Quaint & Delicious, the Jefferson Diner

Monday morning was a lovely start to a gorgeous day. As usual we had to eat breakfast, so we met up with our beautiful friend Brittney at the Jefferson Diner. I'm picky about diners because of the years I spent in New Jersey, so I wasn't putting my hopes too high.

Side note: Diners started in Rhode Island, New Jersey just perfected them. But really, for a state that started diners it doesn't have that many of them. I haven't had much luck with diners in Rhode Island so far and am hoping there are still a few good ones out there.

A couple months ago LauraBeth drove past this little building, located on the corner of an intersection in Warwick, called the Jefferson Diner. The parking lot was always packed out, which means it must be good, but we just never went. Since most places in Providence are closed on Mondays (so frustrating) we decided it was the perfect opportunity to give the establishment a try and it was better than expected.

It was established in 1969, consists of six booths, a counter of stools and a very friendly staff. Decorated with brown checkered curtains, black vinyl cushions and classic round lighting fixtures, stepping into the Jefferson Diner was like time stood still. You could tell that not much had changed and with it came a feeling of comfort.

The menu consisted of two pages. One side was for breakfast, the other was for lunch. Keeping it plain and simple means they serve what they know they are good at. It also makes it easier for the customer to order because there aren't as many options to be distracted with. 

It took a little while for our order to be taken, but it was fine. Sitting there in the booth talking, I forgot we were in a society where people need things here and now. It was like a little vacation from the outside world.

  

We had one order of RAY'S "Too Good To Be True!" - Poached eggs on cornbread and homefries, and two orders of the breakfast sandwich special - An egg with cheese, tomato and bacon on a grilled english muffin with homefries.  

It was like having some of momma's home cooking. You didn't want to put it down, well at least I didn't want to put my sandwich down. The homefries were cooked perfectly, which is important because sometimes you get them and they taste stale. These were fresh and seasoned to perfection. I only wish it contained more onions.

Looking and listening to the diner around us as we ate, you could tell it was a "usual" place for many people.

With cheap prices, great food, a comforting atmosphere and a friendly staff I could see why it was a "usual" in the lives of many.

If you are looking for a new place to try or a place that will take you away from the outside world for a while, visit the Jefferson Diner. I guarantee it will be worth your while. 

The Jefferson Diner is located at 175 Jefferson Blvd, Warwick, RI, 02888

Bristol, Brunch & The Beehive Cafe

I LOVE breakfast!! 

I love everything about it and the fact that you can eat it for any meal of the day.
With this love, however, comes very critical taste buds. I mean, if you are an establishment that offers breakfast, you can't just serve a mediocre meal. You have to have flavor, creativity, and passion.

My partner in crime for most of these adventures if my best friend LauraBeth. Our goal is to try all the breakfast places in Rhode Island. We'll see how far we get.

We had been to one of our favorite little towns for breakfast before and on the drive we passed this cute two window cafe and always said we wanted to go back. You know how it goes. Well a few weeks ago we did.
In the town of Bristol, RI there is a small establishment called The Beehive Cafe. Now when I mean small, I don't mean a whole in the wall but it is a bit tight at times, which is not always bad.

As you walk up to the building, you are greeted by customers enjoying their morning meals, conversations & newspapers in the sun. As you open the door, the first thing you see is a counter and pastry case full of enticing breakfast or dessert goodies, which I'm not sure how you can resist.
All orders are placed at the counter, so grab a menu and read it outside or check out the menu online before going. It will make for a much easier time, because it can get crowded in the front room. They do have plenty of seating upstairs and they even have a little deck with three tables, which is where we sat. Outside but also shaded.

When you order your meal you don't get a table number but you get an animal figurine....a cute and quirky addition. Now LauraBeth judges a place not only by their food but also by their coffee. I on the other hand judge by the non coffee drinks they offer. I was very pleased with The Beehive Cafe. They had a very large three or four shelf unit by the counter filled with jars of tea. I was in heaven, but there were so many options it was hard to choose.

The menu was as equally enticing. There was not a plethora of options like some establishments, but they offered a bit of everything with a slight southern twist.

I chose to indulge my taste buds with the Coconut French Toast and LauraBeth went for the Lemon Cornmeal Pancakes. Oh my goodness was it delicious! Everything is made with ingredients sourced from local farms and cooked by people who have a passion for what they do. It just pours out into their food and you can tell. 

It was a warm Summer's day and so as we were leaving we couldn't not get a cool, refreshing drink. I believe I got the ginger mint iced tea, which was the perfect balance between ginger & sweet. You know that sound your mouth makes after you drink something satisfying that hits the spot? That's what this drink was. You just couldn't help yourself. 

If asked to describe their food this is what they say, "Food that busy people wish they had time to cook at home, but cannot. Comforting, recognizable, and made in small batches." 

Doesn't it send a warm feeling to your heart?

All in all I would definitely return to The Beehive Cafe any day and would suggest it to anyone looking for a cute place near the water for a good meal and experience. 

They serve breakfast and lunch every day from 7am - 3:30pm. Dinner, however is only served on Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 5pm - 9pm. 

It's Basically Breakfast

Are you like me when it comes to bananas; you buy a bushel and then never eat them all before they are over ripe? If so do you throw them away or make banana bread? I am the latter, which my roommates and co-workers can attest to it. However I am over making just the regular old banana bread and have began experimenting with other recipes I have found while trolling Pinterest. They were all hits with the taste testers but my favorite so far has been the Strawberry Banana Bread with Blueberries from Julia's Album. Isn't her blog so enticing? The pictures and colors are what drew me in, plus she has some great recipes.

The other loafs I have made are Banana Mango Coconut Bread, Banana Bread with Applesauce & Honey, and Banana Bread with Greek Yogurt. You can find all of the links on my Pinterest Quickbreads board.

So why am I talking about banana bread. Well I had left over bananas again last week and decided that I wanted to make something other than a quickbread. So as usual I searched Pinterest and found a recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream & a Chocolate Ganache Center from Adventures in Cooking. The title alone had me hooked and after seeing the pictures and reading the recipe I knew there was no way I couldn't not make this decadent dessert.

The most important thing I look for when finding a baking recipe is if it is made from scratch or from a box mix. I understand the convenience of the box mixes but there is something satisfying about producing anything from start to finish. Also, it is just as easy if not cheaper to measure the dry ingredients yourself.

I was pleasantly surprised with the consistency and flavor. When using whole wheat flour it is easy for the wheat flavor to dominate but it didn't. You couldn't even tell that's what was used. You definitely had the banana flavor, with just the right amount of peanut butter coming from the buttercream and a few surprises of chocolate in every bite. It was like a peanut butter cup with bananas!

Some differences that I did was I used mini chocolate chips in the cupcakes and for the ganache I used Valrhona Dark Chocolate. I found the chocolate at Trader Joe's but I believe Whole Foods may carry it as well.

I had a lot of fun making these cupcakes and taking pictures to work on my photography skills. 

So why the title? Well it contains bananas, dark chocolate, peanut butter & whole wheat flour. Sounds like breakfast to me....Ok, well not quite but that is what you will be telling yourself when you eat one for breakfast.

Don't they just look delicious? It's like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup with bananas!

Guaranteed they will be a hit at any gathering you attend and will be gone within minutes. Just ask my friends. 

Aren't You Just A Peach?!

Now I have a little personal issue, when I get hooked on something my mind can not stop running with all the different possibilities just waiting to be explored. In order to calm it I have to research the item and that is exactly what happened this week with peaches.

I love summer for the activities, sun, and fresh fruit that is available, especially peaches. I just can't get enough of this small, sweet and juicy golden fruit. I wish that is was freshly available all year long. Peaches are one of those fruits that you can do so many things with from making jam, to ice cream, to making a marinade.

Nerd Alert!!!! I am sorry if I am going to bore you, I am a foodie and lover of history so I can't help myself but research about an ingredients' history. So here it goes:

1. Even though Georgia is called "The Peach State", peaches actually originated in China.

2. That's right, they have been around since the 10th Century B.C. and spread across the western world via the Silk Road.

3. The peach tree and blossom hold significance in the Chinese culture.

4. The importance of peaches to many cultures have been depicted across time through art, sculptures, and folk tales. One such tale is the Peaches of Immortality

5. China is the largest peach producer in the world, followed closely behind by Italy. (I am part Italian so maybe that's why I love them so much)

6. A peach contains less than 70 calories, 3 grams of fiber and is a good source of vitamins A and C.

7. "The World's Largest Peach Cobbler" is made in Georgia every year and measures 11 feet by 5 feet. (My question is where did they get the pan from?)

8. Peaches are best from June through August, so get them while you can.

As I have been thinking about writing this post for the past week it seems like every day I opened my e-mail there was a new one from Real Simple, Foodie, or Food & Wine with recipe ideas for peaches. Now if you are anything like me, one click on a post just opens up a door to a never ending black hole of link after link.

I mean don't they just look delicious?!

These are just some of the links and recipes that have caught my eye recently:

Food & Wine Slideshow: Peaches 

11 Ways to Use Peaches

Peach Crostata

Roasted Peaches with Mascarpone Ice Cream : This is the one I really want to make. Mascarpone cheese is another one of my favorite ingredients that you can use in desserts or pasta sauce. The decadent richness of the ice cream and the flavor of the peaches brought out through roasting just take the dessert to a whole other level.

Peach and Blueberry Brioche Tart

Peach Honey Ice Cream with Lemon Verbana

I could go on and on but do yourself and me a favor, find one recipe with peaches that spikes your interest and commit to making it. Try something new and step out of your comfort zone, you will be so glad you did. And don't forget to let me know how it goes.

Research found on:
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/peach-10-healthy-facts
http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/fruits/peach-facts.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peach

Sunshine Risotto

Here comes another recent culinary adventure and get ready for more to come :)

I have decided that is enough is enough with all this talk about planning meals and decided to start doing something about it. We have a chalkboard in the kitchen that we haven't done much with and so I decided what better way to use it then to write my menu items on there so it is plainly visible to me. So far it has turned out to be a success.

This recipe is for the Sunshine Risotto from The Italian Cookbook by Fiona Biggs. I think next time I may add mushrooms or olives to it. I think green olives would have tasted very very good with the rest of the flavors.



Serves 6 | prep 10 mins + 30 mins soaking | cook 40 mins

Ingredients
12 sun-dried tomatoes
6 1/3 c. Chicken or Vegetable stock
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 large Onion, chopped finely
4-6 Garlic cloves, chopped finely
1 3/4 c. Risotto Rice
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 cup freshly grated aged Romano cheese
Olive oil for drizzling

Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and pour enough boiling water over to cover them. Let the soak for 30 minutes or until they are supple to cut. Once ready, drain, pat them dry and shred them.

Bring the stock to a boil and then reduce the heat but keep it simmering.

Heat the olive oil in a deep pan (large enough to cook the rice) over medium heat and cook the onions for 2 minutes or until soften. Add the garlic and cook for 15 seconds.

Reduce the heat, add the rice and mix to coat in oil. Cook, stirring constantly for 2-3 minutes or until the grains are translucent.

Gradually add the stock a cup at a time, stirring constantly, adding more liquid as the rice absorbs each addition. Increase the heat so that the liquid is bubbling. After 15 minutes stir in the tomatoes.

Continue adding the stock, stirring constantly, until the risotto has been cooking for 20 minutes or the liquid is absorbed and the rice is creamy.

Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley and half the cheese. When serving drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Food in France

So the food in France is not much different then food in the rest of Europe. He have had a lot of meat, vegetables and bread. An interesting fact is they do not put their bread on their plate, it is placed on the table to the corner of their plate. It is also rude to keep your hands in your lap during the meal. Our lunches everyday consist of an appetizer, the entree and a dessert. The other day we had Salmon Mousse with spinach. I decided that I would give it a try and ate half of it but it was difficult. I am not a very big fish eater and I can't eat it if it tastes like fish. This did. The appetizer though was delicious. It was either couscous or small pasta with tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, onions and lime juice. I was glad I had a big helping of that so I was full when the entree of fish mousse came.I am learning to open up my mind and try new things. We will see how the rest of the 2 months pan out.

Chocolate Mousse

One of my classes this trimester is 4061. What it is, is the running of a restaurant. We are in groups of 3 people and we have a budget of $125 to fee 16 people a minimum 4 course meal. We then have assigned days and each group executes their own menu. We pick our employees from the rest of the class and create our own menu. My group went 2 weeks ago and it turned out great. This week I am a BOH employee and am making the dessert. The dessert the group chose was chocolate mousse and since I had not made mousse since over a year ago, I decided to test it out this weekend. It turned out really well...no chocolate chip mousse, thank goodness. I am now prepared to make the best mousse that I can this Wednesday.