Apple Cinnamon Muffins

• 
  
• Apple Cinnamon Muffins
• Adapted from Allrecipes
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• Ingredients for muffins:
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• 1 cup (140 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (70 g) whole wheat flour
• 2/5 cup (75 g) white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup (75 g) vegetable oil
• 1 egg

1/3 cup (82 g) milk

• 2 apples - cored and chopped
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• Ingredients for topping:
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• 1/4 cup (25 g) white sugar
• 1/4 cup (35 g) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (57 g) butter, cubed
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease 12 muffin cups.
2. From the list of ingredients for muffins, stir together all-purpose and whole wheat flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. Mix in oil, egg and milk. Fold in apples. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.
3. In a small bowl, stir together ingredients for the topping: sugar, flour, butter and  cinnamon. Mix together with fork and sprinkle over unbaked muffins.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean.

I made a lot of adjustments from the original recipe - swapping out some whole wheat flour for white, cutting the sugar in the muffins, leaving the apple peels on, and halving the amount of topping. This makes muffins that are just sweet enough to be dessert, but could also be happily eaten for breakfast without feeling too guilty...

Jessica Koslow’s Carrot-Ginger Sesame Loaf

So A and I went to Squirl in LA in January, and really enjoyed the couple of things we ate there. I'm not sure I'd wait in a long line, but that might be due to my strong aversion to waiting for food. Anyway - spotted this cake and realised I had all the ingredients at home, aside from applesauce, so once that was obtained, we were ready to go! I used normal milk, but the original recipe said almond milk, making a vegan cake.

Jessica Koslow’s Carrot-Ginger (Black) Sesame Loaf

Adapted from Food52

Ingredients

1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable oil, plus more for the pan
250g all-purpose flour, plus more for the pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
135g granulated sugar
145g packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (120ml) unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup (80ml) milk
5cm piece of ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large carrots (200g total), coarsely grated
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds, plus more as needed (I used natural sesame seeds)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Brush the inside surfaces of an 8½ by 4½–inch (21.5 by 11–cm) loaf pan with a little oil. Dust with flour, tapping out any excess.
2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, applesauce, almond milk, ginger, vanilla, and salt. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture, followed by the carrots, and finally the oil.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the top with the sesame seeds. You want it to be completely covered in seeds. Bake until the middle of the loaf has puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 1 hour 10 minutes.
5. Let cool completely in the pan before slicing. Store, tightly wrapped, at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Southern California – Part 1 – San Diego

A and I were lucky enough to be able to plan a week in Southern California before coming back to London. We decided to split our time between San Diego and LA – I went to both quite a lot as a kid, but A hadn’t been to either, so we had plenty of exploring to do.

San Diego was exactly as expected – sunshine, dudes in baseball caps, and a booming craft beer scene. We stayed in North Park for the first two nights, which is full of breweries and hipsters and made us feel right at home. A few of the places we dropped in on, in roughly chronological order:

Mike Hess Brewing – you can get flights here (which come with a souvenir glass which is shaped like a beer can and labelled with one of their brews). A loved some of the IPAs he tried; I struggled a bit more as I’m a wimp when it comes to hops but did taste every stout/porter they had on and liked the seasonal pumpkin one the best. I’m such a sucker for seasonal pumpkin flavours, mainly because they’re not common in the UK so I go a little nuts on them when I’m back in the US.

City Tacos – we needed a quick snack after an evening of trying beers so picked up a mahi mahi taco and a carnitas taco. Both were decent but were topped with the same mango salsa, which A and I both found too sweet and fruity for our tastes.

Breakfast Republic – this place was rammed already at 10.30am on Saturday, but there’s free coffee for those waiting and it’s warm and sunny outside, so A and I get caffeinated and bask in the glow. When we finally secure a table, we know what we want – crab cake benedict and French toast with fresh strawberries. I think the anticipation that built up over the wait and seeing how eager other people were made our food a slight disappointment – nothing was wrong, but it wasn’t the kind of breakfast that you talk about for the rest of the day, either. My hash browns were distinctly undercooked. But lovely outdoor seating and a friendly waiter.

Barleymash – we stopped in here for an afternoon drink while walking around downtown. I had a hard root beer (why is this deliciousness missing in my life?!) and A had another IPA (surprise!). While drinking, we looked at the menu and got fixated on the range of mac&cheeses they do. So… we came back for dinner and split the version with confit duck and duck scratchings. Again – something that had been built up in my head for too long; the sweet hoisin-esque sauce ruined it a bit for me. I’m really glad we shared it, we saw another couple start with a giant pile of nacho fries, then order a separate mac&cheese each, which I’m pretty sure should kill you on the spot.

Cat Eye Club – we headed here after dinner to catch their Saturday night happy hour – they do an excellent mai tai for $5 until 8pm. We couldn’t stop drinking these. The balance between sweet, dry and bitters was absolutely perfect, and then the jazz band that came on added to the atmosphere. Sadly I discovered that three mai tais is my limit – but we headed home feeling like we’d stumbled on some magic place.

Urban Solace – our AirBnB host recommended the Sunday bluegrass brunch and I’m glad we went with it. The band was great – they play outdoors in a covered patio area. I had the beef cheek hash (YES!) and A had the full kitchen sink – sausage, bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy (YES AGAIN!)

At this point we moved on the Hyatt Regency Mission Bay Spa and Marina for one night – I have no idea what this place is like in the high season, but it was quiet, luxurious and very well situated for our stay.

El Pescador Fish Market – stunning selection of fresh fish. We tried the fish tacos – because they forgot our order, they also brought us some clam chowder on the house. Clam chowder was good (but not as good as the San Francisco sourdough bread bowl one we had a few years ago) and the fish in the tacos was fresh, but sadly pretty bland. A hell of a lot of shredded cabbage.

Oscar’s Mexican Seafood – another attempt at a fish taco. This one was my favorite, and finally helped A understand why people go nuts for them. Grilled fish, avocado, crispy cheese, just enough cabbage for crunch. This is when I started to realize that fish tacos are not fast food – every place so far was making them to order, which is fantastic, but it does mean there is a bit of a wait.

Stone Brewing World – this is the touristy outpost but actually the more interesting of the two, since they do smaller batches of more creative beers here but they still have the full list from the main brewery too. It being January and Sunday, the place was pretty empty, but that just made it all the easier for me and A to get two flights of beer. They do food too, but my constant fish taco ingestion made that unnecessary.

Modern Times – my favorite interiors of all the breweries we visited (though many were pretty spectacular). One, they had a mural of Michael Jackson with his monkey, made out of post-it notes. Two, they had a wall made out of book covers. Three, there were some spectacular lights / chandeliers. And of course the beer was good too – their unusual addition is their own coffee, cold-brewed and available by the growler. When you’re brewery and a coffee producer, you obviously then make some beers with that coffee, and I really liked the one I tried.

Pizza Port Ocean Beach – A and I were both a little surprised by how casual this place is (and how many tv screens there were showing various sports) – they make their own beers and there are certainly some unusual options available. I think I had some version of a hefeweizen, I’m assuming A had another IPA, and then we ordered kale salad and a pizza. What surprised me most is that the kale salad was one of the most delicious things I’d eaten all day, and the pizza paled in comparison. I can’t believe I’m saying this about a pizza place, but go for the kale salad?

Hodad’s – couldn’t resist popping into this burger joint staffed by a bunch of surfer dudes who were the friendliest, most chilled out waitstaff you could ask for. There were definitely some strong weed scents floating out from the back, accompanied by drum solos on the grill played with spatulas, but they delivered a juicy burger and fries quickly and competently (and even pre-sliced it in half since they knew we were sharing).

Olive Café – our last meal in San Diego and we wanted a traditional American breakfast. This was perfect – pancakes, eggs, hash browns and bacon (it’s one dish but A and I split it and it ended up being just the right amount to fill us up for the morning). A quick walk on the beach and we were ready to hit some of the breweries between San Diego and LA.

Phew.

Muesli and banana muffins

It is not unusual for us to have a banana lying about the kitchen, all brown and mottled and overripe. I don't eat bananas, and even A's love of bananas doesn't stretch to the squishy ones, so the more ways I have of using them up, the better.

There was also a spare bag of bircher muesli sitting around so a quick search for banana muesli muffins turned up this recipe. I halved it and tweaked as I only had butter, so here's my modified (but still tasty) recipe using ingredients I usually have in the house. This made 9 moderately sized muffins.

Muesli & Banana Muffins

Adapted from The Crazy Kitchen

Ingredients

90g Self Raising flour
60g Muesli
1/2 tsp Baking powder
25g Caster sugar (I used golden)
1 banana
1 egg, beaten
40g butter, melted
75ml milk
sprinkle of cinnamon

Method

1. Mix the flour, muesli, baking powder & caster sugar together.
2. Mix the banana, eggs, butter & milk into the dry ingredients - do not over mix, it should be lumpy. Sprinkle cinnamon over the mix and stir in.
3. Divide mixture between muffin cases.
4. Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for 18-20 minutes.

Breakfast in a pan

I'm not sure this even qualifies as a recipe as it was essentially thrown together using leftovers and store cupboard goods, but it was such a lovely breakfast that I'm writing it down anyway.

Breakfast in a Pan
Ingredients

handful of diced onions
1/3 cup of cooked beans (I used haricot, I think)
1/2 can of tinned chopped tomatoes
1 cooked sausage
1 egg
chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
crusty bread

Method

Fry the onion in a bit of oil or fat until translucent, or just beginning to brown. Add beans and tomatoes and cook down until tomatoes are thick and chunky. Salt and pepper to taste.

Add sausage to pan to heat through. Make a little well in your pan and crack and egg into it. Cover with a lid so that the egg white cooks through but the yolk is still runny. Remove from heat and sprinkle parsley on top.

Serve with crusty, toasted bread for scooping up the whole mixture.

Ireland Day 6

So the best breakfast of the whole trip was the one we made for ourselves in Kinvara with local ingredients. The grocery store in Kinvara is chock full of fresh, wonderful treats, so we picked up Kinvara smoked salmon, Irish granola and buttermilk soda bread. After stuffing ourselves, we packed up all our things for the last time this trip.

We headed off to Galway, our last stop before Dublin airport. There was a nice river walk.

But just when we thought Galway was too quiet, we stumbled across a cute pedestrian area. This is what happens when you don't do any research beforehand - but thankfully central Galway is small enough that we managed to find the interesting bit even without any guidance. Despite our enormous breakfast, we still managed to find room for a light lunch at The Quay Street Kitchen. The potted crab was excellent - fennel and chili made it so much more interesting than your average potted crab, and it was packed full of fresh crab meat. A had some battered hake since we somehow didn't manage to have fish and chips during the trip before this. I think P had some carrot soup while C stuck to a cappucino.

Soon it was time to head back to Dublin airport - so we got ready for a three hour drive through some more beautiful countryside and then said a fond farewell to Ireland. The company, the food, the music, and the sights made for a wonderful holiday.

Ireland Day 5

After our night on the Dingle peninsula, we were off to catch a ferry (great advice that our hostess gave us so that we could cut about 1.5 hours of driving from the trip. On the way to the ferry, we stopped in Tralee for the requisite coffees and some breakfast - we happened across Aine's Cafe on the Square. You can see my bagel with bacon and eggs below. It was perfectly decent, though the tortilla chip garnish was a bit strange.

We pulled up to the Tarbert - Killimer ferry with five minutes to spare, lucky us. It only took about 20 minutes to cross, and then we headed to Kilkee for our first cliff walk. From Kilkee, you can park at the westernmost bit of the road that runs along the seafront and then go for a stunning walk - it's pretty steep at points but worth it for the views you get from the top.

We were all feeling refreshed from the brisk sea air and sunshine and piled back into the car to head to Lahinch beach. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of Ireland's beaches - they were much better than any beaches I've been to in the UK and seemed to have beautiful sandy and clean expanses.

But the real centerpiece of the day was the Cliffs of Moher. P's friend gave us a tip to go past the visitor's center - about 800m away there's a little place to pull over and park, and then you can follow the footpath to get a much better view of the cliffs, without all the busloads of tourists. Again, the hike is a steep one - some parts of it seem close to vertical - but there are some rough steps carved in to help and once you get to the top you won't mind the hard work getting there.

We eventually pulled ourselves away from the view and headed back down as we knew we still had a way to go to get to our resting place for the evening. The drive around Black Head and the Burren showed us some of the most unusual scenery of the trip (sadly I was driving so I don't have any pictures, but imaging a rocky landscape that looks like it would fit right in on another planet). As we passed through Ballyvaughn, there was a lovely harbor and a pretty little pub nearby, so we stopped for a pint. After arranging our arrival time with our last host, we got to our Airbnb in Kinvara, which was undoubtedly the best accommodation of the whole trip. Since the house was right in the middle of town, we scrapped our original plans to drive to Galway for the evening and decided to have dinner in Kinvara and find some live music afterwards. This turned out to be an excellent choice.

Our Airbnb host recommended the Pier Head for dinner. It is situated on the water, with gorgeous views and a warm atmosphere inside. The waiter sold me on the fresh Irish lobster that had been caught that morning, while A and P opted for steaks, and C had some enormous prawns. We washed it all down with a couple of bottles of Y series Yalumba wine (letting P pick Australian wine was a good idea).

Full and happy, we walked about 50 meters to Connolly's for more Irish trad music. This night, there was a fiddler, accordionist and lute player - a guitarist also showed up later to join in. 

We had heard that Kinvara pubs would all be full of live music, so left briefly to see if there was anything else we wanted to catch, but quickly realized that Connolly's was the only game in town. But it was enough for us to have an excellent last evening in Ireland.

Ireland Day 3

We knew we were heading to the Rock of Cashel first, but really needed to find some breakfast (and especially coffee for A, C and P). We happened across Fethard, which is a beautiful place with a well preserved medieval wall and church. A sign for a delicatessen led us to Emily's, where I had a great bagel with cream cheese and bacon (I have never seen this combo before but it appeared several times in Ireland).

Onwards to the Rock of Cashel, which is indeed impressive, though there is a lot of renovation work going on so parts were closed off to the public.

And then another castle that tourists just can't miss - Blarney Castle. We all kissed the Blarney stone (narrowly beating a giant tour group) and then had a relaxing wander around the grounds, which are well worth spending some time in. I could've easily walked around for another hour, but the whisky-lovers in the group were raring to get to Midleton so we had to get in the car again.

To be fair, we had no idea that the Midleton distillery offered pretty much exactly the same range as the Jameson distillery in Dublin. So if you go, pick one to do - I wouldn't do both. 

But one benefit is that it made a stop in Cobh possible on the way into Cork.  We knew very little about the place except that it had great harbor views, so when we saw Cobh cathedral we were all a bit stunned.

After a drink on a pier to enjoy the late afternoon, we headed into Cork for dinner. A friendly couple that we asked for directions gave us a recommendation for dinner - the Cornstore. A, P and I all had duck for dinner, which we really enjoyed - the yogurt sauce on top was lovely.

Afterwards we headed to a couple of pubs that were recommended by our waitress - Bierhaus and The Franciscan Well. A got chatting to the bartenders about homebrew and it inspired him to try it out. And finally, we were off to Kinsale for our third Airbnb accommodation - this was another really great place but it was again a bit remote and difficult to find in the dark. It was sad we didn't arrive earlier, actually, as the views from the house were absolutely stunning the next morning.

Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill

I know I usually write my travel posts as a day-by-day recollection, but I'm going to do it differently this time. A and I were in North Carolina for about five days, mainly so we could go to M and J's wedding in Durham. But since M is one of my oldest friends from Texas, this trip included lots of pre-wedding things (bachelorette party, bridal shower, baseball games, etc.) and we also stayed with another brilliant couple, N and J (who should be getting married next year, woohoo!) Point is, a lot happened, but it was a mix of eating / drinking / hanging out with friends / celebrating an awesome marriage, which I will just throw into this one post. Here goes.

The night of M's bachelorette party in Raleigh, we started with dinner at Gravy (135 S Wilmington St  Raleigh, NC 27601). For some reason I wasn't feeling like pasta (though a lot of people ordered pasta dishes and they looked delightful). So I went with a starter of poached egg and pancetta on polenta, which was so not something I would ever recommend eating BEFORE you start in on a main course, but did wonderfully for my purposes, along with a gorgeous side dish of broccoli which was flavored with anchovies (speaking of, the anchovy-broccoli combination is absolutely genius and I can't believe I ate broccoli for over 20 years without tasting it in harmony with anchovy).

The next day A and I wandered around Chapel Hill, where we picked up a Snowy-the-dog keyring at Chapel Hill Comics (316 W Franklin St  Chapel Hill, NC 27516), and also toured the Sarah P. Duke Gardens (420 Anderson St  Durham, NC 27708), commonly known as the Duke Botanical Gardens. They are stunning, and with full sunshine it was an ideal afternoon. But you're not reading this to hear about comic books and gardens are you? So instead let us gaze upon our lunch at Bullock's Bar-B-Cue (3330 Quebec Drive, Durham, NC 27705), where we attempted to order a normal amount of food for two people, to our waitress's distress. After explaining that we wanted to try the Brunswick stew (a local specialty), ribs and pulled pork, but wanted to order the smallest amount of food possible, she came up with some sort of combo platter arrangement for us to share. The coleslaw that accompanied it was actually amazing - really finely chopped cabbage, with barely any dressing (whoa have I just decided that I might like some forms of coleslaw?!) And I found the hushpuppies slightly addictive. But alas, this was nowhere near as good as Melvin's in Charleston. 

Onwards to Full Steam Brewery (726 Rigsbee Ave, Durham, NC 27701) where A was carded and found out that North Carolina state law doesn't accept foreign driver's licenses as proof of age. Thankfully no one thought I was under 21 so I was able to get drinks for us both. Outside of the brewery, the Chirba Chirba dumpling truck was offering plates of soup dumplings and gyoza - they were a nice snack but not anything I'd make a special trip for.  And finally, a Durham Bulls minor league baseball game to properly Americanize A and introduce him to the national pastime of drinking beer, eating hotdogs, and very occasionally watching some sport.

The next morning was my birthday, and we had the best birthday breakfast ever. No, really. If someone could wake me up for every birthday with a chicken cheddar biscuit I would die a happy woman. Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen (1305 E. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill NC 27514) is a little drive-through biscuit place in Chapel Hill. That glorious biscuit above was eaten while standing outside on the edge of a parking lot, looking at a ditch. And it is still one of my favorite memories.

In the afternoon there was a lovely bridal shower tea at the Washington Duke Inn, and then N, J, A and I headed off to Lantern (423 W Franklin St  Chapel Hill, NC 27516) for a dinner to celebrate my birthday and N & J's engagement. This was my favorite "fancy" meal of the trip - I find it hard to describe the food other than saying it's Asian with Southern influences. For example - a beautiful appetizer of crispy five-spice pork belly, pickled radishes, and chicharron was a balance of salty, fatty, crisp and sweet. The salt and pepper shrimp with fired jalapenos, coriander and sea salt were as good as my favorite salt and pepper shrimp from Tien Jin in Austin. And my Japanese pot on fire main (braised Red Poll brisket, oxtail dumplings in broth with rare sirloin, local vegetables and potatoes, fresh wasabi, sea salt) was something I wanted to last forever. Great cocktails were ordered, fun was had, and we teetered out into the night with big smiles.

 

We all know how dangerous it is to attend a wedding without eating beforehand (the bubbly is just going to go straight to your head!) So we all piled into Hog Heaven (2419 Guess Road, Durham, NC) for a pre-wedding lunch. A was still seeking barbecue (specifically pork ribs) - but in a giant misunderstanding he ordered the pork at Hog Heaven, which was pulled pork (I don't think they even do ribs). I went straight for the fried chicken, which was the right decision. Man I would kill for another plate of that crispy crackly goodness. Sides were merely ok, collard greens were too salty and fries were fine though not the kind that you just can't stop eating. But you know, this capped off a week of some terrific eating - and I can't wait to get back to North Carolina.

New Orleans Day 6

As much as I loved New Orleans, it's a bit of a relief that this is the last post. So much happened each day that I'm getting exhausted just trying to remember!

To conclude, our last meal was at Stanley, on Jackson Square.

I had the grand finale dish of Eggs Stanley: Cornmeal-Crusted Oysters, Poached Eggs, Canadian Bacon and Creole Hollandaise on a Toasted English Muffin. Hell yeah.

And A and C both opted for the Stanley Classic: Scrambled Eggs, Smoked Bacon, Creole Breakfast Potatoes, and Whole Wheat Toast. 

I also had one of the strongest bloody marys I've ever had the pleasure of drinking. And that pretty much finished us off. With a wave goodbye to the city, we left, full to the brim with food and jazz.

New Orleans Day 5

Since C still hadn't had a chance to try beignets, we started our fifth day at Cafe du Monde again. But we were starting to wise up to how many things we wanted to eat, and opted to share one portion (one beignet each) instead of going all out - which turned out to be very smart as we ended up at Mother's for lunch.

Due to an attempt to see the American Cocktail Museum, which sadly was in the midst of relocating, we ended up wandering around a food museum instead. Since there were histories of all of the classic New Orleans dishes up on the walls, red beans and rice ended up on our radar. And Mother's (401 Poydras St, New Orleans, LA 70130) was able to supply that dish, as well as crawfish etouffee, their Famous Ferdi special and a giant portion of fries. We rolled out of the restaurant, happily stuffed and ready to go on a river cruise.

And all I can say about the Creole Queen river cruise is that you should go look at the paddle boat as it's quite attractive, but I'd skip the ride, unless you really really love industrial sites. Or hearing about how "tedious" it is to dock at certain docking points along the Mississippi River. 

Onwards to Harrah's for a spot of poker. A had never played poker in a casino before, and clearly beginner's luck works well, as he came out $10 richer.

After that, we decided to go out like the high rollers we were, and ate our way through platters of oysters all evening:

Luke's for happy hour oysters. At 50 cents per oyster, you can really go a bit nuts. We also sampled their grilled oysters though I preferred the raw ones here. Several cocktails later, we moved on to the next spot:

Acme Oyster House for chargrilled oysters and oyster shots. My favorite grilled oysters of the night (though still not as good as the ones at Cochon). Oyster shots are gimmicky, but it was still something I'm happy I tried. 

And finally, Antoine's for Oysters Rockefeller. These win the award for most disappointing oysters of the night (and possibly most disappointing drinks as well). I love the inside of Antoine's, and I'm glad our cocktail tour included it as a stop so we could hear all the historical anecdotes about the place, but I wouldn't necessarily go back.

A friend of a friend recommended Mimi’s in the Marigny for their Monday night swing dance lesson and live music - it was a lot of fun to give it a try and we enjoyed watching the more experienced dancers once the band started playing. Since we were down the street from The Spotted Cat, we popped in there again on the way home and saw a great vocalist, Kristina Morales, singing with a band. It was the perfect way to end the evening.