Mini spiced cake with root beer poached pear, cream cheese icing and chopped orange zest

Ok boys and girls, this is the long awaited project I have been meaning to post about for a while. This is a semi-homemade spiced cake with root beer poached pear, cream cheese icing and chopped orange zest. 

I made the spiced mini cakes in a brownie pan the hubs got me for Christmas. They are about the same size as a cupcake, but square, of course. I got red pears, peeled them, cut them in half and poached them for about 15 minutes. (VERY low heat!) I sliced them as thin as I can. I used A&W root beer but I would rather have found an artisanal kind. Unfortunately I cannot get any unless I go into Columbus. For the cream cheese icing, I used a number 22 star tip ( though you can't quite see the detail from this photo). And for the orange zest, I just used a small pairing knife to cut small pieces of zest. It would be better to use a zester, especially for less experienced bakers. I drizzled a little of the poaching root beer just lightly over the cake to add a little moisture. 

As for the taste, it was delicious. I only like the Duncan Hines spiced cake, all others I have tried taste more artificial than anything else. It held moisture well and wasn't too delicate to wilt under the pears. I do suggest waiting for the cake and pears to cool down before assembling and piping on the icing. The icing just slid off in my impatience to try my little experiment. Another idea would be to add a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar, for a little flare.  

New Year

The New Year brings along all sorts of resolutions that, lets face it, last a few weeks at the most. Lose weight, eat better, get a better job, stop smoking....the list drags on and on of things people wish they could do. Its hard sticking to something that you really don't want to do.

So is there a secret to doing what you set out to do? Not really. Forcing yourself to keep up the work, not giving up, and making an active decision to keep going is the only way to muster enough motivation to make your dreams come true.

This year, I would like to get my blog off the ground. Since I have created it, there hasn't really been much traffic. I am on twitter and facebook; telling my friends about it, posting everywhere and forcing family to subscribe, but no one else really takes an interest. Maybe I am going to have to make it more interesting. Draw in a crowd, be controversial, or something.

Improvements are to come. Subscribe, follow my email, and keep checking the blog to see updates. Comments are always welcome.

End of the World...

Well its December 21, 2012 and so far, no zombies, meteors, random fires, black holes, etc. Just a swarm of frozen H2O flakes falling from the sky. After being attacked by future snowman particles I've settled in to the nice, warm in doors. Christmas is fast approaching and I am sure about half of you have put off all the shopping, hoping the Mayans were right. Now that you are still alive, a scramble like none other before is the order of the day. Just three more days until the children of this country are doused in more toys than they need, blood sugar is raised by the hundreds of chocolate consumed and at least one person gets that ugly sweater from the one family member who just doesn't get it.

The hubs and I are spending Christmas Eve and the beginning of the day with his parents and family, then back up to my family. We have a tradition where we are allowed to open one present Christmas eve night, as a sort of teaser gift. Watching every Christmas movie known to man kind and drinking gallons of hot chocolate is how the few days before the holiday is spent.

Now, what are your traditions? Do you even have a tree? How do you decorate it? What is Christmas dinner like? Do you have to deal with family members who don't know what privacy, volume or deodorant is? Share your holiday stories and traditions below.

Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and may Kwanzaa be a good time of year for you.

Old Fashioned Christmas, London Ohio

After trudging through miles of cold, I am now toasty warm, back inside. The Old Fashioned Christmas was not what I expected it to be. There was a hay/carriage ride, some carolers, and hot chocolate or popcorn for a price or donation. It was very sparse in comparison to the last one I attended. It did leave me disappointed and wishing there had been more activity.

There was delicious hot chocolate, cookies, coffee and Belgian waffles provided by the London Coffee Peddler, or at least Mike, for the Trails of Madison County (I don't know their real name). The hot chocolate had some sort of spice in it which I am thinking is cardamom. It made it pleasantly delicious. The Belgian waffles had a light citrus flavor and made me regret getting the cookie instead.

There wasn't much of anything to look at or participate in. If you wanted to stand around for 45 minutes you could jump in a vessel drawn by horses to the other side of Main Street. But who has that kind of time while freezing your toes off. I did receive a free roll of wrapping paper, which are covering many gifts at the moment. There was pictures with Santa, for $5 and the shops stayed open a little later than usual.

All in all, it was just like a consumer's commercial all night. "Come in here and buy something" is really what it should be named. The last time I attended, there was free hot chocolate and at least 6 groups of carolers, a walking Santa, candy, cookies and all sorts of things. Now its just like a Christmas advertisement.

Rothwell's, London Ohio

After mixed reviews of this place from people around town, I decided to take my mother and try this place tonight. I heard it was rather pricey, especially for the area. Researching the menu online, it was no more expensive than Red Lobster or Ruby Tuesdays.

Upon entering, I was rather confused if the woman by the door was the hostess or a customer waiting on someone. (Seeing as how there was no hostess stand and she was wearing a jacket) The hostess stand is a wall table, by the men's restroom. We walked along a high wall to the main dining area. The bar is mostly closed off, which gives the impression of seclusion from the rest of the dining room. The tables are covered with white linen and....butcher paper. I see the idea for this, not having to spend so much money on the cleaning service, but I don't know if this works for the classy feeling they are trying to project. I had the impression that they are going for five star family restaurant, which is incohesive combined.

The menu had a wide variety of items, a long way from the eight they first started with, said one customer. The server did, what I always believe is the ultimate sin for a sever. While standing there, waiting for us to order, mom was making last minute decisions and she said that she could come back because she has another table she needs to get drinks for. As soon as I heard that, I didn't like her. That is one of the worst things to say to a customer. "Its ok, I have more important people than you to take care of" is always what goes through my head whenever a server mentions they have other people waiting for them.

I was really offended that our less than patient server gave us burnt cornbread. Yes, burnt. The bottoms were almost completely black. Of course this made it completely dry as well. It was extremely yellow and at first I thought it was some kind of lemon cake. I don't care who you are, how lazy you are, or ineptly ridiculous you might be, never, ever, ever serve anything burnt, especially to me.

 We both got the daily special: pulled pork on texas toast with red skin mashed potatoes and onion rings. The pork was unbelievably salty. It tasted like it sat in cooking liquid for hours while it reduced into a salt lick. I had to stop eating it because it was hurting my mouth having that much sodium and the flavorful gravy just made it worse. It made the texas toast extremely soggy. The potatoes were rich and delightful. The small amount of gravy on them gave them a little boost of flavor. The onion rings tasted beer battered and were crispy and light. I am still debating on weather of not they are homemade or frozen. For dessert I got the chocolate lava cake a la mode. Now I don't believe these people know what a lava cake really is. When you cut into it, its supposed to be flowy, gooey, oozy. But instead, there was just melted little pieces of chocolate and it was too moist to hold up the ice cream and started to collapse and get soggy. It needed to be much denser.

The staff acted really odd in general. It was like a bunch of little school kids afraid to come over and just kept pushing each other saying "You go!". They were aloof and stayed in the kitchen as much as possible. I know the place I work, all the servers are always talking to everyone. Each other, customers, even themselves (haha) but these acted robotic.

Overall I give them 3 stars. I wouldn't really want to go back unless maybe someone else was paying for it.

Thanksgiving Overload

As Thanksgiving comes to a screeching halt and the ever lingering drive to purchase more merchandise in the month of December than in the entire year becomes more apparent, everyone feels Christmas fast approaching. Though I have not been able to do many reviews, I am diligently searching for the "diamond in the rough". Unfortunately, my favorite coffee shop is temporarily closed pending relocation. Thus begins the quest for the "back up".

Although I am doing my best to stick with restaurants, mainly non-commercially owned and operated, I am eagerly waiting the major highlight of these cold months: Old Fashioned Christmas. I have heard it has changed since my last visit, but am looking forward to it nonetheless. I will be reviewing the different spectacles throughout the night and hopefully will post pictures of the event. If it is a disappointment, you will hear about it. It is promised to have food provided by the shops, activities and horses pulling some kind of apparatus.

Anticipating being bundled up and doused in hot cocoa, this girl is excited to relive the night for my readers. (however few and far between you might be) More reviews are to come as the remainder of the year treads onward. I hope you all had a happy thanksgiving.

Mini Chef

London Coffee Peddler, London Ohio Update

I figured I would do an updated review on the London Coffee Peddler because of the seasonal menu. Mike puts out seasonal menus for beverages and, let me tell you, the chai menu is nothing short of amazing. I am very weary about chai at places because I have experienced people who had no idea what this beverage entails. Either watered down, overpowering, or just plain disgusting has always been my experience.

I ordered a caramel and vanilla chai to test out the new-ish menu. It was amazing. The spices were not overpowering, the caramel and vanilla were more than just subtle hints of flavor. It was the first chai I have actually liked that I didn't make myself. I am excited to try more of the seasonal beverages.

Now this places is not just amazing coffee and chai. Mike provides customers with soup of the day, sandwiches, oatmeals, cookies, muffins, danishes and a lot more. This is one place I HIGHLY recommend people trying. It is on high street next to Subway, across from O'Conner's. And yes, that was a plug.