About Molly Wizenberg and Delancy for Pizza

I have been a fan of Molly Wizenberg for several years, ever since I discovered her blog, Orangettte.  Molly's blog, started in 2004, as a creative outlet for her passion of food, markets, cooking and recipes.  Orangette garnered awards and gained an international following.   

Here is a link to the Orangette recipe index.

Following the success of the blog, Molly wrote A Homemade Life, a delightful book of stories centered food memories and a recipe.  While the recipes are excellent and make you want to start cooking, it is the charming stories of family, friends and events that have you captivated.  

So, all of this to say that I just experienced Delancy, the restaurant enterprise of Molly and her husband, Brandon Pettit, located in the Ballard section of Seattle.  I read about Delancy in Molly's blog and a NY Times review and I was very excited to be able to enjoy the restaurant first hand.  

The restaurant is a casual pizza place with a hip vibe.  The menu includes several salad made from the freshest ingredients as well as killer desserts.  The focus, however, is pizza.  This is not just any pizza.  Brandon spent two years perfecting the pizza dough to rival the New York style pizza he loves.  The pizzas are topped with the the freshest vegetables, delectable cheeses and flavorful meats, herbs and oils and then baked in a wood-fired oven.  The result is a lovely chewy thin crust with a bit of a sourdough taste.  

Most pizza offerings are classic combinations.  I ordered the white pie with homemade ricotta, fresh and aged mozzarella, grana and garlic.  A dining companion ordered the crimini mushroom with fresh mozzarella, thyme and olive oil.  Another pie I sampled was the fennel sausage pizza.  My dinner partners and I ordered 3 pies with the intent of taking slices home for the next day.  That never happened.  The pizza was too good to not eat on the spot.  Click here to view the menu.  

If you can't get to Seattle, check out Molly's blog or book.  

bills for Brunch and Coconut Bread

I first became aware of bills when flipping through the cookbook,  Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen.  

He gave the recipe for coconut bread, a signature feature on the menu of this extremely popular restaurant in Sydney, AU.  Here is bills recipe.

bills has a cool vibe, with a communal table adorned with a heaping platter of brown eggs and a glass cylinder containing "bottle brush" branches.  Simple white walls, light furniture and lots of natural light makes this a very congenial spot for breakfast, brunch or lunch. (no dinner served)

bills takes scrambled eggs to a new level.   A NY Times article claims that bills scrambled eggs are perhaps the best in the world!  Quite the claim, but I must say that after tasting this velvety goodness, I agree.  At equal parts egg to cream, do you wonder how they couldn't be amazing.  Click here to see how they do it. 

I had a savory sweetcorn fritter loaded with meaty bacon and spinach.   Another signature dish is the Ricotta Hot Cakes with Honeycomb butter.

I've got another 10 days in Australia.  I may just find my way back to bills.  Oh, and I bought the cookbook, one signed by bill himself.

Coconut Bread

Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen  cookbook

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon  (bills uses 2 teaspoons...I would too)

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

zest of 1 lemon, finely grated

1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut, toasted *

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Grease 9x5 inch loaf pan with butter.  In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Set aside.  In another bowl, whisk together, sugar, melted butter, eggs, vanilla and lemon zest.  Pour in coconut milk and whisk.  Add wet ingredient mixture to dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula.  Gently fold in coconut.  Pour into prepared loaf pan, set on cookie sheet and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes.  Cool in pan 20 minutes then remove to cutting board and allow to cool completely.  Slice and serve.

* To toast coconut, preheat oven to 315 degrees F.  Spread coconut on cookie sheet and bake about 10 minutes.  Watch to be sure coconut does not turn brown.  Cool.

Restaurant Week in Detroit...Three Evenings Remaining

After my glamourous day of getting new tires and working in my studio, hubby and I took advantage of restaurant week in Detroit and had dinner at the Wolfgang Puck Grille at the MGM Grand Detroit.  

Bar at the Wolfgang Puck Grille (taken with iphone)

Salmon with pea puree, asparagus and mushrooms

Learned that every Thursday is 1/2 off wine night.  Yes, we had a fabulous Merlot.

12 layer chocolate dessert

18 participating restaurants offer $28 three-course meals.  This is a great way to investigate a restaurant you've been meaning to try.  Click here for more information.

Have a relaxing weekend.  We have a promise of warm weather coming.  YIPPEE!!

Monday Musings: On Dining in Detroit, Color, Eyes, and Meatless Monday

It took a Groupon coupon to get me to try the Detroit restaurant, The Whitney.  Voted the "one of the most romantic restaurants in Detroit", The restaurant is housed in the  Whitney mansion on Woodward Avenue in Detroit.

The grand staircase.

The mansion was completed in 1894 for lumber baron David Whitney.  In 1986, the house was converted into a restaurant, remaining true to its original style.

Tiffany stained glass panels.  

The electrification of the house was done by Thomas Edison, a friend of Mr. Whitney.

I'd like to tell you it was a fantastic meal but truthfully, it was underwhelming.  The temperature of the food was only warm when served.  The flavors were bland and the menu rather boring.  Service was just "ok".  Disappointing. 

I followed my own advice and wore bright tights with a dark tweed skirt.

Do you see that little piece of plastic to the left of the dime?  That came out of my eye this morning!  Last Sunday when I put in a contact I felt something sharp in my eye.  I couldn't see a foreign body in the eye, but the inside of my lower lid became swollen and red.  I kept searching my eye all week for the irritant but it wasn't evident until today.  Wow, does my eye feel better now!  Duh! 

It is Monday and that means Meatless.  Tonight it will be Asparagus Risotto.  

 Risotto  This is my favorite risotto book and a good resource for Meatless Monday.

Happy Monday

Meritage: A Brasserie

Now that I have your attention, 

I have to tell you about a lovely brasserie in downtown St Paul, MN.  We had the pleasure of dining at Meritage for brunch on Sunday.  Starting with beignets that were as light as clouds I moved on to an omelet filled with tender, sweet lobster.  How decadent is that?  And yes, those "frites" were as crispy and delicious as they look in the photo.  Dinner items include traditional brasserie fare such as steak tartare, moules frites and cassoulet along with seasonal American food prepared with a pinch and a dash of the chef's personality.

Chef Russell Klein

Meritage will be enlarging to include an Oyster Bar and additional seating for 40.  I love the authentic Parisian ambiance in an historic building in downtown St. Paul.  

If you live in the Twin Cities area or will be visiting, please make reservations for a memorable meal at Meritage.  

Chowder from The Common Grill

Hubby and I refer to this soup at Thanksgiving in a Bowl.

Smoked chicken, Sweet Potato, & Corn Chowder

is a favorite recipe from

The Common Grill Cookbook

by Chef Gregg Common, chef/owner of The Common Grill in Chelsea, MI

It is a hearty, flavorful combination of Thanksgiving dinner flavors.

I just made a big pot for later in the week when schedules are hectic. I shared some with a neighbor recovering from surgery and another elderly neighbor lady.

recipe at the end of this post

The Common Grill Cookbook was a Christmas gift to me in 2000.

It is among my favorite cookbooks. I love the Chicken Tortilla Soup, Asian Chicken Salad, Whipped Sweet Potatoes, Hazelnut & Mustard Seed Crusted Black Grouper with Spiced Rum Butter Sauce for examples.

Greg's restaurant, The Common Grill, is a family favorite. No one can resist the baskets of aromatic, buttery, herb rolls.

"The Grill" is housed in a former department store in downtown Chelsea, MI (home to Chelsea Milling, maker of Jiffy Mix and to Jeff Daniel's Purple Rose Theater).

Soup recipe (with some modification by me)

6 strips of bacon (don't you love it already?) chopped fine

1 large Spanish onion, diced

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

1/4 cup flour

4 ears corn, sliced from the cob

1 red pepper, diced

1 lb sweet potato, diced and blanched

1 cup water

6 cups chicken stock

2 lbs smoke chicken or turkey, cut into bite sized cubes

1 1/2 cups whole milk

salt to taste, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Cook bacon in large soup pot until crispy. Add onion butter, basil and thyme. Cook until onion is soft, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in corn, red pepper and sweet potato and saute for 5 minutes. Add flour and mix well. Add water, stock and chicken or turkey and bring to a boil. Stir in milk, salt and pepper. Continue cooking until soup has thickened.

Serve hot. Makes 2 qts.

New York State Of Mind

I just returned from a few days in New York City.

I'm originally an East Coast girl now transplanted in the mid west. Occasionally I need a New York "fix". I find it inspiring to simply walk and observe people, trends and shop windows.

Photo by me

Sunday morning at Balthazar

I had some great meals. As a "walk-in", getting the full menu at the bar was the way to go in normally "impossible to get a reservation" restaurants.

Jacques Torres is known as Mr. Chocolate. I visited his Hudson Street retail store for my holiday baking chocolate.

I'm energized and ready to get back to my studio and see if my inspiration can evolve into some new jewelry designs.

What is your inspiration?

The Black Pearl on Main St in Ann Arbor

Rich and I spent a very fun evening with great friends in Ann Arbor last night. Rich got us tickets for the Dan Tyminski band playing at The Ark. Dan Tyminski is know for the song "Man of Constant Sorrow" featured in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? Even if you don't like Blue Grass, these guys are extremely talented and professional and the concert was tremendously entertaining.

The Ark is a non-profit venue for acoustic music located on Main Street in Ann Arbor. This street has recently been named one of the 10 great streets in America by The American Planning Association.

Before the show we had a delightful and delicious dinner at The Black Pearl.

The decor is sleek Asian, yet cozy. The ambience is very relaxing and welcoming with a low noise level.

Lucky us, the Thursday price Fix menu! Don't miss the fish tacos!! Everything on the menu looks great. Click here to take a look. And the signature dessert is amazing, chocolate "shell" with ice cream pearl inside on a bed of cookie crumb "sand".