Saturday & Sunday - Say Goodbye to February

SATURDAY

Another crazy weekend and month is quickly coming to an end.  Saturday my family stepped out to celebrate a cousin’s milestone birthday. We descended a bar called C’est What around 2:00pm.  The bar is very spacious and cozy at the same time, perfect for a gathering/celebration.  There was an amazing live band who really brought me back to the French Quarter in New Orleans.  C’est What sells great microbrewery beer, excellent food and fantastic atmosphere.  All the service staff was great!  Thanks Curtis!  A place you will certainly want to check out.  Small Note: The crowed is pretty mature on Saturday afternoon, but they are very embracing.

As long as I can remember my cousin (the birthday girl) never had a birthday cake she could eat.  She has a milk allergy like most of my family.  Since she probably has everything she needs.  If not, I probably could not afford what she really wanted, I decided to bake her a dairy free cake.  Lets just say for the record that baking doesn't give me the same pleasure as cooking. Therefore my baking repertoire is a bit limited.  I contacted my baking guru at Tikitonic to find a recipe that would fit the occasion.  She suggested a Clementine Almond Cake.  I pulled the recipe off her blog at Speed of Life.

 The Clementine Almond cake is gluten and dairy free, made mainly of almonds and eggs.  The frosting is a ganache with dark chocolate and soy milk.  The soy milk is not my beverage of choice, but it sure worked well with the ganache.

There were a few down sides to the cake though, 1. I couldn't eat it because I'm allergic to nuts. 2. I have 20 clementines and a 1.89L of soy milk left over. LOL
I guess I'll have to make a few more cakes. 

Anyway, the reviews were great!  Everyone said they enjoyed.  Thanks Tikitonic for your help on this one.

After the celebrations Mark and I wanted to go out for dinner since he kids were still with Nana and Papa. A foodie couple suggested that Mark and I try out a Japanese restaurant called the Prince Japanese Steakhouse near home.  It was delicious.  The prices ranged from $20.00 – $35.00 for soup, salad and entrée.  We were pleased with our meal.  Yum Yum.  I can't wait to go back.

SUNDAY
Today I literally ran out the door to purchase a few cookbooks.  I was under a time crunch; I had to make it back home before the Olympic hockey game started. GO CANADA!!! I did make home by the 2nd period so all was good.

I purchased the following books:

Flavor, by Rocco Dispirito

A Taste of Canada, by Rose Murray (My efforts in celebrating Canada)

The Weeknight Cook, Williams-Sonoma

Simply Thai Cooking by, Wandee Young & Byron Ayanoglu (My cousin received this book for her birthday).

I’m not sure which one to start with.  If anyone out there has a preference please let me know.  I’ll take a vote.

The Cookbook Addict