Migration

It's been a while, I'm well aware. And I'm here to note that we've migrated to Baking and Eating. I don't know if you read this blog at all, but if you do, we'll be blogging on there from now on.

The Baker and Food in Cuba

A blog post about The Chocolate Museum

The non-baker and baker are currently in different cities in different countries and thus the baker finds it necessary to wax poetic about the flavors and textures of Cuban food herself.

After a long arduous day of drifting the streets of La Vieja Habana, learning about the layered architecture from the 20th century, and staring at the imported Asian cars and antique US ones, the baker found herself worn out. It was time for a snack.

She has no kitchen in which to bake for herself in Havana, nor would she really want anything hot, as it is already so hot and humid here. Instead, she wandered into the line outside The Chocolate Museum.

This little chocolate café is in the center of old Havana, near shops and cluttered with people in line to get in and order their chocolate fresca.

As readers of this blog know, the Baker is an odd one because she does not enjoy cocoa flavoring. That means no chocolate pudding or ice cream or milkshakes or milk. However, this cold chocolate drink was a very notable exception.

First the lady fingers arrived. These were different shapes and sizes, but their lack of uniformity made them all the more intruiging. The baker bit into a plain one. The soft crunch was surprisingly airy and savory. But, it was also dusted with cinnamon sugar. Yum.

Then the chocolate fresca came. The tall cool glass was already precipitating from the cool liquid it encased. Foam filled the top eighth of the glass. The first sip was wonderful. It was cold and frothy, yet full of flavor. It was thick and not syrupy. An milky iceshake. Then a straw and a napkin were brought. The baker wiped her chocolate moustache.

Where did the shake go? Was the glass really that small? There was only about a fourth of the glass till full.

She dipped the lady finger cookie. It softened and grew in size a little as the chocolate froth permeated the crisp exterior. Then in her mouth, it dissolved into crumble. Why didn’t I dip this before and order about 5 more of these?

Then the shake was gone. Only the aftertaste of the sweet shake lingered softly and sweetly in her mouth.

Coverage from the All Sweets and Snacks Exp

So it's over a month and a half late, but trust me when I say that it's been a busy time, what with final exams and all kinds of graduation related activities. But here it is. Here's coverage from the All Sweets and Snacks Expo from the non-baker and with photography help from the Foreign Correspondent, both of whom consider even the opportunity to have attended this convention to be absolutely magical.

Because, see there's a bit you have to understand about the expo. It can be overwhelming- both visually and on the palate. And, you only get the one show bag, so you have to make sure not to get too much of any one thing (unless you're absolutely nuts for a particular candy or snack item.) As a result, this year the non-baker had a very simple rule for herself: she was only allowed one bite of any given item. No matter how good or alluring: one bite. And though it was difficult, what with her love of jalapeno popcorn (there must have been at least 7 or 8 different varieties) and when faced with a chocolate company that offered full size turtles as snacks, she stuck to it and came away feeling full but not sickened by the candy in the way that she had been last year.

But enough of the difficulties. Here's a snap-shot of the highlights of the show (for the non-baker):

1. Gross-out Galore
The non-baker and Foreign Correspondent, upon wandering into the expo post-breakfast in the press area, were greeted by the site of bug food. Quite literally, as in this case flavored and chocolate covered insects were offered up. The Foreign Correspondent was disgusted, but the non-baker, who loves trying new things tried both the nacho cheese flavored meal worms (which were ok, sort of like cheese doodles but less substantial) and the ranch flavored grasshoppers (which she enjoyed the flavor of, even if she found the texture off-putting.)
But it was, if nothing else, a truly fun item to sample.

2. The Return of the Toxic Waste Candy
While the sour liquid candy offered by the Toxic Waste Hazardously Sour Candy Company was absolutely delicious and quite tart (the non-baker considers herself a particular connoisseur of sour candies) the most exciting part of visiting this booth was the chance for the Foreign Correspondent to grab a photo of the guy dressed as their mascot, a mad scientist. An interesting side note: despite having seen 'nuclear sludge' candy at their table last year, it was not featured this year.

3. Gamer Grub
The Foreign Correspondent spotted this table. She and the non-baker were both interested in the idea. Unfortunately rather than being some sort of tie in with a particular video game, it is simply a snack, albeit a decent one that includes plenty of protein so that if you were gaming for extensive periods it would be helpful- I guess? Unfortunately, by itself it was not particularly delicious, especially when compared with the other sweets and snacks at the show.

4. Snacks that won't kill you

At this point the non-baker and the Foreign Correspondent also decided that it would be a good idea to try as many of the savory offerings as possible- particularly because it was still mid-morning and neither of their stomachs had completely woken up enough to process the full offering of sweets available. As a result they tried a number of unusual snacks that were relatively healthy.

They tried some nori (Japanese seaweed) that was crunchy and fun.
They nibbled some dried...or was it dehydrated fruits and veggies. And were later, at a different stall, at the convention accosted by a woman at a booth when they were not able to immediately delineate the two methods, because according to this woman, one of them (though they fail to remember which) "removes all the flavor."
Then they ate pieces of ramen snack from Good Good Eat, which both of them enjoyed.
They also tried crackers from Funley's Super Crackers that had vegetables hidden in them (a way to get children to eat more healthfully.)


5. Inventions?
As it turns out, when one labels an exposition "All Sweets and Snacks" this allows items that might not otherwise fit into either category to feature their wares. Case in point: yogurt makers. To be fair the table was giving out yogurt samples (by way of those tiny little ice cream sampling spoons) and it was delicious yogurt, but the contraption did seem a bit, well, random.

6. Possibly the Best Idea Ever
The non-baker and Foreign Correspondent's possibly favorite part of the convention was the booth at which they were invited to try some chocolate-dried fruit- and cheese pairings. Absolutely delicious and a fantastic idea and absolutely delectable.

7. Super nice companies
Another high point were some of the exceedingly kind booth staffers. This included Katy Sweet Pralines, who gave the non-baker and the Foreign Correspondent at least 7 or 8 different types of pralines.
Similarly, the woman from Enstrom Candies was happy to talk about the the candy and chocolate making process and about Enstrom's 50 year history.

8. The Annual Jelly Belly Portrait
This year's portrait was of Harry Potter. It was very well done and it was fun to talk to the artist about this year's work.

9. Aztec Chocolate Man
Just to round off the event, this year the whole thing had a mascot, an Aztec man dressed in dark brown in order to represent chocolate. No particular reason was given for for his appearance but he was happy to allow photos to be taken with him.

And there you have it. A belated dispatch from one of the most magical places on earth: the All Sweets and Snacks Expo.

All Sweets and Snacks

So today the non-baker and the foreign correspondent attended the All Sweets and Snacks Exposition, hosted by the National Confectioner's Association.

Though the non-baker had been before, she found it again, both amazing and overwhelming. The foreign correspondent assessed it as being sort of similar to being a kid in a candy store, except that all of the candy was up for grabs (and was free.) It is truly a magical atmosphere, unlike almost any and every other convention (and not just because around half the attendees go around grabbing candy while they talk to representatives from different companies.)

They both enjoyed it greatly and plan on writing more about it in the coming days. Also, though she was not able to make the convention, the non-baker is planning on making sure that the Baker gets some of the treats that were there so that she can come up with some truly creative recipes incorporating new items from the show.

World's best black bean burger and sweet potato fries

Despite the fact that neither of them is a vegetarian, the Baker and the non-baker are both exceedingly fond of black bean burgers. And while there are a lot of restaurants that sell them, and whose are quite delicious, none of them stands up to the black bean burger with mango salsa that is made at Fox & Obel. It's a seasonal item, served only in the late spring and summer, which has, on more than one occasion, been a problem for the non-baker, who would prefer to have it available all year round.

They also make the best sweet potato fries. Crispy and delectable and not too oily.
Anyway, this is mostly to say that if you're in Chicago, and looking for delicious food, the place is worth a visit. The non-baker tends to wax poetic about the place for hours, specifically about the very nice people at the cheese counter who will gladly give you samples of everything and the wall of olive oils and vinegars.

The All Sweets and Snacks Exposition

Recently the non-baker decided that she wanted to do something fun for the Baker, something food related, and something that the Baker had never done before. Last year, the non-baker attended the All Sweets and Snacks Exposition (formerly the All Candy Expo) hosted by the National Confectioner's Association. And the non-baker figured that the Baker would enjoy the opportunity to see all the new sweets and snacks and come up with recipes that incorporated them. And, of course the non-baker loves learning about the new fads in the candy and snack industries. So......in around two weeks, the Baker and the non-baker will be attending the All Sweets and Snacks Expo.

We'll be posting updates at the end of each day of the Expo, with either news about candy and snacks or with recipes that use the items that we find there. Joining us will be our Foreign Cooking/Baking Correspondent, whose familiarity with Russian candies and snacks will allow her to write about the foreign candies and snacks.

And the cupcake craze continues

Of course the Baker is not yet done with her cupcake craze. This time she decided to create a sour chocolate walnut cupcake where the sour flavor was meant to mimic this nonalcoholic wine that she's fond of (odd, why yes, a little bit, but that's the Baker for you- creativity and odd taste profiles all at once.)

And, I'm surprised to admit that she shared a relatively straightforward recipe with me:

For the batter:
two egg whites 1/3 cup oil 1/3 cup cocoa powder 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup buttermilk a little white sugar white flour baking soda baking powder salt walnuts

Instructions: (as she says) Please mix the wet ingredients together and then add the dry ones.

For the frosting:
cream cheese (1/3 of a package) (probably around 0.5 cups)
around a full cup of powered sugar, added a little at a time
some Chardonny Verjus wine (it's nonalcoholic)

Sweet Potato Fries

The non-baker decided that since finals were over, she deserved a special treat. She decided that she wanted something fun. And, she had a sweet potato sitting around. So, she decided to make sweet potato fries.

Here's the recipe:
1. Cut up one sweet potato very thinly. You can do this by slicing the potato lengthwise and then cutting each slice into long rectangles.
2.Then put these on a baking sheet and drizzle some olive oil on them. Try to get a little bit of olive oil on each of them.

3. Bake in the oven at 350F for ~40 minutes. Then, take them out, and put them on a paper towel to soak up the extra oil.

And more cupcakes

The Baker decided to make more cupcakes. She informed me that these ones were based on the idea of a fluffy peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a typical Baker inspiration.

Ingredients:
cupcakes:
1/3 cup of oil
4 egg whites
1/2 cup crunchy unsalted peanut butter
1-1 and a 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1 large pinch baking soda
2 large pinches baking powder
1/2 pinch salt
1/2 cup milk

Filling:
2 tablespoons raspberry preserves
1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon dried whole blueberries

Icing
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cups confectioner's sugar

And, here are the instructions:
1.Mix up the batter: mix peanut butter, egg whites, oil and milk until blended. Then, add flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, peanut butter chips and salt to the blended mixture, until smooth.
2.Make the filling. Combine raspberry preserves, sugar and blueberries.
3.Then it's time to assemble your cupcakes. Fill the bottom quarter of each cupcake shell with the blended mixture. Place 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of filling in the center of the cupcake shell that has already been filled 1/4 full of batter. Then, add more batter until the cupcake shell is 3/4 full of batter.

4.Bake the cupcakes at 350F for approximately 25 minutes or until ever so slightly browned at the edges. Be sure NOT to overbake them.

5.Remove cupcakes from oven and let cool until room temperature, which should take about an hour. When they're ready to be frosted, they should be cool.
6.Frosting time. Soften the butter, but DON'T melt it. It should retain its shape. Whip the butter with sugar. Mash the leftover filling. Then, slowly add the mashed leftover filling until the two are fully combined.
7.Dress the cupcakes and make them pretty. Then, if you're the Baker, you cut open the cupcakes so that you can showcase their insides.
Then, of course, you eat them.

Cupcake baking

So, it was raining and the Baker decided to bake cupcakes. But, being the Baker, she could not just bake one kind of cupcake. That would be too boring. Instead she decided to create two types, both adorned with blueberries. She delineated the two by topping one kind with one blueberry and the others with three.

Here is the recipe for one blueberry cupcakes:
1 egg + 1 egg white
2ish tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 cups white sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk or more
red corn meal
salt, baking soda (1 pinch each)
a lot of flour

And, the recipe for three blueberry cupcakes:
1 egg + 1 egg white
2/3 melted bitter sweet chocolate
3/4 cups white sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk or more
white flour
salt, baking soda (1 pinch each) and baking powder
Both were topped with a mixture of melted chocolate, butter, vanilla, and of course, blueberries.


And, here's a small tutorial on how to ice cupcakes with a runny icing. First, dip the tops of the finished cupcakes in the icing.
Then, hold it over the bowl and slowly tilt it to get rid of any excess.
After that, just turn them the rest of the way, and finish them off by putting a blueberry on top.

Baker bakes bread

So the Baker hasn't gotten to bake much, because she's been busy with schoolwork. So, when Spring Break came around, she was excited about having the time to catch up on her baking. First task: bake bread. She decided to bake a simple whole wheat bread. She used this recipe, but of course, only loosely, but did not say what alterations she made.

The cast of characters (ingredients):

And the finished product:

The non-baker gets creative

So occasionally the non-baker lacks ingredients to make, well, much of anything. So in these instances, she has to summon up her creativity, take what she's got and change it slightly so that she finds it palatable.

Last night she figured that she would finally use up the can of butternut squash soup that had been sitting around for a while in her pantry. But, she generally finds canned soups too salty and flavorless. So, she added some orange juice, some white wine, a dash of pomegranate champagne vinegar, and some cinnamon and....voila! Delicious soup. Of course, being the non-baker, she doesn't have much use for measuring cups in these situations and so, like when the baker bakes for fun, there's not much of a recipe for recreating the thing.

And tonight, same thing. She decided to make some whole wheat couscous. And then she figured that she'd add on some of the tomato-basil tomato sauce that was sitting in the fridge. But her body wanted more protein and so she took a can of cooked black beans and added those. Then, she noticed some taco seasoning sitting around and figured that she might as well make chili. So she added some chicken seasoning, a whole bunch of ground black pepper, and some paprika, and instant vegetarian chili.

Blizzard creativity

So the Baker and the non-baker dealt with some......interesting weather this week. And, as a result, the non-baker didn't leave her house for something on the order of 48 hours. Since the non-baker never remembers to go grocery shopping, it was time for a bunch of creative cooking.

The non-baker managed to convince one of her roommates that a blizzard was the perfect weather in which to try out a recipe for scallion pancakes that she had made over the summer. She mostly used this recipe. Well, sort of. First they mixed up the dough, doubling the recipe, and using 5-ish cups of flour and 2 cups of water and kneading it into dough and coating it with a little bit of oil. Then they let it sit for 30 minutes.

And this is where she started to change the recipe. She didn't have scallions sitting around, and so used onions instead. Then they took pieces of dough and, as per her roommates instruction, put some onions in the center and then flattened the dough into a pancake shape. They then heated up a pan, put a little bit of oil in the bottom of it and cooked the pancakes, a few minutes on each side until they were a bit brown on each side.

Rather than a traditional dipping sauce, they mixed up a bit of soy sauce with white vinegar.

But they ended up with a fair amount of leftover dough, since they had made so much to start with. So, the next day, the non-baker used more of the dough, this time making plain flatbreads, since they had used up all the chopped onions the day before.

But even that didn't use up all of the dough. So, the next day, the non-baker decided to use some of the dough to make a dessert. As usual, the non-baker wanted to find a way to include chocolate and peanut butter, which shouldn't be a surprise, given her penchant for peanut butter and chocolate nutella. The non-baker decided to make chocolate peanut butter potstickers. She made little potstickers, put 2-3 chocolate chips in them, and a small bit of peanut butter.

Then she warmed up a pan, put a little oil on it and browned the bottom up the potstickers. Then she added a quarter cup of water to the pan and covered it, letting the water dissolve. And voila! Delicious dessert potstickers.