Here’s the last of my half of the donuts from the first batch we ever bought from Psycho Donuts in Campbell, CA.
It’s a raised donut (I think that’s what they’re called…?) with key lime pie-flavored icing. It was good, but it’s my least favorite of the three. But that’s mainly because I now seem to prefer cake donuts to raised donuts. It was a fairly large donut, too. I probably could’ve just eaten half, but then the other half would’ve gotten too stale and ended up in the garbage. No wasting here!
Anyway, I think we successfully found a donut shop where we would want to be repeat customers. The challenge now is to limit how often we visit, both for our health and our budget. Psycho Donuts is on the pricier side, but I can say without question they’re worth the price.
(No, I didn’t have a Sierra Nevada Celebration ale with the donut — ewww! — I just used the box as a contrasting background. )
I forgot to take a photo of the donut before I took a bite. Oops!
I posted previously about going to Psycho Donuts in Campbell, CA. This is my 2nd out of 3 donuts I picked out (we bought a half-dozen) — the so-called “Drunkin’ Punkin”.
According to Psycho Donuts’ own blog here’s the description:
“The Drunkin’ Punkin’ is a Chef Ron masterpiece; his own Plymouth Rock. We start with a bourbon-spiked pumpkin cake donut. Seriously. We top it with cheesecake icing, fresh pecans, and a cross-hatch of maple and caramel drizzle. If the pilgrims knew of this donutrocity, they may have landed in Santa Cruz rather than Plymouth Rock.”
It was a damn tasty donut!
Last night I had a hankering for donuts and was able to track down a donut shop that was open until 9 PM, Psycho Donuts. They have a lot of quirky donut flavors, like this raspberry one. I forgot its quirky name, unfortunately. But it was quite tasty! We were worried that the donuts would be kind of crappy since we got to the place fairly close to closing time. But no, my raspberry donut tasted fresh and yummy. I have a key lime pie donut and another one with some kind of white frosting, caramel drizzle, and pecans waiting for me.
I thought that the Oreo filling would just be the same as the regular stuff, but with soggy bits of Oreo in it. However, the filling has a more vanilla, Blizzard-esque flavor, which IMO is more cloying than the original filling. Also the cookie bits are crunchy enough to be discernible against the regular chocolate cookie sandwich part, which may or may not be good to those used to the texture of the original Oreos. At the very least I don’t feel like too much of a sucker for buying these, since they do taste different from the original flavor.
How is this the first time that a) I’ve used chorizo as an ingredient, and b) I’ve had chorizo and shrimp together? It was damn tasty, and pretty easy to put together, thanks to a can of petite-diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil, frozen shrimp, and the chorizo (which was an inexpensive item at the store, so I decided to try it, last time we picked up groceries). Actually it’ll be hard not to use chorizo in my pasta sauces from now on, though I imagine it mustn’t be good for me, since I like it so much. :-/
This is actually the 2nd night in a row I’ve had this dessert — pancake a la mode. The other night I made little 3″-diameter pancakes, eggs, and bacon for dinner. As always I had leftover pancakes, so last night I thought about using one of the leftovers as dessert. I nuked it, sprinkled a little cinnamon, put a scoop of ice cream on top, then drizzled a little maple syrup on the ice cream. It was so good, I had to have it again this evening. But I think I’m all pancake-a-la-moded-out…there won’t be a threepeat. I do recommend trying it, though. Tasty!
Should’ve had this for dinner, but at least I fixed the mistake. This kind of thing is what happens when the hubby leaves for a business trip. I tend to stay awake way late so that by the time I collapse into bed, I fall asleep instantly…no hearing creepy noises around the house. :-/
I cut out the middles of the pieces of bread with a glass (I don’t have cookie cutters), then I sprayed the bread frames with a bit of Pam cooking spray. After placing the bread on the foil-lined cookie sheet, I broke an egg into each piece of bread. I sprinkled some garlic pepper seasoning mix over the eggs (the mix has a bit of salt along with other spices). Then I laid out 3 pieces of bacon around the edges of the cookie sheet, with one piece cut in half, to fit on the shorter edges of the cookie sheet. The whole thing baked in a 350-deg F oven.
At the 6-minute mark, I took out the cookie sheet to flip the pieces of bacon. 4 more minutes in the oven, then I transferred the bacon to a plate. I sprinkled some shredded cheddar on top of the eggs, turned off the oven, and put the cookie sheet back in for a minute and a half (I have a timer that can be set with minutes and seconds) to melt the cheese. And then it was all done!
Very easy to do, since everything bakes on one tray, and I could tend to other things while waiting for the food to cook. The toast turned out the right amount of soft in the middle and crispy on the edges (thanks to the cooking spray), and the eggs were just a tad bit underdone, enough that I could sop up a bit of the yolk with the bits of bread that didn’t have egg or cheese on them already. The bacon always turns out perfectly when baked this way. Ever since I read about how to cook bacon in the oven, I’ve been using this method. The only thing that I’d change next time — and yes, I’m going to make this again — is to cook the eggs a little less. I am a sunny-side-up fan. Maybe only cook the egg toasts for 7 or 8 minutes, and let the bacon finish up after the toasts are taken out. Otherwise, this was a great, filling meal. Mmmmm!
I just saw in my blog stats that a few people got to my blog by searching "Pinoy cooking". Well, I'm pretty sure my last blog entry about Pinoy cooking tip #1 wasn't helpful to them. *smirk* So, to make up for it, I'm going to post a link to a great Adobo recipe that I like to use.
I found this recipe a while back when I was trying to find the least involved Filipino entree recipe that I could try out. It seemed like a nice easy recipe, since you basically just gather up all of the ingredients and simmer them in a pot for 50 (?) or so minutes. There is a step to separate out the meat from the sauce to brown it up before serving, but I skip that step usually. Another tip for making things a bit easier is to use pork that has already been cut into cubes for stir fry or stewing. Saves a step of preparation.
I later found out from other sites that talk about Filipino Adobo that it is one of the basic dishes that a lot of Filipinos learn how to make, and that it was a way people cooked the pork, oxtail, or chicken to make it keep longer. So leftovers are even better because the flavors become intensified. I have tried this recipe mixing both pork and chicken, since I read somewhere that it's the traditional way to prepare Adobo. But I've figured out that I actually like the recipe just using chicken portions, since the meat absorbs more of the flavor and becomes a lot more tender. YMMV, try it with different combinations. Actually, the next time I make it, I might actually try it with beef and see how that tastes. It's a rather versatile recipe, that's for sure!
If you're Filipino, or love Filipino food, please post your recipes or cooking tips. I'd be interested to see what recipe(s) I should try out next.
Here's a bonus link: a Filipino cooking blog, PinoyCook.net.
If this ice cream maker works as well as it seems, this would be a great appliance to have around for hot summer days. I would love to make my own ice cream flavors, like green tea, dark chocolate, or even ube (Filipino purple yam dessert…don't knock it until you've tried it! *drool*). At $59.99, it's really not that expensive, either.
Anyway, I think we successfully found a donut shop where we would want 
Messy, but tasty. 
