Last week I had the opportunity to attend the second annual Cupcake Camp Boston as a member of the "cupcake crew" to help Kelly of Mix Bakery. I'm *still* coming down from the sugar rush.

First, what is Cupcake Camp? According to the website, Cupcake Camp "is an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and eat cupcakes in an open environment." Basically, bakeries and amateur bakers gather to show off their baking chops by handing out free cupcakes. This year it was held at The Center for Arts at the Armory in Somerville. Organizer Elizabeth Ginsberg of Free Food Boston did an amazing job of corralling dozens bakeries and amateur bakers, including securing King Arthur Flour as sponsor.

Even though the event is free (thus drawing hundreds of people just within the first hour), a suggested $5 donation to Lovin' Spoonfuls was collected at the door to sweeten the already sweet event. Over $2300 was raised for Lovin' Spoonfuls, a Brookline based non-profit organization that recovers otherwise wasted food and delivers it to local soup kitchens and crisis centers.

If anyone thinks cupcakes are just a trend, then I think they would feel differently after attending Cupcake Camp. The smell of sugar was just as overwhelming as the enthusiasm that night.

Okay, enough preamble. Here are some photos from Cupcake Camp 2011.

Mad rush as the doors open at 7pm.

I was part of the Cupcake Crew with Mix Bakery. All 16 dozen minis were gone in an hour!

One of my favs - Party Favors. Red Velvet was very good.

Treat make-your-own cupcake bar

mixing in chocolate frosting with m&ms, toffee and peanut butter cups

I found some hair in the frosting, so was not able to enjoy this stone-cold creamery like cupcake.

 

cocktail inspired cupcakes by Cupcake MoJo

Frosting Vegan Cupcakes at Biba's Baked Goods

Red Velvet from Sweet

My favorite cupcakes were the salted caramel cupcakes from Mix Bakery (and not because I was part of the cupcake crew!). Whole Foods' Two-Bite cupcakes make a great everyday cupcake treat for a household of hungry kids. I was disappointed in Treat having found hair in the frosting (blech). Party Favors of Brookline consistently delivers moist cupcakes with sublime butter cream frosting.

Off to work out for the next three months to burn off all the calories I consumed!

marveling at vanilla beans (first for both of us)

As I've mentioned on this blog, I am not much of a baker. Consequently, desserts around here are usually store-bought. Sure, I'll make the occasional oatmeal raisin cookie, muffins or quick bread. The fact that my boys know exactly what to do with the immersion blender but will look at our stand mixer as some scary kitchen appliance says something about my baking skills.

So as a challenge to myself, I bought myself the Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery + Cafe cookbook by Joanne Chang. I thought best to ease into what I would consider the master class of baking cookbooks with a no-bake recipe: Brown Butter-Crispy Rice Treats. This would be a fun and easy treat to make with my oldest. And the stand mixer would take a back seat to our stovetop.

split vanilla bean, using the tip of a knife to scrape beans into melted butter

browning butter

mixing rice cereal with 2 sticks of butter and 2 bags of marshmallows

possibly the best rice crispy treats in the world

• The Good: Easy to make with only a few ingredients

• The Bad: You have to be careful not to burn the butter when browning. Vanilla beans can be pricey.

• Grade: A+. My childhood memories of this classic treat comes nowhere close to this rendition.

"Celeriac: the unsung frog prince of winter vegetables" - NPR

My brain is telling me it is officially Spring. Yet I had to use my scraper this morning to clear snow off my car before taking the boys to school this morning. Yes, I live in New England. "If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes." is said with as much frequency as "wicked awesome" around these parts. So I figured best to embrace these last whimpers of winter with a hearty stew before I start complaining about how hot and humid it is a few minutes later.

Colorful ingredients to brighten up a cold March day

This recipe for short ribs with root veggies come from our new favorite cookbook, Ming Tsai's Simply Ming One-Pot Meals. We've been cooking our way through this cookbook and have found a winning recipe on nearly every page. The extended forecast calls for cold weather through the rest of this month. So why not cook up this stew now 'cause its wicked awesome.




Short Ribs with Root Veggies
Inspired by Simply Ming One-Pot Meals

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
6 single-rib short ribs
3 tablespoons grapeseed or canola oil
2 onions, cut into 1-inch dice
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 lb carrots, cut into 1-inch rounds
6 celery stalks, split lengthwise and halved
1 celeriac (celery root), peeled and cut into 1-inch dice
1 large sweet potato, 1-inch dice
1 large parsnip, cut into 1-inch rounds
2 tablespoons soy sauce

DIRECTIONS
1. In a large shallow plate, combine the flour and chili powder. Season the ribs with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour mixture.

2. Heat a stockpot or other tall wide pot over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and swirl to coat the bottom. When the oil is hot, shake the excess flour mixture from ribs, add them to the pot, and cook, turning once, until browned about 8 minutes. Set the ribs aside.


3. Add the remaining oil to the pot, and swirl to coat the bottom. When the oil is hot, add the onions and garlic and saute, stirring, about 3 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, celeriac, potato and parsnip. Season with salt and pepper. Add the ribs, soy sauce and enough water to almost cover the ingredients. Season to taste.

4. Cover and cook over medium heat until a paring knife passes through the meat easily, about 3 hours. Transfer the ribs and vegetables to a large bowl and serve.


The Good: Easy to make, full of nutritious veggies and short-ribs that melt in your mouth.

The Bad: Stew base was on the thin side. Not a quick weeknight meal (3 hours on the stove). Although boys ate some of it, they did not love it.

Grade: B. Will try making this in a crock pot as a weeknight meal.

Or in this case Eye Produce. I took a photography class at the deCordova over the winter with hopes of becoming chummy and proficient with my DSLR. It was a great introductory class for anyone interested in going beyond the little green box, tulip or running man settings on your camera. One of my favorite homework assignments was to shoot color. What better place to do that than at one of my favorite places to shop for groceries: Russo's.

If you are interested in learning more about Russo's, check out my post: The insider's guide to shopping at Russo's. In the meantime, take a gander at my homework and get inspired to cook up a storm this weekend.

We knew life would be dramatically different once we had kids. We were prepared to give up sleep, exercise, reading, and pretty much anything else associated with our former pre-parenting lives. The one thing we were not willing to sacrifice was dining out. We brought the boys out to restaurants as soon as possible. I think we may have stopped for burritos on our way home from the hospital with our brand-new baby (you work up an appetite after giving birth you know).

So it comes to no big surprise our boys know the drill when it comes to eating out - break out books/activities/toys reserved only for restaurants (and request a plastic cup of ice if youngest grows impatient). They are *pretty* well-behaved at this point. Sure they have their moments. And no, we are not so brave (or delusional) and try to take them to a place like Sorellina or other fine dining establishments. But we are not limited to kid-centric places like Rainforest Cafe either.

One of the goals of starting this blog was to chronicle our attempts at raising adventurous eaters. And what better way to do that than to check out the myriad of cuisines the city has to offer. Our oldest son has grown to look forward to trying new restaurants. And thanks to a kids' digital camera my sister gave my oldest for Christmas, we now have budding food blogger on our hands :)

So I've decided it would be fun to hand the reigns over to my 5-year-old occasionally and have him take some photos and explain what he liked (or didn't like) about some new restaurants we recently checked out.

So without further adieu, dining at La Carreta Mexican (Manchester, NH) from the eyes of a five-year-old*.

5-year-old: "The restaurant smelled new. Everything looked nice."

5-year-old thought light fixture over our table was beautiful

5-year-old: "I love to eat corn chips while I wait. I don't like salsa though. Too spicy."

Hooray! Chips!

5-year-old: "I LOVE fish tacos! It is too hot to eat right away though."

Finally the food arrives. Fish Tacos - yum!

5-year-old: "Here comes my brother's food. He loves rice."

Baby brother's meal - rice & beans.

5-year-old: "Mom's food is really hot."

Don't touch! Mom's fajitas are hot!

(umommy review)
La Carreta Mexican is based in Southern New Hampshire and has quickly expanded with a total of five locations, including one in Framingham, MA. With a large and loyal following, La Carreta offers an extensive menu that include authentic Mexican cuisine ranging from the usual fajitas and quesadillas to house specialties such as Enchiladas Mole Poblano and Cazuelon.

Bottom line: This is solid Mexican food. They have a kids menu too ($4.75 plates). A serious step up from other Mexican restaurants we've tried.





**Note: Energetic 5-year-old + 2 megapixel Vtech Kidizoom camera = blurry photos. We're working on "steady hands" and composition!

Here is a typical weeknight evening at our house around 5pm:

umdaddy: what's for dinner tonight?

me (nose buried in my computer): Huh? Ummm... there was a new recipe I wanted to try.

umdaddy (looking at the recipe): Did you take out [protein] from the freezer yet? And it says it needs to cook for [many] hours?! (Sigh). I guess I'll whip something up.

me (sheepishly): Thanks.

I try to menu plan and start cooking around 5pm most nights. Really I do. Except lately I've been consumed with work, so much that I barely have time to take a pee. That's when Martha has often come to my rescue with her Dinner Tonight from Everyday Food daily emails.



If you haven't signed up for these daily morsels delivered to your inbox, do it. The recipes are usually simple to make using everyday ingredients (duh - it's called Everyday Food). And the food photography alone will inspire you to plan ahead and put together a dish rather than pop a frozen pizza in the oven (not that there is anything wrong with that... Trader Joe's is my BFF).

Here is a recipe we tried recently that was delicious and pretty easy to make. But I'd be lying to you if I said I did the actual cooking. Filed under Quick Pasta Recipes, this was one of those typical 5pm "what's for dinner" nights. At least I remembered to make sure there was chicken defrosted.



Chicken, Edamame, and Noodle Stir Fry
Click here for the recipe

The Good: Takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. Great flavors and feels healthy.

The Bad: We used bone-in chicken thighs instead of chicken breast. So there was some added prep time to prep the chicken.

Grade: A-. The boys loved this. I loved this. Great weeknight dinner.

I have never had fondue up until last week. Hard to believe, right? I did not grow up in the 60s when it was in vogue. Nor did I register for a fondue set when it was in vogue again when we got married. My preconception of fondues was of dipping fruit in melted chocolate. When I saw that The Boston Parent Bloggers was hosting an event at The Melting Pot, I jumped at the chance to join fellow bloggers and discover the art of dipping for myself.

With over 140 locations, including three in Massachusetts, The Melting Pot is America's premier fondue restaurant franchise. More than a dozen other fellow parent bloggers were treated to a sampling of cheese and chocolate fondues. Bowls of bubbling cheese and chocolate are heated on induction cooktops - keeping the fondues warm without the worry of anyone burning themselves.

The cheese fondues came with bread, apples, and veggies.


Strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, Rice Krispies Treats, marshmallows, pound cake and brownies were available for dipping in the chocolate goodness.


Everything was pretty tasty and there was more than enough food and dipping to go around. The Melting Pot was the perfect backdrop for a group outing. It is hard to not have a good time when you are with a bunch of funny and smart people, cocktails and oh yeah, melted cheese and chocolate.

Boston Parent Bloggers Night Out (photo by Ben Spark www.benspark.com)

I don't know if our family will be dipping anytime soon. Sure, I think the boys would love to dip stuff in gooey cheese and chocolate. But unless you get the 4-course meal that comes with the Big Night Out, its not easy to get a complete meal without throwing down some serious cash.

I think The Melting Pot is a great night out with friends or a romantic night out (Valentine's Day has gotta be one of their busiest nights), but will probably wait until a special occasion and/or the boys are a bit older before bringing my family there.

I can now say I tried fondue. I even felt I could have been a good judge in last week's quick fire challenge on Top Chef All-Stars. But I still have some ways to go before I *really* know fondue. Until then, I'll stick to dipping strawberries in melted chocolate with my boys for Valentine's Day!



Thanks to The Boston Parent Bloggers for putting the event together and The Melting Pot for providing the fondues and venue!

Serving Lion's Head to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit

Chinese New Year and the Year of the Rabbit begins on February 3rd and is celebrated for 15 days. The holiday was always a joyous and exciting time of year when I was growing up. There was always a big Chinese New Year feast at our family's restaurant. All my aunts, uncles and cousins would come together and dine on whole steamed fish and chicken (representing abundance). Also on the menu was braised Chinese mushrooms, longevity noodles (representing long life) and my dad's famous lobster Cantonese. No one was allowed to speak of anything sad or fight as this was considered bad luck. And the highlight of the day had to have been when the adults handed out red envelopes stuffed with money to all the kids. 

So now as an adult with my own family, I find myself wanting to pass down some of these Chinese New Year traditions, superstitions and all. The house is clean, cleaning out any bad luck. We placed a pair of clementines in each room of our house symbolizing happiness, good fortune and health. Red envelopes are stuffed and ready to hand out to the boys. All that is missing is the big feast. I'm a little behind with menu planning and shopping due to all the friggin' snow we've been getting. But thought I'd share a new recipe we tested this week that was a huge hit and will definitely be part of our family's Chinese New Year tradition.

Lion's Heads with lots of mane (or cabbage)

Lion's Head 
Adapted from Ming Tsai's Simply Ming One-Pot Meals

Note: Chinese dishes have evocative names. The lion's head refers to the meatballs and the cabbage represents the mane. A lion represents strength and the roundness of the meatball represents family, togetherness.

INGREDIENTS
3/4 lb ground pork
3/4 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 tbs minced garlic
2 tbs minced ginger
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
1 cup steamed white rice
2 large eggs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 small head napa cabbage, cut into thin strips

DIRECTIONS
1. Set up steamer (bamboo steamer or dish elevated above water-filled wok)

make-shift steamer in a wok

2. In a large bowl, combine the pork, beef, onions, garlic, ginger, Worcestershire sauce, sesame oil, rice and eggs. Season with salt and pepper and mix by hand until combined.

3. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch balls. Place a 3/4 to 1-inch bed of cabbage in the top of the steamer and top with the meatballs. Season with salt and pepper and steam until the meatballs and cabbage are cooked through (10-12 minutes). Transfer the cabbage to a platter , top with the meatballs and serve.

The Good: Super easy to make. No rolling around meatballs in oil.

The Bad: The cabbage cooks down dramatically. Wish there was more cabbage to go around.

Grade: A. The boys could not get enough. Great, quick, healthy weeknight meal.