Ruen Pair: L.A.'s Thai Town

Anyone who has ever glanced at my blog knows I love cake, but it is probably less evident that my go-to comfort food is Thai food. A pile of noodles is always less photogenic than a cute cupcake, so somehow the photos don't make it to the blog world. But regardless of appearances, something about the combination of sweet and spicy just makes me happy...perhaps not shocking since sugar obviously has an attraction for me, and doesn't spicy food have a sort of mood-altering affect on people?* In any case, Thai food is my first thought on a rough day, so given the proximity of finals at this time, it was an easy choice for dinner tonight.

Coconut soup (above) has had an increasing hold on my attention since I discovered the way each spoonful could feed the burn on my tongue and throat (which is a good thing!) and satisfy with its creamy texture.

Noodles always help me get to a good place, whether it be pad thai, as pictured here, or pad see yew, which always reminds me of my favorite childhood Chinese dish of beef chow fun. Smoky, sweet, mmmmm.

And at least one other spicy dish - cashew chicken, garlic pepper shrimp, panang curry - gotta keep nourishing the happy.

I do go for inauthentic Thai in a pinch, but my favorite for years has been Ruen Pair (can I just say, love that it sounds kind of like "ruined pear" as if a dramatic line in a tragic poem) on Hollywood Boulevard in L.A.'s Thai Town. The same strip mall boasts Thai Patio, which is also quite good and was very welcoming for my birthday dinner of 17 people, but I prefer the food at Ruen Pair (RP is cash only and does not serve alcohol). The restaurants in this area are open and bustling until the wee hours of the morning, so the next time you're out in Hollywood and crave a bite at 3 am, you know you can find something good here.





*According to Wikipedia: "It is common for people to experience pleasurable and even euphoriant effects from eating capsaicin-flavored foods. Folklore among self-described "pepperheads" attributes this to pain-stimulated release of endorphins, a different mechanism from the local receptor overload that makes capsaicin effective as a topical analgesic. In support of this theory, there is some evidence that the effect can be blocked by naloxone and other compounds that compete for receptor sites with endorphins and opiates."

Cookies-n-Cream Cupcakes and The Amazing Scoop

There once was a little girl who was very attached to cookies-n-cream ice cream. She had her occasional moments with butter pecan and mint chip, bubble gum and rocky road, but if she followed her heart, it always led back to cookies-n-cream. It wasn't just that there were Oreos to be dug out of the sweet treat, but that alchemy of chocolate cookie chunks, their creamy centers, the ice cream melding it all into one - the cookies and the cream were magic together.

This same little girl loved receiving gifts. Not because she loved things, but because she could tell with a gift whether or not someone really knew her; whether or not they paid attention to her loves; whether or not they wanted to show her that they cared for her by sharing in that same love.

Over the course of her short years, she began to realize that most gifts did not live up to these expectations, and tempered them accordingly. Other people weren't mind readers, after all. Why live with disappointment when she could live with moderate satisfaction?

Little did she know that one day, her jaded 12-year-old mind would be revived. That she would in one moment glimpse that ideal of gift-giving and decide to never let it go again. That ideal showed up in the form of a cookies-n-cream cake.

In the midst of a week of Nutcracker ballet performances, with the excitement of her first solo role and Christmas looming two weeks later, her birthday was an afterthought. A brief meal to be followed by another performance. But at that meal, that cake - the cookies-n-cream cake - appeared without presumption nor guile in the hands of her grandfather.

She was amazed and starry-eyed before the Oreo-studded, buttercream-coated wonder. Its loveliness would please her tongue, but its taste would fade away before the knowledge that it was a gift. Her grandfather knew that she loved cookies-n-cream, remembered that fact on her birthday, made the effort to buy the cake, and presented it to her as a complete surprise. This was love.

*********

This post is dedicated to my grandfather, who passed away 8 years ago today, for showing me the closest thing to unconditional love on earth, and for reminding me that I should not ever give up on my ideals. I love you and miss you, Gung Gung.

I really cannot think of a better introduction for these cookies-n-cream cupcakes; while not love incarnate, they are the closest thing to cookies-n-cream in cake form that I have been able to produce. I have posted previously on Oreo cupcakes with 7-minute icing, or buttercream icing, but these are the latest rendition. I added crushed Oreos to the buttercream, which gives them a bit of the feel that the ice cream creates. I also confirmed my theory that Reduced-Fat Oreos actually work the best in this recipe, since they grow soft when pushed into the middle of the cake (yes, there's a whole Oreo in the middle of the cupcake!), unlike regular Oreos, which stay crunchy after baking.

So, here's how to do it:
1. Make a Devil's Food chocolate cake mix from Duncan Hines. After you scoop* the batter into each cupcake mold, press a whole Oreo into the batter so that the batter squooshes over the top of the cookie's edges. Smooth the batter over the cookie and bake according to the instructions for the cake mix.

(If possible, use one of these scoops - it will make your life so much easier! See my notes below)

2. After cooling the cupcakes, cream together the buttercream, slowly adding the powdered sugar to the butter and vanilla, followed by the milk/cream:
1 C (2 sticks) salted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 C (1 lb) powdered sugar
1-2 T milk or cream

Add 10 crushed Oreos (crush in a heavy-duty freezer bag) and mix in well.

3. Spread the cookies-n-cream buttercream generously on each cupcake. Top with a fourth of an Oreo. This whole recipe should require one whole package of Reduced-Fat Oreos and should make about 24 cupcakes.

*I used to feel that a scoop like this one from Pampered Chef was unnecessary in my kitchen for anything other than ice cream, but have realized through trying to replace it with measuring cups, ladles, and spoons, that nothing does the job in baking nearly as efficiently. Not only does the scoop measure out exact amounts each time, but it has the all-important scraping mechanism to push the batter or dough out of the scoop. Runny batter pours out well without dripping too much, and stiffer dough packs in nicely and comes out cleanly with the scraper. These are the scoops I used for my compost cookies.

Salted Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

Remember those compost cookies I posted on not long ago? Well, since I made them the first time (and loved them) I messed with the recipe a little bit to make a yummy chocolate version. I swapped out some of the flour for cocoa powder, used chocolate chips for all of the candy component (although white chocolate chips would be great!), and used baked potato chips and pretzel sticks for the salty elements. The result was a fabulous salty-sweet chocolate combo that really works with these buttery cookies. So go for your own spin on these treats - it's bound to be successful if you don't change the ratio of wet to dry.

I also tried freezing the dough in scooped-out portions for a week; they took a little longer to bake when I put them directly into the oven, but turned out just fine.

Here's my salted chocolate version:

1 C unsalted butter
1 C granulated sugar
3/4 C light brown sugar
1 T corn syrup (optional, if used will make the batter shiner)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/4 C Dutch process cocoa powder
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps Kosher salt
1 1/2 C chocolate candies (chocolate chips, M&Ms, etc.)
1 1/2 C salty snack foods (crushed potato chips, pretzels, etc.)

1. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Cream the butter, sugars, and corn syrup together in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (the whip attachment or a hand mixer would whip in too much air). Beat them at medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber scraper.
3. At a lower speed, add the eggs and vanilla. Beat at a medium-high speed for 10 minutes. The mixture will become pale in color and almost double in size.
4. After the 10 minutes, at a low speed add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, mixing just for 45-60 seconds until all the dry ingredients are just incorporated.
5. Add your chocolate candies for 30-45 seconds, followed by your salty snacks, all at a low speed. Do not overmix, just mix until these ingredients are evenly distributed in the batter.
6. Portion the dough onto the cookie sheets (as you can see, they will run together if you put 12 on a pan!). Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of one hour, maximum 1 week.
7. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. When the oven is ready, remove one cookie sheet at a time from the refrigerator and bake for 9 to 11 minutes. Check them at 9 minutes to see if the middle of the cookie is browned to the same color as the edge of the cookie; if the middle is still pale and doughy, leave in the oven for the additional minutes.
8. Cool the cookies completely on the pan. Store in air-tight containers.

Tasting Morocco (and Paris again)

And more than a month later. . . here I am again with the longest post ever. I've got a pile of recipes and photos to share with you all, but I've gotta start with tidbits from my trip to Morocco and Paris, which were full of succulent treats.

Although I did pass by the Ladurée stand at CDG on my way to Morocco, I saved my Parisian macaron experience for the days in Paris that followed the week in Morocco.

Like Ladurée's selection of macarons, the food in Morocco was vibrantly colorful and diversely spiced; I find that the mix of 42 spices that I brought home from Fez characterizes an approach to Moroccan food that creatively melds a whole variety of flavors (cinnamon, fruits, and savory together, etc.).

The most common food we encountered on the trip was the tagine (or tajine), which can best be described as a stew - really any mix of cooked food, whether veggie, meat, fruit, nuts, or any combination thereof. While most of our travel group grew weary of tagines, one can't help but admire the diversity of offerings: lamb with prunes and almonds, chicken with preserved lemons and olives, vegetables (carrots, squash, etc., with a ton of butter!), and kefta (beef meatballs with an egg cooked in it and lots of chili powder).

We were also lucky enough to have a few meals prepared for us at a center where we were volunteering; they went out of their way to make a delicious couscous for us (even though couscous is traditionally eaten only on Fridays for the Muslim holy day), as well as a lovely chicken with preserved lemon. The bread that accompanied the meals was a yeasted flatbread, called khobz in Arabic, that was meant to be used to scoop up the food - although they provided us with forks.

A few of the Moroccan ladies showed me how to eat couscous by using this technique of taking a handful of it, and forming it into a ball with one hand by sort of rolling the ball in a motion back and forth, almost like one's hand is a whiffle ball catcher. They then threw the balls into their mouths - not something I was able to accomplish, but fascinating!

Yeah, I went to McDonald's once in Morocco - I am always curious to see what they do differently in different countries. Here it was the McArabia, a sandwich on flatbread spiced with cumin and coriander; not bad, after all.

Paris brought me to beautiful things of a more familiar, but still lovely, nature. Like my last trip to France, it was a few days of bakery bliss, with a couple gorgeous meals to even out the sweets. I may have OD'd a tad on sugar, since I've been uncharacteristically avoiding it since my return, but everything I had was amazing.

I had to visit the specialty baking store G. Detou after reading rave reviews of it on Chocolate and Zucchini and David Lebovitz's blog; I have to admit that I spent more money there than anywhere in Paris in order to buy all the chocolates I wanted my family to try. Because it was the week before Easter, they had some fabulous chocolate eggs filled with almond paste, plus their normal selection of high quality chocolates.

The savory star of my Paris time was this gorgeous, gorgeous trout. I'm not even that much of a fish person, but this was quite tender and, well, soaked in browned butter. I've been reminded since my trip that one of the first meals Julia Child eats in Julie and Julia is a fish cooked in butter, and if it was anything like this one, it absolutely deserved the raptures that Julia went into over it. I sopped up every drop of that butter with the fish and cleaned that plate dry. Yes, that is the butter all over the plate.

The fish was followed by a huge crème brûlée - I couldn't even finish it since I was so full of the fish (and butter).

On top of the deliciousness of the trout, the meal was a treat because I got to eat it at the oldest café in Paris, Le Procope. Perhaps Voltaire or Benjamin Franklin enjoyed this same fish dish years ago? I highly recommend a meal here - for a nice sit-down lunch, it's a good deal for the afternoon formula menu.

I was reminded on this trip that the Left Bank is really my favorite area in the city; this may have something to do with the fact that the whole district is full of amazing bakeries and bookshops, two of my favorite things. I love the pedestrian bridge that crosses over from the Louvre to L'Institut de France on the Left Bank; it's Le Pont des Beaux Arts (the Fine Arts Bridge), so there's always something interesting going on there, like these random locks.

The Left Bank is also home to my still-preferred baker/bakery, Pierre Hermé. His were the first macarons to pass my lips, and they are still the best two years later, even after I have tried them at other shops in Paris, all over L.A. and San Francisco, and made them myself. On this trip I remembered that one must still be picky about bakeries even in Paris, since I picked up a very mediocre macaron at a beautiful and fragrant bakery called Gérard Mulot in St. Germain. Both their macaron and dark chocolate tart were disappointing.

On the other hand, Pierre Hermés' mille feuilles infiniment caramel (infinitely caramel Napoleon pastry) made my day. Wonderful caramel flavor all throughout the cream, and between the pastry layers, and on top. Yum. I also bought the macarons pictured with the Eiffel Tower above at PH, and they were as tender, lightly chewy, and well-flavored as I remembered.

Also on the Left Bank, next door to artisanal bread bakery Poilâne, is Cuisine de Bar, a restaurant that makes tartines (open-faced sandwiches) with Poilâne bread. On David Lebovitz's recommendation, I ordered the tartine with garlic mayonnaise (very heavy, as you can see!), roasted chicken, capers, chives, and sardines. While I could have done without the fishiness of the sardines, the tartine was very good, as was the simple salad it came with. To finish the meal I ordered a coffee, which was accompanied by a little edible shortbread spoon to be nibbled upon after stirring in the sugar and dipping in the coffee. The service was great, so if you're looking for a teeny little restaurant to have lunch in alone without being too conspicuous, this is a good choice.

My final fave on the Left Bank was the Rodin Museum, which was another good memory I confirmed on this trip. I have always enjoyed museums that feature one primary artist, since they are smaller and more approachable than places like the Louvre. Rodin's (and Camille Claudel's, also featured here) works of the human body always strike me as beautiful and full of feeling, whether they be in bronze or marble, so this was an aesthetically worthwhile stop.

On the other end of town, in the 11th arrondissement, I took my final meal in Paris at West Country Girl, another Dave Leb recommendation. The name of the crêperie refers to its Breton-style crêpes and galettes (from the west of France). Everything was made fresh there, including the amazing caramel sauce. This was another good lunch deal - 9 Euros for a savory crêpe (I got the crêpe du jour with ham, goat cheese, and chives), a sweet crêpe (salted butter caramel sauce!), and some light cider.

West Country Girl is not that far from the Père Lachaise cemetery, which I visited for the first time. I made the obligatory stop at Oscar Wilde's lipstick-littered grave, and otherwise enjoyed the unique vistas of the cemetery as I searched for other famous people (mostly to no avail).

A completely wonderful trip to Morocco and Paris - and the people I spent time with were absolutely the crème de la crème! I hope you feel inspired by this little stroll through my travels.

Super Easy Toffee

Friends, this is for any of you who also are entering finals week or any other time-pressured season that requires sugar consumption. This is an incredibly easy, fast, and reliable recipe. I could eat an entire pan of it myself...not to give away my stress eating habits...

I found a simple recipe online recently when I was looking for a way to use up the big bag of graham cracker crumbs in my kitchen, and to that recipe I added chocolate and fleur de sel and took away a baking step - hopefully making it simpler and better!

Interestingly, it actually calls for margarine for half of the fat element, which cuts down on the saturated fat; I used the all-natural Earth Balance (non-whipped), and it worked great. I tried using all margarine one time, since I was out of butter, but that gave it a strange aftertaste. Of course I still ate it, but again, it's finals season.

One of the best things about this toffee is that it isn't too hard when you bite into it, but the other great thing is that it is not a touchy recipe; while other sugar-boiling recipes (especially caramel) can be quite finicky, this one has come out just right every time I have made it. Which has been quite a few times in the last 2 weeks.

The graham cracker crumbs keep it from getting too sweet, and give it a nice variation in texture. Feel free to mix things up - add/replace a layer (coconut? more nuts?), remove the chocolate, etc. Just use the sugar-boiling process as a base for the candy you build.

And please, please be careful every time you work with sugar on the stove top, because it can get VERY hot and it's very easy to burn yourself.

Super Easy Toffee

1/2 C margarine
1/2 C unsalted butter (1 stick)
1 C light brown sugar
1 tsp fleur de sel/large grain sea salt
1 C chopped raw pecans (toast if desired)
3 oz. graham cracker crumbs
1/4 or more bittersweet chocolate chips

1. Melt the margarine and butter in a medium saucepan on the stove top. Once melted, stir in the sugar, salt, and pecans. Time it once it starts to boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly and keeping it at a medium boil. Set aside after the 3 minutes.
2. Spread out the graham cracker crumbs in a 9"x13" cake pan in an even layer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the crumbs. Add as many chocolate chips as you want, but don't let them become more than a single layer of chips since you want them to melt.
3. Spoon the sugar mixture over the chocolate and crumbs as evenly as possible; it's okay if the toffee doesn't reach the sides of the pan, but try to smooth it out close to the sides so that it doesn't get too thick. It won't look pretty, but it WILL taste good once it's cooled!
4. Let cool, then break into pieces and enjoy!