Yearly Archives: 2010

Eating

A carrot cake without flavor is no carrot cake at all

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City Lights Coffee, Charleston SC
City Lights Coffee, Charleston SC

Before we left for Charleston last week, I turned to the internet for carrot cake advice. I love carrot cake, see, and I’m trying to find the Very Best Carrot Cake on Earth. (You can see my top picks thus far over in the left-hand sidebar.) The people at Trip Advisor gave the carrot cake at City Lights Coffee pretty good marks, so that’s where I went.

It’s is a very cozy spot — read: it’s tiny — and its customers were clearly loyal. Everyone who was already there when I walked in seemed to know each other, and they also knew the other three people who came and went while I was there. I’m sure that’s a wonderful feeling for the regulars, being where everybody knows your name, but it was a little off-putting being an outsider in such confined quarters.

But we’re not here to discuss ambiance. Let’s talk cake.

The carrot cake was pretty, with a lovely autumnal color and visible flecks of carrot. The cream cheese frosting was silky and had a nice buttery flavor, but the cake itself wasn’t impressive. In a blind taste test, I’m not sure I would’ve pegged it as carrot cake at all. It didn’t have a distinct flavor at all. On the plus side, it didn’t have raisins in it. Sadly, the City Lights Coffee carrot cake doesn’t even crack my top five. I spent the last $5 in my wallet on it, too, which compounded the disappointment.

Carrot cake. City Lights Coffee. Charleston SC.
Carrot cake. City Lights Coffee. Charleston SC.

Do you know where the Very Best Carrot Cake on Earth can be found? I probably won’t hop a plane immediately, but I’m definitely keeping a list of places to try.

Family matters

FYI: This is how many apples are in a bushel

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Bushel

I do not know how many might be in a peck. I do know I am up to my eyeballs in apples. We’ve made two pies, I’m making apple butter, and I foisted some off on my mother-in-law for applesaucing. The first pie was the standard toss-sugar-and-apples, put-in-a-crust-and-bake scenario. The second, though, called for a carmelly, syrupy concoction that’s poured over the apples. I didn’t follow the original recipe to a T, but it was still delicious. Here’s what I did:

Caramel Apple Pie
applepiePie crust for double-crust pie (I usually use Pillsbury, but this time it was store brand.)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg white
6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, brown sugar and 1/2 cup white sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

Place the bottom crust in a pie plate. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Gently pour the caramel mixture over the apples. Top with second crust; crimp edges and cut a few slits in the top. Brush top crust with egg white and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon white sugar.

Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees. Continue baking for 45 minutes or until apples are soft.

So, what’s your favorite apple application?

On the Road

Three hours is not enough time to tour Charleston

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Rockford had a quick trip to Charleston SC for a meeting this week, and he wanted me to come along. I’m not one to say no to a trip to Charleston, so we packed the kids off to the grandparents and drove a billion hours to the coast. We had a terrific dinner Wednesday night, and my camera and I wandered around the city for about three hours yesterday.

It was really warm in Charleston, and the young beautiful people took full advantage of that. Marion Square was full of bikini-clad girls and shirtless dudes. I took a few pictures of the square — it’s a really lovely bit of green space right smack in the middle of the city — and found this guy when I was editing the pictures. I hope to have a tenth of his confidence someday.

Dude.

I generally feel pretty silly walking around taking pictures by myself. Sometimes I just let the camera hang on my shoulder and click photos while I walk. Every now and then, it captures something other than the ground. They’re wonky, but I’m OK with that.

Charleston SC

Sax Fifth Ave., Charleston SC

There are lots of people at the City Market making beautiful baskets, and I wanted a picture like this one. Alas, none of them would let me take their picture. So I took a picture of Market Street instead. I need to spend more time around palm trees; it’s hard to be mopey next to a palm tree.

Market Street, Charleston SC

On the job

I like robots. I like candy. So why didn’t I go into the Robot Candy Co.? Because I’d already spent all of my dollars on carrot cake.

Robot Candy Co.

Rainbow. Charleston SC.