Baked Eggs with Bacon and Spinach

Another recipe with an egg in a ramekin. I think I'm becoming obsessed with ramekins. I went to the store to find some more, but they only had expensive ones. I'll keep trying.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp; transfer to paper towels. Pour off drippings from skillet; reserve drippings.

I cooked the bacon in the microwave. Once when I was little, my mom was cooking bacon on the stove. I got too close and the popping grease got me in the eye. Now I never cook it on the stove.

Add spinach to pan, sprinkle with pepper, and toss over medium heat, 1 minute. Transfer to strainer set over bowl to drain.

I actually used a 5-oz bag of spinach, so I know this is the right amount. Since I didn't have any bacon grease, I used cooking spray for the pan and the ramekins.

Brush four 1-cup ramekins with drippings. Crumble bacon.

Scrunch up the paper towel and now it's bacon bits. That part was kinda fun.

Place 1 toasted English muffin half, split side up, in each ramekin.

Toasted English muffin. Check.

Divide spinach among ramekins, then sprinkle bacon over, dividing equally.

Spinach on top of English muffin.

With back of spoon, shape well in center of each ramekin. Gently crack 1 egg into well in each ramekin, keeping yolk intact.

Bacon bits and egg. I guess I didn't do a good enough job with the well in the center. The bottom of the yolk is kind of in the well, and the rest of the egg is just sitting on top of the spinach and bacon. Whatever.

Drizzle 1 tablespoon cream over each egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Drizzle heavy cream on top? More like cover the top with heavy cream.

Bake eggs until whites are just set but yolks are still runny, 14 to 16 minutes.

I baked it for an extra 5 minutes because I'm really not into runny yolks. Call it an abnormal fear of salmonella if you want, but I just can't eat it.

I like being able to see all the layers. The English muffin ended up a little soggy. I really really hate soggy bread. Other than that, it was pretty tasty. The yolk ended up being just a little runny. I felt nauseous after I ate it, but that's probably just a psychological thing. I'm still alive, right?

Spinach-Egg Ramekins

Have you ever walked into Target and seen that section of seasonal stuff where almost everything costs $1? I check out that stuff every time I go to Target. It's been full of fall and Halloween stuff for the past few weeks. I found a set of four ramekins for about $2.50. I bought them partly because they were cheap, and partly because I knew I'd be able to try more recipes with them. Right after I bought them, I started looking up ramekins recipes; the simplest ones I found were for eggs. I decided to wake up early and surprise my mom with some baked eggs. I chose this recipe because all the ingredients are things I usually have in the house.

1 tbsp + 1.5 tsp margarine or butter, 1tbsp + 1.5 tsp flour, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper. Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly. Stir in salt and pepper.

I made the cream sauce first so it would be out of the way. It kinda looked like mashed potatoes or cream of wheat. I think I made it a little too thick. Also, I forgot to add salt and pepper. That doesn't matter much for me since I don't like salt, but my mom loves salt.

Melt butter in a 10-inch skillet over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Add spinach; cook 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently.

I don't know how much spinach is in two pounds, so I just grabbed a random amount from the fridge. My mom has this thing about taking produce out of bags before putting it in the fridge, so I never know how much anything is. The next time I make this, I'll have to buy it myself so I know it's two pounds.
I was way too lazy to soak the spinach for an hour, and I'm pretty sure I don't have a Dutch oven. I just washed it, drained it, and then added it to the flour mixture in the pan.

Divide spinach mixture between 4 ramekins

Yeah, I definitely need more spinach next time, but this is ok for now. I'll just mix it all up with the egg, anyway.

Fill a saucepan or skillet with 1 1/2 inches salted water, and heat to boiling. When water boils, lower heat to simmer. Break eggs, one at a time, into a clean custard cup. Hold the lip of the cup close to water, and gently slip egg into the water. Simmer until eggs reach desired degree of doneness. (Do not allow water to boil.) Remove eggs with a slotted spoon, and drain well. Place a poached egg on top of spinach in each custard cup.

I've never poached an egg before. I just kept poking it to see if it was firm enough. I'm pretty sure I overcooked all of them, but that's better than undercooked. I know my mom would never eat a runny yolk.

Cover each with cream sauce; top with cheese, and bake at 400° just until cheese melts. Serve hot.

Two tablespoons of cream sauce on top and grated cheese. I left them in the oven a little longer than I should have because I wanted the cream sauce to be warm. I really liked this recipe. It wasn't even as time consuming as I thought it would be. I would make this every day if I could, but then I wouldn't be able to try new things.

George Street Ale House

I don't usually go to bars on Sunday nights, but my friend really wanted to have a drink. A lot of the bars were closed, but we found one that was still open. Everyone was watching baseball and football games, so we knew this place wouldn't be closing anytime soon.

George Street Ale House. Huge selection of drinks, including some fun seasonal ones.

I had a really hard time deciding. I thought about Absinthe Drip, but I've never had absinthe and I've heard some pretty scary things about it. I ended up stuck between the fig drink and the cherry drink.

So I had the pumpkin, or "punkin", as the menu says. It was soooo strong. My friend and I thought the drinks would be at least $12-$13, but they were only $9. That's pretty good considering it took me an hour to drink it. I'm so glad it didn't make me drunk because I had to take the train back to NYC. If I went to Rutgers, this would be a great hangout. I'll probably start going down there more weekends.

Harvest Moon Brewery/Cafe - New Brunswick

On my way back to Brooklyn from Philadelphia, I stopped in New Brunswick to have dinner with a friend. I've never been to New Brunswick before, so I had no idea where to eat. However, my friend had a few places she's been wanting to try.

When we passed this place, we stopped to read the menu in the window. Something called "pork flat iron" caught my eye, and my friend mentioned this was a place she wanted to try.

Sweet potato and black bean tortilla? Plantain salsa? Mole sauce? To me, that sounded like a whole lot of awesomeness on one plate. I was so excited.

I love a great presentation. This chef really earns his money. The pork was so tender and juicy. I never would have come up with it myself, but plantains make a pretty good complement. The sweet potato/ black bean thingies were so amazing. I could eat that all day. Plus it came with mashed white potatoes and green beans. I was SO full!

My friend ordered salmon, my favorite fish. I tried some, and it was just as fantastic as the pork. I think my presentation was better than hers, but I'm easily impressed by things standing up.

Bourbon creme brulee! I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but creme brulee is one of my favorite desserts. My friend's salmon plate was $21, but they had a 3-course deal for $25. Of course I encouraged her to get that one since it would come with the salmon plus salad and dessert. I really just wanted to share the dessert. We decided we're eating at this restaurant again. Next time, she's having the pork and I'm having the salmon.

Brunch at The Cafe

I think my friend said this place is called The Cafe 2011. I wonder if they change the name every year. It's somewhere in Center City Philadelphia. I really should pay more attention to addresses.

Sunday brunch is a wonderful thing. Fluffy pancakes with triple berry compote and powdered sugar. I wish restaurants didn't assume everyone likes syrup. I hate it. They should at least ask before they put that crap on my plate. It could have spilled on the pancakes. I would much rather have whipped cream or butter. The pancakes were good, though.

Awesome fruit plate! I didn't actually eat this, but my two friends did. They loved it. I only ate one of the orange garnishes.

Loaded potatoes! I forgot what the menu called them, but they're definitely loaded. Bacon and cheese and onions and other stuff. I couldn't finish this even with one of my friends helping me. With the addition of pineapple fizz, this turned out to be a great brunch. If I lived in Philadelphia, I'd eat at this cafe all the time.

Max Brenner - Philadelphia

On Saturday night, I went to visit two of my college friends in Philadelphia. We saw the Pennsylvania Ballet at the Academy of Music and then had dinner at Max Brenner. I've been wanting to go there for such a long time. I've tried the one at Union Square a few times, but there's always a ridiculously long wait. For this trip, we made a reservation and only had to wait a couple minutes. If you aren't familiar with this restaurant, it's all about chocolate. Check out the menus.

It was cold outside, and these jerks refused to close the front doors of the restaurant. Everyone seated near the door was upset, not just me. Seriously, you don't have to make it cold to force your customers to buy hot chocolate. I was going to get some, anyway.

WHOA! So many different kinds! My friend wanted me to get the Choco Pops so she could have some, but I remembered that chili powder hot chocolate from the movie Chocolat and really wanted to try that.

Mexican spicy hot chocolate. It was amazing, and I really enjoyed the cute little mug.

Pure chocolate truffle granita. I don't know why my friend ordered a cold drink in a cold restaurant, but I was so cold I wouldn't even taste it.

My other friend decided to have dessert and no dinner. This is melting chocolate truffle heart cake and shake. The presentation is AMAZING. I was so busy drinking my hot chocolate and brooding about the cold air that it didn't occur to me to taste this one.

I was expecting the entrees to be full of chocolate, too, but I was disappointed. This pizza is called Meaty, Crispy, Cheesy and More. It has bacon, pepperoni, chorizo, salami, red peppers, garlic, onions and mozzarella. It was fantastic even though it didn't have chocolate. The crust is thin, so I was actually able to eat more than half before I got full.

My friend was very excited about her veggie burger even though she could only finish half. I definitely want to try this restaurant again, probably the NYC version. I'll just have to remember to make a reservation.

Quick Snacks

I've definitely been slacking on the baking for the past few weeks, so I decided to make it up to my coworkers. I think most of them were going through withdrawal. I wanted to do something simple, so I decided on brownies. It's been a really long time since I made them. I'm also tired of looking at the two boxes of rice krispies in my kitchen, so I made rice krispie treats just to get rid of some of them.

I have an odd love for rainbow sprinkles, so I went for the Funfetti brownies. Then I found out they're not sprinkles; they're candy-coated mini chocolate chips. That's ok, too. At least they're colorful. Since I started baking pretty regularly, it seems like we always have chocolate chips in the house, so I added some to the brownie batter. No nuts, though. I think nuts are a crime against brownies. And fudge. I don't know who came up with that, but I'd like to punch that person in the face.

I couldn't remember the exact measurements for rice krispie treats, so I did some research. 10 oz marshmallows, 6 cups rice krispies, 3 tablespoons of butter. Melt the marshmallows and butter together, stir in rice kripies, press into a greased 13x9 inch pan. During my research, I found the recommendation to stir in 2 tablespoons of milk before adding the rice krispies to make the treats gooier. Ok, I'll try anything once. Lactaid milk, of course. It turned out great, way better than usual. Since it's almost Halloween, I decided to add these nifty colored sprinkles.

I added them after I added the rice krispies and then sprinkled more on top once the treats were pressed into the pan. I still have half of the sprinkles left, so maybe I'll do this again in a few days.

Two Green Scarves

I'm still working through my list of people who want crocheted or knitted items. I've got quite a backlog.

I absolutely love this yarn. It's so soft and warm, and items seem to take less time, maybe because it's a little bulkier than regular yarn. Also, it was on sale.

This scarf is completely knitted with size 11 needles. After I started, I wished I was using smaller needles because the spaces were a little bigger than I would like. Luckily, it turned out okay. Larger needles also make the project go faster. I made this scarf for a guy who is at least 5'10", and I only needed one skein and I was finished in a couple days.

I forgot to take a picture of the yarn for this scarf, and unfortunately, I don't remember the brand. It was very soft, even before I washed it. I found this cable pattern in the same book I mentioned in the earlier entry. I love textured patterns. Sometimes I stop crocheting and just run my hands across it because I can't get over the way it feels.

Like the pattern says, the starting chain should be multiples of 3 stitches plus 3. I used 21 stitches. It was a little wide, but I want the guy I made it for to be warm. I ended up needed 2 skeins for this one.

I like this pattern because the repetitive rows were easy to remember. I don't like when I have to carry the book around.

The back side of the scarf just looks like a normal single crochet. I'm really in love with this pattern. I might try it on a sweater sometime soon.

It's Scarf Season!

The best part about fall and winter is crocheting and knitting scarves! I love scarves, and I own about 20. It's so much easier than searching every store for a scarf of a certain color or style. It's also a whole lot cheaper. In addition, I like to make scarves for friends. So far this season, I've completed two scarves, and I'm halfway through a third.

The first scarf was red, and the second was dark green with little black threads; I used three of these little 50-gram skeins for each one.

I wanted something a little interesting, but none of that popcorn or fan or lace stuff since the scarf was for a guy. I found this half double crochet variation and decided to try it out. The writer of the article said this stitch creates a nice drape, and she was right. I think washing it with plenty of fabric softener also helped.

For this scarf, also for a guy, I used these instructions on creating texture and decided to try out a front post double crochet. The pattern was pretty simple. Row 1: double crochet. Row 2: half double crochet. Row 3: front post double crochet. Row 4: single crochet.
The third scarf is for a girl, so I wanted to try a more feminine pattern. Except she said she doesn't want holes in it. Ok....

I looked through the pictures in this book to see what patterns looked fun. I found this at my college bookstore at least 4 years ago, and I've never regretted buying it, especially since I learned how to knit.

After trying out a couple of patterns (and failing), I settled on the wave and chevron stitch. It doesn't have holes like popcorn, but it's still very interesting.

The future owner of this scarf wanted colorful yarn. I chose this one because it reminds me of the kinds of things she wears to work: colorful, but a little subdued. I don't know how many grams are in this skein. I just think of it as the "normal size".

Ok, so the waves and chevrons aren't very defined, but I think it looks awesome. It's only about a foot and a half long right now, so I guess I'll just have to see how it turns out.

Here's the full pattern. The starting chain is multiple of 6 stitches + 2, drape is "good" and skill is "intermediate".

Red Velvet Cupcakes

At work, every Thursday is "Throwdown Thursday" or "Challenge Thursday". We all like to lay down challenges for our co-workers, like "if you make $200, I'll buy you shoes" or "if I make more money than you, I get to pie you in the face." Yeah, it's pretty random. So my challenge was for a group of people; whoever made the most money that day would get to pick the next thing I bake. The winner chose red velvet cupcakes. They're definitely not my favorite, but it turns out a lot of people really like them. My mother almost fainted when I told her what I was making. I guess it's her favorite.

I'll be honest. I went to Duncan Hines route on this one. I had just come back from the dentist, and then I had to buy yarn and make scarves, and I just didn't feel like buying cocoa and red food coloring just to use a little bit.

Obviously these cupcakes needed to have filling (duh), so I used this recipe for the filling. Cream cheese, sugar, and egg. Simple and delicious. The filling lasted for 36 cupcakes, and I was only expecting to last for 24.

This is the type of filling that sinks into the cupcake as it bakes. When I took them out of the oven, I couldn't see the filling at all. At first, I thought I was losing my mom.

I had my mom try one for me just to make sure they were ok. She said "do they all have a surprise inside?" That's how I knew the filling worked. Also because I cut one in half to see.

Cream cheese frosting. It took about 1.25 containers to frost all 48 cupcakes.

When I ran out of cream cheese filling, I used the other filling method. I cut a cone from the top of each cupcake and filled the space with cream cheese frosting. My mom had one of each, and she said the kind with frosting in the middle was better.

It kinda looks like I decorated them with some red sprinkles or something, but that's really just crumbs.

I think my next project will be cinnamon rolls. I guess that means I'll be buying self-rising flour.