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by Emily

Burns My Bacon: Chipolte vs Chipotle

Okay… as a society, we should be past this faux pas by now. (Note: this is a sign in one of the best seafood restaurants/markets in central Texas.)

There’s a national chain called Chipotle.

Chipotle flavored and infused condiments and sauces can be found on all sorts of menus.

For the love of all things delicious, Jack in the Box even made a commercial focused on this very topic years ago!

It’s not some exotic, indecipherable foreign word at this point.

And yet… and YET…

CHIPOLTE! It’s everywhere! Why can’t people spell or say the name of this smoky, sweet pepper? It’s borderline insulting at this point. If I want to get really depressed, I just check out the hashtag #chipolte on Twitter because there’s always tons of results. What gives? How can we educate everyone without sounding snobby? Is there even such a thing as a chipotle snob? Should I just give up on life and stop caring about things like this? So many questions, yet no answers.

Chipolte. Sigh.

in Rants & Raves 3 comments

by Emily

Top 5 Trendiest Easter Recipes on Pinterest

You know what they say… “April showers bring May flowers, and early March food blogging brings late March Easter Pinboards.” Okay, well maybe they only say the first half of that, but the latter half is definitely true, so let’s just roll with it. These days, you can’t even have a third-tier holiday like Arbor Day without a million Pinterest boards popping up, so you can only imagine how big of a deal such a high-profile holiday like Easter is. Clearly we had to get our Peep-loving selves in on the action as well.

Presenting… the Top 5 Trendiest Easter Recipes on Pinterest.

5. Cadbury Creme Egg Milkshake from Chocolate Moosey
Milk chocolate eggs stuffed with frosting are amazing enough as it is, but incorporate them into a chocolate ice cream milkshake – complete with homemade fondant! – and you’ve got a real winner.

4. Easter Peanut Butter Buttons from The Curvy Carrot
Probably one of the easiest things ever. Peanut butter filled pretzels are a classic, and so are white chocolate covered pretzels. Adhere a Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg to a pretzel with melted white chocolate, and you’re in Easter snack heaven.

by Emily

Ultimate White Chocolate Peepmallow Reese’s Peanut Butter Easter Treats

When I think of Easter foods, I think of marshmallows, pastels, egg-shaped candies, white chocolate bunnies, PEEPS, the usual. Okay, by “foods” I totally meant “sugar-loaded junk foods” but I think we can all get behind that. Hallelujah. If you want to bring a sweet something to an Easter brunch or potluck but don’t want to have to bake or take more than 15 minutes of time, then this is the (adorbs!) recipe for you.

Everyone knows Rice Krispies Treats are delicious, but these are even better because they incorporate melted white chocolate (in the form of a bunny, duh) as well as two types of peanut butter (normal PB melted in with the marshmallows, plus Reeses Pieces Eggs stirred in at the end). Speaking of the marshmallows, I used a combination of regular ones and pink Peeps. He has risen! (In this case, the word “he” means “my blood sugar”).

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Easter Treats

in Desserts / Holiday / Recipe 2 comments

by Emily

Wine and Cheese: A Match Made in Heaven

Two of my favorite indulgences in life are a good glass of wine and a good hunk of cheese. How can those things get any better? When you enjoy them together, of course. The thing is, I’m not an especially discerning critic when it comes to cheese and wine combos. Hand me a fat glass of red and any cheese nicer than a Kraft Single (ick) and I’m pretty good to go.

My anything-goes palate was treated to a special wine pairing evening hosted by Kendall Antonelli of the fantastic Antonelli’s Cheese Shop here in Austin and Lisa Mattson of Jordan Winery, who paid us a visit all the way from Sonoma County. Along with a small group of fellow Austin food bloggers, I enjoyed an evening of amazing artisan cheeses carefully paired with an assortment of Cabernet Sauvignons (and one rogue glass of Chardonnay) from Jordan. Luckily for my eccentric palate, one of the most important lessons I learned is this: when it comes to wine plus cheese, there is no single right way to pair. Let your taste buds be your guide, because everyone’s flavor profile is different.

Keeping this in mind, here are some interesting tidbits and suggestions I picked up over the course of the night:

in Cheese 1 comments

by Emily

Restaurant Seating: the Ultimate Musical Chairs

Welp, here’s my favorite thing I’ve found on the internet all day. Choosing the Right Seat: How not to get stuck next to someone that sucks is a delightful infographic (if we’re using the term “infographic” loosely) by San Francisco designer Alex Cornell. His observations and advice are spot on. If you are in a two-table large dinner situation, you’re basically 100% cursed to sit at the sucky table next to the boring people who aren’t drinking. It’s the Murphy’s Law of dining out in big groups.

You can check out the full-size graphic here.

in Rants & Raves / Restaurants 1 comments

by Emily

Artsy Photo of the Day

Thai food isn’t all yellow curry and rice noodles. The fantastic Sway in Austin makes a creative stir fry with chicken, Nashi pear, brussels sprouts, mushroom, chive, Thai basil and red chili.

in Photos / Restaurants 0 comments

by Emily

Mushroom and Blue Cheese Farrotto

I feel like, by this point in my ES career, there are certain things that we just can’t avoid. For example: I love healthy grains and making plays on risotto with them, I love mushrooms, and I love blue cheese. So it really shouldn’t surprise anyone when I introduce my next recipe creation: blue cheese and mushroom risotto made with farro instead of arborio rice.

Here’s why I like farro: It’s toasty and nutty with a toothsome bite, standing up to heavy sauces much better than plain ol’ rice. Not only that, but it’s freaking healthy! High in fiber, low in gluten, and packing 7g of protein per 1/4c serving, farro is a grain to be reckoned with. I mixed this with the usual risotto suspects (white wine, cheese, more cheese) with spectacular results. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that this is a super healthy meal (because of the aforementioned cheese and more cheese), but it’s a step up from classic risotto thanks to all the benefits of farro plus a load of vitamins and minerals from the mushrooms and iron from the spinach. All in all… you could do a lot worse. Plus this combination is just plain delicious.

Mushroom and Blue Cheese Farrotto

in Cheese / Recipe / Veggie 2 comments

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