txaggie

We'll be in Philly this weekend and I'm looking for restaurant/lounge that has speciality cocktails. Some place comparable to PX in Washington DC, PDT in New York, and the Drawing Room in Chicago. Thanks

I'm helping plan a bridal shower for a good friend who lives in Philly. The shower will be on a Saturday afternoon in September, and there should only be 15-20 ladies at this bridal shower. I'm looking for a fun, modern space with good food and drinks. So far, I've contacted people at Swanky Bubbles, Bistro St. Tropez, and Rae Restaurant. Any other suggestions would be great as I'm trying to avoid going with the other option (preferred by the other bridesmaids) - a room at a hotel with hotel catering. I know there are a ton of cool places in Philly, but I'm at a loss as to where to find them and who to contact next.

I made cupcakes on Monday. I used the all-occasion yellow cake recipe from the Gourmet cookbook for the cupcakes.

That's I how eat it too. And if I have canned tuna, I'll add that into the mix. It's my favorite "I don't feel like cooking but need to eat" meal.

I'm making a cashew coconut tart with a chocolate crust and my sister's making a pumpkin cheesecake and a caramel apple tart.

Dinner on Sunday was seared hangar steak and roasted vegetables (parsnips, turnips, butternut squash, fennel, and brussel sprouts).

Dinner last night was a white bean soup and squid salad. Both recipes were quick, easy, tasty, and from Cooking Light. Dessert was sliced figs with a strawberry-basil puree and almond brittle. Awesome!

A peanut butter and banana smoothie which hit the spot after this morning's run

I made a long overdue birthday dinner for my boyfriend on Saturday night. The first course was caramelized apples and gruyere on wild rice-walnut-orange bread. The recipe was from the Golden Door Cooks Light and Easy. The main course was pepita crusted salmon with a shrimp ragout from the Kinkead's cookbook. A cheese plate was next. A couple of cheddars, gruyere, and a blue cheese. And dessert was blueberry white chocolate cheesecakes from from Alice Medrich's A Year in Chocolate. Sorry, bad picture - too bright. We shared a bottle of Cotes du Rhone which went well with the salmon. Sunday was dinner with friends. Apps were roasted peppers with leftover walnut-orange bread. I don't have pictures of the rest of the meal but we had gnocchi with tomato sauce, chicken milanese, and ricotta mousse with fresh berries and chocolate-orange-walnut biscotti for dessert.

I like Il Pizzico in Rockville. The same family also owns Spezie in DC. Il Pizzico is casual, moderately priced, and offers a variety of dishes to please any palette. The prosciutto and mozzarella appetizer is one of my favorites.

I posted the CI Blueberry Buckle recipe in the Recipe Gullet.

CI Blueberry Buckle Serves 8. This blueberry buckle is a coffee cake with a streusel topping. Use fresh blueberries when making the buckle. Frozen blueberries are too moist. Makes one 9-inch cake Streusel 1/2 c AP flour 1/2 c packed light brown sugar 2 T granulated sugar 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon pinch table salt 4 T unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, softened but still cool Cake 1-1/2 c AP flour 1-1/2 tsp baking powder 10 T unsalted butter, softened but still cool 2/3 c granulated sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract 2 large eggs, room temperature 4 c fresh blueberries 1. STREUSEL: In standing mixer (with the paddle attachment), combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt on low speed until combined and no large brown sugar lumps remain. Add butter and mix on low no large butter pieces remain (mixture should look like wet sand). Transfer to bowl and set aside. 2. CAKE PAN PREP: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9-inch round cake pan nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom of cake pan with parchment or waxed paper, and spray round with nonstick cooking spray. Dust pan with flour and remove excess flour. 3. CAKE: Whisk flour and baking powder in small bowl to combine; set aside. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, salt, and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl and beat in vanilla until combined. Add eggs one at a time and beat until partially incorporated. Scrape down bowl and beat until fully incorporated (mixture will appear broken). Gradually add flour mixture. Beat until flour is almost fully incorporated. Stir batter with rubber spatula until batter is homogeneous. The batter is very thick. Fold in blueberries. 4. Transfer batter to prepared cake pan and spread batter evenly. Squeeze handful of streusel in hand to form a clump. Break up clump with fingers and sprinkle streusel over batter. Repeat. Bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted in cake's center comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 15-20 minutes. 5. Use a paring knife along the sides of the cake to loosen the cake. Place upside-down plate on top of cake pan; invert cake to remove from pan, lift off cake pan and remove parchment paper. Reinvert cake onto serving platter. Cool until warm or room temp (at least 1 hour). Keywords: Easy, Fruit, Breakfast ( RG1332 )

CI Blueberry Buckle Serves 8. This blueberry buckle is a coffee cake with a streusel topping. Use fresh blueberries when making the buckle. Frozen blueberries are too moist. Makes one 9-inch cake Streusel 1/2 c AP flour 1/2 c packed light brown sugar 2 T granulated sugar 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon pinch table salt 4 T unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, softened but still cool Cake 1-1/2 c AP flour 1-1/2 tsp baking powder 10 T unsalted butter, softened but still cool 2/3 c granulated sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract 2 large eggs, room temperature 4 c fresh blueberries 1. STREUSEL: In standing mixer (with the paddle attachment), combine flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt on low speed until combined and no large brown sugar lumps remain. Add butter and mix on low no large butter pieces remain (mixture should look like wet sand). Transfer to bowl and set aside. 2. CAKE PAN PREP: Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9-inch round cake pan nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom of cake pan with parchment or waxed paper, and spray round with nonstick cooking spray. Dust pan with flour and remove excess flour. 3. CAKE: Whisk flour and baking powder in small bowl to combine; set aside. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, salt, and lemon zest until light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl and beat in vanilla until combined. Add eggs one at a time and beat until partially incorporated. Scrape down bowl and beat until fully incorporated (mixture will appear broken). Gradually add flour mixture. Beat until flour is almost fully incorporated. Stir batter with rubber spatula until batter is homogeneous. The batter is very thick. Fold in blueberries. 4. Transfer batter to prepared cake pan and spread batter evenly. Squeeze handful of streusel in hand to form a clump. Break up clump with fingers and sprinkle streusel over batter. Repeat. Bake until golden brown and toothpick inserted in cake's center comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 15-20 minutes. 5. Use a paring knife along the sides of the cake to loosen the cake. Place upside-down plate on top of cake pan; invert cake to remove from pan, lift off cake pan and remove parchment paper. Reinvert cake onto serving platter. Cool until warm or room temp (at least 1 hour). Keywords: Easy, Fruit, Breakfast ( RG1332 )

Monday's breakfast was blueberry buckle (Cook's Illustrated recipe) using blueberries that we picked Sunday afternoon. Tuesday's breakfast was leftover buckle!

Try Cook's Illustrated's recipes for blueberry muffins and blueberry buckle. Both are very good with the buckle recipe being the better of the two. We made the muffins on sunday morning with some store-bought blueberries. We picked blueberries on sunday afternoon and made the CI blueberry buckle recipe for breakfast on Monday. It's fabulous!

How about Sobo Cafe?

It's the Cider Barrel. I believe that they closed their doors last year and are no longer open for business.

Some friends and I were in Philly this past weekend (visiting from the DC area) and our Sunday brunch destination was Carman's Country Kitchen (per everyone's rave reviews). We loved Carman's. The food was outstanding and inventive; the service was top-notch, friendly, and extremely accomodating and flexible to our party of 5. Two of my friends had Carman's challah French toast. It was wonderful. Two pieces of thick challah topped with caramelized granny smith apples, Breyer's coffee ice cream and whipped cream. The recommended side was perfectly crisp bacon. My sister had the pancake special. Saffron, golden raisins and almonds were added to the batter and the same batter was used for Carman's waffles. The pancakes were topped with fresh figs and goat cheese with lemon thyme. It was a delightful combination of flavors. The pancakes were served with a sausage patty. Another friend and I had the omelette special. A huge omelette filled with swiss chard, swiss cheese and dried cranberries. We were a bit skeptical about dried cranberries in the eggs but it worked. There were just enough cranberries in the omelette to make you forget that there were cranberries in the omelette but to pleasantly surprise you when bit into a cranberry. Does that make sense? Oh, and I can't forget to mention the homemade blackberry preserves. They were a wonderful addition on the buttery whole wheat toast. We left Carman's full and happy. I'll definitely be back there when I visit Philly next.

Hi, I'm going to Nashville for work this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I usually stay near Vanderbilt University and West End when I travel to Nashville so I'm familiar with the restaurant scene on that part of town. This time, I'm staying in Downtown (on Commerce Street) and I'd like recommendations in/near (within walking distance) Downtown. The most recent issue of National Geographic Traveler mentioned 12 Avenue South as a neighborhood to watch in Nashville. The magazine described this neighborhood as "a bohemian blend of clothing and home shops, restaurants, and galleries." This neighborhood would be ideal since it's a few blocks from Downtown. Can anyone recommend any good restaurants in this area? Thanks, Binni

O'Donnell's Seafood Restaurant - now located in the Kentlands in Gaithersburg.

depending on the date, cjsadler and i are in.

I like Mixtec in Adams Morgan (18th Street and Columbia Rd).

I was at Palena at 6:45 last night and there was no wait for the cafe seating and there were three people at the bar. Later at night (around 8pm) the front part of the restaurant and the bar were full and people were waiting for tables.

Star Pizza (spinach pizza on a deep dish whole wheat crust) and Freebird's (I'm an Aggie and going to Freebird's brings back good memories of Aggieland)

Lavandou -- You can bring your own wine on Mondays and there is no corkage fee.