Coffee, Reinvented

A few months back, the hubs and I were watching this episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate when we almost booked plane tickets to San Francisco for a coffee drink. Yep, you heard right - coffee almost made us travel thousands of miles. KYOTO ICED COFFEE to be exact.

We watched in awe as someone went on and on about coffee that gets its inspiration from Japan. Two liters of water are poured into huge globes sitting atop five Kyoto slow-drippers. The water filters through at a rate of one drop every two seconds, splattering onto a cloth that disperses the liquid into a container filled with single-origin, natural-process coffee (meaning the beans are dried without removing the surrounding cherry fruit) for 12 to 20 hours, before being refrigerated. The long-dripping system leaves the coffee with an intense smoky flavor and bite and it’s intended to be enjoyed black over ice. Plus, they said it is served undiluted, so it has a MAJOR caffeine kick.

Great, we loooovvvvee caffeine (past evidence is here). Finally realizing we couldn't travel to San Fran for java though, Michael researched and found that someone in New York had the stuff! He went to Caffetteria in Soho earlier this week and tried out Kyoto. His verdict? Smooth, smokey and certainly a different kind of delicious!

Chocolate Birthday Wishes

In honor of my dear mother and her birthday, I figured I would post a fabulous chocolate cake recipe. After all, there is nothing she loves more than homemade chocolate layer cake. This Beatty's Chocolate Cake looks heavenly. If it were set down in front of her, I bet she could eat the whole thing by herself!



(Photos - Barefootcontessa.com and suitableforconsumption.blogspot.com)

A Better Burger

Elevation Burger, if you haven’t heard of it, is special for many reasons:

1. You’re only served freshly ground, organic, free-range beef that comes from grass-fed cows.
2. No corn, no antibiotics, no hormones, no chemicals – just good, honest, healthy beef.
3. The prices are beyond reasonable for such a quality product.
4. The hand-cut, cooked to order olive oil fries are delicious.

I could really taste the difference with the grass fed beef. The burger was somehow “lighter” than other burgers I’ve eaten and the pure beef flavor really came through. The list of burger toppings is impressive as any or all of the following are included for free on every burger: ketchup, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, caramelized onions, mustard, mayo, raw onions, Elevation Sauce, balsamic mustard, and hot pepper relish. Oh and for the carb-conscious - you can skip the bun and order your burger wrapped in a large lettuce leaf.

Elevation Burger really figured out how to elevate the whole burger experience. I give anyone who makes me feel less guilty about eating a burger and fries some MAJOR PROPS!

Island-y Enjoyment

I absolutely adore restaurants that make me feel like I’m on vacation. After eating at Bahama Breeze recently, I think that is the precise reason I’m suddenly enamored.

Yes, yes..I know it is a giant chain Caribbean-themed restaurant that has its own beer ( Aruba Red). But sometimes chain restaurants are just plain old fun, right? (See examples here, here and here.)

Bahama Breeze is truly like a restaurant you stumbled across during your last visit to the beach. You know the place...with its bustling outdoor patio and the guitarist strumming tropical tunes, a mile-long bar that serves by-the-gallon tropical drinks with little umbrellas, and an atmosphere filled with people having good times?

The food is certainly not gourmet but it is pretty dang tasty. Our quesadilla appetizer was filled with steamed lobster, shrimp, spinach and cheese and served with tomato salsa and sour cream. Mass produced or not, it was yummy.


Dinners included pan-seared salmon with lemon butter sauce and Jamaican grilled chicken. All in all – two thumbs up.




Palm Trees? check. Bamboo? check. Silly tropical drinks? check. Wait staff in Hawaiin shirts? check. Good food? check.

Fondness for France

I’m really not a sandwich girl at heart. I could usually take ‘em or leave ‘em. However, I do love all things French, so I can’t seem to stay away from a Croque Monsieur when it is offered on a menu.

Some say the Croque is a fancy grilled ham and cheese sandwich but I say not quite. What makes this sandwich so gosh darn special to me is the béchamel sauce. Leave it to the French - by the way - to douse an already delicious buttery sandwich in a thick sauce made of butter, flour and cream. Ahhh, that’s why I love those people.

I’ve had a hankering for this sandwich for a while now and am going to try making one at home. I know Ina’s recipe will probably be fool proof.

I think I’ll serve le Croque Monsieur just like it would be served at a French cafe...with cornichon (tiny gherkins) and Dijon mustard alongside. Maybe I’ll even get crazy and drink a glass of kir.

My weekend can’t come soon enough....

(Photo - delicecrepe.com)

Lunch Affair

I've written about my deep feelings for A&S before. It is dangerously close to my current place of employment so I sometimes find myself heading in that direction for lunch.


My newest discovery is what A&S calls an "eggplant sandwich." There is no bread...just two razor thin egg battered peices of eggplant with fresh salty mozzarella sandwiched in between. They top it off with a spoonful of their homemade marinara and a basil leaf. Not only do they make an easy quick lunch, but the taste is sheer perfection.

I love you A&S.

Parlez-vous Français?

You don't need to speak French to eat the delectable food - I'm proof of that.

We recently visited one of my favorite French bistros in Montclair called Epernay. The service is very friendly, the atmosphere is quaint and the food is exteremely enjoyable. What more could you want, right?

Epernay is a BYOB with closely spaced tables in a small dining area. The tables are set with linen and topped with white paper, and French doors open to outdoor, sidewalk seating, during the warmer months. The food is well prepared with fresh ingredients and is reasonably priced.

Our party dined on entrees like steak au poivre with creamy horseradish sauce alongside crispy frites and Baramundi over herbed cous cous and tomatoes with garlicky green beans on the side. YUM! My husband's absolute fave is the Frisee Salad with Lardons and a warm poached egg - need I say more?

Oh and save room for dessert because the Chocolate Mousse is outrageous.

Sorry about the stock food photos below from Epernay's website. I'm a bad little blogger who was so hungry she forgot to photograph the FOOD! Sorry :-(