Jack Daniel's Bread Pudding

So the entry a lot of you have been waiting for...Jack Daniel's Bread Pudding. Everyone knows how much I love bread pudding.

This first appeared during my birthday week....amazing. We've obtained the secret recipe, and I added some of my own secrets. Personally I really liked my version because the sauce was not as liquid-y as the one from my birthday.

But here is the recipe:

- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 2 tablespoons vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups sourdough bread cut into 1 inch cubes

It's important to get really tough and crusty sourdough bread, so the final pudding isn't mushy or slimy.

Preheat oven to 325. Beat the eggs and add the butter, vanilla and milk.

Gradually add the sugar and mix until sugar is dissolved. The butter will lump up a bit when the cold milk hits it - don't worry about it. Place bread cubes in bottom of round baking dish. I save the bits with the most crust on them to use at the top for presentation. The crust gets golden and is more visually appealing. Pour liquid over bread , making sure all pieces are saturated. Bake in the oven for 50 or 60 minutes. It's supposed to serve about 8 people. Or if you eat like me, maybe only 4.

Whiskey sauce:
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 sticks butter
- 1 cup cream
- 1/2 cup Jack Daniels (I used a honey jack daniels which was AMAZING)

Combine ingredients in a medium saucepan. Stir constantly over low heat until mixture reaches a low, rolling boil for about 30 seconds, then take off the heat. When it cools, put it through a blender for a few seconds, so it won't separate (I did not do this so well but oh well).

This photo shows the bread pudding without the sauce. I forgot to take a picture when I put the sauce on. Got too hungry I guess. When I was ready to warm up the bread pudding again, I actually poured some of this sauce into the bread pudding and baked it in. Then I warmed up the sauce and stirred it together before serving it to people.

Pour a hearty amount over each serving. Or drink the sauce. Enjoy! If you try this let me know!

Birthday in Portland - Bite of Oregon

So we've finally made it to the end of the week. My bestie Brandon came down for the Handful show the night before along with his charming friends from Bellingham. Brandon and I took the train down to Oregon to enjoy the scenic route. Turns out we met some great Canadians and had a ball. To sum the train ride down, an elderly woman stopped us as we were leaving the train and said, "Whatever it is that you are doing...rock on!" She later told us she was 83. AWESOME.

So the first night we just sort of hung out and wandered around. Here are some notable foods:
Macaroni and cheese with pesto! Got this at Paddy's. We sat in the patio on the street for some GREAT people watching. Didn't get any traditional irish food, but I am pretty sure this mac and cheese was amazing.
These onion rings though...were AMAZING. BEST ONION RINGS EVER. We stopped by Rialto's to shoot some pool and hang out and I smelled these when I walked in. I wanted some. You know how when you have onion rings and you bite into it, the onion part pulls out of the breading and it's all stringy and stuff? Well these onion rings were so well breaded, when you took a bite, the onion part actually stayed inside the breading. I'd be really interested to know how they did that. And by the way these were HUGE. The onion rings were basically the size of my palm. But they were SOOOOO AMAZING.
The next morning we had breakfast at Bijou Cafe. A moderate sized french breakfast place. They serve very strong mimosas, not sure if there was any orange juice at all. I got a french omlette with smoked cheese, bacon and green onions. It came with a baguette and greens. Of course everything was organic, and the place sort of lived up to the Portlandia stereotype. Our server reminded me of the one in this hilarious clip. In fact there were a few stereotypical things I observed in Portland. Including my friend Kai, who lives in Portland and came out with us. He was wearing a shirt with a bird on it. And the bird was designed with little birds on the inside. So hilarious. Again, if you want to see what I mean, watch this.

After breakfast we digested while exploring Powells for a couple hours. Love that place. Then we finally made it over to the Bite of Oregon. The following series of pictures are compliments of my friend Jordan, who basically was my food photographer for the day. Thanks Jordan!
First up, fresh salad rolls. Always a good idea.

So I lie. I totally forgot to tell you the first thing I actually got was a commemorative wine glass that came with a holder for your neck. that way you can eat with both hands! So genius. I loved it. (you can see it in the picture with the shrimp below and when I am holding my pie and ice cream)

Next up, mac and cheese. Which wasn't very good. It tasted like better quality noodles but with velveeta.
Then came the Kaluha Pork. This is quite possibly my favorite thing I got there. The pork was incredibly tender and juicy. It came with rice and macaroni salad.
I shared some of Christina's grilled shrimp with a tequila lime marinade. It was actually a little dissapointing. It was tasty but serve with a sweet chili sauce and I felt like it overpowered the shrimp. I couldn't really taste any lime or tequila on those things.
Then I took a break, but ran into our canadian friends who bought ribs to share so I had that, plus coleslaw and hush puppies...
Finally...I stopped with dessert. White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Ice Cream...and then I topped it with a miniature marionberry pie...definite major food coma/baby.
The whole gang with some wine. Brandon, Christina, Carrla, Alan, Me, and Jordan. Overall I found the Bite of Oregon extremely delightful. I've stopped going to the Bite of Seattle because I feel like you're limited to two foods there. Everything is huge portions and expensive. At Oregon's bite everything is smaller and I feel like I definitely got to taste quite a bit! The best part about the event is that the entire area is a beer garden. Meaning all you had to do was get a wristband showing you were of age and you could bring your drinks anywhere. Being limited to a space for beer gardens has always been frustrating. I find them rather boring. But in Oregon you can bring your drinks with you and explore the music and food!

One more before we bring this to a close. During our last day we stopped by the Saturday Market (even though it's open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). I got some phad see ew for brunch. :) It was a little dissapointing. Kind of dry and flavorless. Brandon had this amazing falafel though. Mmmm...

So all and all...successful trip. I would highly recommend going to the Bite of Oregon. :)

That brings my birthday week to a close....time to exercise everyday for the next month.

Birthday dinner - Matt's in the Market

Ok ok, really this is the last time I will talk about Matt's this summer. :)

I am not much of a cake person so I wanted some bread pudding. Gathered a small group, my cousins, my coworkers, and my friend Pat, all whom have never been to Matt's before. I was pretty excited to share this experience with them.

By the way, found the pike place flag featuring the illustrated interpretation of me on our way there! I was pretty excited. Back story here.

I apologize in advance that I did not want to take the time to take nice photos of the food just because I wanted to enjoy myself, but here we go:

I ordered myself a fancy glass of wine (apparently it was worth $18). I wanted it because it had crushed rose petals in it. I can't even remember the name. How useless am I. Here is Pat being fancy and me laughing at him.
We started with the soft shell crab which was breaded and fried, served with fingerling potatoes. Whatever the sauce was, it definitely was amazing. It had a smokey spiciness to it.
I had the steak with bing cherries served on a grilled onion and fava beans. Medium rare of course. AMAZING.
Two of my cousins ordered the whole fish (Snapper), which was fried I think. And served with a seafood broth and mussels. It looks pretty intense.
Pat had the King Salmon, which just like the copper river salmon I had, was cooked to perfection. Pat did note that the Mint Jubilee he had was the best one he had ever had.

Of course then there was bread pudding. Which I did not take photos of because I've eaten it a million times now. We should note that there was Strawberry Shortcake on the dessert menu. Strawberry Shortcake is my absolute favorite, so I felt torn between that and the bread pudding. But Pat helped me out by ordering the Strawberry Shortcake so I could have Bread Pudding and we could share. Turns out the Strawberry Shortcake was not what we had envisioned at all and was a bit dissapointing. It tasted great, it was just not what we were expecting. We wanted light fluffy cake with fresh fruit. Instead it was a creative interpretation of Strawberry Shortcake. A biscuit with strawberry and lemon sorbet. Sprinkled with candied blackberries. Again, it tasted fine, it just wasn't what we wanted. But I was ok with that. Earlier today, my coworkers brought in strawberry shortcake for my birthday. :)

It was a good day. Thanks Matt's for treating us so well and for a very lovely birthday dinner.

Birthday Bonfire

What an incredible night. There was about 20 people in attendance. Laying in the sun, eating, talking, and playing music with my friends was more than amazing. I even went swimming in the Puget Sound. The only food related item I have to share is the legendary Jack Daniel's Bread Pudding you see above. My friend Jenn said her coworker has this secret recipe. We all shared this amazing bread pudding over a fire and jam session with some of my favorite people. Jenn later found the recipe for me, and I recreated this amazingness with my own additions. Check it out!