Googie Burger in Centennial Park

I love to get on community listservs, especially ones from public places like libraries and parks. I know it's a little quirky, but I love community and people getting outside and enjoying each other and their environment. Every once in a while, the annoyance of getting an inbox full of generic emails pays off.

Like this past Wednesday. After work I headed down to Centennial Park in downtown Atlanta for their Wednesday WindDown outdoor concert series.

It was so packed in the amphitheater that we walked right through security and right back out to find a place on the lawn. By this time, we were laden down with yummy food and ready to start grubbing. Thanks to Scoutmob, I had heard of a little gem of a place, Googie Burger. They have spiked Twinkie milkshakes. Wow.





I presented the idea of a jazz concert to my friend and threw in that we could grab dinner down there. Truth be told, I wanted to use my Scoutmob at Googie Burger and found the concert as a great excuse. Both turned out to be excellent.

I got the Veg Out Burger, which is one of the best veggie burgers I've had in Atlanta. With all the gastropubs and burger boutiques around here, someone actually is doing a decent veggie burger! Go Googie Burger. I paired this with the peach shake - real peaches! - and stole some fries from my friend.

I learned something new as well, and that's how to say "Googie." It starts with goo, as in baby talk, and ends in gee. Each person who picks up there order is a Googie Guest.

twd ~ Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies

Thanks to Spike of Spike Bakes for the wonderful pick this week! I was very happy to have something 1) chocolatey and 2) a cookie.


These disappeared way too quickly. I baked them on Wednesday for a gathering on Friday. When they came out of the oven, a guy I'm seeing was over, so he had to try them. Then a friend came over and we made dinner, so naturally we had one for dessert. Since she was going back to work, she needed to take a few. Three dozen down to two dozen.

Two dozen for a gathering of seven sounds fine. Within five mintues they were gone. The thing I didn't take into account was that this was a gathering of our organization's summer interns. College kids eat a lot, especially after running from the park to a bookstore to get away from thunderstorm that was dropping gallons. But the great thing about college kids: it didn't matter a bit and we were able to laugh it off and have a wonderful, wet time!

Since I'm not a big raisin and chocolate fan, I subbed chocolate chips. Everytime I bit into one, I thought it would be wonderful with icing or filling of some sort. This would be a great base for whoopie pies!

Savory Spinach and Cheese Bread Pudding

Savory bread pudding? Is this possible? Edible? Wh-at?



I was thumbing through my co-worker's Mediterranean Harvest cookbook by Martha Rose Shulman and saw Savory Bread Pudding. Honestly, I had been thinking I needed to do something with all the bread piling up in my refrigerator. I'm not a big bread eater, but somehow I've been getting a lot lately. After a day or two I pop it in the frig because my kitchen gets a lot of sun and tends to warm up during the day, especially in the hot days we've been having down here in Georgia.

How weird it must look to people who come over and open up the frig for a glass of water or wine and are greeted by half full bags of bagels and breads sticking out from every shelf! Throwing it away would be the normal thing, but that seems wasteful to me, so I was very happy to have just the recipe for not so fresh bread.

I used a combination of crusty French bread, challah, seseme seed bagels, and whole-wheat bagels.



Strata
*adapted from Mediterranean Harvest

1/4 pound stale bread, sliced into cubes about 1/2 inch thick
1 garlic clove
grated cheese, about 1/4 cup or more
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach (could use fresh)
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
salt and pepper (black and cayenne)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.



2. Dice garlic and add to cubed bread. Layer half in a baking dish, add cheese and spinach, and then other half of bread.



3. Beat eggs and milk until mixed well. Add about 1/4 tsp salt and pepper to taste.



4. Bake 40 minutes until puffed and browned

Can be served hot or cold. It was delicious at room temperature served with a fresh green salad.

twd ~ Date Nut Loaf

Calling this a loaf makes it sound like bread. But as my friend said after taking a bite, "Hey, this is like cake!"

It's cake dressed up like bread. It has lovely walnuts and dates that take the stage, and lots of butter and cream cheese hiding in between. I'm now thinking of making muffins out of this batter and putting cream cheese icing on top for cupcakes.



I stuck to Dorie's recipe this time completely! I didn't have the correct size loaf pan, so I made a regular and a mini loaf. The mini was done in the specified time, however, the larger one took another half an hour. It made me a little nervous because that's a long time over, but it turned out a lovely golden brown and very moist.



Check out all the lovely walnuts and dates! The walnuts are definitely the best part for me. Thanks to Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet for a great pick this week!

twd ~ Chocolate Biscotti

Thanks to Jacque of Daisy Lane Cakes for a wonderful pick this week!

I love biscotti. It's so nice to have a perfectly dippable sweet treat to accompany coffee or tea. It feels much more grown-up than cookies, and perhaps that's why I've never thought about making it. I tried once before, with mixed results. This recipe was great - almonds, chocolate chips, cocoa.

I only made two slight changes - it might be a record for me with a TWD! I halved the recipe, and I mixed the chocolate half bittersweet chips, half dark chocolate chunks.

The dough was very sticky and I had a little trouble shaping it into logs. The recipe says to bake for 20 mins or so, remove and cut into nice biscotti strips, and bake for another 10 mins or so. I think I baked it a little too long during the first baking round because I had trouble cutting it without making a crumbly mess.

One of the things I enjoyed most about this biscotti was the keeping factor. I went out of town unexpectedly because of a feline death in the family. When I came back last night, and pulled the biscotti out of the cabinet, it was just as good as last Monday when I made them!

twd ~ Peach Brown Sugar Plain Cake

This cake may not have turned out to be the prettiest, but what it lacks in looks, it makes up for in taste.

This week's TWD was chosen by Cindy of Everyday Insanity. The original reciped calls for blueberries; I subbed two peaches and cut the recipe in half. It ended up a little heavy on the peaches for it to stay together. One would have been plenty but I do love the moisture they added. I used barely ripe peaches to retain some of the tartness you get with berries.

I really enjoyed making this one tonight. Sometimes TWD sneaks up on me, and it can feel like one more thing hanging over me. It's been a stressful past couple of days trying to catch-up from being gone last week on a work trip. I love the work trips to New York because I get away and get to visit my sister, but it's coming back to the same old stressors and the work piled up that is daunting. Being able to turn on the radio, have a glass of wine, and bake up a delicious, simple cake really raised my spirits tonight. It made me remember what I first loved about baking.

Las Vegas: Brunch at Simon's

Being the oldest in my grade meant getting my driver's license first, turning 21 first, and....turning 30 first. Thankfully, I love birthdays and haven't hit an age that scares me yet. But it's a milestone birthday that must be celebrated, and celebrated well. So my high school crew and I decided to have a we're turning 30 bash in Las Vegas!



Thanks for storms in the mid-west, some of us had a few canceled flights and arrived a day late...and all the more ready for relaxation and fun! We stayed at Mandalay Bay, which was great. Lovely pools and a fake beach, a wave pool and a lazy river, were perfect for daytime catching up over Poolade (it's blue) and Pina Colodas. By the third morning, we needed a little something else so we headed over to Simon's for brunch.



This is Kerry Simon's, aka the Rock n Roll chef, restaurant. We were a bit embarrassed when he came to our table and it took a few minutes to realize who he was. Hey, after four nights in Vegas we were a little slow on the uptake. The brunch was amazing! We sit down and start and the next thing we know it's four hours later and we are the last ones in the place. The waiters didn't seem to mind, and came out and threw confetti on our table...confetti in the shape of men's...parts. But the sweetest ending was the plate of treats.

NYC: La Esquina Taqueria

Whenever work sends me to New York, I get excited. It means a weekend vacation with my sister who lives there!

Yesterday, we ventured to SoHo to browse and shop. I love looking in the Pearl Market and getting some little cute gag gifts. Then we grabbed some tacos and plantains at la Esquina Taqueria on Kenmare Street. It was delicious and had great vegetarian options.



The top taco is Hongo y Espzote - the hominy in it was genius! It provided great texture with the sauce and a nice mellow flavor. The bottom taco is the Aguacate con Queso. Advocado + queso + black beans = my idea of a well-rounded taco.



We ate at the walk-up counter just inside, but they've recently opened a cafe side that was busy. Added bonus, the logo is a Mexican wrestling mask!

Baby Shower Onesie Sugar Cookies

It's starting...the babies are coming. First it was wedding bells, chiming every few months, until about half of my friends were married. They still chime, but since we've approached and hit thirty, it's much more of a slow affair.

Currently, two of my close girlfriends from high school are pregnant. It's a first for us. I am incredibly blessed with my high school friends. We have remained close over the years and distance, and each followed different paths. Now some are adding "mother" to their list of incredible undertakings.

For the past couple of months, I must have looked like a baby crazed woman! I checked out how to throw a baby shower books from the library, hit up the baby section in every Michael's, Party City, Target, and department store in the metro Atlanta area looking for way to ensure a great baby bash. At the end of the day it was fantastic, due to the wonderful people there and all the laughs we shared. The best was bobbing for nipples followed by decorating onesies and taking a Mommy IQ quiz.

For favors, I made sugar cookies cut like onesies and decorated with royal icing. I was a little nervous with the icing since it was my first time using royal icing to get a hard, glossy affect, but it couldn't have been easier. It was harder finding meringue powder to use, which I finally found at Michael's.