right on time to ring in the New Year. Champagne and fois gras- What better way to start off 2009?!

Happy New Year!!!

So, I don't usually post something before I go out, but tonight it's necessary. My sis and I are about to consume two bottles of champagne before embarking on a chance reservation at Bianca's, a well-known, savored resto of mine in my hometown of St. John's, NL. Although food is my obsession, I just thought about a New Years reso LAST NIGHT! Clearly, my priorities are out of whack!

I just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year's Eve, and the very best for 2009!