dc snowpocalypse: dessert at potenza

Unlike Cake, I had a delightful time in the snowpocalypse, trudging about to see hockey and throw snowballs and enjoy delicious hot chocolate courtesy of a bustling Mr. Yogato. And like a good citizen, I felt it was my duty to support businesses that opened in the storm by patronizing as many of them as possible.

Thus, tonight Cake and I celebrated her return to humanity with dinner at Potenza, which was advertising its “snow day open” status on its website.

Like good diners, we made a reservation. Such a precaution turned out to be unnecessary.

That’s Cake. There’s no one else in the restaurant, save two hardy souls at the bar.

We gorged ourselves on starches, pausing halfway through to make sure that the snow day menu did indeed include desserts. (You never know when those pastry chefs are going to get stranded in the outer suburbs.)

Cake ordered the buttermilk panna cotta with oven roasted strawberries and lemon crisp:

I ordered the chocolate-hazelnut semi freddo with espresso sauce. Here is it closed:

and here it is open:

And how did they taste?
THIS GOOD
Cake even thought they were worth taking a lactaid for:

Coke and peanuts got us through the DC snowpocalypse

Ok, slight exaggeration. We actually survived on salads and sandwiches. But this culinary experiment did provide much amusement when we were freezing our butts off after 2 days with no electricity.

Mr. X-sXe’s coworker has this concoction EVERY DAY, believe it or not, with Diet Dr. Pepper. The coworker says it’s a southern thing that he used to share with his grandmother. Kind of like the orange slice cake we wrote about last year, maybe: http://bit.ly/awXf8E

The snack-sized packs of peanuts from 7-11 are best for this.

Make a funnel with your hands so peanuts don’t go flying everywhere.

Looks weird, but worth trying! It certainly adds a satisfying crunch to your drink, turning it into a 500+ calorie dessert/snack.

Care for some pepper in your tea?

Pie reviewed the desserts at Ping Pong Dim Sum a few weeks ago, but I thought the drinks were good enough to deserve their own post.

Mr. X-sXe got the pear and kumquat tea (pear purée, fresh kumquats and jasmine iced tea). Mine was the raspberry and black pepper bubble tea (raspberry purée, jasmine iced tea and chewy tapioca “pearls”). Of course, you need a ridiculously giant straw so you can suck up the pearls. While both drinks were super light and refreshing, I recommend trying the raspberry one. The black pepper in it actually worked really well. The pepper floats on the top, so you can control how much you want per sip. Sounds like an odd combination, but pepper and tea isn’t unheard of. (Chai from scratch can be brewed with many spices, including black peppercorns.)

Read pie’s review of their desserts here: http://bit.ly/7IYvUB

Bacon-chocolate pancakes. A good reason to wake up in your own drool.

Last fall, Vosges turned Mo’s Bacon Bar into a pancake mix: http://bit.ly/d97yLw. As luck would have it, Mr. X-sXe was in O’Hare Airport when he spotted a dedicated Vosges store (something more airports should have). He picked up the mix for $12.

Ever since we made these last weekend, I’ve been thinking about them. Tonight I was tempted to make these instead of dinner. The batter’s super light and fluffy, a nice complement to the richness of the “chocolate chips” (a crumbled  Mo’s Bacon Bar). On its own, the Bacon Bar is just so-so. But it works really well here in its melted state.

$12 is pricey (the mix makes only eight medium-sized pancakes), so you could always buy the Bacon Bar for $7.50 to add to your favorite pancake mix.

Or you could chop up this bacon-chocolate pig to add to your pancakes ($8). But that would be a waste of its cuteness.

ideal Saturday morning

ideal Saturday morning

Originally uploaded by ann gav

Saturday morning, I had a panic attack.
Solution? Self-medicating with vegan cupcakes, coffee, and trashy gossip websites.
Please note the way I eat cupcakes – chopping the bottom off first, then saving the icing for last.

What this country needs: more cupcake stores

Chalk another one up for cake. Ad writer Melanie Simonich did a little research into the number of cupcake shops per city versus suicide rates. Here’s what she found. As you may have guessed, Melanie is on Team Cake.

Delivering treats to your door, Curbside Cupcakes

DC needs more food trucks that sell something other than dirty water dogs, so Curbside Cupcakes is a welcome addition. I must have some innate cake homing device, because I randomly came across their truck on Connecticut Avenue this afternoon. Then again, the bright pink is hard to miss.

They’ll deliver to your door (minimum 2 dozen cupcakes per order). The truck also roams the streets of DC, so if you happen to be in the neighborhood, you can get your cupcake fix. Check out their schedule here:  http://www.curbsidecupcakes.com/order.html

I’m guessing the peppermint chocolate cupcake (pictured) is the redheaded stepchild of the menu, because it was the only flavor left. A customer behind me actually walked away empty-handed when she found out they’d run out of everything else. I recommend this cupcake after it’s been refrigerated, which I know is heretical among true bakers. But it gave the subtly minty icing a nice, almost chewy texture akin to the filling of a Peppermint Patty. I’m looking forward to trying their key lime next time. Until we meet again, cupcake truck!

Is it Still Tasty? Here’s how to find out.

I’m guilty of storing foods in my fridge and freezer much longer than I should. Not a good thing, especially when you realize the gelato you’re serving guests has a major case of freezer burn.

That’s why Still Tasty is such a great resource. It gives you the shelf  life of a huge range food items. And it’s very specific. When I searched for “cupcakes,” it came back with results for both frosted and unfrosted cupcakes. Did you know that unfrosted ones last two months longer in the freezer? I didn’t, either.

pie’s take on the salted caramel cupcake

I like salt with my sweets. I regularly give my chocolate chocolate chip cookies a sprinkle of kosher salt before baking to bring out the flavors and cut down on the richness. And I am one of those disgusting people who thinks that the invention of chocolate covered potato chips is pure brilliances.

So I was mightily disappointed by the salted caramel cupcake. The cake consistency wasn’t bad, especially since it had been in a fridge for a couple of days. But that icing! Ugh. The cupcake flavor is not billed as “salted AND caramel”, but that’s certainly how it tastes. The caramel dripped on top is super sweet, but it can’t balance the flavor of the salty salty buttercream. I am with Mr. x-sXe on this one; it was like eating a stick of butter. And since I only eat my sticks of butter dipped in hollandaise sauce, I’m going to say: DISAPPOINTMENT.

January’s seasonal flavor at Georgetown Cupcake: salted caramel

While Georgetown Cupcake is good, the products often don’t live up to the endless hype (making me wonder if they’re paying off publications like The Washington Post and Washingtonian magazine). So I was on the fence about trying this new flavor.

Is the salted caramel trend here to stay, or will it go the way of the pork belly?

The salted caramel thing is everywhere now, from Haagen-Dazs to Coco Sala, but the balance of salt-to-caramel is only sometimes done right. I actually really liked the buttercream frosting on this because I could taste both the salt and the caramel. Mr. X-sXe thought it was too much like eating a stick of butter, though.

Like Heidi Montag after her latest round of plastic surgery, this flavor-of-the-month is top-heavy.

Georgetown Cupcake is now a wildly successful local chain–the Bethesda store opened at the end of last year, and the Georgetown store moved to larger digs on M Street in December. But for what it’s worth, my favorite cupcake in town is still the Gianduja at Hello Cupcake.