A Wonderful Little Product

So recently I saw this product at my local grocery store. I rarely use buttermilk so buying a whole quart for just 3/4 of a cup seems ridiculous and wasteful. So I see this product, where I can create the exact amount of buttermilk I need from the powder and water.... hmmm this has potential.

So I bought a canister and tried it out, first the other day I made buttermilk biscuits, they were terrific. Today I tried it out again making a chocolate buttermilk cake. I haven't tried the cake itself yet as I made the cake as my contribution to a luncheon with some friends, but I tasted the batter and it was amazing! I can only hope the cake itself it half so yummy. So far, I would highly recommend this product, especially if you are like me and use little to no buttermilk. I will let you know how the cake goes over!

The Savory Swine

So keep your eyes open as you drive down Washington Street because you might miss this clever little sign. The Savory Swine is a butcher shop, all sorts of meats some salads, a variety of wines and my delight... gelato. I shared a bowl with my grandson at this wonderful little spot downtown. The meat is a bit on the pricey side, but given you are talking about quality Omaha steaks, gorgeous lamb, amazing looking sausages, and a beautiful assortment of fish, it really is not unreasonable. I hope to have the chance to try all of the meats and fish, bit by bit.

A Born Coffee Snob

Some years back I made a few trips to Sweden and Finland, I have friends there that bought me my first ticket and it was great fun to go. While in Sweden I ordered a cup of coffee and when the waiter arrived at the table with a small french press, the plunger was pushed down with a swoosh and I fell in love with coffee from a french press. It is smooth, rich, dark and oh so delicious. The beans are secondary to the process by which the coffee is made, no boiling the beans, no passing water over them quickly... nope, let that water steep in that course grind for four minutes and you are transported to caffeinated paradise! So since then, I bought several coffee presses looking for just the right size and material, I now have two, one large for company and when Ron is home, the other small, coffee for one. I usually get just plain store brand beans, bring them home and course grind them myself, it's just easier than trying to find a grocer with a coffee grinder that does course grind, then I brew up perfection and add just a bit of real sugar and real half&half cream. Oh yes, this wakes one gently in the morning, not with a harsh clang, but with the delightful chirping of happy little birds... OK so that part is just my imagination, but seriously folks, you have to try a french press! Just thought I would share a bit of myself for today. 

Lincoln Square Restaurant


My husband, Ron, is usually home on the weekends, so most of our explorations will be on weekends, thus posting about them on Mondays. This past weekend, we had hoped to grab a quick breakfast at Gramz Bakery but sadly they were closed for a few days. So my husband decided to try a new place. It had been over three years since we had explored Columbus so a new place that stuck out for us on Jonathon Moore Pike was Lincoln Square Restaurant. So we decided to give it a try.  When we first entered the had me at the spinning cake rack... fudge cake, domino cake, German chocolate cake, rainbow cake, cheesecake, strawberry cheesecake and more. All those yummy layers covered in delicious looking icing... but this was breakfast so the cakes will have to wait for another day. Today it was all about the breakfast.

So I ordered eggs, sausage and hash browns with a toasted English muffin. I am very picky about my eggs, I like them scrambled soft, no brown at all and they cooked them perfectly. The hash browns were great, flavorful and tender with bits of crunchy all throughout The sausage was terrific, seasoned and very moist. The only bad point was an over abundance of butter on the muffin, but alas to have such worries in life makes for a terrific life. Ron had a similar breakfast but with pancakes which he liked very much. I will have to let you know how the baked goods are another time, but for now, Lincoln Square is a great breakfast.

I have often considered starting a blog, but I wasn't sure I had anything worth saying. I have read the blog of one of my church family members for quite a while and hers always has this magical feel to it, she is not only a talented writer but she knows what to say and when to stop. The latter is where I am concerned I might have trouble. I have always been a bit of a blurter, just speak whatever is on my mind and frankly that can get you in trouble quick. So in considering this, I decided to put some bits about myself, but mostly I think I will write about my passion... Food!! I love to cook, eat, eat out, and recently as we returned to Columbus, Indiana, I found I will need to rediscover this place all over. There are lots of new restaurants sprinkled all over Columbus and as I explore I will share my decidedly biased opinions, biased because I start from a place of loving good food. It does not need to be fancy food, just good.

So for my first discovery, I give you Gramz Bakery on Washington Street in downtown Columbus. I found this place on the web when I was looking for a bakery to buy goodies as thank-you gifts from some of my coworkers at Ivy Tech Community College here in Columbus. So this place had a look and feel I just took to easily so I ordered boxes of goodies and without even tasting a morsel I handed them out to my coworkers with a hardy thanks for all they had done to help me out during the semester. As Mother's Day rolled around, I decided that a unique gift for the mother-in-law who has everything might be a nice box of sweets. So once again without ever having tasted them myself, I purchased a box of assorted goodies for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day. She was thrilled, went on and on about how wonderful the tasty treats were so that was it, after two previous trips for others, I finally had to try out Gramz for myself. It did not disappoint. We (my husband Ron and I) decided on an assortment of cookies. Now all their cookies are top notch, but for me personally, the molasses cookies to be me back to my childhood with a rush and flourish of warm and good memories. Baking was something my mother excelled at and those cookies were even better than hers! Now Gramz was closed for a few days over the July 4th holiday week, but are expected back at their ovens bright and early today, so I might just have to make a run down there for a treat later today.