My parents had recently swung through Columbus on their drive home from NYC where the collected all the holiday treats we will be eating between now and New Years Day (including dried cod–bacala, duck, mozzarella, Italian bread, cookies from Veneiro’s, fish and meat, etc, etc, etc) so we were able to add some really delicious ingredients to baked ziti including pancetta, Italian sausage and really delicious mozzarella.

But no birthday is complete without a great cake. My bf and I attended a wedding almost two years ago and he still talks about how good the cake was so I contacted the bride and tried to figure out if I could afford this cake. Turns out I could. The cake is suisse almond with buttercream from the Suisse Shop. I explained to the woman on the phone that it’s only the two of us and the birthday celebration will be sandwiched between two days when we plan to gorge ourselves so I only need a small cake. Thankfully they make something they refer to as Cute Cakes. They’re five inches high, 2-layered replicas of the large cakes they make. I was able to order a suisse almond with buttercream with raspberry in between layers for only $15. The next challenge however was picking it up before they closed.

Thankfully my office closes at 3pm the day before holidays and I was able to make my slow and traffic packed way up to Polaris Parkway. Once I stepped into the bakery all my frustrations about the rude people on the highway melted. The cake looked so great! Somehow I was able to hide the cake in the back of the fridge until its debut last night. My bf was surprised and very excited to dig into the cake. He said it tasted just like he remembered.

www.thesuisseshop.com
2119 Polaris Pkwy
Columbus, OH 43240
(614) 846-5102

I think I’m a decent cook but I am not the best baker however I watched Ina Garten make a french apple tart that looked like a piece of cake. I watched intently. I paid attention to all details she included verbally. I watched what she did with her hands. In fact I know it so well that I can tell you off the top of my head how you make it (although when I actually did the baking last night I made sure to read and reread the recipe card). I took note and realized not only were there few ingredients but I still needed to finish off the last of my Lynd’s apples! I was going to make this!

Here’s how you make it: First you pulse flour, salt, and sugan in a food processor. Check. Then you add 1 1/2 cold sticks of butter, which has been been diced. Toss that in and pulse about 12xs until the butter is the size of peas. While the motor runs add 1/2 cup of very cold water. Keep running the motor until it just comes together. Then you pull the dough out of the food processor, mold it into a ball, avoiding over handling it, wrap it in wrap and put it in the fridge for 60 minutes.

About an hour later I start preheating the oven (450 degrees), roll out the dough to 10 x 14, then toss it back into the fridge to keep chilled. I sliced the apples and arranged them diagonally, overlapping a litte and then sprinkle on 1/2 cup of sugar and another 1/2 stick of cold butter, chopped up and sprinkled on top.

I tossed it into the oven on the top rack and waited 45 minutes.

35 minutes later….

“Does it smell like something is burning?” he asks.

“Nah… maybe some of the butter dripped over the side and is burning on the bottom of the oven,” I reply.

(This is where you need to be using google/reader so you can see the resulting photo) This is why I don’t bake. We cut around the burnt part and middle really did taste delicious. I think no matter what, I just don’t have the intuition of a baker. Who knew butter burns? (oh wait, you all knew?! Why didn’t you tell me?!) I think the other problem is that I put the tart up too high in the oven. Ina! Why didn’t you mention that?! I think it’s time to retire my baking tools and stick to dinner.

Griggs Reservoir is just south of the intersection of Lane Avenue and Riverside Drive. The trail runs parallel to Riverside drive along the river. We pulled in around Lane and Riverside and parked in the first lot we found. Unfortunately you don’t get the best view of the actual dam as they don’t want you to get too close so we headed north through a chain of parking lots that are all connected. We walked past boat docks and rowing equipment.

I was a little disappointed to realize we got out of the car too early. We walked along, having to stay aware of passing cars although there were other walkers undeterred by the vehicles. Regardless the view was beautiful. This far south there is a no wake zone and barrels floating in the water to keep boaters away from the dam so it’s especially quiet. I’m assuming this is where most of the rowing takes place?

About 30 minutes into our walk we can to a dirt trail. The activity on the water picked up and we saw two boats, one with a water skier. The further north we went the more visible the beautiful houses are. I loved how there were cement tables strategically placed so students could study or read while sitting among tall trees and along the river. Around this area is where you start to notice speed boats on the river, enjoying their last attempts to enjoy “summer.” There was a water skier going past and we all laughed at how crazy they are because to us it was so cold!

There were so many people walking; some people were exercising, others were strolling along. Dogs are allowed on the trail and there were many to see. It was a great way to close out the fall.

Griggs Reservoir information
2933 Riverside Drive
Columbus, OH 43221

The sun hid behind grey puffy clouds the whole time we were at Lynd (the picture above is from my previous trip… the long weekend killed my camera battery last night!). The wind was blowing and it was quite chilly so we quickly filled two 20 lb bags: one was full of red delicious and another full of jonathon gold. I was afraid the mud was going to be a problem as I was not dressed appropriately but it was a lot dryer in the apple fields than I pictured!

Many apple trees were picked clean however we didn’t have a hard time finding enough apples to fill our bag. In fact having the lower branches cleaned off made for a little more fun as you could climb up a little bit to reach the higher apples.

The pumpkin patch was packed too but I already picked up our pumpkin a couple weeks ago. I thought about getting another, in case our pumpkin is hijacked and smashed in the middle of the street (I have seen a couple smashed pumpkins in the streets lately… not what I like to see!) but I didn’t.

Yesterday we were able to get in and out of the u-pick fields in about 20 minutes and this morning I sipped on the reddest, sweetest apple juice you’ll ever taste. Delicious.

Don’t forget to check Lynd’s blog. They’re on facebook and twitter too (so am I!)!

Since Pistacia Vera’s hours don’t match up with my personal hours, we ran in Thursday night about five minutes before close and got the RW dessert menu to go. Once home we ate a thrown together dinner of leftovers and grilled cheese and then indulged in Pistacia Vera’s best desserts! My favorite was a mint chocolate macaroons!

We headed to the Clarmont on Friday, finally!!! We were stupid enough not to make reservations and to wing it even though the parking long was jam packed with Cadillacs and historical cars. We got in early and of course everyone’s grandparents had filled the restaurant–and the bar!

We scored the last seat and waited for another vacant seat. Soon enough we had two seats together. I love how the bar and the stools are so low. They are especially comfortable.

Our bartender Angie did a great job juggling the full bar and the questions about her marital status (not from us but from the obnoxious people). We didn’t look at the menu and ordered the filet and crab cakes and the lobsters.

I had the best time digging into the lobsters. It’s like riding a bike, I joked to the elderly men at the corner of the bar who questions whether I was schooling my bf or the other way around. Every Christmas Eve we eat a dinner of only seafood and when we were little, and there were fewer of us, we used to get whole lobsters at the grocery store, live. My dad always did his impression of the lobsters screaming as he tossed them in the boiling water. Anyway once you learn how to crack the claws open and pull out the tail meat. Plus the green goop in the middle will always remind you not to bother with the body of the lobster.

Anyway, to keep this short: it was a great experience. It’s been years since I’ve had whole lobster and I enjoyed getting dirty and cracking into it. And the Clarmont itself is a fun experience. It’s so old school from the clientele to the classic steak dishes on the menu to the sign out front.

If you go:
The Clarmont
684 S High St
Columbus, OH 43215-5646
(614) 443-1125

Surrounding a large gravel parking lot, hidden to us by aforementioned minivans, is the Fruit Farm. A large white tent on the grounds is surrounded by wood crates of pumpkins of all sizes, gourds, melons, and bags of apples. Inside the tent is more fresh produce and country decorations perfect for Halloween. There are also stands of fresh jellies and apple butters.

The place was packed. We soon learned we were not where we wanted to be. We wanted to go to the actual farm to pick our own apples. After grabbing a beautiful, unblemished pumpkin for $5, and standing in a hugely long line (credit and checks are accepted besides cash) that moved quicker than I predicted, we headed down Morse Rd., about a city block length, to the farm one of the employees pointed out to us.

Positioned on Morse Road we pulled onto grassy fields and around a little farm. We were stopped by employees who handed out bags ($10 for 10lb bags or $15 for 20lb bags–you pay them later so take as many as you want when you pull in). After giving us way too much direction we found a place to park along the short apple trees chock full of apples.

It was a beautiful day and the weather was perfect. There were few clouds in the sky and coolish temperatures. And the land is vast and green. Such a change from where we had started that morning.

We deciphered which apples were tart baking apples and which were juice eating apples by pulling them off the tree and biting in to them. Many of the apples were fist sized and rosey pink with green tints.

We ended up leaving with 40lbs of apples: half for baking and half for eating (I don’t remember exactly which varieties we brought home, we could only separate them into the two categories I mentioned to you but the employees know so if you’re looking for something specific they’ll show you exactly where they are).

So far we made one beautiful apple pie

and an apple cake (from SmittenKitchen.com) that came out ugly (because we used a bundt pan instead of a tube pan and obviously we didn’t grease it enough!) but delicious!

Sunday morning we made fresh apple juice from the apples which was delicious. It was amazing how much juice we got out of four apples. Tonight I made applesauce for the first time in my life. It’s not bad and pretty easy. I put one cup containers in the freezer so it won’t spoil!

There is a lot of useful information on the website including a picking calendar and news on what’s ready to be picked. Their blog mentions that honeycrisp, gala, and sweet 16 were all picked from the trees by the end of the day Saturday but that mcintosh were available for Sunday still. The blog also says that “Beginning Friday 9/18 and continuing through the weekend we’ll open the orchard for u-pick Jonathon and Cortland. If you’re into pies and sauce, consider this your weekend to be at the farm!” You can even stay on top of the fruit farm news by following them on Twitter.com/lyndfruitfarm.

We had such a great experience at Lynd. I cannot wait to go back to pick pears or even apples again.

Lynd Fruit Farm, 9090 Morse Rd. SW, Pataskala

We had a wedding in Connecticut on Saturday which was our motivation for the long-weekend trip. We stayed in the city in an apartment that we borrow from my mom’s friend. And having my mother on the trip with us was a special benefit as she made us breakfast every morning.

We had a packed weekend including a winning trip to the Met’s stadium (thank you Itinerant Foodies for the suggestions of the Shake Shack: our burgers were awesome! Who knew you could have cold lettuce and fresh tomato on a burger in a baseball stadium?), a glance at the U.S. Open, a beautiful wedding in CT, a tram ride to Roosevelt Island and a beautiful afternoon on Governor’s Island.

The highlights of the weekend however are the meals. Like I mention above we went to the Met’s stadium and had two of the best stadium burgers of our lives. Earlier in the day we started a walk downtown with a stop at Yohan Schimmel Knishery. We balanced two piping hot kanish (one original potato and one mozzarella jalapeño) in our palms while gawked at two women screaming at each other on the sidewalk after bumping shoulders. Rarely do you hear a well dressed woman scream at another well dressed woman, calling her an animal. It was nuts.

For dinner we walked a couple blocks over to Paul and Jimmy’s for Italian food. There we indulged in a bottle of red and veal. I know a lot of people are not into veal but our family cannot help it. We don’t eat it often but when we’re in NYC and eating Italian, I’ve noticed my parents and I always gravitate to the back of the menu and indulge. I had Scallopini Sorrentina which is veal baked with eggplant, mozzarella and prosciutto. My bf had the Spiedini alla Siciliana which is veal stuffed with provolone and prosciutto. We were all suckers for the veal but I think the best dish was my dad’s appetizer of Frutti di Mare. It’s a simple dish of assorted seafood marinated in olive oil, garlic and lemon but it was completely amazing. It was so simple, fresh and delicious. I also had an appetizer sized portion of Pasta Carbonara before my veal. It was so delicious.

My favorite part of the evening though was taking my bf to Veniero’s for dessert. This place is really special to my family. It’s our favorite place for Italian cookies. My grandma used to mail us boxes of cookies to help tide us over until we were next in NYC for a visit.

We reserve Ferrara’s in Little Italy for the cannoli, which was good because Veniero’s was sold out by the time we arrived around 9 p.m., I love their napoleons but that night I had chocolate mousse. My mother’s favorite, sfogliatella, was sold out. She chose instead a Lobster Tail with chocolate filling.

Over all it’s a good thing we did so much walking on our trip considering every time we were standing still, it was to eat. My family is extremely obsessed with the delicious food of the east coast. IN fact that is why my parents chose to drove this past weekend. This way they were able to bring their coolers, trek back up to Connecticut to their favorite butcher shop, and bring home 50 lbs of Italian sausage. She orders it ahead of time and the guy behind the counter refers to her as his “Cincinnati Connection.”

If you go:
Yohan Schimmel Knishery, 137 East Houston Street between 1st & 2nd

Veniero’s, 342 East 11th Street

Ferrara, 195 Grand Street between Mott and Mulberry Streets

Paul and Jimmy’s, 123 East 18th Street

For me, I love eating out but I definitely hit a wall and can only eat away from home so many times in one week. Unfortunately we’ll be spending Labor Day weekend in New York City which will involve at least three dinners out, not to mention countless cannoli from Ferrara’s in Little Italy. Because of my limit on eating out and our trip to NYC I’m planning this Restaurant Week very carefully:

I’m thinking I’ll attempt two, MAYBE three restaurants for this restaurant week. My top pics include Alana’s. I’ve heard so much about through blogs and the Dine Originals website. I’m very excited to try a sample of her great dishes. However I’m also being wooed by DeepWood. I recently read an interesting article on Amber Herron who opened DeepWood, naming it after the town in New Jersey where she grew up. One warning though, they are closed on the 7th. I’m definitely eyeing going out to eat that night as we’ll be flying home just in time for dinner.

The Clarmont is one of my boyfriend’s favorite places. He enjoys the steak. I on the other hand enjoy the ambience. Coming from a family who listened to singers like Tony Bennet and considers Frank Sinatra a family member, I really enjoy the piano player, the Cadilacs in the parking lot and the vintage sign out front. Ever since I missed the opportunity to have a $15 filet mignon from last restaurant week I’ve been promising my bf we’ll go. This time around the filet has a seafood cake, two side dishes and a new price ($20.09 not bad!) but the real winner might be the two whole Maine lobsters for $30.09. Holy crap… I think I’m in love.

The weekend of the 12th is a great weekend for my best friend to come visit as I know the rest of my crew of friends will be engulfed in the USC/OSU football game. I’d like to take my best friend to Pistacia Vera for dessert or dinner at The Surly Girl or maybe Tip Top. I can’t decide.

I recently heard about a great Italian wine pairing meal Cotter’s serves ever few months. My friends went and said it was amazing. Until I can go to that, I’m thinking about giving Cotter’s a try for restaurant week. Their menu doesn’t look half bad but again they’re closed on the 7th as well.

There are too many choices this restaurant week (40 if you’re counting). Regardless of how many restaurants I get to visit next week, I know this will be a successful weekend for the restaurants of Dine Originals! Where will you be going?

I’ve always loved basil and after a couple tries I have finally found success in growing basil. In fact this summer I’ve take one small plant from the Clintonville Farmers Market early in the summer and it has grown and been split and grown and split into many other plants which have burst in size.

When the basil plant reached its first peak a month or so ago I harvested about four cups and made two, healthy sized portions of pesto.

My recipe [which I started using based on many recipes I saw online and read about... but I didn't necessarily create it] includes at least 1/2 cup of good shredded parmesan cheese, 2-4 cloves of garlic (depending on the size), 1/3 to 1/2 cup of pine nuts that I toast on the stove top, 2 packed cups of fresh basil, and at least 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil. I toss the cheese, garlic, and pine nuts in the food processor and pulse. Then I toss in the basil until pretty well blended. Then I can pour in the olive oil.

I typically freeze what I make but on this day I made two batches and only froze one. Our favorite splurge with the pesto is to toss in goat cheese at the end to melt in with the hot pasta.

My only issue with pesto is that the garlic really upsets my stomach. Even with a roasted red pepper variation I learned about, garlic is still present. I just can’t bear to omit it from either recipe.

Last week I did the closest thing to getting to a Red’s game… I went to the #1 rated Best Ballpark in the U.S.: Huntington Park, home of the Columbus Clippers (Cleveland’s AAA team). We’ve been to the stadium a couple times but this time we check out left field where the ticket office is and the Rooster’s restaurant deck. There is a set of bleachers up there to give you the Chicago-feel of watching a game up high.

We then checked out the bar on the second floor, just below the Roosters deck. The food was decent! My bf had a burger (I was so full from lunch I just nibbled on what he had). The best part is that they have vodka and they have roses sweetened lime juice so I had a refreshing gimlet!

One thing I didn’t get about the stadium is why this one food stand had the Bob Evans logo above it but when you read the menu you’ll notice nothing on the menu was labeled as being from Bob Evans. Weird!

You can get City Barbeque there which is nice as well as micro-brew from The Elevator… The best part about tonight’s game (which was in the 7th when we left) is of course the view of the city. It made for some pretty pictures!

Huntington Park, Columbus Ohio
http://www.huntingtonparkcolumbus.com/