Chocolate Cake with Kahlua Glaze

Oh my, what a delight to add to any evening. Last Saturday I brought this Martha Stewart chocolate cake over to my friend's apartment for a little get together. It's a fairly simple recipe, but you'll need a spring form cake pan. The cake comes out very rich and chocolatey. It does crack and crumble only on the top as you can see in the picture, but don't worry about when it comes to serving it's easy to slice, and the moisture helps it stay together. 

I did have a few substitutions. I didn't have instant espresso, so I replaced it with instant coffee, really a minor change, but of course a slightly different flavor. I also made my own glaze... just a bit of milk, powdered sugar, Kahlua, and melted chocolate... It took me a while to get the right blend of sweetness and consistency so play around with the ingredients to your liking. I ended up with a nice runny glaze to drizzle upon serving. .. although I have so much leftover.. Not really sure what to do with all my Kahlua glaze now? Maybe drizzle it over ice cream or cheesecake?? I even considered using it for pancake syrup ;)

La vie en chocolat

I literally dreamed of chocolate landscapes. So intricate, so inviting! From chocolate mulch to chocolate trees and bushes. It was magnificent! What pleasant tricks my mind plays on me at night! I went to sleep thinking about keeping will power this holiday season by pawning off on everyone else all that I bake. Talk about sweet dreams! Have you ever dreamed in chocolate?

"So what can I do when I'm thinking of you?" - Shout Out Louds

The Answer? Wear my mom's earrings, eat belgian chocolate for Rachel, try pink beers for Paddy, order a dose of Jameson for Joe, attempt to purchase a giant bra of Belgian lace for Karina among other things

Location: En route to Dublin

Currently Listening: My Friend and the Ink by Shout Out Louds

Weather: Surprisingly sunny

I didn't make it to Lux, but I got the "Be" & "Ne" parts out of the way.

An Overview of Belgium & the Netherlands:

Brussels

Emily, her friend Carley, and I caught a train Friday morning to Brussels where we met up with Chole. None of our cell phones worked and meeting up in the train station was nothing short of a disaster. It's funny how now matter how clear a person is about meeting place there's always some unavoidable confusion with the interpretation of places. Anyway, I followed the little-kid-lost-in-the-grocery-store-plan and stood in one place till Momma Chole found us.

While Em and Carley dropped off their things at their hostel, Chole and I walked around the Grote Markt (Market Square) which was full of SURPRISE, SURPRISE beer, chocolate, and waffles!! You know that bewitching smell of buttery popcorn they pipe out of movie theatres to lure people inside? Well, intensify that by infinity and switch it out with the cozy smell mapley waffles and dark chocolate. Basically Richard Simmon's worst nightmare. Of course, I hit up Neuhaus and Leonidas, which are the more affordable, most heard of chocolatiers, but couldn't walk two feet with out finding myself in smaller local chocolate shops where I selected the most interesting truffles. I didn't even step inside Godiva since it's way too easy to find it at home.

For dinner, we met up with with Carlos, my cousin Ram's new wife Monika's college buddy who I met at the wedding. The restaurant was traditionally Belgian and of course lacking in the vegetarian department. I ended up with fondue and a Lindemans Framboise beer. Surprisingly the beer went down pretty easily and I rather enjoyed it. The fondue on the other hand was some sort of fried mushy cheese. Not really pleasant. I will have to try fondue somewhere else in Europe, that's for sure. At dinner we talked about how easy it seemed to ride the metro or train in Brussels without anyone checking tickets, but Carlos warned us that the train station closest to him was often checked by controllers. Sure enough on the way home sleepy from beer, Chole and I forgot to mark our Belgium "Go Pass" with our arrival destination before getting on the train and were fined by the controllers! Luckily they only gave us fine worth the price of a ticket.

Antwerp

The next day Chole and I met up with her friends Patsiya and Pui to explore Antwerp. We tried to meet up with Emily and Carly at the train station, but couldn't find them anywhere. Apparently we were standing on either side of a wall and missed each other completely! After a long while we had no choice but to give up and left the train station. A short walk from the station and we found ourselves in China Town, where I found the most ginormous Jumbo Size Asian Rice Crackers. I felt like a little kid and haddd to get them. :) Plus they are considered a luxury in Paris and cost a arm and a leg (a theory later disproved by trip to LIDL discount store). I also picked up some instant Pad Kee Mao to make in Dublin... wouldn't recommend it..but apparently I'm not allergic to MSG 'cause the noodles didn't kill me (This is my version of living on the edge).

My intense Belgium research (I spent all of Thursday during class reading wikitravel) told me about a hidden street in Antwerp, which you won't find on any maps. Needless to say it's a walking street that can't be accessed by car and is found behind giant sometimes closed doors. I won't ruin the fun if you plan to visit so I'll just tell you the street is near Hoogstraat. The street was full of surprises: cute European stacked homes, a bizarre art gallery, greenery, and a small restaurant.

We spent most of the day walking around the nice clothing stores and small boutiques deeper into the town. The major fashion museum was closed, but we peeked inside the building through the windows and it was so beautifully designed. The boutiques surrounding the museum made for a delightful browse. I couldn't peel my eyes off some of cardigans and dresses I found, but of course none of trees on the street were sprouting euros. The Staadstfeetszal shopping centre was also a sight for sore eyes. In the center of the mall there's a swanky Laurent-Perrier Champagne Bar....literally the shape of a champagne glass. Who wouldn't want to sit on top of the bar and drown himself in champagne?

We picnicked in the main square by a beautiful flower market. It was nice to see the bright reds, purples, and yellows after a cold, colorless winter. Good old PB&H (Peanut butter & honey - new cheap love) wasn't enough to fill our bellies so we ventured off to find dessert. I spotted a GuyLian Cafe and dragged the girls inside. My chocolate milkshake was decent..it was essentially a glass of milk with tiny bits of chocolate on the top and bottom and gave me a terribly stomach ache (lactose intolerant)... but the chocolate was naturally sinful.

After some more shopping and a visit to Castle Steen, we ended our day taking goofy pictures on the boardwalk of Antwerp Port. Pretty sure all the locals were staring at us...4 crazy girls photographing themselves jumping up into blue sky. I will never get too old for some games.

Maastricht

In the morning, Chole and I met up with her friends Sara, Laura, Corinna and Lad for day in Maastricht, a town in the Netherlands for Carnaval. Again we tried to meet up with Emily and Carly at the train station but to no avail. We picked up some beer and rum cola at the nearest Albert Heijn and headed into town to meet up some more friends at an Irish pub.

We'd heard that Maastricht was second best after the carnaval in Venezia. Well needless to say, Carnaval was absolutely crazy. Not sure if it was water falling from the sky or beer. We spent the day in the streets making friends with everyone (One lady just gave me a glass of Heineken for no reason other than I raised my hand slightly when she asked her friends if anyone wanted one) in their crazy costumes. The locals spend all year putting together extravagant costumes. Sometimes it seemed as though a family spent all year collecting all things blue(or green or pink or silver or black) and sewed it together to make some sort shiny, fabulous outfit. Every group had floats (equipped with coolers for storing beer) and swarmed the streets for the parade that lasted all day collecting more and more people. The craziest costume was an entire group of toilet brushes..but the shock from that was nothing in comparison to the baby-in-a-glass-box float.

We felt ashamed for our serious lack of costumes and searched all through town to find the one store left open on a Sunday. Chole and I bought masks but mine couldn't really fit over my glasses so I wore it on the back of my head and used Carly's eyeliner(I ran into Carly and Emily out of sheer luck later that afternoon) to draw a peace sign on my cheek. I also made a make-shift hippie headband out of a yellow clip-on highlight from Corinna....haha. It was interesting-looking...

Whenever it got too cold or alcohol in-take required relieving we made ours way into the bars that were extravagantly decorated. Imagine Party City puking on a bar. The one thing that seemed to confuse me was the street full of not bottles or beer cans but glasses. Apparently the bartenders don't collect the glasses or make any attempt to stop people from walking right out of the bar with glasses in hand. So naturally I felt no need to return the adorable beer-mug shaped shot glasses after Sara and I had ourselves some Jameson.

Brugge

On the train to Brugges I realized I left all my notes and my map at home. Luckily I ran into some guy from Cleveland who let me borrow his guidebook for the train ride there where I hurriedly jotted a list of things to see.

Map-less and groggy I made my rainy day exploration to the nearest tourist center where I had to buy a city map from a machine. After leaving the tourist center, I looked everywhere for this lake of swans, but gave up trying and headed into the town center.

The architecture of the town was delightful and overly cute. It's kind of like walking around Southlake Town Square but much bigger. Mostly the city's remodeled so it's kind of like historical fiction...but I don't mind it much. I imagine walking through Brugge is what it would be like to walk through a town of ceramic Christmas houses if came to life.

The cold sprinkle made me shiver so I was pleased to come across the Museum-Gallery Xpo: Salvador Dalí in one of the squares. Dali's work never fails to surprise, amaze, and delight me. He was so unbelievably clever. The gallery itself was its own work of art, such glorious colors and textures and arches.

But what's a day in Belgium without handmade chocolates? I decided to eat chocolate and keep walking as food seemed too expensive, plus rain and being alone was too depressing for un table pour une.

The Truffle Hop:

The Chocolate Line

On Rick Steve's recommendation, I tried a slab of dark chocolate with crispy cacao beans of which I made scrumptious lunch.

Dumon
I'd remembered reading something about a small museum underneath the chocolate shop, but the lady inside had no idea what I was talking about so I gave up bought some champagne truffles and walked away.

Louvain La Nueve

Walked around the fresh/flea market...you can pick up a jumpsuit or 1kg of epinard for 5 Euros. At the mediterranean stand, I picked up red bell peppers instead of tomatoes (YET AGAIN). I thought they were feta stuffed cherry tomatoes. I hate my life sometimes.

Of course it didn't take me long to find a kitchen store where I found a few must-haves.

1) Ravioli Mold by Imperia

2) Pasta Bike by Marcato

3) Yes the are birthday gift hints. Think of it like this. You buy the supplies, I cook you up a wonderful meal.

The rest of the mall was unimpressive, except for the grocery store...I kick myself every time I see the prices of food in other countries. Paris is so dang expensive. I feel like I'm living on a shoestring cooking every meal, not shopping, and staying with friends when I travel, but I'm failing miserably as my bank account is draining. I'm not sure what I can do except to try and stay in Paris as much as possible. I really wish I had a summer internship sorted out to make things more comfortable for my family and had made a bit more money working over the fall semester.

Great, I'm going to be late for school now. Wish me luck. I promise not to complain as much seeing as I'm in Paris, but I'm afraid it's absolutely Parisian to complain about everything. À tout à l'heure'

Perfect Pumpkin Chip Cookies

Sorry dears, no picture this time. I hope you will still consider this recipe. In general, I strictly avoid recipes without pictures. I am rather visual and prefer to have something to serve as a guide and means of comparison, but I assure you these cookies (should) turn out a lovely golden brown with a hint of orange in color.

These chocolate chip pumpkin cookies truly are impeccable in their simplicity and spiced goodness. I went on a hunt to find a pumpkin cookie that still tasted like a cookie. I'm quite particular about my chocolate chip cookies. I want something chewy and gooey that still maintains it's freshness the next day and doesn't dry out and get hard. But when it comes to pumpkin cookies, I often find them to be cakey and taste more towards the likes of a muffin top. Every single recipe I found - and I did in fact venture out of my realm of trusted websites and blogs - presented recipes for such cookies and so none were suitable. I realized then that I was taking the wrong approach. I closed all of those windows and went back to basics. If I want it to taste more like a chocolate chip cookie, then well, I suppose it should have been obvious that I start with one.

Essentially I took this recipe for Guittard's Original Chocolate Chip Cookie - but really just take your favorite trusted chocolate chip cookie recipe unless you're making cookies for me, of course - and add everything that you find in pumpkin pie! The cookies were softer because of the pumpkin, but really lovely and with one bite, my friends and I drifted off to pumpkin heaven.

Perfect Pumkin Chip Cookies

Ingredients

- Fresh Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (You know, the amount that always says it makes several dozen, tiny cookies, but really makes about 2-3 dozen)

- 2/3 Canned Pumpkin* (I suppose you could try this with fresh pumpkin, but I can't tell you how this will change the texture of the cookie, could in fact help make to cookie less on the soft side and more on the chewy cookie side)

- 1.5 tbs. pumpkin spice** (a combination of ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, allspice)

- 2 handfuls of pecan halves (make the cookie taste like Thanksgiving)

Directions

If you've got the chocolate chip cookie going in the kitchen, I say before you add the chips to make things easier for yourself, spoon in the pumpkin and the pumpkin spice, and work it in really well. If you're not frightened of raw eggs, give the dough a go and see if it's spiced and pumpkin-filled to your liking. Go easy on the pumpkin. If you add too much, you'll get a muffin and we are not baking for moose! Follow up with a bag of only the best packaged chocolate chips - Guittard semi-sweet - or venture into bulk foods or imported chocolates section and find yourself something you trust. Then nicely chop the pecans to your liking and stir the dough till everything is mixed in evenly.

Spoon out dough about two inches apart on parchment paper lined cookie sheet if you have it, otherwise leave the pan ungreased. Bake for about 10 minutes until golden turning around halfway. I find that not everyone appears to make cookies on cookie sheets. Seriously guys, it makes a difference in how the cookies turn out. I like my shiny silver cookie sheet that, no matter how bad it's been scratched, never fails to bring my cookies to that perfect consistency.

*There's now a company besides Libby's that cans pumpkin, and it's organic! Farmer's Market Organic Pumpkin. I have seen it at Whole Foods, not sure where else you can find it.

**A word of advice. Buy your spices from the bulk foods section. It's definitely cheaper in the short run and the long run since you don't have to pay for packaging! Plus, spices taste better fresh. Who wants to eat ground ginger that's been sitting in your cabinet for God knows how long?

My friends enjoyed these cookies very much, one of whom was my best friend and coincidentally my best/worst critic. I know when it comes to sweets, if I have to ask her if she likes it, then the dessert is sub-par, but if she asks for seconds and tells me she likes it on her own repeatedly that it's a hit, and thankfully that was the case this time. Unfortunately the cookies did not live to see the next day - they did, however, make it to the 10 o'clock showing of Prince Caspian at the dollar cinema 'cross town - so I cannot tell you how they taste the following day or any number of days after. But when I make these again, assuming they last more than 2 hours, I'll edit this entry and let you know.

I also plan to experiment again and see if I can come up with a Pumpkin-less Pumpkin Pie Cookie that imitates a pumpkin pie but maintains more the of the chocolate chip cookie texture that we have all come to know and love. I think I'll try making chocolate chip cookies again, but only add the pumpkin pie spice or maybe toss in some dried pumpkin shavings if those exist.

Now, if anyone has any recipes calling for cherry preserves, I'll be off to the kitchen. And as they say in Kenya, tigara buya (stay well)!