Branch Water Tavern

So I follow lots of foodie business in Houston and I heard awhile back that a restaurant in Houston, Branch Water Tavern, had been named to have one of the top 10 desserts in the country by GQ magazine, not exactly a foodie magazine but still a national publication. Kind of a big deal. Their sticky toffee pudding was said to be ahhhhhmazing and I had to try it! Well, it's taken me forever to get there, but I finally went to brunch with my friend, Ryan, and got to try it! Well worth the wait my friends! It is a mini bundt-shaped cake with pistachio ice cream, topped with pistachio brittle. It's served warm and everything pretty much melts in your mouth. Put it on your Houston to-taste list! Here are pics from my brunch selection and the toffee pudding (click the GQ link to see a much better pic of the pudding):

Enjoy!

Chuao Chocolate

I consider myself to be somewhat of a connoisseur of chocolate, and by that I mean I eat a lot of chocolate. I have my favorite cocoas for baking with and my favorite melting chocolate and chocolate chips for different applications. But I think I may have found my new favorite chocolate bar for straight up eating: the Chuao Chocolate Firecracker bar. My former favorite was the Wonka bar made of milk chocolate and graham cracker chunks, which may seem strange but I love those suckers. This one has pop rocks, chipotle, and sea salt in dark chocolate. So yummy and exciting! Get you some!

This is the Signature Box, all of which are super yummy!

Enjoy!


*I am not being paid to say this. I in fact paid quite a good deal for these yummies, but they're worth it!

Todd's Bday

One of my fave people, Todd (or The Todd as I like to call him), has a Cinco de Mayo birthday that happened to fall on a Saturday this year. He shares his birthday with his girlfriend's sister and they had a joint party in Galveston at Buckshot Saloon. I went and had a great time! Here are some pics:

Me with the birthday boy:

 Lacy and I with some waxed lips (it was her sister's 40th bday so they had old school candies and toys at the dessert table)

Frosting for the birthday boy

Glow sticks!

Happy Birthday, Todd!

Maker's Mark Cupcakes

I made Maker's Mark cupcakes for the wedding of some soccer teammates of mine. Apparently the groom is a bit of a Maker's Mark zealot and wanted to see if cupcakes could be made with the flavor and likeness of Maker's for his grooms cake situation. I did a few trials and they ended up choosing a spice cake recipe with a cinnamon cream cheese recipe I found and altered from the Maker's Mark website. I hear they were a big hit at the wedding so check these babies out:

Test phase cupcakes:

 Cake view:

 Ready to ship out:

 Final look was white frosting with a whole candy chip on top, drizzled with melted candy coating:

Recipe

Maker's Mark Cupcakes (adapted from Maker's Mark website)

1c flour

1/2t baking powder

1/4t salt

1/4t baking soda

1t cinnamon

1/4t nutmeg

1 stick butter, softened

1c brown sugar

3 eggs

1/2c molasses

1/4c whole milk

1/2c Maker's Mark bourbon

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened

1/2 stick butter, softened

1/2t cinnamon

1t vanilla

1/2t salt

1T Maker's Mark bourbon

powdered sugar

Preheat to 350F. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Add molasses and mix well. Add the dry ingredients alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry. Stir in bourbon. Fill liners to the top and bake for ~15 minutes. Allow to cool completely.  

Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add cinnamon, vanilla, salt, bourbon and 1c of powdered sugar. Mix until uniform. Add powdered sugar until desired consistenancy is achieved. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Congratulations to JP&T!

2nd Annual Feagan Crawfish Boil

This past weekend was the 2nd Annual Feagan Crawfish Boil at Thomas D's house. They boiled up 150 pounds of crawfish and had 5 homebrew kegs on tap as well as tons of other goodies and imbibements. It was so much fun seeing tons of peeps I haven't seen in awhile. Thanks for the invite, Thomas D! Here is a pictoral recap:

Another batch of mudbugs:

 Drinkmaster Josh:

Rambo faces:

Steph and I outside playing lawn games:

Bro hug during lawn games:

NASA Chili Cookoff

A couple of weekends ago, NASA held its annual chili cook off and I decided to attend. You will notice that I am not trying any chili in any of these pictures because the rules stated that there could be no beans or vegetables in the chili. This led to a bunch of pots full of spiced ground beef essentially. Definitely not my jam. I did, however, taste lots of Apogee Brewing's beer. Couple of my friends are really into brewing and have gotten really good at it judging by what I was drinking that Saturday. I think my favorite was the Honey Blonde if you ever get a chance to one day buy their stuff. Here are some pictures of the debauchery:

Lately

Here's what's been going on with me lately:

Randi and Steph at Prohibition for Laura's Bday

JP and I enjoying fancy bevs for Laura's bday

The birthday girl and I at Prohibition

 My April Foodzie Box

Baloo with his Kong Wobbler

At lunch with Matty as he drove through Houston

 Lots of randomness occurring lately. Hopefully a more concise post soon!