Max Brenner, Boston

Last Sunday was Mother's Day, as we are all well aware.  Well, unfortunately I had to work that day, so we had to postpone our Mother's Day celebration until today.  I had told my husband where I wanted to go, and he happily obliged my request.  So this morning we drove up to Boston to partake of lunch at the newly opened Max Brenner restaurant on Boylston Street.  I knew of Max Brenner's restaurant in New York City, and was planning on going there on my next visit to the Big Apple.  But, once I heard that they had opened up a Max Brenner in Boston, I was determined to go as soon as possible.

We (me, Paul, and the girls) arrived just on time for our 11:00 am reservations, and were promptly seated.  We were given the brunch menu, as well as the "Drinks and Sweets" menu as well.  We first perused the Drinks and Sweets menu.  They had a great selection of hot chocolates, milk shakes, as well as chocolate "adult" drinks to choose from.  I ordered an Italian Thick Dark Hot Chocolate, while Paul chose the Eighties Milkshake -- milk chocolate ganache, vanilla bourbon ice cream, and a crunchy chocolate shell.  Ellie ordered a hot milk chocolate with marshmallows, and Maggie got a Peanut Butter and Chocolate Milkshake.  Each of us was very happy with our choice.  My hot chocolate was so smooth and creamy -- a perfect combination of the bite of dark chocolate with the sweetness of cream.  Paul loved his shake.  It was thick and creamy, but not heavy or too filling.  And, since they both finished them off, Ellie and Maggie seemed to enjoy their drink choices as well.

Then it was onto the main courses.  I ordered the  Illegal Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Pancakes -- three large pancakes with 60% dark chocolate truffle cream, pure milk chocolate shavings, spiced pecans, and caramelized bananas.  Can I just say, yum!  I was expecting something very rich and, for lack of a better word, chocolaty, but what I got was a nice balance of sweet and savory.  There was enough chocolate to satisfy that craving, but it still felt like a breakfast dish -- not a dessert, which was my concern.

Illegal Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate Pancakes

Paul ordered the Sliced and Diced Steak "Pillow" Panini -- char grilled and thin sliced skirt steak, tossed with diced caramelized onions on a bed of asiago cheese crisps, baby spinach, roasted tomatoes, and red pepper aioli.  He enjoyed the sandwich very much, but wasn't over the moon about it.  But, as he said, people probably aren't coming here for the steak sandwich.  They are coming for the chocolate.

For the girls, Ellie ordered the Two Little Mouth Cheeseburgers - two sliders that came with cocoa dusted waffle fries.  Maggie got the pasta, that came with tomato sauce in a large syringe, allowing her to dispense it onto the pasta herself.  Ellie ate her entire meal, and said she especially liked the "melty cheese" on the burgers.  Maggie, however, did not enjoy her pasta.  Upon my taste, I found it to be a bit underdone, and the sauce was a little spicy for a child's palate.

The service was hit or miss.  There were a couple of times we needed to get something from our server, and could not find her.  Once Paul had to go up to the host table to ask for extra sauce for Maggie's pasta, and it took a good 10 - 15 minutes after we were served before anyone came over to ask if we needed anything.  However all in all, we enjoyed our meal at Max Brenner.  It is now on our list of special occasion destination for a different and chocolaty meal!

The Search Continues

One of the things we promised Ellie and Maggie that we would do when we moved was to get a dog.  Our family has been wanting a dog for a while, but we wanted to make sure we were in the right situation and frame of mind before taking the plunge.  When we were looking for houses here in Massachusetts we specifically looked for houses with fenced in back yards suitable for a dog.  We drilled into the girls that a dog requires a lot of responsibility (much more that our cat, Valerie requires).  That they will have to feed, walk, and pick up in fun surprises!  They agreed, and when spring rolled around, the dog hunt was on.

We have been primarily using Petfinder to look for pooches.  There are a lot of cute contenders, but no winners yet.  This is turning out to be harder than I thought it would be!  It took us less time to find a dining room set!  We have met a couple of dogs that just weren't right for us, and that was disappointing to the girls; to go meet and play with a cute dog whom their father and I decide not to adopt is hard, but they have been champs about it.  Hopefully their patience will pay off soon, and we will be able to welcome the perfect dog into our slightly crazy family.

Stay tuned, and maybe you will here the news of our addition soon!

You Bars (or trail mix, cereal, shakes)

Have you heard of You Bars?  I hadn't until I recently purchased one of those one day coupon deals for their company.  You Bars is an online company where you can make your own custom energy bars, trail mix, cereal, or energy shakes.  Pretty cool concept, and I was excited to try it out.

I am not big on protein shakes, and although I eat cereal almost every morning, I prefer straightforward cereals, so I was left with deciding on making a custom energy bar or trail mix.  I went with the trail mix.

You first decide on the size of your individual bags of trail mix (35, 45, or 55 grams - 13 bags per order).  I went with the 45 gram sized bag, which cost $25.87, or about $1.99 per bag.

It was fun trying to decide what to include in my mix.  The site has a great selection of dried fruits, nuts, grains, and other mix ins so you can get exactly what you want in your mix.  It also tells you the nutritional content of your mix in real time as you add and remove items from your mix.  This is a really great feature, especially if you are looking at specific nutrients or concerned about fat and calories.

After I made my final decisions, I was able to name my mix and submit my order.  About a week later it arrived!  It was pretty cool to see my custom trail mix with my name on it.  The mix was fresh and tasty.  A little more expensive than the typical trail mix you will find in the store, but that is to be expected with any custom food item you may order.

I don't know if I will be ordering from You Bar again, but I think it would make for a good gift idea in the future.  Check it out.

Ed Mitchell's Carolina-Style Baked Beans

 As mentioned in a previous post, we hosted Easter at our house this year.  To that end, I assigned member's of my family different dishes to make for our pot-luck Easter barbecue.  For my part, I made a lobster mac & cheese, a lemon curd and berry trifle, a flourless chocolate torte, and this baked bean recipe.

My father was the baked bean king of our family.  His Boston Baked Beans are the stuff of legend.  I didn't want to even try to replicate his recipe, so I went to the cookbooks and found this recipe in my "Bobby Flay's Throwdown!" cookbook.  Not only was it the winner of the baked bean and ribs Throwdown, it was super easy to make, and had everyone asking for the recipe!

So, for those of you at Easter who asked (and anyone else interested) here it is.  As always, try to use organic ingredients wherever possible.


Ed Mitchell's Carolina-Style Baked Beans

• 1 onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons freshly minced ginger or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 green pepper, diced
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 2 (16-ounce) cans kidney beans, undrained (use organic if you can)
• 1 (16-ounce) can pinto beans, undrained (use organic if you can)
• 1 (16-ounce) can black beans, undrained (use organic if you can)
• 1 cup Ed's BBQ Sauce (recipe follows)
  
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 bottle beer
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a large saute pan, cook bacon over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Add onions, garlic, ginger, and peppers and cook until soft. Add dry mustard and stir for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the beans, BBQ sauce, molasses, brown sugar, and beans. Stir and simmer on stove for 2 hours (or bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour). Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.

Ed's North Carolina Western BBQ Sauce

• 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 4 ounces liquid smoke
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/8 teaspoon oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• Pinch of ground cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a bowl (that's it!).

Thank You Easter Bunny!

Well, the first major holiday sine our move home to Boston has come and gone, and I have to say, I was so happy to be able to celebrate a holiday with family in my own home for the first time in four years!

While we had nice Easter's while living in Minnesota, it just wasn't the same as it is when you are able to share the day with your extended family. While there, the girls would search for their Easter baskets, and then we would spend the rest of the morning, lounging around until our brunch reservations at whatever restaurant struck my fancy that year. After brunch, we would just come home and spend the afternoon as we would any typical Sunday afternoon.

So thank you family, for bringing the holiday back to Easter. I can't wait to see what happens on Memorial Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving, etc., etc., etc....

Niko's Restaurant, Weymouth, MA

I love a good breakfast spot.  Any throw in a place where you can order breakfast anytime, and I will for sure be there to check it out.  Today, that place was Niko's Restaurant in East Weymouth, Massachusetts.  I had read a few positive reviews of the restaurant online, and after checking out it's menu I was excited to drop in and give it a try. I was not disappointed!

Niko's is located in Jackson Square next to two other hot local spots -- The Venetian and Wendi Lou's Sunrise Cafe.  I got there about 12:30 with my two daughters, as it was spring break week from school and we had spent the morning at the Boston Science Museum.  The restaurant is very cute and cozy, with an open kitchen and nice homey atmosphere.  We were told we could sit wherever we would like, so we chose one of the booths against the windows.  We were quickly greeted by our server and given menus and asked if we wanted anything to drink.  I got coffee, and the girls ordered apple juice.

What I really like about this restaurant is the variety!  Most breakfast places have just the basics; eggs, pancakes, omelets, etc.  Niko's has those items, but it's menu really expands on what breakfast can be.  They have a large variety of original omelet and benedict choices, as well as an interesting assortment of other breakfast dishes.

I ordered the "Empire Benedict, " 2 poached eggs over spinach, smoked salmon, and potato cakes with a low-fat benedict sauce.  While the eggs were more soft-boiled than poached, the dish as a whole was very tasty!  It came with home fries and a side of fruit.

One of my daughter's ordered two HUGH chocolate chip pancakes with a side of bacon.  My other daughter ordered from the lunch menu, a Cesar Salad with grilled chicken.  They both enjoyed their meals, but as there is no children's menu available, their orders were from the main menu.  Consequently, their portions were way too big for them so we now have a significant amount of food in our fridge to have for breakfast and lunch tomorrow.

I didn't really peak at the lunch menu as I was way more interested in breakfast.  But they do also have lunch, and are open everyday from 6 am until 3 pm.

All in all, we really enjoyed Niko's Restaurant.  The food was very good, the service extremely friendly, and with the wide variety of menu choices, I know we will be back soon!

All the News That's Fit to Broadcast

This past Saturday morning I was at the gym, working out on the Arc Trainer while watching the weekend edition of Good Morning America on the television that is attached to the machine. After a couple of news stories regarding the budget battle, the fighting in Lybia, and the Japanese earthquake, the next story was about the voting on American Idol.

Granted, I know this is a morning "news" show and they do their share of fluff pieces, but this just got my goat. For the first three stories they maybe allocated 15 minutes total. The American Idol story went on for 7 minutes! And this is a story about a television show that airs on a competing network! Really?

I am so constantly amazed at what both the local and national news organizations choose to report on their broadcasts. There are so many important and interesting stories in the world that they could education the public about, but they give us stories on the latest You Tube viral video or what Charlie Sheen said yesterday. And then we wonder why the American people are so apathetic and uninformed when it comes to elections and world events.

With the decline of newspapers, I think that television news really needs to pick up some of the slack. Give us more cake, and less icing. Those who are looking for icing, watch Entertainment Tonight and leave the news to the rest of us.