Room for One More? Polkatots Cupcakes

New kid-cake on the block - Polkatots on N. Lake in Pasadena

The way I figured it, Pasadena needed another specialty cupcake shop the way that Octomom needs another baby. We already have two locations of Dots (one on Arroyo Parkway and another in Old Pasadena) and Violet's in Old Pas. Nearby are Pearl in San Marino and My Sweet Cupcakes in South Pasadena.

Turns out there's room for one more cupcake contender. Polkatots', just six months new, has already managed to beat out 33 other cupcake competitors for two first-place prizes in the 2009 Nesquick Cupcake Challenge. Judges voted Pokatots' dulce de leche the best original cupcake and best overall cupcake in Southern California.

Fresh spring flowers brighten up the courtyard of Polkatots' mini mall setting.

I popped in to their North Lake shop to purchase two mini cupcakes (hey, big spender), but they all looked so delicious that I ended up taking home a dainty dozen.

Eenie, meenie minie, moe . . . Grab a cupcake, go, go, go.

I found most of the traditional cupcakes a little too sweet for my tooth (probably because of the extra sprinkling of sugar on top), but I went nuts over the pistachio cupcake. Alma, one of the owner/bakers, said that it was her favorite too.

My faves: pistachio and dulce de leche

Alma and her 20-year-old partner, Melany, also love creating cupcake cakes (CCC). Even though these are often maligned on cakewrecks.com, Alma and Melany turn those three Cs into creative, classy and convenient.

You'll pass Polkatots as you're driving north on Lake Ave. As a matter of fact, you'll drive past it when you're headed for Altadena. (Hint. Hint. Wink. Wink.)

Polkatots
720 N. Lake Ave.
Pasadena
626-798-3932
polkatotscupcakes.com.

Going Hog Wild Over Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

Upscale, downscale: Strawberries drizzled with lemon curd and biscuits smothered in sausage gravy.

I love to have friends over. ("Entertain" sounds so pretentious.)

Sometimes I invite groups of friends who all know one another. Other times I try to mix up my friends. When I do this, human nature invariably kicks in, and people gravitate to people they already know. The party then seems more like a tossed salad than a well mixed drink.

This time, I put no thought whatsoever into the guest list; I let the guests invite themselves. A dozen friends answered my blog and Facebook calls for company to share biscuits and sausage gravy. I stood back and watched as this diverse group of friends blended better than Makers Mark in a Perfect Manhattan.

Why did we all feel so connected? Our common thread was a desire to pig out on biscuits and sausage gravy on a Saturday morning. We all speculated about the qualities of folks who love a heavy dose of carbs and fat in the morning: down-to-earth, hearty, warm, highly intelligent . . . modest.

I've baked plenty of biscuits in my lifetime, but this time I decided to try Margaret's flaky, buttery biscuits that she adapted from Julia Child's Baking with Julia. Margaret uses butter instead of shortening and buttermilk instead of milk. I like both substitutions.

The Julia & Margaret Biscuit

2 C flour
1 T baking powder
1 t salt
1/3 C butter
1C buttermilk

- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Mix the dry ingredients.
- Add the butter and smush it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until the whole mess resembles cornmeal, although it’s fine to have a few bigger pieces of butter sticking out.
- Add the buttermilk and mix with a fork. It will be wet and messy.
- Turn onto a floured cloth and knead — and this is the secret — knead only ten times. You will want to keep kneading, but you must resist that urge.
- Roll out or pound out with the heel of your hand and cut into rounds.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes at 425 degrees.
(My biscuits weren't as good as Margaret's. I wonder why?)

***

This was my first time making sausage gravy. I started out following the instructions for Frank's Famous Sausage Gravy, but immediately discovered a fatal flaw. The recipe called for one cup of flour and one cup of milk. I think Frank's recipe must be famous because it looks like wallpaper paste, not because it's flavorful.

I did some major revisions to come up with Susan's now famous sausage gravy.

Susan's Super Sausage Gravy
1 lb. ground sausage
1/2 c. flour
2 c. half and half and 1 c. milk (or any combination of cream or milk)
salt and pepper to taste hot pepper sauce to taste

- Brown and crumble the sausage in a large skillet.
- Coat the cooked sausage in 2/3 c. flour.
- Begin gradually adding the milk (or cream) and stirring until it reaches the consistency you like.
- Season to taste with salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce.
- Serve over biscuits.
- Walk around the Rose Bowl six times (or more to suit your taste). Or, if you prefer, fall asleep while watching reruns of Saved By the Bell.

I was a little nervous about how this was going to come out, but we devoured every one of the three batches of biscuits and the gravy. As a matter of fact, I asked a guest to pass the gravy, but none was left. So I did what every hearty, down-to-earth Southern gal does: I cleaned the sides of the bowl with the biscuit.

(I'm submitting this recipe to Blazing Hot Wok's Regional American Food Roundup for April.) This month's roundup is being hosted by Eating Club Vancouver.

Japanese Cooking Class at Pasadena Buddhist Church, April 14

If you'd like to join me at my next Japanese cooking class, we'll be making buta dofu (pork and tofu), hijiki (seaweed) and carrot/cabbage tsukemono (pickled salad). I have to admit that the sound of these dishes does not cause instant salivation, but our teacher manages to make everything delicious or "oishii" as they say in Japan.

When: Tuesday, April 14, 7 pm
Where: Pasadena Buddhist Church, 1993 Glen Avenue, Pasadena
How Much: $15 includes a hands-on lesson with a professional instructor and three-course dinner. (It's "sucha diru" as they say in Japan.)
RSVP: Misako Morihiro, misamasumori@yahoo.com

If you're interested in attending, please be sure to email Misako.

Biscuits and Gravy, Anyone?

Pork belly is in. Bacon is blazing hot. Bone marrow is tres chic. Even lard is no longer a four-letter word.

But biscuits and sausage gravy? I'm trying to convince Sumi at Europane that her customers (i.e. me) are craving this comfort breakfast, but she's not buyin' it. And that's too bad.

Until I can make it to Willit's, California, or anywhere in West Virginia, I've decided to make my own biscuits and gravy and submit the recipes and photographs to Blazing Hot Wok's Regional American Food Roundup for April.

There's just one problem: Will I be able to find anyone willing to share a batch of biscuits smothered in artery-hardening sausage gravy with me before April 15 (the deadline for submissions)?

Come on. It's just once a year. Anyone? Anyone?

Indian Lunch in Under 4 Minutes, $4 and 400 calories

Some days, I make a beautiful salad for lunch.

Other days, I cook an easy, healthy meal like sauteed spinach and mushrooms with ground beef or Italian-style beans and greens.

My happiest days are when I can reach into the refrigerator and pull out cartons of leftover beef stew or takeout Thai curry. Heat and eat.

And then there are the days when I reach in and come up with. . . nothing. And, of course, those are the days that I want food and I want it NOW.

How do I bring on the fast and easy without resorting to my daughter's favorite lunch, ramen that's ready in three minutes? Or grabbing for the bag of chips with a side of salsa?

Peak into my pantry and you'll always find a stash of these ready-made Tasty Bite dishes that I learned about from Wandering Chopsticks.

Bombay Potatoes is one of 18 Indian vegetarian dishes available from Tasty Bite.

The nutrition label says that the packet includes two servings, but I find it perfect for lunch for one.

With a serving of heat-up Trader Joe's jasmine rice, here's how the time, cost and calories stack up:

(I don't know how to make nice, neat columns in blogger, so I'll have to itemize in little chunks.)

Indian Food, Tasty Bite Bombay Potatoes
Time: 2 minutes
Cost: *$2.19
Calories: 220

Rice, Trader Joe's Thai Jasmine
Time: 1.5 minutes
Cost: $.75 per serving
Calories: 180

Totals
Time: 3 1/2 minutes
Cost: $2.95
Calories: 400

*$2.19 at Fresh and Easy but $2.99 at Cost Plus

Take an extra 10 seconds and add a handful of chopped cilantro and a few mint leaves.

Mix it all together, enjoy and get back to work.

What do you do when you want "fast food"?

NEWS FLASH: I just returned home from Cost Plus for my monthly supply of cheap cava and discovered that Tasty Bite meals have been reduced from $2.99 to $2.00. I stocked up.

Blogger's Picnic Potluck No Crap Shoot

Sometimes you take your chances at a pot luck. I've been to buffets that should have been called "pot no-luck" with a dozen bags of chips, two quarts of take-out cole slaw and a fruit platter from Costco. And I've been to spreads so grand you don't know where to start and where to end.

The Primavera in Altadena Potluck Picnic on Saturday was the latter.

No gathering is complete without these shoestring potatoes, er pommes frittes, which were mandolined and double dipped in the fryer by Karin, the Altadena Hiker.

Debbi of Altadena Daily Photo served an amazing beef enchilida dish that featured beef that braised overnight.

Vanda of Toadberry brought the beautiful berry dessert (left below). Desiree, The Restless Chef, baked her 5-ingredients brownies (one of five chocolate desserts on the table). (All photos were shamelessly borrowed from Dianne, aka Mlle. Gramophone.)

I didn't snap a picture of my California Salad, ala Marston's Restaurant in Pasadena. This simple salad meets all my criteria for a good salad: something crisp (mixed greens), something crunchy (toasted pecans and diced apples), something sweet (mandarin oranges and yellow raisins), something soft (avocados), something protein (grilled chicken), something borrowed and something blue.

California Salad

lettuce (I use mixed greens, but I sometimes prefer Boston Bibb lettuce)
yellow raisins
green apples, diced
pecans, toasted (Marston's uses candied pecans, but I think that makes the salad too sweet.)
mandarin oranges
chicken breast, grilled
avocado
green onion, finely sliced

Marston's San Pasqual Salad Dressing is available at Marston's Restaurant or at Motif, a gift shop on Washington Blvd. in Pasadena.

You could also dress the salad in this light dressing that I used for Salad Nicoise. Just add a pinch of sugar to the recipe.

There's a rumor circulating that sangria was served. I'm sure it must have been the virgin version, but, if you're interested in the real thing, go to an earlier Open Mouth, Insert Fork post for the recipe for Susan's Sassy Sangria.

The Last Marble Rye and Chicken Salad on Rosemary Currant Bread

Do you ever feel like your life is a Seinfeld episode?

Last Saturday, while making my rounds from bakeries to food boutiques for the items I needed for the Tea for Ten, I stopped at Europane for lunch and a loaf of rosemary currant bread.

I waited in line and got a little nervous when I spotted a single loaf of the necessary bread on the shelf. And then the lady in front of me politely announced, "I'd like the loaf of rosemary currant bread." Panic set in. I HAD to have that loaf.

"Are there any more loaves in the back?" I asked, trying hard not to sound as though my tea depended on it. "I'm sorry," the clerk reported. "That was our last loaf."

I couldn't help it; I was incapable of hiding my disappointment. "But I need rosemary currant bread to make sandwiches for my Tea for Ten tomorrow," I moaned.

And do you know what the kind lady in front of me did? She handed the loaf of bread to me. (I guess if my life was really like a Seinfeld episode, I would have had to wrestle her to the ground.) She chose a loaf of walnut bread instead, and I only wish that I had forked over the $5.15 for it.

Tarragon Chicken Salad ala Europane

2 chicken breasts, poached in water, white wine and tarragon leaves
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 green onions, finely minced
2 celery stalks, finely minced
2-3 tbsp. fresh tarragon
salt to taste

Shred chicken and combine with remaining ingredients.
Spread on rosemary currant bread, if available.

(For another Seinfeldesque Challah story, go to the blog of the Two Writing Teachers.)