November 24th, 2009 by Sha

November 14th, 2009 by Sha

So here’s a couple pics of winter 2009’s first baking project: my first ever attempt at baking 100% homemade cinnamon buns. I used the “Almost Famous Cinnamon Buns” recipe that was in the Thanksgiving issue of Food Network Magazine. It’s a copy-cat recipe for CinnaB–, well, you-know-who’s cinnamon buns. We don’t want any trouble; just good cinnamon rolls. Anyway…I made the dough and filled and rolled the buns the night before; after cutting and proofing the buns in what would ultimately be the baking dish they went into the refrigerator overnight. (By the way, the recipe said to cut the rolled dough log into six buns but as you can see in the photo I wound up with eight counting the funny looking ends.) I took the buns out of the refrigerator as soon as we got up the next morning so they could warm up a little bit, then we popped them into the oven for 30 minutes and oh my – they were fabulous! Slightly crunchy outside, light and fluffy inside; a nearly impossible feat when it comes to baking breads at 7,600 feet elevation. Baking is one thing that has been quite a challenge since moving here; the arid climate and the altitude have huge effects on the outcome of anything that contains yeast. You know, I think this is the first time that something baked came out good the first time!

Oh, and the frosting was a perfect copy of you-know-who’s, and I even had to improvise on that part of the recipe because I did not have any heavy cream! (A storm was rolling into B.F.C. and I couldn’t justify a 30 mile round trip to the grocery store just for heavy cream, so I got online and found several substitution suggestions. This is the one I went with and it worked great: 2/3 cup whole milk + 1/3 cup butter, warm the milk, melt the butter in the milk, let it cool down, and use as you would heavy cream.) The only thing I will do differently next time is to use less cinnamon in the filling, which was also great but because we used  Morton & Bassett organic pure ground cinnamon it was just a little too cinnamon-y in my opinion. I think next time I’ll try using 1/3 less, that will probably work better with the organic ground cinnamon. All in all they came out really good, and we decided to call them CinnaBoos – after me! The best part of making these cinnamon buns just may be how amazing the house smelled all morning. This recipe is definitely worth the effort, and I’m sure I’ll be making these again very soon!

November 1st, 2009 by Sha

Okay, back to the fourth and final installment of our 10th anniversary trip to Las Vegas in early September. (Read Part I; Part II; Part III) The last two places we ate at were Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill at Caesar’s Palace and Yellowtail at the Bellagio where we were staying. Mesa Grill was on the list before we left home, and we were both really looking forward to eating at one of our favorite celebrity chef’s restaurants. So was it good? Yes, the food was excellent as we thought it would be. We started with the Squash Blossom appetizer. They were very good and disappeared quickly. (We love these and always get them at any restaurant that has them.) For dinner I ordered the Fire Roasted Veal Chop with horseradish maple glaze and a wild rice tamale with sage butter. The veal chop was perfectly cooked and so tender; and the horseradish maple glaze was really good, a little heat and a little sweet – just right and not overpowering on the veal. It was wonderful. The wild rice tamale however was really dry, I did not finish it. Pete’s entrée was the Southwestern Spiced Duck Breast with carrot habanero sauce and a chorizo & goat cheese tamale with thyme butter. He said the duck was very flavorful and good, but it was a tiny bit dry and could have used more sauce. The chorizo & goat cheese tamale was much better than mine; he said he could have eaten another one. We enjoyed the food but there was something missing from the overall experience; the ambiance felt like that of a chain restaurant and frankly we felt a tad rushed through the dinner by the servers. Who, by the way, were very nice but a bit cold at the same time. Would I eat at Mesa Grill again? Probably not.

Our final meal in Las Vegas was at Yellowtail in the Bellagio hotel where we were staying. I have to say that this restaurant and Olives, both in the Bellagio, were our favorites of the entire trip. We started with the Big Eye Tuna Pizza, a thin almost cracker like “pizza” drizzled with truffle oil and topped with big eye tuna and micro shiso – it was fantastic! Pete also ordered Akira’s “Shooter” – a Kumamoto Oyster in Blueberry Infused Vodka with Wasabi. I didn’t order one because I don’t like oysters, but the blueberry vodka in that shooter smelled so amazing I doubt I’d even taste the oyster. Pete said Akira’s “Shooter” is probably the best oyster dish he’s ever had! Next we ordered a Strawberry specialty roll (spicy tuna & cucumber), a Soft Shell Crab roll (a must have for me at any sushi restaurant!), an Unagi roll (another must have, we both love eel!), and a Yellowtail Kampachi sashimi plate with cilantro and yuzu-soy sauce. Every dish was gorgeous, as well as being a wonderfully balanced harmony of flavors and textures, and the restaurant itself had a great ambiance. The lighting was very nice, dim but not too dark. The decor is modern and yet traditional Japanese; minimal and artistic. The wait staff was very attentive and pleasant. Oh, and I almost forgot the piece de la resistance of the entire meal was this fabulous custom cocktail they have called a Shiso Sunset – Absolut Mandarin vodka, pink grapefruit juice, and blood orange juice with a shiso leaf garnish. (Shiso is the Japanese word for Perilla, an annual herb in the mint family whose taste is similar to that of mint or fennel.) Let me tell you this is one great cocktail; it’s my new favorite drink. A few days after we returned home our server, Carol, sent us a thank you card – how sweet! Yellowtail was a great dining experience and we would eat there again in a heartbeat. It was a terrific way to spend our last evening in Las Vegas!