Restaurant Review - Satisfaction

Last night - on a very cold night in Durham - coldest yet...Kristin and I went to Satisfaction
This is down in Brightleaf Square - where Rach and I went shopping this weekend. We were going to go to 2 other places, but they were both closed.
This is upscale sports/casual bar atmosphere. Wood all around, it was very nice. No one must have wanted to watch the Cowboys/Giants MNF game cause not many people were there - or no one wanted to brave the cold one?
Kristin had a salad and gyro. I had a grilled chicken salad. The large was huge - just piled high. The grilled chicken was some of the best I've had on a salad due to the seasoning. The ff honey mustard dressing was great as well. It wasn't very spicy, but it was more mustard than honey. I really liked it - ate all of it - since I had just finished a cycle class.
So, atmosphere, food, prices were all good. Definitely something you would want to check out - especially on a good sports day! :) They have pizza, sandwiches, salad, vegetarian stuff, sides, hummus...pretty good.
Definitely satisfaction for dinner last night! :)

Apple Scones

This was just one of the many things I baked this weekend: fried apples, baked apples, apple cookies, apple bread, pumpkin scones, soup, oat bread, etc. This is one that turned out exceptionally well - I got the recipe from www.mrbreakfast.com - people, you gotta check out that www. It is great!

Apple Scones

1/2 stick cold butter chopped into pieces
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat germ (I knew I had this in my fridge for a rainy day)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I used a lot of that this weekend, must get more)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 granny smith apple - chopped

Mix dry ingredients, cut butter in, make well in middle. Add egg and buttermilk. Fold in apples. Put in scone pan and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 in lightly sprayed pan for 20 minutes or until brown. Enjoy! :)
(Carol - there is your recipe!)

Escarole and White Bean Soup

Ok - I got motivation to make this since I had a fairly ok bowl at Cinelli's the other day. So, mine turned out pretty good. I think next time I'll add some pancetta or proscuitto to it.

Olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 lb pancetta or proscuitto (change amount of salt and olive oil if you
this)
2 regular bunches of escarole - they come connected for 1.99 at Target. Cut the white part off b/c it is bitter - you don't want to use it.
1 box of low-sodium, ff chicken broth
2 cans rinsed and drained cannellini beans - , white beans, great northern beans - whichever

Saute the onions in the olive oil. When transluscent, add garlic for a minute or less. Cook the ham with the onions if you add it. Pour in broth and beans. Let cook for about 15 minutes. Then add the escarole and cook for a little bit. Then serve with bread! :)

oops - wrong blog

Oops - wrong blog. But click here to get the pumpkin white chocolate chip scones -

Restaurant Review - Guglhupf's

Atmosphere defines this place - much more so than the food!
I went there on Saturday with Claude. We had good fun. The atmosphere is cool contemporary. Very classic - I love it. It is quiet. It has fountains running outside to block the noise from the traffic since it is right on a busy road. It was a little cool to me, so we sat upstairs. It was so quiet up there, hardwood floors, looking out over a row of older homes.
I had a turkey sandwich on rustic french bread, with mustard (instead of their basil mayo they put on it). But, it had thick sliced of cucumber and watercress - fantastic. One of the best turkey sandwiches I think I've had in a while. The side though was a different story....cold cooked broccoli and cauliflower in a brown soy sauce. Won't get that side again.
The tea was great - We Wei tea. It was a red tea with a citrus flavor - very light and delicious!
So, go there for the atmosphere, tea, and bakery (even though I didn't try it) - its gotta be good! :)

Restaurant Review - Cinelli's

This is an Italian place I went to today. I went with my pastor's wife and her daughter. It is one of her favorite places - especially the baked ziti.
But, I honestly wasn't impressed with it - here's why:

Escarole and White Bean Soup - needed pepper, tasted good other than that. Too much olive oil. I'm looking for a recipe for it so I can make it - and make it taste better!
House Salad - nothing to it and way too expensive. 1 tomato, 1 cucumber, romaine, red onion, (then 2 black olives and pepper - which I removed). The dressing was good - their house, a balsamic which was pretty good.
Garlic Knots - really garlic bread muffins - that's how big they were. When I sqeezed them to pull some off, they oozed olive oil - way too much.

Biggest thing: too much money. Soup and salad (no bread for free and no refills) 8.15 - that's for lunch. I could have gone to Olive Garden, gotten endless soup, salad, and breadsticks for 6$ and I would have liked it so much better!

Oh, well. This is what you get when you try out new places - which is what I'll be doing the next 4 months while I'm here in Durham. There are so many places I have yet to try.

Double Nut Banana Bread

This is Marcey's Mom's recipe for banana bread. Better flavor than my old one (Jill's from seminary) but a little dryer - maybe I had too much flour, or cooked it a little long - but you tweak. Good recipe though. I tweaked the nut addition - This is very moist the second day and YUmmy!!
It is from Matt, a guy who does college ministry with us at the Summit, but also just started in the office at Duke with us. He likes banana nut bread. This is also my new tea infuser mug that Claudia bought for me! :) I love it

2 eggs
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk
2 tbsp canola oil
4 tsp baking powder
4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup pecans, 1/2 cup walnuts
3 mashed bananas

Spray bottom of 2 loaf pans, split batter, bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Good Eats in St. Auggie (Mac and Cheese recipe)

Oh, I love going to FL. Many good things there. Let me give you a run down...

Florida Cracker Cafe - I enjoyed this place in downtown St. Aug when I lived there, and Phyllis and I went and ate there on Saturday for lunch. Their house salad is perfect! Big salad with apples, raisins, dates, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, cuks, mandarin oranges, with a poppy seed citrus vinigrette (sp?) that is awesome. I used to get a bowl of minorcan clam chowder to go with it, but we just opted for the salad this time. Perfect place to ride the bikes to that day.

Half-Time Fare - Jeremy and Billy fried some shrimp and fish, and then boiled some shrimp for the halftime of the Gator game. It was delicious! Jeremy used to work at Barnicle Bills - my favorite seafood restaurant hands down. The best thing is the Dat'l shrimp. Now, Datil peppers only grow in St. Augustine and a guy I know from living there has turned it into some WHEW good stuff! They put the hot sauce in the batter than make a dip out of mayo, ketchup, datil sauce, and worcestershire sauce. Billy made the sauce, Jeremy fried. What a great team.

Gypsy Cab (greek food). They were having a greek festival in town, but Devan and I went to Gypsy Cab. Little pricey, but good food. I had the hummus platter. Tons of veggies, hummus, and a pita. The best thing on their menu is the Gypsy chicken - it comes with homemade mashed red potatoes, and carrots. very good eats. www.gypsycab.com

Baked Mac and Cheese - Two of the Robshaw clan are going to serve their country, so they had a going away, celebrate every holiday, dinner. So, Phyllis made Jason's fave dish - baked mac and cheese. Here it is:

16 oz elbow mac (minus 2 cups cooked)
1 stick butter
2 cans evap milk
5 eggs
salt/pepper
5 cups cheese

Cook pasta. Take 2 cups out. Beat eggs and pour over, then add the milk. Pour into greased 9x13 or bigger pan. Stir in grated cheese. Then put 2 cups of cheese on top (3 in, 2 top). Make sure it looks liquidy enough or it will be too dry. Bake for about 45 minutes at 350. This is so good. Will become my staple baked mac and cheese recipe! Thanks Phyllis - see you are still teaching me how to cook! :)

Pumpkin Pancakes - This place on 11th Street on the beach, www.cafeeleven.com is a great treat. They have cool live music, great stuff, and rooibos peach tea which is great. Phyllis had told me about their pancakes - normally not something to rave about. But these were pumpkin pancakes. Much lighter than I thought they would be, we each got one, and they weren't that big, so you didn't leave feeling stuffed. They had real whipped cream and a brown sugar syrup to top it with. The only way to improve it would be to have the syrup hot - it was cold. But, yummy! :)

Shrimp/Bacon BLT - I finally found something I like at the Cheesecake Factory (besides their cheesecake of course). It was good - Billy and I split it.
GRILLED SHRIMP & BACON CLUB Charbroiled Shrimp, Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato with Our Special Dressing. Served with French Fries. I had the asparagus which Dad wouldn't have liked b/c it wasn't cooked enough.

Then I came home - having only gained less than a pound. That was due to the healthy eating the rest of the time and bike riding all around St. Augustine! :)

Most Requested Dessert

My most requested recipe. Only problem...its not homemade. It is so easy - takes no effort. Semi-homemade as Sandra Lee would call it. But, everyone loves them - they are so good.
Enjoy! I said dessert, I'll put the most requested soup up by the end of the month.

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars
Makes 20

1 regular size roll of chocolate chip cookie dough
1 8 oz pkg of cream cheese (softened)
½ cup sugar
1 egg

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In an 8x8 pan, spread ½ of the cookie dough on bottom of pan. Mix cream cheese, sugar, and egg and mix together until smooth. Pour over cookie dough. Crumble the remaining cookie dough over the top of the mixture. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cream cheese mixture is set.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Empty plate (that I painted) - Happy Plate (with brownies I made)
These were good, dense, cake like brownies that cut great out of the pan. They weren' too sugary sweet - good taste of peanut butter. Adapted from a hershey's recipe. They are yummy. People at work said so, and now I'm going to a college meeting and bringing them.

Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

2 1/2 sticks melted butter
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs (that's what makes them so dense and yummy)
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa (the powdered kind)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 oz pkg reeses' mini baking pieces (the cups - oh they are great)

Mix butter and sugar, add eggs 2 at a time, add vanilla. Then add dry ingredients. Fold in peanut butter pieces at end. Grease 9x13 pan and preheat oven to 350. Bake for 35 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Don't overbake.
ENJOY! And Share with others!