Coffee An' Donut Shop

I have to thank one of my coworkers for tipping me off about this place. Apparently Coffee An' Donut Shop is so spectacular that its reputation preceeds it, and after a couple visits I can kind of see why. Amusingly enough, they're old-fashioned and don't seem to have a website, so they must have enough confidence in their preparations to rely on word-of-mouth and on earning features in newspapers and on local attraction websites.

After we talked about it at work I stopped in and got the three basic types of donuts to try (glazed, cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar), which I then took back to work to cut into quarters and pass around to my favourite tasters. (They were good enough that we got a dozen of each for an office birthday party the next week.) The glazed donuts are from the school of the chewier, doughier type of donut, while the sugared ones are both cake donuts. They also have chocolate cake donuts with plain glaze and several other special donuts that I haven't tried yet.

They aren't Krumpe's, but they're pretty damn good. Certainly among the best that we've tried up here.

never walk into a Polish deli and just ask for Kielbasa

Despite what most American grocery stores would lead us to believe, there is apparently more than one kind of kielbasa. We've sampled several kinds from the aptly named "Polish Delicatessen" a few minutes away from us, and I have to say that they're all pretty good. Since we can never remember which is which however, a need has developed to make a list.

Swojska
Banik's favourite thus far. It's well balanced and spiced, smokey, and has a good snap.

Mielon
A lighter kielbasa, not very smokey but with a good snap and texture.

Domestic
Similar to the Mielon, but with garlic and more salt.

Weselna
Banik's second favourite thus far. It's a smokey kielbasa with a large grain and moderate density.

Lesna
This is a hard, double-smoked kielbasa with a peppery flavour. It's not good for eating on a bun, but it's great to just eat alone or with cheese and such.


Which is my favourite? I think they're all good in different ways.

The Ginger Man

Our last event of the night was dinner at The Ginger Man with a couple friends. It's sort of a pub atmosphere, but thankfully not smokey. Each of us tried something different, and everyone seemed pleased.
The photo shows their European Beer Flight, which includes-from foreground to background- Hofstetten Kubelbier, Franziskaner Weisse, Palm Amber Ale, Boddingtons, Rodenbach Red, and Youngs Double Chocolate Stout. Samplers like this are a favourite of Banik since he gets to try a bunch of different things at once. Alcoholic beverages are rather lost on me, so I couldn't tell you which ones he liked or why. Maybe he'll post it in the comments.

Cafe Chocopologie

Our second stop was Cafe Chocopologie. It was about time for lunch, and since we were already in SoNo we figured it would be a shame not to go. We've seen the owner, Fritz Knipschildt, on Food Network (and-believe it or not-at the DMV. Welcome to CT.), and Banik got me a box of chocolates for Valentine's Day from Chocopologie. The experience would be interesting at the very least.

I got the frozen hot chocolate, which is their signature hot chocolate blended with ice and topped with whipped cream. Banik was not a fan, but I really liked it. It was less sweet than most cocoa, and tasted more like dark chocolate. I'm ususally ambivalent about whipped cream, but I enjoyed theirs because had just the right level of sweetness (even so, I allowed most of it to be pilfered from my glass). I'll have to use these as a model in my continuing endeavours to make my own cocoa mix and whipped cream.

He had their take on nachos: thick, fried potato chips topped with melted blue cheese and truffle oil. I had a grilled sandwich: a wheat roll with fresh mozzarella, avocado, tomato, red pepper spread, and grilled portobello. The little salad that came with my sandwich was mediocre, but everything else was very good.

Yes, I'd usually have pictures, but I didn't think about it in time. You can see some pretty awesome photos and read someone else's thoughts on the restaurant here. I shall conveniently have to go back such that I might take my own.

Lupita's Mexican Restaurant

We made another random restaurant selection on the way home, and I'm pleased to say that it paid off. Lupita's Mexian Restaurant is in a little strip of stores between Fairfield proper and Blackrock. Banik had fajitas and a margarita, and I had enchiladas- one chicken, one veggie. Everything was good, and it's nice to finally have a mexican restaurant up here.

The Middlesex Diner

The Middlesex Diner is a nice little place. Banik and I were coming home from Hershey Park a couple weeks ago and started looking for a 24-hour diner along I-81. A restaurants-at-this-exit sign for exit 52 listed this 24-hour diner, and we happily stopped. The sign proclaiming "Great homemade food and plenty of it" is not lying, and we left happily full (and with some leftovers, iirc) for $20+tip. It almost made up for the crappy food in Hershey Park.

Mudflat Gallery

Mudflat Gallery is a little store at Porter Square (Cambridge, MA) that showcases an interesting mix of work from fibers and paper art to glass and ceramics; their website is pretty terrible and useless though. My favourite pieces were the dichroic slump glass dishes done by Judith Copeland, and though her website doesn't do it justice you can see a few more of them at another gallery. Mudflat sells the smaller 3"x3"ish ones for about $14 each, but the craft is very nice. The palette of greens, blues, and violets is obviously appealing to us, and they would easily make a nice set of matching-but-not-identical dishes for something. I have no idea what though. Lisa Knebel also had some noteably nice pottery, which can also be seen at the other gallery's website. Swirly pottery is nice; spotty pottery is ugly.

Coming Soon!

We will get our respective acts together and post something.

We've been... busy. And we have a lot to talk about if only we can remember what it is that we should be posting about. Coming Attractions include:

Restaurants!
Shaharazade's in Shep
The Anvil in Harpers Ferry
Thai Hut in Martinsburg
Asian Garden in Martinsburg
The Three Birds in Corning
Wegmans in Corning
Empire China in Martinsburg (which is probably the wrong place, but I never remember the name >.>)
Viva Mexico in Inwood
Cyros in .... wherever it is

Actual Cooking!
Adventures with Wheat Bread
Fun with Pizza Stones
Milkshake Machines and Disappointment
Sweet Potato Fries, Mandolins (not the kind you play), and Learning Curves
Other Things We Frantically Try to Cook Before Returning to School

And Also!
The Corning Museum of Glass
The Hillcrest Manor
Dr. Frank's Vineyards
Bully Hill Vineyards

Atasca - A little piece of Portugal in Cambridge

It's getting to be time of year. No longer can I leave in the morning wearing a t-shirt, knowing that the chill will pass by midmorning. Now Boston is showing a small piece of its true colors- cold and windy. With that in mind, I decided to try a Portugese restaurant that's on my walking route between the apartment and school. I figure that as the weather gets worse and worse, I'll be less and less likely to feel motivated enough to walk back and forth, instead availing myself of the public transportation options. Anyway, on to the establishment!

Atasca is the name of the restaurant. It occupies the first floor of a tall building (there you go, that's it- I suppose it's either an apartment building or and office building, but I don't really know). Inside is a modest bar with perhaps enough space for 6 people as well as a number of tables with a few booths along one windowed wall. Outside, for those hearty diners or those dining in a more temperate time of year, are a number of iron tables and chair screened in by grapevines growing through a fence surrounding the patio and threaded with rope lights. Not a bad effect, really. The interior design is centered mainly around porceline- teapots, plates, serving platters, and some sort of wall-hung half-pitchers, designed to look as though they passed into the wall. The lighting is nice, if a bit dim, but it lends itself to the overall darkwood, warm yellow lighting and spnged wall decor.

Now, on to the imortant part. Service was prompt and friendly, as well as posessing a generally high level of knowledge concerning the cuisine. With the menu I was served a bowl of olives (colored black, but not 'black olives,- I do not know the type, though they were milder and more buttery in flavor) and a basket of sliced crusty bread with dipping olive oil. Along with the herbs and spices in the oil (red pepper flakes, ground pepper, basil, a parsely sprig, possibly some sort of grated parmesian like cheese) there were 4 cloves of roasted garlic (to go with the 4 pieces of bread, mayhaps). A quick side note- I love garlic, in all its forms. I thought these cloves would be strong and heady, but I instead found them to be delicately flavored and incredibly rich in texture- almost like a smoothed garlicy butter. They were great. Anyway, while I perused the menu, I ordered one of the 3 Portugese beers they carried, named just Super Bock. It was actually quite tasty, despite initial reservations, thinking it to be a weak, watery american-type lager. Instead, perhaps in homage to bocks everywhere, it had a mild flavor with a strong aftertaste- a very good aftertaste, but not like you would find in an IPA. Since I can't rememeber more about it, I suppose I will just have to have another at some point in the future to be able to deliver a more accurate description. Pity, that.

I ordered the fish of the day, Mahi-Mahi, which came promptly, piping hot after its grilling. The portion of tasty Dolphin fish was quite substantial, I'd put it very near a pound, precooked. Accompanying this was a pile of 'garlic' mashed potatoes, which were, honestly, mediocre due to a wimpy texture and lack of garlic flavor, as well as some cooked (sauteed?) snow peas, onions, and carrots- which were quite excellent. A few carmelized onions add a great deal to the snow peas, surpringly enough.

Three quartersof the way through the meal, I decided that I would check out their desserts and asked for the rest to go home with me and for a dessert menu. I was actually rather impressed at their selection of desserts, ports, espressos, brandys, and so forth. I exercised my willpower and forewent the port, and instead made the tough choice between some "homemade rice pudding with cinnamon" and the "lemon-port custard with caramel sauce." I chose the latter, hoping to get my fill of port from the dish. It turned out to be an excellent redition of the spanish/mexican dessert Flan, with a moderate lemon flavour, well balanced sauce, and a perfect texture. Unfortunately, I could detect none of the port, but that could merely be my unrefined palate.

Upon the conclusion of the meal, I decided I would return and try another path through their menu, perhaps trying one of their many appetizing-sounding starters instead of dessert this time. Overall, a very good moderately priced meal at a grand total of $35 at the end of the evening.

"The Thai Place"

So, this post is in regards to the Thai place on Pearl street in Cambridge. I think it's call Thai Spice, maybe not.

Ayway, I've been twice, so I figure that I'll givea bit of a review.

It's a small place that seats perhaps 25, with a mocha-themed decor, deeps woods, and a giant Red canvas on one wall...

My first visit, I had a seafood soup that was A)very hot (hot enough to burn my tongue... I hate that) and B) pretty good. It was a bit spicy, with basil, vegetables, and seafood (shrimp, calamari, scallops, etc). No, I don't remember what it was called.
My main course was Basil Fried Rice. It was excellent. One can choose the meat that it comes with, if any, and I chose chicken for the first try. The rice was very good, with many kinds of vegetables in it, a strong flavour of basil and a smokey sesame oil esque flavour too. It is listed as "2 Chilies" which is the spiciest the resturant offers, and it was only a hint of spice but a good chilie flavour. I plan on seeing if they offer anything a bit more potent in the future.
My second trip there involved many, many dishes, since a couple friends and I shared appetizers, etc. First, the appetizers.
1) Satay Chicken. Very Good. This consists of grilled chicken tenders on kabobs seasoned with tumeric and yogurt which you dip into a satay sauce- ground peanuts and... other stuff?
2) Chinese Ravioli. Also good. Typical potstickers, but with a single shrimp in the middle of the ground pork. Thesse were then pan fried and served with the typical dipping sauce (soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil). These were good. The shell was thinnish, maybe a bit thiner than I would've hoped, but the sauce was very well balanced- no film of sesame oil, nor was it too punchy from the mirin.
3) Crab Rangoons. These were also very good. Not oily at all, and I think they even had real crab in the mixture, which was also very good. These were served with a non traditional sweet chili sauce which complimented them very well. Also, there was something green in the filling- spring onions? Leeks? Chives? It was good, lended a nice flavour.
My main course was called a Beef Jungle Curry. This was described as a green curry made without coconut sauce. It had basil, chilies, and perhaps some kaffir lime leaves flavouring the broth. In the broth were mostly vegetables, green beans, bamboo shoots, minicorn, and some carrots and ginger, I beileve. Topping these were a few slices of charred beef sliced very thinly- the charring wasa nice effect imparting a smokey essence which I enjoyed. I could've done with a bit more meat, but that's my cleanivore nature coming through.

It's good, I'll go back.

Huzzah!