Evidence of Turkey Hill's greatness

The New York Times is identifying the least healthy ice cream flavors and suggesting that you replace them with Turkey Hill!
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/the-scoop-on-fattening-ice-cream-flavors/

Taqueria Poblano, Del Ray

Tonight I went to Taqueria Plabano in Del Ray for dinner. I've been meaning to check it out for years (literally!) but the combination of my laziness, their weird hours, and it always looking super crowded...it just never happened. Tonight the stars aligned and it was great! It was different than other Mexican restaurants I've been to, and based on the reviews I've read, I think that's because its considered Cal-Mex, rather than Tex-Mex or Mexican/Salvadorean.

The menu consists of mostly tacos/appetizers and only a handful of platters. I got chorizo and potato tacos (on special) and they were delicious! If anything, they were a little heavy on the potato and light on the chorizo, but covered with just the right about of cheese and some pico de gallo. Most tacos are a la carte, but this was a platter and I got extra rice and no beans (because I hate them) and it also came with gauc!
Check it out!

The worst sounding soup ever!

Foods I hate: beans, corn, and fat free versions of fatty foods (like mayo, sour cream, cheese...)

The worst sounding soup in the world? 16 Bean Sour Cream Soup. Wow, it combines 15 types of beans, fat free sour cream and a can of creamed corn to make the grossest thing in the world!

Black and white cookies!

Since I enjoy things that involve a food destination, one of my favorite things to do is ride my bike to Eastern Market for black and white cookies :D I've been fantasizing about making black and white cookies for a few weeks now. Today was the day! And they turned out great!! It is tough finding a recipe, though. I used this recipe for the cookie and this recipe for the frosting. I followed the recipe for the cookies, but added vanilla to the white frosting and used chopped semi-sweet chocolate chips AND cocoa powder and a little milk for the chocolate frosting. They turned out really well and weren't nearly as time consuming as expected!

Turkey Hill's Fried Ice Cream!!!

There is no question: I LOVE Turkey Hill ice cream! And I especially love their "limited edition" flavors! This month marks the return of one my top two flavors of all time: Fried Ice Cream! It's described as cinnamon ice cream swirled with cinnamon sopapilla and sweet tostada pieces! Wow, what I would describe it as is cinnamon ice cream with cinnamon sugar cookie dough and some crunchy cookie pieces :D It sounds like a lot of cinnamon, but have faith, Turkey Hill does it right. I highly recommend you get some of this before its too late!! Turkey Hill is sold at Giant and Shopper's in DC metro area.

Update: I forgot to mention that Breyer's also makes a fried ice cream flavor. It is terrible. I bought it and threw it out. Get yourself some Turkey Hill!

Great American Buffet, Falls Church

I'm doing this as a public service announcement. I went to Great American Buffet in Falls Church tonight. It is American food and it was horrible. I couldn't even find enough appetizing food to fill my plate. I would recommend avoiding this place.

Sugar Cookies!

When I make cookies, its a terrible disaster because I eat them all!! This time was no exception, but they were awesome!! I used this sugar cookie recipe and then topped them with an icing of butter, milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar! And then I ate them the whole next day....

Beer and Food Festival this Friday and Saturday

If you are a baller, this might be fun to attend this weekend: Savor, a food and beer festival, at the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in DC near the Federal Triangle metro stop. Looks like they are selling tickets for Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night sessions. The food sounds delicious and the breweries I recognize are also awesome! Unfortunately, tickets are $85 and I'm cheap :P But if you're not, you should check it out!

The Italian Store!

On Friday, I went to The Italian Store in Arlington for some pizza for dinner and subs to motivate me to finish a hike the next day! What could be better than eating a delicious sub on the top of a mountain?

Judging by the number of people coming in for carry out, their pizzas are very popular! Unlike most people, I like my pizza with lots of sauce and just a little cheese. This pizza was the exact opposite...it was loaded with tons of cheese and hardly had any sauce. Sad panda. But, everyone else thought it was very good and many reviews I've read said it was the best pizza in the area. So...you should probably try it anyway :)

The subs are amazing!! I've been there a few times before and they never disappoint. I ordered a small Capri sub on a hard roll: prosciutto, genoa salami, provolone cheese and capacola ham :D I ate it on what I thought was the top of a mountain! Unfortunately, we weren't even close...but I didn't know that, so it was delicious and rewarding and filling...I couldn't even finish it all!

The Italian Store also has a large selection of frozen pasta and raviolis, prepared pasta dishes, freshly made sauces, Italian deli meats, cheeses, salads, Italian wines, cookies and groceries. It's always crowded!!
The Italian Store is located at 3123 Lee Highway, Arlington VA 22201, 703-528-6266. I recommend this place for delicious subs!!

Guacamole!!

After years of imagining what my guac would be like, I finally made some on Monday!!

It contained 3 avocados, 3 de-seeded chopped tomatoes, 1 chopped onion, half a jalapeño, an ENTIRE bunch of cilantro, garlic, salt and the juice of one lime :D

I mashed the avocado by hand, chopped the tomatoes by hand, used my food processor for chopping the onion and cilantro and the mixed it all up!! Turned out pretty well :) Though its expensive because of all the ingredients, I definitely prefer homemade guac to the store-bought stuff.

AC/KC Del Ray is going to open soon!!!!!

A few weeks ago I posted with great anticipation and joy and excitement that ACKC would be opening a Del Ray location. They finally took the paper off the windows today and it looks like they're going to open soon! Wow!!! The day they open will be the happiest day of my life (unless it is more than 80 degrees outside)!!

An article in The Examiner says that the Del Ray location will have seating for 10 people, and will also serve Dolcezza gelato and frozen drinks and sell chocolates, which sounds like the DC location (though I haven't been there since it warmed up, so I can't comment on the frozen treats). I'm not sure that the gelato could possibly compete with the The Dairy Godmother, a block or two away, but I look forward to seeing if the frozen hot chocolate is as awesome as their hot hot chocolate :)

Still not 100% but baking anyway :)

I'm feeling much better....but STILL not 100%. Ugh. Nonetheless, at least I'm living life again....and baking! I went to a picnic this weekend and made my tried and true brownie recipe: Hershey's Ballot Box Brownies. Despite the dumb name, these brownies are awesome!! I also add a little cinnamon to the batter :D

Ingredients:

* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
* 3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
* 2-1/4 cups sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 cup HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
* 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
* CHOCOLATE FROSTING (optional)
* Red, white, blue decorating icing in tube or can

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

2. Melt butter in medium saucepan; add cocoa, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Add sugar, salt, eggs and vanilla; beat with spoon until thoroughly combined. Add flour and baking powder; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts, if desired. Spread batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake 30 minutes or until top is dry and brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Frost, if desired. Cut into bars. Garnish with Vote theme, using red, white and blue icing. About 36 brownies.



CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter in small bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk, beating to spreading consistency. Stir in vanilla. About 1 cup frosting.

The frosting is NOT optional. :D